14 DAY TRIAL // To many, protecting an image by personalizing it with something simple such as watermarking text is no problem at all. There is plenty of software on the market ready to help you with this. Just take any image editing application and you’ll definitely find a way to imprint particular elements. On the flipside, not all such programs come with an easy-to-use interface or options that can be easily accessed by beginner and average users. Tools like Gimp or Paint .NET are bent on serving a different, more complex purpose than watermarking images.
There are more appropriate tools, specialized for this sort of job, which can carry out the mission with less effort, waiting for you to pick them up. Easy Watermark Studio is a $24.99 solution particularly designed to offer a wide array of watermarking options in an uncomplicated interface. It comes with a 30-day trial period that has all the features unlocked and ready to assist your needs. The only inconvenience in the evaluation version is the fact that all output images will have a standard watermark applied.
Installing the software does not cause any trouble and there are no side-offers, so you can complete the process without the fear of installing third-party applications or services by accident. At the end of the operation, an intensely colored scarlet, simply structured interface greets you. Almost all the settings are in plain sight so you don’t have to look for hidden functionality.
It features four tabs in the upper part of the screen, which are all you need to personalize your images as they cover text and image watermark options, as well as a set of effects to press into the picture and the customization element. Easy Watermark Studio can work with both individual photos and entire folders of raw material; this can be loaded from the right side of the application window.
As soon as you prepare the fodder, you’re ready to toy around with all the watermarking options and effects available. For text watermarks, there is an entire arsenal of possibilities ranging from font settings, position in the image to effects like shadow dropping or applying outer glow. There is even the possibility to set a background pattern to the watermark text (at least 40 patterns are available) or add a winding sinusoidal effect, add reflection or adjust opacity.
However, with all this level of flexibility, there is some discomfort when it comes to pinning the text on the image because you are not given free hand. Text position is not controlled by dragging and dropping the element, instead you have to choose from predefined positions and then adjust the vertical and horizontal parameters (where possible). Implementing drag and drop manipulation just like in the case of layers would be a much desired improvement for the future release as it greatly simplifies the process. Also, if you need the text locked into a specific position, you’d better enable shadows and outer glow before setting the watermark because applying and adjusting them displaces the watermark.
Setbacks aside, Easy Watermark Studio features finer control for some of the options, such as tuning the shadow drop and its color or the size of the outer glow. All these require no effort to adjust, only a keen eye not to overdo it, because tuning is made simply by dragging some sliders. You will benefit from instant preview of the modifications.
Choosing an image as customization element for your images is simpler to manage because the number of options drops. The set of image formats supported by Easy Watermark Studio is colorful enough to also include, besides the popular GIF, PNG, JPG and BMP, the less popular, some of which used in professional environments: PSD, PCX, RLA, PPM, TGA or PSP.
The positioning of the layer is not different from the text watermark, but the problems with the exact fixing of the element are gone because drop shadow and outer glow options are not available in this screen. You get instead to play with watermark size and opacity, as well as a different type of effects, specific to graphic elements. Thus, you can use Gaussian blur, emboss, edge detection, sharpening, edge enhance or emboss Laplascian effects to aid you personalize the watermark image.
Besides the effects for the text and image layers, Easy Watermark Studio brings to the table a bunch of effects that can be applied to the entire image, not the customization pieces. It offers the possibility to round the corners of the raw material, add an outline of whatever color you want or select which of the two types of watermarks available should be on top of which.
One of the best parts of Easy Watermark Studio is the support for multiple profiles. You can make the settings you want to use for a specific type of image and save it for later use in a jiffy, just by typing a name in the lower part of the screen (right under all the settings) and saving the template. Then, you can load it to watermark an image that fits the standards.
As far as the output settings are concerned, Easy Watermark Studio keeps it simple. It lets you select a preferred folder for the resulting files to be stored in, pick an output format (JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF or TIF) and make resize settings (if necessary). At the end of all this, you can decide on the saving of the EXIF details or on color conversion: wash the entire image in sepia colors or grayscale it.
Easy Watermark Studio is indeed easy to use and delivers some handy watermarking options, but there is plenty of room for improvement. A glitch in the program allows you to process the images even if the folder you assign to store the results does not exist. No alerts of any kind will warn you of the non-existent path and yet computer resources are employed in order to carry out the task; generally, about 50% of the CPU is used and in our case, RAM usage went as high as 115MB.
Both text and image watermarks can be applied to the images. For any modification, you benefit from real-time preview. Speed is not among Easy Watermark Studio’s strong points, as the application takes plenty of time to apply all effects and watermarks to an image. On the same note, you can start the image processing operation even if no valid output path is available. Also, the fact that it is a bit overpriced cannot be overlooked. This article is also available in Spanish: Protege tus imágenes
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