- Skip down to Camera Data (EXIF) and twirl it open if need
be. Then turn on three helpful check boxes, Orientation
near the middle and Make and Model at the end. The first
tells you whether an image has been rotated by the camera
or in the Bridge. The other two list the make and model of
the camera used to capture the image. - Twirl closed everything that follows Camera Data (EXIF)
—there’s a lot!—to quicken the process of scrolling down
the list. (Or zip down with your mouse’s scroll wheel; to-
tally up to you.) Then turn off the DICOM category if you
are using Photoshop Extended. And by all means, if other
categories such as Fonts, Linked Files, Plates, Document
Swatches, Audio, and Video are cluttering your Metadata
panel, turn them off, too.
Take a moment to make sure the Hide Empty Fields check box
at the bottom of the dialog box is selected. This frees up room
in the panel that would otherwise be wasted on blank attributes
that the camera did not record. Then click OK.
As shown in Figure 1-29, the Metadata list is now a more
manageable length. In a glance, you can see the important
information about the image. For example, right at the top of
the list, we learn that I shot the photo in November 2009—at
6:21:17 a.m.—but I edited it today. In the Description field, I can
be more specific about exactly where and what the subject is.
The metadata ends by reminding me that I captured the photo
with an Olympus E-30.
Note that the accuracy of the Date Created property hinges on the
veracity of the information recorded by your camera. So if you use a
digital camera, make sure you set its time and date properly. A few
months from now—when you haven’t the vaguest idea of what you
did when—you’ll be glad that you can trust your metadata. In the case
of this photo, we can guess that I probably didn’t reset the time on my
camera for the south of France, supported by the fact I am rarely up at
6:21 a.m. on any continent.- Modify the IPTC information. Most categories of metadata are
fixed attributes of the file. But the IPTC information is editable
directly from the Bridge. Go to the IPTC area and click the text
to the right of Author. The item becomes active, permitting
you to edit it. In this example, I changed it to my name, which
happens to be accurate on several counts, but you can enter
anything you want. Then press the Tab key to advance to the
Figure 1-28.Using Metadata 29