Let me show you how to turn a signature into a watermark In Photoshop!
I'll also show you how to create a Photoshop Action
to resize and reposition the signature in your photos with just one click!
Link in the description for the tutorial files.
First, you'll need a digitized signature without a background.
If you don't have your signature digitized,
I would recommend using a channel-based selection
to remove the background for an image like this one.
The first step is to desaturate the image.
Press Ctrl Shift U on Windows
that's Command Shift U on the Mac.
From the Channels panel, duplicate any of the channels.
With a desaturated black and white image.
All the channels are the same.
Next, press Ctrl I on Windows, Command I on the Mac to invert the channel.
And make the signature white and the background black.
With a channel, white reveals and black conceals.
So, we want to reveal the signature and conceal the background.
In other words, we want to make the background transparent.
Then press the L key to enable the Lasso tool
and make a loose selection around your signature.
And you can then right-click on the selection and choose Select Inverse to invert the selection.
We're now selecting the area just outside of the signature.
You can now fill with black.
Black is my foreground color so I can press Alt and Backspace on Windows.
That's option Delete on the Mac.
Press Ctrl D or Command D to disable the selection.
Then go into Image adjustments and choose Levels.
From the Levels panel,
you can use these sliders to make the background completely black and the signature white.
The settings will depend on your image, but generally speaking,
you can drag the White Point slider to the left to make the off-white colors white.
Then you can drag the Black Point slider to the right to make the off-black pixels black.
And you can use the Gamma slider to fine-tune the results.
When you have a completely black background and a white signature, you can press OK.
Next, load the channel as a selection by holding Ctrl on Windows.
That's Command on the Mac.
And click on the duplicate channel thumbnail.
You will then see the selection, the marching ants, around your signature.
Click on RGB and go back into the Layers panel.
Make sure that black is your foreground color
and go into the New Adjustment Layer icon
and create a black Solid Color Fill.
You can now disable the original signature image
and you will see your new signature layer with a transparent background.
Let's now look at turning this layer into a stylish signature photography logo in Photoshop.
This is a method that I think offers the most flexibility.
I will apply a few adjustments to show you
how these settings will save and how you can edit them later.
First, I'll create a Solid Color Fill
and make it gray to better see the following steps.
And place the color fill layer below the signature.
Next, I'll name the layer.
In this case, the name is important.
I'll call it "JR Signature,"
then double-click on the side of the layer to bring up the Layer Style window.
I'll reduce the Fill to 0% to make the layer invisible.
The only pixels that will now show are those created from this panel.
The opacity slider on top reduces the Opacity of all pixels.
So, make sure that you adjust the Fill, not the Opacity.
Let's start by making the signature white.
Go into the Color Overlay tab,
set the Blending Mode to Normal, make the color white,
and set the Opacity to 90%.
Next, add an Outer Glow.
Set the color to black,
the Blending Mode to Multiply, and the Opacity to 20%.
Then set the size to 40 pixels.
This will create a shadow around the signature.
Keep in mind that just because the Layer Style label reads "glow,"
it doesn't mean you can't use it for anything else.
Feel free to disregard the labels and use the layer styles in any way that you like.
Also, these values are relative to my layer size.
If your layer is larger or smaller, the same values will look different in your image.
So, fine-tune them accordingly.
Press OK when you're done.
Now let me show you how to save this signature and turn it into a watermark in Photoshop.
This is where the magic happens.
First, right-click on the signature layer and convert it into a Smart Object.
A Smart Object is a container that allows you to hold one or more layers
and apply editable, adjustments, distortions, filters and transformations.
Which means you can always come back and edit the watermark.
Then go into Window and choose Libraries
and drag the Signature layer into the Libraries panel.
Doing so will sync it to your Creative Cloud account
and it will be accessible through all your other apps and devices connected to the Creative Cloud.
You can even add this watermark to your videos using Adobe After Effects or Adobe Premiere.
We'll use this photo I shot in New York City back in 2021
to show you how to add the watermark in Photoshop.
You will find your newly saved watermark in the same library where you saved it,
and it will have the same name as the layer.
If you come back another day and you can't find it, you can simply search for it.
Search under "All Libraries" and type the name you gave the layer "Jr signature" in my case.
Once you find the watermark, you can drag it onto your photo.
Then scale it down. I'll make it 200 pixels wide and move it to the bottom right side of the photo.
