Update: Sadly, Picnik is no longer available so I've made an updated tutorial in my post called How to Add Text or a Watermark to a Photo.
So in order to get the new and improved tutorial, simply click here or click the image to the right.
Images are an important aspect of blogging. We've already talked about the importance of image size and how to resize your images quickly. There are many more ways to edit images — such as watermarking.
Picnik is a free (a premium version is available), online image-editing tool and a bit more powerful than the tool mentioned in the post above. It is extremely user-friendly and a lot of fun. Today I'm going to do a quick overview of Picnik and show you some of the things you can do with it.
In the end, we'll end up with a watermarked photo. I'm no photographer, but this is the effect we're going after:
Here's how to do it:
Can't see the video? Watch it here.
How to Watermark a Photo (and get an overview of Picnik in the process)
- Go to Picnik.com.
- Click "Get Started Now."
- Upload a photo (from your computer or somewhere else online).
- Once your photo is uploaded, you can edit it (crop, resize, etc.) on the "Edit" tab. Click "OK" to apply each change.
- Click the "Create" tab to add effects to your photo.
- To watermark your photo, click the "Text" option.
- Type in your text and click "Add."
- Use the "Text Properties" box to resize your text, change the color, etc.
- I like the "Overlay" (Advanced Blend Modes) for a nice watermark effect.
- Once you're done, save your photo to your computer, send it to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on the "Save & Share" tab.
- Done!
Here at BloggingWithAmy you'll find tips, tools & tutorials about blogging and websites. In plain English. Want to 
Amy, thank you so much for giving us this "how to". I've been wondering how to place a watermark on my pictures. I've been using microsoft paint….and it is such a pain. Now, I can begin adding images to my blog with out fear of them being used elsewhere.
Terrific information!
Jana
Glad it was helpful!
I use Picnik all the time, but I didn't know about the Watermark feature. Thanks so much, Amy!
You're welcome!
Is there any way to save the watermark so that you don't have to redo it for every pic?
Not in the free version of Picnik (to my knowledge). If you are using WordPress, you might do a search for "watermark" in "Add New" plugins. You might be able to find one that applies a watermark to your images easily. Hope it helps!
This looks like a great program. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
Do you recommend a partcular format for pictures on blogs: jpeg, gif, png?
Thanks again for all the excellent info!
For photos, .jpeg. For anything designed on a computer (logos, etc.) I use .png. Also, if any part of your image has a transparent background, you'd want to use .png. You could use .gif for line drawing or small, basic images. It all has to do with file size and clarity.
Thanks very much for sharing the steps how to use picnik. I have been wanting to learn how to put a faint watermark in the middle of the photo. A blogger friend had just mentioned about using picnik. I'll look into that. Have nice day.
I hope it works for you Mary!
Thank you once again for the great information. I recently started following your blog and it's so, so helpful. I can't wait to check out Picnik. Thanks again.
How do you watermark several photos at once?
Oh thank you so much
. Ive been wanting to learn how to add a watermark to all my baking photos for my blog. Just either one I ran into you had to pay for it and I used picnik for editing but didn't know you could have that overlay that look soo similar to watermark.. thanks soo much
You're very welcome! Glad it helped.
Thanks for sharing information on watermarks – it's been a concern for me. I tried Picnik and love the results!
I added pictures to the group's Flickr account last night. It was fun yesterday to follow the challenge of taking 30 pictures – loved going through them and choosing the "best." Then using editing tools I've learned from you, they just got better and better
Thanks so much, Lynda, for sharing your knowledge with us – I'll be sad to see our lessons come to an end. I have learned more than I ever, ever thought I could about photography, and it's caused me to really enjoy taking pictures!
Mary @ Redo101.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for the tip! I use picnik but never for proper watermarks, and one of my tutorials was copied / stolen so I am grateful for the info as I'll be needing to go thru all my tutorials now. Thanks!
You're welcome! Thanks for stopping by, Jenna.
Thanks so much! I use Picnik for my photography business and could not get my logo on my photos to look good! Now it does!! Thanks so much!
Thanks Amy! That was super helpful!!!
Amy,
Thanks it was helpful. But, is it possible in Picnik to add watermark to each & every pic i want to edit directly without doing the same work each & every time.
Thanks,
Nick
thanks.its a great help.
How important is watermarking? I'm debating using a watermark system as I am starting to sell my photos.
Hi Amy. I've been seeing more and more bloggers do this w/ Pinterest and folks making copies. Now that Picnic is closing where do we go? Any ideas? I'm a complete no nothing about photo editing
There are a couple suggestions in this post.
So often now they are edited out anyway. If you are going to use a watermark make you use a small one and tile it across the image … this will make it much harder to remove.