IPTC Captioning Help

I am a contributor with ZUMA Press. I like using aperture to import, edit, caption and ftp images after a game/event. However, I am trying to figure out a way to add a keyword that identitfies an athlete. I am shooting the Barclays this week(a pga tourn). I uploaded a picture of Tiger Woods. The editor added a keyword Woods, Tiger so its easier for clients to search for various images of him. The photo editor emailed me the updated image with all the new IPTC info. I imported it to Aperture to see where I can add athletes names from now on, but aperture didnt show me the info I was looking for. Any ideas???

Brian,
I'd suggest to create a new Metadata preset including all EXIF/IPTC and Custom tags, so you can browse all tags the Editor may have used or newly defined.
You can define the metadata presets to be defned with your images in the "Info" panel of the Library Inspector, like this:
Set the Metadata preset popup menu to "Edit", then press the cogwheel in the lower left corner to "new View" or "duplicate view", then enable all metadata tags, that might contain the info you are looking for, i.e. in the custom fields section, the IPTC, and EXIF section of these tags.
Regards
Léonie

Similar Messages

Scripting iPhoto, Graphic Converter - copy photo Comment to IPTC caption

I want to select a bunch of photos in iPhoto and have the iPhoto comment for each file copied into its IPTC caption.
The script below works without throwing an error but the IPTC caption contains some trailing garbage in about 1 out of 3 photos. How to eliminate garbage?
tell application "iPhoto"
set selectedPhotos to selection
repeat with thisPhoto in selectedPhotos
set thisPath to image path of thisPhoto
set thisPath to (POSIX file thisPath) as string
set theComment to comment of thisPhoto
copy theComment to theCaption
tell application "GraphicConverter"
activate
try
set iptcinfo to get file iptc of thisPath
on error errMsg number errNbr
set iptcinfo to {"", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "-1", "", "", ""}
-- no IPTC in file so make one
end try
set the first item of iptcinfo to theCaption
set file iptc of thisPath to iptcinfo
end tell
end repeat
--copy the iPhoto comment to the iptcinfo
end tell

I'm not good with scripting however to get the description applied to the IPTC description field, you can use iPhoto. All you have to do is use the Export option, select JPEG and then check the check box about including the title and description data. I've verified it is included with Exifer a freeware program for PC. Although the data is there, it is not read by Picasa on PC despite also reading and writing the caption to the IPTC description file. Do you think the extra garbage might also be being written by iPhoto and hence stopping Picasa from recognising the data? I'm using iPhoto 7.1.1 (354). Any help or suggestions to get descriptions written to IPTC would be great! Cheers.

Copying IPTC caption information from one file to another

I need some help with jpeg files to run a script or Automator workflow to copy from one picture to another IPTC information (that's the text that makes up the caption, source, date location etc information in jpegs).
I have more than 300 high res pics that need to receive the IPTC (caption) info already typed into medium res versions of the same pics. The pics are all logically named and numbered (picSB_yyyy-mm-dd_med001 and picSB_yyyy-mm-dd_big001, 002 etc).
I already use Automator to bulk change some IPTC fields (location, copyright, credits etc) and have typed up details of who's in the pics etc in the caption field itself). But I can't see the work flow elements I'd need in the palettes on the left side of the Automator screen to copy the IPTC fields to other files.
I think there are two ways I could do this.
1) Set up an if/then script based on the file names and trailing numbers -
If file in folder named Medium ends in 001, copy IPTC info to file in folder named Big that ends in 001,
Repeat adding one to the value of the trailing number.
2) Move the files to new folders and have the IPTC info copied from one folder to another -
Move top file from folder Medium into a folder named Medium To Do,
Move the top file from folder Big to Big To Do,
Copy IPTC from file in Medium To Do to file in Big to Do,
Move file from Medium to Do to Medium Done,
Move file from Big To Do to Big done,
Repeat.
Can anyone advise me if I've missed the required elements in the Automator palette, or if such scripts might be available elsewhere?

Post the code plz so we can have a look...

No IPTC caption on import!- How did you migrate xl-library to Aperture?

Folks,
How can you possibly migrate a 100.000 plus image library into Aperture without having to completely redo the IPTC captions after import?
I find my images mainly by IPTC searches (so far iView pro) which to me represent years of captioning work.
Now that 1.5 has finally given us more control to reference our library I started to get excited again about Aperture, but IPTC only on export is not enough IMO.
How did you manage to ideal having DAM and Raw processor in one app?

