Digital Dental Photography

Digital Photography and Workflow for Dentists

Copyright Protection

Prepare Lightroom for 2013 Dental Photos

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It’s the beginning of a new year, and if you haven’t already done so, it is time to create a new set of folders for 2013, and time to create a new Metadata Preset to be applied on import of all your photos.  Otherwise, you’ll be adding outdated metadata to your images and making your photo catalog less organized.  One side benefit of updating your Copyright Info in the Metadata Preset is this: if you upload any of those photos to your website, Google+ Local Page, Facebook Fan Page, etc., Google will recognize the year and know that it is new, fresh content.  And Google LOVES fresh content on websites!

Don’t forget to check out the short video tutorial at the bottom of the page, too!

Create A New Year Folder with Sub-headings

I’ve already discussed how I recommend organizing your Folder Hierarchy, and that hasn’t changed, although I changed a couple folder names this year, as you can see in this screenshot.  You can tell I did it before the end of 2012, as there wasn’t a single photo loaded into this year yet.

How to set up a folder hierarchy to organize dental photos in Lightroom

Of course, this is completely customizable depending on your procedure mix and desire to separate, or not separate them out as much as I do.

Create a New Copyright Metadata Preset for Import

To help protect your photos from online theft and misuse, make sure you read Image Copyright Protection; and now it’s time to create a NEW Metadata Preset.  Please DO NOT just “update” the one that you have; if you do so, every image to which you had applied the old one, i.e. for 2012, will now suddenly read as if it were taken in 2013 instead, which is wrong.  CREATE A NEW PRESET!

To do so, you must first be in the Library Module, then go to “Photos > Edit Metadata Preset” and you’ll come to this screen, and you can just enter the appropriate data for your practice.  As you can see at the bottom, in the box labeled “Keywords,” I’ve added just one keyword – 2013.  This is just to avoid having to add it to every photo.

What copyright metadata information to add to a Lightroom preset.

And you’re set to go!

Watermark Your Photos To Prevent Theft

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In my last blog post about adding copyright information to your dental photos as a way to deter online theft of your work, the tutorial covered how to use a Metadata Template in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to add identifying information to every photo.  This embedded information can be read by anyone who knows how to look; if they know, they may also know how to remove it (takes a little work), but a thief will probably move on to easier-to-steal photos instead of doing the extra work.  Another step you can take, also easy to do in Lightroom, is to add a Watermark, and that’s what this tutorial will cover.

Why Use a Watermark?

As seen in the example above, a watermark is typically a logo, symbol, or other mark that is placed somewhere on a photos that identifies it as belonging to someone, in this case, anyone seeing this photo knows that “Smiles by Payet” has copyrighted this image.  It’s pretty easy to see, and again, it may act as a deterrent to online theft, because anyone wanting to use it to represent their own work would have to laboriously edit the entire logo out of the photo.  Yes, I overdid it just a teensy little bit to make my point, and no, I would never ruin a photo to this extent with such tasteless work, but you get the point.

The tricky part in using a watermark, as you can probably see, has to do with 3 issues:

  1. Placement
  2. Size
  3. Opacity

While the point of a watermark is to protect your image, the point of your image is to showcase your work to existing or potential patients, with the goal that they will be impressed and call or schedule their treatment with you, not someone else.  Poor placement of a watermark can ruin the whole image and defeat the real purpose of the image, so please…..be tasteful about it.

Watermark Size, Placement, and Opacity

For maximum protection (my opinion only), I recommend creating a very large watermark that can be placed directly across the middle of the photo, but making it highly translucent, thereby not covering up what you want to show.  Doing so makes removal far more difficult for anyone wanting to steal your photo, unless they are highly skilled in Photoshop, and you generally can still see the photo well.

For the most tasteful protection, but the least effective, a small but fully opaque watermark can be placed in a corner.  It’s the least effective simply because it’s the easiest to remove, especially with the “Content-Aware Fill” and “Content-Aware Healing” tools available since Photoshop CS5 and now CS6, but if you don’t like the watermark obscuring the image, it’s still better than nothing.

Personally, I’m still experimenting on my own watermarks, and if you want some of my different tries, check out some photos on both my Charlotte dentist office website and my personal photography website:

Smiles by Payet Dentistry
CDPayet Photography

How to Create a Watermark in Lightroom

In Lightroom, you can create either a Text or Graphical Watermark; as a general rule, I suggest the Text Watermark for one main reason: it’s a LOT EASIER.  And here’s just how easy it is to create with 2 easy-to-understand screenshots.

