Inserting A Watermark Into Your SmugMug Galleries

In my previous post, I showed you how to create a simple watermark.  In this post, I will show you how to insert it into your SmugMug photo galleries.

OK, you’ve created your watermark and saved it as a .png file using CS5’s Save for Web & Devices.  Now, log into your SmugMug account.

You must first upload your watermark .png file to that unlisted default gallery SmugMug automatically sets up for you when you first create an account.  It’s the gallery titled “My SmugMug Site Files (Do Not Delete)” and by default, only you can see this gallery (unless you wish others to see it).

Click Upload-To This Gallery

Your watermark file is now uploaded.  But you cannot use that particular image until you have designated it as a watermark.

So go to the last page of this gallery (because that is where your newly-uploaded watermark image will show up) and click on the thumbnail to bring it up.   From the menu above the image, click  Tools and from “This Photo”, select More and select Make Into Watermark.

You will be taken to a screen wherein you may designate the position, opacity, and even rename it if you wish.  You also get to see a preview of how your watermark masterpiece will look on a photo.  Once you have finished with the tweaking, click Submit and no matter which of the 2 methods you use to insert a watermark, it will appear as you have designated here in this screen.

Oh, and if you didn’t choose your opacity (how transparent you wish your watermark to be) in CS5  or image editor du jour, then you may do so in this screen (SmugMug calls it “Fade”).  Compare the watermark in the image below with the watermark in the image above.

Now you are finished and can exit this gallery and choose another  gallery.

There are two ways in which you may insert a watermark onto your gallery photos:

Method #1

Within your gallery, click Tools and then scroll down to highlight Gallery Settings.

Scroll down to the Security & Privacy panel

In addition to working with the watermark, you can also set other security features highlighted below.

Save your new settings and you will be returned to your gallery.  Give it a minute or two, and then for each photo, you should see your watermark.  This method is actually faster than the method below, in terms of how quickly SmugMug applies the watermark to your images.  Probably because the method below allows you to be more selective in terms of which photos you wish to be watermarked, rather than a “blanket application” of the watermark to all of your photos, which is what Method #1 does.

To remove your watermarks, simply click “No” and that little watermark box will disappear as will your watermark on all of your photos in the gallery.

Method #2

Within your gallery, click Tools, scroll down to “Many Photos” ,select More, then select Watermarking

You will be taken to a screen where you see every single photo you have uploaded to that particular gallery.

You may now choose which watermark you wish to use, and select all or just a few photos for watermarking.  Click Watermark and then wait.  You will see a little screen telling you that SmugMug is applying watermarks and to just be patient for a few minutes.

To remove your watermarks, follow the same steps, but select “Remove” and then click Watermark.

There you have it!  Simple, right?