Thx Jeremy,
did you get hold of a copy of Adam's new version that
covers iView 3.1 and Aperture 1.5 or did you use
their older version?
Could you in any way keep the organixational
structure of iView's "Category Sets" when you
exported all your stuff into Aperture?
best regards,
grischa
Hi again. To explain better what I meant - I didn't use Annoture, I just used the function in iView itself whereby you can "synch" the metadata that you add in iView back to the file itself, so it is stored within the image file. Then when you import that image file into Aperture, the information is correctly read.
There is one problem - iView uses some fields that (I think) are not read by Aperture (Location, maybe ??) or that are not used correctly (iView stores "People" in the "Contact" field for example) However, there is also a script in iView that allows you to copy metadata items from place to place, so you could copy the iView Location field to Keywords, so that it is seen by Aperture when you import it.
Hope that makes sense!!
regards,
Jeremy

IPTC Caption Metadata lost in referenced photos, Aperture 2.1.4

I have a mid sized library of personal photos. The older photos were imported to Aperture from iPhoto. My wife had added Captions to the photos in iPhoto and in Aperture. The photos are stored as referenced files, the more recent ones on the MacBook hard drive, the older ones are now on an external FAT32 formatted hard drive. Some time in the last year or so the Captions to the photos on the external drive have got lost, possibly when I upgraded the OS to Snow Leopard. The strange thing is that other IPTC metadata is still there. When importing the photos from iPhoto a Keyword was added, either "iPhoto Original" for the original photo or "iPhoto Edited" for the edited version, both photos now originals in Aperture.
I moved the photos to the external drive using Aperture Relocate Masters and the Captions have been visible since that move. I tried relocating a photo back to the original folder on the MacBook but the caption is still missing.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
Any help would be much appreciated. Hundreds of hours of work went into adding all the captions.

I have seen this kind of thing in Aperture 2 for what appears to be no reason on FAT32 drives - never really got to the bottom of it but it seems to be related to Ap2 re-reading the IPTC metadata from the master and replacing the IPTC that is in Aperture's database because Ap thinks the file changed.
Even without a FAT32 drive in the mix if you change ANYTHING about the master file Aperture will re-read the IPTC from the referenced master and replace the IPTC in Aperture's database. Ap3 is much more intelligent in the way that it handles this in most cases but can still do some unpredictable things which manifest as "disappearing" metadata within Aperture. I have sorted out my Ap3 work-flow so this doesn't happen to me any more but... there are some things that you cannot do that I would like or there will be blood.
Long story short - if Aperture thinks the file changed in anyway for any reason it can screw your metadata in Aperture.The infamous issue was using external software with Ap2 to add GPS data to masters which would wipe out IPTC data within aperture's database.
RB
Ps. Note to self - write post on what works and what doesn't with Ap3 and metadata synchronization

IPTC caption written on Mac looks garbled on PC

Have had this issue for a long time so am trying again to discover an answer.
On a Mac running PS CC14, I've entered an extended caption into the IPTC (file info) description box. The caption includes quotation marks, pound/dollar symbols etc that are necessary.
However, when opening up this file on a PC running PS, the quotation marks and pound symbols etc come through as garbled text.
Does anyone know of a way of avoiding this?
THANKS

Ok, this is a tricky problem. I've never experienced it myself, but I'll do what I can to get you to the right answer.
I use Bridge CC's Metadata panel for entering and editing IPTC data. The advantage there is that I can batch select pictures that have common items like authors and keywords. That's an alternative to directly using File Info in Photoshop and I wonder if the results might be better.
There are two types of IPTC metadata: IIM (legacy) and IPTC Core, both found in Bridge. While I'm not sure one type is garbling your text, IIM might be safer if you don't know what others are using to read it.
XMP is the Adobe standard for carrying IPTC metadata and I'll give you a link to that forum. Chances are those who are familiar with the underpinnings can help you solve this or find a workaround: XMP SDK
Another thought is third party IPTC editors Comparison of metadata editors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia if you can't resolve it using Adobe's software.
That should get you started,
Gene

Text Caption help

Hello Captivate Gurus,
I am not sure if this is a glitch, but I am trying to include
a transparent text caption and it does not appear when I publish my
project. I have transparent captions throughout the project, so I
am not sure why this particular one does not work. I do have two
animations, 1 JPG, and a button.
My 7-second slide is as followed:
1 JPG that appears on the screen the entire length of the
slide
1 transparent text caption that is supposed to be on the
screen the entire length of the slide (not appearing)
2 text animations (one that is on the screen the entire
length of the slide, and one that appears after 3 seconds)
1 button that moves you to the next slide (appears after 4
seconds and is paused after 1.5 seconds; appears for the remainder
of the slide until someone clicks)
I know that sometimes transparent text captions won't work
with buttons, but in my case the button doesn't even appear until 4
seconds into the slide. The text caption is supposed to be there
the whole time. Any thoughts?
Thanks for the help!
Nicole
One more thing--The text caption DOES appear when I preview
the slide, but not when the project is published.

Hi again Nicole
(sometimes when I don't highlight the text in a transparent
caption, it comes out looking odd)
The "oddness" you are seeing is probably anti-aliasing. One
way past that is highlighting, as you have seen. Another way is to
press Enter a couple of times after the last line of text. Then
apply a bullet to that last line. Then size the caption so you
don't see the bullet.
I've seen quirky behavior with Captivate 3 and layering. But
yours is the first report I think I've seen where a transparent
caption simply isn't appearing.
Out of curiosity, have you ensured there isn't a Button,
Click Box or Text Entry Box object causing the slide to pause
before the Caption has had a chance to appear?
Cheers... Rick

Page Titles & Photo Captions - help?

