Emboss, engrave, glass, outline
A flat white name in the corner is the default watermark because it is the easiest to make, not because it is the best looking. An effect changes how the mark sits in the picture: pressed in, cut in, frosted over it, or drawn as a thin line. Open a photo and the Effects panel shows every style as a small preview on that photo, drawn by the same code that will write your file.
| Emboss | Light edge up and left, dark edge down and right, the mark itself clear. Like a pressed seal. |
|---|---|
| Engrave | The emboss turned round, so the mark looks cut into the surface. |
| Glass | The picture under the mark brightened (light) or darkened (dark), with a fine edge — frosted rather than painted. |
| Outline | The edge of the mark only, traced from its shape. Works on logos and signatures, not just wording. |
| Knockout plate | A solid plate with the mark cut out, so the photo shows through the letters. |
| Soft glow | A blurred halo behind the mark in the opposite tone, which lifts it off a busy background. |
| Double stroke | Two thin outlines with a gap between, the middle left clear. |
Effects on light and dark photos
Glass light reads on mid and dark photos and disappears on white; glass dark is the reverse. Emboss and engrave carry both a light and a dark edge, so they read on almost anything at a low opacity. Glow picks the tone opposite the mark’s own ink unless you choose a colour. The Difference blend is the other answer for mixed backgrounds: a white mark inverts whatever is under it, so it is dark over the sky and light over the shadows without changing colour. The ink reading under the preview measures the result either way.
Effects across a folder
An effect is stored in the recipe with a strength from 1 to 10 and, where it uses one, a colour that can follow the mark. Strengths are relative to the mark’s own height, so a strength-4 emboss looks the same on a 1,000-pixel and a 6,000-pixel photo. Save the settings and run them on the batch route, or save the styled mark alone as a transparent PNG from the Export panel.
- Effects are drawn from pixels, so a styled mark saves as PNG only — the SVG export is offered for plain marks.
- Effects are not drawn on a camera-data band under the photo; use the corner or caption layout for that.
- Glass sets its own blend (lighten or darken) while it is on.
Watermark effect questions
What is an embossed watermark?
A mark that looks pressed into the photo rather than printed on it. Here it is drawn from the mark's own shape: a light copy nudged up and left, a dark copy nudged down and right, and the mark itself cut out of the middle so the picture shows through. Engrave is the same thing turned round, so the mark looks cut in.
Which effect is hardest to notice?
Emboss and engrave at a low strength and an opacity around 40 % — they change the light and shade of the picture rather than laying a colour on it, so they read as part of the photo. Glass is next. Outline, knockout plate and glow are made to be seen.
Do effects work in batch?
Yes. An effect is part of the recipe, like the size and the position, and the same renderer draws it on every file of a folder run — so the look you approve on the first photo is the look every photo gets. It is also kept in saved settings and in recipe files.
Can I use an effect on a logo?
Yes. Every effect works from the mark's alpha — the shape of what is drawn — so a logo, a signature, a QR code or a designed badge can be embossed, outlined or given a glow just like wording.