Image text annotations and watermarks

Adding text annotations to many images does not have to be hard. They don't have to look boring either. Arles allows you to create professional 3D watermarks, outlined text and text with drop shadows with one click of the mouse. With title tags you can insert the file name, image height or even image titles you defined in the Arles Image Explorer.

The thumbnail on the right shows two text annotations, a watermark and the ground reflection effect.

Arles Image Effects Window

To add text to your images, open the Web Page Creator window select the Images tab. On the Images tab click the effects Options button.

In the Image Effects window click the Add button and select the Text menu item.

You will now have a text item in the Effects list on the left hand side. You can add as many effects as you like. Use drag and drop to change the order in which effects are applied. Arles lets you preview the results in the example window on the right.

I have added a solid white border, a paperclip image overlay and a drop shadow. By clicking any effect in the list you can change its settings in the center panel. Creating outlined text or a drop shadow for the text is as simple as selecting a checkbox as shown below.

Presets

The presets box at the bottom allows you save and load effects. You can save your own presets by clicking the Save button on the right of the presets box.

Watermarks

To create a watermark text, add new Text effect, select the Effects tab and mark the Watermark checkbox. The text will be merged into the image background with a 3D effect. Select the Reversed option to create a outside instead of inside 3D effect. Tune the intensity setting to optimize the watermark.

Changing the text into a watermark is one click.

Title tags

The image text does not have to be the same for each image. You can use title tags to insert the file name, image height or even the image titles you defined in the Arles Image Explorer. To add a title tag:

• In the Image Text Options panel click the Insert Tag button.
• To insert the file name select File > Name. Or select Arles > Title 1 if you want to add the titles that you specified specified in the Arles Image Explorer.
• Recreate your gallery by clicking the All or Images button in the Web Page Creator window.