John Crellin Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 My latest batch (the first since April) has come through with the Date taken fields filled in with the upload date. I've checked the files I sent and they are all date-stamped as normal. Other data has come through as normal. Tedious as at the very least I have to reduce them all to "Year only" or fill in correct date. I certainly don't want them posted with an incorrect date even it is of little relevance to purchasers. Has anyone else noticed this ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDoug Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I did and mentioned it in another thread. Both another photographer and Alamy said everything works fine, so I assumed it had something to do with me. Having only been a member since last March I haven't experienced anything other than the upload date needing to be changed on each image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crellin Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Interesting - my workflow is unchanged (even software versions). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I noticed the same with my last two uploads from October. I created a new thread about it last week in the other forum but had no replies. Looks like it might only be affecting some users or I expect there would have been some replies. Very odd if that is the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 All my uploads seem to be showing the date taken. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 All my uploads seem to be showing the date taken. Allan Interesting. I'll need to do a new upload to see if it is still happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crellin Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 I've compared EXIF from pictures I uploaded earlier in the year and this latest batch and there is a difference in the Date time field - with the latest batch having "+1.00" at the end (Summer time correction) and older pictures having a Z. In each case the Date (all that matters ?) is the same format at the beginning of the string and time isn't even loaded. This could well be a Windows system change I suspect. In any case what use is loading the Upload date in lieu of the date taken ? Worse than nothing at all ! None of my recent upload were taken after the clocks changed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 None of my uploads: news, archive or stock have a problem but I don't rely on the EXIF data - I always keyword offline so the IPTC date is populated (by PhotoMechanic) with the Capture date (from EXIF). That then gets applied to the Data Taken by Alamy at upload. Would be worth checking the IPTC data of the files you uploaded. I wouldn't have thought Alamy had ever used the EXIF data but I could of course be wrong. It certainly takes the caption, keywords etc from the IPTC data - I wish they would also take Location. News also uses IPTC headline/title Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I've compared EXIF from pictures I uploaded earlier in the year and this latest batch and there is a difference in the Date time field - with the latest batch having "+1.00" at the end (Summer time correction) and older pictures having a Z. In each case the Date (all that matters ?) is the same format at the beginning of the string and time isn't even loaded. This could well be a Windows system change I suspect. In any case what use is loading the Upload date in lieu of the date taken ? Worse than nothing at all ! None of my recent upload were taken after the clocks changed... I can blow that theory away. I'm using a Mac for one thing. In the two uploads I submitted where this occurred, some of the images were from 2010, others were brand new. Moreover I didn't bother changing my cameras' date time settings this year at all - they remained as GMT all summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 None of my uploads: news, archive or stock have a problem but I don't rely on the EXIF data - I always keyword offline so the IPTC date is populated (by PhotoMechanic) with the Capture date (from EXIF). That then gets applied to the Data Taken by Alamy at upload. Would be worth checking the IPTC data of the files you uploaded. I wouldn't have thought Alamy had ever used the EXIF data but I could of course be wrong. It certainly takes the caption, keywords etc from the IPTC data - I wish they would also take Location. News also uses IPTC headline/title Alamy does read the camera EXIF date taken field and will automatically use it in Manage Images. I presume if you have already filled this in in Photomechanic, then it retains what you have input. But I think I'm getting to the bottom of this now. The date createdfield in the images I have uploaded is blank so it must have something to do with how I exported from Lightroom. Alamy is taking the File Last Modified date instead, not the date uploaded. I changed computer recently so it must have something to do with that. BIG EDIT: Got it. I had the export preset set to remove metadata apart from copyright and contact info. All is now normal exporting all metadata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Yes, PhotoMechanic takes the EXIF data captured and writes it into the IPTC data taken foield. So on my uploads Alamy could pick it up from either; I wouldn't know which it read. It sounds as though you have a handle on the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Yes, PhotoMechanic takes the EXIF data captured and writes it into the IPTC data taken foield. So on my uploads Alamy could pick it up from either; I wouldn't know which it read. It sounds as though you have a handle on the problem. Yep - solved - changed export preset from Lightroom to export all metadata and all is back to normal. I should have checked this in the first place - seems very obvious now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crellin Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 My images all have the EXIF as expected - have never in any of them transferred to IPTC Date created and Alamy definitely have been reading the EXIF for a while. As a software developer in my past life I always believe in going for the source data - in this case EXIF. Also KISS - why use software I don't need? Sad if EXIF no longer reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDoug Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I'm using Silkypix 6 and an old version of Photoshop (CS2). The date taken is in the EXIF file under Camera Data 1. The description and content are moved automatically to IPTC Content, but the date is not exported. edit: Evidently I can put the date and other info from EXIF into IPTC with a click or two in Silkypix, easier than doing it later in Manage Images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 My images all have the EXIF as expected - have never in any of them transferred to IPTC Date created and Alamy definitely have been reading the EXIF for a while. As a software developer in my past life I always believe in going for the source data - in this case EXIF. Also