script needs cleanup and advice

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exifnoobie on 2007-06-21 15:31:57-07]

I really don't know what I'm doing, but it does appear to be working. Here's what I enter into Exiftool and it does what I need, but I'm wondering if some of the tags that I've addresses are redundant or if there is a cleaner method.

exiftool -XMP:all= -Flash= -MeteringMode= -ApertureValue= -ShutterSpeedValue= -ExposureTime= -ISO= -FNumber= -ExposureProgram= -DateTimeOriginal= -DateTimeDigitized= -Lens= -FocalLength= -MaxApertureValue= -make= -model= -makernotes:all=  -Author=ME -Artist=ME  -By-line=ME -overwrite_original_in_place  /location/

the goal is a last step before handing over files, these are not what I am using for editing. I want to strip out the camera specific data (usually tifs) and enter just a couple instances of our studio in the Author/Artist fields. I keep a folder that I use for batching the images so the location also stays the same.

Currently I am simply copying and pasting this from a text file, is there a faster method? I tried the user defined shortcuts but I don't think that was entering the information correctly. If anyone has a moment to jot down what I would put into the exiftool_config and then into exiftool that would be great if there was a speedier method of entering this info. But, if all that I'm doing is copying and pasting it doesn't really make too much of a difference if it's the list above or a shortcut group.

In repeatitive situations are most people copying and pasting the information or is there a method for automating the process on a Mac?

thanks again.

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2007-06-21 16:00:48-07]

What you are doing looks fine.

There are many alternatives to cutting and pasting:  You can use the exiftool
-@ option to put all of your command-line arguments in a file,
define an ExifTool shortcut for your tag list, or define a Unix alias for the
full command.

I suggest the -@ option since it is probably the easiest in your case.
Read the exiftool documentation for details of the -@ command.

- Phil

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exifnoobie on 2007-06-21 19:42:25-07]

Hi Phil,

I really appreciate your patience with me, I making small steps.

I looked up the -@ option and I'm a little stumped

I'm not sure how the file should be arranged or what format, I saw a reference to a .args file and tried a text file and placed .args as the suffix. Unfortunately I couldn't locate the original .args file that was mentioned in the docs to view for example.

 Should I just place the original script into a text file:
-XMP:all= -Flash= -MeteringMode= -ApertureValue= -ShutterSpeedValue= -ExposureTime= -ISO= -FNumber= -ExposureProgram= -DateTimeOriginal= -DateTimeDigitized= -Lens= -FocalLength= -MaxApertureValue= -make= -model= -makernotes:all=  -Author=Me  -Artist=Me   -By-line=Me -overwrite_original_in_place  /location/batch_exif/
 

I created a text file and tried .args and .txt as the suffix and then used:
exiftool -@ /Volumes/260gb_int_A/batch_exif/script.args

 but it's apparently not correct because Exiftool didn't recognize the command to find the file.

thanks again

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2007-06-21 20:24:47-07]

With a word processor, create a ".args" file containing this
(one command-line argument per line in the file):

Code:

-XMP:all=
-Flash=
-MeteringMode=
-ApertureValue=
-ShutterSpeedValue=
-ExposureTime=
-ISO=
-FNumber=
-ExposureProgram=
-DateTimeOriginal=
-DateTimeDigitized=
-Lens=
-FocalLength=
-MaxApertureValue=
-make=
-model=
-makernotes:all=
-Author=Me
-Artist=Me
-By-line=Me
-overwrite_original_in_place

Then save it to your Desktop with the name my.args.

With this in place, the command you use is:

Code:

exiftool -@ ~/Desktop/my.args FILE

(where FILE is the name of an image file or directory with the images
you want to modify)

I hope this helps.

- Phil