We can now add Graphical Watermarks into our images using the cloud-based type of Adobe Lightroom and the Adobe Lightroom for Mobile App for iOS and Android devices.
With this update, we now have the option to use a logo for our watermark on Export instead of just a simple layer of text. Using a graphical element, something like a signature or a logo, is something that lots of photographers like to add to their images to create some branding when they share their work online or via email.
There are a couple of small details you need to know though before you start to use this new feature. First, the graphical watermark that you want inside of Adobe Lightroom must be stored in either the jpeg (.jpg) or the png (.png) file formats.
Second, you will not enjoy this feature if your logo file is resting on top of a colored background. For best results, make sure that your graphic watermark sits on top of a completely transparent background layer. Finally, you cannot use files that a larger than 5 megabytes in size within the cloud-based type of Lightroom or its mobile Apps but that size limitation should not be a problem for most photographers.
One of the coolest features of this new graphical watermarking system only appears when you switch back and forth between your computer and your mobile devices. What’s brand new here is that whenever you apply a watermark using Adobe Lightroom (cloud-based) to one of your images then all of your settings, including a copy of the logo file that you just used, are automatically synchronized for you to all of your other devices.
Automatic watermark synchronization makes it easy to use the same logo, with the same exact settings, on all of your devices. I love this subtle bonus feature because it means that you can keep your branding choices perfectly consistent no matter where you are or which device you currently have in your hands!
Adobe Lightroom only synchronizes one set of settings, your most recently used watermark settings, from device to device. Syncing the latest settings boosts consistency but this can cause you problems if there is more than one logo that you want to use or if you want to use one logo here and another one there. Unfortunately, the current watermark synchronization system has no idea if there are other logos out there that you might want to use in the future or if there are other options that you have used in the past.
I cover a simple workaround for this single logo syncing limitation in the video above so don’t let this scare you off. Also, be sure to watch this tutorial all the way to the end if you would like to learn how you to design your own graphical watermark in no time using either Adobe Photoshop or the free version of the Adobe Capture for Mobile App.