Does "Write IPTC metadata to masters" really modify raw files?

And if it does, how is the integrity of the raw file ensured? Does Aperture use codecs from the camera makers?
Is there a way to force it to use sidecar (.xmp) files? I'm not sure that I want to make that big a break with my existing workflow and the semantics of a raw file (e.g. that raw files are read only).

I'm having the exact same issue. I purchased Aperture recently just so I could edit the metadata on lots of old jpg pictures and scans. Until I upgraded to Lion, it was working well. Now with Lion, I can still edit the metadata, but I cannot write the metadata back to the master. I just spent the last two days filling out the metadata info (primarily Title and Caption), figuring to save to master once I got done with the batch of photos I'm currently working on. I don't want to lose my work.
I'm wondering if I can accomplish the same thing by exporting my updated metadata versions and reimporting them. Might that work? Will I lose/gain anything in the process?

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Does "Write Once, Run Anywhere" (WORA) really exist?

Absolutely. You can write applications that will run on any
J2EE-compatible application server. Although a few cases are very
difficult, in many cases more can be done than you may realize. Java
BluePrints (http://java.sun.com/blueprints) is the proof point here.
Each year, we run the Deployathon
(http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/deployathon4/)
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Writing IPTC Metadata to Masters

I know some of this has been discussed, but I've got a few more questions on the topic. To ensure my captions, keywords, and location information is always available no matter what cataloging software I use, I wish to write my IPTC metadata to the master images. Here are my concerns:
1) I have altered the Creator, Headline, Source, Caption, Keywords, Location, City, State/Province, and Country fields - I assume all of these will be written to the masters since they're IPTC standard? Are there length limits for these fields (that is, is there a risk that some will be truncated)? Are there any drawbacks to writing these tags to the masters? (I know many people here don't want their originals touched, but as long as it doesn't affect the quality of my jpegs, I'm fine with it.) Most of my recent photos have GPS metadata - I have not altered these, nor have I added location data to photos that didn't originally have them, so I'm assuming those fields wouldn't be affected?
2) Is there no IPTC-standard field for people shown in a photo? (I know Aperture/iPhoto's Faces is proprietary, and I'm guessing so is Adobe's People field in their XML metadata.) Should I then just assign people's names as keywords, or is there a better way? (This wouldn't be a problem, as relatively few of my photos have human subjects.)
3) I have a library of about 45,000 pictures, all of which (except for about 1400 movies) have had some piece of metadata altered. I've noticed Aperture starts to get slow after I've been working in it for a while - so, should I write the tags in stages, or should I just highlight all of them at one time and let it work? About how long should it take?
4) Finally, I've tested writing the tags to the masters on a few of them, and I've noticed the "date created" shown in the Finder gets changed to the current date and time - Does this mean the entire file was re-created? Would Time Machine have to then re-copy all of them? (My masters total 153 GB, so that might take a while to back up.)
I know this is a lot at once, but it was a fair amount of work to migrate from iPhoto to Aperture (even with Aperture's convenient import feature) since iPhoto's cataloging tools are different from the IPTC standard. I'm contemplating another migration, and I don't want to have to go through all that again.
Thanks in advance.

Thanks all... as I've been digging into this digital asset management concept for a few years now, and there's more to it than I could have imagined!
viskwal: That's about what I figured. Actually, tagging Faces as keywords will be easy for me since I already have a smart album for each person in Faces. (They're in folders by context - that is, classmate, coworker, family member, etc. - just in case, years down the road, I see a name and don't remember how I know that person.)
As for locations, I could go back and locate all my photos from before I had the GPS-equipped camera, but I haven't bothered, so I don't know how you'd save that data. I've also been shooting exclusively jpeg since it's got built-in metadata (and I don't do any post-processing), so I have no experience with RAW.
Michael Hobi: Thanks for the link - I think I'm ok as far as those lengths are concerned. (I have a few long names in the Location field, but that wasn't mentioned there.) As for the write time, that's actually about what I figured - it won't be instantaneous, but at least I'm reasonably sure it won't go on for days. (My original import from iPhoto took 17 hours!)

How to write IPTC metadata to files without opening the file?

