PM V CS for IPTC

Following on from slimsurf's thread regarding IPTC, I've always used Photoshop CS. In CS I created a template and just need to add in the players names etc. I then upload using Cute ftp. Using CS means I can crop, edit, caption & title in the same program.

Having read about Photo Mechanic I decided to have a look and downloaded a time limited version. Cropping is basic but useful as it gives you the file size instantly. You can also upload direct from within PM. Not really gone much further into it but are there any other features that give it an advatage over CS?

Hi Graham,

I'm sure others will chime in... but I'll make a few quick comments:

With PM, you can ingest tagged images from your card and the software will re-name the images and add your pre-prepared IPTC stationery pad info at the same time.

PM allows for 'code replacement' - i.e. you can create an external .txt file and then type shortcuts into your captions that are instantly replaced by a longer text string. For example, in the .txt file you would have...

'BU15 <tab> Fred Bloggs of Beckton United'

...you then type \BU15\ when captioning and 'Fred Bloggs of Beckton United' will instantly appear.

PM also supports 'variables' so, for example, if '{day0}/{month0}/{year​2}' appears in your IPTC stationery, it will instantly be replaced by '11/10/07' (assuming the images were captured today).

The ability to FTP direct from within PM is also very handy. I generally ingest a small batch of images using PM, crop/levels/sharpen in CS (on a windows system, I just have CS running at the same time, right click the images in PM and choose 'edit' to open the image in CS - it takes no time at all to do this)... then back to PM to add the final part of the caption and FTP.

There are many other useful and time-saving features.... I might add some more thoughts if I have time later on.

---- Gavin

For working with IPTC you really can't compare Photo Mechanic with Photoshop. PM is made exactly for this, while PS is everything else then this. With PM workflow is much much faster and more optimized then with PS. Of course when it comes to ingesting cards, adding IPTC, selecting photos and sending them. PS is still needed for everything else (cropping, levels...).
Basic and most important features of PM for me are following:
- ingesting from cards. It renames photos, puts them into proper directory, applies template IPTC to them.
- preview and selection. With 5 start rating system and 8 class colors (9 if you count no color) system, you can optimize your workflow when selecting photos to send quite good. Not to mention preview (thumbnails or big photos, even side by side comparison of two photos) is fastest of all programs I ever tried.
- IPTC. I'm shooting sport, so code replacement is one of best things you can find. Instead of writing names, you import start list, and you write just number while PM changes it to proper name. Since I'm shooting whole bunch of international sport, writing mistakes in athletes names are history. You might think it's not that bad, but when you have whole bunch of, let's say Spanish names, and all you know from Spanish is "Una cerveza, por favor", such things comes really handy Another thing is copy and paste of IPTC between photos. It speeds up process quite a bit.
- sending. With embedded ftp client (and pretty good working one), it's really easy to send photos straight from PM. Once they will add some tagging of successfully sent photos (I hope it will be done once in next version or two), it will be really perfect option.
And for editing, you can still send selected photos straight from PM to PS. To be honest, I can't even imagine how I was doing all this before PM. PM might not be cheapest thing around, even though $150 is not all that bad, but for me personally, it's worth every $. And their support and especially their willingness to listen their clients, is really great. I asked Kirk if it would be possible to add multiple IPTC paste, and in next version it was there. So yes, I'm probably like walking billboard for PM, but they really are good

Thanks guys, guess I really need to look further in to Photo Mechanic and it capabilities.

snapzz wrote in post #4106729
Thanks guys, guess I really need to look further in to Photo Mechanic and it capabilities.

If PM could to image toning (like Lightroom, and obviously PhotoShop) it would be what I use for 90% of my work.

It's a great program, and their customer service is second to none. I made a request to be able to sort images by aspect ratio, and two days later a new version was released that included my feature. Amazing. Like having a personal IT department.

Its a pity this thread has been moved as it could be of interest to many sports shooters who uploads live (unless of course everyone except me is already using it !). Streamlining your workflow at games or events can save quite a bit of time as we know its always a race to get your images "on the system" asap.

