Images are powerful and can help you communicate your message to a wide audience. However, without the proper meta data on those images, you could be missing out on important information for those who view them. In this article, we will discuss how to add contact and copyright metadata to your pictures so that they give you the credit and protection that is deserved!
Table of Contents
What Metadata Helps With Attribution
First and foremost, it is important to know what metadata actually does. Metadata can add or take away from your images depending on how you use the data around them! Generally speaking though, meta data tells us who took a picture, when they took it and where they were at that time. This information is extremely helpful in most cases and can help attribute an image to the correct person or organization.
Adding contact information is a great way to ensure that people know how to get in touch with you if they want to use your image. This can be as simple as adding your name, email address and website URL to the image file. Copyright metadata is also important for protecting your images from being used without permission. By including a copyright statement in your meta data, you are telling anyone who views the picture that it is copyrighted and cannot be used without prior consent from you. There are many different ways to add contact and copyright information to your images, but we will discuss three of the most common methods below!
What Metadata Doesn’t Help With Attribution
Just because you added contact and copyright metadata to your images does not mean that people will always give you the credit for taking them! There are many different situations where this could be an issue. For example, if someone posts a picture on Facebook or Twitter without any meta data it is very unlikely that they would put attribution information in their post as well. Even though there isn’t anything stopping people from crediting you when using social media sites like these, most users simply do not think about giving photographers proper credit unless prompted by those who view their content . In addition, websites such as WikiMedia Commons allow anyone to upload images with no restrictions which means that your pictures might end up anywhere online – even places where they can never receive proper attribution!
There are many different ways to add contact and copyright metadata to your images, but we will discuss three of the most common methods below!
EXIF vs IPTC Metadata
When it comes to adding contact and copyright information to your images, there are two main types of metadata that you can use: EXIF and IPTC. EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format and is the most commonly used type of meta data. This format stores a variety of information about an image including shutter speed, aperture, camera make and model, etc. IPTC on the other hand stands for International Press Telecommunications Council and was specifically designed for adding copyright and contact information to pictures.
The great thing about both formats is that they can be added either manually or automatically depending on your camera settings! If you want to add contact and copyright information to all of your photos, then we recommend setting your camera to automatically include this data in the files. This way, you don’t have to worry about adding it manually every time you take a picture – the metadata will be automatically included!
Methods for Adding Metadata to Images
Now that we have a general understanding of what metadata is and what it can do for us, let’s take a look at three different methods for adding contact and copyright information to our images!
Adobe Bridge
One of the easiest ways to add contact and copyright metadata to images in Adobe Bridge. This free program comes packaged with all versions of Photoshop, so it is a very powerful tool that you probably already have installed on your computer!
Step-by-step Instructions for Adding Metadata using Adobe Bridge:
Open up Adobe Bridge by going to ‘File’ -> ‘Browse In Bridge’.
Once in bridge, click on the folder containing any picture files that you want to edit meta data for. If there are multiple folders available choose which one you would like modify from the drop down menu. Then select all of the photos at once so they will be edited together when we change their properties later (You can also do this easily by pressing the ‘ CTRL’ key and clicking on all of the images at once).
Once you have selected all of your desired photos, click on them with the right mouse button. You will see a list of options appear in the bottom toolbar including “IPTC Metadata” – select this option to open up an information window specific for editing image meta data!
Here is where we can add contact and copyright metadata to our pictures by entering different fields such as Creator Name or Image Title . For example if I were taking photographs from my friend’s band that I wanted to share online then I might want to include their name as well as any additional information about when they were taken so people could know how old they are relative each other! In addition, you can also add copyright information in this window such as the year the photo was taken or your contact information.
Once you have filled out all of the desired fields, click ‘OK’ and then save your images by going to ‘File’ -> ‘Save’. You will now see that the metadata has been automatically included in each photo’s file!
Adobe Photoshop
Another great way to add metadata is through Adobe Photoshop. This program will allow you to set not only contact but also copyright information for each file!
Step-by-step Instructions for Adding Metadata using Adobe Photoshop:
Start by open up any image that you want edit in Photoshop. Then select ‘File’ -> then click on ‘File Info’. Once the “Image Properties” window appears, enter your desired information into all of the available fields – don’t forget about adding copyright and contact info here too! Click ‘OK’ once complete, save your photo with a new name if necessary (e.g., myimage_withmetadata) so that it doesn’t overwrite or change its current properties at all! Now go back to your original file to check if the metadata has been added!
Adobe Lightroom
Another great program for modifying images is Adobe Lightroom. This program can be used in addition to Photoshop or on its own depending on your needs. It works well with both RAW and Jpeg files, so you will have no trouble working with any type of image that you want!
Step-by-step Instructions for Adding Metadata using Adobe Lightroom:
In order for us to modify the meta data inside of our pictures we first need access to them . Start by importing all of your desired photos into Lightroom. You can do this either through “File” -> “Import Photos…” or by dragging them onto the application window where it says ‘Library ‘.
Once all of your pictures have successfully been imported, click on the one you want to add metadata to and then press ‘I’ or go to ‘File’ -> ‘Attributes’. This will open up a new window that is specifically for modifying properties such as EXIF information. In this menu, not only can we add copyright information but also contact details! Just like in Adobe Bridge and Photoshop these fields are automatically filled out when they are added – so make sure you know what info you would like included before adding it!
If there was any additional areas where you wanted more detailed information about yourself or were interested in sharing with other people who may see your photos online (e.g., website address), feel free to include them here too! Once you have filled out all of the information for this particular photo, click ‘OK’ and then save your pictures by going to ‘File’ -> ‘Save’. Now go back to preview each image in its new metadata!