Step 1: Go to the Edit option on the top menu, then scroll down to “Edit Watermarks”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2: At the lower left is where you’ll type in the text for your watermark.  The easiest way to get that (C) symbol is to open MS Word, type in the left parenthesis – capital C – right parenthesis and it will automatically convert it for you.  Then just copy/paste it into the text box.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Experiment!  Seriously!  You can see all the options on the right side – play around with them, see what you like, what you don’t like, and as you change things, you’ll see the preview change instantly.  Change the text color – font – size – opacity – placement, etc.

Step 4: Name Your Preset

And you’re done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up next – how to apply a watermark to your photos during the Export process.

 

 

More Info on the Importance of Copyrighting Your Images

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After my recent blog post on why embedding copyright information into your photos is so important, I was doing some additional reading on my Google+ Stream and came across this really useful and important video on why it’s so important to actually copyright your images, as well as how to do it.  I learned a lot and need to take some additional steps myself based on what I learned…..check it out!

I will find more resources on the actual process of submitting your images for copyright protection in the very near future, as I’m learning a lot of valuable information in the process of writing these articles.

Image Copyright Protection

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Ever worry that an unscrupulous web designer, colleague, or ad company might steal your images from your Facebook page, website, or other online source?  If so, read on to learn some easy ways to help protect your work, provide legal coverage if necessary for action, and how to find out if your photos have been stolen.

Has Your Photography Been Stolen Online?

To my knowledge at this time, I’ve never had any of my online photos “stolen,” by which I mean no one has downloaded or “hot-linked” them for use on their on website or in other marketing media.  That’s not to say it hasn’t happened, it just means I’ve never found any examples, because I don’t spend the time searching to find out.

Online Image Protection Has Limits

First off – if someone is REALLY determined to steal your photos, it is virtually impossible to stop it.  Sure, there are ways to add “right-click” protection to stop the easy “save as” copying, and there are ways to hide the image file location to prevent someone using an HTML embed, but in the end, there are far more ways being created on a daily basis to get around them than there are ways to stop them.  If hackers can break into major corporations and government agencies…….well, you get the idea, right?  But since it’s unlikely you’re up against that kind of firepower, mostly you’re looking to keep unethical web designers and colleauges from using your work to advertise themselves.  Fortunately, there are some easy and fast steps to do this with Photoshop Lightroom, and the best part is that, while the initial set-up takes a little time, after that it is virtually automatic and needs no more than a couple mouse-clicks…..seriously!

Creating Copyright Metadata Templates

The first step is to create a Metadata Template that can be embedded into your photos.  Start at the Menu by choosing Metadata > Edit Metadata Presets, and you’ll see the following Dialog Box pop up (click for a larger view):

 

You don’t need to complete everything – total overkill.  The ones you do want to complete are the following sections, and at the end of this article you’ll see a set of screenshots of the information I include.

  • IPTC Copyright
  • IPTC Creator
  • IPTC Image (parts of it)
  • Keywords

Click the little arrow next to each section, and once you’ve filled in your information, you’ll save this as a new Preset; the easiest thing to do is call it, “Dr. So-and-So,” where you fill in your name.

 

Applying a Metadata Preset

Once you’ve created your Preset, you have 2 options, and I recommend you do both to be on the safe side:

  1. Apply that Preset to photos already in your Image Catalog, and
  2. Set this Preset to be automatically applied whenever photos are imported.

To apply the Preset to existing photos, it’s almost ridiculously easy.  Simply select all the photos to which you’ll apply the information, and go to the Right Sidebar of the Library Module > Metadata.  When it opens, click on the “Preset” location and choose the Preset you created.  You’ll be asked if you want to apply it to just the selected photos, all photos, or another combination.  Select “All Photos” And BAM!  You’re done with applying that information to photos you already have.  Easy, huh?

When you’re ready to import new photos, it’s about this easy, too.  Choose Import and select the source from which you’ll be importing the photos, most likely a memory card.  Again in the Right Side Toolbar of the Import Dialog, you’ll see a tab titled “Apply During Import.”  Directly under that, you’ll see an option to select a Metadata Preset.  Do that, and once you’ve chosen the folder to which you want to import, click Import.  And BAM!  Every photo imported from now on will have that information added to it, unless you change that import option.

Ensure the “Right” Metadata Stays During Export, But Don’t Violate HIPAA

There are a couple items to be sure of when exporting images for use on your website, on a social media platform such as Facebook, etc:

  1. Do NOT include your patient’s name in the file name or keywords (DUH!)
  2. When using a Publish Service or Export dialog, make sure to NOT strip out the metadata
Suggested Metadata to Include

The following are taken directly from the template I have created within Lightroom at my office; for my personal photography, I obviously use different information.

Because this post ended up longer than anticipated, look for an upcoming post on how to easily apply a Watermark with Lightroom.

If you’ve ever had someone steal your photos, I’d love to know how you found out and what you did about it in the Comments below!

2011 and LOTS of New Info Coming!

