Author Topic: Caption conundrum  (Read 3234 times)

Offline foyle3

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Caption conundrum
« on: April 05, 2012, 01:49:55 AM »
This is happening with one client newspaper and they are baffled too.  I shoot showjumping.  I import Raw files - order them as "capture time" add IPTC fields to the whole batch and then give each "round/competitor" and ID and notes : eg "Debra jones Quicksilver 4+0 1.10m".  Then I pick and process likely gooduns.  A final folder is then renamed and proper captions applied "DEbra Jones clears the 1.10m upright poles at..." before being dished out to various newspapers.  As well as the final embedded captions I copy the proper captions within the emails.  One newspaper yesterday managed to publish a whole page with captions reading the equivalent of "Debra jones Quicksilver 4+0 1.10m".  They are also puzzled and say this appears to happen if they save my input as a batch (I have no idea how their central system works).  None of the editorial staff can see anything but the correct captions but when the paper goes to production there must be remnants of my original notes somewhere in the files which their system is using:  by luck this batch had no rude comments!  Has anyone on here experienced similar!  It makes both the Newspaper and myself seem very amateur : they may be but...  enough words already

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Caption conundrum
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2012, 06:25:13 AM »
Can you share one sample image with us that the Newspaper folks experienced this problem?  I'd like to look inside the file to see what metadata is inside it.  If you can't share it publicly, contact me privately by sending me a personal message.

-Kirk

Offline foyle3

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Re: Caption conundrum
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2012, 03:59:04 AM »



Cheers DS

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Caption conundrum
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2012, 11:25:54 AM »
For the head-on shot (WK13547DS CCCS.JPG) does the newspaper only see "Grace McGarry,  Ferro   0+0..Sportsman 90cm"?
For the side-on shot (WK13716DS CCCS.JPG) does the newspaper only see "Carol Henry,  Simply Jessie  12f..1.00m  Competition"?

If so then the newspaper's software is only using the EXIF Description tag and is completely ignoring the IPTC and XMP data your images contain.  Photoshop put a copy of your earlier IPTC Caption field in the EXIF Description tag.  The two are out of sync.  PM never edits/reads/updates the EXIF Description tag.

So either the newspaper's software needs to get with the late 1990s and read the IPTC Caption/Description field, or you'll need to change your workflow to only process RAW to JPEG after you have completed your captioning.

HTH,

-Kirk

Offline foyle3

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Re: Caption conundrum
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2012, 03:53:53 PM »
Brilliant  - seems this problem occurs in only one department - m y local paper is on the same system and never had a problem anything like this.  I'll make them aware of this and may put my notes in a different field,  many thanks  DS

Offline stevephotos1

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Re: Caption conundrum
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2012, 01:25:21 PM »
I am having the same issue with caption info showing up in the EXIF. I use only Photo Mechanic to write draft captions for images and upload them into an online archive system. When the captions are finalized and then later downloaded from the archive, the archive system overwrites any existing IPTC caption info with the most recent version. The archive system does not touch EXIF data.
However, when I view the image file properties in Windows or OSX, or upload into Fickr or Wordpress, the original caption that was written in Photo Mechanic appears in the description field, not the most recent caption that was written by the archive system into the IPTC data. If I view in PhotoMechanic or Photoshop the most recent IPTC caption appears.
It seems platforms that are looking at EXIF data are seeing the original Photo Mechanic caption. Platforms that read IPTC see the updated caption that was written by my archive system.
For some reason I am not able to attach a sample photo here, but would be happy to email.

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Caption conundrum
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2012, 01:45:48 PM »
Steve,

No need to post twice if your post is basically the same.

I posted a response on the first thread you posted on.

-Kirk