In Part 1 of this series, we outlined how to embed the most critical information–creator contact and copyright fields–into the metadata of your files. Metadata, however, can do far more than simply allow people to find the creator. It provides fantastic tools to communicate how the image can or can’t be used, to make the image keyword searchable and to provide caption and other critical information about the image itself.

These days, once an image leaves the creator’s hands, it can be very difficult to control its usage. Images that land on the Internet can wind up literally anywhere, and many companies maintain internal databases of images that allow any employee access to any image the company has ever used. By embedding the usage rights you’re willing to grant into the metadata of your file, you’re accomplishing two things. First, you’re making it clear that the end user really does have the right to use the image for the intended purposes. Second, you’re providing fair warning that any unauthorized use – by your client or anyone else – are an infringement of your copyright.

Within the IPTC Core Schema (which is found in many image processing programs, including Photoshop CS), the IPTC Status panel provides a Rights Usage Terms field. If you’re licensing images to a client, you can copy your exact licensing language from your invoice into this field. Just be sure the license includes the name of the client to whom those rights are granted, so that anyone who stumbles across the file won’t assume that those rights apply to them. For other images (e.g. images provided for review, self-promotion, etc.), you should use the Rights Usage Terms field to convey that no usage rights have been granted and that the image may not be used without your express written permission.


Fig. 1: Use the Rights Usage Term field in the IPTC Status panel, shown here in Adobe Photoshop CS3, to make it easy for anyone coming across your file to know exactly what they can or can’t do with your image.

If you need a little help figuring out how to write a license for the Rights Usage Terms field, ASMP’s licensing guide offers clear explanations and sample license language. The Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS) Glossary provides excellent definitions of common licensing terms.

Protecting your rights by embedding appropriate language in the Rights Usage Terms field is an excellent first step. Learn more about your rights as a creator, including when and how to register your copyrights, from ASMP’s Copyright Tutorial.

Completing the other fields in this panel may be more or less appropriate, depending on your needs. Use Title to convey a shorthand reference to the photo. This can also be a good field in which to store the original file name as captured or scanned. Job Identifier allows you to embed an internal ID code of your choosing. Instructions provides a space for any messages you wish to convey to the client or printer. It’s the ideal place to warn of any embargoes or restrictions on the image. Use Provider to indicate who’s providing the image and Source for the original creator or copyright holder.

The IPTC Content panel provides fields for describing your image. Headline lets you summarize the contents of the photograph while Description gives you space to outline the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when and why) of the image. Depending on the context of how the image is being used, the contents of the Description field may become the caption for the photograph. The IPTC Subject Code field need only be used if required by your client. Though widely adopted by news agencies, it’s rarely used by any other industry sectors. Use the Description Writer field to list the people who wrote, edited or corrected the description. Finally, the IPTC Content Panel provides a space for embedding keywords.

Making your images keyword searchable makes it much easier for you and others to find them. Keywords—words or phrases that describe the specific image—can be literal or abstract. For example, literal keywords can describe the subject matter (e.g. girl, flower), elements of the photograph (e.g. sky, field) and the type of photo (e.g. portrait, landscape). Abstract keywords might address the feeling of the photograph (e.g. mysterious, stark), an interpretation of the image (e.g. happiness, energy), the category or topic of the photo (e.g. business, recreation).


Fig. 2: The IPTC Content panel in Adobe Photoshop CS3 includes the Keywords field.

Embedding keywords can be enormously time-consuming. Keep in mind that it’s not necessary to embed keywords into every image you’ve captured. Keywords serve the function of making a specific image or images with similar characteristics easier to find. If you don’t need to find your images using keywords, don’t spend the time embedding them.

For photographers licensing stock images, however, the increased value proper keywording provides outweighs all other considerations as stock images can only be licensed if they are found. For many stock photographers, hiring a keywording service such as JaincoTech may be more cost-effective than doing it yourself. If you choose to keyword your own photographs, you’ll want to take advantage of any opportunities to reduce the amount of effort expended.

Organize your photographs into groups of similar images, and batch-apply all the keywords that the images have in common first. Then go through the images one by one and append any additional keywords that apply to just that image or to a smaller subset of the images. Using a controlled vocabulary can also speed up the process. A controlled vocabulary limits your keywords to a pre-defined list. Most controlled vocabularies will also automatically provide synonyms and related terms so you don’t have to figure those out on your own. Learn more about controlled vocabularies here.


Fig. 3: Using an image browser like Adobe Bridge CS3 makes it easy to organize images into collections that share the same keywords.


Fig. 4: After applying appropriate keywords to all the images in a collection of similars, you can break the larger collection into sub-sets or apply keywords to individual images as appropriate.

Finally, the IPTC Image panel provides fields to describe the specific details of when and where the image was captured. The Intellectual Genre and IPTC Scene fields are primarily used for news and need only be completed if required by your client. Use the remaining fields, Date Created, Location, City, State/Province, Country and Country Code as needed to record appropriate information about the image.


Fig. 5: The fields in the IPTC Image panel, shown here in Photoshop CS3, are largely self-explanatory.

Completing all of the IPTC metadata fields can be a lot of work, so use your judgment to determine which fields are critical for each of your images. At a minimum, though, by embedding your creator contact and copyright information into each and every image that leaves your hands, you’re increasing the likelihood that someone who wants to use your image can find you. Adding your license to the Rights Usage Terms field notifies everyone who comes in contact with your image of what they can legally do with it. The Title, Description and Headline fields, along with the fields in the IPTC Image panel, make it easier for people to identify what’s in your photo, while the Keywords field helps you and others find your image along with others that share similar characteristics.

Olympus Visionary Judy Herrmann of Herrmann+Starke specializes in digital still life and lifestyle photography for advertising. Her work has appeared in Lurzer's Archive, Graphis, Communication Arts, the How International Design Annual and PDN’s Pix Digital Contest. She lectures extensively about digital photography and offers consultations on running a successful photography business. Herrmann currently serves as President of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP).