Starting with Photo Mechanic, some questions

[Technology Department]

Hello! I'm an native german speaker an will have a try to write with you in english.

For a photographer I'm preparing the use of Photo Mechanic first time. Although I searched and read the forums, in some points there are still questions.

Installing, setup, making IPTC (Stationary) Templates, making prepared actions via snapshots (move/copy), FTP-Uploading looks good at the moment. Especially in the IPTC dialogs I still have questions.

- Previously, my colleague BreezeBrowser has used. There it was possible to select the IPTC Subject Codes, Code and Intellectual Genre Scene from a catalog. Selection on a human-readable list, save the code (numeric) in the fields. Loaded from file-topicset.iptc *. Xml loaded IPTC / NewsCodes page. (see attached screenshot).

How can I have such a function in Photomechanics? With "edit ITPC list" we can save only non-human-readable numeric codes, if I understand correct.

- Same question for three letter category code

- What is the correct syntax in the fields Licensing / Image Creators / Copyright Owner -> Name, Identifier? Someone have an example entry?

- Photo Mechanic seems to be not able to read german äöüß written by BreezeBrowser Pro, one of the few programs never someone had problems to read them in Fotostation, Photoshop and so on. (Update: Seems to be the äöüß can't be read from XMP. Change setting to read ITPC first, then XMP show characters.)

I would be happy if someone could help.

Best regards from cold germany!



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[Kirk Baker]

- Previously, my colleague BreezeBrowser has used. There it was possible to select the IPTC Subject Codes, Code and Intellectual Genre Scene from a catalog. Selection on a human-readable list, save the code (numeric) in the fields. Loaded from file-topicset.iptc *. Xml loaded IPTC / NewsCodes page. (see attached screenshot).

How can I have such a function in Photomechanics? With "edit ITPC list" we can save only non-human-readable numeric codes, if I understand correct.

There is no such feature in Photo Mechanic that maps textual values to numeric values.  I see how they would be useful for entering them, but without the reverse mapping of the numeric values back to the textual values (like what I see in your screenshots) the usefulness of such a feature is diminished.

You can only edit the values you actually want to have entered for you when you choose from the menu.

- Same question for three letter category code

Photo Mechanic does not limit you to three characters in any of the supplemental category fields, but once again there is no symbolic mapping for the popup menus on each field.  You edit the list to be the text you want entered when you choose the item.

- What is the correct syntax in the fields Licensing / Image Creators / Copyright Owner -> Name, Identifier? Someone have an example entry?

I don't know.  The specification on the fields was vague enough that we made our interface look like Photoshop's interface for the same fields.

- Photo Mechanic seems to be not able to read german äöüß written by BreezeBrowser Pro, one of the few programs never someone had problems to read them in Fotostation, Photoshop and so on. (Update: Seems to be the äöüß can't be read from XMP. Change setting to read ITPC first, then XMP show characters.)

If the photos you're working with only contain IPTC, then you'll have to choose the encoding that best matches the encoding of the computer that generated the IPTC data.  You can change the encoding and reinterpret the text in the IPTC Info dialog via the encoding popup menu.  Once you find an encoding that works well then make it the default encoding in the IPTC/XMP preferences in the Preferences dialog.  If you work with XMP only, the encoding settings make no difference to how the text is interpreted because XMP is always Unicode encoded.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

- What is the correct syntax in the fields Licensing / Image Creators / Copyright Owner -> Name, Identifier? Someone have an example entry?

To my knowledge you decide yourself what to put there (they are simple text fields)

- Photo Mechanic seems to be not able to read german äöüß written by BreezeBrowser Pro, one of the few programs never someone had problems to read them in Fotostation, Photoshop and so on. (Update: Seems to be the äöüß can't be read from XMP. Change setting to read ITPC first, then XMP show characters.)

Actually as XMP is Unicode, it is capable of showing all characters so this is not your problem. More likely is that BreezeBrowser has not written the characters properly, or has not written them at all. If you post a sample picture here, we can have a look to see what's wrong.