CAn anyone help? I am needing to add captions to the photos on hte site I built with iWeb and can't work out how to do this. I think they are also known as Alt-Tags.
Also, I have been trying to add page titles, the words that appear in the blue line across the top of Internet Explorer, for example, but can't do that either. At the moment it only displays what my page is called, e.g. Welcome. When I have tried to change it, it seems to also change the headings of the pages in my navigation link which I don't want to do.
If anyone can help, I'd be really grateful! I'm a bit of a novice so easy explanations are best. I'm using iWeb version 1.1.2 if that makes a difference.
Thanks!!

Tryggsy:
Just ran across a free application, iWeb SEO Tool, that is supposed to be able to write those tags to the images before you publish. You can download it here: http://www.ragesw.com/products/iweb-seo-tool.html. It also advertises that it can optimize a site before uploading. Haven't tried it yet.
OT

Closed caption help

I have a DVCAM master that is encoded for closed captioning. My client would like a DVD with closed captioning. Is this a simple matter of capturing the master tape in FCP and importing the file into DVD SP and burning a copy or is there more to it? Any help would be appreciated.
dual 2GHz G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

True closed captioning is part of the video, (line 21.) DV video encodes the caption data as meta data and is stored as a resource in the DV QT file.
That data can only be retrieved if the DV program is run through a software that can read the meta data resource. The software that can do that is Mac Caption Pro.
Once you have captured the video from the DV tape, to a DV QT file, that file can then be imported into Mac caption Pro and decoded and captured to a .scc file, (Scenarist_SCC V1.0.)
The .scc file can then be brought into DVD SP through the line 21 option for closed captioning in the track inspector, under the other tab.
Mac Caption Pro also allows you to merge the .scc file with a already existing Mpeg2 file and then import the Mpeg2 file normally, with captioning already part of the Mpeg2 file, (no need to use the line 21 option in DVD SP.)
The software is very expensive $5000.00, but way cheeper than a hardware system for captioning. Educational facilities receive a discount upon request.
There URL: http://www.ccaption.com/
If you can get the program owners to send you a .scc file, that is timecoded to the copy of the program you have, then you can just use the line 21 option of DVD SP to import the captioning.

Editing IPTC (captions etc) data

Is there a way to edit IPTC data fields for pics either individually or as a batch from within iPhoto?
I know you can add keywords and comments to pics in the iPhoto library, but I want to edit other fields such as source, location, contact details etc. I can do it with Graphic Converter, but I like using iPhoto to view pics and want to be able to do the IPTC editing from that app.
I also like to change pic names to reflect the shooting date, which I at present do using the Nikon program I use to download pics from my camera. Again, I'd like to download via iPhoto, but it doesn't seem to have this name change option.
I know iPhoto is great to view, but not everyone uses it, so I like edit the IPTC fields/file names for when I send pics to people.
Any ideas?

Bebbs
iPhoto only write to the IPTC data on export. It has no ability to edit anything in the data except Name, Date and Comment.
In iPhoto you can Title a pic. This does not change the filename (as filenames are irrelevant in iPhoto), how ever, using the File -> Export command, you can use that title as a filename when you export from iPhoto.
It seems to me that you'd be best making the edits you want to the pics before importing them into iPhoto.
Alternatively, Aperture has all these capabilities.
Regards
TD

Closed Captioning help

Working on a project which i've added click boxes to pause the audio until the user clicks to start. I also have closed caption tied to that audio. When preview and/or publish, when user enters slide and possibly takes an extra moment to start the audio, the closed captions are already up and running. Now the audio and captions are out of synch. Is there a way or reason for the captions to be paused along with the audio that it's attached to?
Thanks
Tony

I looked at various options too. IE. using voice recognition to produce a text file then using MacCaption to encode it on line 21. I understand MacCaption produces a quicktime file that can be brought into FCP and rendered. When printing to tape it will entered into line 21 in you use an approved card like AJA, media 100, Targa, etc (these cards know how to handle this since this a problem with DV at 720x480. CC likes 720x486 ie DVCPRO 50, Digi Beta etc.
However, my local station (UPN network) said they would do our 30 min. show for $85 each. As you could expect, my research ended there.

Closed caption help please

I want to change the color of my subtitles can someone tell me how to do this?
thanks

ok nvm i figured it out but now how do I sign into my icloud? I just updated my atv & have to set it all up again

Help with Caption Buddy please...!