HI,
I'm trying to run a script (preferably in JS) that allows me to write metadata to a file. I can acheive this very easily by opening the file, but I'd need to batch process many large images, so opening them would cause severe slowness. The purpose of adding the metadata to the files is to search upon them in Bridge.
We're using CS5, but have CS6 if it's better to use.
My Script
// set current doc ref
var docRef = app.activeDocument;
// Set caption in active document
docRef.info.caption = "Some Meta-Data";
Do I need to use bridge to write the metadata without opening the file? Or can running the script in PS allow me to do so?
Thanks,
Tom

Its easy if you use XMP metadata.
app.activeDocument.info.caption (in photoshop script metadata)
and it is the same field as:
     Dublin Core namespace
     namespace:     http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
     Property:          description
you change description on XMP = you are changing the same image.info.caption
Your answer is here:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/5743730#5743730

Can't create web photo gallery with modified RAW files

I can use CS-2 to create a web photo gallery using unmodified RAW files, this seems to work fine.
However, after I tweak the exposure of a RAW file and a .xmp file has been created, if I try to create a web photo gallery, the program goes through the motions but no thumbnails or (bigger) jpg files are created. The resulting web photo gallery pages are just filled with broken link icons.
What's up?
Windows 2000
Photoshop CS-2
Cannon RAW files (.CR2 extensions)
Thanks,
Mark

I believe it may be to do with the sidecar files. My girlfriend has similar issues on Windows XP.
I have tried to recreate the problem here (on Mac OSX) but it all works fine for me, so i can't fully test it, but here is what i believe may be happening....
The sidecar file has the same name as the actual raw file (except the extension of course), so when the web gallery script is processing it, it does the raw file, then overwrites by trying to process the xmp file as an image, but of course it can't and then you end up with no image file in your thumbnail, or image directories in the web gallery for that image.
Two options you can try...
1) go into bridge and select the images to process in there (xmp files shouldn't show up there) and then use the Tools/Photoshop menu to access the WGB and choose 'Selected Bridge Images' as the source. (this has been tested successfully on win xp)
2) in the camera raw plugin, go into preferences and change the 'sidecar xmp' option to 'camera raw database'. You will then probably need to delete any sidecar files for the folder you wish to process and reapply your raw adjustments. If the problem is what i suspect (as above) this should also work, though i haven't been able to test.
Obviously you don't need to worry about the 'down rezzing' mentioned above as the web gallery builder should already be doing this for you...unless you changed it.

Relocate masters changed my raw files to jpeg.

I don' want my images in the aerture library but in folders that I can drag and drop as I please. So today I decided to relocate my masters. Thankfully I had backed up my entire Pictures folder on a separate drive. Thankfully, because the relocate function didn't just move my projects in to folders, as I wanted, but it also changed everything from RAW to JPG.. That was not what I wanted.
I'm restoring from the back up as I type this.
BBasically I'm back to square one and need to find a way to extract my immages out of the aperture library and in to folders keeping the raw format. Any suggestions?

Did you choose File >> Relocate Masters?
Aperture will not make a jpeg from a RAW unless you either choose File>> Export Version(s) or drag from the Aperture Browser to the finder. Even then, the RAW master remains intact.
The correct procedure for what you want to do is File >> Relocate Masters.
DLS

Does PSE 10 work with Sony Nex 5T raw files?

I have just ordered a Sony Nex 5T. My PSE 10 works well with my Sony Nex 5N, but I wonder if I must update to use PSE with the 5T.

Hello Savarena,
Try to install the RAW compatibility update: Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.9
- if is possible to do that with the Trial Version. This update supports your camera.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1473
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Léonie

Does Elements 6 support Canon Mark D5 II Raw Files?

New camera is on it's way, not sure if I need to update my Elements 6. Thanks.

Yes. You have to download and install Adobe Camera Raw 5.5 — please follow the instructions exactly as written.

