Please forgive me, and look away now, if you already know this one, but it’s new to me so I’ll pass it on.
Its all about embedding file information into an image. This metadata will stay with that file and all its derivations wherever it goes. It means that when you first save a file as a tiff or Photoshop file (or, I would imagine, any vector file as well, but don’t quote me on that), then upload the subsequent jpeg to a microstock site, all the description and keywords automatically go with it. You only do it once. It makes uploading so much quicker. Good idea?
Also you can copyright your stuff so it can’t get stolen and passed off as somebody else’s work. Plus any contact details, web addresses etc. you might wish to add. Unfortunately this can’t be done retrospectively, so if it’s already out there this info doesn’t, as far as I know, stick to it.
But here’s how it works. In Photoshop go to file>file info…
Open the dialogue box and enter your information. If I have a series of images (and many of us have) I keep an MS Word file of keywords and just copy and paste them in, adjusting for specifics.
All the camera data is already there, but for your own information you can keep a record of where and when the shot was taken.
OK, it’s a bit of a chore to start with but saves a lot of work in the long run when you’re uploading to half a dozen sites.
Good luck.
Bill

This is an excellent tip, that once you know about you'll forget that you used to do it another way.

Microsoft has an excellent "Photo Info" Tool that can do these type things in a batch. This is very useful for copyright and also for groups of images that you want to share keywords. I am thinking about working up an article about this to help some of our new comers.


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It is an excellent tip, that I didn't know when I first got into microstock. I was copying and pasting keywords for every site I uploaded to...painful. Now that I use IPTC data I can't imagine going without. Irfanview is another software package that allows you to enter iptc data...and its free...my favorite price. http://www.sprintingturtles.info has a section on iptc data and a lot of other useful information for people new to and/or interested in microstock photography.

Happy Downloads!

Hi There

In my thread earlier I wrote "Also you can copyright your stuff so it can’t get stolen and passed off as somebody else’s work. Plus any contact details, web addresses etc. you might wish to add."

Just now I came across this in the 'what not to do' section of the Lucky Oliver site: "Embedded Copyright Notices: Don't put your name or a copyright symbol on any of your photos"

Do any other sites have a problem with copyright notices? If so, why?

Bill

Bill - There are no Microstock sites that will take an image if there is an embedded Copyright notice. I think it is because the images are sold as license free.

There are sites where this is OK - they are the ones where you set your price and are more like Managed Stock. The Prices are higher and therefore you get more per image. Shutter Point is a good example. Lucky Oliver is between the two - MidStock. so you shouldn/t embed a copyright symbol in LO.

Hope this helps clear things up - You are correct about uploading after Keywords have been embedded in IPTC. By the way, some sites like Shutter Point may not pick up the IPTC data so you will have to upload those the old way. That is why on some sites we have to upload one image at a time.

Harry[/b]

I have uploaded some in the past with the copyright in there. I think they strip it back out. This is the first time I have heard that they don't want it in there. Even though the images are sold royalty-free you still maintain the copyright. I am interested to know more about this and will ask around.

I don't think its a huge deal, but am curious why they would ask that it not be there. I think that alot of agencies want to inject themselves into there : Copyright StockMan/Fotolia.... Etc...



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Last edited by StockMan on Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:13 am; edited 1 time in total

I think they are reffering to putting it on the image. Like don't put a watermark on it.

Yes, watermarks and images with photographers credits and Logos on them are automatically rejected on our site (StockRiot), but we leave all meta data intact. We my change some keywords so they are relevant or spelled correctly, but that is just in our database, not to the photo itself.

If you as a photographer choose to sell your images trough a stock photo site, you still hold the Title to the image and are simply licensing Royalty Free rights to the end user. Images are not license free, otherwise somebody could buy them and redistribute them. They are still "Your" images.

As a Designer I have purchased lots of images from other sites. Istock being a major one & I have seen lots of images with copyrights to the photographer intact. (edit - in the meta data)

On that note though I am amazed at how many of people are not using IPTC date to enter keywords & descriptions though.


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Hello, my first post here.
Great post, OP.
I use Irfanview for keywording as I find photoshop a bit laborious.