Tracking image approvals without losing the original delivery

Approvals have a habit of living everywhere except where you need them. A director says yes in a meeting, an agency confirms by chat, and legal replies with conditions in an email. Meanwhile, designers are resizing the same photograph into three different folders. This guide gives a simple structure for keeping all of this clear. The question of who approves what is covered in image approval across marketing, agencies and leadership.

What are the three layers?

Think in layers, each with a different rule.

Layer	What it holds	Rule
Original delivery	Files exactly as the photography team delivered them	Never edited, renamed or deleted
Approved selection	Copies chosen for specific uses	Linked to original file names; one folder per use
Approvals log	Who approved which file, for what, with which limits	Updated every time something changes

The first layer is your evidence of what was commissioned. Our guide on keeping originals beside social-media copies explains why this matters when copies multiply.

How do you protect the original?

Make a read-only copy on day one, and tell colleagues where it is. If your storage system supports it, restrict editing on that folder. Everyone who needs to work on an image takes a copy from there.

When you check the delivery, use the photo delivery acceptance checklist before you start working on any file, so you know the originals are complete.

What goes in the approvals log?

Use one row per image per use. The columns below are enough for most teams.

1. File name (original).
2. Version used, if edited.
3. Purpose and channel, for example "annual report, page 12".
4. Approver and role.
5. Date approved.
6. Restrictions, in the approver's words.
7. Expiry or review date.
8. Status: approved, pending, withdrawn.

Keep the restriction wording close to what was said. "Internal only until after the announcement on 3 March" is much safer than "internal". Our guide on keeping records of agreed image-use restrictions covers the detail.

How do you handle edited versions?

An approval applies to the image that was seen. If someone changes the crop, the colour or the retouching, the approver may need to see it again. Use a clear naming pattern, such as the original name followed by a version number, and record which version was approved.

Our guide to file names, folders and corrected versions suggests patterns that photography teams and clients can both follow. If a corrected file is delivered by the photography team, record that in the log too.

What about changes after publication?

Approvals can be withdrawn, restrictions can lapse and people can ask for removal. The log should show the history, not only the current state. When status changes, add the date and the reason, and note where the image has appeared so you know what to correct.

This is also the information a successor needs if the owner leaves. See image handover when staff or agencies change for the wider handover.

A hypothetical example

A marketing team receives a gallery of 600 images after a dinner. They copy the files into a locked "Original" folder and create three working folders: "Report", "Intranet" and "Sponsor". Their log starts with the 40 images chosen for the report, each with the approver's name and date.

Two weeks later the sponsor asks for a different crop. The designer works from a copy, names it with a version suffix and the sponsor's contact approves it by email. The team adds a new row and attaches the approval. Nothing in the original folder has moved.

When approvals involve several people

If more than one person can approve, agree who has the final say, so conflicting decisions do not create confusion. The post-event image use planner can hold the log and the approver list together.

Keeping the habit going

A log only works if it is used. Make it part of the publishing routine: nothing goes out until the row exists. Ask colleagues who request images to name the use at the time they ask, so the entry can be written at once.

Once a quarter, glance through open rows. Anything marked pending for months either needs a decision or should be closed. A tidy log takes minutes to maintain and saves hours when someone asks, "Were we allowed to use that?"