How to Timestamp a Photo Series Before You Publish It

When a photo series goes up in an online feature or a show, the images start travelling. Timestamping your original files first gives you verifiable evidence that they existed no later than that date, which helps if an image is reposted, altered with AI, or claimed by someone else. Here is how to do it for RAWs, scans and final edits.

Disclosure: I’m Inna Hall, co-founder of TimeBinder, the file timestamping tool this guide uses. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Why photographers should date the originals

Published images are easy to download, crop, and run through an AI editor. Altered versions sometimes circulate without credit, and now and then someone presents a copy as their own. Content Credentials help when they survive, but many platforms strip metadata on upload.

What a copier almost never has is your original capture: the full-resolution RAW, the frames either side of it, the high-resolution scans of physical work. A dated record of those files is a simple, checkable answer to “show me the original”.

Which files to TimeBind

• The RAW files (or camera JPEGs) for every image in the series. Zip the folder, including the frames you didn’t use.
• For collage or mixed media: high-resolution photos or scans of each finished physical piece, and of the source materials if you have them.
• The final edited TIFFs or JPEGs exactly as sent for publication.
• Your sequencing document or artist statement, if you want those dated too.

If your editing software writes changes back into the RAW file (some do for DNG), timestamp a copy first. Sidecar XMP files can be added separately. If you also sell your editing looks, see whether color LUTs and presets are copyrightable.

Step by step: TimeBinding the original files

1. Collect the exact files. A zip of the RAW folder, a zip of scans, and the final edits fit in one TimeBind.

2. Stop editing them. A timestamp covers the exact bytes of a file. Renaming a file is fine, but re-saving, re-exporting or letting an app write metadata into it gives it a new fingerprint. Keep a copy that nothing touches, and work on duplicates.

3. Bundle if you have more than 10 files. One TimeBind covers up to 10 files. For a big folder, make a zip of it and TimeBind the zip. Then keep that exact zip, because the record matches the zip, not a re-zipped copy.

4. Open the app and select the files. Sign in at app.timebinder.io (Google or an email link), start a TimeBind and drag the files in. Each file is hashed locally in your browser. The files are never uploaded.

5. Add a short Reference. For example: Photo series, RAWs and final edits as sent for publication. The Reference and Details text are hashed into the record too, so keep them factual and leave out anything private.

6. Choose Pooled or ASAP. Pooled costs 1 Token and is batched with other users’ fingerprints, usually within 24 to 48 hours, and often sooner, depending on Bitcoin network activity. ASAP costs 3 Tokens and gets its own transaction, which can be checked without relying on TimeBinder. ASAP vs Pooled explains the difference.

7. Download the Proof of Time Certificate once the TimeBind is confirmed, and store it next to the untouched files and in a second place, such as cloud storage or a backup drive.

Anyone you choose can check it later: open the TimeBind, click Verify File and select the file. It is re-hashed in their browser and compared. Verification explained walks through it. If you want to see a file’s fingerprint first, our free SHA-256 file hash checker shows it without uploading anything.

Which plan fits

The free plan gives you 1 Token a month, which is one Pooled TimeBind of up to 10 files. Zip the RAWs and scans and a whole series fits in one.

If you shoot or publish more than one body of work a month, a paid plan gives you more TimeBinds. Essential is US$20 a month for 5 Tokens (5 Pooled, or 1 ASAP plus 2 Pooled). Expert is US$50 a month for 15 Tokens (15 Pooled or 5 ASAP), and unused Tokens roll over. Verification is free. See pricing.

What a timestamp does and doesn’t do

TimeBinder anchors each file’s SHA-256 fingerprint to Bitcoin and gives you a Proof of Time Certificate. That is verifiable evidence of when a file existed: it shows the file existed no later than the anchor date, and it makes later changes detectable. An ASAP TimeBind can be checked directly on the Bitcoin blockchain without relying on TimeBinder; a Pooled TimeBind is verified through TimeBinder.

It doesn’t show who made the work, it doesn’t stop anyone copying it, and it isn’t a registration. If a work includes found images, the timestamp covers your files, not the rights in the source material. Our page on photo and video ownership records has more.

Plan details were checked against timebinder.io/pricing on 28 October 2026.