[Technology Department]

- Previously, my colleague BreezeBrowser has used. There it was possible to select the IPTC Subject Codes, Code and Intellectual Genre Scene from a catalog. Selection on a human-readable list, save the code (numeric) in the fields. Loaded from file-topicset.iptc *. Xml loaded IPTC / NewsCodes page. (see attached screenshot).

How can I have such a function in Photomechanics? With "edit ITPC list" we can save only non-human-readable numeric codes, if I understand correct.

There is no such feature in Photo Mechanic that maps textual values to numeric values.  I see how they would be useful for entering them, but without the reverse mapping of the numeric values back to the textual values (like what I see in your screenshots) the usefulness of such a feature is diminished.

You can only edit the values you actually want to have entered for you when you choose from the menu.

Yes, I've been thinking it. The entire code can not but remember, in order to map them in the head. Perhaps this would be a good and very helpful feature for a new version. The XML files one can download http://www.iptc.org/site/NewsCodes/View_NewsCodes/#descrncd in many languages.

- Same question for three letter category code

Photo Mechanic does not limit you to three characters in any of the supplemental category fields, but once again there is no symbolic mapping for the popup menus on each field.  You edit the list to be the text you want entered when you choose the item.

Yes, I've seen some various code tables in the last hour. All agencies using three letter code like SPO=Sports in IPTC Category, but variable codes in supplemental category fields. How photograpers could handle this? 50 pages of paper with code tables for the agencies and editorships in the photo bag? :-) Here the same catalog function would be very useful, I can see that.

- Photo Mechanic seems to be not able to read german äöüß written by BreezeBrowser Pro, one of the few programs never someone had problems to read them in Fotostation, Photoshop and so on. (Update: Seems to be the äöüß can't be read from XMP. Change setting to read ITPC first, then XMP show characters.)

If the photos you're working with only contain IPTC, then you'll have to choose the encoding that best matches the encoding of the computer that generated the IPTC data.  You can change the encoding and reinterpret the text in the IPTC Info dialog via the encoding popup menu.  Once you find an encoding that works well then make it the default encoding in the IPTC/XMP preferences in the Preferences dialog.  If you work with XMP only, the encoding settings make no difference to how the text is interpreted because XMP is always Unicode encoded.

-Kirk

I'm still looking exactly where the fault lies hidden. Previous pictures should contain XMP + IPTC-NAA because some editorships using modern software, using XMP, others software needs software is filling IPTC-NAA too. On configuration of the new software I've copied some pictures from archieves for testing purposes. With some of them there was problems, with others not.  Seeking further... :-)

Best regards

[primer]

- What is the correct syntax in the fields Licensing / Image Creators / Copyright Owner -> Name, Identifier? Someone have an example entry?

I don't know.  The specification on the fields was vague enough that we made our interface look like Photoshop's interface for the same fields.
-Kirk

To my knowledge you decide yourself what to put there (they are simple text fields)

LOL. I'm sorry but that's just so wrong. CameraBits *really* needs to be more careful and more descriptive with their tags (I suggest listing the actual EXIF/IPTC/XMP tag names next to each plain-text title in the stationery pad, so there is an exact reference/translation between what PhotoMechanic calls a field and what the actual field title/tag-name is), and not just throw tags into the app 1. because they happen to exist in Photoshop's interface, and 2. without properly and *thoroughly* explaining to PhotoMechanic users what each and every tag is for.

The Image Creators and Copyright Owners fields are *not* simple text fields and you don't "decide for yourself" what to put there. The description of the fields is *not* vague. It takes just 5 minutes with ExifTool to find out exactly what those fields are for. Here's how:

Write some easily identifiable sample text into those fields using PhotoMechanic's stationery pad. I simply copied the field headings from the stationery pad itself to make the results easier to correlate. Then run the following command using ExifTool:

exiftool -a -G1 -s mytestfile.tif

That command will output a full list of all populated EXIF/IPTC/XMP fields in the file. Among those fields, you will see the following tags:

