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.
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.
Size, opacity, and position
- Size — how large the mark is relative to each image. Large enough to deter screenshots, small enough to still show off the photo.
- Opacity — how see-through the mark is. Lower opacity looks cleaner but is easier to crop or paint out; higher opacity protects better.
- Position — where the mark sits (e.g. center, or a corner). A centered mark is hardest to crop away; a corner mark is least intrusive.
A common balance is a centered mark at moderate size and 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.
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.