Photo Mechanic 4.5.3 Manual

PHOTO MECHANIC USER GUIDE
Version 4.5.3
Camera Bits, Inc. www.camerabits.com
Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3
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Photo Mechanic Users Guide
Copyright (c) 1998 - 2007 Camera Bits, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual, as well as the Photo Mechanic software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of the license. The information in this manual is supplied for informational use only, and is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Camera Bits, Inc. Camera Bits, Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this guide. This guide may be reproduced only in support of the use of Photo Mechanic. Other uses should be considered outside the terms of the license. Please remember that artwork or images in this guide are protected under copyright law, and may not be used without the permission of the author of the images. Photo Mechanic and Quantum Mechanic are registered trademarks of Camera Bits, Inc. The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations: Apple, Finder, PowerBook, Mac, Macintosh, Power Macintosh (Apple Inc.), Adobe, Acrobat, Photoshop (Adobe Systems Inc.), Kodak (Eastman Kodak Company), Windows, Windows 2000, Windows XP (Microsoft Corporation) All other brand names or products are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. For defense agencies: Restricted Rights Legend. Use, reproduction or disclosure is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.27-7013. For civilian agencies: Restricted Rights Legend. Use, reproduction or disclosure is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraphs (a) through (d) of the commercial Computer Software in Restricted Rights clause at 52.227-19 and the limitations set forth in Camera Bits, Inc. licensing agreement for this software. Unpublished rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States.
Credits
Camera Bits, Inc. Dennis Walker, Concept, Application Design and Engineering Kirk A. Baker, Application Design and Engineering Bill W. Kelly, Application and Web Engineering Bob Russell, Support Manager Jerry Hebert, Support Katie Werremeyer, Sales Manager Jamie Brown, Sales Manual written by Nick Rains (www.nickrains.com) Camera Bits, Inc. would like to thank the following for their support and ideas: Rob Galbraith (www.robgalbraith.com) Kevin Gilbert, Nick Didlick, and Reed Hoffmann of Blue Pixel (www.bluepixel.net) Bob Deutsch of USA Today David Breslauer Photo Mechanic uses software contained in the following libraries: libjpeg (www.ijg.org) libtiff (www.libtiff.org) Adobe XMP (www.adobe.com) libxml (www.xmlsoft.org) libiconv (www.gnu.org/software/libiconv) SDL (www.libsdl.org) libresample (ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~jos/resample/Free_Resampling_Software.html) This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. TIFF support is 1988-1996 Sam Leffler and 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics Inc.
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Table of Contents
What is Photo Mechanic? Mac / Windows Compatibility Registering File Formats Getting Started Contact Sheet Window The Main Window View Panes Folders and Navigator Single Images Selection,Tags, and Color Classes Selecting Images Tagging Color Classes Color Class Widget Star Rating Star Rating Widget External Compatibility Sorting Finding Arrangements Preview Views Images Side by Side Info Panel Crop Tool Zoom Panel Histogram Editing Rotating Photos Preview and 2-Up Editing Greg Gorman Key Zoom and Lock Slide Show Edit Live Slide Show Batch Captioning IPTC Stationery Pad IPTC Info Keywords Structured Keywords Code Replacement Find and Replace Snapshots Image Variables Variable Substring Extraction Variables List User/Client Variables Info Variable RAW + JPEG Ingesting Images Ingest Tasks Spotlight Search Find Image Renaming Files 4 6 7 8 10 11 11 12 13 14 15 15 15 16 16 18 18 18 20 20 21 22 22 23 24 25 26 26 28 28 29 29 30 31 32 33 33 36 37 38 42 44 45 46 47 48 55 56 57 59 63 64 67 68
with Hyperlinks
69 70 70 70 71 71 72 74 75 78 78 79 80 80 83 83 84 85 85 87 88 89 89 89 90 94 94 95 97 97 99 104 104 105 107 110 112 116 117 118 119 120 120 121 122 122 122 123 123 126 128 132
Copying Files Miscellaneous Tools Playing Sounds Watermarking Output Edit in External Editor Save As Email FTP Uploading Upload Services Upload to PhotoShelter Upload to Digital Railroad Export/Web Gallery Export Export Text Export XML Burning CD/DVDs Printing Printing Contact Sheets Printing Proof Sheets JPEG Compression Color Management Display Embed Profile Workflow Command Summary File menu Edit menu Image menu View menu Tools menu Preferences General Preferences Contact Sheet Preferences Files Preferences Launching Preferences IPTC/XMP Preferences Preview Preferences Caching Preferences Caching Preferences Color Management Preferences Exporting Preferences Importing Preferences Toolbar Shortcut Keys Contact Sheet Keys Preview Window Keys Slideshow Keys Menu Shortcuts Modifier Key FAQs Index
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What is Photo Mechanic?
