Adding Photo Attribution in WordPress and the Photo Dropper Plugin

4 Comments

A well chosen and placed photograph can really add impact and meaning to a post or page in WordPress. With the advent and continued growing popularity of the Creative Commons standard back in 2002, there is a wealth of imagery to draw upon for those bloggers that don’t have a media budget or their own photographic skills.  One common requirement of Creative Commons licenses and other usage models is “Attribution”. The Creative Commons license defines Attribution as “You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).” Additional guidelines may apply so check carefully, particularly in business/commercial use.

As a Content Management System, WordPress has a built in tools for creating Captions (sometimes called cut-lines) on the fly that can be a useful way to insert Attribution information.  When using the “Add an Image” tool from your Visual Editor you may insert plain text or HTML to the “Caption” field which will automatically be formatted and inserted as a caption beneath your photo once inserted into the post. This information is even stored in your WordPress Media Library so you won’t have to re-add it if you use the photograph again in the future.

If you aren’t satisfied with the Captions created, consider modifying your Theme’s styles.css where nearly any HTML/CSS is possible.

If you primarily use Flickr for your photography stock, you are really in luck.  A great plugin called Photo Dropper exists that adds a new tool to your WordPress Visual Editor toolbar.  This tool allows you to search the vast collection of Flickr images by keyword from within your own WordPress site and then it automatically detects the author and their usage policy, inserting it as a caption when you place the image in your post or page.
 
[youtube width=”500″ height=”405″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFp55po88kI[/youtube]  

Additional Information:

Name: Photo Dropper

Author: Unknown

Discussion: http://wordpress.org/tags/photo-dropper?forum_id=10

Need help implementing this plugin in your WordPress site?  Contact us for our professional services.  We can also provide support & expertise in convenient “blocks” to suit your short and long term needs.

Special thanks to Jascha for inspiring this article with his question asking for a way to do photography attribution with WordPress.

 

I'm the front-man of It's WordPress. I come from a diverse array of backgrounds, enjoying the opportunity to expand my knowledge base and skill set by re-inventing myself. I enjoy environments that focus on emerging information, technology and concepts. I put on the technical hat in my early 20s and never really looked back. I'm love technology and the internet, as well as the outdoors and avidly hike, kayak and camp every chance I get.

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4 Comments
  1. Reply

    I just wanted to drop by and say thanks for sharing our plugin with your readers. We really appreciate it! If you ever have any comments or suggestions to help us make improvements for a future release, shoot me an email.

    Thanks,
    Lucinda

    • Reply

      You’re very welcome, Lucinda. Best of luck with your endeavors and thanks for your contributions to the WordPress community.

  2. Reply

    My pleasure, Drock. If enough people express an interest in a particular topic or feature, we also do requests so don’t be shy in dropping us a line.

    • Drock
    • November 18, 2011
    Reply

    Have had trouble attributing people for their photos in the past and this looks like a great option. Just added this to my blog. Thanks

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