save me samuel basallo

You will need

Two copies of the image you want from Getty -> (1) the high resolution version with the watermark, and (2) the low resolution preview without the watermark.

Any image editing software that allows for the use of layers and a simple rectangle select tool. If you don't have one, Photopea is a free, browser-based editor. I will be using this one :)

For this tutorial we will be enlisting the services of the beautiful Adrian Kempe:

Method

Open your copy with the watermark:

2. File -> Open & Place... the copy without the watermark. It will appear much smaller on a new layer on top of your original image:

3. Transform (Scale) this to lay exactly on top of the original image. Very important that it is the exact same. Photopea and other image editors will have snapping, this feature is your friend:

4. Hide the low res layer for now. With the watermarked layer visible, use the rectangle select tool and select the two watermarks. The little one is in the bottom left. In this case, an exact selection is not required.

5. While on the low res layer, go to Layer -> Raster Mask -> Reveal Selection. Un-hide the low res layer. You have now gotten rid of the watermark:

6. Final product looks like this:

Add your lyrics or poetry or do whatever edits you like as normal. For fun I chose Queen by Magic City Hippies:

Final Notes

If you look closely you will be able to see the "seams" where the mask was applied and the low res image was spliced in. I prommmyyy nobody is looking that closely on tumblr dot com.

Live examples where I used this method in my AGAIN web weave - photos of the players are all sourced from Getty, some light cropping was applied for the desired aspect ratio and the colours were edited.

If you hate drop-down menus you can create a macro i guess ? Also the same effect is achieved if you click the little layer mask icon at the bottom of the layer panel instead of menus. I just wanted to be thorough.

If you can’t find those exact menu options in your image editing software you can use the “Search” tool which is usually found in the “Help” section.

You can also invert the selection and use the Erase tool on the low res layer if your editing software somehow doesn’t have a masking tool??