How to Create a Watermark in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (2018)

Watermarks are essential when you need to share footage without it being stolen. A good watermark adds your brand or logo to the video in a way that is visible enough to claim ownership but subtle enough that it does not ruin the viewing experience. This is common for client previews, stock footage portfolios, and sharing unfinished work for feedback.

Today I am going to show you how to create both a text watermark and a logo watermark in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

How to Create a Text Watermark

1. Open or navigate to the sequence you want to watermark.
2. Select the Type Tool (T) from the toolbar.
3. Click on the Program Monitor and type your watermark text. This could be your name, brand, or a copyright notice. To create a copyright symbol, type Alt+0169 on the numpad (Windows) or Option+G (Mac) to get ©.
4. Style the text in the Essential Graphics panel or Effect Controls:
   • Set the text color to a dark gray. Not pure black, just dark enough to be visible.
   • Enable Stroke and set it to white with a size of about 8-10. The stroke creates an outline that makes the text readable on both light and dark footage.
5. In Effect Controls, find the graphics layer’s Opacity and lower it to about 30-40%. This makes the watermark semi-transparent so the footage is still watchable.
6. Use the Align and Transform controls in the Essential Graphics panel to center the watermark on screen. Click both the horizontal and vertical center buttons.
7. Extend the graphics layer to cover the entire duration of the sequence.

How to Use a Logo as a Watermark

If you have a logo file (PNG with transparency works best):

1. Drag your logo file into the Project panel to import it.
2. Place the logo on a track above your footage on the timeline.
3. In Effect Controls, adjust the Scale under Motion to size the logo appropriately. You want it large enough to be visible but not so large that it dominates the frame.
4. Lower the Opacity to about 30-40%.
5. Position it where you want it. Center is the most protective, but a corner placement is less intrusive.
6. Extend the logo clip to span the full sequence.

For a more detailed look at logo placement, check out how to add a logo in Premiere Pro.

Tips

• Center placement is hardest to remove. If you put the watermark in a corner, someone can crop it out. Center placement makes that much more difficult.
• Use a diagonal pattern for maximum protection. Duplicate your watermark text, rotate it slightly, and tile it across the frame. This is the approach stock footage sites use.
• Don’t watermark your final delivery. Watermarks are for previews and review copies. Export a clean version for the final product.
• Save as a Motion Graphics Template. Right click the graphics layer and select Export as Motion Graphics Template. This saves it to your library so you can drag it onto any future project instantly.

That is how you create a watermark in Premiere Pro. Whether you use text or a logo, it takes just a few minutes to set up and gives you peace of mind when sharing your work.