What is Photo Mechanic?

Photo Mechanic Concepts
Photo Mechanic sets out to be the most useful Photo Browser on the market today. It does this by being logical in operation, intuitive in use and, most importantly of all, performing its functions as quickly as possible. The other less obvious approach is that Photo Mechanic does not try to be all things to all people. Photo Mechanic is all about efficiently and quickly moving new files onto your computer and then letting you view and edit those images as quickly as possible. Photo Mechanic is flexible and unobtrusive so that you can get on with your work without having to wait for your computer to catch up or to work its way through background operations you may not need. The basic concept of Photo Mechanic is simple. Point the Navigator to a folder and Photo Mechanic will generate thumbnails of all the images contained in that folder. Right away you can start previewing the files individually at full screen and mark them with various levels of keepability. Right from within Photo Mechanic you can open into Photoshop for editing or RAW processing, you can email custom sized JPEGs to a client, you can export to a web page gallery, you can rename all the files and add IPTC copyright data, or all of the above and more. Photo Mechanic is not an image editor, it is not a RAW processor and it is not a cataloging application. Photo Mechanic is about importing images, and then viewing and organizing them as quickly and efficiently as possible. By concentrating on these core tasks it aims to be the best at what it does. The Contact Sheet view is the core of Photo Mechanic and consists of a display of thumbnailed images from a particular folder. You can create Contact Sheets from more than one folder and either keep them separate or combine them into one Contact Sheet view. All recognized file formats in the folder will be thumbnailed, including RAW files from most current digital cameras as well as the open source Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) format. Each thumbnail can be quickly enlarged into a Preview screen where each image may be zoomed up to 800% to check critical sharpness. Images may be cropped and a right-click context sensitive menu allows export of the image in various ways, like FTP to a server, Email, Save as JPEG, etc. Images may be viewed 2-up for a side by side comparison when, for example in portraiture, differences between images can be too subtle for a single image view. Contact Sheets and Previews are generated as fast as possible with the emphasis being on productivity rather than unnecessary background operations: photographers want to see their images right away and Photo Mechanic displays thumbnails from a folder in the blink of an eye. In addition to viewing images, the other major function of Photo Mechanic is to efficiently move images from an external data folder, such as a Compact Flash card,
Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3 Page 4
onto the users computer. Simply copying the files from the card is OK, but Photo Mechanic adds the ability to perform other operations at the same time thus saving time later by not having to double handle files. Whilst files are being downloaded, or Ingested, Photo Mechanic can rename them, back them up to a secondary destination and edit the metadata of the files to assist in subsequent cataloging. Once copied, the ubiquitous Contact Sheet view shows all the images in an easy to customize manner and provides tools for sophisticated editing using 9 different Color Classes (1 - 8 and None), 5-Star Ratings, and a Tag check box for each image. Photo Mechanic then is the perfect tool for the first two stages in any workflow - getting the files onto the computer, and then editing them into meaningful sets. Photo Mechanic also allows output of files into a variety of formats which can be Saved, made into Web Galleries as well as FTPed or emailed via the Internet.
User Interface Conventions

Contextual menus: one button mouse/trackpad users on Mac OS X can hold down the Ctrl key whilst clicking to display a contextual menu for the current user interface element. Users with two button (or more) mice can simply click the right button to display a contextual menu for the current user interface element. Throughout the manual various operations will be performed by right-clicking on user interface elements. One button mouse users should instead Ctrl-click on the indicated user interface element.
