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With the release of Lightroom 1.3 came the first SDK. While it only extends Export functionality it is a very powerful and welcome addition to the application.

As an example, I used the Mogrify plugin to export the photo below directly to my web server, and in the process add 2 borders, a graphical watermark, and pull the title from the IPTC and display it in the lower left corner. Cool!

A couple of plugin developers got together and extended this functionality even further by creating a plugin structure that allows multiple export plugins to work together in a single export. This plugin for a plugin was dubbed a “piglet” by developer Jeffrey Friedl. A great example is being able to use Tim Armes’ Mogrify piglet with Jeffrey’s Flickr plugin to export that same photo directly to my Flickr account while adding the same borders and watermark in the process.

So, aside from these examples Export plugins allow you to:

• export directly to a web server
• export directly to a photo-sharing site
• export information pulled from your Lightroom database in the form of a text file
• perform additional pixel manipulations
  • add text and/or graphical watermarks
  • add borders
  • apply sharpening
  • resize
  • convert to profile
  • and more!
• harness the muscle of other applications on export (such as Exiftool or ImageMagick)

Below you will find links to all export plugins that I am aware of (will update as new ones arrive on the scene):

• Adobe’s Export SDK home – download the SDK itself, and join the SDK discussion
• Flickr – export directly to your Flickr account
  
• iStockphoto – export to your iStock portfolio
  
• Picasa Web – export right to Picasa
  
• Smugmug – export to your Smugmug gallery
  
• Transporter – export a companion text file full of your photo’s metadata
  
• Zenfolio – export to your Zenfolio gallery

Did I miss any? Let me know!