Hi, anyone have advice on indie work flows for multiple site submissions. I'm guessing key wording, titles and descriptions in Lightroom so the IPTC data gets picked up by the various sites. Is there any decent software out there for batch editing the IPTC data? Keywording in Lightroom is painful.

I use Irfanview to put in the data.

I use the microstock keyword tool to help find keywords then individually add them to images in Adobe Bridge.  I also add the description and title in bridge (or sometimes Photoshop)

Uploading I do with Microstock Submitter

Quote from: fotografer on December 13, 2012, 13:00
I use Irfanview to put in the data.

very similar to that I use XnView

I do the keywording in Photoshop (although I do use LR to start). The key thing is to try and keyword as generically as possible - so don't use CV terms like "Front or Back Yard", but garden, yard; dont' use "Residential Structure" but house, home - keyword like people talk and buyers search. Some sites don't support multi-word keywords, but i always include them. I generally upload to SS first and their spell check is useful to catch any mistakes I've made (I wish Photoshop included spell check; it's not like they haven't been asked). Include plurals or alternate spellings where you think it's appropriate.

To keep track of what's been uploaded, I have folders for each site. I put aliases (shortcuts if you're on the PC) of the JPEGs into each and use FTP to upload from there. I don't have enough volume to feel I need any of the uploading/distribution tools

Quote from: leaf on December 13, 2012, 13:03
I use the microstock keyword tool to help find keywords then individually add them to images in Adobe Bridge.  I also add the description and title in bridge (or sometimes Photoshop)

I do this pretty much except for me it's Illustrator instead of Photoshop.    I also don't produce enough to use an outside uploader.  I just do it myself.

Quote from: leaf on December 13, 2012, 13:03
I use the microstock keyword tool to help find keywords then individually add them to images in Adobe Bridge.  I also add the description and title in bridge (or sometimes Photoshop)

Uploading I do with Microstock Submitter

Thanks, never really looked at bridge, once you get the Metadata Templates set up it's quite easy.

Lightroom does the same thing with Metadata presets, makes batch keywording in Lightroom dead easy, never new it was there until now :-)

Quote from: leaf on December 13, 2012, 13:03
I use the microstock keyword tool to help find keywords then individually add them to images in Adobe Bridge.  I also add the description and title in bridge (or sometimes Photoshop)

Uploading I do with Microstock Submitter

I love how Microstock Submitter keeps the data in the photos and not in a separate database! It's generally a very useful piece of software for Independents highly recommended!

Quote from: incarno on December 13, 2012, 22:15

Quote from: leaf on December 13, 2012, 13:03
I use the microstock keyword tool to help find keywords then individually add them to images in Adobe Bridge.  I also add the description and title in bridge (or sometimes Photoshop)

Uploading I do with Microstock Submitter

I love how Microstock Submitter keeps the data in the photos and not in a separate database! It's generally a very useful piece of software for Independents highly recommended!

yeah, that is a nice features and it allows you to move the images around without messing things up.

Quote from: jsnover on December 13, 2012, 17:21
I do the keywording in Photoshop (although I do use LR to start). The key thing is to try and keyword as generically as possible - so don't use CV terms like "Front or Back Yard", but garden, yard; dont' use "Residential Structure" but house, home - keyword like people talk and buyers search. Some sites don't support multi-word keywords, but i always include them. I generally upload to SS first and their spell check is useful to catch any mistakes I've made (I wish Photoshop included spell check; it's not like they haven't been asked). Include plurals or alternate spellings where you think it's appropriate.

To keep track of what's been uploaded, I have folders for each site. I put aliases (shortcuts if you're on the PC) of the JPEGs into each and use FTP to upload from there. I don't have enough volume to feel I need any of the uploading/distribution tools

To get over the spell checker I use the other little tool I made, the microstock comparison tool
When keywording there are a few things I always have problems for and needed something to solve those problems quickly
-Spelling errors
-duplicate keywords
-going over the 50 KW limit

Spelling errors are taken care of by firefox by highlighting them, then duplicate keywords are automatically removed and the keywords are counted so I don't go over the limit.  It's also handy if you have a base set of keywords that you want to use for all images in a set and then add extra specific keywords for certain images.
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Quote from: leaf on December 13, 2012, 22:47