Question Regarding IPTC Metadata

I've migrated my iPhoto library into Aperture for the expanded geotagging and metadata support, and it was exhausting. (I had Keyword Manager for iPhoto, and Aperture didn't preserve my hierarchy of keywords, though it imported everything else beautifully.) Anyway, I'd like to leave myself open to the possibility of switching to a different program if necessary, so I'm wondering what information would carry over. My questions are as follows:
1) In the "Write IPTC Metadata to Masters" option, what exactly gets written - I assume everything under the IPTC core, right? (In particular, I've modified the Country/State/City/Location fields, keywords, comments, creator, and source, and it would be a pain to redo all these for 45,000 pictures.)
2) I presume the aforementioned option only alters the metadata and preserves the original image intact; is this correct? Would there be any repercussions to writing these changes to the masters instead of just keeping them within Aperture's database? It seems a lot of users here insist their originals remain completely untouched.
3) Is there an IPTC standard for hierarchal keywords, or will I have to recreate the keyword structure in any photo management software I use? (I've experimented with a trial version of Lightroom 3, and I don't even see a way to manage keywords in it...)
4) Can face tags be written to the metadata? I assume Aperture has its own proprietary format for tagging faces on the photo, but would there at least be an IPTC standard field in which you could list the people tagged in the photo?
In short, I switched to Aperture because iPhoto's tagging options were inadequate for properly organizing my 45,000 photo library. As I did some research on how to effectively make the transition, I found there was a lot more to this "digital asset management" concept that I realized, and so I'm hoping to get some input from some more experienced users. I'm a real stickler for precision and logic in my organization, and it looks like the IPTC core standard has all the fields I need. Thanks in advance!

Just another update ... I did some experimenting and found that the "Write IPTC Metadata to Masters" command does at least write the fields I mentioned in the original post. (Those were the only ones I changed on the test photo.)
Does anyone know offhand if a manually changed date will get written to the master, or will the file still have its original date? (I could test this too, but if someone knows, then I don't have to.)
Also, most importantly, does the option actually resave the entire master with the updated info, or does it somehow just write the metadata? I ask this because I've read that jpegs lose some data to compression every time they're saved, and I'm wondering if writing those tags will cost the photo some quality.

Work around for writing out metadata to masters?

I am sure that the aperture community has dealt with this before.
Prior to purchasing aperture, I made sure that metadata like captions keywords, etc. could be written back out to the master file. This would allow one to not be held hostage to aperture. With various updates this ability has gone away. The statement from Apple less than a year ago, seems to indicate that aperture will not write metadata back out to the Masters.
Quote: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA23784?viewlocale=en_US
By Design: Aperture won't export metadata with RAW masters
Unlike applications such as Photo Mechanic, Aperture does not write IPTC and keywords to the original RAW file. Instead, Aperture stores this information in its library and attaches it when exporting versions in JPEG, TIFF, PSD, or PNG format. If you export the RAW masters, none of your metadata changes will come along with them. Unlike the issues listed above, this feature is by design.
If your goal is to archive RAW files outside of Aperture with metadata attached, you'll need a workaround to this aspect of Aperture's metadata handling. Because Aperture is designed to read added metadata at time of import (despite the current issue described above), the best long term solution (after issues are resolved) will be to add your metadata in Photo Mechanic (or similar) prior to importing them to Aperture and then refrain for the most part from using Aperture's metadata tools. If you don't like that workaround, a secondary workaround is to export JPEG versions to be kept alongside the RAW masters. To save disk space, the JPEG copies could be a minimal size."
I am sure that many community members have encountered this problem. Specifically, I have many slides to scan, so the raw input file is a tiff. Aperture does not support writing metadata to tiffs. And to depend on aperture to write out metadata to any master file is probably setting yourself up for disappointment.
Can the community recommend a way around this?
Thanks

You are referring to a very old document about Aperture 1, clearly marked as 'no longer updated'. Aperture 3 can export IPTC metadata with RAW files. You have the choice of embedding them into the RAW file, or write them in a separate xmp sidecar file. Just choose 'Export Master'. Aperture can also write back metadata into a RAW file without exporting them. Choose 'Metatadata - Write IPTC metadata to original'.

