The Credit Line: how you want to be credited

What the Credit Line is for

When a newspaper, magazine or website publishes a photo, it usually prints a small line next to it: Photo: Jane Smith or Jane Smith / Harbour Press. The Credit Line is where the file tells the publisher what that line should say.

The IPTC defines it as the credit to persons or organisations required by the supplier of the image when it is published. In IIM it is dataset 2:110, called Credit. In XMP it is photoshop:Credit, called Credit Line in the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard.

The Credit Line matters most when your photo travels without you. A picture desk that receives hundreds of images a day doesn't write to each photographer to ask how they want to be credited. It reads the field, and if the field is empty it makes something up or leaves the credit off.

How it differs from the other fields

Four fields describe people and organisations, and each has its own job:

• Creator / By-line: who made the image.
• Copyright Notice: who owns the rights.
• Credit Line: how the image should be credited when used.
• Source (2:115, photoshop:Source): the party that supplied the image, such as an agency or an archive.

For a freelancer these may all say the same name. For agency work they often differ: the photographer is the creator, the agency may be the source, and the credit combines both.

Writing a Credit Line

Write it exactly as you want it printed. Editors copy it as it stands.

• Jane Smith
• Photo: Jane Smith
• Jane Smith / Harbour Press
• Courtesy of the Harbour Museum

Keep it short. The IIM form allows 32 bytes, so a long credit gets cut in software that respects the limit. XMP has no such limit, but a credit that fits in 32 bytes stays identical in both layers.

Leave out copyright symbols and years. Those belong in the notice. A credit is a byline, and a year in it only goes stale.

Who reads it

Agency and newsroom systems read the Credit Line when they build captions, and many content management systems fill the credit under a picture from it. Photo Mechanic, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop's File Info show it in their IPTC panels. Some image search results also show credit information taken from a photo's metadata.

A credit only helps if it arrives. Some upload services remove metadata, so check a published copy of your photo with the copyright checker to see whether the credit survived.

If you supply images to publications, it is worth asking which fields their systems read. Most will say the Credit Line and the notice, which is another reason to keep both filled and in step.

Source: read, but rarely written

Source is the Credit Line's quieter neighbour. The original IIM definition said it identifies the original owner of the copyright, which could be an agency or an individual. Current IPTC guidance describes it as a party in the content supply chain. Because the meaning shifted, many photographers leave it alone.

It still matters when you read files. A Source of a well-known agency is a strong hint about where a picture came from, even when the notice is missing.

Credit lines for common situations

• Freelance, your own rights: Jane Smith or Photo: Jane Smith.
• Through an agency: the agency's required form, often Jane Smith / Agency Name.
• A staff photographer: the publication's house style, for example Jane Smith / Harbour Press.
• An archive or museum image: Courtesy of followed by the institution's name.
• A licensed image: whatever the licence requires, word for word.

Agencies and institutions usually specify their credit format, and publishers are expected to follow it. When you supply photos to someone else, ask which form they want and set it before you send the files.

One common mistake is leaving an old agency's credit in place after rights return to you. Update the Credit Line along with the notice whenever ownership changes.

Setting it with a profile

If you credit yourself the same way on every picture, the Credit Line is a field to set once and forget.

Copyrighted keeps it in your Rights Profile and writes it to both IPTC 2:110 and photoshop:Credit whenever you stamp photos. It reads Source and shows it, and Remove clears it, but it never writes Source for you.

If you work under more than one name, such as your own and a studio's, make a profile for each. Each profile carries its own credit, and you choose one when you stamp.

Questions