Design Center Tutorial

Wouldn’t it be nice to describe a photo just once in a way that can easily be shared and understood? Using metadata in Adobe® Photoshop® CS, you can do just that. Metadata communicates information about your images, such as the date they were taken or the resolution of the images. You can also add metadata to include information that helps you organize and find your photos. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to work with metadata, including adding and editing metadata, how to create a metadata template to copyright your photos, and how metadata is used in the File Browser.

1. Take a look at the metadata already attached to an image.

Open the File Browser. Select a photo by clicking on it, and then take a look in the Metadata palette (you may want to make the palette bigger so you can see more). Let’s look at the File Properties metadata. You’ll see the date the file was created, as well as other information like the color mode and file size. This metadata isn’t editable, but if you change the file size, for example, the metadata will also change.

2. Add some IPTC metadata.

You can add more information to the photo, such as a description or a copyright notice. In the Metadata palette, open the IPTC metadata by clicking on the triangle to the left of the category name (this metadata category is editable). To add information, click the pencil icon to the left of an item, and then type the information. For example, we entered “Hike near Rosario” for Description. When you’re done, you can press the Tab key to move to the next item, or click the check mark at the bottom of the Metadata palette.

3. Customize the metadata display.

As you work with metadata, you’ll probably find that you don’t need to reference all the different categories that appear in the File Browser. To specify what you want to appear and what you don’t, choose Metadata Display Options from the Palette menu and then choose the metadata you want to see, and deselect the items you know you won’t use regularly. When you’re done, click OK.

4. Create a copyright metadata template.

Metadata templates allow you to put together information once and then apply the information to many images, like a copyright notice. To create a template, select a photo that you’ve taken in the File Browser. Then choose File > File Info from the File Browser. Choose Description from the list on the left side of the dialog box. Next, under Copyright Status, choose Copyrighted. In the Copyright Notice text box, type in your name and any other information you’d like to be able to apply to all your images. If you have a Web site, you can enter the address in the Copyright Info URL text box. When you’re done, choose Save Metadata Template from the context menu. Name the template, and then click OK. Click OK to close the File Info dialog box. It’s very important that you only copyright images that are your own.

5. Apply the new copyright metadata template.

Select another one of your photos in the File Browser, and then choose File > File Info. From the context menu at the top right of the dialog box, choose the template name that you just created. The copyright information is automatically filled in for you.

6. See how metadata is used.

For our example, we created a Web photo gallery using some of our images. You can do the same by selecting a few images in the File Browser, and then choosing Web Photo Gallery from the Automate menu in the File Browser. Take a look to see where metadata shows up in the gallery.