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Mac / Windows Compatibility
Mac / Windows Compatibility

It is strongly recommended that all users read this first. Photo Mechanic operates almost identically on both platforms, the main differences being the Mac Operating System includes utilities like Spotlight Search and RAW Conversion, plus some of the keyboard shortcuts and modifier keys. Preferences appear the same with minor layout differences and the absence of the RAW tab on the Windows version. Keyboard Shortcuts: The keyboard shortcuts list at the end of the manual is the Mac list, fortunately all the shortcuts are specified on all the menus themselves so its easy to see what the Windows equivalent will be. Mostly the differences are the combinations of modifier keys:
Option/Alt (Mac) and Alt (Windows and Mac) are not really equivalent. The Option key is the Modifier key on the Mac. Ctrl (Mac) = Ctrl (Windows) and appears like a caret ^ on the Mac menus Shift(Mac) = Shift (Windows). The Shift key is the Modifier key in the Windows version. Command (z) has no direct equivalent. In most cases the Ctrl key will have the same effect in Windows. For example, a z-click in the Preview window will zoom in, use Ctrl-click on Windows for the same result. For the purposes of clarity the z key symbol or Cmd has been used in the manual, for Windows users please use the Ctrl key instead.
Registering
Registering Photo Mechanic

Registration
Registration for Photo Mechanic is quick and simple. When you have downloaded the software and installed it you will be prompted by this screen when you launch the software. Your Password will be emailed to you at the time you pay for the full license. Simply fill in the details and enter the password. Using Cut and Paste works well here and avoids typing mistakes - make sure you dont include any spaces or extra characters when you do this. If you bought a license as an individual then you do not need to enter anything for Department, just your name, exactly as it appears in the purchase confirmation email. It is also recommended that you save the registration email somewhere safe in case you need to re-install for any reason. Please note that the license allows use of Photo Mechanic on a desktop and a laptop as long as they are used by the same person. You can install the software on your laptop and the same Name and Password will register it.
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File Formats
File Formats
Recognized File Types
Image File Formats: BMP EPS-TIFF GIF JPEG PSD PICT PNG TIFF TGA RAW file formats: ARW CR2 CRW/THM DNG ERF MOS NEF ORF PEF RAF RAW SR2 SRF STI TIF Movie file formats: AVI MOV MPEG MPEG4 Windows Bitmap Encapsulated Postscript with TIFF preview Graphics Interchange Format Joint Photographic Experts Group Photoshop (saved in maximum compatibility mode) Mac Pict format Portable Network Graphics Tagged Image File Format Targa
Sony RAW Format Canon RAW Format Canon RAW/THM pair Digital Negative Format Epson RAW Format Leaf RAW Format Nikon RAW Format Olympus RAW Format Pentax RAW Format Fuji RAW Format Panasonic/Leica RAW Format Sony RAW Format Sony RAW Format Sinar RAW Format Canon 1D/1D RAW TIFF Format
Windows AVI QuickTime Movie MPEG 2 Movie MPEG 4 Movie
Where a file format is not properly recognized, Photo Mechanic will attempt to retrieve any embedded tiff/jpg previews. In many cases, such as the Phase One backs, the resulting thumbnail will be very small. If the Size to Fit Preview/SlidePhoto Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3 Page 8
show option is set in Preferences Photo Mechanic will enlarge this preview to fill the window and the image will look pixellated. Some file formats need QuickTime to be installed. These formats are GIF, PSD, PICT, BMP and TGA. All movie files need QuickTime to be displayed as thumbs. Macs will have QuickTime already installed, so this applies to Windows computers only.
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Getting Started
Getting Started
First Use
When you launch Photo Mechanic for the first time you will see an empty Contact Sheet window and the main menu bar at the top of the screen. There are several ways to open a new Contact Sheet. 1. Select File / New Contact Sheet Tab (zN) to open a blank Contact Sheet within the main window. Then drag and drop a folder into the main part of the Contact Sheet. Any images within that folder will be displayed as a series of thumbnails. 2. Select File / Open Contact Sheet (zO) to open an existing folder as a new Contact Sheet. An Open dialog box will appear so you can navigate to the folder you wish to work with. 3. Drag a folder from the desktop onto the Photo Mechanic icon. Choose a folder and Photo Mechanic will quickly generate a Contact Sheet of thumbnails for all the image files in that folder. You can setup Photo Mechanic to start up in a variety of ways. By default Photo Mechanic starts up with an empty Contact Sheet window. You can set it to instead present an Open dialog, or you can have it open the last opened Contact Sheet. This setting can be set in the General tab of the Preferences dialog.
