Watermark Your Public Family History Photos for Free with Canva

4/28/2024

Watermark Your Public Family History Photos for Free with Canva

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Family History and Genealogy Photo Protection, Free Canva Watermarks

When you share your family history, whether it be your public family tree, through a blog, or even a family website or social media page, you undoubtedly share family/ancestor photos as part of the sharing process. This will not be a debate on whether you should share your photos or not but is just simply a way to address the issue of you maybe wanting to share photos to help others out and bring joy but not necessarily having someone reshare them and take the credit. My trees on Ancestry and MyHeritage are private, as that is what I prefer for numerous reasons. When I get a request on Ancestry, through Ancestry messaging, asking to share a photo, I need to do so through email, as Ancestry’s messaging does not let you attach a photo if it’s not in a public tree. I am always happy to share photos, but like many, I don’t like having my photos reshared by someone else as their own. If you are like many, there is a way to share your photos, while protecting them as your own. You can create a watermark for your photos, documents, research, and anything else needed, for free, in Canva.

How to Create a Free Watermark in Canva

Search “Design Watermark” in the search bar
Choose one of the free designs
Make it your own
Download it
Upload it to Canva
Upload your photo to Canva
Set your photo as background
Include uploaded watermark to photo
Change transparency of watermark

This version does add a slight filter over your photo

Or

Upload photo to Canva
Set your photo as background
Include text
Change transparency of text

Drawbacks to Adding a Watermark to Your Family History Photos

You will have the unsightly watermarks on the photos in your tree as well
The photos in any family trees, reports, etc. that you print from Ancestry, MyHeritage, or a family tree maker program that syncs to Ancestry, will have the unsightly watermark as well

Examples of Free Watermarks Made in Canva

Watermarks in Canva- Example 1

Watermarks in Canva- Example 2

Watermarks in Canva- Example 3

Watermarks in Canva- Example 4

Transparent Text in Canva- Example 5

Keep in mind that anyone can easily remove them. 😉

More Genealogy Resources

Learn about more family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.

6 Comments

Karen Packard Rhodes link

4/30/2024 12:29:09 am

That last remark in your post -- "Keep in mind that anyone can easily remove them" -- rather makes the whole thing moot, to me. I wonder if using a photo-editing software to put a copyright notice or some sort of "brand" (in the cattle-branding sense) on a photo would be any less easy for someone else to remove. I'm with you, though, on keeping my tree private, most likely for the same reasons!

Diane Henriks link

5/13/2024 06:19:12 am

I should have said if they know how and want to spend the time to do so, in which they would need to use a photo editing tool to do it. ;)

Jenny Hawran link

4/30/2024 01:21:06 pm

I've had to do this with several of my photos. I love to share, but I want to make sure the photo is linked back to me somehow as the original owner.

5/13/2024 06:24:24 am

I have shared for well over a decade, and I am happy to do so. I have always shared through email, and over the years I now find that other relatives of the persons I had originally shared with (and asked not to give out or post publicly) are now putting them up in theit public trees after discovering Ancestry, with no credits, etc. This was the first time I decided to look into watermarks before I shared through email to someone who specifically asked for a photo of this person, through Ancestry messaging. :)

Molly of Molly’s Canopy link

5/4/2024 09:05:23 am

I passed on watermarks years ago as they were once very hard to remove from the photo. Not thrilled with any of these. A nice, clean footer would make more sense. Thanks for the walkthrough.

5/13/2024 06:28:45 am

Thanks, Mollie! Duly noted. This was just a quick idea in case others were looking for something like this. Tons of people in the Ancestry Facebook group seem to post about others taking their photos and passing them as their own, so thought it would be a quick solution for some. I agree, they horendous; although, the last one is not that bad. These were just a quick test. :)