I was wondering, since Aperture 3 doesn't have that much control over what EXIF / IPTC data to include when exporting, what does everybody do when handing over photos to clients?
I suppose it would be nice to have your name and contact information embedded in the file, just for future reference etc. But why does the client need to know how many stars you gave the photos, what keywords you used, what shutter speed, focal length etc? All these things are included too…
Either that (above), or absolutely nothing.
What do you all do?
FWIW, I give them all of the EXIF data. Most of my clients don’t know what it is or how to get it and wouldn’t want to if they could.
The client may not need to know but, equally, why would you need to hide it. If you do, I would lay odds that there is a tool that would remove any fields you feel are sensitive.
Jai
Klaus,
For IPTC data (which ratings and keywords are a part of), you could make a new version of the file for the client and simply remove that information before exporting.
As far as EXIF, that’s just always on if you have metadata enabled at all (which you need to get your copyright, for example, in there).
As Jaimie said, there are probably EXIF editors out there you can use on the file after export. But from Aperture, there’s no way to define what is or isn’t included.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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The best I could find was an application that had to be run from Terminal, to remove EXIF data, but it seemed complicated - but in the end, what’s most important to me is NOT to have keywords and star ratings included in the meta data, as clients doesn’t need to know what I tagged the photo or how many stars I gave it :)
There’s no easy way to remove that from new versions, is there? Only one-by-one?
Klaus,
Sure, you can batch remove anything. Just create your new versions, (put them in an Album to keep them easy to identify, or label them, or find some way to make them easily identifiable as your “client” versions), then select all of them and go to menu Metadata > Batch Change. From there you can choose an existing preset, or even make your own new one that includes the specific data you want to clear out (including Ratings), and select “replace” and enable it and don’t put anything in the fields… you’ll see that it shows “Clear Values” [screenshot].
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
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Harry,
Probably because import dates are fixed and known; image dates can be incorrect if your camera was set wrong, or changed if you alter it later. I think this way Aperture can avoid having to move the files around inside the package.
If you import as referenced, as I do, then you can import in any structure you like, including yyyy / mm / dd based on shot date.
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Before sending files off I double check using Smallimage - which is a compression (size reduction app). I don’t resize with it, but it can strip any EXIF / IPTC you may have overlooked while exporting from Aperture.
As far as editing EXIF data, ExifTool is really the best game out there. It can get cumbersome if you are not comfortable with the terminal.
The main EXIF data I work with is for images taken with a Manual focus lens (no chips = no data to camera to record Lens type, Aperture or Focal length). QuickExif assists with this by adding an applescript droplet.
I did a writeup of my workflow (allowing me to change EXIF data for manual lenses and see the changes in Aperture) here:
http://photolifetoys.blogspot.com/2012/08/manual-lens-data-exif-to-apert…
David,
That’s a great writeup. Would you like to put the first couple of paragraphs (an excerpt) here on the User Tips page? I don’t mind if readers have to click through to your site to read the rest. This is great info to share with the ApertureExpert audience!
-Joseph
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I made the mistake of entering the name of a mosque I was visiting in Istanbul in my Nikon’s ‘user comment’ field. I made the presumption that this info would be added to the metadata only for the next picture taken. Unfortunately it added this user comment info to all pictures taken onwards.
So a simple Batch Change or Lift & Stamp won’t work for my situation, exporting everything without any metadata and then reimporting the altered pictures won’t be my idea of a fix, and looking for a third party solution will probably solve it, but that is some serious undertaking.
In the words of Jeremy Clarckson, how hard can it be?
Harry,
This is a field that’d in the camera? So it’s embedded as EXIF (which you can’t edit in Aperture) and not IPTC (which you can)?
If that’s correct, look at this article I wrote “Adding EXIF Data to Scans or PhotoCD Files” where I talk about an app called ExifChanger. You might be able to alter the exif field using that utility, then just have Aperture update the metadata by choosing menu Metadata > Update from Original.
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Fantastic tip! Thanks much Joseph. Unfortunately it won’t help me as I wanted to change the ‘User comment’ field (I entered something incorrectly on my Nikon and it looks like it’s embedded for eternity) but can’t edit that specific field. Most fields can be edited though, so the software is still valuable. See screendumb over at http://i.imgur.com/wn6J1.png
Still, great app for editing EXIF data.
Thanks much.
People, these tips can only come from people like Joseph as he seems to be fully ‘emerged’ into photography and Aperture that makes him more knowledgable on the subject than Google websearch will ever be.
Thanks Harry, I appreciate that.
Unfortunate point about that particular field though. I wonder why THAT field can’t be edited? Hmm
What about Nikon’s own software? Shouldn’t that allow it? One would hope…
-Joseph
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It is indeed pretty strange one can’t edit their self created exif metadata. I tried your tip on using their (NX2) software but to no avail:
“Of metadata embedded in a image, XMP/IPTC information can be edited and saved to the image.”
So no exif. Found this CLI:
ExifTool by Phil Harvey
owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
which is a great tool. Now I just need to figure out how to edit all of my 886 screwed up images which are in different projects and the CLI only shows the yyyy-mm-dd directories of the images inside the .aplibrary package.
Which leads me to a different question: why are files stored on import date directory structure and not by date taken? I know one shouldn’t be fiddeling inside the .aplibrary package but still, by import date? Coming back from a holiday with several days of picture taking it all ends up in one single (Finder.app) dir…Whassup wit dat Apple?
Joseph! No problem! Done! By the way - nice editor (squarespace?)
Also found this writeup using GraphicConverter (version 7) to do almost the same, but 1 by 1. http://blog.hairydalek.com/changing-unknown-camera-models-in-aperture
Thanks David, finally got to it to clean up and prep to post. Yeah, this is Squarespace 5. Pretty sweet system!
-Joseph
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