Mastering Metadata in Lightroom 4

I have hundreds of photos that I’m trying to adjust the date, location, comments, etc on.
- Is there a why in lightroom to easily do this in list format?
- When I view photos in windows explorer, metadata details will show up below in a bar with: Date taken, Tags, Rating, Title, Authors, Comments. What corresponding metadata categories will match with these? I can find some, but can’t seem to find the correct Authors, or Comments section. (it took me a while to figure out that keywords are tags)
- Is there a way to automatically save the metadata when I make changes in lightroom, and also have them appear in lightroom when I make changes in explorer directly or any other program. (for example in picassa, its immediate)
- When I add a tag (ie: location-home) can I have it so certain tags will also add other metadata, for example add a geotag that’s connected with “location-home” tag?
Thanks for any help or direction with this.
System info:
Lightroom version: 4.2
Operating system: Windows 7 Ultimate Edition
Version: 6.1 [7601]
Application architecture: x64
System architecture: x64
Physical processor count: 4
Processor speed: 2.2 GHz
Built-in memory: 5995.8 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 5995.8 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 379.2 MB (6.3%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 366.6 MB
Memory cache size: 87.2 MB
System DPI setting: 96 DPI
Desktop composition enabled: Yes

Is there a why in lightroom to easily do this in list format?
Not sure what you mean by List Format, but I think the answer is NO.
When I view photos in windows explorer, metadata details will show up below in a bar with: Date taken, Tags, Rating, Title, Authors, Comments. What corresponding metadata categories will match with these? I can find some, but can’t seem to find the correct Authors, or Comments section. (it took me a while to figure out that keywords are tags)
Lightroom, by default, does not show all metadata; it shows only the metadata that it has been programmed to show. The ones you can't find can be accessed via a plug-in
http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAndServices/CustomMetadataLrPlugin/
Is there a way to automatically save the metadata when I make changes in lightroom, and also have them appear in lightroom when I make changes in explorer directly or any other program. (for example in picassa, its immediate)
You can have Lightroom automatically write most (not all) metadata to the photo files or sidecar files; there is an option under Catalog Settings that says something like "automatically write metadata to xmp".
I am not aware of any method to force Lightroom to automatically read metadata changes made outside of Lightroom. In fact, I think it is a bad idea to make metadata changes in another program on a regular basis, as there are no synchronization tools and so this is likely to wind up out of synch and troublesome.
When I add a tag (ie: location-home) can I have it so certain tags will also add other metadata, for example add a geotag that’s connected with “location-home” tag?
Perhaps a metadata preset can do this, however I have never tried it out.

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Displaying Metadata in Lightroom 4

I want to display the IPTC metadata in Lightroom 4 in the same way as in Bridge CS6 so that it only displays the fields I want to use - is this possible without having to install 3rd party software? I've tried the metadata pop-up menu selections but these either omit items I want to see or include many items which I don't use. I bought Lightroom because it was designed for photographers but I am discovering that there are a number of areas where it is not as flexible as Bridge.

