Livin high and takin it easy

It took me a long time to figure out how to add a watermark or more importantly, add a watermark by batch, in Photoshop. A long time meaning years. Up until now I still do not know how to use the Photoshop. Sometimes I am able to do something, but as with every other skill, if you don’t practice, you eventually forget.

So one day, I finally decided to sit down and figure it out, all in the hopes of being able to make my life easier somehow in some not-so distant future. Google always works of course. Where would we all be without it? But then, much to my frustration, not a single one of the helpful sites on how to do watermark batch processing wrote it all down completely.

For my own future reference, as of course, I might forget; and for everyone else there who might be even slightly interested, here is how I did my watermark in Photoshop. For those who are experts, ignore me. Thank you very much.

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This is how I added a transparent watermark and copyright info to a whole folder of photos.

Some prep work…
Use a transparent watermark for protecting IP rights yet showing off pictures. Try to make all images looked consistent when viewed as a collection, for example in terms of size, effect, position etc. So first, resize all images to a certain size (use Photoshop Actions and batch command to resize images.) then group landscape and portrait photos in two source folder (i.e. Source_landscape, Source_portrait) Then, create two actions: e.g. ‘watermark Landscape’ ‘watermark portrait’.
Create an ‘output’ folder as well.

Copy the copyright sign from Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Character Map

Watermark…

Step 1) Open a landscape image, go to your actions palette and create a new action.  For example, “Watermark Landscape”. Press record.

Step 2) Add new layer. Choose Horizontal Type Tool from your Tool Palette. Paste your copyright sign then write your name or your company or your site, whatever it is you want to be in the watermark.
Step 3) Layer menu: Rasterize > Type
Step 4) Filter menu: Stylize > Gaussian Blur
Step 5) Filter menu: Stylize > Emboss, angle 135

Step 6) Set the layer blending mode to “Hard Light” to let the image show through.

Step 7) To embed a copyright note go to file.
File > File Info
This brings up the file info dialog. This is where you enter information that you want embedded into the file itself.

Step Layer menu: Flatten image
Step 9 ) Click on the stop icon at the bottom of the Actions Palette to stop recording. Close working image.

Step 10) Open the original image. Test “Watermark landscape” action or re-record to satisfaction.

Batch process all images
1) In Photoshop, go to File > Automate > Batch
2) In the Play section pull down “Action” and select “Watermark Landscape” action you created earlier.
3) The “Source” Section:
Since we did not create an “Open” Command in our Action, we need to make sure the “Override Action “Open” Commands” is NOT checked.
“Suppress file Open Options Dialog” should be checked.
“Suppress Color Profile Warnings” should be checked.
4) Click the “Choose” button and select the folder “source_landscape” you created in prep-work.
5) “Destination” Section:
The “Destination” should be set to “Folder”. Click on the “Choose” button and select the folder you created called “output”.
Make sure the “Override Action “Save As” command” is checked. Otherwise batch will create two identical files for each image – one named after original name (this is what action records in ‘save for web’) and the other name after the following pattern.
6) “File Naming” Section.
I prefer to prefix original image file name with something like ‘forWeb_’ just to differential it from original file. To do this:
Set the first box to ‘forWeb_’
Set the second box to “Document Name”
Set the third box to “Extension”.
7) Uncheck ‘Override Action “Save as” commands’
Now, to process your images, just click “Ok”.

And that’s it. (Repeat this for portrait images)

Credits to this site for the images used in this blog.

Also credits to this site for most of the text or instructions used in this blog. Thank you very much.

I never cared for Banksy much, although I know someone who loves the works, until one night while waiting for the time to feed the baby a bottle while she slept, I decided to click on one inconspicuous ad in some website and found Banksy, and more Banksy, and more more Banksy… and was hooked.

Girl with Balloon, originally uploaded by Onzin; taken on May 21, 2004

Maybe because at that precise moment I was mushy and I appreciated the red heart. I have seen a Banksy sighting photo before and did not really think much of it.

Kids on Guns, originally uploaded by eddiedangerous; taken on February 27, 2008

Reading more on Banksy changed me in some ways. I love Banksy’s sense of humor. I love his art. As a supposedly (or better yet, perhaps, a wanna-be) artist, I am continually looking for inspiration, whether it be in the plays I watch, photos I see or even those that my friends take, movies or even series, books, music, all kinds of what we call art these days or just random things you see out there.

Last year a friend, an arguably good professional photographer and a friend all the way back from first year high school, took the time to criticize my work while we were hanging out at a rock cafe that a friend of ours owned. He asked me, “What is it really that you want to express in your work?” I always think about my role in theatre and the role of theatre in my life but I never think about my work in photos. He said, “All you take photos of are beaches and sunsets.” He wanted to see growth. He wanted to see an evolution as an artist. A year has passed and I am still thinking about his question. Sadly, I still do not have an answer.

Bethlehem, 2005. Banksy imagines digging through the security fence and finding paradise.

Who is Banksy anyway?

“Banksy is a quasi-anonymous English grafitti artist. His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique. His stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects include rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly.” (Lifted off the wikipedia entry on Banksy but if you want to know more, there are hundreds of pages about him if you google.)

I found this nice slide show of his works too here.

I do love Banksy’s sense of humor. These days when I am bored, I can’t help but think about the message he left at the Bristol Zoo’s elephant enclosure, “I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.”

And who can resist this?

This is Not A Photo Opportunity, originally uploaded by artofthestate; taken on February 8, 2007 in London

Banksy has sprayed “This is not a photo opportunity” on certain photograph spots. It is now to be found all over the world (Paris, Sydney and Havana at least) according tho this website (which also has a nice body of Banksy works.)

No she isn’t really watching TV. I may come off as an irresponsible parent half the time but I do not make the baby watch tv. She’s just funny here.  I just made her sit there, so like the overzealous parent that I am, I can document her first unassisted sitting experience. Or is that another irresponsible parenting thing to do? She just turned two months after all.

And here she is, obligingly posing for the camera with a smile. As if to say, “Now go print that picture and post it in that baby scrapbook you always say you’re gonna make but never do.”

I remember when Cheekay and Joan went to our house in Pili while I was there visiting my parents last May 20-June 6. Cheekay was playing with Lia who was then unresponsive. She said, “It will be so much more fun when she reaches three months. When she reacts and smiles and squeals and giggles.” Well, here she is.