Captioning a group of images is simple using the IPTC Stationery Pad. The Stationery Pad can be applied to single images or to a selection of images making it perfect for adding information to entire sets of images at one time.
To use the Stationery Pad in this way, make a selection of images in the Contact Sheet and then open the IPTC Stationery Pad under Image / IPTC Stationery Pad on the main menubar, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘-I.
Type your data into the various fields, and make sure the checkbox to the left of each field you wish to apply is checked. If unchecked, that field will not be applied.
If you have a set of data that you use regularly, like a list of photographers, cities, or states, you can set up a custom dropdown list for them in the IPTC Stationery Pad. Next to each field is a dropdown list arrow which will open an Edit option when first clicked. Click on Edit to bring up a word list dialog where you can enter any number of items and add them to the list.
This menu allows you to select from a list rather than type in the same words each time. One other benefit from this approach is that all the spellings will be the same as well as the case. Even slight misspellings will throw off a search so using the dropdown lists is a good way to ensure consistency.
Click on Edit to bring up the Edit IPTC List dialog where you can type in new entries and click Return/Enter to add them to the list. Note that there is a drop down list at the top to allow direct access to all the Stationery Pad field data lists.
It is good practice to set up as much of this as you can in advance, and most importantly once you have done this export the data set and back it up.
If you have whole sets of data that you use on a regular basis, you can also save the entire Stationery Pad to be loaded later. Use the Snapshot button to save the current data for later use.
Normally the IPTC data is added to files by replacing the existing data but this may not always be desirable. You can append data to Keywords, Caption and Caption Writers fields by checking the Plus (+) sign next to the field. This will then add the data to the end rather than replacing what is already there.
Hint: It is a good idea to add a space at the beginning of appended text so that the last and first text characters do not butt against one another.
Holding down the Modifier key causes the Clear button to change to an Options button. Click this to set options for which data fields are cleared, and which are kept unchanged when you use the Clear button.
This dialog complements the capabilities of the IPTC Stationery Pad by adding a thumbnail view to the selected image and the ability to step through a selection of images without having to return to the Contact Sheet view.
Most of this dialog operates much like the normal IPTC Stationery Pad with the difference being that it applies to only one image at a time. All fields can include Variables and there is a Snapshot button to save commonly used data sets.
In the top right of the dialog under the thumbnail are six buttons:
Left Arrow: Move to previous image, without making changes.
Right Arrow: Move to next image without making changes.
Save and Left Arrow: Apply IPTC changes and move to previous image.
Save and Right Arrow: Apply IPTC changes and move to next image.
Copy: Copies the currently displayed IPTC data to the clipboard.
Paste: Pastes any IPTC data from the clipboard to the current image.
Below the control arrows is a Time and Date settings box to allow the current file to have its date and time reset.
Note: No changes will be made to a file unless the OK button is pressed or either of the Save arrows are used.
The Modifier key adds functionality to the Clear, Apply Stationery, and OK buttons.
Options: Changes which fields are Cleared.
Copy to Stationery: Copies whatever data is set in this dialog to the IPTC Stationary
Pad.
Eval: Click this button to see how any Variables are resolved.
Hold down the Modifier and Ctrl key and the Apply Stationery button changes to Apply to Selected. If you have a selection active in the Contact Sheet window then this will apply the current metadata to those images, much like the IPTC Stationery
Pad does. All non-empty fields will be applied.
Keywords play an important part in any archiving setup and Photo Mechanic adds some extra functionality to this field in both IPTC Stationery Pad and IPTC Info.
Clicking on the dropdown arrow on the Edit Keywords field and clicking on Edit Keywords brings up the IPTC Keywords dialog where you can set up a master list of keywords and select the ones you want to use. By using the Snapshot button you can set up sets of keywords related to different subjects or jobs.
After setting up the keywords list you can select them from the dropdown list next to the Keywords field in the IPTC Stationery Pad and IPTC Info display.
Notice the Sorted checkbox and the additional Snapshot button on the left side. When unchecked, the Sorted checkbox allows you to keep the order of the keywords in the same order that they appeared in the keywords field from the IPTC dialog. This might be useful if you want all the keywords in an easy to read alphabetical order, or if you use some words very frequently you might want to have them appear at the top of the list.