Writing GPS Metadata to Masters

There is already an archived discussion that contains an aswer on this subject
Writing IPTC Metadata to Masters and an the answer is given in that thread is to use a plug-in called Maperture Pro.
Unfortunately this plug-in is no longer available. It can still be downloaded (from a number of places) and installed but you cannot get past the registration process as it has been shut down. Therefore I would like to ask the question.
Does anybody know how can I write GPS data (from places) back into my (referenced) masters without exporting them or duplicating the functionality with tools like, the otherwise excellent, exiftool outside of Aperture.
This is really upsetting my workflow.
Thanks, Ian

No, never got an answer to this so I use Houdahgeo for putting in GPS coordinates before import when posible, anoying but workeable.

IPTC metadata behavior with faces

With Aperture 3.5.1, a new behavior has been introduced -- writing the name assigned with Faces into the Keywords.
This is problematic because:
1. It changes the keyword nomenclature and taxonomy
2. It is not implemented correctly.
1. I have already established a keyword taxonomy loosely copying the principal of the BDB keyword:value approach. For example, I have established these keywords:
event
location
family
relative
trip
I then assign keyword to the photo such as:
event:birthday
location:home
family: Mom, family: Dad, family: Bill
Separately of course I can geo-locate the photo, and of course include a caption. In the case of scanned images, the date may also be modified.
In the past, I have used the 'Write IPTC metadata to original; feature to record this data structure within the IPTC structure. Then I can search, sort, and organize the photos, within Aperture or in a third party tool. Some search engines (swish-e for example) can examine IPTC metadata to allow one to automate the searching. [In fact I wrote a filter to do this for swish-e http://search.cpan.org/dist/SWISH-Filter/lib/SWISH/Filters/IPTC2html.pm#AUTHOR].
With its new behavior, Write IPTC Metadata to Original, now modifies the photo to include additional keywords, not in the keyword HUD or taxonomy, and also adds these new keywords to the Keyword HUD list.
This is problematic because it removes control of the keywords from the archivist and it may expose sensitive information, such as the REAL NAME of an individual identified using Faces.
2. The names added by this function to the keyword list are incorrect! In aperture, keywords are separated by commas (',') and then sorted alphabetically (likelyalphanumerically). However names may contain commas. For example, I am a "Junior" and I can write my name as 'Bill, Jr' to distinguish myself from my father. So after writing the IPTC metadata for images that have names assigned, the keyword list is now modified to include 'Bill' and 'Jr.' as new keywords.
Now I understand that IPTC does not include a way of identifying individuals by (x,y) location within the image. Nevertheless there are conventional ways to write captions (left to right, front to back) to identify all individuals. There is no need for Aperture to invent a new convention.
Also, this new feature/bug introduces confusion, as searches for my father must now be structured as 'Bill NOT Jr.' And it add no value to the search process.
Is there a swtich available in aperture to restore the original behavior, that is, write the keywords that have been assigned and DO NOT make up new keywords?

With its new behavior, Write IPTC Metadata to Original, now modifies the photo to include additional keywords, not in the keyword HUD or taxonomy, and also adds these new keywords to the Keyword HUD list.
Not only with "Write IPTC Metadata to Original", also when exporting a version.
Is there a swtich available in aperture to restore the original behavior, that is, write the keywords that have been assigned and DO NOT make up new keywords?
My experiments have shown (for Faces) that this is toggled by the Aperture Preference "Export > Include Face Information into the exported photos". Try, if disabling this preference will stop this for your library. I have not yet tested the similar option for "Places".
2. The names added by this function to the keyword list are incorrect! In aperture, keywords are separated by commas (',') and then sorted alphabetically (likelyalphanumerically).
This is clearly a bug. Submit a bug-report, if you have a Developer account, or use the feedback form:
Apple - Aperture - Feedback

Write IPTC Error

Quick question for the community;
In Aperture, when using the 'Write IPTC Metadata to Originals' function I am finding that the Caption field automatically fills in. For example I have a photo with the caption 'Lake Taupo Kayaking Trip', when I write the IPTC Metadata to the originals it is replaced by the camera name Minolta or another random bit of information, sometimes even an old placeholder caption.
As you can imagine it is frustrating, especially when doing a whole event of photos and then finding half the carefully and painstakingly written captions have been replaced. It has been happening for a while, I have done the usual library rebuilds etc. Was hoping the latest update to Aperture would fix the problem.
Has anyone else come across this?
Is there a solution?
Cheers, Thijs

How are you checking the IPTC?
I just checked on my Aperture 3.5/Mavericks MBP, and all captions that I added appear to be o.k. I checked by revealing the referenced original in the Finder and looking at the IPTC using the Inspector (Tools > Show Inspector ⌘I) in Preview. All Metadata tags were exactly like I set them.
How did you check the metadata? Whaere are they appearing to be corrupted?