[XMP-plus]      ImageCreatorName                : BLAH BLAH IMAGE CREATOR NAME SAMPLE TEXT
[XMP-plus]      ImageCreatorID                  : BLAH BLAH IMAGE CREATORS IDENTIFIER SAMPLE TEXT
[XMP-plus]      CopyrightOwnerName              : BLAH BLAH COPYRIGHT OWNERS NAME SAMPLE TEXT
[XMP-plus]      CopyrightOwnerID                : BLAH BLAH COPYRIGHT OWNERS IDENTIFIER SAMPLE TEXT

So that immediately tells us that those are XMP-PLUS fields, and the fact that they're listed as "ID" should make you pause for a moment and think, "Hmmm, that's not a field for just any info.. it wants an ID"..

Now go to google and search: XMP-plus CopyrightOwnerName
and the very first result is the following: http://ns.useplus.org/LDF/ldf-XMPSpecification

Scroll down that page until you find that tag and you see:

Code: [Select]

<plus:CopyrightOwnerName>
Acme Photography Studio
</plus:CopyrightOwnerName>
and

Code: [Select]

<plus:CopyrightOwnerID>
http://plus-id.org/AAA-123
</plus:CopyrightOwnerID>
and

Code: [Select]

<plus:ImageCreator>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li rdf:parseType="Resource">
<plus:ImageCreatorID>
http://plus-id.org/AAA-123
</plus:ImageCreatorID>
<plus:ImageCreatorName>
Acme Photography Studio
</plus:ImageCreatorName>
</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</plus:ImageCreator>
That's further evidence that this field is not just for whatever you want. It's a structured field for URL ID data for entities with a membership in the Plus Registry. Do you have a membership in the Plus Registry? No? Then you *do not* use that field.

Sorry if this comes across as abrasive, but it took literally 5 minutes to track down the exact use of that field. Meanwhile, your users are putting whatever they feel like putting in there, because it says "copyright owner" and, hey, I want to protect my copyright so of course I'm going to fill in that field.

Camera Bits really needs to look at these things. You're adding fields in your stationery pad and not explaining in exact terms what they are (that goes for a lot of the tags in the stationery pad, not just this one), so naturally people are going to populate that field with all sorts of copyright and company name information when it's supposed to be highly structured information used *only* by entities with Plus Registry membership.

[Kirk Baker]

- What is the correct syntax in the fields Licensing / Image Creators / Copyright Owner -> Name, Identifier? Someone have an example entry?

I don't know.  The specification on the fields was vague enough that we made our interface look like Photoshop's interface for the same fields.

To my knowledge you decide yourself what to put there (they are simple text fields)

CameraBits *really* needs to be more careful and more descriptive with their tags (I suggest listing the actual EXIF/IPTC/XMP tag names next to each plain-text title in the stationery pad, so there is an exact reference/translation between what PhotoMechanic calls a field and what the actual field title/tag-name is), and not just throw tags into the app 1. because they happen to exist in Photoshop's interface, and 2. without properly and *thoroughly* explaining to PhotoMechanic users what each and every tag is for.

We'll consider changing the default labels in an update, but for now you can customize the labels as you see fit.

Sorry if this comes across as abrasive, but it took literally 5 minutes to track down the exact use of that field. Meanwhile, your users are putting whatever they feel like putting in there, because it says "copyright owner" and, hey, I want to protect my copyright so of course I'm going to fill in that field.

Camera Bits really needs to look at these things. You're adding fields in your stationery pad and not explaining in exact terms what they are (that goes for a lot of the tags in the stationery pad, not just this one), so naturally people are going to populate that field with all sorts of copyright and company name information when it's supposed to be highly structured information used *only* by entities with Plus Registry membership.

I agree with you, but even if we do change the labels and explain somewhere in the manual what the fields are for, users will still use them as they see fit, just like they do with other fields that they re-purpose for their own needs.

Thank you for the additional information.

-Kirk

[Luiz Muzzi]

Hi,
I would like PM to continue the way it is now...I want to put whatever I like in those fields...
I am the copyright owner of the pictures I take, although I do not belong to such and such...
Just my two cents.
Regards,

-Luiz Muzzi