Help! Need Exif editor

There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?

Bob

On 2013-03-27 19:07:58 -0700, Robert Coe said:

There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
Photoshop.

Why via photoshop?
I believe you use DPP and I see that with the copy I got with my G11
EXIF data is viewable by selecting "info" from the "File" menu.
My name appears in this data as I had entered it in my camera when
making the initial set up. All that identification information appears
in Photoshop. So as a quick fix without tearing your hair out check the
set up on your camera to see if owner or shooter info can be added to
your camera. That should show up in PS identifying you as the
photographer.

But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?

Bob

At the very worst download a CS6 or Photoshop Elements 30 day trial and
just use it to add to and/or edit the data.

....and if you are truly desperate I believe there are a few of us PS
users who would be more than willing to add whatever info you want to
the metadata.
by giving you something such as this:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/Fil...enshot_185.jpg


--
Regards,

Savageduck

Robert Coe wrote:
There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?

Exiftool instructions written in 1990? What a hoot.

What you've missed is that it is a Perl package that
runs on virtually every OS out there.

It is perhaps the most sophisticated and modern Exif
tool available.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

In article , Robert Coe
wrote:

There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?

exiftool is definitely the standard, but it's a command line utility.

there are gui wrappers for exiftool, some of which are listed on the
exiftool site.

you can also add metadata with numerous photo editing apps. it doesn't
have to be photoshop. lightroom works, as do many others.

also, some cameras can add custom info to every shot taken.

http://www.richardpeters.co.uk/blog/...add-copyright-
info-to-your-photos-exif/

In article , Floyd L. Davidson
wrote:

There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install
and
learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?

Exiftool instructions written in 1990? What a hoot.

What you've missed is that it is a Perl package that
runs on virtually every OS out there.

what you've missed is its user interface is horrible, plus the fact it
runs on every os is meaningless to just about everyone. most people
only run one os.

It is perhaps the most sophisticated and modern Exif
tool available.

it is, but he doesn't need sophistication. it's *hugely* overkill and
not all that easy to figure out for non-geeks.

he just needs to add some metadata, something that's *trivial* to do in
any decent photo editor.

On 2013-03-28, Robert Coe wrote:
There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?

Don't ever presume that anything technical would be natural on Win8. It
never does and never will.



But that said, you forgot one thing: WHAT do you need to add exactly???

Some simple and common image viewers can allow you to edit some specific
Exif fields.


And on the other hand, using a command-line tool might make much more sence
than a graphical one.

I mean, imagine you need to add your name and email in a comment field in
each picture you submit. Are you really going to open and edit each image
individually? Wouldn't it make more sence to set up a little
tool/script/batch that would add the info to each image you place in a
certain directory? If you're not familiar with setting up such things, I'm
sure you'll find plenty of people who might suggest or work out a solution
for you.

I had done something similar (but reversed in it's sense) for my sister:
extracting date and time of each image, inserting them before the name of
the image, then sort them in subdirs year/month/day. Two aims: getting
pictures that belonged together - together - and removing duplicates from a
very messy collection of manually made subdirs. And of course, we wanted to
avoid using some bloatware image database to do it and get tied into it's
database formats.

Took me a few hours or so to adapt a existing Python script, but after that
it sorted 700+ pics/sec on a very old desktop with only 1 GB ram.



--
When in doubt, use brute force.
-- Ken Thompson

On Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:55:05 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:
: On 2013-03-27 19:07:58 -0700, Robert Coe said:
:
: There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
: that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
: Photoshop.
:
: Why via photoshop?

I think it's because the people who run the club use Photoshop and therefore
find it simpler to speak in Photoshop terms. The president indicated in an
overnight email that they don't care how I get the metadata into the image
file, as long as it's there when I submit it.

: I believe you use DPP and I see that with the copy I got with my G11
: EXIF data is viewable by selecting "info" from the "File" menu.
: My name appears in this data as I had entered it in my camera when
: making the initial set up. All that identification information appears
: in Photoshop. So as a quick fix without tearing your hair out check the
: set up on your camera to see if owner or shooter info can be added to
: your camera. That should show up in PS identifying you as the
: photographer.

Yes, I do and it does. (I even go to the trouble (when I remember to do so) of
loading different copyright notices when I shoot for myself or for the City.)
But DPP doesn't let you change anything; what comes out of the camera is what
you get. If you ship the image file to Photoshop, you can edit the data there,
and then DPP will let you read it (but still, I think, not change it).

In a JPEG file (but not in a RAW file) the Windows 7 and 8 operating systems
will let you add or change a few of the metadata parameters by changing the
file "properties". But most of the changes show up misplaced if I look back
(via DPP) at the items Photoshop is allowed to change. Basically, it appears
that Adobe, Canon, and Microsoft have different ideas regarding what the
metadata items are and where they're stored, and the resulting Venn diagram
has a very small intersection. In any case, the contest rules call for several
items that are apparently unknown to Microsoft and which I therefore have no
way to set.

: But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
: learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
: to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
: around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
: Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
: nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
: installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
: more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
: thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
: find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?
:
: Bob
:
: At the very worst download a CS6 or Photoshop Elements 30 day trial and
: just use it to add to and/or edit the data.

