Once you get your watermarking action working, use the Image Processor to create both the watermarked images and the thumbnails.
Hi Michael, thank you for your message. Any idea on how to get the watermarking action working properly? I will have a play with the Image Processor, I hope it is easy to use as I am a bit of a dummy sometimes until I figure it out properly.
Pixvue is pretty neat not only at batch processing watermarks but also adding metadata by template to multiple selections.
IrfanView will batch process for you.
This is not meant as a slight to Photoshop but has a good chance of getting you of a deadline hook is you are snagged into one.
Hi Deebs, I don’t mean to be ignorant but I have not heard of this before. I think I would prefer to stay with photoshop if I can find a solution as it will take me ages to try and learn another program.
Thank you, I will have a look and see how that goes.
If you tried recording an action where you drop one image onto another with the mouse, that part won’t work. You need to File>Place the watermark image onto the other, or use a displacement map, or something else that doesn’t involve mouse strokes.
Thanks Michael, That is exactly what we were doing. The instructions that you gave me are they exactly what I do??? I will give that a go if that is the case. Thanks again.
Okay, I’m still not having much luck. I tried to watch the movie but I only got sound. As I said, I am struggling with trying to figure out the basics of Photoshop so I haven’t had much luck with trying to work out how to place the watermark onto the image. Any other bright ideas greatly received.
Cindi.
The Web Gallery facility in Bridge will do everything you ask without having to resort to actions.
Web Gallery is very easy to use. Watermarking is dead easy – and even if you don’t use the actual gallery templates, you can simply extract the thumbnails and the larger images.
Hope this helps
Chris.
Hi Chris, thank you very much for your help. I don’t suppose you could email me some good instructions on how to do this??? I am very new to photoshop so your help would be appreciated. I have played with the Web Gallery but didn’t know how to use it. Not sure if I am allowed to put my email address up here but urgently need some instructions and help. I have between 8-10,000 images to prepare for online ordering that need to be watermarked, then re-sized into two sizes, a thumbnail, then a larger image so they can see what clients want to purchase. Thanks Chris.
Cindi
Private emails defeat the purpose of user to user forums, which are there to allow everybody to benefit from the advice given.
Your problem is not uncommon and, if the solution is given here in the open forum, then everybody benefits and the solution is still just as valid for you.
Thank you for pointing that out. That makes sense really but the messages that everyone posts are quite short so I thought I would get more input via an email??? My apologies for being ignorant. Just wasn’t thinking.
Don’t apologise. 🙂
People try to be brief but you’re right, sometimes a detailed step-by-step is the best way. I would do it but I’m away from home and Photoshop at the moment.
Don’t know what the problem is with the Russell movie is, it’s just a Quicktime .mov file. Try the link again you know how unreliable the Enternet is!
Thanks John, I will try the movie again. Okay, if you’re away at the moment why don’t you just pop on over to New Zealand and show me what to do!!! I have no idea where you are but worth a shot!!!
At least I’m (temporarily) in the right hemisphere (South Africa). There are a few antipodeans knocking around in the forums but I think most of the poor souls use Macs. 😉
Cindi,
First off, your images need to be large enough to support a watermark. I am assuming that by resizing them, you are going beyond postage stamp-size. To test this out, resize one of your images by hand, embed a watermark, and save it as a JPEG, then close it (this is important). Reopen it and make sure you can read it. If this works, proceed to the next step. If it doesn’t, the images are too small to be watermarked, and likely are too small to be of much use to anyone anyway.
Step 1:
First you need to make an Action that embeds your Watermark. Open up one of the pictures that doesn’t have a Watermark yet. Go to Window->Actions in Photoshop and make a new set of Actions called "My Actions". Then make a new Action under "My Actions" called "Embed Watermark". Photoshop will be recording your steps from this point.
Step 2:
Embed a watermark in the picture you opened at the beginning of step one. Once you’ve set all the options and pressed OK to embed it, press STOP (the square) in the Actions window.
Step 3:
Close the picture you used to set the embedding and don’t save it (else Image Processor will have trouble).
Step 4:
Choose File->Scripts->Image Processor.
Pick a folder full of files that you want to process.
If you choose "Save in same location", the output will go to a folder of the file type you pick a little further down in the dialog box. For example, if you choose JPEG, there will be a folder called JPEG under the original folder with the processed files.
To resize, pick the largest dimension in both directions that you’d like to see. For example, if you have pictures that are intended for 4×6 shots, but some are wide and others are tall, but you want them to fit within a 640×480 window, choose Resize to Fit and put 640 in both the width and height boxes.
Way down at the bottom, choose "Run Action" and pick the Action set and name you created in step 2. "My Actions" & "Embed Watermark"
You can uncheck the ICC embedding if you wish.
Step 5:
Click "Run" at the upper right.
Hope this helps.
That is a place that I would like to visit.
Hi Brent,
Thank you so much. I am just trying to find my printer cord so I can print this off and I will give it a go. I hope it is dummy proof because as I said, I am still quite new to Photoshop. Fingers crossed! I will keep you posted. Just going to put the children to bed for their midday sleep and I will have a go. Thank you again Brent and all that have helped so far.
PS. Yes, the images that I am using I start off with the original so they are quite large. Then I would resize them once I have put the watermark on them.
The watermark should go on AFTER you resize them, not before. The instructions apply the sizing afterward.
If you are resizing to very small thumbnails (100 pixels wide or so), it’s pretty pointless to watermark them–they’d be too tiny for anyone to use for anything other than icons or avatars.
Hi Cindi.
Whilst Brent’s info is correct and quite valid, Web Gallery really does do the job so much easier.
Don’t bother with the Flash Galleries. Choose one of the simpler ones such as "Table 1". Experiment on a folder containing just a few files, say a dozen or so, that way the gallery is built quickly allowing you to keep redoing it with lots of different configurations. Explore all the menu options regarding the Thumbnails, main images, security, etc. It really is the best way to learn.
Once you’ve got to grips with Web Gallery you’ll see how it really does make easy work of your mamouth task.
As for a step by step, you could do a lot worse than check out the Help Files (F1). Then come back here if you hit any specific problems. We’ll be glad to help.
John: I do hope that’s a holiday you’re having out in SA. I’m sure it’s much too hot to work. Enjoy 😉
Chris.
