I originally posted these tutorials on DA as images but they're not so printer-friendly as on my own site. I learned a lot by trial and error- it would have been nice to have found this kind of information
earlier on in my computing days- particularly the Corel and IPTC stuff.
A quick answer to the 'what the heck for?' people: 'So that if I find your awesome picture on the web somewhere other than where YOU put it I will at least be able to find your name assuming a thief wasn't bright enough to edit out the imbedded text'. It's also THE BEST way to keep track of the content of digital photos- especially for the people who regularly take family photos, people who take stock photographs to sell or who work for companies who are putting their products on line (web sites)- basically anybody who frequently takes loads of pictures that have to be cataloged anyway- putting the text in there helps you search for particular images later, either online or on your own computer.
I.P.T.C. stands for 'International Press Telecommunications Council'. It was the international press photographers who originally needed a way to embed text information into their image files- all the information that was relevant to the image as well as- most importantly- copyright information.
I.P.T.C. is not the only form of meta data (as this embedded information is referred to) but it is a non-propietery means of adding the important info to your files. You don't need any fancy software packages to get at that info - software developers are continually providing great free programs that can edit this info without you spending a penny. Keep in mind that the operating system of your computer has it's own type of meta data that appears very similar to IPTC data but it is not the same thing which is why I encourage people to find out more about the subject.
This tutorial will focus on putting your copyright info into your photographs using the well known freeware image viewer known as Irfanview. There are a few other programs that can do the same thing but
I find Irfanview to be the most stable and quickest way of doing bulk or single edits on my massive library of photos. I like XnView too for the way it displays files- either are a great free choice.
Step 1: Download the latest version of Irfanview at http://www.irfanview.com/ AND THE PLUGINS PACKAGE- this program and the plugins are VERY EASY TO INSTALL.
2. Once you have installed the program go to the 'Options' tab and click on 'Properties' which will open up a dialog that lets you set a few million things but the one you need for the moment is in the 'Extensions' tab. At the bottom of it you will find the option to add Irfan to the 'shell menu'. Do it.
This will enable you to browse you files very easily as the example to the left illustrates. Irfanview has a very plain interface and it operates very fast- it will rip open a folder full of images in split seconds. You can adjust the thumbnail view to show your pictures much bigger or much smaller than whats shown here.
2. Once you have had some fun exploring this nifty program you can get down to the business of embedding your IPTC data. I'm making this tutorial based on the idea of doing a batch of similar files all in one shot so under the options tab I will 'select all'.
3. Once the relevant files are selected I will go to the file menu and choose 'JPG Lossless Operations' and from there I will choose to 'Set IPTC data to selected files'. From there you will be led to the main dialog where there will be empty areas that are defined by various categorical terms which are pretty self explanatory for the most part. You can also edit files singly of course but if you have a well structured archive of photos you will probably want to do stuff in bulk. (most people know that editing and then resaving a .jpeg/jpg image will degrade the file by it�s very nature - referred to as 'lossy compression' - but JPG Lossless Operations are a few of the actions you can take on a .jpg file that will not degrade it. )
4. Look at all the places you can toss in information! You can tell from some of the categories that IPTC has it's history rooted in the press. Now go wild and let everyone know who took this photo or made that beautiful art work!!! But that isn't where it ends. In step 3. the option to 'Set Comment to selected files' allows you to add text information in the 'Comment' field. This is not the same as the regular IPTC fields. In fact, I can't tell you what is going on because Windows (XP) allows you to edit the 'comment' as well but I don�t think it�s the same one. The text I inputted was not the same as the one shown in the Comment view that Irfanview displayed so it could be that editing fields thru Windows is only good in the Windows operating environment.
In any case it's a good idea to get your copyright in several places but KEEP THIS IN MIND: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A WATERMARK.
IPTC data can be edited as simply as what I've just explained but not so a watermark. IPTC should be applied to all your original files and any editing you do in major software packages should retain that text information in the finished piece that is destined for the web or e-mail. Hope this has been helpful- you can find out more technical stuff be researching the subject on line- I only created this to show people that it's not that hard to take basic steps to protect their images and I should have mentioned this a bit earlier: To test out any new features create a new folder and put a few copies of your files in there before you tackle thejob for real. :)
I.P.T.C. stands for 'International Press Telecommunications Council'. It was the international press photographers who originally needed a way to embed text information into their image files- all the information that was relevant to the image as well as- most importantly- copyright information.
2. Once you have installed the program go to the 'Options' tab and click on 'Properties' which will open up a dialog that lets you set a few million things but the one you need for the moment is in the 'Extensions' tab. At the bottom of it you will find the option to add Irfan to the 'shell menu'. Do it.
3. Once the relevant files are selected I will go to the file menu and choose 'JPG Lossless Operations' and from there I will choose to 'Set IPTC data to selected files'. From there you will be led to the main dialog where there will be empty areas that are defined by various categorical terms which are pretty self explanatory for the most part. You can also edit files singly of course but if you have a well structured archive of photos you will probably want to do stuff in bulk. (most people know that editing and then resaving a .jpeg/jpg image will degrade the file by it�s very nature - referred to as 'lossy compression' - but JPG Lossless Operations are a few of the actions you can take on a .jpg file that will not degrade it. )
4. Look at all the places you can toss in information! You can tell from some of the categories that IPTC has it's history rooted in the press. Now go wild and let everyone know who took this photo or made that beautiful art work!!! But that isn't where it ends. In step 3. the option to 'Set Comment to selected files' allows you to add text information in the 'Comment' field. This is not the same as the regular IPTC fields. In fact, I can't tell you what is going on because Windows (XP) allows you to edit the 'comment' as well but I don�t think it�s the same one. The text I inputted was not the same as the one shown in the Comment view that Irfanview displayed so it could be that editing fields thru Windows is only good in the Windows operating environment.
IPTC data can be edited as simply as what I've just explained but not so a watermark. IPTC should be applied to all your original files and any editing you do in major software packages should retain that text information in the finished piece that is destined for the web or e-mail. Hope this has been helpful- you can find out more technical stuff be researching the subject on line- I only created this to show people that it's not that hard to take basic steps to protect their images and I should have mentioned this a bit earlier: To test out any new features create a new folder and put a few copies of your files in there before you tackle thejob for real. :)
