Field guide
Removing a watermark — and whether you should
A watermark may be an accidental timestamp, a licensed preview mark or the creator's ownership notice. The technical ability to cover it does not establish permission.
01
Use the unwatermarked licensed original whenever it exists. Filling across a mark invents texture and produces a weaker file than obtaining the proper source.
02
Confirm that you own the image or have explicit rights to remove the mark. Attribution and licensing obligations can survive even when the visible pixels are gone.
03
Simple marks over sky or flat walls can be locally reconstructed. Marks crossing faces, text or unique detail leave an ambiguous result that should not be described as recovered.
04
Keep provenance records and the untouched source. For editorial or evidentiary work, disclose material pixel reconstruction instead of presenting it as an original capture.