PM and Adobe Bridge

[Lisa H]

Hi, I am hoping to incorporate PM into my regular workflow to seeped it up.  Currently I use Image Capture to ingest, Bridge CS3 for rating,etc images & adding metadata info and ACR to process the images. 

I am confused on what info. can transfer back and forth between PM & Bridge... for instance it appears that the metadata (I think that is the right term?) carries over between the two, but that everything else; star & color ratings that I have done on Bridge, cropping and image adjustments that I do in ACR does not show up in PM.
Also the reverse, any ratings, cropping etc that I do in PM does not show up in Bridge.

Before I even get to how I can fix PM settings to better suite my needs, I need to know what to expect... what does & does not transfer between the two?

Hope that my question makes sense....thanks!
Lisa



iMac G5
OS 10.4.2.
Memory: 1.5 GB
Photo Mechanic 4.5.3.1

[Kirk Baker]

Lisa,

Hi, I am hoping to incorporate PM into my regular workflow to seeped it up.  Currently I use Image Capture to ingest, Bridge CS3 for rating,etc images & adding metadata info and ACR to process the images. 

I am confused on what info. can transfer back and forth between PM & Bridge... for instance it appears that the metadata (I think that is the right term?) carries over between the two, but that everything else; star & color ratings that I have done on Bridge, cropping and image adjustments that I do in ACR does not show up in PM.
Also the reverse, any ratings, cropping etc that I do in PM does not show up in Bridge.

Before I even get to how I can fix PM settings to better suite my needs, I need to know what to expect... what does & does not transfer between the two?

IPTC, IPTC4XMP, Color Labels, and 5-star ratings can all transfer between the two applications.  You need to make PM create XMP sidecar files for your RAW files, and embed IPTC4XMP on non-RAW files.  This can be done in the IPTC/XMP tab of the Preferences dialog.  To get the Labels to transfer, you need to set PM to use the same Labels as you use in Bridge.  This can be done on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.  To get the 5-star ratings, you need to set PM to "Add tag, color class, and rating to IPTC/XMP:" for all file types.  This can be done on the Files tab of the Preferences dialog.

Also to save time in your workflow, I would recommend that you use Photo Mechanic's Ingest feature to download your images instead of Image Capture.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Lisa H]

Great, I am going to look into all of the above.

Thank you.

P.S.  How does ingesting via Pm save time, are you referring to the fact that I can apply info to the files as they download, or to something else?

[Kirk Baker]

Great, I am going to look into all of the above.

Thank you.

P.S.  How does ingesting via Pm save time, are you referring to the fact that I can apply info to the files as they download, or to something else?

Yes, and you can start working with your images immediately: tagging, rating, cropping, uploading via FTP, etc.

-Kirk

[Lisa H]

Okay I got the color & star ratings to show up the same in both!

But any image adjustments that I make in ACR cannot be seen in PM, is that correct?

Thank you.

[Kirk Baker]

Okay I got the color & star ratings to show up the same in both!

But any image adjustments that I make in ACR cannot be seen in PM, is that correct?

Thank you.

Yes, that is true since ACR does not update the embedded JPEG preview with the adjusted image.  Using DNG may be a solution since ACR should be able to update the DNG's embedded preview.

-Kirk