Thanks primoz & dmweirz for you response.
Gavin or anyone else , any further tips would be most welcome

Just called in at my local camera shop and picked up a sealed copy of Photo Mechanic for £40!

snapzz wrote in post #4111292
Just called in at my local camera shop and picked up a sealed copy of Photo Mechanic for £40!

That is a bargain!

I love PM for all the reason listed above. I'm comment more later. I'm tired and groggy!

Darren

Sorry folks. What is IPTC please. Is there a Glossary around here?

bpiper7 wrote in post #4130346
Sorry folks. What is IPTC please. Is there a Glossary around here?

It's sort of exif. Just that it contains different info. Like photo description (caption), city, country, date, photographer, keywords etc.
More on http://www.iptc.org

Thanks much..

Sorry guys been tied up for a few days.

One question I'd like to ask about code replacement. If covering a football game you wont know the teams until about 20mins before kick off when they give you a team sheet, unless you happen to have the whole squad loaded. Obviously squads change during the season too or am I looking at this wrong?

I've found that with Non-league football the players numbers move around a lot so I always write a new code replacement file for every game. Semi-pro/pro squads (regardless of the sport) often stick with a static number. However I find that creating a new file every time is the most effective way of avoiding mixing-up a caption.

I don't just have players shirt numbers in my replacment files either. If I was covering Liverpool and I know a player by his face and I know his surname name is Torres but can never remember his shirt number I'll add another entry called LTorres this will then enter his full name and I do not need to look at the team sheet. I'm not sure if anyone else does it but I know it works for me.

Another thing I add is a line for the stadium name. Lstadium Anfield.

My memory is shockingly bad so anything that helps me out is my friend:

Darren

Darren
Are you saying you have a file for every team? Most (if not all) league & premiership clubs use squad system so is it a case of you making a file beforehand?

I have a template installed in CS so just need to fill the gap about the image. This would be something like:

Hull , England - 26 September 2007: <insert text here> during the Carling Cup tie between Hull City and Chelsea at KC Stadium on 26 September 2007 Hull, UK
Pic: Graham Taylor

Which I would insert to look like this:
Hull , England - 26 September 2007:Goal scorer Scott Sinclair is congratulated by Ashley Cole after scoring during the Carling Cup tie between Hull City and Chelsea at KC Stadium on 26 September 2007 Hull, UK
Pic: Graham Taylor

I would then just rename the image prior to uploading. OK so the Chelsea (or most of them) players would be facially familiar but not the Hull City players. Same player id applies when covering a championship game. This is where you need a teamsheet so you know whos playing. Slightly harder if you cannot see their number too .

So back to the original question of how would you use code replacement in this case. Would it be just for renaming the image? if so would it still be quicker if the image included two players?

Sorry still trying to get my head around this as its new to me. Should also add I know PM has a IPTC template for captioning and you can upload within PM but still need to use CS for editing. Where as I use CS for editing and for captioning but Cuteftp for uploading.

I create a code replacement file per game, not per team. Most prem players always use their number but I'd rather not take the risk of getting it wrong.

I either grab a team sheet and type it up or take a photo of one and then type it up whilst I am waiting for the game. Load this in to PM. I've already created my default caption bits (IPT file) and default locations before I leave so all I need is some pictures to ingest!

I'm still covering non-league footie( but what I have started to do is create a thumbnail of all the players of a team before I get there. If I can do this for non-league teams then it’s easily possible for Championship and Premiership clubs, especially with the use of the club websites beforehand.

I have the thumbnails in a handy folder and browse to it when I need it. I can't see this working on a deadline though. Before I did this, I looked for any distinguishing marks, tattoos, rings taped up, tape on socks, colour of boots etc. and then tried to correlate those to a shirt number.

Basically anything I can to make sure I get the right person.

Another thing is shoot through the action, so you will get their shirt numbers.

Hope that helps!

Darren