Recently I wrote "adding copyright information"—reminding us to update our copyright information for the New year's day. This quick tip made sure we added our copyright information to every photo we imported into Lightroom. Our adjacent step to protect our images is to register them with the Library of Congress. Lightroom makes this final process only as fast and easy.

I thought my images were already protected?

The moment you capture an image, y'all automatically own the copyright of the image. If someone violates that right by using your prototype without your consent, you can accept legal activeness. However, yous demand to register your image before a judge will hear the case. Permit me stop for a moment and say I'm not a lawyer. I am a photographer. I received this data over the years from reliable sources: Jack Reznicki and Ed Greenburg. Ed is an intellectual property lawyer and Jack is commercial photographer and one of the most sought after educators. You tin notice more data on their blog, The Copyright Zone . For years they have been educating photographers, including myself, on copyright bug.

When should I register my images?

In that location is a small fee of $55 to register upwards to a 500 MB Nil file of images. The number and types of images you take volition determines how often you should batch register your images. If y'all are function of the media and the images are time sensitive, y'all should annals them immediately. It'southward best to register your work earlier you publish it.

Lightroom export preset

The Copyright Office does non require a minimum or maximum size of file—a thumbnail that clearly depicts the photograph, such as 600 pixels on the long side, volition be fine. To make life easy, I created a Library of Congress Preset free for you to download and apply. Installing Lightroom Presets will walk yous through installation.

Once installed follow these uncomplicated steps:

  • Select your images from inside Lightroom.
  • Right click on a selected image.
  • Click Export and select Library of Congress.
  • Choose a folder to relieve the images to. I created a folder called 2015Q1-Prepare for-Registration

The selected images are exported to our Prepare for Registration folder with the proper requirements we need. Utilise your favorite Goose egg program to compress your images. I utilize WinZip.

3 Steps to Registration

The United States Copyright Part is part of the Library of Congress. You lot demand to complete 3 simple steps to annals your photos.

  1. Create a FREE business relationship
  2. Open a case
  3. Pay the registration fee

Open a new Case

Login to your account and create a new case. Y'all'll take 12 sections to complete. Each section just takes a few minutes. Beneath is an case of my recent submission. As I mentioned earlier, I'grand non a lawyer. This instance works for me—a photographer living in Florida. It's best to consult a lawyer in your state and follow The Copyright Zone with Jack and Ed.

Type of Piece of work: Work of Visual Art

Titles:

  • Type: Title of work being registered
  • Championship of this work: 2016 Q3 The Crown Series

Publication/Completion: No

Authors: Add me

Claimants: Add me

Limitation of Merits: Click continue

Rights & Permissions: Add together me

Correspondent: Add me

Mail Certificate: Add me

Special Treatment: Skip

Certification: Robert Louis Vanelli

Review Submission: Brand sure everything is correct

Payment and Upload your Zip file

After you review your submission, the last step is to enter your payment information and upload your zero file. Your images are now in the last phase of beingness registered.

Extra Resources

  • The Copyright Zone: A Legal Guide For Photographers and Artists In The Digital Age
  • Its Fast and Easy to Install Lightroom Presets
  • Have You lot Created Your 2015 Metadata Copyright Preset?
  • The Copyright Zone
  • United States Copyright Office