NOTE: This extremely long note was not initially written for here but in case others needed to do this at work. As the saying goes "If I had more time I would have written less" 
It is highly likely that no one here cares about this issue, but as I had them written up already I thought I would post them here:THE PROBLEM:I did not want my film archive solely residing in the iPhoto library. Why?
- The tagging and geotagging that I was doing in iPhoto/Aperture is not happening within the actual graphic files but in an associated database. I want this info in the metadata header where it is platform-independent
- Apple has already issued an EOL for Aperture. No image collection should be dependant on any specific Asset Management tool and should always have a human-searchable duplicate.
THE GOAL:- Have tagging and geotagging metadata (and any other data) embedded in each image (as a mix of EXIF/ITCP metadata)
- For cases where I have edited files within iPhoto I want copies of both the original and modified files. This complicates the process
- Have a human searchable folder-based duplicate of my images in addition to any that are imported into any Asset Management tool (plus backups, of course)
TOOLS USED:- Iphoto and Aperture. Aperture was needed to imbed metadata into jpegs. Their could be alternatives for this task but I had Aperture.
- Adobe Bridge — used for batch renaming and tagging. Their are cheaper/free alternatives but I had a copy of it
- HoudahGeo — for geotagging files. Their are alternatives but I like how it can tag files within iPhoto library
- Deltawalker — a DIFF tool. A list of other DIFF tools is avail here: http://www.git-tower.com/blog/diff-tools-mac/
OUTCOME (ISSUES ENCOUNTERED)The following method worked in incorporating the desired metadata into the jpegs. This included: 1) geographic location, 2) keywords, 3) Caption & Description, 4) Original Creation Date. Any ITPC or EXIF data would be captured. Note that the geographic information captured is slightly different than that recorded in iphoto. The geographic coordinates are preserved but that the location prescribed may be slightly different. This is due to the different records in the database that your geotagging software uses vs what apple uses. If can be compared to how slightly different location names could occur in Apple Maps and Google Maps.
"Faces" was not able to be included in that this is totally proprietary but i keyworded names to match the faces, so this information was captured. Additionally, i found "Faces" to be not sufficiently developed and had ceased using it.
Lastly, the file modification dates are changed through the process of writing the metadata into each file. This is acceptable as these dates never accurately reflected the date the photos were taken (as scanning and editing happened at a later date) and the date info was corrected within iphoto and this became part of the EXIF metadata that was recorded to each file.
DISCLAIMERBEFORE PROCEEDING MAKE AT LEAST ONE COPY OF YOUR IPHOTO LIBRARY AND HIDE IT UNTIL YOU ARE DONE AND ARE 100% SURE THAT EVERYTHING YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO WORKED OUT!!!!!! THE PROCESSES DESCRIBED WILL RESULT IN AUTOMATED EDITING OF EACH FILE — YOU COULD DESTROY YOUR WHOLE LIBRARY IF IT GOES BAD!!!! Please read through and understand every point before proceeding!
PROCEEDUREI wanted to export both the Original files and the files that had been modified within iPhoto or Aperture (called “Current” or “Versions” respectively) and this made the process a bit more complex. Even tho Aperture is the pro package, I used iPhoto for the final export. I will explain why at the end of this note.
Step 1 -- Tag and Geotag the files:Step 2 -- Export the Original Files (ie files not edited in iPhoto)- Manually rename events to inlude the date. This is to aid in sorting the events into years afterwards.
- Export your ORIGINAL files. In iPhoto select all the Events, and choose Export. Set kind to "Original", File Name to "Use Filename", and Subfolder Format to "Event Name”. Point this to a new folder called “Originals". If all you wanted where tagged versions of the Original files, you are done.
Step 3 -- Export the Modified Files (ie files edited in iphoto)- This step adds a complexity to the process. When you export the Current or Versions from either iPhoto or Aperture, ALL of the files are exported again. This method will weed out the duplicate unmodified files
- In iPhoto select all the Events, and choose Export. Set kind to “Current", File Name to "Use Filename", and Subfolder Format to "Event Name” Save these in a new folder called something like “Modified"
- The unmodified files now need to be weeded out of the “Modified” folder.
- Since these unmodified files are identical to their counterparts in the “Originals” folder (e.g. Have the same size and modification date) we can use a DIFF checking app or script (http://www.git-tower.com/blog/diff-tools-mac/) to get rid of these duplicates and merge these two folders efficiently. How this will be done will vary from app to app.
- For example in Deltawalker: A) Choose Compare folder. Load “Originals” as reference files and “Modified” and click compare button. B) From Select button choose “different" and invert selection. C) With the ‘Modified’ folder selected, choose 'delete selected' from the white triangle in right of menu bar. Visually confirm it is deleting from the modified folder and click delete.
- Using an app that can batch rename, like Bridge, add the word “Edited” to these modified files.
- Use an app like Deltawalker to merge the contents of the Original and Modified folder trees. In Deltawalker: choose update reference and then sync.
- This should leave me with one folder with all the Originals in it with the modified files added to the appropriate subdirectories. These modified files will have the word “Edited” in their file name.
WHY DID I USE IPHOTO FOR EXPORT INSTEAD OF THE PRO APERTURE?
One would expect Aperture (the pro package to be superior) but I chose iPhoto for export. A goal was for me to have an export of the original files and also copies of the files that I had modified within iPhoto. Neither package lets me just export only the modified files. In both cases it will export the modified files plus copies of any files that were not modified. The problem with Aperture is that it resaves these unmodified files (thus changing the date and file size). This makes it hard to find the duplicates as they have been changed. This does not happen when I export the Modified files from iPhoto, so one can weed out the duplicates. Given iPhoto does not change the file size or date of these unmodified files, I can use simple DIFF checking techniques to weed out the duplicates. Aperture made it more difficult so I avoided it.
Even if I only wanted to export the most recent copies of the files I would not use Aperture as it even reserves the ‘unmodified’ files and I am conceptually against jpegs being unnecessarily resaved.
