How to Add Your Metadata With iPhoto

Use metadata to better organize your pictures.

IPhoto helps you manage, edit and print photos on your Mac and includes tools for identifying images, including using metadata. IPhoto lets you add metadata to give your photos keywords, ratings, face tags and descriptions and to add or edit information about the location and time and date you took the picture. It uses each picture's metadata to help identify related pictures, to group pictures by person and location and to sort pictures by event.

Instructions

1. Open iPhoto, then locate the photo for which you want to add metadata. Click the picture's thumbnail, then click the "Info" button at the bottom of iPhoto's window. This displays metadata options in the right pane.

2. Click the picture's file name to edit the name, then type the name you want to give the photo. To give your image a rating, click from one to five of the stars displayed to the right of the file name. Click the "Add to Description" field, then type a description for your photo.

3. Click "Add to Face" under the "Faces" category to tag someone in your photo. Drag your mouse cursor to position the square box over the person's face in the photo. Click the "Click to Name" box below the square, then type the person's name. Repeat the process to tag additional people in the photo.

4. Click "Add a Keyword" under the "Keywords" section. Type a keyword related to your photo, then press "Enter" to add the keyword to the metadata. Repeat the process to add multiple keywords.

5. Click "Assign to Place" above the map on the lower portion of the right pane. Type the location you took the photo, then press "Enter."

6. Click iPhoto's "Photos" menu and select "Adjust Date and Time" to change your photo's date and time metadata. Select a date and time in the dialog that appears, then click the box next to "Modify Original Files" to apply the change to the file. Click "Adjust" to save the edited date and time.

Tips & Warnings

• You can edit the date, title and description elements for multiple images at once. Shift+click each image you need to edit, then select "Batch Change" from the "Photos" menu. Click the "Set To" drop-down list to select the item you want to change, then type or select the data in the area below. Click "OK" to add the metadata.

• IPhoto doesn't let you edit some types of metadata, including information about the camera that took the photo.

• The metadata you add in iPhoto may not transfer correctly to other image editing applications.

References

• Apple: iPhoto '11: Change a Photo’s Name, Description, and Other Information