{"id":386,"date":"2007-02-20T01:14:25","date_gmt":"2007-02-19T16:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-02-20\/386"},"modified":"2007-06-30T19:44:56","modified_gmt":"2007-06-30T10:44:56","slug":"adobe-lightroom-custom-metadata-viewer-presets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-02-20\/386","title":{"rendered":"Adobe Lightroom: Custom Metadata-Viewer Presets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
This version has been superseded by the version for Lightroom\n1.1<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Adobe Lightroom's Metadata Viewer<\/span><\/div>\n\n
\n\n\nMetadata Viewer Closeup\n<\/div>\n\n

As I noted in my previous post, three weeks after having been officially\nannounced<\/a>, Adobe has released Lightroom Version\n1.0<\/span><\/a> (a free<\/span> 30-day trial can be downloaded from Adobe's Lightroom\npage<\/a>).\n\n<\/p>\n\n

Especially considering it's only a “Version 1<\/span>” product,\nLightroom offers a lot<\/span> of things that can be customized. The subject<\/span> of\nthis post is the list of image metadata shown by the Metadata Panel in\nLibrary mode. <\/p>\n\n

\n\nThe metadata panel can show much more for an image than anyone's likely to\nwant to see at one time — over 100 items, such as its filename, the\nlatitude\/longitude where it was taken, the shutter speed, a caption,<\/span>\netc.— the volume of which can quickly overwhelm.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nTo whittle down the information to a smaller<\/span> set of items, the metadata\npanel comes with a number<\/span> of presets (Default, All, EXIF, IPTC, Minimal,\nand Quick Describe), each showing a different<\/span> subset of the possible items.\n(Perhaps surprisingly, the “All” preset does not show all items\n— more on this later.)\n\n<\/p>\n\n

\n
Metadata Viewer Presets<\/b> vs.<\/i> Metadata Presets<\/b><\/div>\n\n\nLightroom also has metadata presets<\/b>, which include settings such as\n“Copyright<\/tt> is 'Jeffrey\nFriedl', City<\/tt> is 'Kyoto'<\/span>,” etc., that can be applied\nto images to add to or change their metadata. This post is not about those;\nit's about the which-items-should-be-shown<\/i> viewer<\/b> presets.\n\n<\/div>\n\n

\n\nBecause there are so many items the metadata panel might show, chances are\nsmall that any of the presets actually shows the list of metadata items you\nwish to see while hiding the ones that would be clutter to you.\n\n<\/p>

\n\n\nLuckily<\/b>, you can create your own presets.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nUnfortunately<\/b>, because Lightroom is indeed<\/i> a 1.0 product, it\ndoesn't actually include a way<\/span> to create and edit your own presets.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nLuckily<\/b>, I pestered<\/span> the Adobe engineers enough that they told me how\nto create metadata-viewer preset configuration files, and kindly gave me\npermission to share it.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nSo, I present Jeffrey's\nLightroom Metadata-Viewer Preset Builder<\/a>, a web<\/span> application with a\nmouthful<\/span> of a name<\/span> that allows you to create your own presets, complete\nwith self-titled headers and line separators.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nObligatory disclaimer<\/b>: Custom metadata-viewer presets, from this or\nany source, are not supported by Adobe. There are no guarantees that the\npresets you build for Lightroom Version 1.0<\/span> will be at all useful with\nlater versions of Lightroom. In fact, there are no guarantees that they'll\nbe useful with any version of Lightroom. “Use at your own\nrisk.”\n\n<\/p>

\n\nOkay, with that out of the way, here's a bird's<\/span>-eye view of the\napplication. The main work<\/span> area is the lower half (the custom list and the\nmenu).<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a><\/div>\n\n
This version has been superseded by the version for Lightroom\n1.1<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

To create your own presets....<\/p>\n\n

The Menu<\/big>Choose from about 100 items<\/div>\n\n
    \n\n

  1. Select a current preset to use as a starting<\/span> base, or choose from\namong one of the extras I've included (“None”, “All\nSupported Fields”, and my own daily-use preset).\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n

  2. Read the instructions, then press the “hide header”\nbutton to save more screen real-estate for the preset builder\nitself.<\/p><\/li>\n\n

  3. Create your preset, adding and removing items by checking them in\nthe menu (seen at right), or adding headers and rules with the buttons at\nthe top of the menu.<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n

  4. An example view of your custom preset is shown in the lower-left\nof the application, with fake metadata filled in from one of my images,\njust to give a sense<\/span> of how it'll look in actual use.<\/p>\n\n\n

    In the custom list, you can drag items to reorder them, and you can drag\nthem to the trash (the pink stripe at far the left) to remove\nthem.<\/p><\/li>\n\n

  5. Once everything's as you like it, bring back the header by\nclicking the hide-header button again (which had become a show<\/span>-header\nbutton) and enter a title<\/span> for your preset. The title<\/span> you choose here is\nwhat Lightroom shows in the drop-down list of presets (as shown at below),\nso choose a short<\/span> but descriptive title.<\/p><\/li>\n\n

