It's important to have your copyright information included with every photo that goes out into the wild. Fortunately applications such as Aperture and Lightroom enable you to add copyright information during upload, making it easier to develop this healthy habit. But what can you do if you don't use those applications and sometimes forget to append your files? You can have your camera do it for you.
IPTC data readout from Adobe Bridge 2. The text in the "Creator" field was added by my Canon Rebel XTi during capture.
That's right, Canon DSLR owners can apply up to 30 characters of text to the metadata of every picture they take. This information appears in the "Creator" field when read in Bridge, in the "Author" field in Photoshop, and the "Owner Name" field in Preview. So even though it shows up in different IPTC fields in different applications, it does show up. I even added an image to iPhoto, then exported it out, and my copyright persisted through the export process.
Canon EOS Utility 2
Start by making sure you have the latest version of EOS Utility 2. Launch it, then connect your Canon DSLR. Once the application recognizes your camera, click on "Camera Settings/Remote Shooting." If the application doesn't recognize your camera, disconnect it, change the communication setting to "PC" (in Canon's set up menu), then reconnect.
Now click on the Tools icon and enter up to 30 characters in the "Owner's Name" field. You can't use symbols, so you'll have to spell out "copyright." Click OK, and you're set to go. Now, every time you take a picture, the info you entered will appear in the metadata of the picture.
This information persisted through every test I could throw at it except for one: "Save for Web" in Photoshop, which strips out all metadata. My advice, don't ever use Save for Web for your images. But do set up your Canon camera to write your copyright information to every photo.
I'm guessing that Nikon and other DSLRs offer similar capabilities. If you use one of these cameras and know how to apply this technique, please post in the comments field.
Technorati Tags: digital photography, tips, The Digital Story
Read More: Photography
Posted by dstory on August 19, 2007
| Comments (10)
Comments
this was so much help . but using leopard and the canon software is a bit of a pain. but dose you have to tweak a little. how can i use the EXIFTOOL exactly i hate to slow to figger all this stuff out thanks for your help tom bridges
Commented by: tom bridges at February 28, 2008 08:36 AM
It looks like this works with P&S's as well. I just checked the info on one of my photos I took last weekend using ImageBrowser and my copyright showed up in "Owner's Name". I was using a Canon PowerShot Pro 1.
Commented by: Wil at December 21, 2007 11:35 PM
very interesting, but I don't agree with you
Idetrorce
Commented by: Idetrorce at December 15, 2007 06:00 AM
As I mentioned previously, I don't have a dSLR. However, I am using Canon's now-defunct P&S flagship - the PowerShot Pro 1.
While I don't have the EOS Utility, I opened ImageBrowser to see if anything similar could be done. I may have stumbled upon it, but won't be able to see if it works until the next couple days.
In ImageBrowser, I did this (with my PowerShot connected to my eMac via USB):
File > Canon Camera > Connect to Camera > Confirms/Changes camera settings (clicked on the tool icon).
I typed in my name similar to what you did in the box for "Owner's Name".
Commented by: Wil at December 14, 2007 09:53 PM
I don't have a dSLR (yet), but that's a pretty nice feature for on the spot. I've been using iWatermark for doing Copyright/IPTC.
Commented by: Wil at December 4, 2007 09:20 PM
Well, I downloaded Nikon's Camera Control Pro and was able to make the changes in that.
Commented by: Gheghe at August 20, 2007 10:33 AM
Question about the image comment for Nikon. I have set the comment to be attached to each photo. How can I change the comment -- for instance, to change the copyright date? My manual says to use the trash icon, but nothing happens when I try this. TIA
Commented by: Gheghe at August 20, 2007 07:30 AM
Thanks for the tip about EXIFtool. The main thing here is to label your images the best you can as early as possible in the process. I like the idea of my name being added to the photo at the moment of capture.
Getting it to persist is the problem. Using regular "Save As" in Photoshop preserves the camera-written metadata. But I'm seeing that Lightroom and Aperture, for example, don't include that field when they export out of the app. That might not be a problem since you've already added a real copyright at that point. But I would prefer that these apps honor the metadata I've added and carry it forward.
Commented by: Derrick at August 20, 2007 07:09 AM
From first hands experience I can tell you that the Nikon D200 has a similar feature: Image comment. Difference is the field being used. Instead of the forementioned "Author" field, the "Comment" field value is set.
And if you want to modify your EXIF, there's EXIFtool GUI.
Commented by: IllO at August 20, 2007 12:08 AM
Thats a pretty good information.... thanks for sharing it ..
Commented by: Sankar at April 13, 2008 11:54 PM