Writing metadata & adjustments to files

[keithk1434942]

I've been trying to get a grip on what metadata LR writes to files & when it does it. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I work with RAW/JPEG pairs. What I would like to do is write metadata (ITPC and EXIF) to my original files (xmp for the RAW) and not write adjustments made in Develop. It makes sense to me to have copyright, keywording, etc be part of the permanent file. If I want a file with the adjustments I can export.

Does LR allow me to split metadata and adjustments when writing to the file? What would be my best steps?

Thanks for any guidance

[JohanElzenga]

No, there is no such option.

If you really want to do this (I honestly see no reason) then your only option is to prepare all metadata like keywords before you do any editing. Then manually (do not check the option to write automatically) save this to the file. After you have done that you can apply your edits, and as long as you do not save metadata again, those edits will not be in the xmp file.

[keithk1434942]

Thanks.

So, if I write metadata to the file for any image I have altered in develop, the adjustments are baked in to JPEGs and written to the xmps? And if those files are used by other apps, there is no way to revert to the original?

I'm really struggling to understand how I keep my original files unaltered by Develop. For me, thats the meaning of "non-destructive" editing.

[JohanElzenga]

keithk1434942  wrote

Thanks.

So, if I write metadata to the file for any image I have altered in develop, the adjustments are baked in to JPEGs and written to the xmps? And if those files are used by other apps, there is no way to revert to the original?

I'm really struggling to understand how I keep my original files unaltered by Develop. For me, thats the meaning of "non-destructive" editing.

No, save metadata to file does not ’bake in’ any edits. It just writes the edit information (as text) to the metadata headers of the file. The image data remain untouched, also for jpeg files. Edits are only ‘baked in’ when you export an image.

[keithk1434942]

Thanks for trying to clear this up for me.

Let me see if I understand.

If I write IPTC/EXIF metadata and Develop metadata to my pairs (which is LR's only option), this gets written to the headers (JPEG) and xmp (RAW). This metadata is visible to other apps, but they are not likely to understand LR's Develop data, rendering the image without any adjustments.

When you say you see no reason to do what I was hoping for, Is this why? Because you can move/import/view the original file in other apps & see the ITPC & EXIF but not the Develop edits even though they were "written"?

Thanks again.

[JohanElzenga]

Yes, you understood it correctly. Writing metadata to files does just that, it writes ‘harmless’ text to the file header. It does not alter the image in any other way, so you are still working non-destructively.

The reason why I see no reason to want to exclude the edits is because this is harmless text. Most applications don’t understand it and so they ignore it. The only two apps that do fully understand it are Lightroom and Camera Raw. But these are non-destructive editors, so all they do is apply some slider settings automatically when you open the image. If you don’t like these settings (why would you not like them? They are your own edits!) then you can just press the Reset button. There are a few third party non-destructive editors that can read at least some of these settings, but again you can just reset their sliders if you don’t like their interpretation. There is no application on the planet that destructively renders anything as a result of your edits in metadata.

So my conclusion is that you are looking for a solution to a problem that does not exist. Do write metadata to files if you want to, ignore the fact that this will write edits as metadata too.

[richardplondon]

I don't know of any way to suppress the writing of just the Develop settings into an XMP sidecar of a Raw file, apart from not writing the metadata out at all.

There's an option in Catalog Settings to suppress the writing of Develop settings into the XMP metadata of a bitmap file (TIFF, JPG, PSD) in which case the Library metadata would still be written. (Though in the case of a Raw+JPG pair, LR will not be writing any metadata to that JPG anyway)

It is worth noting that so far as metadata entries attached to a Raw, these will only be visible to an application which is looking out for an XMP sidecar file - and even if it does so, the Develop metadata fields are Adobe proprietary, and most likely ignored by all except Adobe software. If recallng that prior editing into Adobe software is ever unwanted, one can easily Reset an image to its default Develop treatment then - without affecting the Library info.

[richardplondon]

In the case of a Raw+JPG pair, metadata is written for the Raw member of the pair only (and that is what you view, edit and output). The sidecar JPG’s header is not updated - that would only happen if it was being independently edited In its own right.