It’s a new year, and for photographers and bloggers that means it’s time to make a few updates! I have copyright information set on my blog, camera and in Lightroom, and sometimes that includes adding the copyright year as well. Since it is now 2014 then it’s a good time to go through and update everything to reflect the change.

In Lightroom

Here’s how to create (or change) a copyright metadata preset:

  1. First, go into the Library module.
  2. Then, in the menu at the top select Metadata > Edit Metadata Presets…
  3. Then, in the window that pops up, check the “IPTC Copyright” box and fill in the boxes however you like.  (Figure A)
copyright-1

Figure A

Now you can apply this preset to images using the Metadata panel on the right (Figure B), or when importing your images into Lightroom (Figure C).

In Your Camera

All camera models will be a little different, but they should each have a place to enter your info. On my Canon 5D Mark III, I go into the Menu and locate the setting for the copyright information.

copyright-4

Next, I select “Enter copyright details” to enter in my copyright terms, along with the year. (If you have not done this step in the past, I would suggest entering your “author name” as well!)

copyright-5

Then I enter in the copyright details. Since there is no © copyright symbol, I just added parentheses between the letter “c”. It’s not necessary to add the “(c)” before the year, in fact, it’s not even necessary to add the year. Feel free to leave it out, and add the appropriate copyright terms for your images.

copyright-6

On Your Blog or Website

Many photographers also have websites and blogs where they share their work, or interact with clients. The copyright for most blogs is typically at the bottom of the page, and if it’s not updated automatically then you’ll need to go in and make the change yourself. Oftentimes this is a change to the footer, and it will differ for almost every website. For my blog, I have to go into my theme options and make the changes to the footer. Also, if you have an additional text added to the footer of your RSS (using a plugin, etc.), don’t forget to change that as well!

It’s a new year, and for photographers and bloggers that means it’s time to make a few updates! I have copyright information set on my blog, camera and in Lightroom, and sometimes that includes adding the copyright year as well. Since it is now 2014 then it’s a good time to go through and update everything to reflect the change.

In Lightroom

Here’s how to create (or change) a copyright metadata preset:

  1. First, go into the Library module.
  2. Then, in the menu at the top select Metadata > Edit Metadata Presets…
  3. Then, in the window that pops up, check the “IPTC Copyright” box and fill in the boxes however you like.  (Figure A)
copyright-1

Figure A

Now you can apply this preset to images using the Metadata panel on the right (Figure B), or when importing your images into Lightroom (Figure C).

In Your Camera

All camera models will be a little different, but they should each have a place to enter your info. On my Canon 5D Mark III, I go into the Menu and locate the setting for the copyright information.

copyright-4

Next, I select “Enter copyright details” to enter in my copyright terms, along with the year. (If you have not done this step in the past, I would suggest entering your “author name” as well!)

copyright-5

Then I enter in the copyright details. Since there is no © copyright symbol, I just added parentheses between the letter “c”. It’s not necessary to add the “(c)” before the year, in fact, it’s not even necessary to add the year. Feel free to leave it out, and add the appropriate copyright terms for your images.

copyright-6

On Your Blog or Website

Many photographers also have websites and blogs where they share their work, or interact with clients. The copyright for most blogs is typically at the bottom of the page, and if it’s not updated automatically then you’ll need to go in and make the change yourself. Oftentimes this is a change to the footer, and it will differ for almost every website. For my blog, I have to go into my theme options and make the changes to the footer. Also, if you have an additional text added to the footer of your RSS (using a plugin, etc.), don’t forget to change that as well!

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

4 Comments

  1. Sharav March 16, 2014 at 12:53 pm - Reply

    Thank very much. This was a useful article!

  2. angelika drake March 27, 2014 at 2:34 pm - Reply

    Thanks for the download and copy right advise.
    I have Mark 2 and it seems that I don,t have the Copy right feature. Do you know?
    Angelika

  3. karen roberts April 4, 2014 at 1:19 pm - Reply

    How do you get your images copyrighted? Is there a form through the federal government and do you have to do a separate copyright for each image?

    • Nicole S. Young April 4, 2014 at 1:26 pm - Reply

      The short answer: Sign up here and follow the steps: https://eco.copyright.gov/eService_enu/

      The long opinionated response: I’ll be honest, copyrighting several images at once is a slightly convoluted process and the US Government makes it more and more difficult. I’m learning that if you want to bulk register copyright for a large group of photos that were not published at the same time (such as images that were posted online at different intervals, etc.), then you need to join a new program (currently in “pilot” mode), and each photo needs to have a title and date of original publication listed alongside it. While each image is technically copyrighted at the time of creation, that copyright is not protected unless it’s registered, yet this new program is going to make it more challenging to keep up with every photo that is posted. Lots of record-keeping, spreadsheets, etc. Makes me wonder if all the extra work will even be worth it to many photographers, myself included.

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