Embedding iPhoto keywords into files as IPTC keywords?

The subject pretty much says it all. Does anyone know of an application or script that will run through an iPhoto Library and for each image that has keywords assigned in iPhoto, will embed those keywords in the IPTC keywords field?
Thanks,
-s-

Ah, with the help of your instructions, I was indeed able to make it work, as advertised. Thanks for that!
Unfortunately, it doesn't totally solve my problem, because > 99% of my photos are shot in RAW (Nikon's NEF.) Looking at the spotlight data, it seems that iPhoto associates the the keywords data with the JPG it generates from the NEF file, but not with the actual RAW file in the "Originals" sub-folder.
I know that is possible to add IPTC data directly to RAW files (Photoshop won't do it, but Photo Mechanic, and a few other programs will), though I guess its a "philosophical" argument as to whether it is correct to do so or not.
There is no reason (except perhaps a bug) that iPhoto couldn't add the "kMDItemKeywords" spotlight property to the original NEFs as well as the generated JPEGs.
Anyway, thanks for your help, and I suspect that I am going to have to "roll my own" solution for doing this with RAW files.
-- Sandy
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4)

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Importing IPTC keywords into iPhoto

I have >10,000 photos from my research project with imbedded metadata including four keywords. These are in the IPTC field separated by commas.
keyword_1, keyword_2, keyword_3, keyword_4
When I import these into iPhoto I get a single keyword
keyword_1, keyword_2, keyword_3, keyword_4
If I click to edit this keyword, it immediately is broken into four separate keywords plus the original one.
keyword_1, keyword_2, keyword_3, keyword_4
keyword_1
keyword_2
keyword_3
keyword_4
The four individual keywords are what I want but I have to click on the keyword of each photo to achieve this. Extremely time consuming.
Does anyone know if iPhoto can be made to import each keyword individually or a faster way to make iPhoto convert these to the correct format? I do have the ability to edit the IPTC data via terminal scripts so I could modify the original IPTC data if I only knew what iPhoto needs to import properly.
I tried using semicolons to separate the keywords.
i.e. keyword_1; keyword_2; keyword_3; keyword_4
This failed as it just gave me a single keyword that no longer was automatically edited upon clicking.

Hi Phil,
I originally started this on your ExifTool forum. A chap there graciously provided, and helped to refine, a script using ExifTool which has me 95% of the way to my goal.
I'm not a programmer so my understanding of the script is incomplete. It first extracts the data from a csv file and then uses ExifTool to write that data to the jpg files. I copied what I believe to be the relevant sections hoping that maybe someone here could spot the error.
PHYLUM_CSV=`grep ${BASEIMAGE} "${RUBRICFILE}" | cut -d , -f 9`
CLASS_CSV=`grep ${BASEIMAGE} "${RUBRICFILE}" | cut -d , -f 10`
ORDER_CSV=`grep ${BASEIMAGE} "${RUBRICFILE}" | cut -d , -f 11`
FAMILY_CSV=`grep ${BASEIMAGE} "${RUBRICFILE}" | cut -d , -f 12`
KEYWORDS_CSV="1_PHYLUM_${PHYLUM_CSV}, 2_CLASS_${CLASS_CSV}, 3_ORDER_${ORDER_CSV}, 4_FAMILY_${FAMILY_CSV}, 5_GENUS_${GENUS_CSV}, 6_SPECIES_${SPECIES_CSV}"
fi
CAPTION_ABSTRACT_F=`exiftool -s -s -s -caption-abstract "${FILESPEC}"`
KEYWORDS_F=`exiftool -s -s -s -caption-abstract "${FILESPEC}"`
SUBJECT_F=`exiftool -s -s -s -caption-abstract "${FILESPEC}"`
exiftool -m -P -overwrite_original_in_place \
-keywords="${KEYWORDS_CSV}" \
-subject="${KEYWORDS_CSV}" \
"${FILESPEC}"
Here is part of the ExifTool output for one of the files processed with the script. I edited out parts which I thought irrelevant.
bash-3.2$ exiftool -g 0M9I5019.jpg | less -i
---- ExifTool ----
ExifTool Version Number : 8.50
---- File ----
File Name : 0M9I5019.jpg
Directory : .
File Size : 527 kB
File Modification Date/Time : 2003:11:01 20:54:18-05:00
File Permissions : rwx------
File Type : JPEG
MIME Type : image/jpeg
Exif Byte Order : Big-endian (Motorola, MM)
Current IPTC Digest : e6ec6c038fb4c40ebc0252d089a24f1e
---- IPTC ----
Object Name : 0M9I5019, Petrosia (Petrosia) sp. 1895
Keywords : 1_PHYLUM_Porifera, 2_CLASS_Demospongiae, 3_ORDER_Haplosclerida, 4_FAMILY_Petrosiidae, 5_GENUS_Petrosia (Petrosia), 6_SPECIES_sp. 1895
Caption-Abstract : Malaysia, depth 10, depth range 6-10m, wet weight 1168
Application Record Version : 4
---- XMP ----
XMP Toolkit : Image::ExifTool 8.50
Location : 04 20.67N, 113 53.76E
Description : Malaysia, depth 10, depth range 6-10m, wet weight 1168
Subject : 1_PHYLUM_Porifera, 2_CLASS_Demospongiae, 3_ORDER_Haplosclerida, 4_FAMILY_Petrosiidae, 5_GENUS_Petrosia (Petrosia), 6_SPECIES_sp. 1895
Title : 0M9I5019, Petrosia (Petrosia) sp. 1895
The keywords are written into both the IPTC:Keywords and XMP:Subject fields of the metadata. I'm not sure why they are written to both or which field iPhoto imports keywords from.
I added the 1_PHYLUM_, etc tags so that the keywords would sort in the correct order in iPhoto.
Strangely enough, the keywords are imported into Picasa as individual keywords but sort in reverse order.
I'm studying your exiftool faq now.
Thanks,
Paul

