Applying Metadata Presets

[southwestform]

1. I have three selected photos and when I try to apply the Metadata Preset it prompts me if I want to apply the preset to the selected photos or only the active photo. Which is the active photo if they are all selected?

2. For the purpose of establishing copyright, and keeping it as simple as possible, what fields are recommended? I currently have

- Copyright
- Copyright Status
- Creator

- Creator E-Mail

3. When exporting, which option for Metadata do you use to ensure it exports just the Metadata Preset applied to the photos? I do not see an option from the drop-down in the Metadata export section.

Thank you.

[john beardsworth]

1. In grid view, notice how one image's surrounding is slightly lighter grey than the others. It is the "most selected" or active image. If you sync metadata to others, it is the one that is used as the source and the others receive its metadata.

To change the active image, click another one.

2. All of those.

3. The Export options allow you to limit metadata exported. So imagine you have GPS tagged a photo and don't want someone else to know where it was taken, then you would chose not to export the location info. If you want to include everything you entered, just choose All Metadata as the option.

[southwestform]

1. How does someone view all of the Metadata for a photo, without LR? I just checked the Get Info on the file on my Mac and it did not display the copyright info I provided. How would I check it without re-importing back into LR?

2. For clarification, I want only what I included in my Metadata Preset; after exporting choosing the All Metadata option, I see it included the keyword, and info about the camera and settings used to take the photo. I really only want the copyright and contact info, so I'm assuming that is what the copyright & contact info only option is for? If so, what if I also want the Date Created field? I only want, the following, though I do not see how to get only that exported?

- Copyright
- Copyright Status
- Creator

- Creator E-Mail

- Date Created

Thank you.

[john beardsworth]

1. LR stores metadata in its catalogue - metadata includes IPTC stuff like captions, copyright etc and LR information like adjustments. It's only when you export a file that the metadata gets baked into the image that you export. So that means your original may have lots of metadata applied, but you export a file for me that has no location information, and for someone else you might include all the metadata.

You can update the originals by using the menu command Metadata > Save Metadata to Files. This only includes metadata that may be useful in other apps which understand it. So flags, stacks, edit history etc are not included, but keywords or ratings are. As are adjustments, which Bridge can understand.

2. You need to distinguish between entering metadata and exporting. You can enter lots, including information you may never want to export. But the export depends on the precise usage - eg someone you trust, people you don't. The Metadata preset and export's Metadata option are independent, and in the latter you don't have the same control that you have in the former. The copyright only option adds the bare minimum.

There is a plugin called Jeffrey's Metadata Wrangler that allows much more control.

[southwestform]

Thanks for all of your help, I will take a look at the plugin.

What is the "Remove Person Info" checkbox for? Is this removing the "Creator" field OR is this removing some other info?

[john beardsworth · Accepted solution]

It's mainly for the Face Recognition feature which uses keywords to store the names of people it recognised. In many cases, you might want to export normal keywords but keep people private. So while the default is that these "people keywords" don't export, Remove Person Info is a further safeguard to ensure they aren't included.