The additional Snapshot button saves the current keywords as a snapshot.
Keywords Panel
Another way to keyword an image or a set of images is by using the Keywords Panel. You can access this panel by choosing the ‘Keywords Panel...’ command on the Image menu.
This panel operates on selected photos and can be used interactively with the current Contact Sheet. Select some photos and then use the Keywords Panel to apply keywords to the selected photos.
Multiple sets of keywords may be saved and loaded from the Snapshot button. If you want to make a new subset of a list of keywords, you can Command-click the individual keywords to select them, then use the ‘Snaphshot from selected’ button to create a new set.
The ‘Load from Master’ button loads the current set of master keywords (used above in the Keywords Dialog on it’s right hand column) replacing the current set of keywords.
The ‘Save to Master’ button saves the current set of keywords over the master keywords list as used above in the Keywords Dialog on it’s right hand column.
The ‘Add’, ‘Delete’, and ‘Change’ buttons work just like they do in the Keywords Dialog.
The ‘Applying:’ text field may be edited directly to change keywords or quickly add in a keyword that you don’t want to add to your keyword list. Just add keywords separated by a comma or a semi-colon (depending on your IPTC/XMP Preferences.)
Then to apply the set of keywords listed in the ‘Applying:’ text field, click on the ‘Apply to selected photos’ button. The keywords will be applied according to the popup menu just above the button. The choices in that popup menu are ‘When applying, append keywords’ which only adds keywords, and ‘When applying, replace keywords’ which deletes any current keywords each selected photo has before adding the keywords.
Beyond the basic functionality of a simple linear keyword list is the concept of controlled vocabulary and a hierarchy of keywords. There are two different Structured Keyword tools, one is a floating panel which can remain open and the other is accessed through the IPTC/Info Dialogs. Both have similar functionality, the slight differences being how the keywords are finally applied to images.
The main Structured Keywords Panel is accessed on the menu bar through Image / Structured Keywords Panel.
Photo Mechanic has a basic vocabulary which is intended as a starting point and also to illustrate the concept of nested keywords. Each keyword can be a parent, sibling, or child word, forming a hierarchy of words from broad categories like "Animals", to more detailed child words like "Birds" and on to even more detailed words like "48 Spotted Pardalot".
Animals and Plants would be sibling words and would appear alphabetically in the same panel. Each column to the right lists children of a highlighted parent word. The grey triangle to the right of a word indicates that it has Child words in the next column.
Grey words denote Categories, normal type words are Keywords and bold words are Synonyms of the currently highlighted keyword.
Keywords can be added to files either singly, or as the whole path which includes all the parent words. The preview field displays what the path will be; click on Add Keyword to add the last word in the list to the Collection panel or on Add Path to add the whole string of words. If you wish to use a path as a single keyword entity, use the Separator option by checking the ‘Use this separator between keywords in path:’ checkbox. If you’re working with an application like Photoshop Lightroom then make sure your separator is just the single ‘|’ character. The default separator has a space on either side of the ‘|’ character which provides for much better readability but the additional spaces causes Photoshop Lightroom to have issues when parsing the individual keywords. If you change your mind on the separator you want to use, you can change it here for any photos that are yet to be keyworded and for any photos that had already been keyworded, you can use the Find and Replace panel to find the old separator and replace it with the new one.
There is a search function for keywords, type in the word (or sub-string) and click Find. If there are more than one result the Next and Previous buttons are activated.
To save time when using large lists of searched for keywords there is an option to present the results in a list rather than the Next/Previous method. Hold down the Modifier key and the Find button will change to Options. Click the Options button to select how many results should be displayed in one list dialog.
Apply to: Adds the words to either the Keywords field or the Caption field of the IPTC metadata.
Append : Adds new keywords to any already in the field. Note: if this box is unchecked
Photo Mechanic will replace any existing keywords.
Double Click : There are four options for when you double click on a Keyword.
Applies Path : Applies the whole keyword path directly to selected images.