The fact is that I've had an unopened copy of CS4 in my desk drawer at work
for years. But I don't think I have time to install it and learn to use it.
The entries are due May 1, and this doesn't qualify as "work" work; I have to
do it on my own time.

: ...and if you are truly desperate I believe there are a few of us PS
: users who would be more than willing to add whatever info you want to
: the metadata.
: by giving you something such as this:
: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/Fil...enshot_185.jpg

I appreciate the offer, but it's really my problem. I'm diving into trying to
find a suitable Exif editor, preferably one that runs as a Windows 8 app since
one of my current assignments is to learn Windows 8. I thought I had found one
this morning, but it had trouble locating my test pictures, since it couldn't
follow a DFS link (a show-stopper problem in our shop).

Bob

On Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:55:11 -0800, (Floyd L. Davidson)
wrote:
: Robert Coe wrote:
: There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
: that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
: Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
: learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
: to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
: around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
: Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
: nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
: installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
: more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
: thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
: find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?
:
: Exiftool instructions written in 1990? What a hoot.
:
: What you've missed is that it is a Perl package that
: runs on virtually every OS out there.
:
: It is perhaps the most sophisticated and modern Exif
: tool available.

No, I haven't missed any of that. But the consensus seems to be that the
command line interface is complex and hard to use, and the GUI requires a
separate installation. The installation process is primitive by today's
standards (hence my reference to 1990); and if I can't make it do what I want,
I may have a hard time separating problems with the program from the various
Windows 8 - related problems that I'm encountering.

I may yet end up using ExifTool, but I'm not particularly looking forward to
it.

Bob

On Thu, 28 Mar 2013 23:47:25 +0100, Rikishi42
wrote:
: On 2013-03-28, Robert Coe wrote:
: There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
: that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
: Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install and
: learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
: to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
: around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
: Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
: nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
: installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
: more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
: thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
: find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?
:
: Don't ever presume that anything technical would be natural on Win8. It
: never does and never will.

I fear you're right about that. :^|

: But that said, you forgot one thing: WHAT do you need to add exactly???

A person-specific entry identifier, copyright info (but not, apparently, in
the copyright field that both Canon and Microsoft recognize), a category code
(which neither Microsoft nor Canon seem to have heard of), etc.

: Some simple and common image viewers can allow you to edit some specific
: Exif fields.

DPP doesn't, as far as I can tell (having used the program for years and
having read the documentation pretty thoroughly).

: And on the other hand, using a command-line tool might make much more sence
: than a graphical one.
:
: I mean, imagine you need to add your name and email in a comment field in
: each picture you submit. Are you really going to open and edit each image
: individually? Wouldn't it make more sence to set up a little
: tool/script/batch that would add the info to each image you place in a
: certain directory? If you're not familiar with setting up such things, I'm
: sure you'll find plenty of people who might suggest or work out a solution
: for you.
:
: I had done something similar (but reversed in it's sense) for my sister:
: extracting date and time of each image, inserting them before the name of
: the image, then sort them in subdirs year/month/day. Two aims: getting
: pictures that belonged together - together - and removing duplicates from a
: very messy collection of manually made subdirs. And of course, we wanted to
: avoid using some bloatware image database to do it and get tied into it's
: database formats.
:
: Took me a few hours or so to adapt a existing Python script, but after that
: it sorted 700+ pics/sec on a very old desktop with only 1 GB ram.

The number of pictures is not a consideration. My entry fee allows me six
pictures. More than that and it's another $50.

Bob

On Wed, 27 Mar 2013 23:59:18 -0400, nospam wrote:
: In article , Floyd L. Davidson
: wrote:
:
: There's a photo competition I want to enter next month, and the rules require
: that some identification data be added to the submitted pictures via
: Photoshop. But I've never(!) used Photoshop and don't have time to install
: and
: learn it in time. Therefore, I need to find an Exif editor that will allow me
: to create and append the necessary data items manually. I've been looking
: around this afternoon and am surprised at how few and primitive most (all?)
: Exif editors are. What I've read on the subject in the past indicates that
: nothing is better than ExifTool; but when I looked it up, I found that its
: installation instructions could have been written in 1990. Is there something
: more modern that I'm overlooking? I've been learning Windows 8, and I'd have
: thought that an Exif editor was a natural Windows 8 app. But I don't seem to
: find anything suitable. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?
:
: Exiftool instructions written in 1990? What a hoot.
:
: What you've missed is that it is a Perl package that
: runs on virtually every OS out there.
:
: what you've missed is its user interface is horrible, plus the fact it
: runs on every os is meaningless to just about everyone. most people
: only run one os.
:
: It is perhaps the most sophisticated and modern Exif
: tool available.
:
: it is, but he doesn't need sophistication. it's *hugely* overkill and
: not all that easy to figure out for non-geeks.
:
: he just needs to add some metadata, something that's *trivial* to do in
: any decent photo editor.

Well, by that reasoning DPP isn't a decent photo editor. But it edits images
(as opposed to metadata) pretty well.

Bob