How to: Exporting images to Wordpress, preserving keywords established in LR Classic

Report · Jan 31, 2019

Hello,

I'm fairly new to LR Classic CC, and have recently imported about 5000 TIFF images into a catalog, and ensured all are properly keyworded as needed.

I've then used PS CC (not LR) to generate JPGs to be imported into a new WP site (still very much in development). I used PS, as I'm not yet familiar with how to do so in LR (but will learn how in the next day or two).

The issue here: The JPGs created by PS inherited the keywords. However when the JPGs are then imported into WP, the keywords don't survive.

Is there a method/workflow in LR that will export TIFFs into JPGs, preserve the keywords in such a way that these will be also be seen properly in the Wordpress Media Manager? I really really don't want to have to duplicate the keywording for the WP copies of the files...

I realize I'm spanning two different universes here that barely overlap, and have also been searching for WP plug-ins that might help, but thus far, nothing has shown up.

Thanks!!!!
Jerry

Report · Jan 31, 2019

"The JPGs created by PS inherited the keywords."

How did you verify that? If you upload one of these JPEGs to Dropbox or similar and post the sharing link here, and we can see if the keywords are indeed in industry-standard locations.

Report · Jan 31, 2019

Hi John - thanks for the quick reply!

We have also used a popular 3rd party app called PhotoMechanic. Opening the JPGs in that, showed that the keywords were in place.

I've copied a couple of files to a new private Dropbox share found here:
Dropbox - 2019-01-31, JPG Keyword check - Simplify your life

I don't know if the keywords are in the industry-standard locations (but would love to know how to verify this).

I can tell you that when uploaded to our fledgling (new) WP site, keywords did not survive.

Looking forward to learning more here!!

Many thanks,
Jerry

Report · Feb 01, 2019

I've copied a couple of files to a new private Dropbox share found here:
Dropbox - 2019-01-31, JPG Keyword check - Simplify your life

I confirmed that these sample JPEGs had the keywords stored in industry-standard metadata fields. So as others have indicated, the problem is with the the loading of the images into Wordpress.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

Another possible approach: Use the Metadata Wrangler LR plugin, which could copy or append the keywords into the Caption or Title fields when you export the photo from LR.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

WP tags are the neatest analogy to LR keywords, but are only an analogy. You can also get unintended consequences if a WP-LR plugin maps keywords to tags - eg standard WP tag clouds become bloated with tags from LR keywords.

Report · Jan 31, 2019

JerryandLoisPhotography wrote
The issue here: The JPGs created by PS inherited the keywords. However when the JPGs are then imported into WP, the keywords don't survive.

How did the keywords not survive, exactly? Did you see an empty Keywords field in the WordPress Media Library, or was there no Keywords field in there at all?

I was just playing around with my WordPress site (version 5.0.3), and the Media Library doesn't have a Keywords field, only fields for URL, Title, Caption, Alt Text, and Description. If the images were exported by Lightroom, I'm pretty confident there is nothing wrong with the keywords in the images, because they tend to upload perfectly to many websites that support keywords.

I cannot claim to be a WordPress expert, but this is my take on it: If we don't see a Keywords field in the WordPress Media Library, it simply might not support keywords. In other words, the problem might be on the WordPress end. When I upload images that I know to have valid keywords, the keywords don't show up in WordPress, even though the keywords in the same images show up on other websites.

So then how to avoid re-keywording everything? Many WordPress users who build serious photography-oriented websites use a specialized image plug-in. I have a test WordPress site where I've installed the free version of the NextGen Gallery plug-in; that's one of the most popular ones. When I upload the same images directly into the plug-in, voilà…each image's keywords are there, in a Tags field in the NextGen Gallery Settings panel. So my best guess is that a basic WordPress installation does not support image keywords, but some WordPress photo plug-ins add that capability.

Again, there may be a keyword capability of basic WordPress that I am unaware of, so don't take my advice as the last word since I'm definitely not an expert on WordPress. But I have only seen keyword support in WordPress image plug-ins such as NextGen Gallery.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

Hi Conrad

Thank you for weighing in! Great points that you've raised (and an excellent check on my own assumptions).

1. There doesn't appear to actually be a keywords field for images.
2. I am using a very popular and powerful plug-in, Enhanced Media Library PRO, which allows the user to create a keyword-like or category-like taxonomy and thus manage images in the library (e.g. searching and filtering) in the same way that keywords work in LR. However, with your observation, I realized I made the assumption that that keyword structure of the plug-in mapped to the keywords in the image file's metadata.
3. I've sent off a query to that plug-in's developer to find out if there's a way to get it to shake hands with the keywords in the image files. If not, this could be a rather unpleasant discovery, if I continue to use this particular plug-in.
4. I had already looked at NextGen, but the apparent main thrust of that plug-in allowed users to create their own portfolios/galleries. The theme I'm using has its own ways of doing the same, so I didn't look any deeper. I'll have to go back to see if it can complement EML.

