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Greetings!
I am new to this group and a freelance photographer in the process of readying my best images for placement in searchable image libraries on the Internet. I learned about IPTC Guidelines and the IPTC4XMP Working group by participating in the Controlled Vocabulary forum.
I’ve reviewed your IPTC tutorial carefully and would like to offer the following suggestions for improvement to the IPTC Core. I'm not a computer geek, just a practical-minded user who has been struggling with what has been provided to us in Adobe Photoshop CS2.
1. DOCUMENT TITLE: A modest number of new and less confusing fields are needed to satisfy image-makers with agency representation. One of my agents, for example, strips the photographer’s photo ID info from the Document Title field and replaces it with his own file identification number. So his ID number ends up in the Title field on the IPTC STATUS page, leaving no field for my ID number. He tells me to put my ID elsewhere, as in the Description Writer field, which I find unacceptable. Two Photo ID fields are needed, one for the photographer and one for the agent, perhaps named Photographer’s (or Maker's) File ID and Agent’s (or Rep's) File ID. I’m sure this is a feature that most photographers and agents would appreciate.
2. COPYRIGHT NOTICE: My agent is using the following format for this field, even though inappropriate: Copyright 2006 Photographer/Agency. None of my images were created under a work-for-hire agreement, and all photos are registered with the Copyright Office in my name. I suspect that my agent has tacked on his name because he wants to be certain that his preferred “Credit Line” will appear on the opening page of the File Info menu, i.e. the DESCRIPTION page, the first to be seen by buyers/users.
To keep everyone happy, I suggest creating a new field for “Credit Line” on the Description page that would be linked to the "Provider" field on the IPTC STATUS page. And to clarify things for all users, the “Provider” field should be re-named “Credit Line.” Forcing users to study and remember terminology as defined in a set of User Guidelines is impractical – call a "cow" a cow, not a "bovine beast" -- the word "Provider" is ambiguous.
I realize that the DESCRIPTION page is not part of the IPTC core, but exactly what/whose URL should appear in the “Copyright Info URL” field on this opening page? This is one field that I believe could be deleted altogether. Copyright has been adequately addressed elsewhere.
3. SOURCE/PROVIDER: These terms are too similar; and not surprisingly, my agent has reversed their intended function as described in your IPTC Users Guidelines. See my comments above (#2). What is to be entered in any field should be clearly indicated by the name given that field. If “Source” means “Copyright Holder” of the photo, then please label it "Copyright Holder."
4. PHONE NUMBERS: Does it matter whether written +1 (520) 7434551 or +1(520)7434551? How does one distinguish between home/work/cellular/fax numbers?
5. DATE CREATED: Based on recent comments on the CV forum, I'm sure you are all well aware of problems here. This field should accommodate day/month/year, month/year, or simply year. Those of us with photo archives pre-dating digital capture may only know the year or month/year of creation, information that is often important to that visual record.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide this input. I hope these suggestions will help to make the next version of the IPTC core more useful and user-friendly for all.
I would also greatly appreciate hearing from others in this forum who have experienced such practical problems in using the IPTC Core as it now stands.
Thomas Wiewandt
www.wildhorizons.com <http://www.wildhorizons.com>
tom@...
___________________________
Thomas Wiewandt
Wild Horizons®
P. O. Box 5118
Tucson, AZ 85703
Tel.520-743-4551; Fax.520-743-4552
E-mail: tom@...
Website: www.wildhorizons.com
Courier Deliveries Only:
5757 West Sweetwater Dr.
Tucson, AZ 85745 USA
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Thomas Wiewandt <tom@...>
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