KISS - why use software I don't need? Sad if EXIF no longer reliable. The key point in my case is that the files which I exported without the metadata are those which do not have the date taken automatically inserted by Alamy (the last modified date of the IPTC data is substituted). It works correctly on all earlier images where I did export the metadata strongly suggesting that therein lies the problem. Until I do another upload I won't know for sure but it would be very surprising if it didn't work properly. I think if EXIF was no longer reliable as you surmise or there was a consistent problem at the Alamy end, then there would be a lot more people complaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 EDIT Correction of earlier post: I uploaded a batch of images some with metadata and some without which just passed QC this morning. The ones without the metadata show the date taken as the last modified date. The ones with the metadata have the correct date taken in the date taken field. So the problem that I was seeing was my end - I was accidentally removing the metadata and Alamy was substituting the last modified date in place of the created date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crellin Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 Alamy are telling me they treat XMP Date Created as over-riding EXIF. But as I see it whatever is filling in the Date Created field at my end (in XMP) is using the Windows Date Created - that is the file creation date (ie when I saved the JPEG). It is Date Taken that we want surely ? It doesn't help at my end that I have no idea who or what owns / updates XMP data - never knowingly touch it myself. I use Nikon capture and Photoshop CS 2 only. No desire to take on other stages in workflow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 I haven't bothered to keep up to date with all the changes in IPTC etc so not sure what is happening in your case but suspect it may be because you are using CS2 which is fairly ancient at this stage or maybe something to do with Nikon Capture. You can probably batch edit all your images taken on the same date in manage images to save yourself some time. I should gently add that Lightroom is well worth a look. It is not expensive, not difficult to learn and has some very significant advantages, not least a vastly improved raw processor if you are shooting raw. I see you have recent images from Bere Island - fantastic place. Beara is my roots country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 Probably a daft question but are you sure the XMP data is being embedded in the JPGs for upload and not just as a sidecar file? The sidecar file does not get uploaded of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin paterson Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 Date taken 3rd January 1970 Whit !!! Didn't even have a camera back then.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbertSnapper Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 I don't know where I'm going wrong, even before uploading here the dates are wrong ! My flow.....shoot with Fuji, process RAW using Silkypix (date is correct, ie. when the photo was made), import TIFF files to caption/adjust/checks in to Photoshop CS3, save as JPEG. Date of photo is now the date when I saved to JPEG. Always used to be ok, but have recently changed to using Windows 8.1 . Is that the problem ? I'm sure it's something simple to sort out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number Six Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 I raised this issue some weeks ago and am still having wrong dates displayed in the Date Taken entry. It started happening without any changes in my workflow or associated software (only one program I use occasionally is 'young' enough to get updates), so I'm assuming that its the result of Alamy changing something. Not earth-shattering, but a shame to have an additional step in the workflow. Also, I wonder how many people are not aware of this issue and have potential customers looking at summer scenes supposedly taken in late November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crellin Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 I have been away but have been following most of the replies above from the email alerts. Now I'm back I have been able to identify the problem for my workflow: I save a TIFF in Nikon Capture - all is well. It is in Adobe Photoshop I check for and correct blemishes etc then reduce to 8 bits and save. All is well - the XMP CreateDate (which Alamy tell be they now use in priority to EXIF) is still the same as Date Taken in Exif. But when I batch save to JPEG (or for than matter manually as I just tried now) the XMP CreateDate becomes the day I happen to do it ! Looking at the Adobe specification for XMP (it turns out it is theirs) this is sort of OK according to the spec as CreateDate is the date of creation of the media - so arguably a JPEG is new media ? So why are Alamy using this ? John Crellin (It's not obvious to me why the date stays as EXIF at the tiff stage mind...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crellin Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 I see you have recent images from Bere Island - fantastic place. Beara is my roots country. It's a great place and only a very quick scouting trip - partly with a view to possibly taking my 90 year old mother-in-law there. But I'll definitely be back for the botany and more of the old forts some time. Also I must climb Hungry Hill ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 I have been away but have been following most of the replies above from the email alerts. Now I'm back I have been able to identify the problem for my workflow: I save a TIFF in Nikon Capture - all is well. It is in Adobe Photoshop I check for and correct blemishes etc then reduce to 8 bits and save. All is well - the XMP CreateDate (which Alamy tell be they now use in priority to EXIF) is still the same as Date Taken in Exif. But when I batch save to JPEG (or for than matter manually as I just tried now) the XMP CreateDate becomes the day I happen to do it ! Looking at the Adobe specification for XMP (it turns out it is theirs) this is sort of OK according to the spec as CreateDate is the date of creation of the media - so arguably a JPEG is new media ? So why are Alamy using this ? John Crellin (It's not obvious to me why the date stays as EXIF at the tiff stage mind...) I think your problem is in the saving to JPEG and it may be to do with using CS2. When I save a TIFF to JPEG from PSCS6, the metadata is identical in both files as viewed from Adobe Bridge. The Date Created is correct in IPTC Core and File Properties and is the same as Date Time Original in EXIF. The view from the top of Hungry Hill when there is no mist, drizzle or rain is well worth the effort. Best to inquire locally about the best route up as I know one or two of the traditional paths have been blocked by landowners. My last trip was 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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