A new launch for photographers looking to protect their images (via Photo Archive News) – Photometadata.org, a project aimed at promoting an industry standard for metadata in all digital image files.

“The mission of the SAA [Stock Artists Alliance] Photo Metadata Project is to help promote these best practices by investigating and reporting on the issues, and then developing online resources and educational events – demonstrating that embedding metadata in digital photos benefits us all and is easy to do,” explains the site.

The site also comes with a handy list of FAQs and guides to using metadata and is planning to include tutorials on the subject – a very handy resource.

Meanwhile, the National Press Photographers’ Association (NPPA) in the US has updated its Independent Photographers Toolkit.

Well worth a look, the toolkit focuses the business aspects of employing photographers or running a photography business, and also best practice procedures for freelancers and photographers in their business dealings.

It’s a work in progress – and NPPA is looking for feedback – but there’s some good starting points, including this calculator for working out ‘the cost of doing business’ for a photography client or firm.