  6. Finally, press the “Generate Preset File” button.<\/p><\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n

    After pressing the generate-preset button, you're presented with a page<\/span>\nfrom which you can download a “.lrtemplate<\/tt><\/b>”\nfile. You can also<\/span> bookmark the page, and share its url with those you'd\nlike to share your preset with; they can then download the same preset, or\nuse yours as a basis<\/span> from which to build their own. For example, here's the\npage for my main\ndaily-use preset<\/a> that includes the metadata items I normally<\/span> want to\nsee or edit.\n\n<\/p>\n

    Installation<\/a><\/h2>\n

    \n\nBefore installing the preset, you must first create a “Metadata Field\nLists” directory in Lightroom's application support folder:<\/p>\n\n

    \n
    Mac OS X:<\/b><\/dt>\n
    ~\/Library\/Application Support\/Adobe\/Lightroom\/Metadata Field Lists\/<\/dd>\n\n\n
    Windows XP:<\/b><\/dt>\n
    C:\\Documents and Settings\\username<\/i>\\Application Data\\Adobe\\Lightroom\\Metadata Field Lists\\<\/dd>\n\n
    Windows Vista:<\/b><\/dt>\n
    C:\\Users\\username<\/i>\\Application Data\\Adobe\\Lightroom\\Metadata Field Lists\\\nThere's a report that the vista location differs — see this alternate Vista install location<\/a>.\n <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n\n
    \n Preset drop-down where yourpreset title appears in\n Lightroom<\/div>\n\n\n

    (On Windows, you may have to visit the Folder Options dialog to allow\nthe normally-hidden Application Data<\/b> folder to be seen.)<\/p>\n\n\n

    Finally, drop the .....lrtemplate<\/tt><\/b> file you downloaded\ninto the directory you just created, and start (or restart) Lightroom.<\/p>\n\n

    The left side of the header in the Library Mode's Metadata Panel likely\nsays “Default” — click it to see your preset among those\nin the drop-down list.<\/p>\n\n

    General Notes<\/h2>\n\n

    Here are some cautions about Lightroom's metadata viewer, whether with a\ncustom<\/span> preset or one of the standard ones:<\/p>\n\n

      \n\n

    1. The preset builder shows a very wide view of the Metadata viewer\npanel — perhaps wider than most people will want their Lightroom\npanels to be (since widening the panels takes away from the Grid\/Loupe\narea). So, keep in mind that long data (e.g. lens information, camera\nmake+model) may be too wide to actually fully appear in normal\nuse.<\/p><\/li>\n\n

    2. Some items seem almost identical, but are really quite different.\nFor example, both the “File Path” and the “Folder”\nitems display the name of the folder that the file is in, but they differ\nin how they interact with the mouse: clicking on one brings up the file in\nExplorer\/Finder, while the other switches Lightroom to viewing the images\nin that same folder (something I find<\/span> much more useful).<\/p>\n\n

      The similarity among some of the items is one reason that the standard\n“All” preset really doesn't have all the items. It's also one<\/span>\nreason that you'll want to take care when building your presets, so you'll\nget what you think you're getting.\n\n<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n

    3. As you move from image to image in your library, the metadata items\nmissing from an image are not shown in the metadata panel unless they're\neditable.<\/p>

      For example, if the preset includes the copyright field, that\nfield is shown even if the image has no copyright notice embedded in it\n(thus, letting you add one if you wish). However, if the preset includes\nthe GPS-coordinates field, but the image is not geoencode, it's simply not\nshown in the viewer.<\/p><\/li>\n\n

    4. The metadata viewer simply reports metadata in the file (or in\nLightroom's database about the file). For example, Lightroom could potentially\ncompute a value<\/span> for “Focal Length 35mm” (full-frame-35mm-camera effective focal length),\nbut it reports it only if that Exif field is actually present in the\nimage metadata.<\/p>\n\n

      (Actually, in Version 1.0,<\/span> Lightroom doesn't display this particular\nfield even if it is present in the image; I've submitted this bug to\nAdobe.)<\/p><\/li>\n\n

    5. Lightroom does not generally show metadata from the “Maker's Notes”\nsection of metadata placed by many cameras. For example, Nikon cameras place\nthe distance to the subject, if known, into the Exif “Subject Distance” field\nof JPG images it creates, but for NEF (raw) images, Nikon puts that data only\ninto the Maker's Notes. Thus, Lightroom does show the subject-distance field\nfor Nikon JPGs that have it, but not for Nikon NEFs that have it.<\/p>\n\n

      (On an odd but encouraging note, Lightroom does pick up the Lens\ninformation from Nikon raw files.)<\/p><\/li>\n\n

    6. You can use my Lightroom Configuration Manager<\/a>\n to change the labels in the metadata panel, among other things.<\/p><\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\n

      \n

      My Tech-Related Photography Posts<\/b><\/p>\n