automatically write changes to xmp

pigeon

I recently read about Lightroom's "automatically write changes to xmp" feature. Up until now, this change has been unchecked, and I thought - cool, if I check this, then my keywords will be written into the file, able to be read from elsewhere.

Kids, don't try this at home.

What I should have done is leave that unchecked, and then also uncheck "include develop settings in metadata for jpeg...". That way "save metadata to file" will ONLY save the keywords - just what I want.

Instead, I didn't realize that for jpegs, the develop settings are written into the jpeg. Yikes. I know that might be helpful for some folks, in case their catalog becomes corrupt. However, my preference is that if I were to lose anything, I'd much rather lose my develop settings to all my photos, rather than have those develop settings permanently embedded into the file.

So, besides sending a warning, I'm sending out a plea. Is there any way to get these images back to original, without the develop (xmp) settings? Other than copying over them?

I'm desperate. I can't seem to find a way. Basically, I want to strip out all xmp data. I see that for raw files, it's a separate file, but not so for jpegs.

-teresa

Anthony

pigeon wrote: »

[..]

Instead, I didn't realize that for jpegs, the develop settings are written into the jpeg. Yikes. I know that might be helpful for some folks, in case their catalog becomes corrupt. However, my preference is that if I were to lose anything, I'd much rather lose my develop settings to all my photos, rather than have those develop settings permanently embedded into the file.

So, besides sending a warning, I'm sending out a plea. Is there any way to get these images back to original, without the develop (xmp) settings? Other than copying over them?

I'm desperate. I can't seem to find a way. Basically, I want to strip out all xmp data. I see that for raw files, it's a separate file, but not so for jpegs.

-teresa

Whilst this may not be too helpful to you this time round, your problem underlines the importance of having an archive copy of the original, untouched images stored away, separate from the working files. I would urge everyone to do this for just the sort of problem you want to overcome.

Anthony.

Dan7312

Exifutils http://www.hugsan.com/exifutils/ can be used to strip out whatever meta data you want stripped out. It will rewrite your files in the process of course.

pigeon wrote: »

I'm desperate. I can't seem to find a way. Basically, I want to strip out all xmp data. I see that for raw files, it's a separate file, but not so for jpegs.

-teresa

arodney

Until you render out a new iteration of a JPEG with the current metadata settings, the JPEG is as it was (there’s no update to the appearance). If you open the JPEG outside of LR, do they look like the originals prior to the metadata develop settings? Personally I always have the Auto check box on (but I also only deal with raw data which is read only in terms of develop settings).

You can also go into the History and reset back to the start (or click on the Reset button at the bottom of the right pane in Develop).

Lastly, if your catalog got corrupted (and one would expect you back it up along with the images), that would still have no effect on the JPEG. The metadata settings would have been embedded into the JPEG. You should be able to open them in say Camera Raw and still edit (or not edit) that data. If you lose the JPEGs and not the catalog (and no back up) I don’t see how that is an embedded metadata issue. So saving this stuff inside the JPEG still seems like a good idea to me.

pigeon

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Anthony, I *do* have a backup for my photos, at least 99% of them, that is. However, at 60,000+ photos, restoring ALL of them is no small feat. But thanks for the sentiment - I absolutely agree about the importance of backing up. I've learned how important that is, from 2 failed hard drives. It's not a matter of IF you'll need the backups, but WHEN.

Everyone else, thanks for the suggestions. Andrew - you pointed me to peace of mind. I had tested these with images before turning it on, but unfortunately I'd only tested with RAW. I panicked when I saw there was no .xmp file for the jpegs, and wrongly assumed that the develop settings were "baked" into the jpeg, same as when you export a jpeg from Lightroom.

After reading Andrew's post - I went back and opened a jpeg in Photoshop to see how it handled the xmp data. GREAT NEWS: The photo was like the original!!!
Guess I should have thought of that before posting, but didn't.

Thanks again for all the feedback - I've never been disappointed in the helpful responses from folks on this forum. I posted a similar post on Adobe's Lightroom forum, but didn't get a single answer. You guys ROCK.

-teresa