# Title vs Captions



## scorecards (Apr 21, 2009)

Choosing between adding information to title or caption, is there a reason to use one or the other?  Should titles be kept short for some reason?


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## Sean McCormack (Apr 21, 2009)

Think of titles as being the headline and captions as the first paragraph.


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## Kiwigeoff (Apr 21, 2009)

Sean McCormack said:


> Think of titles as being the headline and captions as the first paragraph.



Can I quote you on that Sean - or "borrow" the term!!:lol::lol:


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## Mark Sirota (Apr 22, 2009)

Title and Headline are not the same thing:

Quoting the IPTC Core Specification:



> *Headline*: A publishable entry providing a synopsis of the contents of the news object. Headline is not the same as Title.
> 
> *Title*: A shorthand reference for the news object. While a technical identifer goes to an identifier element, Title holds a short verbal and human readable name. Title is not the same as Headline.


From the IPTC user guide:



> *Headline*: A headline is a brief publishable synopsis/summary of the contents of the photograph. The Headline term should not be confused with the Title term.
> 
> *Title*: This field can be used as a shorthand reference for the image or &#822';photograph” — primarily for identification. The title of an image may take several forms; for photographers this might be the filename of their original scan or digital camera file, for news organizations it might be the name of the story for which it’s to be used. The Title term should not be confused with the Headline term, which is a short synopsis of the content of the photograph.



It's a bit frustrating that the Lightroom metadata panels emphasize Title over Headline.


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## scorecards (Apr 22, 2009)

Mark Sirota;425'1 said:
			
		

> Title and Headline are not the same thing:
> 
> Quoting the IPTC Core Specification:
> 
> ...



I use Quick Describe for Metadata and not IPTC so I was not aware that Headline existed.  Hence I only asked about Titles and captions.  

Based upon this discussion I intend to use captions to add information about a picture that would otherwise be lost.  

I think I have little need for titles as my directory structure is year and event name.  In most cases the event name would be the title.  However, when there are less that 6 photos that would go in a folder for a specific event I put them in a folder named "Year General".  I will now give these images a Title to help find them within the year.  

I'll use Headline when there is a brief synopsis available that distinguishes a picture from others in the folder or with the same title.

My only other concern is how other software handles these fields.  Shutterfly for example will display titles and Captions but not Headlines. Are some of these items of information part of the image file, but others only available in the Lightroom database or mpg files.

Maybe I should give all images a title even if it is redundant with the folder Name.  This way the title would be available to other software like Shutterfly.  Is there a way to insert the same title into all images in a folder?

Photography use to be easy. :roll:


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 22, 2009)

scorecards said:


> ... Is there a way to insert the same title into all images in a folder?
> 
> Photography use to be easy. :roll:


Select them all, type the Title in the Title box, press Enter... 8)


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## scorecards (Apr 22, 2009)

Denis Pagé said:


> Select them all, type the Title in the Title box, press Enter... 8)



I've tried this with Headline, title and caption.  Only the first picture (or the picture highlighted) is affected.

I find it confusing that Lightroom has 2 levels of selection.  One image is very bright, others are brighter than those not selected.  This has led me to delete multiple files when I only wanted to delete one.  

 Is there a way to select multiple images that all are highlighted at the brightest level.  Maybe then the title would be applied to all.


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## Mark Sirota (Apr 22, 2009)

You need to be in Grid view (on the primary monitor) for the change to apply to all selected images.


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 22, 2009)

Where do you select? In film strip or in Grid? You have to select in Grid and I just tested what I said and it works!

There can be only one _most selected_ image at a time.


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 22, 2009)

scorecards said:


> ...I find it confusing that Lightroom has 2 levels of selection. One image is very bright, others are brighter than those not selected. This has led me to delete multiple files when I only wanted to delete one.


One should take care of any delete operation under all circumstances. But at least, the delete dialog box tell you the number of images that will be deleted right at the start of the text. Ex: "_Delete 93 selected master..._"


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## Mark Sirota (Apr 22, 2009)

scorecards said:


> I use Quick Describe for Metadata and not IPTC so I was not aware that Headline existed.  Hence I only asked about Titles and captions.



I recommend creating your own view for the Metadata panel using Jeffrey Friedl's “Metadata-Viewer Preset Editor” Lightroom Plugin.

Or you can do it the old-school way using the previous-generation tool.


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## scorecards (Apr 22, 2009)

I am in Grid view.  

I first choose edit Select None to start off with a clean slate.  Then I click on an image and then control click the next image.  Enter a word in the Title field of Metadata and I find that only the first image I clicked on has the word in Title.  Same thing if I click Select all after Select none, then only first picture has title.  If I select a picture in the middle of grid then Select All, it is the picture selected first in middle of grid that gets the title.


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 22, 2009)

Select by the frame not the thumbnail! Or... Ctrl-A


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## Mark Sirota (Apr 22, 2009)

See also "Show metadata for target photo only" in the Metadata menu.  If it is checked, only the primary ("most selected") photo will get the update (in Grid on the primary monitor).  If unchecked, all selected photos will get the update.


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## scorecards (Apr 22, 2009)

Thanks,  that is the explanation I was looking for.

Shouldn't that be worded "Apply Megadata for target photo only. 

Having just moved from Elements to Lightroom 3 weeks ago, I think this is what I like least about Lightroom.  Having Target photo, Selected photos and non selected photos represented with three different shades of gray to white, potentially leads to errors.  

I would prefer Selected and not selected as a solution less likely to lead to errors.


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## Denis Pagé (Apr 22, 2009)

With time you will probably find those 3 selection states very practical; But it takes practice... Same for selecting by thumbnail or by frame, this adds functionality.


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## Brad Snyder (Apr 22, 2009)

Generally you can look at the 'most selected' and 'selected' as being equivalent. It's only in circumstances involving cross-image synchronization that the difference matters.

If you've enabled auto-sync in Develop, or have chosen a synchronization operation in Library or Develop, then the most-selected is the source of sync-data, and the remaining selected are the target(s).


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