About watermarks in FotoWeb

Using watermarks is a common way to protect assets from illegitimate use. When you assign watermarks to archives in FotoWeb, they are only applied to the thumbnail and/or preview renderings that users see in the user interfaces. The original assets remain unscathed. However, it is also possible to apply watermarks to copies that are downloaded so that a requesting user may not make any illegitimate use of a downloaded asset. This can be accomplished using a processing profile where watermarking has been enabled, or by configuring quick renditions where a watermark is applied to the preview that is delivered to the client.

This topic explains the areas of Fotoware in which you can apply watermarks. If you're interested in uploading a custom watermark for use on the site, refer to this topic.

Applying a watermark to thumbnails and previews

To apply a watermark to the assets in an archive, open the archive properties and go to the Export and Import tab. Then choose a watermark from the top dropdown list or import one using the Import button.

You can also choose where the watermark should be placed on a preview; in a corner, centered or tiled across the entire preview.

Note: The watermark is only applied to the thumbnail and preview representations of the assets in the archive. They are not imprinted on the original assets themselves. This allows you to assign watermarks to an archive and still give certain users or groups the ability to download a copy of the original file without a watermark applied.

Applying a watermark to Quick Renditions

Quick Renditions (=on-request resized versions of a picture or graphic) can also be watermarked so that when a user requests one it will be watermarked before delivery.

To apply a a watermark to a Quick Rendition, go to the Workflows tab and choose the Quick Renditions node in the left side panel. Click on the Properties button next to a Quick Rendition set to see the various sizes defined in that set.

Select one of the sizes, click on Edit and then choose a watermark to apply and where it should be applied in the picture (corner or centered with optional scaling to fit).

Next, open the archive properties and apply the quick renditions to the archive by going to the Export and Import tab and choosing the correct set of Quick Renditions from the Preview Size list dropdown menu.

Watermarking pictures on download

It's also possible to create a processing profile that applies a watermark to a file that is downloaded by a client.

Important: Watermarks and the zoom control

When a user or group has been given access to high-resolution zoom in an archive, the watermark will only be visible immediately after the user opens a goes to the asset details page. The second the zoom control is activated, the client will download the high-resolution image from the FotoWeb server, and the watermark will not be shown.

Learn more

Learn more about the different levels at which you can configure watermarks in FotoWeb.