Easy Watermark Studio Lite is a well-designed Windows application for applying text and image watermarks to your digital pictures.

Point the program at your source images and it’s ready to go. Well, probably – the Lite version only imports JPGs, BMPs and TIFFs, and it’ll process a maximum of 30 images in one batch – but if the restrictions aren’t an issue then it works very well.

Configurability is a strong point. You’re not just adding a plain text caption to your image: there are options to set the font, size, alignment, colour, position, rotation, opacity and more.

These individual settings often have real depth of their own. If a single text colour isn’t enough, you can use a gradient fill, for example, with your choice of direction. And the Drop Shadow tool gives you settings for position, distance, colour, glow, opacity and size, amongst others.

The Preview pane shows you how the watermark(s) will look

Easy Watermark Studio Lite also supports image watermarks, with most of the same options: position, size, rotation, opacity and so on.

The program adds your watermarks using layers. The full version supports as many as you need, but even the Lite edition gives you two, which means you’re able to add two image watermarks, two text, or one of each, all customised to suit your needs.

The “Output Settings” pane allows you to configure your export format (must be JPG, BMP or TIFF in the Lite build) and a custom output file mask. There’s also a built-in batch file resizer, which was a surprise.

It can take a while to set all this up, but fortunately you only have to do it once. Your settings may then be saved in separate Profiles for easy recall later, and all you have to do is point the program at your target images and click “Start”.

Easy Watermark Studio Lite’s restricted file format support and 30 image limit might be a hassle for some, and the program is also strictly for personal use only. Its extreme configurability and ease of use make it worth a try, though, and if you need more, the full edition lifts these limits, adds a host of extras, and is reasonably priced from $24.99 for a lifetime license.