Search by "Metadata Date"

[Paul_DS256]

Lightroom Version Number

LrC 10.2

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I want to go back to a photo I was working on yesterday. I'd hopped around the catalog since then and was looking for a simple way to get back to it. Something like 'Recent Items' in Windows 10.

I found the photo manually then looked in the metadata panel. The 'Metadata Date' showed the last time I made changes to it.

I looked in the Library Filters and 'jf Extended Search' but didn't see 'Metadata Date' as a searchable field.

So, my question is, is there anyway to make use of 'Metadata Date' to find a photo?

Thanks

 

[Jim Wilde]

I don't know about using the Metadata Date field, but finding the photo you were working on yesterday is easy enough....if you were editing the image, just using the Edit Time sort order would suffice. If you weren't editing, but merely changing metadata, then using a Smart Collection to filter on Edit Date would work. I have one called "Recently Modified", which IIRC is actually a default smart collection, which I've currently got set to show images that have been modified in the last 2 days, but that can be changed by the user.

 

[Paul_DS256]

Thanks Jim. That gives me exactly what I'm looking for and extra points for the creation of a Smart Collection.

I didn't think to look in Sort or Smart Collections when I didn't see any related field like Edit Time listed in the filter.

 

[johnrellis]

if you were editing the image, just using the Edit Time sort order would suffice. If you weren't editing, but merely changing metadata, then using a Smart Collection to filter on Edit Date would work

View > Sort > Edit Time sorts grid view using the same date/time as smart collection Edit Date. The Edit Date/Time changes when you make changes to develop settings or fields in the Metadata panel (or sometimes when you don't think you've touched the photo at all :-< ).

 

[Jim Wilde]

View > Sort > Edit Time sorts grid view using the same date/time as smart collection Edit Date. The Edit Date/Time changes when you make changes to develop settings or fields in the Metadata panel (or sometimes when you don't think you've touched the photo at all :-< ).

That was odd, because I thought I'd tested that before I posted, but I now see that some of the testing was on a few images that themselves were part of stacks, and LrC obviously operates differently where stacks are concerned. Changing anything on an image in a stack (develop edits or metadata), but not the first image, does not shift that image to the top of the sort order when Edit Time is used, though they do appear in the Recently Modified smart collection. However, when the first image in a stack is modified both it and the rest of the images in the stack are all moved to the top of the Edit Time sort order, even if the subsidiary images are not themselves modified (but the smart collection correctly only includes the single image that was modified). I guess that's by design, i.e. keeping all images in a stack together, but it can be a little confusing.

The same thing happens with other sort orders, e.g. sorting by rating and then applying a rating change to a stacked image will only affect the sort order when/if the lead image in the stack is changed.

 

[Paul_DS256]

I now see that some of the testing was on a few images that themselves were part of stacks, and LrC obviously operates differently where stacks are concerned

I only use stacks for HDR and Pano and tend to editing after the merge. I never touch the source files again.

Is there a workflow where you would normally be editting individual images in a stack? Just asking.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Is there a workflow where you would normally be editting individual images in a stack? Just asking.

Yes, VCs.

Creating a VC auto-generates a stack with the VC being the subordinate image. If the VC is created to use a different edit sequence, which is not untypical, any edits applied would not trigger sorting the VC to the top of the grid when Edit Time sort order is used, unless the group is unstacked.