This Creative Cloud asset kept all the properties we applied in the previous step.
This layer is connected to the same signature we added to the Creative Cloud.
This is what the cloud icon represents on the layer.
If you double-click on it, you edit the source file in the Creative Cloud.
If you make any changes,
like changing the color overlay to red and save the file.
The documents referencing this Creative Cloud asset will update as well.
This is a very powerful feature that can
save you a lot of time if you decide to update your signature or logo.
Usually you will not edit this image
unless you want to edit all the photos tied to this watermark.
If you want to make edits to just one version of this watermark without affecting all others,
you can hold Alt on Windows, Option on the Mac, as you drag the watermark onto your image.
Notice that the cloud icon is gone,
which means that the image is no longer connected to the Creative Cloud asset.
Any edits you make to this layer will not affect any other document.
Next, let me show you how you can create an Action
to Resize and position the watermark over your photo.
With just one click, I've set the watermark to white again
and I'll drag it over onto the image and I'll commit the changes.
Then I'll go into Window and select Actions.
From the Actions panel,
click on the New Actions icon.
Give your Action a name.
I will call mine "200 PX bottom right"
because it will make the watermark 200 pixels wide and it will place it on the bottom right of the image.
I'll save my Action in my Default Actions set
and I'll give it a shortcut F2 and Ctrl will work.
That will be F2 and Command on the Mac.
I'll set the color to red and I'll press Record.
Photoshop is now recording every action that I make.
Go into Edit, Transform and choose Scale from the Options bar.
Click on the chainlink icon
and in the input box, you can enter a percentage or pixel dimension.
I'll type 200 PX and click on the checkmark to commit the changes.
Next, go into Select and choose All to create a selection around the canvas.
Then, from the Layers menu go into Align Layers to Selection and choose Bottom Edges.
Go back into the Layers menu.
Then Align Layers to Selection and this time choose Right Edges.
To disable the selection go into select and choose Deselect.
Next, enable the Move Tool.
Hold Shift and press the left arrow key five times to move the watermark 50 pixels from the right edge.
Now hold the Shift key and press the up arrow key five times to move 50 pixels from the bottom edge.
Now that I have my watermark in position, I can stop recording.
Go into the Actions panel and press the Stop button.
I'll delete this watermark layer.
From now on you can drag your watermark onto your photo
and play the action to automatically Resize it and move it.
To do so, go into the Actions panel,
select your Action and click on the Play button.
Photoshop will then automatically scale the watermark to 200 pixels wide
and place it 50 pixels away from the bottom right corner.
Keep in mind that you can also use
the keyboard shortcut that you set for your action.
If you forgot what it was, look at the Action label.
Ctrl F2.
In this case, the shortcut is probably
the fastest way to apply the action, but there's another method.
You can go into the Flyout menu in the Actions panel
and choose Button Mode and you will see the Action in red.
The color we set while creating it.
And you can run it by simply clicking on it.
Feel free to make actions for other sizes or placements.
You can download this action from my website if you like.
The link is in the description.
And don't leave just yet!
I have another fantastic tip I want to share with you for creating watermark signatures in Photoshop.
We'll work with this blank document.
Once you have your watermark in your Libraries panel,
you can drag it out so that you can work with the layers.
Without the Creative Cloud asset,
you can right-click on the layer and select Place Layers.
That's the same thing as holding
Alt on Windows, Option on the Mac and dragging out.
This is not a Creative Cloud asset.
You can see the Layer Styles you applied earlier.
And you can remove the Layer Styles by right-clicking on the FX icon and selecting "Clear Layer Styles."
Once your signature is black with a transparent background,
go into Edit and choose Define Brush Preset to create a brush from the signature.
You can call it whatever you like.
I'll call it Jr signature to stay consistent and I'll press OK now I have
a brush from the signature, I'll go back into my image,
white is my foreground color and I can just click to add my signature.
Of course, I can create a new layer to work nondestructively
and I can tap on the left bracket key on the keyboard
to reduce my brush size. And I can click
to add my signature or watermark to the photo.
Unfortunately, brushes cannot save all the properties that a library asset can.
But it's still an excellent alternative for photographers to add their watermarks or logos to their photos.
By the way,
make sure that you check out my tutorial on blurring backgrounds.
I'm sure you're going to love it!
You can check it out here!