Metadata

Metadata is the information stored in or alongside your photo file: camera settings, date, location, keywords, author name and copyright. Part of it your camera records automatically (the EXIF data), part you add yourself while editing. Good metadata makes your archive searchable and protects your work.

When importing into Lightroom, add your name, copyright and contact details right away via a metadata preset, so it's in all your photos. Keywords and stars help you quickly find the right images later in a large catalog. At export you can choose which metadata travels along: handy for leaving out location data for privacy, for example. Don't forget copyright info when sharing work online.

Related terms

Export Batch processing Watermark Sync settings RAW

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The presets on this site set these adjustments up for you as a starting point, which you then fine-tune to taste.

All presets

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