IPTC Keywords are not comma delimited?

I like the fact that I can now export my photos and get the keywords added to the IPTC keywords field in the JPG.
But! Why are the keywords not comma delimited? When I have used other programs (like Photoshop Elements 3) to add keywords, they are stored as comma delimited. But iPhoto just puts spaces between the keywords, and when I upload them to Flickr, they get treated as one multi-word tag instead of individual tags.
The IPTC specification I found says:
+2:25 Keywords+
+Repeatable, maximum 64 octets, consisting of graphic characters plus spaces.+
+Used to indicate specific information retrieval words.+
+Each keyword uses a single Keywords DataSet. Multiple keywords use multiple Keywords DataSets.+
Can this be fixed?

Brenda:
You'll have to request that at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphoto.html
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Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Unless there's some way to get JPS to write the keywords into the files I don't know of any way to do what you want. An Applescript might be able to read the JPS dB file and write the keyword to the appropriate IPTC field in the file. But that's beyond my capability.
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Nyinyikay a écrit:
Can I move ninety video files with their keyword tags from 'My Catalogue' into a another catalogue?
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IPhoto 6 unusably slow (starting with keywords and then the rest o product)

As I've mentioned in a post in another thread, I upgraded to iPhoto 6 a few weeks ago. From the moment of upgrade, anything associated with the keyword function (applying, searching, even scrolling the keyword box) is painfully slow--60 seconds to 3+ minutes at a time (that's the average--I've had waits of 90 seconds to apply 1 keyword to 1 photo and 8 minutes to apply 1 keyword to 27 photos). Since that last post, I've also discovered that the longer I try to use the product, the slower EVERYTHING in the product gets (other than scrolling the library).
I use iPhoto as a database, not an image editor. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, the types of things I'm trying to do include:
* apply one keyword to 30 photos
* click on one photo after having assigned a keyword to a different subset of photos
* scroll down one page in the keyword box
* select 4 photos
* scroll one page in the main iPhoto view of photos
* search by keyword
I've re-installed, re-built, and re-started. I can also say that the longer I try to use iPhoto 6 in one session, the worse the performance gets. Yesterday morning I had to keyword 150 photos from a party and forced myself to use iPhoto so they could be searched with another set of pictures already in iPhoto. It took me OVER 1 HOUR to assign an average of 6 keywords to each photo with selections averaging 10-15 photos at a time. I am not exaggerating--I timed it (63 minutes). For the record, no other applications were running: iPhoto was flying solo (I thought running alone might help performance, but it didn't. I'm no software programmer but I have a lot of experience with computers and whatever is tying iPhoto's resources into a knot seems to be between iPhoto and iPhoto or iPhoto and the OS.)
Also, the longer I used the product, the fewer "actions" it saw. So, for example, at the beginning I could click 3 keywords on the same keyword pane view and all 3 would apply to the selected photos (with a still dismal response, but at least I was getting 3 assignments for each response). By the end, only 1 assignment would be "seen" at a time even if 3 were clicked (and the other 2 would be translated into some random actions as iPhoto would scroll the keyword pane and assign a random keyword--not necessarily on the same side or the same position on the screen of the keywords I had actually clicked). The result? The functional response time tripled.
The product is not only much worse than iPhoto 5, it's unusably slow. Sadly, I've already upgraded. So I'm wondering if anyone can tell me:
1) Is there any way to know officially if Apple is addressing this specific problem? I know other people are experiencing this and thought there would be a fix from Apple by now, but nothing.
2) Is there any way to bail out of iPhoto 6 and go back to iPhoto 5? I know there's no official path, but (A) is there any unofficial path and (B) what would I lose?
3) Since iPhoto 6 is the only iLife product I use, I feel especially ripped-off. What I'd really like to do is get a refund and pursue a different solution. Any thoughts there?
