Watermark photos before sharing them

A corner credit or a tiled mark across the image — how to place a readable watermark without wrecking the photo.

Tools used in this guide

The job

Before posting work or proofs, a visible mark says where the image came from. Two styles cover most needs: a discreet corner credit, and a tiled pattern that makes unauthorized reuse harder.

Placing it readably

For a credit, bottom-right at 40–60% opacity usually survives the photo without shouting. For proofs you do not want reused, tiled mode repeats the text across the frame so cropping cannot remove it.

Size is a percent of the image width, so the same setting scales with the photo. Light text on busy bright areas can vanish — check the preview and adjust opacity or color.

Honest limits

A watermark is a deterrent, not protection — determined removal is always possible. Text is drawn with the system font, so emoji and unusual glyphs may render differently across machines. JPG output flattens transparency to white; PNG and WebP keep it.