Adobe Bridge Tip 6 - Copyright

Adding Copyright Information to the Image Metadata

Should I Copyright My Images?

The simple answer is damn right you should, you'd be a fool not to yet how many photographers don't do this simple yet essential task. How many of you post your images to Facebook without any Copyright information on them and what comeback do you have if you find your image on a billboard in the middle of town advertising someone else's product. Take them court and the judge says to you, prove it is your image and then even if you can prove it, the judge says well, where is the copyright information, no copyright then the image must be public domain, case dismissed.

So the answer is, copyright your images and here's how to do it.

Creating a Metadata Template

To add copyright information to your images using Bridge, you first need to create a customised metadata template. As part of this template, you can refer to copyright information somewhere on a website which allows a potential purchaser/user of your images to read your terms and conditions. I placed my copyright information onto my gallery site's blog page and then used the URL in the copyright info in Bridge.

Open Bridge and navigate to the 'Tools/Create Metadata Template...' menu item and click it. In the new window that appears click in the field titled 'Template Name' and give your metadata template a title. Now in the 'Choose the Metadata to Include in this Template' field, put a tick in the 'IPTC Core' tick box and expand it by clicking the triangle next to the name.

Now fill in the Metadata as required ensuring that there is a tick against the lines that are required. Repeat this step for all lines available and that are required in the template and save the completed template.

Applying or Replacing the Metadata in Your Images

You can now highlight your images within Bridge and by selecting 'Tools/Append Metadata' or 'Tools/Replace Metadata' to change the metadata where the following applies:

Append will add values from the template to fields that are empty and existing information is not replaced. 

 

Replace adds values from the template to empty fields and replaces existing values in fields.

 

Applying the Metadata Template During an Import

 

You can apply the metadata template automatically during an import of images by clicking on the 'File/Get Photos From Camera...' menu item. In the window that appears you need to set the parameters as required and then click the 'Advanced Dialog' button in the bottom left corner of the window. You can then set the 'Template to Use' in the 'Apply Metadata' area of the window.