Does Bernard keep my name on my photos?
When a photo leaves your site, the maker’s name usually goes missing. Most website tools remove everything hidden in a picture file when they publish it, including the photographer’s name. So a copy found later says nothing about who made it.
The prompt
“Show me the name bernard writes into my photos on [my site], and tell me which of my photos still need me to say whose they are.”
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).
bernard does it differently. First it takes out the private details. Then, for the photos you have said are yours, it writes your name back in.
First, the private details come out
When you upload a photo, bernard removes the hidden location (the GPS point), the camera’s serial number and the camera owner’s name from the copy your site shows. A visitor cannot find your studio from your picture. Photos added before November 2026 may still carry these details. Ask your assistant to check one.
Then your name goes in
For a photo you have marked as yours, bernard writes three things into the picture file itself, in the standard fields that cameras, photo editors and search engines read:
- Your name, as the person who made it. Until you choose one, bernard uses your account name.
- Your copyright line, for example “© 2026 Glaze of Glory. All rights reserved.” The year is the year the photo reached bernard. You can write your own line instead.
- “Not for AI training”, but only while the Protect images and video switch is on for that site. See Can I stop AI companies training on my photos and video?.
To change the name or the copyright line, open your Media Library, press Protect your work and edit Name to credit and Copyright line. Until you write your own, the copyright line shows bernard’s suggestion. Keep it, and each photo carries the year it reached bernard.
Only photos you say are yours
bernard never assumes a photo is yours. Every photo starts as rights unknown, including the ones you upload yourself, and a photo with unknown rights gets no name and no copyright line. It still gets the private details removed.
- Yours: your name and your copyright line.
- Licensed, stock or from a client: the owner you recorded keeps the credit. bernard never puts your copyright on someone else’s work.
- Not sure yet: nothing is written. That is the honest answer until you know.
To mark a photo as yours today, tell your assistant, for example “the jug photos are all mine”. It records your words on each photo’s card and never decides for you. A question about each photo in the library itself is coming.
Not sure who owns a photo in the first place? Read What is copyright, and do I own my photos?.
When your name reaches the file
Be clear on one limit. bernard writes your name when it stores a copy of a photo you have already marked as yours: the same photo uploaded again, a resized copy, or a copy to another of your sites. A copy that was already on your site before you marked the photo keeps what it carries today. The same goes for a change to your name. An update that brings older copies up to date is coming.
To see what a photo carries, ask your assistant to read back what bernard wrote into it. It reads the file itself, not a note about it.
What your name in the file can and cannot do
Your name in the file makes your claim plain to anyone who looks, and photo software shows it. UK law also protects this kind of information against someone who removes it on purpose to hide a copy; What do ‘digital rights’ and ‘DRM’ mean for my site? says how.
It cannot stop a copy. Anyone can take a screenshot, and a screenshot carries no file information at all. That is why bernard also keeps your untouched original as a private record. See Someone copied my photo. How do I show it is mine?.
For the longer story, read What your photos say about you and Licences, credit lines and “all rights reserved”.
Questions people ask
- Why is my name not in a photo I uploaded?
- Because uploading a photo is not proof you took it, so every photo starts as rights unknown and gets no name. Tell bernard the photo is yours and the new copies bernard makes of it carry your name. A copy that is already on your site keeps what it has today. An update that adds your name to those copies is coming.
- Does “not for AI training” go into my photos?
- Only into photos you have marked as yours, and only while the Protect images and video switch is on for that site. With the switch off, your photos still carry your name and copyright line, and nothing about AI training.
- Will this change my live site without me?
- Saying whose a photo is changes no page, so there is nothing to approve. Changes to your pages still wait in your draft until you approve them. This page is general information, not legal advice.