Has anyone out there had any luck using Caption Buddy:
http://www.apple.com/applescript/iPhoto/
to import IPTC titles and captions to iPhoto?
I'm shifting around 2000 photos from my PC to iPhoto, and loved that there was some way (however inconvenient) of importing the info I had spent numerous hours already typing out.
Problem is, I had Caption Buddy working on a trial run a few days ago, but today, after having moved all the photos to my Mac, the script just doesn't want to work!
The IPTC info is definitely there - I've checked it out with Graphic Converter, Image Info and Adobe Bridge. Even Preview is showing that the data exists. But Caption Buddy just doesn't want to play nice.
Of course, it likes some photos, just not the ones I need to import. There is a sample image that is included with Image Info when you download it, and Caption Buddy picks that info up just fine. It just hates my photos!
Maybe the world is just plain out to get me!
Anyone have a fancy trick that might explain why Caption Buddy is not working? Or if not, does anyone have a different way of translating IPTC captions to iPhoto comments?
Thanks for your help everyone.
Peter

I've fixed the problem, so for anyone who has issues using Caption Buddy, this solution might work for you:
If you've imported photos that aren't being recognized properly by Caption Buddy, try opening a browser window in Graphic Converter, find the photos (the originals, not those in your iPhoto library folder) and use one of Graphic Converter's lossless editing tools on the images. This could be as simple as rotating the image, flipping the image, or adjusting the resolution value in the image header (even if you adjust it to the same value as you already had). Re-import the images into iPhoto, and try Caption Buddy again!
For some reason, this simple method worked for me. Maybe the image headers just needed re-writing.
Have fun!
Peter

I am using referenced images, saved on an external hard drive. It would be most helpful to transfer the new captions (version name) to the referenced images which still have the camera code on them. How can this be done? Thanks so much!

I am using referenced images, saved on an external hard drive. It would be most helpful to transfer the new captions (version name) to the referenced images which still have the camera code on them. How can this be done? Thanks so much!

You're question is hard to follow. Are you looking to rename your master files to the version name? Or are you looking to do something with IPTC caption field and the masters?

