These instructions are for watermarking images on the command line using the ImageMagick command "composite". So you'll need to have SSH access to your images. (To watermark images off-server -- ie., on your desktop in Windows -- check out this list of programs.)
1. Create a PNG watermark image
Using PNG, you can avoid distortion of the watermark when its composited
If your original images are dark, you should use white text for the watermark. If your images are light, use black text. Don't worry about shades of the text color for now. You can adjust how brightness of the watermark on the command line.
I used Photoshop to create a small image with the watermark text, then save it as PNG.
2. Run the command: composite
The full command with options is:
composite \
-dissolve 80 \
-gravity southeast \
watermark.png \
original-image.jpg \
new-watermarked-image.jpg
This command applies the watermark image to the original image, and creates a new composite image. It sets the watermark to be 80% of its brightness, and places the watermark in the southeast corner (bottom right) of the image.
Notes for each element of the command:
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