1MickMick wrote:
the plugin is only a beta release but may revisit it once the final version appears.
I recommend trying while it's in beta. The only reason it's in beta is due to recent enhancements that concerned dynamic acquisition of other plugin's metadata. If you're not using that feature, it's beta-ism shouldn't affect you. This is otherwise a mature plugin - very low risk.
I "alpha" tested it, and only turned up one problem, which Jeffrey promptly fixed.
If you want to develop your own metadata viewer presets without resorting to a 3rd party plugin or add-in, you can develop your own:
Put in 'Metadata Field Lists' (you must create folder if not already existing) subfolder of "Lightroom Presets Folder" (see Preferences, Presets tab), a .lua file containing stuff like this:
return {
version   = 1, -- format this file is in (format version #1)
title     = "Rob's Minimal",
id        = "com.robcole.metadatafieldlist.minimal",
type      = "MetadataFieldList",
-- keep plugins alphabetical
items = {
        --   A D O B E
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "File Info" },
        'com.adobe.filename',
        'com.adobe.folder',
        'com.adobe.dateTimeOriginal',
        'com.adobe.dateTimeDigitized.onlyIfUnique',
        'com.adobe.imageCroppedDimensions',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Title & Caption" },
        'com.adobe.title',
        { 'com.adobe.caption', height_in_lines = 3 },
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Shooting Info" },
        'com.adobe.exposureBiasValue',
        'com.adobe.flash',
        'com.adobe.software',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Genre, Scene, & Location" },
        'com.adobe.intellectualGenre',
        'com.adobe.scene',
        'com.adobe.location',
        'com.adobe.city',
        'com.adobe.state',
        'com.adobe.country',
        'com.adobe.isoCountryCode',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.CustomMetadata.*',
        'com.robcole.dev.ChangeManager.*',
        'com.robcole.ChangeManager.*',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.RC_CustomMetadata.*',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.develop.DevAdjust.*',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        --   D E V   M E T A
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "RC Dev Meta" },
        'com.adobe.separator',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.lastUpdate',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.ProcessVersion',
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        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Camera Calibration" },
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        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.ShadowTint',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.rgbColorMods',
        'com.adobe.separator',
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        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.WhiteBalance',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Temperature',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Tint',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Exposure',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.HighlightRecovery',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.FillLight',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Shadows',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Brightness',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Contrast',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Clarity',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Vibrance',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Saturation',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Tone Curve" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.ToneCurveName',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.toneCurveParamMods',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.toneCurvePointMods',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "HSL / Color / B & W" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.colorType',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.colorMods',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Split Toning" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.splitToning',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Detail" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.Sharpness',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.SharpenRadius',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.SharpenDetail',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.SharpenEdgeMasking',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.LuminanceSmoothing',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.LuminanceNoiseReductionDetail',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.LuminanceNoiseReductionContrast',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.ColorNoiseReduction',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.ColorNoiseReductionDetail',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Lens Corrections" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.lensDistortion',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.lensVignetting',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.lensCa',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.perspective',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Effects" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.postCropVignette',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.grain',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { "com.adobe.label", label = "Crop, Locals, & Retouch" },
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.retouched',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.redeye',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.gradients',
        'com.robcole.lightroom.metadata.DevMeta.brushes',
        'com.adobe.separator',
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        'com.robcole.develop.ExifMeta.lastUpdate',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { 'com.adobe.label', label = 'SubIFD1' },
        'com.robcole.develop.ExifMeta.SubIFD1_BitsPerSample',
        'com.adobe.separator',
        { formatter = 'com.robcole.develop.ExifMeta.bigBlock', topLabel=true },
        --   N X   T O O
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        -- { "com.adobe.label", label = "RC Nx Too" }, -- The label is automatic when * is used.
        'com.robcole.lightroom.NxToo.*',
PS - Lemmeno if you want more details...
Rob

Exporting metadata from Lightroom to Excel

For all those out there wanting to export metadata from Lightroom to CSV, I have found a Fantastic Company www.pkzsoftware.com that sell their product for approx AUS $10.00 "Lightroom Metadata Explorer" it works perfectly and their customer service is just the best you will find anywhere, being a computer novice I had a few problems and they went out of their way to assist me to get exactly the data I needed. Can't speak highly enough of the Company.

John,
Thanks for your reply and the references to the tools. I ran the sqlLite Database Browser to look at the LR database, and to be honest it was pretty much gibberish to me. There's over 50 tables in the database and some quick browsing through them revealed data that would seem to require a knowledge of the database structure to extract. I'm a photographer with very good knowledge of how to use software tools to do my job, but I'm not a programmer and really don't have the time or the desire to become one.
My point is any good database software should have the capability to generate at least a flat file of the information contained within. In LR's case, I (and it seems others based on feature requests) would like to see a capability of exporting a CSV or tab-delimited file of the information contained in the side panels (i.e., keywords, the metadata browser, and the metadata panel for starters) on an image-by-image basis. I could then use the output in any of several other tools to do what I need.
Thanks again for your helpful links. Maybe someone can come up with a "CSV generator" using one of those tools that could be shared among LR users.

How to synchronise metadata between Lightroom catalogue and exif metadata (e.g. Orientation and rating)?