Loss of Captions only in Olympus Camera photos

Loss of Captions only in Olympus Camera photos after migrating from Mac OS 10.5.11 and AP2 to Mac OS 10.6.4 and AP 3.03
I have had a problem where the captions written in Aperture 2 on a PowerMac G5 PPC running Mac 10.5.11 are no longer visible after migrating the photos to a new iMac running Mac OS 10.6.4 and AP 3.03. This occurs only in photos taken on Olympus Digital Cameras, no other brands are affected that I’ve seen (i.e. Nikon, Casio, Canon, Pentax). It occurs in both Preview and Aperture 3, replacing the previous Caption data with “OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA”. However, if the same photo is returned unchanged to the older Mac, the correct captions are still visible. Also, Graphic Convertor and CS2 are able to read the correct captions in the IPTC data on the new system. Brand new photos imported directly into AP3 in the new system do not seem to be affected, although I have not used it enough to be sure that it will not happen in the future.
I believe that this is a problem with a change in how the new Mac OS reads IPTC data. I think the new system reads data from the EXIF (and XMP) fields in preference to the IPTC information, and if there is any information in those other fields, it will not read the IPTC caption. For most camera brands this is not much of a problem, because they do not automatically place any caption information in these fields. However Olympus seems to desire to place it’s name everywhere in the metadata, and their standard metadata include writing “OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA” in the EXIF caption field (a very good reason never to use Olympus cameras in my opinion). If you ever have used Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (I have used fairly old versions only, this may have changed) to edit your photos in Aperture or previously in iPhoto and then migrated to Aperture, I noticed that the photos then have XMP metadata with “Olympic Digital Camera” written in many different fields, which also takes precedence over the IPTC caption in the Mac OS 10.6.x.
It is a very difficult problem, as once the AP2 library and referenced masters are brought over to the new system and upgraded to AP3, everything looks fine initially in the AP3 Library - even the captions are still there. However, pretty soon Aperture will start to realize that something has changed in the masters (even though nothing has really changed in the photo itself, just the way the system reads the IPTC metadata) and it will start to update the library, replacing your captions with “Olympus Digital Camera”. If you catch it early and try to stop the “updating” by using the “Write IPTC metadata to Masters” command, it will often not do anything, sometimes it will fix the problem for some photos and other times it will proceed to overwrite your previous captions with the Olympus caption - so don’t do that! I have tried all kinds of work arounds, and many of the more obvious options don’t help. I contacted Apple Support and Aperture, their response was that it was Olympus’ problem and a problem with the IPTC conventions. Olympus had no useful options either.
The best solution I have found so far is using ExifTool to remove the EXIF image description field, and the whole XMP box if the photo has been edited with Adobe products in the past. It’s time consuming process and a little intimidating for a terminal neophyte like me, but it’s easier than rewriting thousands of captions (and even if you do rewrite them in Aperture, Aperture will still change it back to “Olympus Digital Camera” once it decides that the master is somehow different than before). I will try to describe what has worked for me - some situations may be different. In particular, I suspect that writing the IPTC data to the masters upon exporting them for migrating to the new system makes this problem worse, as it causes Aperture 3 to realize that something has changed in the masters and make it update them; however often the masters without the IPTC will not be recognized for reconnecting. Consolidating the photos projects to be exported to the new system seems to help prevent problems within Aperture with the captions, but if you ever export the masters or use referenced masters, the problem will still be there until the EXIF caption is removed. I previously exported the masters (with the IPTC written them upon export in AP2) and then reconnected them in AP3, but this often seems to cause more problems with lost photos, time changes (mostly in the Adobe edited photos) and AP3 recognizing the master as “changed” and updating it, thereby losing the original captions.
Rule No. 1 - if at all possible, keep a copy of your original masters and Aperture 2 libraries as back ups (and it’s nice to be able to use them on your old system) - I’ve had to re-use them several times until I got things right. If your AP Libraries and masters are on a external HD, it may be best to make an exact clone of it (with the exact same name for the HD), so that you will not have to reconnect or relocate your masters.
You will probably want to see if you really have this problem before trying to fix it. Open the master taken with an Olympus camera that had a caption written to it in Aperture 2 in Preview and look at the caption information (command-I) under IPTC - if it says “Olympus Digital Camera” where you previously had something else, then it’s a problem. Under the TIFF (which is really from the EXIF data) box in Preview information, it will say the same thing under image description. With the same photo, if you import it into Aperture 3, it will also have “Olympus Digital Camera” as the IPTC caption. If it is already in Aperture 3 from a previous version, if you click on the photo for a full view, you may see the previous caption “update” to “Olympus Digital Camera”. Your actual master is okay (you can look at it in CS, Graphic Convertor, or an older Mac running 10.5. If you have never written anything in the IPTC caption, this problem is not visible, but you still have the EXIF Olympus caption waiting there to cause trouble in the future.
If you already have problems with changing captions on several photos in Aperture 3 Libraries, it is usually easier to just start over than to fix the photos one by one. Most fixes keep on reverting back until you get rid of the EXIF:ImageDesription box with “Olympus Digital Camera” in it. My process has been as follows:
Export the Aperture 2 Projects with consolidated masters to an external HD or your new computer.
2. Prior to opening an Aperture Library that you are migrating to MacOS 10.6 - Aperture 3, importing a project , or reconnecting to the masters from an imported Library or Project, use ExifTool to remove the EXIF image description in the masters. If you have used Photoshop or Adobe products which leave an XMP metadata field, it is probably better to remove this also at the same time.
To use ExifTool:
I will describe this in more detail for those of us (like myself) who know nothing about using terminal.
A: Download and install the free EXIF-tool. (Many, MANY thanks to Phil Harvey, I think that it’s thanks to people like him that the world progresses).
