Section 99. About Image Information

99. About Image Information

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Just jump right in.

SEE ALSO

107 Change Image Size or Resolution

When needed, the Editor can display information about the basic characteristics of an imageits file type, resolution, size, and data specific to the conditions under which it was taken. To display this metadata (so-called because it's stored at the top of the image file) for any image open in the Editor , select File, File Info from the menu bar. A dialog box opens, loaded with information about the current image.

The File Info dialog box contains lots of information about your image.

On the left, you'll find a list of categories of information stored within the image file. Click a category to display its page of information. For example, click the Camera Data 1 category to find out what the flash setting was when you took this photograph. Some metadata can be entered by you, simply by clicking inside any of the white boxes. For example, you might enter your name under Author or type in a Copyright Notice . Metadata you can view but not change is shown in gray. This kind of metadata is typically EXIF data that your camera recorded when the image was taken, such as shutter speed and f-stop.

You can also change some of this metadata through the Organizer. For example, if you click the Description category on the left, you'll see the text caption you entered in the Organizer (shown here as the Description ) and any tags or collection markers you attached to the image (shown here as Keywords ). The metadata you enter manually is stored in the alpha channel of the image. Metadata you enter through this dialog box is permanently saved only if you store the image in PSD, TIFF, PNG, GIF, or JPEG format. At the bottom of the Description page, you'll find basic information about the image, such as the file date, modified date, and file type.

NOTE

You can also view and change a file's metadata on the Metadata palette within the File Browser . In the Editor , choose File, Browse Folders to display the browser. In the Organizer, you can view an image's metadata on the Properties pane. Choose Window, Properties from the Organizer menu; then click the Metadata button at the top of the Properties pane.

NOTE

Some metadata, such as an image's size and resolution, is added or changed by Photoshop Elements when you edit an image and save changes. So even if you have an image that started out as a scan of a printed photo, there might be information for you to view in the File Info dialog box.

KEY TERM

Alpha channel Data saved with an image for reuse when needed, such as selections, masks, and creator information.

You can add a copyright notice on the Description page by changing the Copyright Status drop-down list to Copyrighted , and typing your copyright text in the Copyright Notice text box. You can add your web page address in the Copyright Info URL box. Note, however, that copyright data such as this is of limited use because anyone with a program capable of reading image metadata can change or remove it. Better to protect your images with a copyright that can't be removedsee 104 Add Copyright Information for help.

As I mentioned earlier, metadata your digital camera recorded when the shot was takensuch as the camera type, date the photo was taken, and shot conditions such as f-stop, shutter speed, and focal lengthcan be found on the Camera Data 1 and Camera Data 2 pages in the File Info dialog box. Some of this data can be used by an EXIF-compatible printer to print your photo more accurately, with better color and brightness matching. To make sure you don't lose this valuable EXIF data, save your digital camera file using an EXIF-compatible program (Photoshop Elements just happens to be one), in an EXIF-compatible format (Photoshop PSD or JPEG).

NOTE

If you use the Save for Web command to compress an image for use on the Web, as part of its compression process, the Editor will strip all EXIF metadata from the image. So you'll definitely want to save your compressed image as a copy , and save your original image and your changes in a PSD-formatted file.

Also on the Camera Data 2 page, you'll find the image's current size in pixels, resolution, and ICC color profile (listed here as Color Source ). By the way, you can change an image's size and resolution as needed (see 107 Change Image Size or Resolution ).

In the Organizer, the Properties pane can provide you with further information about the currently selected image. To display the Properties pane, click the Show or Hide Properties button on the Options bar, or choose Window, Properties . Although the Properties pane also displays EXIF data, it includes other information that you won't find in the File Info dialog box. In the Properties pane, you'll find information about where the image is stored, its file date, text caption, audio caption, and any notes you attached on the General tab. Markers you might have attached to an image are listed on the Tags tab. The file date, modified date, import date, and related information can be found on the History tab, and EXIF and other metadata is located on the Metadata tab. To display a condensed version of the metadata, select the Brief option; to display all the metadata, select the Complete option instead.

TIP

The Properties pane normally appears over the top of the thumbnails in the catalog. Drag it by its title bar to move it out of the way, or park it in the Organize bin by choosing Window, Dock Properties in Organize Bin . Select this command again to make the Properties pane "float" in the work area once more.

TIP

You can display the Properties pane while using Date View , but you can't dock it because the Organize bin is not displayed.

TIP

You can resize the Properties pane to make its data easier to read. Just drag a side or corner to resize.

The Properties pane enables you to access image information from within the Organizer.