Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Adobe Lightroom Q&A => Topic started by: uintaangler on June 22, 2014, 12:15:43 pm

Title: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: uintaangler on June 22, 2014, 12:15:43 pm
Can this be done in Lightroom: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1203207 ?

How?

Thanks,
Bob
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: PeterAit on June 22, 2014, 12:26:05 pm
No. In the print module you can add an identity plate or a watermark, but these are limited to system fonts and will not be your actual signature.
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: uintaangler on June 22, 2014, 12:36:43 pm
Is it possible to create something that would suffice for an art collector using the Lightroom Identity plate?
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: TonyW on June 22, 2014, 02:09:48 pm
You should be able to create a graphic, maybe your signature and apply via the Identity plate in LR by using the Use graphical identity plate option (Identity Plate Editor) to place and size on your image as required
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: uintaangler on June 22, 2014, 02:17:03 pm
Do I need Photoshop to "create a graphic" ?
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: john beardsworth on June 22, 2014, 02:33:31 pm
Not necessarily Photoshop, but certainly not in Lightroom itself
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: ripgriffith on June 22, 2014, 02:48:08 pm
I cannot imagine any collector buying a print with just a digital signature.  The original signature indicates you have inspected the print, that it is yours and up to your standards; without this, it's just another infinitely reproducible photograph.
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: john beardsworth on June 22, 2014, 02:59:45 pm
Good point, I'd overlooked that was the reason for the post.
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: Geraldo Garcia on June 22, 2014, 06:52:27 pm
Well... Surely I don't like the idea of a digital signature but, to be perfectly honest, a lot of highly prestigious artists do not sign their prints and they sell very well, sometimes by outrageously high prices. Actually some artists consider signing a childish act or something people do to make a statement, something like "This is art! Look, it is signed and numbered, so it must be art (doesn't matter it is a cheesy obvious shot of the sunset on the desert)."

I do agree that this is true a lot of times, but it does not invalidate the concept of signing. I do hand-sign all my prints.
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: Schewe on June 23, 2014, 01:05:56 am
Yes, you can do this in LR...you'll need to create your signature (I've done it by scanning my signature) opening the image in Photoshop, using a method of creating a layer of just the signature (if the scan is in greyscale, load the channel as a selection and create a new layer and fill with black). Then delete the Background layer and save the image as a PNG using Transparency. Then import the PNG as a custom Identity Plate. In the Print module, select the ID plate and place it in the image in the lower right just outside the image with the correct size & position (you can manually move it around).

I've done this before and it's useful for mass produced non-fine art uses. But I would be reluctant to use it for prints for sale as the printed signature isn't really a real signature...
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: Wayne Fox on June 24, 2014, 01:21:48 pm
If you have an iPad, a program called Paper works well to create a digital signature...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_TwY-w3TM4
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: Rand47 on June 26, 2014, 08:51:58 am
I use Jeff's method for this, but use my Wacom tablet in Photoshop w/ pressure sensitivity in order to get a fountain pen look with varying line weights in the signature.  Save that as transparent background PNG.   Works fine for identity plate in LR, but I hand sign anything that may go on a wall somewhere.

Rand
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: john beardsworth on June 26, 2014, 11:33:31 am
I couldn't use Jeff's method since my fountain pen has a wide Italic nib. Instead I scanned in a signature and then changed the layer's blending mode to Multiply, which makes the white (paper) transparent, then saved the PNG.
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: Rand47 on June 26, 2014, 09:45:54 pm
I couldn't use Jeff's method since my fountain pen has a wide Italic nib. Instead I scanned in a signature and then changed the layer's blending mode to Multiply, which makes the white (paper) transparent, then saved the PNG.

As a pen freak, may I ask what kind?   ;D

Rand
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: john beardsworth on June 27, 2014, 06:52:58 am
Nothing special, a Waterman.
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: Rand47 on June 27, 2014, 03:47:57 pm
Nothing special, a Waterman.

Waterman makes some nice pens.  I have two of them - one "daily writer" pen and one Waterman Edson, which is a real work of art.

Rand
Title: Re: Creating a digital signature for printing using LightRoom
Post by: phcorrigan on July 02, 2014, 12:53:51 am
Yes, it can be done. I do it using a scan of my signature as an Identity Plate in the print module placed just below the image.