B: I found it helps to have just one folder where I run ExifTool on the same HD where I am planning to store my Aperture Libraries and-or referenced masters. Name it something like “EXIF-ProcessingFolder”, and then you can move the projects or the folders with your masters in and out of it without having to copy them, and you can always use the same script - which help prevent errors! Put the unopened projects or folders with the masters you want to remove the EXIF image description into this folder. Don’t forget to keep a back-up copy of your photos!
C: Open Terminal (under Utilities in Applications). You will see
“last login: xxxx on ttys000
Network name: ~username$” and an open box (which becomes solid grey when active in terminal)
Note that your mouse will not work in Terminal, you must use the keyboard and arrow keys to move around the text (copying and pasting does work).
D: First we will “change directory” to get to the place we want to work on:
-in the open box at the end of the last line in the terminal, type “ cd “ (space-cd-space, no quotation marks) - the space after cd is important - and then drag and drop the icon for the “EXIFProcessingFolder” that you made in the previous step on your HD to the open box after “ cd “. Before you hit return, copy the file path (it will look something like ” /Volumes/NameofYourHD\ Folder/ Subfolder\EXIF- ProcessingFolder”), and copy it into the PASTEFilePathHERE part of the command line below. (I keep several copies of the command line on a document to paste and copy from). THEN hit return, and terminal will tell you where it is at like this: “NetworkName:EXIF-ProcessingFolder UserName$”.
E: I like to check where I am at this point, so I type in “ls” (I remember it as “let’s see”) and hit the “return” key to see the contents of the folder where the terminal is at. It should return a list of the different projects, folders or files in the EXIF-ProcessingFolder. That’s good. (If it doesn’t do this, start over with the “ cd “ command to change directories until you’re in the right place).
F: Now copy the entire command line including the substituted “PASTEFilePathHere” from below and paste it into the open box in the terminal and hit return. It will start processing your photos. You can watch its progress if you want by looking at the Date Modified of the Subfolders (but not files). When it is all finished, there will be a message in the terminal stating how many files were processed, how many were changed and how many unchanged. It may take a while; often I will receive some error messages in the terminal while it is working, mostly about duplicate rotation information - I just ignore it.
G: When it is finished, type “exit” in terminal, it will reply with “logout [Process completed]”, and then you can quit Terminal. I have not found out the way to stop the process if I need to while it is running, so if I need to I quit terminal, and that stops the process.
Here are the command lines to use with ExifTool
(copied and modified from Casamagnolia-wSzxs8’s post)
To delete the EXIF:ImageDescription of photos in a folder without subfolders: (you do not have to paste the folder location with this command, but the terminal must be in the correct directory)
exiftool -P -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= *.jpg
To delete the EXIF:ImageDescription of Aperture Projects, Aperture Libraries or photos in a folder with subfolders (i.e. if your folders are separated by dates) - (it’s all one line without a return, you need to paste the File Path from step D above over the “PASTEFilePathHere” and then copy the whole thing and paste it into the terminal; mind the spaces; if you include the return at the end it will run as soon as you paste it into the terminal.):
exiftool -P -r -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= PASTEFilePathHERE
(an example of final script for recursive folders): exiftool -P -r -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= /Users/userName/Desktop/EXIF-ProcessingFolder
please note that this script will change files in the file path pasted into the command, even if you are not currently in that directory from step D above.
To delete the EXIF:ImageDescription AND the entire XMP metadata fields (for files previously processed with Photoshop, which now have the Olympus Digital Camera in several XMP fields) of photos in a folder with subfolders (i.e. if your folders are separated by dates) - (it’s all one line without a return, you need to paste the File Path from step D above over the “PASTEFilePathHere” and then copy the whole thing and paste it into the terminal; mind the spaces; if you include the return at the end it will run as soon as you paste it into the terminal.):
exiftool -P -r -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= -XMP= PASTEFilePathHERE
(my limited explanation of the commands are -P saves the date-time of the original format; -r processes the sub-folders recursively; -m decreases the number of error messages; -overwriteoriginal_inplace copies the original file and pastes it onto the changes; -EXIF:ImageDescription removes the EXIF:ImageDescription metadata box; -XMP removes the entire XMP metadata file (I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of just the fields with Olympus Digital Camera written in them, and I don’t see any loss of information that I use, and as an added benefit, I suspect that it helps prevent incongruencies in reading the time & time zone between Aperture and PhotoShop).
After processing the files with the ExifTool, I then move the projects or folders of referenced masters back to where I intend to keep them permanently (so that I don’t have to relocate them in Aperture later on after reconnecting with them).
Import the project or upgrade the library in the new system with Aperture 3. If the Aperture Library is already connected to the referenced masters, do not to open it before you have removed the EXIF:ImageDescription from the masters, as it will start to change the caption information in Aperture, and then you will have to manually change the captions back in Aperture.
If the library is using referenced masters and these are in a new place from the last time the library was open, reconnect to the masters by going to Located Reference Files under the File menu, and navigate to where the masters are and reconnect all. Sometimes some photos will not reconnect, in which case you’ll have to re-import them. You will not need to reconnect the photos if you have already been using the Aperture Library and the photos are already connected, but it would be good to make sure they are all still connected.
Check to see that the problem is fixed - open some of the previously affected masters in Preview and you should see the correct Captions now. If you had already been using the Aperture Library and the caption still shows “Olympus Digital Camera”, check the master in Preview to make sure it’s fixed, and then change the caption in Aperture. Check your library for captions with “Olympus Digital Camera” (in the search box - Add Rule - IPTC - Caption includes...); if you have used Photoshop in the past to edit your photos and didn’t remove the XMP boxes, check them also (by searching in EXIF:Software - Adobe in the search box) for “Olympus Digital Camera” captions and check the time of the photos (they may be 1 or more hours off). Be sure to click on a photo to make sure it won’t “update” and change the caption again.
I hope this helps other people with the same problem. It took me ages to get it figured out and it is a very tedious and time consuming process. I wish Apple would consider how this could all be avoided. Please feel free to add suggestions or comments.

