Is there a way to create a watermark in either Photoshop or Lightroom that is "smart" in that you can customize it to pull data from the metadata of the photo (date/time image was taken, lens used, camera body used, etc.) or file information (folder, subfolder, etc.) ?
BTW - Alex, I should probably clarify that we're not discounting your idea, just letting folks know what might be possible in the near term with existing tools, etc.
I try LR/Mogrify yesterday after posting this, and did find that it does what I want, but only to a certain degree. I need to explore more of its options to see how to make it scale/appearance-wise look nicer. At its default settings it's showing the data in microscopic print on my 12MP file 😞
I understand Jeffrey. I am not very familiar with the scripting for Photoshop, and in general I have found that Lightroom can process large batches of photos far faster than Photoshop can, at least in my experience.
I work as a photographer and as a trainer, and many photographers, especially working in school photography, asked for the ability to get metadata into watermark, using a template editor similar to the one we use to rename pictures.
I had the same thought. I don't own Photoshop and I'd like to send differently processes copies of the same image to a printing service. To identify the images I was thinking of using the title as the water mark and was surprised to find that LR doesn't allow me to choose any Metadata field for the watermark.
+1
I just need it for the copyright text. I know it can be done because the "Simple Copyright Watermark" option already pulls the information from the metadata. It's just that the style of the "Simple Copyright Watermark" cannot be edited, but the "Edit Watermark" option won't let me choose any metadata tags. It's so frustrating...
It's very time consuming to have to select all photos from photographer 'A' and export those with watermark 'A', then select all photos from photographer 'B' and export those with watermark 'B' etc.
Maybe some sort of variables could be introduced, maybe something like %metadata:copyright% or something similar...? That way I could do the export in one step and save a lot of time!
I like to see some extra flexibility in placing a watermark. I made a logo to use as watermark, but when I like some opacity and place the watermark left, I have to save this. When I want this at the right, I have to save this too. Every change I made I have to save. That isn't always convenient.
I have so many saved rules that I don't know anymore which one I need. So, saving every detail is okay but also to change details of a saved rule for a small selection, just once without saving the changes, must be possible too.
I think it would be great to include metadata in the image watermarking process. For example, when I'm exporting a group of images for a slideshow that represent a bunch of different poeple's images, it would be nice to have the watermark function include the different copyright line for each image. Some apps let us put [copyright] in the text field to accomplish that but Lightroom doesn't yet. Thanks!
Excellent idea! I was contemplating requesting this as a feature and am glad to know this was already done. I understand that there are other options, but those create extra steps for the workflow and I'd rather manage it all through Lightroom.
I'd like to either know how, or have a product feature change request on this topic.
LR 5.5 has the ability in the Print module to add data like the exposure, filename etc. to the output. What I can't make happen (for whatever reason) is for that data to be overlaid on the image area rather than in a border below it. I'd like from print or the file export facility to create a template using keywords for such data fields which can be floated over the image being printed/exported without changing the dimensional area of the image - similar to how the watermark and identity plate work today, just a more robust set of output options available. This would be useful for documentary processes. Manually editing the identity plate for say each filename is unworkable... Education if I'm just missing it, or someone respond on a way to acheive this without leaving LR ?
We've been complaining about it for 3 years and more and Adobe's answer is always, "Well, here's a third party tool that does it so, we don't have to solve it".
I think "Hey guys! It would be awesome if you would consider implementing metadata powered watermarking" would be better received than "Hey you jerks, implement this already!" Let's keep it civil for everyone's sake. And thanks Adobe for all your excellent work.
Could it be that this "third party tool" is in fact a "troll" - a patent troll - that this "good idea" has been patented and the cost to license isn't worth the market benefit Adobe could expect from buying this feature?
Good theory Gary, but no. It's just a question of working out priorities, and only 28 people have voted on this request in 3 years, which would give Adobe the impression that it's not a high priority for many people, especially when there is a pretty decent third party add on that does the same job.
Demanding won't work, but getting lots of support for this request stands a much better chance. The top 3 requests were all implemented in the last release, and look at the response the Import dialog roll back request got too.
_______________________________________________ Victoria - The Lightroom Queen - Author of the Lightroom Missing FAQ & Edit on the Go books.
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