batch-set-copyright

Batch Set Copyright on Images

Walk a directory and stamp copyright, artist, and rights metadata on every image using exiftool. Common real-world use: archiving a photo library with a consistent copyright statement.

When to use

• Preparing a personal photo library for distribution or archival with consistent copyright metadata.
• Quickly tagging all images from an event or shoot with the same artist and copyright info.
• Ensuring your photo library has baseline legal metadata before sharing or licensing.

Inputs to gather

• Target directory — folder containing images to tag. Default: current directory.
• Recursive? Ask whether to process subdirectories. Default: no (flat, current folder only).
• Artist name — required. Ask for the photographer or creator name (e.g., "Daniel Rosehill").
• Copyright string — optional. If not provided, auto-generate from current year and artist: © 2026 <Artist>. Allow the user to override.
• Rights/Usage statement (optional) — additional rights text (e.g., "All rights reserved", "Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0"). If omitted, skip this field.
• Backup before write? Default: yes. Automatic via exiftool _original sidecars.

Procedure

1. Check tooling

command -v exiftool || echo "exiftool not installed — install with: sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl"

Abort if missing.

2. Build metadata strings

• Artist: Use the user-provided value.
• Copyright: Use provided, or auto-generate: © <YYYY> <Artist> where <YYYY> is the current year.
• Rights/Usage: Use if provided; otherwise omit.

Print a summary for user confirmation before proceeding.

3. Count and preview

# Count images that will be tagged
find <target> -maxdepth <1|999> -type f \
  \( -iname '*.jpg' -o -iname '*.jpeg' -o -iname '*.png' \
     -o -iname '*.heic' -o -iname '*.webp' -o -iname '*.tif' -o -iname '*.tiff' \) | wc -l

Print:

• Number of images found.
• Metadata to be applied.
• Request confirmation before applying.