How To Create Watermark Signature On Photos

As photographers, it's always a good idea to watermark your work. Not only is it an extra level of protection, but its also a chance to brand things a bit. In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to use Adobe Brush (a free app for iOS soon for Android).

What is Adobe Brush?

I first heard about Adobe Brush while watching the keynote from Adobe Max earlier this October. At first I figured its not an app I would EVER use. I do not use a lot of different brushes and I am terrible illustrator.

Then it dawned on me. I could turn my signature into an app.

What You'll Need

In order to make your own signature watermark you'll need the following.

An iOS device (like an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad)
Adobe Brush (download it here)
A piece of white paper
A good pen to write your signature
A current version of Adobe Photoshop CC

Let's Get Started

The whole process is very fast.

1. Sign your name on a piece of paper. White paper works best.

2. Take a picture with your phone of your drawing or signature. Try to shoot in good light or use your flash. Shoot straight down on the signature to avoid any distortion.

3. In Adobe brush import the image into the app (you can also take the picture directly from the app itself).

4. Click on the Photoshop option as you see here.

5. On the bottom area you can crop. Cropping is just sizing the image with your fingers in the the space given.

6. Next click the refine tab where you can mask out any other back ground noise you may have picked up when taking the image.

7. Hit next and you can make various adjustments with Angle, size and flow. Under Default you can adjust size. Honestly, I didn't touch anything under Pressure and Spacing. Under Jitter you can also play with size as well as angle. If you want to rename the brush, tap on its name at the top of the screen.Once you like what you have, click SAVE.

8. Open of Photoshop and you will see your adobe cloud sync the brushes in your library. Select your brush in the Libraries panel.

9. Choose the brush tool and load a color that contrasts with your photo.

10. You can adjust the size, color and click anywhere on your image and place your signature or drawing. For best results place the signature on its own layer. You can enhance the signature layer using layer styles for things like a stroke or drop shadow.

It takes less then 2 minutes to do and by far the easiest and fastest way to create a fun new signature. This particular "selfie" was sync'd into photoshop with Adobe Photoshop Mix app from my phone. I took the picture, the signature and added it within Photoshop all within 5 minutes.

The signature is now saved in your Adobe Creative Cloud account and will sync to where ever you open and sign into Photoshop.

What other creative ideas can you come up with using Adobe Brush?

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Pamela has worked in Film and Radio for over 15 years. She started as a PA on major sets and eventually moved up to script supervisor. From there the roles of producing, directing, editing and camera operator followed. She has worked with DGA and oscar winning directors. Currently her day job is Brand Experience Executive with a full service Ad Agency and production company. She is also working as a Director on a Documentary coming out in 2018.

In college she was recruited right off the air from her college radio station and went on to be on air talent for country, top 40, and alternative radio stations including a 2 year gig as an Emcee for Radio Disney.

In the past, Pamela has tech edited books on Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator & Motion. Her main love is being behind the camera whether its doing video or photography.

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Thanks Pamela! Great article. Happy New Year!

I've updated #7. It's pretty self explanatory and once you are happy with how it looks, hit save. If your adobe cloud is updated and sync'd, you will see it update in your photoshop.

Thanks Pamela! Great article. Happy New Year!

I've updated #7. It's pretty self explanatory and once you are happy with how it looks, hit save. If your adobe cloud is updated and sync'd, you will see it update in your photoshop.

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