September 01, 2011

Lightroom: Watermark your images with sequential names/numbers

A photographer friend wrote me to say that her client has requested that she stamp each image in a shoot with a visible sequence number, making it easy for the client to request shots by name. With an assist from Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty, I can suggest the following:

• Go into the Slideshow module.
• Pick a template if you’d like (Tom had me choose Widescreen).
• On the bottom toolbar press the “ABC” (“add text”) button.
• From the adjacent popup menu, choose “Filename.”
• Position the filename over the image as desired.
• In the lower left corner, choose “Export PDF…” (or hold Opt/Alt to get “Export JPEG…”).
• If for any reason you want the visible numbers to match the images’ filenames, add the following steps:
• Choose Library->Rename.
• Back in the Slideshow module, select a preset like “Custom Name – Sequence.” (You can choose “Edit” to get fancy with renaming tokens, but the presets will likely suffice.)