My photos are out of order on my computer, because I forgot to change the date and time on my camera. (See last week’s post, Quick Camera Tip for Summer Travel, for the way to change it before your next trip.) I know better. But, on a recent trip, I was in three different time zones in one week. It was the third one that got me! Happily, there are ways to fix this. Here’s how to do it in iPhoto and Lightroom 4.
In iPhoto, select the photo you want to change. You can also select multiple photos, to save time. In the Photos menu, choose Adjust Date and Time. You can use your tab key to move to the number you want to change. The nice thing about this method is that iPhoto shows you the date and time originally captured by your camera. Often, it’s just a matter of changing the hour. Sometimes, you will also have to change the date.
In Lightroom 4, in the Library module, select the photos you want to change. Then, in the menu bar, click on Metadata and select Edit Capture Time. Next, select shift by set number of hours (time zone adjust) and make your changes. You do have other choices,but this is the perfect one when you just forgot to reset your camera on a trip.
Here’s an extra Lightroom 4 tip: When I import my photos into Lightroom 4, I rename the files, adding the city where they were shot and the shot date and put them into folders by date. If I have to change the date, the photos will now have the correct date in their metadata but still have the wrong name and be in the wrong folder.
To change the name of a photo, in the Library module go to the Metadata panel on the right side of the screen and find the Filename. You can select the part of the name that you want to change and type in the correction. This works for a small group of files.
But what if you have 200 photos to change? In that case, you’ll want to choose Library in the menu bar and select Rename Photos. You’ll need to experiment to find the right way to rename them since it depends on how you set up your naming. It’s best to do this with one file so it’s easier to keep track of what you are doing. It may take you a few minutes, but it’s worth it if you have a lot of files to do.
When you have figured out how to do that one file, you can use the same process for the rest of them.
After they are renamed, it’s time to move them to the right folder. I select the photos and click and drag them to the correct folder-in Lightroom! That way, the catalog knows where they are.
Next week, in my Quick Processing Tips, I’ll tell you how to do this if you don’t have a folder with the correct date already in Lightroom.
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