bernard asks whose a photo is. What should I answer?
Every photo in your library carries one answer to a simple question: whose is it? bernard asks because the answer decides what goes into the file and who gets the credit. It never answers for you.
The prompt
“Show me the photos on [my site] that still say Not sure yet, a few at a time, so I can tell you whose each one is.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
The five answers
- Mine. You took it, or you own it outright. New copies bernard makes carry your name and your copyright line inside the file, and a not-for-AI-training note while Protect your work is on for that site.
- Licensed. A photographer or another owner lets you use it. Add their name and the credit line they asked for. If the licence ends on a date, put the date on the photo’s card: bernard stops a photo with an expired licence from being published.
- Stock. You got it from a stock library. It never gets your name.
- From a client. A client sent it to you. It never gets your name.
- Not sure yet. You don’t know yet. Nothing is written into the file. You can come back to it at any time.
Every photo starts as Not sure yet, including the photos you upload yourself. bernard never writes your name into a photo because of a guess, a filename or a camera credit. A credit found inside a file is shown to you as a clue, and you decide.
Where you answer
Open your Media Library. Under Whose is it? each answer shows how many photos have it. Press Not sure yet to see the photos still to answer.
- One photo: open it, then press an answer under Whose is it?. It saves at once.
- Many photos: press and hold one photo (or tick the box in its corner), then tap the others that belong together. Press an answer next to Set type in the bar at the bottom. A big selection is saved in batches of 200, and Select all matching picks up to 1,000 at a time. Select photos above the photos does the same if you prefer a button.
- With your assistant: say “the jug photos are all mine” or “those three are stock”. It records exactly what you say, and it names any photo it left alone because it already had an answer.
What the answer changes
The photo’s card shows what is written into the file on your site, what bernard removed for your privacy, and the record that you had the original. Copies of a photo that were already on your site before you answered keep what they carry today. An update that writes the answer into those copies too is coming.
The answer is about who owns the photo. It also settles a new photo for your assistant’s publish: a photo still at Not sure yet can hold that publish, and any other answer clears it (How do I approve a photo so my assistant can publish it?). To learn what copyright means for your photos, see Am I allowed to use this photo?.
Questions people ask
- Is Not sure yet a bad answer?
- No. It is the honest answer until you know. bernard records it, the photo stops asking, and it carries no name until you decide. A photo marked Not sure yet can still go on your pages when you publish yourself.
- Why doesn’t bernard just mark my uploads as mine?
- Because uploading a photo is not proof you took it. bernard never decides a photo is yours: every photo starts as Not sure yet, including the ones you upload, and only your answer changes that.
- Can I change an answer later?
- Yes. Open the photo in your Media Library and press a different answer under Whose is it?, or hold one photo, tap the others and use Set type. The change saves at once.
- Does my answer change my website?
- Not on its own. It changes the photo’s card, so there is nothing to approve. The name bernard writes into the file follows from it in the new copies bernard makes. This page is general information, not legal advice.