Taming the Wild Pixel

Transcription

1 Taming the Wild Pixel Digital Imaging Standards Version 2.2 First presented on 11/15/2003; revised for PDF format on 1/15/2004

2 Digital Imaging Standards Taming the Wild Pixel By PACA s *** DISCo *** (D igital I maging S tandards Co mmittee) Presenters Dexter Lane Roger Ressmeyer David Herbig Klaus Plaumann Nancy Wolff New Orleans, November 15, 2003 PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 2

3 Digital Imaging Standards Taming the Wild Pixel At PACA s annual meeting in April 2003, a committee was formed to create standardized digital imaging guidelines for industry-wide consideration. DISCo was born! The committee s work began in a dynamic environment. Just as DISCo finalized standards based on Photoshop 7, Adobe released Photoshop CS (8). Immediately, metadata (textual image information) surfaced as the biggest concern. Photoshop s IPTC structure, developed for newspapers, causes confusion when applied to stock images...both rights-managed & royalty-free. It s poorly utilized & understood by archives & customers alike. Inconsistent use of metadata undermines the protection & control of image rights. For example, customers might look for image credits in the wrong place, or over-write the creator s copyright notification. PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 3

4 Digital Imaging Standards Taming the Wild Pixel IPTC Primer (for beginners others jump to slide 11) Q: What is IPTC Metadata? A: It s text stored in a digital image file's header the file s first bits & bytes. Many different software programs can read & write IPTC data. For example, when you mouse over a thumbnail with your internet browser, some IPTC image information is typically extracted & displayed. Q: How is IPTC Metadata viewed in Photoshop? A: IPTC data appears under File Info, found within the <File> menu. Access to Photoshop 7's "File Info" screens is demonstrated on the following two pages: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 4

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7 Digital Imaging Standards Taming the Wild Pixel There are several screens under File Info, each containing a different type of IPTC Information. The new, user-definable EXIF in Photoshop CS (8) holds great promise for customized data display. Photoshop 7's Five "File Info" screens follow: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 7

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11 Digital Imaging Standards Taming the Wild Pixel PACA s Standard IPTC fields As it has evolved, different versions of Photoshop use different labels for otherwise identical IPTC fields. (Note: PACA s standards work with Photoshop 6, 7, & CS) Therefore, on the following pages, IPTC field names are displayed three different times. Each representing a different Photoshop version, all three appear in one line, like this: Photoshop CS (8) // Photoshop 7 // Photoshop 6 The following pages demonstrate PACA DISCo's recommended use of IPTC PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 11

12 Taming the Wild Pixel PACA's Standard IPTC Fields 1 Author // Author // Byline Creator's name. The creator should enter this data, or it should be entered using the creator's specifications. Once save, this data should never be changed by anyone. Description // Caption // Caption Who, What, Where, When, Why & How, with the amount of detail depending on what's in the image & whether it's purpose is documentary or conceptual. Typically, editorial images come with complete caption text, while advertising images may not. An example of an editorial caption follows. This document's sample screens are all from Photoshop 7. PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 12

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14 Taming the Wild Pixel PACA's Standard IPTC Fields 2 Copyright Notice // Copyright Notice // Copyright Notice <date of first publication> copyright registrant (Posting to a website is probably publication, triggering registration deadlines. Copyright Office leaves that to you.) Usually, the copyright registrant is the creator / artist / photographer. Sometimes it is the archive, such as: 1. By contract, archive registers the freelancer's image, then instantly transfer the copyright back to the photographer. The archive remains the copyright holder of record, & therefore its name is used in the Copyright Notice field. 2. Archive can also do the paperwork for creators, by getting the creator s signature & registering copyright in the creator s name (the politically correct way). 3. If photographer is an employee of archive, it's work-for-hire. PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 14

15 Taming the Wild Pixel PACA's Standard IPTC Fields 2 Copyright Notice (continued) One Note: Scanning does not imply copyright. 1. Significant originality must be added to a work before the sum of its elements can be considered a "derivative work" subject to secondary protection. 2. Color enhancement alone is not considered sufficient. 3. For derivative works, such as customer-created composite images, the primary copyright remains with the underlying original(s). The secondary, or derivative copyright is subject to and controlled by the terms of the underlying, original copyright. Copyright Status is adjacent to Copyright Notice. When "Copyrighted Work" is selected, copyright symbols are seen when the image is open in Photoshop, as shown: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 15

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18 Taming the Wild Pixel PACA's Standard IPTC Fields 3 Copyright info URL // Owner URL // Image URL Displays the Web Address of the Supplier (generally the licensor) of this particular digital copy of an image 1. In other words, this URL field designates the digital file's source, which is also the place to go for licensing & payment terms. 2. The very same image, when supplied & licensed directly to the customer by the Creator, would list the URL of the creator s website. Example follows: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 18

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20 Taming the Wild Pixel PACA's Standard IPTC Fields 4 Credit // Credit // Credit 1. Either: Creator s Name / Archive (consider spaces before & after the / for easier reading) 2. Or: Creator s Name (Archive) 3. Be fair about equal weighting of text (caps, etc.) for equal visibility of both names The last name is the Licensor's, usually the archive This field may be modified by the licensing archive to reflect changes, such as when a new archive takes over the image's licensing rights. The first name is the Creator's -- the artist or photographer If already there, don't modify without permission. Example follows: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 20