Quote from: jsnover on December 13, 2012, 17:21
I do the keywording in Photoshop (although I do use LR to start). The key thing is to try and keyword as generically as possible - so don't use CV terms like "Front or Back Yard", but garden, yard; dont' use "Residential Structure" but house, home - keyword like people talk and buyers search. Some sites don't support multi-word keywords, but i always include them. I generally upload to SS first and their spell check is useful to catch any mistakes I've made (I wish Photoshop included spell check; it's not like they haven't been asked). Include plurals or alternate spellings where you think it's appropriate.

To keep track of what's been uploaded, I have folders for each site. I put aliases (shortcuts if you're on the PC) of the JPEGs into each and use FTP to upload from there. I don't have enough volume to feel I need any of the uploading/distribution tools

To get over the spell checker I use the other little tool I made, the microstock comparison tool
When keywording there are a few things I always have problems for and needed something to solve those problems quickly
-Spelling errors
-duplicate keywords
-going over the 50 KW limit

Spelling errors are taken care of by firefox by highlighting them, then duplicate keywords are automatically removed and the keywords are counted so I don't go over the limit.  It's also handy if you have a base set of keywords that you want to use for all images in a set and then add extra specific keywords for certain images.
[/MSG commercial]

and I am using it since the day you have posted about it

Tyler - that's a great tool. Not sure how I managed to miss that you had done this. I've bookmarked it. Thanks.

Something I can do in an editor (TextWrangler) if I need to, but would be great to do there too, is replace words or phrases - such as replace Front or Back Yard with yard, garden Particularly helpful for departing IS exclusives but might come in handy if there are new rules about certain product names.

Thanks everyone.
How do you keep track of the rejections from the various sites and know which files to resubmit where? Does Microstock submitter track approved and rejected files?

Quote from: mattdixon on December 17, 2012, 22:28
Thanks everyone.
How do you keep track of the rejections from the various sites and know which files to resubmit where? Does Microstock submitter track approved and rejected files?

no it doesn't.  I don't keep track of rejected files most of the time.  If I uploaded a file to a site that I want to fix and reupload I make a copy of that fixed file and put it in a folder for that site 'to upload'.

i use exiftool gui [free] to add iptc & xmp data - the agencies wont admit it, but they differ in where they find the data - they dont all take the 'title' and 'description' properly.  having both iptc and xmp helps

the i use MS free prophoto2 to add keywords - it's easier.  both allow battch editing and the workflow is smooth .  i keep all my captions & keywords on a spreadsheet so it's just cut n paste

Quote from: mattdixon on December 17, 2012, 22:28
Thanks everyone.
How do you keep track of the rejections from the various sites and know which files to resubmit where? Does Microstock submitter track approved and rejected files?

I use an Excel spreadsheet to track submissions, rejections, earnings, keywords, etc.

Quote from: mattdixon on December 17, 2012, 22:28
Thanks everyone.
How do you keep track of the rejections from the various sites and know which files to resubmit where? Does Microstock submitter track approved and rejected files?

I move the aliases to an accepted folder or rejected folder (they are within the agency folder). For places like PhotoDune that are so inconsistent in reviews, I don't bother with outcome, just have a Submitted folder so I don't upload duplicate work.

If I make changes to a file, the updated JPEG is orginal_name-v2.jpg so I have the original for those agencies that received it. If I make no changes but make something smaller (some sites have small maximum file sizes that some panoramas violate), I name that original_name-smaller.jpg. Unless an agency sells really well or there's a stupid error I didn't notice in the original, I don't bother resubmitting, but if I do, the original_name.jpg alias will be in the rejected sub folder and original_name-v2.jpg alias in the accepted folder.

Yep, another vote for Photoshop here.  I just recently wrote a blog post about why you shouldn't use CNX to add keywords if you are a Nikon user (apologies for irrelevant link if you aren't)

http://stockcube-stockcube.blogspot.co.uk/

Veer also have quite a good 'keyword suggestionator' thingy, so sometimes it is worth putting an image up there first to see what it comes up with.

What is CNX?