After several emails asking me about digital supply organization, and PNG files in particular, I had to show you why I convert all my PNG files to TIF or PSD format.
While you can categorize/keyword PNG files inside many organization software programs, it turns out that there is no standard metadata format for PNG.
To spell it out in a visual way. Imagine you have a house. Most houses (i.e. JPEG, PSD, TIFF, etc.) have similar closets inside the house which are standard places to store metadata. However, a PNG house doesn't.
Certain programs like Bridge may write to that file and pretend to have a closet to store the metadata, but if you open up that house plan in another program, or even save the file with no changes, the closet will be lost and unrecognizable.
Basically, if you try to store metadata in PNG files (i.e. tag, keyword, categorize, etc.), it is a safe bet you will eventually lose all your work.
You can see all this in action in this video - hopefully you find it helpful! Also, if you want to watch the video in a larger format, click on the video, click SHARE and then choose visit URL. Also, if you like what you see, feel free to embed it elsewhere. :)
Holy Smokes Batman this is just what I was hoping you'd post. I've been sharing your up coming class and the idea in general of how to use Lightroom of organizing digiscrap supplies. This explains perfectly what's going on. Hopefully the rush of folks coming to your blog won't crash it! ;-) I can't wait for you next post in the organizing with Lightroom saga!
Take Care!
-c-
Posted by: carlalee | 06 January 2011 at 09:35 AM
Thanks! Glad you found this helpful. I've been working on the class and realized I needed to do a better job explaining why I have chosen the path I have. As I have worked on the curriculum, I realized that the PNG thing doesn't just apply to Lightroom, it applies to any software program you are organizing things with! So glad you found it helpful. I am hopeful I'll find some time in the next week to share more in different software programs. :)
Posted by: Kayla Lamoreaux | 06 January 2011 at 10:15 AM
Kayla - When you save png files to tiff don't you lose the transparency of png?
Posted by: Connie Miles | 07 January 2011 at 07:37 PM
Nope - tif files can preserve transparency and layers :)
Sent from my iPhone
Posted by: Kayla Lamoreaux | 07 January 2011 at 08:21 PM
Oh my goodness... I am so happy to see this. I've been using Picasa for years to organize items, always tagging and categorizing all my digi supplies as new things come in so I can easily find them. When I recently moved everything to a new computer ...whammo.... all those years of work disappeared. I thought it was Picasa's fault. Thanks so much for the great tutorial on png's without a closet. Great metaphor!
Posted by: Katherine | 27 March 2011 at 07:42 AM
I never thought that moving to a new computer would do this, but you are so right - any slight change to a PNG file can separate it from metadata. Im sorry you lost your keywords, but glad you now understand why. Hope your future organizing efforts are more fruitful. All the best to you! :)
Posted by: Kayla Lamoreaux | 27 March 2011 at 08:42 AM