IPTC

Hi

2 things
1 thanks to everyone who gave me advice over the past year
2 Has anyone got any advice on keywording/metadata/ca​ptioning for submission to press

I am doing Ok getting a few in these days football mainly. i know I could ask the paper what they want but i am keen not to look too stupid.

What is the opinion in terms of IPTC i am not sure what to put where I caption headline keyword and also what level of detail to put in bearing in mind speed is so important. I am still learning code replacement with Photo mech.

also a big thanks to Tall Paul for all your advice - your images keep getting better mate.

I've emailed you a template that I use for all my captioning, has everything you will need in there.

You'll need to sort out the keywords etc, however you will get the gist from the ones that I have left in there as to what you need to include.

Just save it, open PM and then use load in the IPTC Template.

In terms of caption writing, I caption everyone in a photo and what they are doing....

eg Wild E Coyote (L) sits stunned after being blown up by TNT planted by Road Runner (R).

I know some people just put:

Wild E Coyote (L) and Road Runner (R)

However I don't like this as if there is something newsworthy or there is something in particular happening, I'd rather make sure that is reflected in the caption that I write.

Hope this helps!

Surf,

Paul has the right idea regarding Photo Mechanic. You can also use PM with code replacements which make captioning a TON easier.

Here's an article on captioning. In general, simpler is better. You're not writing a story - you're captioning a photo.

http://www.sportsshoot​er.com/news/1200

Partially I agree with "you are captioning photo, not writing story", but I would still go with first option Paul wrote. Just name of players is not enough. That's why I put longer captions. More info doesn't hurt. And with PM, it really doesn't take much more time.
Personally I write template before already, so after I ingest photos, I just add names to each photo. And for now, noone was complaining if my photos have caption in 2 or 3 sentences, not in 2 or 3 words. It's easier for editor to get idea what was happening.
But as I wrote before... if in doubt, ask newspaper/agency you are working for, what are their preferences.

Thanks so much everyone. I am sitting here now working out captioning in PM. also trying to get in the habit of locking images in camera as I shoot so that PM picks them up first. do you guys do that?

slimsurf wrote in post #4101251
Thanks so much everyone. I am sitting here now working out captioning in PM. also trying to get in the habit of locking images in camera as I shoot so that PM picks them up first. do you guys do that?

Always.

slimsurf wrote in post #4101251
Thanks so much everyone. I am sitting here now working out captioning in PM. also trying to get in the habit of locking images in camera as I shoot so that PM picks them up first. do you guys do that?

I do this when I need to transmit "live" as it helps me select my keeper candidates prior to downloading. One less step in an already-hurried process.

Tagging in camera, only ingesting your tagged images (with PM renaming the files and adding the basic caption info at the same time) and using code replacement to help complete your captions... this will speed up your 'live' workflow no end.

---- Gavin

Speaking of code replacement, just in case anyone hasn't seen it, this is THE coolest thing for people covering pro and NCAA events. It will generate a TXT file with players' names, positions, team names, numbers, etc, by getting the data from ESPN.com's roster page.

http://stopactionsport​s.com/extract.php?spor​t=MLB