Weird name in 'photographer' field

[stlphotog]

I have a strange problem that I cannot seem to find an answer to. I have been notified by the paper I freelance for that the name "snir golan" is appearing in the 'photographer' field of the images I am submitting. After a little bit of research, I concluded that it only happens on one cf card, which was purchased new a year ago. Do cf cards have their own IPTC data? How does one access it? I don't know how long this has been happening as it has just been brought to my attention. I use Photo Mechanic 4.5.3.2 on a Mac OS 10.4.11.

When I submit to agencies, I fill out the entire IPTC stationary and have them saved according to their specifications. When I submit to the paper, though, I usually just fill in the caption field and don't touch the rest. This is where 'snir golan' is sneaking in. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it? I know I could just erase the name from the field every time, but I feel like there has to be better way?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sarah

[Kirk Baker]

Sarah,

I have a strange problem that I cannot seem to find an answer to. I have been notified by the paper I freelance for that the name "snir golan" is appearing in the 'photographer' field of the images I am submitting. After a little bit of research, I concluded that it only happens on one cf card, which was purchased new a year ago. Do cf cards have their own IPTC data? How does one access it? I don't know how long this has been happening as it has just been brought to my attention. I use Photo Mechanic 4.5.3.2 on a Mac OS 10.4.11.

When I submit to agencies, I fill out the entire IPTC stationary and have them saved according to their specifications. When I submit to the paper, though, I usually just fill in the caption field and don't touch the rest. This is where 'snir golan' is sneaking in. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it? I know I could just erase the name from the field every time, but I feel like there has to be better way?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Are you applying an IPTC Stationery Pad during the Upload?  If so, check to see if the IPTC Stationery Pad is set to add 'snir golan' into the Photographer field.

HTH,

-Kirk

[stlphotog]

Hi Kirk,
Thanks for the quick response. I don't think I am ingesting the data, especially since it only happens with one card. Unless I'm submitting to agencies, I don't even bother with the IPTC stationary. Even then, I have several different XMPs saved and I just open up that particular agency. When I open the IPTC stationary right now, it shows the info for the last agency I submitted to. I've never even heard of a 'snir golan' and I have no idea how that name is appearing in my photos.

[Kirk Baker]

Sarah,

Thanks for the quick response. I don't think I am ingesting the data, especially since it only happens with one card. Unless I'm submitting to agencies, I don't even bother with the IPTC stationary. Even then, I have several different XMPs saved and I just open up that particular agency. When I open the IPTC stationary right now, it shows the info for the last agency I submitted to. I've never even heard of a 'snir golan' and I have no idea how that name is appearing in my photos.

How do you send your photos to your agency?

-Kirk

[stlphotog]

I used ftp (fetch) for everything, paper and agencies. The agencies all have their own specific IPTC stationary instructions, so I've never encountered the weird name problem. The paper only requires the caption field though. I thought all the other fields were blank, but apparently not.

[Kirk Baker]

I used ftp (fetch) for everything, paper and agencies. The agencies all have their own specific IPTC stationary instructions, so I've never encountered the weird name problem. The paper only requires the caption field though. I thought all the other fields were blank, but apparently not.

At some point in your workflow the erroneous data is being added.  We need to figure out where it happens.  Can you detail the flow of images from the capture of the photo through to the uploading of the image?

-Kirk

[stlphotog]

Well, after I take the card out of the camera, I use a Lexar firewire reader to upload the photos. I always ingest straight into Photo Mechanic. After the ingest, if submitting to agencies, I will open the correct XMP file and fill it out. Then I will select all the photos and apply the stationary pad. If I am submitting to the newspaper, I will tag the photos I want to edit, open and tone them in Photoshop, and save them to the desktop. Then I will go back into Photo Mechanic, open the desktop, click on the info button on the 1st photo, write the caption, select 'copy,' arrow to the next photo and paste, changing any names or any other information. I do this with every photo, then I ftp them straight off the desktop using fetch. That's basically my workflow. Unless I'm using an XMP file, I never touch any field other than the caption box.

[Kirk Baker]

Well, after I take the card out of the camera, I use a Lexar firewire reader to upload the photos. I always ingest straight into Photo Mechanic. After the ingest, if submitting to agencies, I will open the correct XMP file and fill it out. Then I will select all the photos and apply the stationary pad. If I am submitting to the newspaper, I will tag the photos I want to edit, open and tone them in Photoshop, and save them to the desktop. Then I will go back into Photo Mechanic, open the desktop, click on the info button on the 1st photo, write the caption, select 'copy,' arrow to the next photo and paste, changing any names or any other information. I do this with every photo, then I ftp them straight off the desktop using fetch. That's basically my workflow. Unless I'm using an XMP file, I never touch any field other than the caption box.

OK, so if you were to do the above on some new images, would they get the erroneous data in them right now?  If so, then we should be able to systematically find out at what step this data is introduced.  All it should take is inspecting the images at each step in the above workflow, making note of the appearance of the data.

-Kirk

[stlphotog]

Hi Kirk,
Thanks for all your help. I had a job today for the newspaper so I paid extra attention to the 'photographers' field every step of the way. The name did not appear. When I first found out about this and saw it for myself, I deleted the name from the field. Perhaps that got rid of it forever? It's still a mystery where it came from as I definitely did not type it myself, but it seems to be gone now.
Thanks,
Sarah