Export Web Optimized Images Directly from Adobe Lightroom to WordPress
As of the beginning of 2020, LR/Instagram is no longer a viable way to post directly to Instagram. The developer’s note on their website says: “Service Note: Instagram has updated their protocol and currently plugin does not work. We are investigating the issue and the plugin will be updated when a fix is available.”
I’m lazy. I try to automate routine repetitive tasks. For photo blogging, one task that I performed repeated was export images to upload to WordPress. My workflow used to be, export sized image to disk, upload the image to WordPress, optimize the image with a WordPress plugin, and then edit the image caption for use later in a post. It was tedious.
A few years ago I simplified my workflow with a combination of Jeffrey Friedl’s export filter, and presets, Automattic’s WordPress and Adobe Lightroom plugins. This post is a combination of two posts, Export directly from Adobe Lightroom to WordPress and Set WordPress Image Caption with Jeffrey Friedl’s Metadata Wrangler Export Filter with the addition of information about the use of JPEG mini Pro. You can also consider this an update of the Export directly from Adobe Lightroom to WordPress that includes all the information from Set WordPress Image Caption with Jeffrey Friedl’s Metadata Wrangler Export Filter that includes information about how I use JPEG mini Pro to optimize images.
Requirements
To make this work, you’ll need Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, Automattic’ WordPress plugin, Jeffrey Friedl’s “Metadata Wrangler” Export Filter, and JPEGmini Pro Suite. The requirements assume you’re running macOS Mojave. I don’t use Windows. For me, Linux is a server OS. I also assume that all the required software is installed already including Jeffrey Friedl’s filters and presets, JPEGmini Pro Suite, Adobe Lightroom. Jeffrey Friedl has excellent instructions on how to install and use his “Metadata Wrangler” Export Filter on his website. You’ll need WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress with Jetpack installed.
Configuration
Setup for the JPEGmini Pro plugin is complete once it’s installed. There are no settings. Setup and configuration for Automattic’s WordPress plugin can be found on my earlier post. JetPack is a requirement for this to work. I don’t think it’s necessary to repeat all the steps here. Setup and configuration for “Metadata Wrangler” Export Filter are the same as in my earlier post on the topic.
From the export preset window, add the JPEGmini and Meta Wrangler post-process actions to the export preset.
The export template that I am currently using is:
{Title?{Title} —} {CameraName?{CameraName }} {CameraMake?+ {CameraMake}} {Lens?{Lens}} — ({FocalLengthMM? {FocalLengthMM}}, {Aperture?{Aperture}}, {ISO?ISO{ISO}})
I set the title of the image in Adobe Lightroom before I export the image. Upon export, the template set the image caption by appending the title information along with image specific information.
Example.
Upper Buttermilk Falls along the Gorge Trail, Ithaca, New York — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR — (16 mm, f/16, ISO200)
Other notes
While the specific setup I use if for WordPress if I used Jekyll or Hugo or some other static site generator, my image file export to disk workflow would work well for that purpose. It’s similar to the preset above, except the images are export to disk. In fact, exporting images from my Adobe Lightroom catalogue to disk, to WordPress, to Instagram, to email etc. is all done with variations of this export preset. The only thing that changes is the export destination.
Summary
I name, size, caption, optimize, and export my image files directly to WordPress using this Lightroom export preset. It’s one step – right-click, then select the export preset.