Applies Keyword : Applies the keyword directly to selected images.
Adds Path to Collection : Adds the path to the collection panel above.
Adds Keyword to Collection : Adds the keyword to the collection panel above.
Reverse paths : Causes all keywords in the path to be applied in reverse order, from the most specific term to the least specific term.
Synonyms : Options to exclude synonyms, to add synonyms only at the end of the path or all along the path.
Add Path : Adds the path of the selected keyword to the Collection panel.
Add Keyword : Adds the selected keyword to the Collection panel.
Synonyms: These are different words with identical or similar meanings. It is useful to include these words in the keyword list because you can never be certain whether a searcher might type in for example, beast or beasts. Searches are literal in the sense that a search for "beast" will not turn up "beasts" unless both words are present in the keyword list.
In this way many different groups of keywords can be assembled into a Collection of keywords which can then be applied en masse to selected images using the Apply buttons in the bottom right hand corner.
This is a very powerful tool and there are many ways to use it to add keywords to your images. The exact method used will depend on your own workflow and how much detail you need from your keywords.
The other structured keywords tool, above, is accessed through the IPTC/Info dialogs by clicking the arrow next to the keywords field. The main difference iant create your own controlled vocabularies they can be created from scratch by right-clicking in the columns and selecting Create Child or Create Sibling etc. You can Import text files using the Load and Merge buttons, and edited lists can be saved using the Save button. Saving and sharing lists is a good idea when multiple users are adding keywords so that all words are consistent across users and spelling is the same.
Save allows you to save the current database to a file of your choosing. You don’t need to use Save unless you want to export the database to another system or share it with a friend. PM always saves the database internally for you as you make changes to it.
Load allows you to completely replace the current database with the file you’re loading.
Merge allows you pull in only the items in the new database that don’t already exist in the current database. This is useful for people who update their database on their machines but subscribe to a standard database (like the Controlled Vocabulary database) and want to get the latest version but don’t want to lose their own additions.
Vocabulary File Format: It must be a text file encoded in UTF-8 which means it is fully Unicode compatible and supports any language. There are plenty of free text editors for both Mac OS X and Windows that can read and write UTF-8. The layout of the file is simply a tab-delimited set of words with special wrapper chas that the keyword Collection is applied to the keywords field of the IPTC dialog when ‘Apply’ is clicked, thus the ‘Apply to’ dropdown and the three lower Apply buttons become redundant and are not included in the dialog. All other functions are identical.
If you wracters
that determine the type of item the word is. Simple items (keyword items) have no wrapper character at all. Category items (items used for organizational purposes only and are not part of the hierarchical path) are wrapped in ‘[’ and ‘]’. Synonym items (items that are synonymous with their sibling item) are wrapped in ‘{’ and ‘}’. The easiest way to see this in action is to Save out the built-in structured keywords to a new file and then open it up in a text editor and see for yourself.
Commercial lists can be purchased from sources like David Riecks’ Controlled Vocabulary website : www.controlledvocabulary.com
You can also manage the keywords from within the Structured Keywords interface. Just right-click on an existing term and the following contextual menu will appear:
The Rename item will allow you to rename the text of an item. By using Create Child Item you can add a new item that will have the current item as its parent. This new item should be a more specific term than the current item. Use Create Synonym to create a child item that is synonymous with the parent item. Use Create Sibling Item to create an item that is at the same level as the current item. Use Set type to Keyword/Synonym/Category to change the type of the current item. Use Delete to delete the current item and any children underneath it.
Speeding up Captioning
Captioning photos is a very worthwhile and even essential task for making your photos more valuable. But it can be time consuming. Good use of the IPTC Stationery Pad to create captions that have common information is a way to speed up this process. Photo Mechanic offers two other features that can help you speed up your captioning. The first feature is called Code Replacement and the second feature is called Autocomplete.
Code Replacement is a feature which speeds up captioning of often-used terms or names like those used in sports photography, but can be used as a method of shorthand for any type of photography.
