The second international conference on photo metadata took place on Malta today during the annual Cepic congress. The first one was in Florence a year ago. This is a brief summary of this day. I will follow up with longer articles on each part later.

What really impresses me is the progress of work since last year’s conference. Several of the issues that were raised last year are now under serious progression. Normally standardization work is painfully slow, and when you come to implementation it is even worse. But here you see even competing parties cooperating to make progress.

Last conference was centered around the by that time just published white paper on photo metadata. This paper pointed out several areas where the IPTC standard needed to be extended or changed. People wanted special fields for model releases, better fields for localization, flexible fields for controlled vocabulary data (emotions, dominant color, art classification) and several more fields. IPTC has just published draft 4 of a proposed addendum, as well as some modifications to the current standard. This addresses most of those requests and IPTC will vote on this later this month.

David Riecks presented at survey conducted by SAA on embedded metadata in previews and thumbnails on the websites of major image agencies. The result is depressing. Most images carry none, or very limited, metadata. Of those images that contained metadata, very few uses the newer XMP encoding, the old IIM encoding is totally dominant. This is really sad to learn – especially if other parts of the industry put a lot of effort into improving standards. The common reason why previews lack data is that the image scaling and watermarking software’s used in content management systems strips all metadata.

One huge issue with images not carrying even basic metadata such as photographer and copyright is the upcoming orphan works legislation. It’s one thing that people outside the image industry doesn’t embed this. But when the major image agencies don’t even comply, it’s a disaster. Photographers might find that their images have been “free to use” due to bad handling at the image agency they trusted to sell their work.

The last speaker was Hiroshi Maeno from Canon. Last year Nikon, Canon and Hasselblad was asked if they could implement a globally unique image identifier (GUID) that is embedded in the image file by the camera. There were also request for embedding other metadata. CIPA has now formed “Image File Format Study Ad.Hoc Working Group” that involves several camera manufactures cooperating to improve the Exif standard. Earlier 2008 they sent a request to IPTC on what should be improved regarding metadata. Mr Maeno reported that both Canon and Nikon are already working on the GUID and showed us an example on such a code could be constructed. The ad hoc working group has just sent a report to the CIPA board regarding suggested improvements to the EXIF standard.

Here you’ll find articles from last years international photo metadata conference.

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Josh did a great job explaining how they handle Photo Metadata in Microsofts new operating system – Windows Vista. He stated by explaining why metadata should be stored inside the media file “The Truth Is In The File”. – “This enables metadata portability – wherever the file goes, the metadata goes”. But today metadata is everywhere, which makes it difficult to use across applications. Before every application developer had to write his own metadata handler or rely on third party libraries. Microsoft has created what they call WIC (Windows Imaging Components). WIC is an extensible, system-wide platform for image handling.

Applications can utilize WIC to:
• Read & write image formats
• Perform RAW conversion
• Read & write metadata
• Transcode between image formats

This means that it gets easy for developers to incorporate support for several metadata standards in their application. To address the problem with overlapping standards they have created a policy system. WIC rely on external Codecs for image file handling. For camera RAW files it utilizes Codecs from camera vendors. It has EXIF, IPTC and XMP suuport out of the box. WIC ships with Vista; but are also available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server “Longhorn”

Microsoft recently bought iView which is a popular application for image keywording and mark-up. The have now incorporated it in their product portfolio under the name Microsoft Expression Media.

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Peter talked about how Hasselblad (the camera software once begun as an Imacon scanner software) handles metadata in their camera software. They have supported the IIM version of IPTC metadata since the very first version. They also have an history log where you can see how the images has been processed, data from the can be embedded into the exported file.

Hasselblad uses a proprietary format for their raw capture. They did use the open DNG format for a while but has returned to their own format. The DNG format lacks support for some advanced features used for i.e. lens correction. They were asked if the documentation of the file format is publicly available – it is not. But they are cooperating with Apple and Adobe to let their software read the files. He did not omit the possibility to release it as open source in the future, but added that the lens correction are relaying on proprietary reference tables.

Note from the editor: This question regarding open and well-documented file format is very important in this discussion of metadata. Without an open format image repositories can’t read and edit all metadata. This question is of course just as relevant to put to other camera vendors. Most digital cameras use proprietary and secret file formats.

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Clemens demonstrated Fotowares latest software version (5.3). The now have full support for XMP both as embedded and as sidecar files. You can create your own panels to enter an edit metadata. But you can also import panels from Adobe Photoshop. The software are multilingual but has no support for automatic translation. Though it can handle several languages in parallel for the same picture.

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Canon has a image verification kit that works all their more advanced camera starting from the 20D model and upwards. Then new EOS 1D Marks III allows separate validation of metadata and image content. To use this feature you must activate this feature in the camera prior to shooting (there was a discussion regarding it’s impact on shooting speed). To validate you need to keep an un-modified original image file. Then it’s possible to validate that this file has not been edited or tampered with.

Canon has a wireless transmitter that makes it possible for the photographers to send image files direct to the image desk. The most common use is that the photographer only send low resolution images (JPEG S) during the event. After the event the Photographer gets a list of which images he/she should prepare as high-res images. The Canon EOS Utility can handle parallel remote reception of images from several cameras.