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22 Taming the Wild Pixel IPTC Fields Discretionary Use 5 Headline // Headline // Headline Optional. May be used at the archive s discretion 1. As a shorter or poetic "Caption" to better sell the image. 2. To name "Fine Art" images for Gallery / Museum Plaques. 3. Important to the Press industry, but not always to stock. Document Title // Title // <Not in PS 6> The file name of the supplied digital file. Especially helpful data should your customer re-name the image file. Categories, Source, Original Transmission Reference Optional. No PACA recommendations at this time. Examples follow: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 22

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26 Taming the Wild Pixel IPTC Fields Discretionary Use 6 Date Created; City; State / Province; Country Optional. No standards are recommended, but consider this: 1. "Date Created" becomes increasingly important over time, ultimately playing a key role in privacy & publicity clearances. 2. A search on a location's city, state or country may be much faster when using these category fields instead of putting the data in the captions, which are formatted as "free text." Separating locations from captions allows fast, accurate searches & prevents "false returns" when other cities or countries are referenced in the captions or keywords. 3. For an example, visit A screen-shot follows: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 26

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28 Taming the Wild Pixel You may Say I m a Dreamer.. But I m not the only one. (John Lennon, 1981) Looking at several Photoshop Info screens is confusing. It becomes unclear how the credit should actually read, & where to go for rights. In a dream world, all the relevant facts could be seen together at a single glance. Consider an image marked as "copyrighted work". Ideally, when right-clicking to copy it, this one mostrelevant screen would pop up. To make this come true, PACA DISCo will seek the required support from Microsoft & Apple, as well as Adobe. PACA DISCo's Ideal IPTC Screen follows: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 28

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30 Taming the Wild Pixel You may Say I m a Dreamer.. Will Adobe bring some MOJO to this party? PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 30

31 Taming the Wild Pixel DISCo Recommended Archiving Formats TIFF (uncompressed)... and/or... JPEG (at 12, the least-compressed level, & only in recent Photoshop versions 6-8) Examples follow: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 31

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34 Taming the Wild Pixel Recommended Working Color Spaces Use Adobe RGB (1998) for archiving If you don t use Adobe RGB, use another space already built into Photoshop, such as ColorMatch RGB. Otherwise, you will must "embed" the space into each image, adding 1/2 MB. Use srgb only when preparing files for web-use (srgb has limited gamut, or color range). Do not archive images tagged with spaces used for scanning or printing only working. Do not convert older files... leave them in their original space. Ask Photographers to convert digital camera files into your company's color space before submission. Examples follow: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 34

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38 Taming the Wild Pixel Additional Standards to Consider Calibration of Monitors, Scanners, & Printers Color spaces are useless when your monitors aren t calibrated to standard brightness, contrast & color temperatures. PACA DISCo intends to list & review calibration devices & systems on PACA's website. We need everybody's help! Please information about your calibration equipment to Roger Ressmeyer (roger@ressmeyer.com) & Dexter Lane (dexter@peterarnold.com). Include comments about the equipment's good & bad features, documentation quality, & customer service. Comments will remain anonymous. Please do this today! Two example systems follow: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 38

39 Spyder Inexpensive Monitor Calibrator

40 Eye-One CRT / LCD Monitor Calibrator

41 Taming the Wild Pixel Additional Standards to Consider Batch-writing IPTC metadata to multiple files PACA DISCo intends to list & review commercially available metadata management software on PACA's website. We need everybody's help! Please the name, manufacturer and other details about your image management software to Roger Ressmeyer & Dexter Lane Include comments about the software's good & bad features, documentation quality, & customer service. Comments will remain anonymous. Please do this today! Two examples follow: PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 41

42 PixVue batch metadata editing / entry

43 Photo Mechanic batch image manager

44 Photo Mechanic batch metadata entry

45 Taming the Wild Pixel PACA DISCo Next Steps Now Finalize PACA recommendations Propose them to other industry groups Add standards relating to photographers & customers Lobby & negotiate for industry consensus Later Lobby Adobe to adopt PACA's Ideal IPTC Screen, or to address the need via EXIF Lobby Microsoft & Apple to improve their operating systems' protection of Intellectual Property. Browsers could include better copy-blocking / copyright notification; a better view into metadata Create educational materials for archives, creators & customers PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 45

46 Taming the Wild Pixel Current DISCo Participants PACA DISCo has 15 committee members. DISCo consults with Adobe, ASMP, ASPP, EP, PACA s membership, European organizations, photographers Jeff Schewe (Pixel Genius) & Seth Resnick (D-65), PACA imaging experts & legal counsel. Anticipated future participants include CEPIC, BAPLA, BVPA Digital Committee (in Germany, represented today by Klaus Plaumann), and many other organizations large & small. Please suggestions & contact data for new participants or committee members to Dave Herbig (dherbig@jps.net). PACA DISCo January 15, 2004 Page 46

47 Taming the Wild Pixel Our Team Dexter Lane & Roger Ressmeyer Co-Chairs Dave Herbig Delimont, Herbig & Associates Nancy Wolff Wolff & Godin, LLC Curt Chambers Punchstock Bahar Gidwani Index Stock Imagery Celli Hott Digital Graphics USA Yoav Levy Phototake USA Lindsey Nicholson WireImageSTOCK John Orren Super Stock Marc Rude Super Stock Sal Signe Digital Graphics USA George Sinclair The Virtual Picture Desk Derek Sussaki Comstock Images Randy Taylor StockMedia.net Simon Tucker Image Source Gale Wisdom Index Stock Imagery PACA DISCo 2004 by PACA Digital Image Standards v /15/2004

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