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Old Toad
Since I last wrote I have:
* Rebuilt the directories with Disk Warrior. The problems I had were 30+ overlaps between iPhoto images and iTunes song files.
This got rid of the 8 minute responses, but performance was still unusably appalling.
* I cleaned out the user caches with OnyX.
No change in iPhoto performance.
* I reinstalled iPhoto. (Because of the overlaps I also tried to reinstall iTunes but it doesn't have an obvious path for that. Given the number of hours I've already burned on this Apple problem I didn't have the fight in me for another one).
No change.
* Per another post in this forum I emptied iPhoto trash, then per Old Toad I rebuilt the iPhoto library with the first 3 options.
Noticeable improvement, but the performance is still dreadful.
* Did a re-install and archive of OS X (per a friend's suggestion) and downloaded all the system updates anew.
No improvement.
So after rebuilding my system from the directories up, re-installing iPhoto, and rebuilding the iPhoto library I'm "back to" 30 second to 3+ minute waits for everything when the Photo Info pane is active. For example, it takes 30-90 second waits for tasks such as:
* changing a tab in the Photo Info pane
* trying to scroll the Keywords tab of the Photo Info pane
* assign 1 keyword to 1 photo
It takes 2-3+ minute waits for tasks such as:
* scrolling the main window (one click in the scroll bar--not dragging) when the Photo Info pane is open
* assigning 1 keyword to 36 photos
* closing the Photo Info pane (AFTER however many minutes it took for the final commit i did before trying to exit)
My observations:
* When the ball is spinning on the screen, iPhoto doesn't "remember" what I do as other applications do, although the Keywords pane will occasionally scroll backward or forward--apparently randomly--in response to a single click anywhere in iPhoto. (And I'm not one of those people who bangs on the keyboard constantly when the computer is busy: I'm talking about a click that might get in before the ball starts spinning on the screen.)
* The first "click" after opening the Photo Info Pane (either the Keywords tab or the first keyword box) is always "free"--no problem with excessively long waits. The second click after after a "free" click always has the burdensome wait times. Occasionally, though, in the first 3-5 clicks in the Photo Info pane the first click after what I'm assuming is a commit does not have the painful wait times. After those first 3-5 clicks, though, every click gets this excessive wait.
* It seems odd to me how consistent the minimum wait is: right around 30 seconds. The click is either "free"--i.e. no perceptible wait time (or a reasonably minimal wait, given the task at hand)--or it's 30+ seconds.
These response times really do make the product unusable for me. Does anyone:
1) Have any other suggestions?
2) Know how I can find out whether this problem is being pursued by Apple?
3) Know of any path out of the product so I can put myself out of my misery?………
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

CS3 stripping IPTC keywords

First time listing something in a forum. We are stumped. We have a machine setup with action steps using photoshop cs3 on windows. Randomly when sending photos through cs3 it is stripping out VITAL iptc keyword information.
To test and by pass the steps i simply opened photo in CS3 and get file info on file. All my IPTC keywords are missing. I then take the same photo on a machine with cs2 and/or cs and the IPTC header heyword field info is there.
So it seems that something has changed in photoshop cs 3?
Can any one help? I have many example photos that i can email to someone if they maybe able to help us.

I use Breeze Systems' BreezeBrowser Pro and Downloader Pro to transfer my photos to hard disk and fill the IPTC fields with the shoot information. When I load these files into Photoshop CS3, I find that the "Location" and ISO Country Code fields are blank, even though they still show the shooting location and country (GBR) when I view the IPTC info in BreezeBrowser.
It also trims everthing past 32 characters in the 'Credit' field.
Why does Photoshop lose those values?

Adding Keywords To Files?

Hi,
I've just discovered you can add Keywords to images in Preview. What I'd like to know is, when you go to File > Save, is it changing any of the image data, or is it adding the Keywords on to the file?
Is there a way of adding Keywords to files in Finder? I'd like to be able to add Keywords without having to re-save the file.