To use Code Replacement, you must prepare a UTF-8 text file in tab-separated format. You can use any text editor to generate the text file. The format of the text file is simple. It is comprised of two or more ‘columns’, the first being the ‘Code’ and the second through last being the ‘Replacements’. These ‘columns’ are separated by a ‘tab’ character. Ideally, you want your codes to be as short as possible while being completely unique.
Here is a simple example Code Replacement text file used for Basketball (Detroit Dunkers and Chattanooga Choo-Choos):
CC8 Dain Bramage
CC17 Rick Perkins
CC43 Brian Calloway
CC13 Dennis George
CC11 Darrin Green
CC2 Aaron Barnum
...
DD41 Stanislav Zarubezhanin
DD43 Paul Kroyd
DD24 Ken Pierce
DD44 Brian Socoletto
DD55 Wally Flannenbaum
DD13 Victor Zenfliende
...
Some of the player’s names are difficult to spell correctly, even if you are familiar with them. Code Replacement makes this problem a thing of the past. All you have to do is get the spelling right once: during the creation of the Code Replacement text file. Once you have created your text file, you need to tell Photo Mechanic to use it for Code Replacement. Choose ‘Set Code replacements...’ from the Edit menu.
This is where you can define which files contain Code replacement data - and there can be more than one. Where multiple codes exist, the most recently loaded replacement will take preference.
Choose your delimiter character
to suit your needs.
Once your text files are loaded, you can use Code Replacement to speed up your captioning.
Continuing our basketball example, lets say you shoot a game where the Chattanooga Choo-Choos play the Detroit Dunkers. Later after Ingesting your images you begin to individually caption the keepers and want to identify the players in each of the photos. Example: you have a picture with Dain Bramage (CC8) breaking past Stanislav Zarubezhanin (DD41) and you can visibly see their jersey numbers in the thumbnail preview of the IPTC Info dialog. You just type in your codes for each player, surrounded by the ‘\’ character which tells Photo Mechanic to look up the codes and enter their replacements. Photo Mechanic instantly looks up the replacement text and enters it in place of the \code\ and automatically places the cursor at the end of the replacement so that you can continue typing in the rest of your text.
Code Replacement can help make your captions more accurate and can save time as well: just choose a system of mnemonics to help you remember your codes and the pictures themselves will help you derive the codes. In our example we chose CC as an abbreviation for the ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choos’ and DD as an abbreviation for the ‘Detroit Dunkers’. When captioning, we can see that the two players are on the Choo-Choos and the Dunkers, so we can derive the codes from their jersey numbers (8 and 41), giving us CC8 and DD41.
Advanced Code Replacement
Code Replacement also supports multiple replacements for a code. The additional replacements just follow the first replacement with a tab character between each additional replacement. Here is an example:
In order to use the alternate replacements you need to add the field selector which is the pound sign ‘#’ followed by the number of the replacement you want to select. For instance with the above example one would use \code#2\ to select the second replacement which would result in ‘replacement #2’ being entered in the text. While you can enter #1 to get the first replacement, it is not necessary. Code Replacement will work with either method.
Comments are also supported and must either start at the beginning of a line or be the last column on a line. Comments start with two forward slashes like so:
Code Replacement with Variables
Code Replacement can be paired with the use of variables to add indirection to the look up of a replacement for a code. For instance if you wanted to use the variable {monthname} but you wanted it to be translated to a different language from English, say Spanish, you could create a Code Replacement file that looks like this:
So if you now use \{monthname}\ and the current month in English would be July then the Spanish replacement would become Julio.
Another example of using variables in Code Replacement would be to make sequences of often-used variables entered more quickly. For instance if you often used the set of variables {day} {monthname} {year4} in your captions you could create an entry in your Code Replacement file that looks like this:
Then instead of typing in all of those variables or entering the date manually, you would just enter: \mydate\ and your photo’s date information would be replaced.
Code Replacement can be used any time you have commonly entered terms that you tire of entering each time. Code Replacement works in every text field of the IPTC Info and IPTC Stationery dialogs.