Hi there,
i have some third-party tools that also read my original photos that I use in my workflow. That is especially my private synology cloud, from which I can watch my images in the browser and in mobile devices like my iPhone/iPad.
i Ido not want to export a second copy of the pictures from Lightroom to be used by the other tools and still want to be able to synchronise the two most important values between these tools and Lightroom: orientation and rating.
is there any way to store orientation and rating from lightroom in the original photo's exif data? vice versa is there a way to synchronise these values back from the exif metadata to Lightroom? Especially orientation is an issue, because I have older cameras that do not set the orientation tag and I have to orient them in Lightroom.
rationale: I'd like to use web or mobile devices to rate pictures with my friends and family and do not to have everybody gather around my Lightroom PC.
I don't want to be trapped in the adobe product family. Buying Lightroom-mobile is not an option as I don't accept public clouds and the pricing of it.
Any hints?
cheers,
Meike

Use the Metadata > Save Metadata To File command to write orientation and rating from the LR catalog back to the photo's metadata. Or set the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.
If an external tool changes a photo's metadata, LR will display an indicator in the upper-right corner of its thumbnail in Library grid mode:
You can tell LR to reread all the metadata from the file by doing Metadata > Read Metadata From File (this will replace all the metadata in the LR catalog, so beware).
You can find all photos that have changed metadata in the file by using the Metadata Status column in Metadata browser of the Library Filter bar.

Microsoft Pro Photo - Geotag metadata in Lightroom

Geotagging (embedding location information in image metadata) has occasionally been mentioned in posts in this forum, but I just thought I'd share my recent experiences with Microsoft Pro Photo Tools (MPPT) with those that may not be aware of its existence/capabilities.
MPPT is essentially a metadata editor with Geotagging capability - and it is free (
). Since version 2 it has supported Adobe's XMP sidecar file format. I've recently used it with the following workflow to tag my images with location info directly from a separate GPS:
1. Whilst shooting pictures, I carry around my Garmin GPS, recording my track (optional).
2. Back at home, I download my images into LR, automatically adding copyright metadata, etc to all files at import.
3. I download the track information from my Garmin GPS, saving it as a GPX file.
4. I then open up the track GPX file and the images in MPPT.
5a. Based on the date/time exif data embedded in the image file and the date/time information in the track file, MPPT automatically identifies the location of each image and displays them on a map.
5b. If you have no GPS, you can easily enter in location and fine tune on a map. For example, enter "Seattle Art Museum" and the selected images are associated with the location of the Seattle Art Museum and shown on a map for you to fine tune!
6. With one click, MPTT then writes location metadata (Country, State, City, Location, etc) to either the original image file or the sidecar XMP (depending on user defined configuration) - I write the data to XMP.
7. Back to Lightroom and sync metadata (one click). At that point, all the location metadata is visible within the Library module.
I was impressed how easy this all was. One day this capability may well be within LR, but until then this is an easy way to geotag your images.

Have you looked at Jeffrey Friedl's cross platform tool? http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps and http://regex.info/blog/2008-10-29/979
This works inside Lightroom, understands track log files, works with manual tagging from google maps and much more.

Metadata from Lightroom to Bridge

Using Lightroom 3 to import images from SD card to Mac hard drive. Complete set of IPTC metadata entered as a preset in Lightroom, does not appear in Bridge. All the fields are blank. Would you please explain why this is happening, and pointme to instructions to do this correctly.

I believe you have to choose the option, "Write changes to XMP" to have that happen. For those files that you have already added the information, try highlighting them and pressing Ctrl(Cmd)/S.

Why is the metadata in Lightroom 5 not updated ?

Hi there,
I have made changes to photos in a folder using Adobe CS6 via the Camera Raw in Adobe Bridge CS6.
However, when I open up my Lightroom 5, all the changes that I made in Adobe Bridge CS6 was not shown in Lightroom 5.
How do make Lightroom 5 recognise the changes that I made in Adobe Bridge CS6 ?
Thanks

Use Metadata->Read Metadata from Files
If I could give you some advice, using two programs (Bridge and Lightroom) whose purposes generally overlap is not a good procedure, and furthermore, there is no way to have LR automatically recognize those metadata change made in Bridge. It must be done manually, every single time. So, my advice is that if you're going to use Lightroom, make all your metadata changes in Lightroom and stop using Bridge.

