Watermarking

Watermarking lets customers preview their photos without giving away usable full-resolution files. On a watermarked shoot, every preview image (and video) is automatically marked before customers can see it; the clean originals unlock only after payment.

Your watermark is a workspace-wide setting — configure it once in Settings, and it applies to every watermarked shoot. You can change it at any time.

Watermarked shoots also need something to buy

Watermarking is only half of the preview-then-buy flow. For customers to unlock and pay for their originals, a watermarked shoot needs either at least one package attached or individual photo pricing turned on (a price set on each photo) — otherwise there’s nothing for them to purchase. See Customer access tiers.

Text vs. logo

	When to use it
Text watermark	Fastest to set up. Type your studio name or a short string. Good when you don’t have a logo file handy.
Logo watermark	Most branded. Upload a transparent PNG so the background shows through. Best for a recognizable mark.

For a logo, a transparent PNG is important — a logo on a solid background will paint that background over the photo.

Adjusting your watermark

The available controls depend on the type:

• Text watermark — set its opacity and color. Text marks are rendered centered across the image (angled), so there’s no size or position to set.
• Logo watermark — set its size, position, and opacity.

What each control does:

• Opacity (both types) — how see-through the mark is. Lower looks cleaner but is easier to crop or paint out; higher protects better.
• Color (text only) — the color of the text.
• Size (logo only) — how large the logo is relative to each image. Large enough to deter screenshots, small enough to still show off the photo.
• Position (logo only) — where the logo sits (center or a corner). A centered mark is hardest to crop away; a corner mark is least intrusive.

A common balance is a mark at moderate opacity — visible on the subject, but the preview still sells the shot.

How processing works

When you upload to a watermarked shoot, Skyforge processes each file in the background and stores a watermarked copy for previews. The originals are kept separately and are never sent to a customer until they’ve paid.

• Large shoots take a few minutes to finish processing — previews appear as they’re ready.
• Both images and videos are watermarked.
• Previews are intentionally lower quality. Watermarked preview images are saved as compressed JPEGs — quick to load and a deterrent to using the preview instead of buying. The full-resolution originals customers unlock after paying keep their original quality — only the preview is compressed.
• HEIC/HEIF photos are converted to JPEG. iPhone photos (HEIC) are converted during processing, so both the watermarked preview and the purchased original are standard JPEGs that open everywhere.

When watermarking is skipped

If a shoot’s access tier is prepaid, watermarking is skipped entirely and the customer receives the full-resolution files directly. Use prepaid when the customer has already paid you outside the gallery. See Customer access tiers.

Tips

• Update your watermark before a big upload — changing it doesn’t reprocess shoots that were already delivered.
• Test with one shoot first to dial in size/opacity you’re happy with.