Thank you again for your thoughts!
Jerry

Report · Feb 01, 2019

FYI another issue is colour management. By default, WP strips any colour profile from uploaded images and serves them as plain sRGB. So if you have a colour managed workflow, anyone using a colour-managed browser won't see the same colours as you. To get around this, there's another plugin called ImagemagickEngine which preserves the profile.

I actually wrote my own WP plugin but never released it. Maybe I should, partly because it did handle keywords!

Report · Jan 31, 2019

You will want to explore using Lightroom’s publish service for getting images from Lightroom over to Wordpress. Just googling on that reveals several.

now, I am not currently at a computer, so I cannot check some of this out, but in LR, in the library module, down lower left, look at publishing. Should be a + symbol to look for more. This involves adding a plug-in.

note that the publishing plug-in might be third party off the web

ahh, foe example WP/LR Sync | WordPress.org

wikes, googling on “lightroom wordpress publishing plugin” gets lots of results

note, I have never ever been anywhere near Wordpress, so this all with a grain of salt.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

Hi David,

Thank you for your comments as well. I had already looked at WP/LR Sync, but frankly, the relatively low number of installs (5K) was a deterrent for me (looking for well-established, heavily established plug-ins). I know that sounds snooty, but am taking the conservative route here.

I had also googled something similar to your suggestion since posting this thread, and am still combing through the results.

Many thanks,
Jerry

Report · Feb 01, 2019

Suggesting publish services was a good idea. I did a search and found a number of things I wasn't aware of before. For example, I didn't know that WordPress has their own Lightroom Export plug-in (not a Publish Service) that sends images directly from Lightroom to the Media Library of any site under your WordPress account.

The problem, however, is that nearly all the solutions that came up do not resolve the main question, which is how to get standard IPTC keywords into a WordPress site. They don't overcome the fact that no matter how you upload the images, the basic WordPress Media Library does not have a place to put keywords. I looked at the page for WP/LR Sync, and it shows options for mapping keywords to one of the other available fields. By default, it seems to send keywords into the Alt text field. I would not be comfortable with that, it seems like the Alt field should be reserved for actual Alt text. So that's not a great solution either.

The search did reveal that NextGen Gallery offers a Lightroom Publish Service. Since NextGen Gallery does have a dedicated Keywords field, this might be one of the better overall solutions. Because you would have both real keyword support in the Next Gen plugin, and a direct line from the NextGen Publish Service in Lightroom to the NextGen plugin on the WordPress site.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

This is intriguing, Conrad. Will look at the WP plugin you mentioned as well as re-visiting NextGen to see what it does.

For either of these, I wonder (not yet having had time to look) if these work with the JPGs produced by exporting out of LR, or are these supposed to replace that step in the workflow. I would imagine these are just the next step, will let you know what I find out.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

I should add that I'm not endorsing NextGen, I only keep the free version installed on my test WordPress site to play with. But NextGen has matured greatly since I first tried it a few years ago. If the makers of Enhanced Media Library PRO tell you that there's a way to see and manage keywords in their solution, you could stick with that.

JerryandLoisPhotography wrote
For either of these, I wonder (not yet having had time to look) if these work with the JPGs produced by exporting out of LR, or are these supposed to replace that step in the workflow. I would imagine these are just the next step

It depends. As you know, normally the steps are export JPEGs from Lightroom, then upload to WordPress. It's possible for both a Publish Service and Export plug-in to cover both steps. But how those are handled depends on the software.

If a company provides a Lightroom Publish Service, you can organize your website from Lightroom using Collections, and Lightroom can track which images have changed since the last upload. A few Publish Services support two-way sync, so that certain image changes made on the website (typically metadata or comments) can be synced back to Lightroom.

A Lightroom Export plug-in (not preset) can also handle both export and upload, but it's more of a fire-and-forget solution where you have to manually re-upload any updates from the Lightroom end, and there's no two-way sync.

With both, you never see the JPGs on your own computer. They are exported and directly uploaded.

If you aren't using a Publish Service or an Export plug-in, you export JPGs to a folder on your computer and manually upload them to WordPress.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

I don't think WP has its own LR plugin. It's simply a 3rd plugin listed on WP.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

The one I found seems to be developed by Automattic themselves, integrated with their Jetpack software:

WordPress.com Apps - Export direct from Lightroom to WordPress.com

Report · Feb 01, 2019

Which is a little way from being by WP themselves, Conrad. I'd only describe it as a proof of concept, but the important thing is the official XMLRPC API. I wouldn't give any one plugin any more credence than others that are unequivocally from third parties, and they all strip colour profiles and apply questionable sharpening routines to thumbnails and other intermediate sizes.