I Lose Color Classification After Edit

[TheDrunkard]

Ok, so I have a contact sheet of "RAW+JPEG" images open, I select my favorites and give them a color to remind me that I like them (in this case purple). Of the RAW+JPEG combo I'll only take the RAW image into Photoshop for editing, after the editing the RAW image I save it as a JPEG with the same filename and overwrite the JPEG associated with that RAW+JPEG combo.

The problem...

Once I return to the PM contact sheet the color (purple) that I tagged the RAW+JPEG combo with has been removed. I still like it just as much as I did before the edit and I would love for it to continue to stay tagged with the color purple since hunting it back down and re-tagging it with a color takes a lot of time on those BIG contact sheets.

What can I do about this?

Thanks

MJ

[Kirk Baker]

Ok, so I have a contact sheet of "RAW+JPEG" images open, I select my favorites and give them a color to remind me that I like them (in this case purple). Of the RAW+JPEG combo I'll only take the RAW image into Photoshop for editing, after the editing the RAW image I save it as a JPEG with the same filename and overwrite the JPEG associated with that RAW+JPEG combo.

The problem...

Once I return to the PM contact sheet the color (purple) that I tagged the RAW+JPEG combo with has been removed. I still like it just as much as I did before the edit and I would love for it to continue to stay tagged with the color purple since hunting it back down and re-tagging it with a color takes a lot of time on those BIG contact sheets.

What can I do about this?

First you need to turn on a preference to allow your tag/color class to be preserved inside IPTC/XMP data.  Open up the Preferences dialog.  Click on the "Files" tab.  Near the bottom is a popup menu titled "Save tag and color class in IPTC/XMP:".  Click on it and choose either "For all photos" or "For RAW photos only".  I use For all photos since I want my re-saved JPEGs to retain their settings, though you may want to do this on RAW photos only since you are replacing your JPEGs.  Next click on the "IPTC/XMP" tab and make sure that you are allowing your photos to be captioned.  Find the title "For TIFF-based RAW photos:" and look at the two checkboxes under it.  By checking either (or both) checkboxes you enable Photo Mechanic to insert IPTC or XMP data into your RAW files.  If you really don't want to insert data into your RAW files, you can keep both checkboxes unchecked, but you need to change the popup menu that appears below them to read "Always create and/or update XMP sidecar file with IPTC4XMP".  This will limit the functionality to working only with XMP sidecar savvy applications like Photoshop.

Then you need to get this data updated in your "old" files.  Click OK on the Preferences dialog.  You should be back in your Contact Sheet.  We need to get your edits reapplied into your IPTC data.  Choose "Select Tagged" from the Edit menu.  Then tag the selection (we're just setting the tag to its current value) by choosing "Tag Photos" from the Image menu.  Next we need to update the untagged photos.  Choose "Select Others" from the Edit menu.  Untag the photos by choosing "Untag Photos" from the Image menu.

Now all of your files have their color class and tag settings saved inside their IPTC/XMP data.  If you open one of your RAW files in ACR and then save it as a JPEG, Photoshop will preserve the IPTC and/or XMP data in the saved JPEG.

Now that you have this functionality enabled, normal editing of color class and or tagging will take care of preserving your image preferences across edits.  You won't need to do the tag/untag work anymore.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Ian Brook]

Kirk

I've followed the above instructions, yet still loose all IPTC info + color classification once I've edited a NEF in Capture NX. Help please!

Ian

[Kirk Baker]

Ian,

I've followed the above instructions, yet still loose all IPTC info + color classification once I've edited a NEF in Capture NX. Help please!

From what I understand, Capture NX has a bug where it omits IPTC data when rewriting a NEF file, unless you change the IPTC data (any minor change will do) in Capture NX before you save.

Many users have reported this problem to Nikon.  Hopefully their next update will fix this problem.

-Kirk

[Ian Brook]

Kirk

Seems to make no diffence if one makes a change to IPTC before saving a NEF in NX; all IPTC/color classification info is lost.

Ian

[Kirk Baker]

Ian,

Seems to make no diffence if one makes a change to IPTC before saving a NEF in NX; all IPTC/color classification info is lost.

Do you have the preference in Photo Mechanic set to store our settings in the IPTC data?  See my earlier post for instructions on how to do this.

The basic thing is that if Capture NX does not preserve all IPTC data when rewriting the NEF file, then there is nothing that Photo Mechanic can do about it.  Otherwise I suggest you use an XMP sidecar workflow which will definitely solve the issue unless Capture NX goes out of its way to delete XMP sidecar files...

HTH,

-Kirk

[Ian Brook]

Kirk

Yes, I followed your helpful instructions on setting up PM.

Do you have a link to anywhere that explains what XMP sidecars are?

Ian

[Kirk Baker]

Ian,

Yes, I followed your helpful instructions on setting up PM.

Do you have a link to anywhere that explains what XMP sidecars are?

XMP sidecar files are text files in the Adobe XMP (XML) format.  They have the same base name as the image file that they go along with.  XMP is a method for storing metadata for a file.  In TIFF, JPEG, and PSD, the XMP data is embedded directly into the image file.  On RAW files, the XMP sidecar file is used alongside the image file.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Ian Brook]

Thanks Kirk, but it's RAW that I'm editing in NX and loosing the IPTC data including color classifications set in PM. I have PM set, as per the attached doc. But if I shoot and edit RAW, if that uses a sidecar, why do I loose all my IPTC date when editing in NX?

Ian



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[Kirk Baker]

Ian,

Thanks Kirk, but it's RAW that I'm editing in NX and loosing the IPTC data including color classifications set in PM. I have PM set, as per the attached doc. But if I shoot and edit RAW, if that uses a sidecar, why do I loose all my IPTC date when editing in NX?

Photo Mechanic only uses XMP sidecar files when you instruct it to do so from the IPTC/XMP tab of the Preferences dialog.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Ian Brook]

Hi Kirk

Sorry about my lack of savvy on these topics. I thought that NX kept RAW data intact and that all changes made to the data in the programme were kept in a sidecar file. Is that the sidecar file in which PM can save IPTC/XMP info or would PM creats it's own?

Thanks

Ian

[Kirk Baker]

Ian,

Sorry about my lack of savvy on these topics. I thought that NX kept RAW data intact and that all changes made to the data in the programme were kept in a sidecar file. Is that the sidecar file in which PM can save IPTC/XMP info or would PM creats it's own?

I am not a Capture NX user so I cannot speak specifically about what it does with XMP sidecar files, but to my knowledge, Capture NX ignores them and works directly with the NEF file, rewriting it as needed.  If you have Photo Mechanic set to not embed IPTC and XMP on TIFF-based RAW files (NEF included) then the XMP popup menu will automatically change to the proper setting.  Then PM will create and update XMP sidecar files when you caption your NEF files.

You'll want to setup your IPTC/XMP settings to look like this:



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[Ian Brook]

Kirk

Capture NX v1.1, released today, has fixed the NX, IPTC bug, so now, IPTC info and color classification, applied in PM, is saved when a NEF is saved in NX.

Ian