How to watermark an image
- Drop your photo or image onto the tool — a live preview appears immediately.
- Type your watermark text.
- Pick a color and a position: a diagonal center mark, or a corner/edge placement.
- Adjust size and opacity until it looks right in the preview.
- Click Download.
Everything renders live on an HTML5 canvas as you adjust settings, so you see the exact result before downloading.
When to watermark a photo
- Portfolio previews — photographers and designers watermark proofs so a client can review the work without the full-resolution, mark-free version circulating before payment.
- Attribution — a website or social handle stamped on images meant to be shared, so credit travels with the image even if it's reposted elsewhere.
- Draft or sample marking — indicating an image isn't the final deliverable.
- Discouraging casual reuse — a visible mark doesn't prevent copying, but it does discourage casual reuse of an image found via search or social media.
A watermark is a deterrent and an attribution device, not a security measure — someone determined enough can crop or edit around it. It's most effective as a visible signal of ownership on images meant to be seen widely, not as a barrier against a determined bad actor.
Choosing position and style
A diagonal center watermark (the default here) is the hardest to crop out without losing important parts of the image, since it spans the middle of the frame — the standard choice for stock photo previews and portfolio proofs, precisely because it can't be trimmed off without also cutting the photo's subject. A corner placement is less intrusive and better suited to attribution — a website URL or handle in the bottom corner that doesn't interfere with viewing the image, at the cost of being easy to crop out.
Lower opacity (15–25%) keeps the underlying image easy to view — appropriate when the goal is attribution rather than deterrence. Higher opacity (40%+) makes the mark harder to ignore or edit around, more appropriate for a sample image not meant to be used as-is.
Privacy: what happens to your image
The watermark is drawn directly onto the image using the Canvas API, entirely in your browser — the photo is never uploaded. Open DevTools → Network while using the tool and you'll see no outbound requests.