iPhoto and metadata

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iPhoto and metadata

I started using iPhoto 09 yesterday, and have some questions for you. When I import my pictures I use Adobe Lightroom to convert to DNG, add captions, keywords and ratings. I (want to) use iPhoto for viewing, organizing and ordering books and stuff. Unfortunately there are a few shortcomings to this approach.

* iLife doesn't import any metadata for my raw images. Under the JPEGs I see captions and keywords, but under the DNGs it just says "raw". It also has problems importing from some of my JPEGs

* The captions from LR are written to the IPTC urgency field. This is not standardized (I think), but applications like Picasa and Digikam understand it on import. iPhoto does not.

* Faces and places are not written into the metadata of the images, is it? Does iPhoto write back any of the other metadata (captions, keywords)?

Anyone have any comments/solutions to any of the things I have mentioned?

I have considered fixing this myself, by writing a script that pulls the metadata I want from my JPGs/DNGs and puts it ... somewhere in the iPhoto database. Do you think this is possible?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 15, 2009 1:51 AM

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Answer 1

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Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Feb 15, 2009 2:08 AM in response to Ayabara

I don’t understand why you want to do half the job in Lightroom and the other half in iPhoto. It’s a bit like saying I want to drive half way to the store in my car and half in my wife’s. Why not just use one car? 😉

The only things you mention that Lightroom cannot do is order iPhoto books. The only thing that iPhoto cannot do on your list is convert to dng (but you can do that with the free Adobe DNG Converterand even automate it with an Automator app from Here

For my money, Lightroom is the more powerful application. I would do all the work there and then use the Lightroom to iPhoto plugin here to move selected pics to iPhoto for making books etc.

There are - and have been - issues between Lightroom and iPhoto. Lightroom does not use metadata in standard ways. iPhoto Does not write metadata to a file until you export it using the File -> Export command.

writing a script that pulls the metadata I want from my JPGs/DNGs and puts it ... somewhere in the iPhoto database. Do you think this is possible?

It’s not. There’s no way to “inject” data to the Library databases.

Regards

TD

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Answer 2

Ayabara Author

Level 1

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Feb 15, 2009 2:45 AM in response to Yer_Man

Thanks for the fast reply.

To continue on your car-comparison. If I learn a lot about driving using that one car, I don't want to forget what I learned if I get a new car in the future 🙂 At the moment I really like iPhoto, but if I at some point want to use another application, I want all the metainformation I've added to follow me to the new application, and that means it has to be either embedded in the images or really easy to get out from the database. I feel much more in control of my metadata when using Lightroom.

Especially hierarchical keywords are important to me. The are easy to use and manage, and reorganizing them works like a dream. After writing captions, keywords and rating to the images, I can write back the changes to the images and it wouldn't matter if I lost the database, since the complete info is in the images. Haven't heard about Lightroom not using metadata in standard ways, but that sounds scary. Do you know more about this? In my experience, most applications understand the metadata written by Lightroom.

Like I said I want to use iPhoto after the organizing because it's great as a viewer and I may want to order stuff, but also because iPhoto talks well to other applications I want to use, like iDVD. I also like Events, Places and Faces so much that I want to play with those even if the information is lost if I move to another application.

I'm guess I'm gonna have to think a bit about what approach to choose. Right now I keep the DNGs in my library, but maybe I should export to JPG and just keep the DNGs for backup on some offline media. This would take up less space and make my collection understandable by most applications. I could also let iPhoto copy the photos and live with two copies of my library. If/when moving to another application, the LR-copy would then be the portable one.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Feb 15, 2009 3:14 AM in response to Ayabara

Well my tip is to use Lightroom as the more powerful app and to move images to iPhoto using the plug-in I mentioned above.

Migrating from iPhoto is not difficult. Select the pic(s) in the iPhoto Window and use the File -> Export command. In the dialogue you have the option to write the keywords, titles, descriptions and locations to the Files on export. Net result, folders of tagged images.

If you want hierarchial keywords in iPhoto check out Keyword Manager - it’s not updated for 09 just yet, but it does the same job.

Haven't heard about Lightroom not using metadata in standard ways,

For instance

The captions from LR are written to the IPTC urgency field. This is not standardized (I think)

Regards

TD

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Answer 4

Ayabara Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 15, 2009 7:22 AM in response to Yer_Man

Ok. I looked at the plugin, and I can's say that it does anything different than what importing from iPhoto will, provided that I have written back the metadata.

I tried Keyword Manager and it's ok. Don't think I will need it though, since I plan on tagging in LR.

Thanks for the feedback 🙂

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