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XMP/IPTC Metadata should supercede empty iPhoto metadata
I'm running PictureSync on a Mac, and I use iPhoto to do image adjustments, but I think the annotation system in iPhoto stinks, and I'd like to do all of my metadata management using PictureSync, since it seems to be very good at producing metadata that's actually useful for other services, and which will still be portable and accessible 10 years from now.
When I open photos from iPhoto using PictureSync though, even if I've already used PictureSync to annotate them, I don't see any annotations, unless I look the IPTC/XMP fields, in which case I see my old annotations. I assumed that on re-uploading to Flickr it would be the embedded annotations (and not the blank-imported-from-iPhoto annotations) that would get imported, but I was wrong - all my old annotations on Flickr got clobbered. Doh!
So it seems that the only way to make this work is to do the drag-and-drop from iPhoto into PictureSync. Is that right?
Also, for some reason, it appears that Flickr is occasionally picking up on the "last modified" date, and not the capture date, for the date of the image. Seems weird, as the only place I can see that date in the metadata is in the spotlight section - all the IPTC/XMP stuff has the right dates. And it only happens in set view, in my photostream it's correct. Maybe this is a Flickr problem...
When I open photos from iPhoto using PictureSync though, even if I've already used PictureSync to annotate them, I don't see any annotations, unless I look the IPTC/XMP fields, in which case I see my old annotations. I assumed that on re-uploading to Flickr it would be the embedded annotations (and not the blank-imported-from-iPhoto annotations) that would get imported, but I was wrong - all my old annotations on Flickr got clobbered. Doh!
So it seems that the only way to make this work is to do the drag-and-drop from iPhoto into PictureSync. Is that right?
Also, for some reason, it appears that Flickr is occasionally picking up on the "last modified" date, and not the capture date, for the date of the image. Seems weird, as the only place I can see that date in the metadata is in the spotlight section - all the IPTC/XMP stuff has the right dates. And it only happens in set view, in my photostream it's correct. Maybe this is a Flickr problem...
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Inappropriate?This is the correct behaviour, at least for iPhoto supported fields. It is however an undesirable behaviour for other fields, the issue is simply that PictureSync's import is carried out from a single source at a time.
I'll add the ability to read this data too, with a further option to use/ignore empty fields. There's probably two good ways to do this, I'd be interested to hear what you think would work better:
1. preference for to invoke reading embedded data on import, but import will become slower
2. a 'read/merge annotations' file menu option, that will read them in only when required
If comprehensive metadata is of value to you, iPhoto is not really an ideal solution, even with a third-party IPTC/XMP editor to supplement. I am considering separating the annotation editor into a separate application that could simplify use though. -
Inappropriate?I think separating the broadcast synchronization and metadata annotation functionality is probably the better thing to do in the long term... Actually I didn't even realize that PictureSync did the uploading thing until after I'd paid for the license - I was really just desperate for an annotation tool that didn't cost $300, or require me to do a bunch of scripting. If the functionality is separate, then you could pretty easily just allow the user to list the namespace URLs defining the XMP fields which they feel are important, maybe by default including just the EXIF and IPTC compatible ones, and then you don't have to worry about picking and choosing which of the myriad to include.
In the short run, being able to just specify in a preference which metadata source I want to treat as authoritative would be really nice (e.g. PictureSync DB, the embedded data, or the import source data). "merge" sounds more annoying... but then I'm really planning on only using PictureSync for my metadata annotations - if someone else were using multiple tools, they'd probably appreciate it.
I know iPhoto isn't ideal, but I already have it, and it does plenty of image manipulation for my personal purposes. Really it would awfully nice if Apple would just incorporate this functionality (though... maybe it wouldn't be nice for you :) but they seem to have something against it, since they actually *removed* the ability to read and write embedded metadata from iPhoto a while ago. Grr. What do you think the best solution is on a Mac? Lightroom?
Any idea what the weird occasional date captured errors might be attributable to?
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Inappropriate?If you don't use iPhoto at all for annotations you don't actually need a 'merge' function. Just use drag and drop from iPhoto to open your selection in PictureSync (and turn off the 'open at launch' preference). As you're then telling PictureSync to open files instead of iPhoto pictures, IPTC/XMP will be where metadata is read from, instead of the iPhoto Library.
I think this is your solution. (See this page for a little more background.)
Namespace 'URLs' are just IDs (URIs), telling an application about a namespace wouldn't do anything, the app still needs to know what that 'namespace' comprises and how it should be implemented. (Ideally namespaces would always lead to a machine-readable interpretation...)
The average [iPhoto] user isn't really interested in extensive annotations, indeed this is why Picasa doesn't have separate title and caption fields, the distinction between the two is moot to most. For metadata that's useful it should be transparent or simple enough to do manually (e.g. events based on date overlap, locations from GPS, face recognition).
For those like yourself who do want the manual control and ability to finely classify, you'd be expected to shell out for Aperture instead of iPhoto. It's hard to recommend from amongst equivalent apps, as each is quite different—personally I use Expression Media (but only because it's the most like a database, although it abridges original EXIF upon edit...).
The date issue I'm not familiar with, Flickr only gets dates from EXIF, or upload date if none. If it's after you sort a set using the Organizer on Flickr, and you're sure the EXIF/XMP data matches up, then it can only be a Flickr issue. Have you checked the EXIF info page for those images on Flickr? It could be that it couldn't be read by Flickr, in which case another app (before upload) is causing the issues (i.e. iPhoto upon editing?). If you have "preserve annotations" selected PictureSync won't touch the EXIF (beyond copying it as necessary from the original file to the file to be uploaded).
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Inappropriate?Yes, the drag-and-drop is working well for me. It just took me a few hours to figure out... ultimately the thing that tipped me off was your warning in the documentation NOT to use drag-and-drop from iPhoto, lest PictureSync be unable to get any annotations except the embedded ones (which of course was what I wanted!)
I'm amazed that namespace 'URLs' aren't supposed to have some kind of machine readable directory of information associated with the namespace, like an XRDS service discovery document or something... *sigh* Maybe someday.
I agree the date thing appears to be Flickr.
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