Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Step Four:
If you want to give someone your original
RAW file (maybe a client or co-worker) or
if you want to use your original RAW file
in another application that processes RAW
images, the metadata you've added in
Lightroom (including copyright info, key-
words, and even color correction edits to
your photo) won't be visible because you
can't embed info directly into a RAW file.
To get around that , all this infor mation
gets written into a separate file called an
XMP sidecar file. These XMP sidecar files
aren't created automatically—you create
them by pressing
Command-S (PC: Ctrl-S)
before you give someone your RAW file.
After you press this, if you look in the
photo's folder on your computer, you'll
see your RAW file, then next to it an XMP
sidecar file with the same name, but with
the .xmp file extension (the two files are
circled here in red). These two files need
to stay together, so if you move it, or give
the RAW file to a co-worker or client, be
sure to grab both files.
Step Five:
Now, if you converted your RAW file
into a DNG file when you imported it,
then when you press Command-S, it does
embed the info into the single DNG file
(a big advantage of DNG—see Chapter 1),
so there will be no separate XMP file.
There actually is a Lightroom catalog
preference (choose
Catalog Settings
from the Lightroom menu on a Mac, or
the Edit menu on a PC, then click on the
Metadata tab, shown here) that auto-
matically writes every change you make
to a RAW file to the XMP sidecar, but the
downside is a speed issue. Each time you
make a change to a RAW file, Lightroom
has to write that change into XMP, which
slows things down a bit, so I leave the
Automatically Write Changes into XMP
checkbox turned off.
