Adding a missing tag to a photo

[Kaelkitty]

Please excuse me, I am very new to this.  I managed to get Exiftool running (after a few false starts)  but I can't quite workout the command syntax for the operation I need.  For some reason known only to itself I have a photo where Win 7 has removed the properties "title" and "subject" from one of my photos and won't allow me to add them back. Whatever I try all I get is "An unexpected error is keeping you from applying properties to the file. If you continue to receive this error, you can use the error code to search for help with this problem. Error 0x80070057: The parameter is incorrect."

I have tried everything I can think of, and I am now desperate!

I have run the command exiftool "C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Kodak Pictures\2013-06-01\100_0715.JPG" > Good-Photo.txt which produces the result:
...
Exif Byte Order                 : Little-endian (Intel, II)
Image Description               : Phlomis purpurea [Purple Jerusalem Sage] (added 2013/05/25 $6.95 High Street Nursery, Strathalbyn @ CGS Bus Trip)
Make                            : EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
... which is what I want to achieve.

When I run the command on the buggy photo I get:
...
Exif Byte Order                 : Little-endian (Intel, II)
Make                            : EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
...  The whole line, Tag and contents alike is just missing!! Everything else in the Exif Data is all present and correct as far as i can see by comparing the Good Photo text file to the Bad Photo text file. 

So, how do I return the tag and it's associated data to the bad file without changing anything else in that file?  I could really use a little support - I haven't seriously used the command prompt for anything much since the mid 1980s and I am having trouble working out what to do.

Yours Sincerely,
Kaelkitty

[StarGeek]

If you want to add the same info to the buggy photo, then try
exiftool -imagedescription="Phlomis purpurea [Purple Jerusalem Sage] (added 2013/05/25 $6.95 High Street Nursery, Strathalbyn @ CGS Bus Trip)" "C:\path\to\Buggy photo.jpg"

Hopefully, the file isn't so corrupt that the data can't be written.  If that doesn't work and it says Error and file not updated, then you might try the command in FAQ 20 to try and repair the metadata.

[Kaelkitty]

Thank you StarGeek,
           That seems to have done the trick!  I have replaced the photo with the re-titled version and it now works perfectly in my photo software.

     I did get a warning, viz -
Warning: XMP format error (no closing tag for x:xmpmeta) - C:/Users/Dell/Desktop/100_0714.JPG
    1 image files updated

but I don't know what that means, so I don't know if it is important or not.

    The thing that had me really confused in the first case was  the fact that the Exif Tag is Called "Item Description", but Windows 7 calls the Tag "Title", and then duplicates it as "Subject" - that certainly doesn't make things straightforward!

Thankyou again, KK.

[Phil Harvey]

The XMP error indicates improperly formatted XMP.  What app wrote this XMP?  If you want to send me a sample which gives this error, I'll take a look to make sure it isn't an ExifTool problem.  My email is philharvey66 at gmail.com

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

I got the sample.  The XMP has been corrupted with some random binary data.  This could be either a disk error or a serious bug in one of the programs used.  Much of the XMP has been lost, but the rest of the file looks OK.

- Phil