Are keywords Exif data?

[Les Kish]

Hi folks:

Perhaps an odd question. Suppose I keyword a bunch of photos. Then command - s to save metadata. I then burn said photos to a CD to send to a magazine editor. The Exif data is in the photo files. Should the keywords be attached to the photo files too? I'm hoping that the keywords would function in lieu of a caption sheet.

Thanks!

 

[Brad Snyder]

Les, it's possible you've got several concepts mixed up there, although I do understand the question you're actually asking.

First EXIF data is created by the camera, period. It's supposed to be read only, but ...
Lr can change the capture date, and other software can change all of it.

There are a couple of other ways metadata gets stored in images, including the old school IPTC (Infomation Interchange Model), the current IPTC Dublin Core, and Adobe's (ISO?) XMP format. This is sort of a case of too many cooks .... Software compatability becomes an issue.

What sort of file types are you dealing with? Because your description of Cmd-S, saving metadata, is not the correct way to approach embedding metadata in derivate files in most instances. I know that sounds funny, but that's how it works.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your terminology, it would help if you describe your production workflow just a little more.

Not to worry, what you're talking about is easily done, I just want to make sure we steer you in the right direction.

 

[Les Kish]

Thanks for the reply Brad. I've finally concluded that keywords are not metadata. I had hoped that others could view the keywords that I'd added to images. Perhaps I can just copy and paste the keywords into the label line under metadata?

 

[johnbeardy]

In Print, you could do some contact sheets with keywords and other metadata under each image. Look at Print's Overlays panel.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Les, in many situations, others can view the keywords you've added. In point of fact keywords are 'metadata'. It may be that the specifics of your workflow (at either end) are hindering the transfer. Again, more details will help us direct you.

If you're printing (to paper, or to files) John's suggestion is certainly valid.

 

[Les Kish]

I see the space for caption or label (under metadata) in Library mode. I think that entering keywords under these fields will save them as viewable metadata? John, I've noticed the label option under the Print overlay panel. It's worth considering although the contact sheets might look a little cluttered.

As far as workflow, I don't keyword on import as they would have to be too generic when applied to a group of photos. I guess that it doesn't really matter whether it's a keyword, label or caption. I'd just like for others to be able to click on the image (or glance at the contact sheet) and be able to see some written description as to it's contents.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Girts]

For what it's worth....

My personal workflow is to import the images into LR, delete, tweek and rename the remainder, then add captions and keywords in the fields marked as such (copyright is inserted by my preset on import), then export files as jpegs if they're going to be sent out.

In my experience, both captions and keywords are then embedded with exif and IPTC data for the recipient to copy as necessary.

Is that any help?

Happy New Year, by the way.

 

[Les Kish]

Thanks to all who have responded (Girts, that's basically my workflow too). I went back and looked at the image files that I burned to CD last week. I selected an image and then looked at it under Spotlight/more info. Doink! There were the keywords. Where were they last week? No matter, at least this works. Now it's on to the rest of the learning curve.