Copying photos from one computer to another, with descriptions

Question

After editing photo descriptions and locations in iPhoto, it is desireable to be able to copy them to iPhoto on another computer, with the associated photo descriptions and locations.  In principle, this is possible by selecting all desired photos, then selecting File -> Export...  In the Export dialog box, in the "File Export" tab, select "Include: Titles and keywords", and "Include: Location information".  Copy the exported files to the other computer, and do a File -> Import to Library ...
In practice, this works fine with images taken by some cameras, and not with images from others.  In my limited experience with a Fuji F80EXR and a Canon SX230HS, the above work flow works with the Fuji.  But, with the Canon, while the exported files clearly have the description data embedded in them (as seen by GraphicConverter), it is not imported into iPhoto, nor is it visible in Preview's Inspector.  The workaround I use is to run an exiftool command on the exported files.
Exiftool is a command line utility that can read and write meta data in image files:
http://owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
I run the following command on the exported files to rewrite the IPTC Caption:
exiftool −overwrite_original_in_place -tagsfromfile %f.jpg -ext jpg -"IPTC:Caption-Abstract>IPTC:Caption-Abstract" *.jpg
Note that the above command overwrites the files that were exported from iPhoto.  If you wish to leave the original files intact, with an "_original" appended to the file name, run:
exiftool -tagsfromfile %f.jpg -ext jpg -"IPTC:Caption-Abstract>IPTC:Caption-Abstract" *.jpg
I'm not sure why it is necessary to copy and rewrite that data.  Perhaps there is something strange in the format of the meta data in the file as it comes from the camera, and the iPhoto export does not correct this strangeness. Copying and rewriting the data by exiftool seems to put things right.
The above works for me, but is somewhat unwieldy.  Is there a better way to copy photos from one computer to another, if iPhoto refuses to import the description data that it was written to the exported files?

Answer 1

Thanks for the pointer.  I did a test with 10 images, and confirmed the iPLM works, even with the problematic images from my Canon SX230HS.
The workflow is to use iPLM to create a new Library on the computer that has the photos you want to copy.  Copy the photos to the new Library.  Copy the new Library to the second computer using a method of your choice (file sharing, USB flash drive, etc).  Copy the photos from the new Library to the existing iPhoto Library.
iPLM costs $20, whereas my original solution was free (but you need to invest the time to get exiftool installed and working).  But, unlike exiftools, iPLM also copies over the Faces information, so it is likely a worthwhile investment if you use that feature.