Did you update your copyright date?

Happy New Year to you! Hopefully, you are already out taking photos after reading last week’s 7 New Year tips for getting better photos. Before we get much further into the year, though, there is a job that you need to do if you use Lightroom. This week’s blog will remind you how to update the date on your copyright statement.

Why do we need a copyright statement?

You don’t legally need to add a copyright statement in the UK. The second your finger pushes the shutter button, you immediately own the copyright of your photograph. However, it is worth adding metadata behind your photos so that it’s easy for someone looking at your photos to know who took the image and how it can be legally used. I wrote in much more detail about copyright about twelve months ago.

Oops, I forgot how to change the copyright date.

There are some jobs that are easy to forget to do. One example is when the clocks jump forward or back, and you have to change your camera time. The start of a new year is another. Your photographs metadata needs to read 2023 and no longer 2022. I have a reminder in my Google calendar that pops up and reminds me when I need to do things. You could always add a link to this blog, and every year you’ll remember on the 1 January how to update your copyright metadata in future.

How do I change it again?

The update process only takes a few seconds in Lightroom. Go to File at the top of the screen and select Import Photos and Videos. You don’t need to import any pictures, but you could do it the next time you import and merge two jobs into one. Over on the right-hand side is the “Apply During Import” section. Click on the box next to the word “Metadata” and take the option “Edit Presets..”. For some reason, Lightroom doesn’t display the set of metadata that is currently being used (come on, Adobe, sort that out). Go to the top of the new dialog box and select the metadata set you want to edit.

The copyright statement is in the IPTC Content Section. However, while you are in here, check that the rest of the fields are up to date. I moved house during the year and might have forgotten to update my address details. (I didn’t because I put a Google reminder to change it the day after I moved – do you see the theme?). Now that we’ve updated the template, we need to finish off the job by saving it.

Click back on the Preset name at the top of the box. This time take the option Update Preset “Name of Preset” and press the “Done” button to take you back to the Import Screen again. Click on the ‘Done” button on this screen as well. That’s it; you’ve updated the Copyright Statement in Lightroom, and all your future photos will have the correct year. (Well, at least until 2024, but you’ve made a calendar reminder for that, haven’t you?)

That’s a bit of a faff.

I’ll level with you. I don’t need to do this yearly except for the Lightroom catalogue I use in my Switch to Manual workshops. If you are serious about using metadata, then a tool like Photo Mechanic is a worthwhile investment. Rather than typing the physical date into the Copyright statement, you can add a variable that strips the date from your camera’s metadata. There’s a much longer blog on Photo Mechanic V6 if you want to find out more.

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About the author

As well as running Edinburgh Photography Workshop, Rich Dyson is a professional photographer. His photographs are regularly used in newspapers such as The Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph. He also had two solo exhibitions and was featured in a members-sponsored exhibition in the Scottish Parliament. You can see and buy his photography at richdysonphotography.com.