Metadata is the hidden information on every photograph that contains details such as the copyright, contact details for the photographer and the location of where the image was shot. You can customise the metadata for any photograph easily before importing them to Adobe Lightroom – This can be done as follows:
Start by navigating to the ‘Import’ tab in Adobe Lightroom – on the right-hand side of this window you will see a drop-down pane titled ‘Apply During Import’. This is where you can add keywords to your image, apply any develop presets or edit the metadata. Click the drop-down menu next to ‘metadata’ and select ‘New…’.
You will now see the ‘New Metadata Preset’ screen. Here you can select what information you would like to include in your metadata. This can include all manner of things such as Camera Information, Copyright, information on the photographs content, labels ands ratings.
This is what my default metadata preset looks like – You will see that I’ve made some changes to the blank preset panel. The Copyright Status has been set to ‘Copyrighted’ and the Rights Usage Term has been set to ‘All Rights Reserved’, you will also see that my website address and name are included in this first panel. This is to prove that this image belongs to me, as does the copyright.
The next panel that I have edited is the IPTC Creator panel – here I have included such information as my name, my country and my website and e-mail address. You want to be careful here as this information is publicly accessible as soon as the photo is released into the wider world – Most creative practitioners exclude information such as their full address for privacy reasons, however if you own a business then it’s a good idea to include this information but substitute your personal address with your business address.
Once you can created your Metadata preset, click the ‘Create’ button. You can now apply this preset to any photographs that are imported from that point onwards. Just ensure that it is selected before importing.
IDI 