Watermark issue

[annedi]

Photo Mechanic: 5.0 build 19395 (69a3200)
MacBook Retina: OSX 10.8.5

((Yes, I know my Mac OSX is out-of-date. I'm trying to hang on to some old software for a while longer.))

Issue:  Watermark Text sizing.

Sizing a text watermark is frustrating me this morning. I want to double-check that I am not doing anything wrong. I have tried repeated sizing and placement but something is not working correctly.

I totally get that we are supposed to define a box size and then the Watermarker will fit the text into it. But that is not happening.

Raw photo dimensions:  6016 x 4016, a Nikon NEF

Procedure:

• Define a Watermark box of 5000 pixels by 500 pixels.
  Attached is a screen shot of Watermarker window.
  
• Save the file as a TIF of the same original size.
  Attached is a screen shot of Save As window (top part).
  
• The Watermark did not resize to fit in the box.
  Attached is a resized JPG of that saved TIF.
  The defined box size of 5000 x 500 pixels was added in yellow in Photoshop
  to show the region into which the watermark should be fitted.

As I tried various sizes to try to get my photo labeled, I had several instances where the saved photo had no watermark at all. I can't show you that in an attachment because it's not there!

[Kirk Baker]

Andrea,

If you use text that isn't a single continuous string of characters (your example has no whitespace in it whatsoever) does the problem still happen?

What font are you using?

Thanks,

-Kirk

[annedi]

Hi Kirk --

Before showing you that my watermark problem is not font dependent, let me say that I suspect I might be having some larger problem -- such as some kind of conflict between my very old Mac OSX and the Photo Mechanic app? I'm thinking it might be best to drop back to an earlier version of PM?

Here is an attempted watermark using some spacing and with 2 different fonts. The reason there are more than 3 photos shown here is because one of the "larger problems" I have is that intermittently (that dreaded word!) the watermark fails to appear at all.

The photo below is black because I was testing for IR fluorescence and there wasn't hardly any (although it will appear if pushed). It seemed like a good photo to use to illustrate the watermark problem.

Photos #1, #2, #3:  It took 3 tries to get the Arial watermark.

Photo #4:  The American Typewriter watermark showed up on the 4th trial.
(The extreme resize causes it not to show up well here, but it was just fine on the larger version so no worries on that.)

Photo #5, #6, and #11: The next 6 attempts using the Papyrus font did not work.
Eventually I got the Papyrus watermark to appear by watermarking the full-sized 8256 x 5504 NEF, saving it to a full-sized TIF and then reducing it in size. Sometimes drastically changing the settings "wakes up" the Watermarker.

[Kirk Baker]

Andrea,

While you're welcome to try an older version of PM to solve this problem, I can tell you that the Watermarking system has not changed substantially over the last few years.  If you use percentages instead of fixed pixel amounts which don't work well with varying destination image sizes, does the reliability improve?

83% Width by 12% Height should produce a similar box size for your 6016 x 4016 source image.

If switching to percentages doesn't fix anything then I'd like to make some logging builds of PM for you to try (if you're willing to spend the time helping me help you.)

In the meantime, I'd like to see your current Photo Mechanic log.  In Photo Mechanic go to the Help menu and choose "Reveal Support Data..." and moments later a Finder window will come forward with the zipped log file selected.  Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your zipped PM log file.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[annedi]

Hello Kirk -

Here is the PM_log.zip file.
The last 3 watermarks I tried failed. However the first 8+ worked OK. This is baffling.

Thank you for looking at this.

Andrea B.

[Kirk Baker]

Andrea,

Thanks for the log.  Unfortunately nothing indicates a problem with fonts.  Did you try using percentages instead of pixels?

Thanks,

-Kirk

[annedi]

Here is a bit more information.
I wrote 3 lines for a watermark of size 950 x 300 pixels applied to a photo saved at 1000 x 748 pixels size.

In the following examples I have made a color overlay of the 950 x 300 pixel area in which the watermark should fit.

In the first example (two yellow overlays), the third and longest line is broken in the watermark. But if I move that longest line to the 2nd position, then the watermark is correct.

In the second example (two blue overlays), I added a 3-line watermark where all lines were of equal length. Next, I shortened the first two lines in the watermark. Note that the result of that shortening produces the watermark I originally wanted in the yellow overlays.

[Kirk Baker]

Here is a bit more information.
I wrote 3 lines for a watermark of size 950 x 300 pixels applied to a photo saved at 1000 x 748 pixels size.

In the following examples I have made a color overlay of the 950 x 300 pixel area in which the watermark should fit.

In the first example (two yellow overlays), the third and longest line is broken in the watermark. But if I move that longest line to the 2nd position, then the watermark is correct.

In the second example (two blue overlays), I added a 3-line watermark where all lines were of equal length. Next, I shortened the first two lines in the watermark. Note that the result of that shortening produces the watermark I originally wanted in the yellow overlays.

Thanks for the additional information.  I tried to reproduce your results and could not.

Could you post your example image and then make snapshots (use the lightning bolt button in the Watermarking dialog to save each setting) that reproduce the problem and post them as well?  Once you create your snapshots, you can hold down the Option key while you choose one of the snapshots you just created and a Finder window will come forward, revealing the snapshots you saved (you can then post them here).

Thanks,

-Kirk

[annedi]

Photo 1: broken line. See kwanzan_F1.snap
Photo 2: broken line. See kwanzan_F2.snap
Photo 3: no watermark printed. See kwanzan_F3.snap.

[Kirk Baker]

Thank you Andrea.  I am able to reproduce all three cases on my system.  I will work on a fix right now.

Thank you for providing sample files.  It really helps!

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

Andrea,

This problem is fixed in the 19361 build of Photo Mechanic 5.  You can read more about it here: http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=11446.0

Thanks for your help.

-Kirk

[annedi]

Kirk,

Thank you for your always prompt attention to problems or questions. Photo Mechanic is a great product with an excellent team behind it.

Best regards --
Andrea G Blum
UltravioletPhotography.com