Loss of Captions only in Olympus Camera photos after migrating from Mac OS 10.5.11 and AP2 to Mac OS 10.6.4 and AP 3.03
I have had a problem where the captions written in Aperture 2 on a PowerMac G5 PPC running Mac 10.5.11 are no longer visible after migrating the photos to a new iMac running Mac OS 10.6.4 and AP 3.03. This occurs only in photos taken on Olympus Digital Cameras, no other brands are affected that I’ve seen (i.e. Nikon, Casio, Canon, Pentax). It occurs in both Preview and Aperture 3, replacing the previous Caption data with “OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA”. However, if the same photo is returned unchanged to the older Mac, the correct captions are still visible. Also, Graphic Convertor and CS2 are able to read the correct captions in the IPTC data on the new system. Brand new photos imported directly into AP3 in the new system do not seem to be affected, although I have not used it enough to be sure that it will not happen in the future.
I believe that this is a problem with a change in how the new Mac OS reads IPTC data. I think the new system reads data from the EXIF (and XMP) fields in preference to the IPTC information, and if there is any information in those other fields, it will not read the IPTC caption. For most camera brands this is not much of a problem, because they do not automatically place any caption information in these fields. However Olympus seems to desire to place it’s name everywhere in the metadata, and their standard metadata include writing “OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA” in the EXIF caption field (a very good reason never to use Olympus cameras in my opinion). If you ever have used Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (I have used fairly old versions only, this may have changed) to edit your photos in Aperture or previously in iPhoto and then migrated to Aperture, I noticed that the photos then have XMP metadata with “Olympic Digital Camera” written in many different fields, which also takes precedence over the IPTC caption in the Mac OS 10.6.x.
It is a very difficult problem, as once the AP2 library and referenced masters are brought over to the new system and upgraded to AP3, everything looks fine initially in the AP3 Library - even the captions are still there. However, pretty soon Aperture will start to realize that something has changed in the masters (even though nothing has really changed in the photo itself, just the way the system reads the IPTC metadata) and it will start to update the library, replacing your captions with “Olympus Digital Camera”. If you catch it early and try to stop the “updating” by using the “Write IPTC metadata to Masters” command, it will often not do anything, sometimes it will fix the problem for some photos and other times it will proceed to overwrite your previous captions with the Olympus caption - so don’t do that! I have tried all kinds of work arounds, and many of the more obvious options don’t help. I contacted Apple Support and Aperture, their response was that it was Olympus’ problem and a problem with the IPTC conventions. Olympus had no useful options either.
The best solution I have found so far is using ExifTool to remove the EXIF image description field, and the whole XMP box if the photo has been edited with Adobe products in the past. It’s time consuming process and a little intimidating for a terminal neophyte like me, but it’s easier than rewriting thousands of captions (and even if you do rewrite them in Aperture, Aperture will still change it back to “Olympus Digital Camera” once it decides that the master is somehow different than before). I will try to describe what has worked for me - some situations may be different. In particular, I suspect that writing the IPTC data to the masters upon exporting them for migrating to the new system makes this problem worse, as it causes Aperture 3 to realize that something has changed in the masters and make it update them; however often the masters without the IPTC will not be recognized for reconnecting. Consolidating the photos projects to be exported to the new system seems to help prevent problems within Aperture with the captions, but if you ever export the masters or use referenced masters, the problem will still be there until the EXIF caption is removed. I previously exported the masters (with the IPTC written them upon export in AP2) and then reconnected them in AP3, but this often seems to cause more problems with lost photos, time changes (mostly in the Adobe edited photos) and AP3 recognizing the master as “changed” and updating it, thereby losing the original captions.
Rule No. 1 - if at all possible, keep a copy of your original masters and Aperture 2 libraries as back ups (and it’s nice to be able to use them on your old system) - I’ve had to re-use them several times until I got things right. If your AP Libraries and masters are on a external HD, it may be best to make an exact clone of it (with the exact same name for the HD), so that you will not have to reconnect or relocate your masters.
You will probably want to see if you really have this problem before trying to fix it. Open the master taken with an Olympus camera that had a caption written to it in Aperture 2 in Preview and look at the caption information (command-I) under IPTC - if it says “Olympus Digital Camera” where you previously had something else, then it’s a problem. Under the TIFF (which is really from the EXIF data) box in Preview information, it will say the same thing under image description. With the same photo, if you import it into Aperture 3, it will also have “Olympus Digital Camera” as the IPTC caption. If it is already in Aperture 3 from a previous version, if you click on the photo for a full view, you may see the previous caption “update” to “Olympus Digital Camera”. Your actual master is okay (you can look at it in CS, Graphic Convertor, or an older Mac running 10.5. If you have never written anything in the IPTC caption, this problem is not visible, but you still have the EXIF Olympus caption waiting there to cause trouble in the future.
If you already have problems with changing captions on several photos in Aperture 3 Libraries, it is usually easier to just start over than to fix the photos one by one. Most fixes keep on reverting back until you get rid of the EXIF:ImageDesription box with “Olympus Digital Camera” in it. My process has been as follows:
Export the Aperture 2 Projects with consolidated masters to an external HD or your new computer.
2. Prior to opening an Aperture Library that you are migrating to MacOS 10.6 - Aperture 3, importing a project , or reconnecting to the masters from an imported Library or Project, use ExifTool to remove the EXIF image description in the masters. If you have used Photoshop or Adobe products which leave an XMP metadata field, it is probably better to remove this also at the same time.
To use ExifTool:
I will describe this in more detail for those of us (like myself) who know nothing about using terminal.
A: Download and install the free EXIF-tool. (Many, MANY thanks to Phil Harvey, I think that it’s thanks to people like him that the world progresses).
B: I found it helps to have just one folder where I run ExifTool on the same HD where I am planning to store my Aperture Libraries and-or referenced masters. Name it something like “EXIF-ProcessingFolder”, and then you can move the projects or the folders with your masters in and out of it without having to copy them, and you can always use the same script - which help prevent errors! Put the unopened projects or folders with the masters you want to remove the EXIF image description into this folder. Don’t forget to keep a back-up copy of your photos!
