Watermarks

I'm getting sick of people stealing images so I'm going to start watermarking. Does anyone one know how to put on those watermarks that fade in and out?

I know what you mean. I use the simple text tool in PS and then some combination of bevel, emboss and blurr to match taste. The best way is to create a watermark file (layer) as a separate file and just drag and drop the layer in every image that you want to watermark at the end of processing

Not quite sure what you mean by "fade in and out" Kah Kit. What I did was create a custom brush that's my copyright and name, then I can just single click and place it anywhere at anysize. If I do it on a separate layer, I can use the various layer styles and knocks down the percent blend to make is see-through and as subtle as I want it to be.

I have seen watermarks that seem to pulse so that they fade to nothingness in between.

Hi
If you log into "youtube" and type in "watermark photoshop there is a real neat video showing you how to create a watermark in photoshop.

Have a look here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elTsbjhzToI

and here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhdvgtRbIk

Dave

To have it fade in and out, it'd just be a basic GIF animation.
On your own website you could use javascript, Flash, or perhaps some other script to achieve a pulsing watermark - but for widespread use your stuck with using a GIF.

Not sure what the best program for making animated GIFs is nowadays. Last I used was Adobe ImageReady (now discontinued), or Macromedia Flash (before Adobe took it over). I believe some of the past features of ImageReady are now included right into Photoshop - just go to Window -> Animation to bring up the animation palette.

Since it's not as simple as just adding a text layer, the thing to do would be to create an action that overlays the watermark animation onto the photo. Once you have the action set up, it'll only take a few seconds to process each photo and save it as a gif.

Personally, I'd just stick with using a faint static watermark. That way you can stick to using JPEG compression...

Although I can't answer your question, one of the best deterrents to casual image theft that I've seen is what Utah photographer Tom Till incorporates in his website.
When you pass a mouse over any of his images, a copyright protection image appears and completely overlays the image.

Thanks for the tips. Tom Till's technique looks pretty nifty.

Not sure if I can help with the watermark, but for what its worth, here's some other possible tips in addition to watermarking:
http://www.naturefocused.com/articles/image-protection.html