Photoshop tips - Using a Custom Shape to Watermark Photos

With your custom watermark shape from the previous section, securely saved in the Custom Shapes palette, you can now mark any photo with your watermark with just a few clicks and drags. It will be the same every time...

Now, open a new file (or the same file) and tap "U" to grab the shapes tool. Holding the shift key, drag out a copy of your new shape -- the watermark.

Remember, you can do many operations with this path -- from filling to texturing to masking and so forth.
You can use Edit > Transform to perform other operations to make it suit the file... or just use as is.

You always need paths selected in order to act on them. So, grab the Path Selection Tool (Tap "A") and -- as we did before -- Click on the work path generated by the Custom Shape tool, and drag a selection rectangle around the entire path. Its handles will turn black, indicating it's an active path selection, and you simply drag or Edit > Transform to make your changes. (Transform = cmd/T or ctrl/T)

Here, I decided to rotate it just for some visual identity

What did you learn? What's missing?

Now, let's back up a minute and look at the shape modes you can use with this mark.

Before drawing out your custom shape watermark in the image window, you'll want to select one of the three icons in the Shapes Tool options bar. This dictates how the mark will behave once it's committed to a new path.