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Happy New Year!  😀

I just want to say that I am very excited about this coming year and what will be added here for your use.  Since I will be lecturing on an effective digital photography workflow for dentists, that will be the primary focus for the next 4 months.  As a person with ADD, blogging is a great way of helping me refine my thought processes and the workflow itself as I put them into a format that should be easily usable for you, my colleagues.

Here’s a little of what you can expect:

  1. Video tutorials
  2. Portrait photography tips and settings
  3. How to use your photos in Social Media
  4. Creating website galleries and building online photo galleries
  5. Creating MP4 videos for your office and websites

While there is such a huge wealth of information to present, my goal is to make this stuff EASY for you, so you don’t have to go through the same learning curve I did.  😉

Where Do You Get Dental Website Photos?

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A Townie friend of mine, Lisa Weber of ProductionFinder.com, recently related this story that emphasizes 3 extremely important points:

  1. Be sure that your website photos are legitimate,
  2. Why you should use your OWN photos on your website, and
  3. Take the appropriate steps to protect your photos.

I’ll be posting more on how to get your own photos onto your website in an attractive format, as well as on how to protect your photos (within limits) in upcoming blog posts.

And now, in Lisa’s own words:

I thought I’d post a recent situation because my guess is it’s more common than you might think. This will be long so bear with me.  This is what happened recently:

Client emailed me to inquire about my services and we agreed to talk by phone the following day.  I checked out the name online to see where the practice was and take a tour of the website.  A website can tell me quite a bit about a practice, so I usually pop into all of the pages.  I looked at the Smile Gallery and saw some very familiar smiles.

The images (all of them) were images I’d actually participated in taking in a practice I used to work in, and now work for on a consulting basis.  I knew the names associated with those smiles.  What are the chances of my stumbling on those images?  Pretty darn close to nil.  Before assigning blame to the dentist, I decided to check out the web designer.  I found 5 websites for dentists in that same area of Arizona using the exact same images.  There were a few additional images on several of them but the galleries were virtually identical.  That’s when I assumed the dentists were under the impression they were stock images and the web designer had been the one who had likely just copied and pasted them.  They were all small images, saved as jpegs with the different practices names,  numbered sequentially.

I saved an archived version of all the sites in question prior to doing anything and then called the web designer.  I was unable to get a person, so left a message and also sent an email.  I then began to contact their clients and tell them what the situation was, explaining that our assumption was that they had no idea those images weren’t available for use.  Each of the offices were able to get the images removed from their sites.  I searched again and found yet another dental website using them and contacted that practice last night.  Speaking with an incredible OM, I explained the history and that my only purpose is to get the images removed and we do not hold the dentist responsible at this time.  I explained that the web designer had placed her doctor in a very precarious position because ultimately it was his liability.  I recommended they pull out the original contract to see if the web designer represented that he had all rights to the images he was going to use.

After receiving my message that if I didn’t receive a call by close of business, I would rely on our attorney to make any future communications, I received a call from the sales person from the Web designer.  He stated that although he believed he got all the images from a Lumineer site, he would go ahead and remove them.  He said his business was no longer in operation, regardless.  I asked him if his clients knew this and he assured me that they did.  I mentioned that I had spoken with several dentists in the past week who would be very surprised that they were no longer in business.  I also mentioned that not only were the images not from a Lumineer site, but none of them displayed a Lumineer, since that is a product that neither doctor has ever used.  He seemed to feel it might be possible they were not the images I felt they were until I indicated that by “participating” in the photography, I meant I was actually in the room when those images were taken, cropped them and have them saved on flash drives along with a few thousand other images that I have been recently viewing for inclusion in the new website once it goes live.   Those Before and After images being shown in Arizona were born and raised in Middleburg Virginia.

Not only did this web designer copy and paste the images (from an outdated website) but they used the identical images in a competitive market for offices that were geographically close to each other!  One image in particular really ticked me off because it was probably the most beautiful after pic I have ever seen of an implant crown on a central after months of tissue development and a dead-on perfect shade and characterization match by the ceramist.  Those aren’t easy to do and was a testament to that particular dentist’s skill.   That after pic should have been earned, not copied and pasted.

So…..very long story….but…..I would strongly recommend that you verify that images used in your website (all of them) have clear records of having been obtained for your use, either by you or by your webdesigner.  This is likely going to be a bigger problem very quickly, and it’s only a matter of time till people run into a dentist who isn’t as reasonable as the one I worked for.  I feel like a detective this week, but I’m glad I stumbled on those pics, that’s for certain. I think the doctor that first contacted me is glad I did as well.

I, for one, am grateful that there are people like Lisa out there, who will do the right thing by both the dentists who were ripped off by their web designer, as well as by the dentist to whom the patients and photos belong.  Who knows how far those photos might have spread, were it not for Lisa’s vigilance.