Can Premier Pro make use of caption and keyword metadata from Lightroom

I’m using Premier CS6 to create a slideshow with images from Lightroom. When I export from Lightroom, I have quite a bit of Metadata encoded into the image and I’m wondering if there is a way to see that metadata in Premier?
I’m probably dreaming but I’d love to be able to create a lower third, title template that would get its information from the Caption field in Lightroom.
Any other tips for using Lightroom and Premier together would be appreciated.

Whatever metadata is viewable in PP will be available in the metadata pane. However, titles cannot automatically 'grab' their data from any source. It has to be typed or copied in manually.

Updating/sharing keywords and metadata in Lightroom 4

I will be using an intern to help add keywords & metadata to an extremely large group of photos in Lightroom 4.
The intern will have their own workstation so we'll be passing files back and forth.
I need to add their work to mine, keeping all of the keyword/metadata work tied to the virtual photos which already have some work done to them (some keywords, metatdata and photo enhancements already in place on some photos).
step-by-step appreciated
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I'm still learning LR myself.
suggestions welcomed!
thank you

Lightroom is not a multi-user application, and so you can, via tedious manipulation of files, achieve the result you want, but I should also note that make one mistake, and you potentially have a real mess on your hands.
The best solution (in my opinion) is to put the catalog file and all photos on a server that you can both access. The drawback to doing this is that only one person can be working with a specific Lightroom catalog at a time. And given my usual advice to use only one catalog, this may not meet your needs.
If that's not a good solution, then the intern can create her own temporary catalog of the portion of the photos to be worked on today, add keywords and other metadata, and then pass the catalog file to you to merge with your main catalog using the command File->Import from another catalog.
As another alternative, if the only task the intern will carry out is adding keywords and other metadata, there are many freeware solutions that your intern can use for this, and then when she is done in a particular folder, you can in Lightroom select all the photos in that folder, and then read the metadata from the photo files. For Windows, two such freeware programs are GeoSetter and ExifToolGUI.

Missing Metadata from Lightroom Gallery Jpegs

I have been making some Lightroom web galleries using standard templates that are included in LR. However when I examine or remove the large jpegs it seems that my metadata has been stripped out by the process. I'm looking at the large photo in Photoshop CS3 by going to File>File Information. None of the keywords or copyright information is present.
The metadata displays correctly in the Library area within Lighroom.
I'm using Mac OS 10.4.8

Thanks for the suggestion Sean, I'll give that a try. I'll also run a test by simply trashing the old sidecar files. That may be the path of least resistance.
I hate to go back to Bridge especially after spending the last year using Photo Mechanic, which I still use in my assignment workflow. For editing, ranking and renaming it's head and shoulders above Bridge but it's weakness is that it can't make customized web galleries and it's not a RAW converter either. It does make galleries but they lack even the most basic HTML customizable features without serious coding. That said, Photo Mechanic's ability to embed metadata is fantastic. You can even embed the unique file name of each image as a keyword. If you've ever been handed back one of your own images by a client after they remove the file name and spent time searching for it you'll begin to appreciate being able to go to the metadata and just get the file name in the keyword field.
I'm using Lightroom only to make web galleries for my stock site and it's very important to me that copyright info gets embedded into each image. Keywords would be helpful too but that's not a deal breaker.
So far Lightroom has been fantastic as a batch processing tool but I'm amazed at how difficult it is with metadata. If metadata can't reliably be entered and saved in files then what good is it? The thing that bothers me the most is that it looks as if it's totally stripped out in the gallery process which is unspeakably awful.
I hope that the answer is that I'm doing something wrong in my processing and that it's easily fixable.

Saving metadata from Lightroom erases custom XMP data in DNG...