C: Open Terminal (under Utilities in Applications). You will see
“last login: xxxx on ttys000
Network name: ~username$” and an open box (which becomes solid grey when active in terminal)
Note that your mouse will not work in Terminal, you must use the keyboard and arrow keys to move around the text (copying and pasting does work).
D: First we will “change directory” to get to the place we want to work on:
-in the open box at the end of the last line in the terminal, type “ cd “ (space-cd-space, no quotation marks) - the space after cd is important - and then drag and drop the icon for the “EXIFProcessingFolder” that you made in the previous step on your HD to the open box after “ cd “. Before you hit return, copy the file path (it will look something like ” /Volumes/NameofYourHD\ Folder/ Subfolder\EXIF- ProcessingFolder”), and copy it into the PASTEFilePathHERE part of the command line below. (I keep several copies of the command line on a document to paste and copy from). THEN hit return, and terminal will tell you where it is at like this: “NetworkName:EXIF-ProcessingFolder UserName$”.
E: I like to check where I am at this point, so I type in “ls” (I remember it as “let’s see”) and hit the “return” key to see the contents of the folder where the terminal is at. It should return a list of the different projects, folders or files in the EXIF-ProcessingFolder. That’s good. (If it doesn’t do this, start over with the “ cd “ command to change directories until you’re in the right place).
F: Now copy the entire command line including the substituted “PASTEFilePathHere” from below and paste it into the open box in the terminal and hit return. It will start processing your photos. You can watch its progress if you want by looking at the Date Modified of the Subfolders (but not files). When it is all finished, there will be a message in the terminal stating how many files were processed, how many were changed and how many unchanged. It may take a while; often I will receive some error messages in the terminal while it is working, mostly about duplicate rotation information - I just ignore it.
G: When it is finished, type “exit” in terminal, it will reply with “logout [Process completed]”, and then you can quit Terminal. I have not found out the way to stop the process if I need to while it is running, so if I need to I quit terminal, and that stops the process.
Here are the command lines to use with ExifTool
(copied and modified from Casamagnolia-wSzxs8’s post)
To delete the EXIF:ImageDescription of photos in a folder without subfolders: (you do not have to paste the folder location with this command, but the terminal must be in the correct directory)
exiftool -P -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= *.jpg
To delete the EXIF:ImageDescription of Aperture Projects, Aperture Libraries or photos in a folder with subfolders (i.e. if your folders are separated by dates) - (it’s all one line without a return, you need to paste the File Path from step D above over the “PASTEFilePathHere” and then copy the whole thing and paste it into the terminal; mind the spaces; if you include the return at the end it will run as soon as you paste it into the terminal.):
exiftool -P -r -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= PASTEFilePathHERE
(an example of final script for recursive folders): exiftool -P -r -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= /Users/userName/Desktop/EXIF-ProcessingFolder
please note that this script will change files in the file path pasted into the command, even if you are not currently in that directory from step D above.
To delete the EXIF:ImageDescription AND the entire XMP metadata fields (for files previously processed with Photoshop, which now have the Olympus Digital Camera in several XMP fields) of photos in a folder with subfolders (i.e. if your folders are separated by dates) - (it’s all one line without a return, you need to paste the File Path from step D above over the “PASTEFilePathHere” and then copy the whole thing and paste it into the terminal; mind the spaces; if you include the return at the end it will run as soon as you paste it into the terminal.):
exiftool -P -r -overwriteoriginal_inplace -m -EXIF:ImageDescription= -XMP= PASTEFilePathHERE
(my limited explanation of the commands are -P saves the date-time of the original format; -r processes the sub-folders recursively; -m decreases the number of error messages; -overwriteoriginal_inplace copies the original file and pastes it onto the changes; -EXIF:ImageDescription removes the EXIF:ImageDescription metadata box; -XMP removes the entire XMP metadata file (I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of just the fields with Olympus Digital Camera written in them, and I don’t see any loss of information that I use, and as an added benefit, I suspect that it helps prevent incongruencies in reading the time & time zone between Aperture and PhotoShop).
After processing the files with the ExifTool, I then move the projects or folders of referenced masters back to where I intend to keep them permanently (so that I don’t have to relocate them in Aperture later on after reconnecting with them).
Import the project or upgrade the library in the new system with Aperture 3. If the Aperture Library is already connected to the referenced masters, do not to open it before you have removed the EXIF:ImageDescription from the masters, as it will start to change the caption information in Aperture, and then you will have to manually change the captions back in Aperture.
If the library is using referenced masters and these are in a new place from the last time the library was open, reconnect to the masters by going to Located Reference Files under the File menu, and navigate to where the masters are and reconnect all. Sometimes some photos will not reconnect, in which case you’ll have to re-import them. You will not need to reconnect the photos if you have already been using the Aperture Library and the photos are already connected, but it would be good to make sure they are all still connected.
Check to see that the problem is fixed - open some of the previously affected masters in Preview and you should see the correct Captions now. If you had already been using the Aperture Library and the caption still shows “Olympus Digital Camera”, check the master in Preview to make sure it’s fixed, and then change the caption in Aperture. Check your library for captions with “Olympus Digital Camera” (in the search box - Add Rule - IPTC - Caption includes...); if you have used Photoshop in the past to edit your photos and didn’t remove the XMP boxes, check them also (by searching in EXIF:Software - Adobe in the search box) for “Olympus Digital Camera” captions and check the time of the photos (they may be 1 or more hours off). Be sure to click on a photo to make sure it won’t “update” and change the caption again.
I hope this helps other people with the same problem. It took me ages to get it figured out and it is a very tedious and time consuming process. I wish Apple would consider how this could all be avoided. Please feel free to add suggestions or comments.

IPTC Captioning Help

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