It was really great to see Canon, Nikon and Hasselblad attending this conference. This shows that they are serious on this matter. Nikon did not speak at the conference – the responded to late to the invitation. Nikon has features similar to those described above.

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Photographers love metadata – but they hate to enter it. Apple Aperture together with Applescript makes it possible to create scripted folders that append metadata to images.

In Apertue you can create custom metadata views the selected fields. Under Aperture there is a database that stores all metadata, form this you can manipulate metadata as tables. All metadata are embedded at file export. You can create plug-ins that lets you enter custom metadata and then sends the images to a selected service (Photobooks on demand, image gallery, client).

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Workflows are becoming more digital. Digital cameras capture and upload straight into the production process. We use the same file for several outputs; print, web, CD, handheld, wireless, eBook, RSS, video. In this flow metadata is a core part. ”If you can’t describe it, you can’t control it”.

Gunar talks a lot about how XMP (extensive Metadata Platform) works, how it can contain metadata from a mix of standards, how it can be extended. By padding the image file with empty space after the XMP-packet you make it possible for other applications to edit XMP-data without fully understanding the file format. The XMP format is licensed under the BSD open source like license. Several standards make use of or build upon XMP (IPTC, DNG, DISC, PLUS, DIM2, AdsML, PDF/A).

It is fairly easy to build and install custom metadata panels for Adobe Photoshop and Bridge. Bridge can also be extended with Flash panels. Those can have a nice GUI and can via scripting use FTP or HTTP services to send images.
Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Why do we need metadata?

• Copyright protection (orphan works)
• Identify the picture/author/source
• No need to re-key information
• Effective workflow

This with orphan works is a very important part. Without labeling of who is the photographer and what copyright is valid for the image publisher might in the future use the images without payment. They can claim that the copyright older is unknown.

Common problems are that all information resides in the caption field. One reason for this are that many editorial and content management systems only reads the caption field. The title field is misunderstood and contains all sorts of information.

The many different fields create confusion. The pic4press group identified the most important fields that should always be filled. Then they created their own Photoshop template. This template only makes use of existing fields. The main goal was to get people started to at least enter the most important information.

Sarah emphasized the following “Caption, credit and picture number on ALL images”
Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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If keyword are chaos – then intellectual property (copyright) marking is mayhem.

The mission of PLUS – Simplify & Facilitate Image Licensing.
Specific Focus:

1. Global Metadata Standards for the Communication of Image Rights.
2. Supporting Systems

PLUS Must Provide Broad Benefit

• Any and all licensing models.
• Commissioned and stock images.
• Photography, illustration, artworks.
• Any country/law/language.
• Before, during & after transaction.
• No pricing.
• Benefit everyone, everywhere.

This with the “no pricing” point is important since many countries prohibit pricing alliances.

Plus has built a glossary of 1500 license and intellectual property related terms. Words end definitions from a multitude of image agencies from the whole world were collected. Then they look on how the overlapped and made a joint work to build a common glossary. Both Licensors & Licensees have approved them. The glossary was written in American English, it is now being translated into other languages. This reflects the common practice of PLUS; create a Foundation in 1 Language, and then let local working groups translate.

PLUS has developed a media matrix and a license data format. The have standardized menus to be used by e-commerce solutions. This makes the buyer comfortable since he sees the same structure and definitions independent of image supplier. When an image is licensed the seller embeds a license code string that identifies the allowed use for that specific image. This string is embedded in the image. PLUS has built a license generator to be used by the Licensor and decoder to be used by the Licensee. Both are open source and free of charge.

To simplify the adoption of PLUS they have build a set of standard licenses for rights managed material. This are called PLUS packs. SAA (Stock Artists Alliance) has built a price calculator that for this that you can populate with your own pricelist.

PLUS are also building up registrars were you will be able to register images and to who and how the have been licensed. This will be independent of buyers and sellers.

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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Wouldn‘t it be nice …
…to have an automatic image workflow from the photographer to the publisher?
… to know all the time, when and where and by whom a photo was created?
… to get your revenue share?
… not to rekey again, what others have already done earlier?
… to create high quality colour images for different types of publications?
… without manual intervention

Don’t throw away metadata – conserve it. IFRA has done extensive work regarding image processing issues. They found that conservation of EXIF-data is important for correct and efficient image processing. Specially ICC-related data. But it’s also important to not limit metadata standards to images descending from cameras – it must work for any type of image.

Conclusions and open issues:

• Well defined mapping between metadata properties of different schemas
• Write-Once metadata values
• Versioning of metadata values
• Cameras should allow easy-to-preset metadata values
• Cameras should deliver more than Exif metadata
• Improved support for controlled vocabularies as the source of metadata values on the user interface level
• Consistent implementation and use of photo metadata standards must be improved
• Imaging devices not restricted to cameras anymore
• A key feature of metadata for digital assets are globally unique identifiers

Notes from the first Photo Metadata Conference. This conference was held in Florence, Italy june 7, 2007. It was organized by Cepic, IPTC and IFRA. These are my private notes published to give you some idea of what was discussed. I will later write some articles from the conference and publish those on BLF.se and DigitalFotografen.se, but probably only in Swedish. If there are any demand I might make a short translated version in English. You can find presentations and more information at phmdc.org and cepic.org .

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