Modifying digital camera metadata
For photographs taken with digital cameras, the Info panel displays special data (EXIF) that was captured and embedded in the image. This data is not editable, except for the Capture Date. Digital cameras record the date and time a photograph is captured based on the internal clock of the camera. If this clock is not correct, you can reassign the date and time using this feature. You cannot undo this action and it and applies only to images taken with digital cameras. You can change the Capture Date of more than one image at a time by selecting multiple images.
To set the Capture Date
On the Action menu, click Set Capture Date.
Set the following options:
Replace with Enables you to set a new date and time, and also to define the time increment between photographs.
**Adjust relative **Applies the new date and time, maintaining the time difference between selected photographs.
**Apply time difference **Enables you to shift the time in increments of hours and minutes. This feature is helpful for adjusting time-zone differences.
The Preview window at the bottom of the Set Capture Date dialog box shows a list of the dates before and after the correction.
EXIF orientation
Correct EXIF orientation rotates the thumbnails of all selected items to correct any values of the Orientation field written by your digital camera. This feature is run automatically during importing.
Synchronize annotations
Adding annotation information to media items in a Microsoft Expression Media catalog does not embed annotations in the original files. The annotations can be found only in the catalog.
To write or embed annotation information from the catalog in your original files, on the Action menu, click SyncAnnotations. The Sync Annotations command also lets you import annotations by rescanning files for metadata added by programs other than Expression Media.
The synchronizing feature applies only to annotations that are part of the IPTC, QuickTime, or XMP metadata standards. These standards define which metadata fields will appear in any image file. Custom metadata fields and catalog sets are now written to files as part of the XMP standard.
This feature is especially useful because Expression Media lets you view, classify, and annotate many media items at once. Expression Media then exports the changes to the original files, which saves time that you would otherwise have to spend opening and editing individual files. The Sync Annotations command is also useful for updating annotations that have been modified by programs other than Expression Media.
Annotations that have been written into the file can be read by other programs that can read the IPTC, QuickTime, or XMP metadata standards, such as Adobe Photoshop.
Expression Media supports the export of XMP metadata to only .jpg, .tif, and .psd (Photoshop) formats.
Expression Media supports synchronizing annotations in the following raw formats: Nikon, Kodak, Adobe Digital Negative (DNG), and Canon CR2 files.
To import annotations from files (synchronize annotations)
Select an item or a group of items.
On the Action menu, click Sync Annotations.
Select the option Import annotations from original files.
In the menu under Import annotations from original files, select one of three options for importing annotations.
Replace Current clears any current annotations and replaces them with all the annotations from the original file. Which Merge option that you select depends on whether you want the catalog annotations or the original file annotations to be retained in the final synchronization.
To export (write) annotations to files
Select an item or a group of items.
Type all your annotations.
On the Action menu, click Sync Annotations.
Select the option for Export annotations to original files.
Select the annotation fields that you want to include in the synchronization.
Click OK. The time it takes to write annotations back to the files depends on the number of files selected.
Special annotations plug-in for Adobe Creative Suite
The Status, Event, and People IPTC fields are not supported by Adobe Creative Suite (CS). To extend support of these fields to Adobe Photoshop CS, Expression Media provides a custom plug-in so that you can view and edit these annotations in the FileInfo dialog box of Photoshop.
This plug-in also extends support of Expression Media Catalog Sets and any custom metadata fields created in Expression Media.
Plug-in installation
During the installation of Expression Media, a file named Expression Media.txt is automatically installed on your computer. The file is put in one of these locations:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\XMP\Custom File Info panels
C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Adobe\XMP\Custom File Info panels (Windows XP)
C:\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\XMP\Custom File Info panels (Windows Vista)