I don't know anything about iPhoto, but it sounds like you are talking about IPTC keywords. If so, those are stored inside the file. Maybe someone else knows more about iPhoto's behavior with IPTC. I know that GraphicConverter lets you change IPTC data without resaving the entire image. In other words, it just replaced the data without opening the image.
You can add keywords (Finder Comments) in Finder but they are not IPTC keywords. IPTC clings to the file even on other operating systems, because the data is inside the file. You can add Spotlight keywords in Finder but they will not follow the file to a non-OSX machine. You do this in Finder's "Infowindow" (highlight the file then press applekey-i).

Reading in data from IPTC keywords from a CSV and writing those keywords to TIFF images

Hi All,
I have a client that I'm working with that has a specific request for a script, or possibly a plugin. I'm interested in both hearing if folks here think it is feasible, and also if anybody here would be interested in doing the work on this.
I have never done PhotoShop scripting and I think it would be the best use of resources to subscontract this out, unless it proves exceedingly easy. The kind of thing someone can do in a single forum post. In which case, if you do that for me, I'll be sure to get you something for your time as a thank you :-)
Here's the situation: my client runs a niche stock photography business and deals with tens of thousands of hi-res TIFF images. Each of those images is assigned a list of keywords, a serial number, the photographer who took the picture, the date, the location, etc. Lots of information. He's got a FileMaker Pro database where he stores all that information.
Some of those bits of information he also wants in the IPTC data for the TIFF image. The keywords in particular are the main field he's interested in getting into the TIFF images.
He has been dealing with this process manually so far in Bridge CS4. He goes to each image, and copy/pastes the keywords into the IPTC data. But he's interested in figuring out a better way to do this. He can get a spreadsheet that has all the keywords and filenames out of his database, and what we'd like to do is have a Photoshop script that can read in that CSV file, and then scan a directory for TIFF images with those filenames, and write the appropriate keywords onto those TIFF images.
Is this possible? I'm eager to hear feedback on this. Right now he's got a slew of 1800 images that he got on slide film from photographers, and has scanned, but hasn't written the IPTC keywords to yet. If we can use this process on those, that would be great.
-Josh

Hi Paul and Mark,
That link Paul posted looks very promising. I'll have to test it out.
One question: is there anywhere I can get Adobe Bridge CS4? Since that's what my client has, that's what I'd like to test with. I've been looking but can't find anything but the most recent version (CS5) for trial download.
-Josh

In iPhoto, can I file individual events from one year into one main event withouthout m muddling them up?ing them up

In iPhoto, can I file individual events from one year into one main event without muddling them up?

Perhaps I misunderstood you. You want to have a hierarchy
Folder: 2000
->Contains Event for January, February, etc
Folder 2001
-> Contains Event for January, February etc
That sort of thing? Well with Events, no you can't. Yes you can do that with Albums, but not Events.
That said, it's a pretty limited way of organising your photos - in fact you might as well just use folders in the Finder. You can find the photos from any year, month, day with the Calendar tool. Simply click on the Search icon on the bottom, then on the the wee drop down and select the calendar tool.
Want the photos from a particular range - say, June 11 1999 to September 30 2001? Then a Smart Album will do that.
But the problem is that it's often hard to remember the year/month something happened. Did we go to Disney in 1997 or 98? There are other more useful ways that make your snaps more searchable.
Here's a canned answer that I offer that suggests some of the richer organising possibilities of iPhoto. It might spark something.
I use Events simply as big buckets of Photos: Spring 08, July - Nov 06 are typical Events in my Library. I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.
I keyword on a
Who
What
Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics on a 1 - 5 star basis.
Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 50k library in a couple of seconds.
So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.
File -> New Smart Album
set it to 'All"
title contains Seattle
keyword is mountain
keyword is snow
rating is 5 stars
Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?
New Smart Album
Keyword is John
Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending
Want only the best pics?
add Rating is greater than 4 stars
The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.
In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast. This system works for me.

Writing keywords to files

Hi,
I have spent a long time creating keywords for all my photos but when I export or email the files themselves, the keywords don't seem to go. Is there a way to write the keywords onto the files themselves?
Thanks,
Chris

when I export
While photos are in the database the information is kept in the database - not in the file - when you export the photo everything is put together and placed outside the database - that is how databases work - and why they are fast - iPHoto is not file a search tool, it is an SQL databases
LN

Embedding iPhoto keywords into files as IPTC keywords?

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