Writing metadata to originals is corrupting my files.

Hey guys,
I am using Aperture 3.3 with 10.7.4. I am importing my files, but they are not being copied into the library. I am leaving them where they are. Next I add keywords to them and then use the command 'Write IPTC metadata to originals'. Doing this is corrupting my files. I am getting an unsupported file format warning in place of the files. When I go to the files in Finder, the files are junk. Thankfully I backup my photos before doing anything to them so no harm done this time.
Thanks
Jason

Hey Owen,
Thanks for replying. I just now tried again and the same thing happened. Now the first time I tried Aperture I stopped thinking something was wrong and I didn't want to mess up my files so I just continued using Picasa and iPhoto. This time I did the same thing, but came here and posted my problem. And after reading your reply I decided I probably should try some other folders full of photos. And guess what....no problems. It appears this one particular folder full of photos is somehow messed up and when I write the metadata back to the files they get corrupt. They are jpgs from 2000 and the camera was a Toshiba PDR-M3. Now other photos taken with this camera are working so it must be something with this set of photos.
Thanks again.
Jason

IPTC Metadata not appearing in 'Get Info' - exported JPG?

I've just exported a bunch of images (versions) from Aperture to JPG. I have selected 'Include Metadata' and yet when I open the image and select 'Get Info' the only info being displayed is the info of least importance (to me, with these images), such as device name, colour space, focal length etc etc. None of the IMPORTANT information such as copyright and author etc are there?? I would expect / hope this info to be embedded so that anyone viewing on either a PC or Mac would see it, not exposure and device related information which is the last thing I'm worried about them getting.
If I drag the image back into Aperture all the relevant info is there but the vast majority of people are not going to be opening JPGs they get supplied with in programmes like Aperture. At best you might expect them to use 'Properties' or 'Get Info' on a Mac.
Am I doing something wrong or is this another 'Feature' of ML??? If it is a 'feature' is there a way to actually have Aperture append USEFUL metadata information to JPGs on export, such trivial matters as copyright and terms of use etc.?

I just tried Preview (which being mostly full time on Aperture I've never used beyond a quick look at an image on the desktop), the info is there, so that's good to know. But you still have to dig for it. My preference would be to get something up in the basic tools such as Get Info. Previously, I'm sure I've had JPGs where the info has shown up in Get Info, how long back I don't know. But my memory MAY be playing tricks.
I am actually relcutant to trash Aperture due to it's management capabilities and it suits for the limited amount of adjustments I ever do, relying on Nik Software for the rest. BUT I may consider it if there is another application that does write the IPTC data in a way Get Info can read it. I'd hope to have copyright info flag up on any machine's 'quick look' application, be it Get Info on OS X or Properties on a Windows (I'll look later what comes up there, I rarely if ever use the Windows machine now). Maybe it's just impossible. I'm reluctant to add different applications to the workflow to achieve this, meta /exif tools etc. It's more to do, more things to keep updated, more things to break as OS X evolves etc etc.
in the meantime I have played with various fields in the IPTC data block and oddly, if I put the Copright - 'all rights reserved' text in the 'Instructions' it DOES show up in the 'Get Info' box and the 'Instructions' field is perhaps not too out of place to be seen displaying the copyright text and for me is preferable to editing such items as 'Device Info' to display copyright, which looks really odd and, IIRC, requires and EXIF adit tool. The 'Provider' field may be MORE appropriate but again, Get Info doesn't display entries in that field. Of course it means that anything that WILL display IPTC data correctly will have the copyright info twice, but I'd rather opt for that AND have copyright correctly displayed in Get Info. I'll check later if it displays using Windows 'Properties'.

Does "Write IPTC metadata to masters" really modify raw files?

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