Another method for speeding up captioning is “Autocomplete” which is a real-time word completion feature that can use lists of words in a text file that you create, words from the IPTC field lists, or even {variables}. Autocomplete is off by default, but you can enable it with the “Set Autocomplete...” menu item on the “Settings” submenu found in the “Edit” menu. This command brings up the following dialog.
You can enable and disable using words from each of the sources by checking or un-checking the checkbox to the left of each of the sources. You can enable or disable the feature entirely by setting the “Enable Autocomplete” checkbox appropriately. The last checkbox, titled “When editing IPTC fields, only allow completions from the field’s own list” when set makes it so that none of the other sources will be considered even if they are enabled. Instead only the list of words or phrases in the popup menu to the right of the IPTC field that you’re editing will be looked at for completing words you’re typing.
When creating your own text file for Autocomplete, make sure that you enter one word (or phrase) per line and that you save out the text file in the UTF-8 encoding if any of the letters you’ve entered have accents on them or are written in a non-roman script such as Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji).
Using Autocomplete
Autocomplete is easy to use. Just type like you normally do and when Autocomplete senses that you’re entering the first few letters of one of its words or phrases, it finds the first alphabetical match and completes the word, highlighting the remaining letters to the right of your cursor. Here is an image of a user entering the two letters ‘Po’ into the IPTC Stationery Pad’s City field and Autocomplete finding the City named Portland in its list and completing it for the user:
If the match shown isn’t specific enough, just type more of the letters until you either type the entire word or Autocomplete finishes the word that you are trying to enter. Here the user has continued to type a few more letters: ‘rts’ and Autocomplete has finished with ‘Portsmouth’:
In this example, the user was trying to enter ‘Portsmouth’ so now all they have to do is type the Tab key to move onto the next field. If instead they had wanted to enter another word following the completed word then they would type the ‘right arrow’ key to move the cursor to after the selected text, type a space and begin their next word.
Autocomplete works best with single words but works with phrases as well, but Autocomplete considers only the current word being typed it starts matching again so it is less effective with phrases. For instance if the user had the following items in their Autocomplete text file:
San Antonio
San Diego
Then if they were to enter ‘Sa into a text field, Autocomplete would finish with ‘n Antonio’ which if they were wanting San Diego instead, they would expect that if they were to continue typing ‘n D’ that Autocomplete would finish with ‘iego’, but because Autocomplete considers only the last word typed so far, it would start looking up words that begin with a ‘D’. This is a limitation of the current implementation of Autocomplete and may be improved in a future release of Photo Mechanic.
The IPTC Stationery Pad, Code Replacement, and Autocomplete are features that strive to make captioning many photos as quick and efficient as possible.
Find and Replace is a powerful way to make broad changes to the IPTC data in your images. Photo Mechanic can search through the metadata in the currently opened Contact Sheet looking for a defined string. For each one it finds, Photo Mechanic can replace that string with another one.
The Find and Replace panel is under the Edit menu or use ⌘-Shift-F to open it.
You can also choose between All Photos in the current Contact Sheet view or just the currently Selected Photos.
Click the All button to check all the IPTC Field boxes together or None to uncheck them all.
Click on Replace to start the Find and Replace operation.
On all of the most commonly used dialog boxes you will see a small Lightning symbol. This is the Snapshot button and it is used to make a quick copy of the dialog’s current settings. Click on the button and you will be prompted for a Save name and it is best to use something meaningful here.
In future, when you click this button, not only will you see a Save option but also a list of all the previous Snapshots relevant to that particular dialog box. Selecting a named item will load the Snapshot, restoring the settings.
The Save As dialog is a great place to use this; you could set up two different Snapshots,
one for large web images and one for small thumbnail web images. Run the dialog twice over a selection using each Snapshot, and you have very quickly generated
a set of images for the Web. This is very similar to the Export option, but like many things in Photo Mechanic there are different ways to do many things and it is up to the user to determine which best suits his or her needs.
Snapshots can be managed by Modifier-clicking on the named entry in the snapshot list. This brings up the Finder opened to the folder where the Snapshots are saved.
In the Finder you can copy, rename, and delete the snapshot files if you choose. When you return to Photo Mechanic, the snapshot menu will be updated.