Hello,
There seems to be an issue with the way Lightroom applies changes in from the LR catalog to the assets metadata. The setup is LR 2.5 and there is an orginal set of images that have custom XMP data applied to them via Bridge. There is one LR catalog that points to these images and the LR catalog ratings and labels match those that are in these images. A second LR catalog copy (not export) was made where additional changes were made only to ratings and labels. This catalog also points to the original assets. When using the Save Metadata to files function in LR for this catalog (and selecting ALL files), LR erases all the original custom XMP data contained in the DNG images and writes only the ratings and label information.
It doesn't seem that LR should be overwriting the entire XMP packet when only ratings and labels have changed and are saved back to the assets. Is that the way this is designed or is this a malfunction?
Thanks for any help on this!
David

I may have answered my own question as we have run into this issue before. Lightroom is really not designed for any type of simultaneous workflow on the same files. Most content management applications utilize the check-in/check-out mechanism to avoid having to perform any type of merging or implement a logical business rule to determine which content updates "win" It is no different with Bridge and LR. You work in one application at a time doing specific things to the same files and then read from each other when those actions are complete. Working in this manner you never run into the merge issue or lose data from either side.
Our simple answer to this question is adjust our workflow timing for things to accommodate this behavior. The one thing that I will say is that LR does really need to provide some type of catalog history functionality that can be queried. I believe that LR does interact with the catalog database in this manner when you use the Save functionality from the context menu and have not imagery selected. It scans the database looking for any changes and then only updates those files it finds changes for. If we could only see this type of functionality added in a way that would show us history for changes to the catalog at large and not have to dig into individual assets to look for these changes that would be great.
We are going to look at a way to query the LR database itself to see if there isn't some time stamp information and file ID/filename data that can't be accessed as it would be invaluable to be able to look across large catalogs (well over 1000 images) and find the files that had been most recently updated (in updated I mean only simple updates to rating and label) and then separate these out to work with in their own group (collection).
I could also look at this as yet another opportunity to refine a workflow that doesn't create changes to identical data each time changes are incurred. I will look at that option much more closely as it is really the only thing we can easily control.
Cheers!
~David

Exporting metadata from Lightroom to a flat file.

I would like to export the metadata in a lightroom database to a flat file or Excel sheet. Is this possible? I'm using lightroom on a PC.

John,
Thanks for your reply and the references to the tools. I ran the sqlLite Database Browser to look at the LR database, and to be honest it was pretty much gibberish to me. There's over 50 tables in the database and some quick browsing through them revealed data that would seem to require a knowledge of the database structure to extract. I'm a photographer with very good knowledge of how to use software tools to do my job, but I'm not a programmer and really don't have the time or the desire to become one.
My point is any good database software should have the capability to generate at least a flat file of the information contained within. In LR's case, I (and it seems others based on feature requests) would like to see a capability of exporting a CSV or tab-delimited file of the information contained in the side panels (i.e., keywords, the metadata browser, and the metadata panel for starters) on an image-by-image basis. I could then use the output in any of several other tools to do what I need.
Thanks again for your helpful links. Maybe someone can come up with a "CSV generator" using one of those tools that could be shared among LR users.

Iptc metadata in lightroom, but not in photoshop visible!

iptc personal metadata is set in lightroom, when raw format is imported into lightroom. developped with preset metadata aswell, but when viewed in photoshop, iptc data is not showing.(get info)
what do i miss here?

corrected in developer module using b/w setting in the hsl: coulour: b&w settings

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Does anyone know if it is possible to import a TSV Metadata file into lightroom? I can't seem to find any option for this. Thinking about moving to Lightroom and the only way I can bring 400,000 captions with me is to hopefully Import. If I can't I'm probably staying put. Thanks for any suggestions.

Hello,
Maybe you can use CustomMetaData Plugin http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAndServices/CustomMetadataLrPlugin/
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I can't seem to activate the file name area in the Metadata pane in the Library module. It is solid gray and I cannot make the area active. With the correct folder active, the files seem to be normal in all visible ways, but the ability to change the name is not available. This is true in Grid or Loupe views. It is true with only one Active image. Any thoughts?

Are the images on-line? Though that shouldn't make a difference. You should still get a non-grayed out filename and get a warning dialog, instead if you try to set a name change.
Don

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