Hi,
As in the article http://www.apertureexpert.com/tips/2012/5/8/dont-forget-to-write-iptc-me…, I want to keep my metadata in the picture files so I'm not dependant on one particular software package - I've learnt this the hard way after getting in a right pickle trying to archive stuff from Adobe Photo Elements. I've had Aperture sitting around for a couple of years but have only just got round to trying to actually use it.
So I'm trying things out on a copy of some jpg files with keywords added using ExifPro. When I import (referenced) into Aperture I can see the keywords in the Info pane. If I add a keyword in Aperture and then use Metadata > 'Write IPTC Metadata to Master' it doesn't seem to work. The original file on my disk has not been updated with the new keyword. No error message, it just doesn't happen.
However, if I Export a Version with metadata selected in the options, then ExifPro can see the new keywords. Same if I Export Original.
Confusingly Finder's Get Info can sometimes see see the metadata
I'm using an Aperture library in /Pictures and the actual jpg files are on an external hard disk. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Adrian,
I was hoping someone else would chime in on this one, possibly experiencing the same thing. Sorry for the delay.
Offhand I don’t know what’s happening. I’ve tried it out and am seeing the keywords if I open the JPG in Preview, and get info there. I’m not seeing it in the Finder’s Get info though; where do you see it there?
@PhotoJoseph
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Hi Joseph,
Thanks for the post and I also have to apologise for replying slowly. I’ve just been swamped by this thing called work that pays for beer and holidays!
Well I’ve learnt something, I didn’t know Preview had an Inspector that showed you file info. And a loupe! Why do they hide useful stuff like that?
Anyway, I still can’t get keywords into the original file. if I add keywords using ExifPro then I can see them in Finder Info, Preview info and Aperture. If I add a keyword using Aperture and use ‘Write IPTC Metadata to Original ….’ it does not update the original.
I’ve tried referenced photos on an external disk and photos in the default Pictures folder.
I’ve tried using a ‘copy’ import and it still doesn’t update the original. In all cases, Aperture shows me it has added a keyword to the existing ExifPro one but it doesn’t get back into the original file.
I wonder if writing a keyword with ExifPro does something to the file format that messes up Aperture? I’ll try a pristine file over the weekend.
I’ve seen similar behavior, but with JPGs exported from Aperture. The symptoms were: metadata in the exported JPGs was not seen in Preview, was screwed up in PS, and could be seen in Photomechanic and another viewer only app. Strangely, this only occurred with images from my Nikon D3 camera; JPGs from other cameras I could test with behaved ok. My conclusion is that Aperture screws up metadata in exported JPGs, but only for the D3, and only when viewed in Preview.
I realize this isn’t exactly your situation, but maybe my observations will help you figure out what is going on.
Some questions for you:
- What camera are you using?
- Are the JPGs you are testing with exported or are they original images from the camera?
- When you say “Aperture shows me it has added a keyword to the existing ExifPro one but it doesn’t get back into the original file” has the timestamp on the original file changed?
- A quick search shows ExifPro is a Windows application. Just curious why you are using this in conjunction with Mac applications? Seems complicated to me. Maybe the Windows/Mac thing is messing up the pointers or whatever in the JPGs. Not likely, but possible.
Hi Jim,
To answer your questions:-
- Camera is a Nikon D300
- They are originals from the camera but have been ‘touched’ by ExifPro
- The time-stamp has changed; Finder shows Created and Modified set to the time I did ‘Write Metadata…’ and Last opened is set to minute later when I opened it in Preview.
I’ve been using ExifPro for years since before I came over to Apple. When we go off on a trip I take a small Windows ‘slate’ computer to upload pics from the camera and do basic triage - delete the random pics of sky, ground and fingers etc. Its not really a photo editor. But it is really good for viewing, sorting out timestamps when you get the wrong time zone, showing you all the metadata in a pic and adding keywords or tags. Its small code size, cost effective and it just works!
I have to run Windows on the Mac to support some legacy Windows programmes and one or two others that there just isn’t a Mac equivalent. So far I haven’t found any Mac software that seems to work properly with metadata, and that includes Aperture!
The ‘slate’ computer is getting a bit long in the tooth, so I started to work out how I could do the same things with a Mac Book Air or maybe an iPad. Hence I started trying out Aperture, found it doesn’t seem to cope and I’ve had to create this post.
I forgot to mention in my prior post that the metadata is actually present in the images, but just cannot be read by Preview. If you modify the metadata using a different application then all is well. Not sure I would trust Preview as a valid source to confirm what is going on.
The D300 may well be in the same boat as my D3 and could be one of the cameras where Aperture seems to screw up the metadata. Can you test your process with JPGs from another camera?
Also„ as you have indicated, the first thing to try is to eliminate ExifPro from the process. There may be some faulty interaction going on.
As an aside, Photomechanic seems to handle IPTC metadata better than some other Mac applications. But there’s a lot about it that I don’t like and have abandoned it. For example– the price, the ugly/unreadable interface in the new version, lack of any editing capabilities except cropping, and the convoluted set of preferences you have to get exactly right to be sure it’s handling your metadata properly. Aperture does what I need, and with the import improvements in the latest versions it is a complete package. The IPTC anomaly I see with Aperture, the D3 and Preview is a bug that will hopefully get fixed soon.
!!! GOOD NEWS !!!
The root cause for Aperture not writing metadata back to TIFFs is that those TIFFs have embedded thumbnails. Using “tiffutil” and sharing my results with Ed Hamrick, author of VueScan, provided the final analysis and conclusion.
I ran this command on a TIFF file for which Aperture failed to write metadata.
# tiffutil -info WPR-0001.tif
The output showed the file had two “Directory” sections. I ran the same command on a TIFF file into which Aperture successfully wrote metadata. That TIFF had one “Directory” section. I shared this information with VueScan author Ed Hamrick. His speedy response indicated TIFF files generated by VueScan with two “Directory” sections have embedded thumbnails.
I extracted the original image from the failed TIFF into a new TIFF.
# tiffutil -extract 0 WPR-0001.tif -out WPR-0001a.tif
I confirmed with tiffutil that this new file only has one “Directory” section. I imported the new file into Aperture. Aperture wrote the metadata into this new TIFF successfully.
I confirmed that all my TIFF files where Aperture failed to write the metadata contained two “Directory” sections, meaning embedded thumbnails. All those TIFFs where Aperture successfully wrote the metadata had one “Directory” section, meaning no embedded thumb.
Ed suggests disabling “Prefs | Embed TIFF Thumbnails” in VueScan to prevent this issue.
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Several months since this thread has been inactive. I am having the same problem described here: trying to write keywords to files, but nothing happens. Tried both RAW and JPEG. I am using Aperture 3.4 with a referenced library. Anybody knows of a workaround? Thanks!