Blog · October 29, 2026
How to watermark photos for client proofing.
“Can you send the clean ones? I already picked.” You exported the watermarked set last night. Now you’re exporting again.
Put the mark across the middle of each proof, where no crop can remove it, and keep it light enough that your client can still judge the photo. Then keep it out of your files: let the proofing link draw it on the previews, so the photos you uploaded are the clean finals your client downloads once they approve.
By Vitaly Kibenko
Where the mark goes, and how strong.
Through the subject, not in a corner
A logo in a corner is a signature, and one crop takes it off. A mark through the middle of the frame stays in any crop worth keeping.
Light enough to judge through
Your client is choosing between expressions and frames, so a heavy mark hides what they’re looking at. White text at partial opacity, with a soft shadow, holds up on bright and dark frames.
Words that say what it is
Proof, or Review copy, tells anyone who sees a screenshot that it isn’t the final. Your studio’s name can sit under it, smaller.
A proof-sized file
A proof doesn’t need to be full size. Around 1600 px on the long edge is plenty to choose from on a phone, and too soft to print large.
The Lightroom way, and its catch.
Lightroom Classic has a watermark editor: Edit, then Edit Watermarks on Windows, or the Lightroom Classic menu on a Mac. It takes text or a PNG or JPEG graphic, with opacity, a size (Proportional, Fit or Fill), an inset and nine anchor points, and saves the result as a preset you pick under Watermarking when you export.
The catch is the second export. The marked JPEGs are now the files in the gallery, so when your client approves, you export the whole set again without the mark and upload it again. Miss a frame and a proof slips into the finals.
Let the link draw it.
On DropYourFiles you upload the clean exports once. Your client sees previews with Review copy burned into the picture, in the grid and in the large view, and once they’ve typed a name, that name shows across the photo on screen too. Downloads stay closed until your client approves. When they press Approve, the mark comes off and the files you uploaded open for download.
It’s one switch for the studio: Account, Project defaults, Watermark review copies, on unless you turn it off. The words and the position are fixed for now, so there’s no logo option. Films carry the same mark, as in how to watermark a video for client review.
No mark stops a screenshot. It makes one less worth keeping: how to stop clients screenshotting proofs.
Questions.
Where should a watermark go on a proof?
Across the middle, through the subject, at partial opacity. A corner mark comes off with one crop.
Can I watermark proofs for free?
Yes. Lightroom Classic’s watermark editor comes with it, and on DropYourFiles the review mark is on every plan, Free included.
Do I need to export a watermarked set?
Not when the link adds the mark. Upload the finals once, and the link marks the previews until your client approves.
When does the watermark come off?
When your client presses Approve. The same link then hands over the clean files.
Keep reading.
- How to stop clients screenshotting proofs
- Photo proofing your client can do on a phone
- How to watermark a video for client review
- Lightroom export settings for clients
- Vimeo review link expired? Why, and what to do
- How long does it take to get wedding photos back?
New here? See what DropYourFiles does, or compare the plans.
Sources
- Adobe help: the watermark editor in Lightroom Classic, read October 29, 2026
- Adobe help: export files to disk or CD (Lightroom Classic), read October 29, 2026
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