Metadata in Affinity Photo for Mac

[Allsop]

I am trying once more to get to grips with Affinity Photo and have a question about metadata. How can I view the metadata of a photograph and to add keywords? 

[firstdefence]

There is an EXIF Panel View > Studio > EXIF Within this Panel you have the options to view information as a Summary, All, RAW Data

 

You can add information into a Description section but I don't think that's what you want is it?

 

 

 

[Allsop]

Thanks firstdefence for your quick reply. That answers part of my question as I now know where to find the exif details. :-) But is sounds that it is not possible to add keywords---unless you know better? Cheers.

[firstdefence]

Unfortunately there is no way to add keywords etc, it is purely a view and comment option for now. Personally I think it would be a definite asset to have EXIF editing in Affinity but at the moment it's not possible.

 

You will have to look for a 3rd party app for EXIF editing  what OS are you on?

 

• Windows: http://www.colorpilot.com/exif.html
• OSX: https://setexifdata.soft32.com
• Both: 
  • https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ 
  • https://sourceforge.net/projects/analogexif/

 

I'm sure there are more and favourites that people here use.

[Allsop]

Thanks. I agree it would be nice! I can add keywords in another app i have but just thought to do it all in one would be good.

[firstdefence]

28 minutes ago, Allsop said:

Thanks. I agree it would be nice! I can add keywords in another app i have but just thought to do it all in one would be good.

That makes sense I'm sure if you keep asking they will eventually cave and add EXIF editing 

[John Rostron]

Adobe Bridge is now free and has some good Exif handling, including adding metadata to many files at once, plus creating and applying metadata templates.

John

[v_kyr]

5 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Both: 

• https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ 

 

Ironically APh uses and comes along with Exiftool, but they don't make full use out of it's capabilities (like adding XMP keywords, custom user-defined tags etc.). 

[firstdefence]

8 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Ironically APh uses and comes along with Exiftool, but they don't make full use out of it's capabilities (like adding XMP keywords, custom user-defined tags etc.). 

sweet mother of.mp4

[Allsop]

Thanks for this. 

[- S -]

8 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Ironically APh uses and comes along with Exiftool, but they don't make full use out of it's capabilities (like adding XMP keywords, custom user-defined tags etc.). 

I recall them saying that they're looking into replacing ExifTool in the future.  Therefore I get the impression it was possibly only a temporary solution until they had more time to work on developing their DAM software.

As it is they're stuck with a 32-bit unsigned executable, and although I use ExifTool myself to bulk edit incorrect 'Date Taken' fields, I know some AV programs don't like it as they will keep scanning it before allowing it to run due to it not being signed.  If I remember correctly there was something odd about it that meant it couldn't be signed because the signing process writes to the end of the executable, which is where ExifTool stores it's own resources.

[v_kyr]

@Sima for sure since it's initially a Perl based solution and on Windows systems the ActivePerl related stand alone executable is pl lib dependent and always needs to be forked as a process in order to be run. Also since Exiftool is not available in a C/C++ exif library integrateable manner, in contrast to libs like the Exiv2 C++ library or libexif C library, they might want to go that way instead.

@firstdefence just seeing an incomplete not shown up [5a] above instead of some GIF image.

[firstdefence]

9 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

@Sima for sure since it's initially a Perl based solution and on Windows systems the ActivePerl related stand alone executable is pl lib dependent and always needs to be forked as a process in order to be run. Also since Exiftool is not available in a C/C++ exif library integrateable manner, in contrast to libs like the Exiv2 C++ library or libexif C library, they might want to go that way instead.

@firstdefence just seeing an incomplete not shown up [5a] above instead of some GIF image.

Yo, yeah I was swapping the gif out for an mp4 and the dinner bell went so everything else lost focus as I ran downstairs and into the kitchen with fork in-hand lol!

 

Ps. running down a stairs in socks will not ever go well, needless to say I have bruised cheeks, we'll leave it at that 

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I know that I am pretty late for this discussion, but I also was looking for a way to add keywords to my finished images.

I just purchased APh a few weeks ago and I am still learning how to use it.

It took me 3 years to perfect my techniques with Photoshop CS5, but when I upgraded my Mac from Lion OS to High Sierra the old PSCS5 no longer worked.

That was when I found APh.

Aph seems to have a lot of CS5's tools, although the way they are controlled is a little different. I will eventually learn them like I did with CS5.

However, since I make my living as a photographic artist I upload my artwork to many stock photo sites for sale and they require good metadata.

In CS5 there was an XMP panel where I could add the title description and keywords, but just as was mentioned in your discussions, it seems that only a description can be entered using APh.

I have found that I can use my Mac's "Get Info" tool to add keywords, which in Mac are simply called Tags. But not all of the stock sites I upload to recognize those Mac based tags, which forces me to re-enter them manually at the upload site.

I think it would be a good idea to add some kind of XMP or EXIF ability for adding keywords in a program update in the future.

When I studied the contents of my old CS5 program folders there was an XMP plugin.

Perhaps there is a way to add this ability to APh as some kind of Plugin.

[walt.farrell]

Just now, LindaH said:

All I want to see are the dimensions. I have seen on videos that if you click the camera icon on the right it will show all kids of metadata. I have seen just the dimensions but can’t seem to find the setting myself. 

I'm not sure what "camera icon on the right" you're referring to.

To see the dimensions of your current image just switch to the View Tool (the Hand icon) and the dimensions will be on the Context Toolbar:

Or, if the file contains EXIF data, you can look in the EXIF panel in the Studio:

[kevinmcsherry]

Hi all,
I'm late to this conversation but the Metadata issue is an important one for me too. I was hoping that you could clear a few things up for me:

1. As an editorial illustrator, the IPTC meta info seemed to be important -it meant I could put in © info and make my images searchable in newspapers' systems and therefore get extra usage out of an  image. Affinity Photo doesn't seem to read IPTC info at all; is this because IPTC info is not necessary these days? 

2. I've been using NeoFinder lately as it seems to be faster on my Mac than the native search function. I can enter all the info I need , including IPTC and it seems to stay put after exportation. Has anyone else had experience with NeoFinder? I've also been using EXIF Editor but I find it's not as useful as NeoFinder. Screenshots supplied.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I've never used this "NeoFinder" so I would not know how to use it.
The only thing I wish I could do with the metadata was add keywords that would be recognized by the stock sites I upload to.

[kevinmcsherry]

Amen to that

I used NeoFinder to put in metadata with keywords and the Adobe Stock site picked them up - see the attached screenshot. Maybe that would work on the other sites? I discovered that you can save XMP metadata and paste it to other files.

[VillageHiker]

IPTC editing is important for photo journalists. While EXIF entries typically come from cameras or scanners—and require few changes—editing time and location can be useful for correcting errors. I currently use ExifTool for editing IPTC, but would like to see complete IPTC support in AP. GraphicConverter for the Mac from LemkeSoft in Germany contains a recent version of ExifTool. GC is not a competitor with AP.