For many of us photo security has become a real concern in the online world. We spend time creating the perfect shots in the hope that our work will get the recognition it deserves, only to discover that our original pictures have been shamelessly stolen by evil-minded users or online businesses.
To discourage image theft we can implement various techniques, with watermarking being one of the most popular. A watermark unquestionably states from the get-go that those images belong to you and can’t be further used without your permission.
Furthermore, adding a watermark can also be a beneficial move from a business perspective. This can be an effective way to drive traffic back to your website or blog, to generate some buzz and become more notorious in the online environment.
If you want to know how to watermark photos on Mac with ease, we’ve compiled a list of ten apps designed to make your job significantly easier:
PhotoMarks
PhotoMarks is a batch watermark app for Mac designed to be extremely easy to use. This means that it comes with a user-friendly interface and with previews for every edit you make, so that you’ll always have an overview of what you’re doing. Basically the process is simple: you add your photos, apply the watermark and just select your output folder and image format.
PhotoMarks allows you to add both text and logo marks and completely customize them by selecting the desired position, rotation, scale, font style, size and color, by adjusting the transparency or by applying special effects like stroke, shadow and bounding-box. For an increased productivity, the app has a feature to save your settings as profiles and use them later without having to go through the same edits again.
In addition to watermarking, the tool also allows you to convert (support for RAW files) resize, auto rotate or decorate photos with graphical frames. Once you’ve finished, you have the option of saving the newly-edited pictures on a local folder, send them via email or upload them to FTP or Flickr.
PhotoMarks offers a fully-featured trial version for free. The app also has a iOS version in case you want to directly watermark photos on iPhone/iPad.
iWatermark Pro
iWatermark Pro is a watermark tool for Mac users designed to effectively handle batch processing. The app prides itself on supporting a wide array of watermarks: text, logo, signature, QR codes, metadata. At the same time you can opt for an invisible StegoMark. This a patented method which gives you the opportunity to embed personal information into the image data itself.
iWatermark allows you to customize the visible marks to your liking, which means you can select your own transparency, placement, font, color, size and apply special effects like aqua, shadow and emboss. Besides watermarking, the app can also perform other useful tasks, like generating thumbnails, renaming or resizing photos.
The only inconvenient has to do with the interface, which is not the most intuitive.
Watermark Sense
Watermark Sense is a photo watermark software for Mac designed to help you protect and promote your original content. The app gives you the possibility to insert text and image watermarks, including a text mark based on the EXIF/IPTC metadata. To simplify your job, you can save your watermark configuration and your export settings as custom presets.
Watermark Sense enables you to fine-tune your chosen marks as you please. This means you’ll be able to customize the placement and size, adjust the opacity, select a blending mode or apply a shadow effect. The app supports batch processing, but at the same time offers an option to manually position your text or logo for individual pictures. Besides watermarking, you can rename, rotate and flip images, as well as edit the EXIF/IPTC metadata.
Mass Watermark
Mass Watermark is designed, as the name might indicate it, to watermark images in bulk. The program gives you the opportunity to add text and image marks, but also create your own watermark from scratch with the aid of the integrated designer module. The app is developed with a smart algorithm that automatically scales the watermark to match the chosen position.
In addition to protecting your visual content, Mass Watermark can be used to perform other useful operations. Depending on your needs, you have options to resize images individually or in bulk, to crop and rotate them, as well as improve their aspect by adjusting the brightness, contrast or RGB values. It’s worth mentioning that the app allows you to directly upload the newly-edited pictures to Google Photos or Flickr. If you want to try it, a fully functional trial version is available.
PhotoJob 3
PhotoJob is an interesting alternative for Mac users looking to watermark their images. The app can handle hundreds of photos at once and it’s fairly easy to use. The interface is split in three main parts: on the left side you can see the loaded files, in the center you can preview your edited image, while on the right you’ll find your editing options.
PhotoJob makes it possible to add a text, a logo, as well as a QR code to your photos. The app comes with a built-in QR code generator, which allows you to create an image using your URL, phone number, personal email or GPS coordinates. PhotoJob gives you options to customize your watermarks and to save them for later use. The app supports standard image formats, as well as many RAW formats and offers additional features for image editing. In that sense you can manually rename and resize photos and automatically enhance them and adjust the color level.
uMark
uMark offers all the basic features you’d expect, but it also comes with certain quirks. For example, if you wish to install the app, even the free standard version, you need to register with your email address. With live preview for each step taken, the program allows you to add multiple types of watermarks, from text and image to different shapes, QR codes and EXIF metadata.
Of course, you can customize your watermarks to the extent you want by adjusting things like transparency, rotation, position (not fully customizable in the free version), font and more. To make your job easier, uMark enables you to save the watermarks you’ve created and use them again later. In addition to image files, the developer places at your disposal different tools to watermark videos and PDF’s.
Watermark Plus
With 17 built-in watermark profiles, Watermark Plus is an alternative to consider if you’re on the search for such a tool. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, allowing you to perform all desired operations without constantly wondering where to go next.
With this app you can apply text, logo or script marks to your pictures in batch mode and save them as profiles in order to use them later. There’s also a single mode available, that enables you to adjust the placement of the chosen watermark on each image. A useful feature is the fact that the program will automatically adjust your text or logo for each pic to fit its size. Besides watermarking, you can also resize multiple photos, convert or rename them in the same session.
WaterMarquee
If you don’t want to install another software on your Mac, this is an option worth taking into account. WaterMarquee is a browser-based tool designed to batch watermark pictures with ease. You can add a text and/or logo to your images and also choose one from the various pre-built watermark templates.
The tool offers a free version, which allows you to add a maximum of five files at a time and no larger than 3 MB. The Pro version lets you upload an unlimited number of pictures with a larger size and comes with premium fonts and templates.
It’s worth mentioning that WaterMarquee provides support only for PNG and JPG file types.
Star Watermark
Star Watermark is another solution for watermarking images on Mac. The process isn’t the most straightforward, as you have to create your own template, edit it, select it from the left side panel and afterwards add the files you wish to watermark.
The program comes in three editions, with the free basic one allowing you to insert only text and perform basic customization. The paid versions enable additional features, including the possibility to add a logo and multiple layers with text and image marks. If you have other types of files that require protection or branding, the developers offer separate tools for watermarking videos and PDF’s.
PhotoX
PhotoX is a simple app to watermark multiple photos at the same time. The interface may not be the most appealing for a Mac user and may require some adaptation time, but the app does what’s supposed to do in an effective way: watermark numerous image files in a short period of time.
In addition to the traditional text and logo, which you can customize as you please, PhotoX lets you insert a QR code into your photos. The program places at your disposal other interesting features. For example, you can add strips on top of photos, apply fade out effects, convert them to grayscale or adjust the brightness and contrast.
