Watermark Plugins from WordPress

Many websites depend upon unique images as part of their appeal. Professional photographers and others rely upon these images for their livelihood; preventing these images from being copied and used without permission can present a real challenge. Fortunately, there are many solutions to this problem – one of the most effective ways of protecting these images is the addition of a “watermark”.

In Internet terminology, a watermark is the faint (or sometimes not so faint) “mark” – a logo, copyright info, signature or other information – that is superimposed onto an image. This doesn’t prevent the image from being copied; it just prevents the image from being copied without the watermark.

Some artists and photographers refuse to add identifying watermarks because they feel it “defaces” the image. They don’t consider unauthorized duplication to present enough of a problem to warrant compromising the aesthetic quality of their work. This may be true, but protecting an image from unauthorized use is only one of the reasons to add watermarks to an image. Watermarks can be a great advertising tool. They let the audience know right away who the pictures belong to. Custom watermarks can be used to build the owner’s brand (in fact, watermarking is sometimes referred to as “branding” an image) as well as direct traffic to their website.

So what does all this talk about watermarking have to do with WordPress?

One of the features that make WordPress so popular with users and developers is its database of over 22,000 plugins, which enables them to customize and improve the functionality of their WP sites. These plugins can be used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from playing videos and audio to protecting the content of a site from unauthorized use or duplication.

There are several WP plugins available to users and developers that allow them to “mark” their images in a variety of ways. Below are listed five of these WP watermark plugins. Each provides its own unique approach to “marking” a website’s images:

The Signature Watermark Plugin lets users apply a watermark to all uploaded images, using PNG images with transparency. Easy to use settings allow users to select the font, size, text color and transparency to maintain a consistent watermark for every image. Watermarks can be placed in the center or bottom right corner of an image and can be set to cover a specific percentage of the image.

Signature Watermark was created by MyWebsiteAdvisor.com, an organization that offers a number of similar watermarking plugins including Bulk Watermark and Transparent Watermark; like Signature Watermark they are available in free or premium versions.

This Watermark My Image plugin enables users to watermark their photos and images by placing customizable watermark beneath the original. (A lot of other plugins place the watermark over the original image or photo.)

Users can customize the height, background color of the watermark and text alignment. The requirements for the Watermark My Image plugin are a GD extension for PHP, FreeType Library and DOM (only if you need to create watermarks for older images).

DMCA.com is an online provider of watermarking services for its account holders. DMCA protects their users images by “masking” them with a unique watermark or “badge”.

The DMCA.com WaterMarker plugin enables users to easily incorporate DMCA.com’s WaterMarking services into their WordPress sites. Installed and activated in a site’s Dashboard Settings Menu, the plugin is used to specify how the watermark or “badge” will be displayed on posts and pages. Users also have the option of displaying their badge site-wide with the DMCA Badge Widget. The badges are available for free but it’s suggested that you sign up for an account at dmca.com in order to receive the full benefit of their watermarking service.

This Watermark Reloaded plugin allows users to place a watermark on all their uploaded images. Watermarks can be created using a variety of fonts and applied to images ranging in size from thumbnails to full size) and can be positioned anywhere on the image. Requirements for the Watermark Reloaded plugin include PHP5, GD extension for PHP and FreeType Library. Watermark Reloaded is available in free and Pro versions.

Protecting your online content from unauthorized use can sometimes seem like a daunting task. These WordPress plugins make that job a little easier by preventing your images from being used without the proper permission.

Transparent Image Watermark is a plugin available in free, professional and ultra versions. This plugin will automatically add a watermark to all images uploaded to a site, providing instant protection. Watermarks are added using a transparent PNG image file. Users can view and review images, select the size of the images they want to watermark as well as the size and width of the watermark.