By Graham K. Rogers

When I first used the eXtensions website for my Bangkok Post articles and others, I used images that were large and displayed clearly. Later, when my photographs were uploaded via the WordPress software to the site I used in 2011 (AMITIAE - now closed) they were smaller: if users borrowed the pictures they could not do so much with them. On eXtensions it was a little different and some of the photographs I put online ended up on other websites without permission and rarely with any acknowledgement.

Background

There are a number of ways to watermark images. With Aperture this can be done by adding image data from another file. However, I used software specifically for the purpose, called iWatermark from Script Software, now called Plum Amazing. There were several ways to set this up with several styles of watermark. Users also had access to all of the installed fonts, so a rather specific style could be created. Although styles included finishes of gold and silver, black and white, I preferred the embossed look. Depending on the content it was possible to place the watermark anywhere on the picture. This and a newer Pro version have seen several improvements and additions.

I downloaded an iPhone and iPad version of iWatermark some while back. The cost was a very reasonable $0.99. It was not available for the iPad1 as it had no camera. When the iPad 2 arrived, I was able to install it on that device. The camera on an iPad is not as good as on the iPhone (especially the 4S), however, the app does access any images available in the Photo Library. This may be useful if used in conjunction with the Camera Connector Kit and full-sized images from a DSLR camera are imported to the iPad. As I rarely use the iPad for photography, I started with this app on the iPhone.

iWatermark

To begin the process we select an image from the library or take a photograph. When there is an image to use, the other buttons are live. The first of these, iWatermark Photo brings up a roller wheel with several already created watermarks available: dates, images and famous names. The last of these, for example Picasso, are not editable. According to the help file, these are examples to illustrate how they can be used.

The text Watermark button is for making personalised watermarks. We write suitable text (for example, a name) and edit that by selection of font, size, opacity, color and angle. These (and all other watermarks available in the app) can be located by tapping and dragging. A new watermark can be saved and is then available on the iWatermark Photo roller. This makes it an almost-instant adjustment to an image.

The image watermark selector has two options: Image and QR Code. The first allows us to select an image as a watermark and it might be wise to select such an image carefully. The QR code is created on the fly by entering text into a panel that is provided. As one might expect, a QR code anywhere in an image is not beautiful, but it is not meant to be: it is there like any watermark to identify the work as that of a specific creator.

As the iPhone is becoming more the sort of device that I am likely to use to take photographs, many more of the images I put online are from this, rather than my DSLR camera. This may become more important to me as direct uploads to the web are far easier these days. iWatermark gives me a really quick way that I can prepare the shots for online distribution and make sure I am identified as the originator.

Updates

New Fonts
Users had access to a total of 67 fonts at that time from which to create a text watermark. Many other apps are limited to a few fonts, but this more generous availability made it possible to create tailor-made watermarks in fonts to suit (or match) other output from the same source.

As a point of interest for local users, I was able also to type Thai characters, even when I used a font that was not found on my Macs. I can therefore create more creative text watermarks this way. A real advantage when setting these up is that the panel displays the text in the font, so we really do see what we are getting.

Signature
The new signature feature is useful for some. If this is selected, the software prompts a user to take a photo of a signature and then save it. This then becomes available on the watermark selector roll. When applied to an image, like other watermarks it can be resized and repositioned using touch controls. As can be seen from my picture of a monitor lizard feasting on dead python, it is a mistake to use lined paper for the source of the signature.

As the cream paper I used was not picked up, while the grey lines were, I guess there is a 50% threshold value: black and white. The way I did this was completely against the advice Julian Miller of Plum Amazing, whose instructions are, "Sign a white page with black ink using a good pen and in good lighting. . . ." I would also advice strongly against using the iPhone's flash as this creates some unwanted vignetting and spoils the image.

Exporting and More Fonts
In October 2011, there were a few minor changes to iWatermark, as well as the important additions of 10 more fonts and multiline text watermarks. The changes to the app included the ability to use Japanese. We were also told that the Facebook login had been changed so a user can delete one and enter another; the text has been changed with Twitpic, Twitter and Facebook; the chequers background is always displayed to assist with seeing boundaries.

Although there was no specific mention of iOS 5 in the update (version 3.2 - which needs iOS 3.1.3 or later), we also read that we may now copy a watermarked image to the clipboard. The developer adds that this is a "great way to drop watermarked images into iMessage" which is part of the iOS update.

Minor Changes
An update in November 2011 to iWatermark (v. 3.3) fixed a "delete watermark" crash, fixed the bundle ID and gave users a new "stamp" icon on the main menu. Documentation was updated

Even More Fonts and Other Improvements
Most recently (January 2012), iWatermark received another useful update with an option to include a shadow text as well as the inclusion of another 10 iOS5 fonts. This brings the number of fonts available to users of this app to 87 now. A further improvement is the addition of a multi-photo selector which allows batch processing then export to the various destinations that are available using this app, such as flickr, email and others.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.