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Contact Sheet Window
Contact Sheets
The Main Window
Thumbnail Size Slider Toolbar
This is the main window that you will be using in Photo Mechanic, where you will view all the image files in your folders.
Open New Tab Sort Order View Criteria Upload to PhotoShelter Quick Search Burn CD/ DVD Color Management On/Off
Contact Sheet Tab Favorites Panel
Customisable Thumbnail label
Navigator Panel
Status Info Rotate Thumb
Tag Checkbox
Star Rating Widget
Color Class Widget
Images appear as individual thumbnails with the image file name displayed underneath. Hovering the mouse over an image will reveal up to 4 icons, two for rotation of the thumbnail, one for IPTC Info Display and the other to trigger the Preview window for more detailed viewing. Rotations are only performed on the display, it is one of Photo Mechanics basic operating philosophies that, as far as is possible, no changes are made to the image data in your valuable files. Below each thumbnail is a small check box to tag the image and a grey strip, the Color Class Bar, which will change as images are Color Classed or Star Rated in subsequent editing. Each Thumb can have up to 3 lines of further {variable} info displayed, much like Tool Tips but displayed on each thumb. Enable these labels in Preferences under the Contact Sheet Tab.
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IPTC Info Display
Preview Color Class and Star Rating Bar
The Main View
On the Toolbar is a slider to control the size of the thumbs; this is interactive and can also be set to a default size in Preferences. When you return to a contact sheet after closing it the thumbnail sizes will be as set in Preferences. Across the top of the main area window are Tabs, one per open Contact Sheet. Tabs can be selected by clicking on them or dragged between multiple open windows. This makes is easy to view many Contact Sheets of many different folders. Photo Mechanic has context-sensitive menus. Right-clicking (or Ctrl-clicking) on a thumbnail, or selection of thumbnails, brings up menu of available operations. The same commands can be found in the various menus.
Right-click on a thumbnail to bring up this context sensitive menu. (On a single button mouse use the Ctrl key.)
View Panes
There are various ways to configure the Main View, these can be selected from the main menu under View. Show/Hide Toolbar - toggles on and off the Toolbar under the main menu at the top of the screen. It contains basic file operation Icons, the Thumbnail Size slider, Sort Options and Color Management On/Off. Navigator - this is the familiar Folder View for navigation within the directory structure of your computer. Use this pane to select the folder you wish Photo Mechanic to make a contact sheet from. Double-click to open the folder as a new Contact Sheet. Option-Double-Click to add a Folder to the currently open contact sheet Favorites - a very useful pane in which you can set folders as Favorites to speed up navigation. This can be very useful if a folder is deep down in the directory structure and you need to refer to it often. The Favorites and Navigator can be resized by dragging the splitter bars between the panes. Double-clicking the splitters will cause them to collapse. Double-clicking a collapsed splitter will cause it to expand to its original position.
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Folders and Navigator
Folders operate much the same way as they do in other programs but Photo Mechanic adds refinement with the Favorites and Navigator to allow easy access to commonly used folders. Navigator is a view of the familiar hierarchy of folders which can be opened to reach sub-folders etc. By dragging a folder from Navigator into the Favorites panel you now have essentially a shortcut to that folder without having to fully negotiate the folder hierarchy. A good way of working is to have the folders you are working with visible in the Favorites pane, and use them to copy and move files around. Dragging a folder into the Contact Sheet area will open it as a Contact Sheet. You can drag images from the Contact Sheet view onto any folder to move them, or hold the Option key to copy them instead of moving them. To remove a Favorite Folder, right-click (Ctrl-click) on it and choose Remove. There are some other nice refinements to the Favorites and Navigator Panels: Right-click (Ctrl-click) on a Navigator or Favorite folder to bring up the above menus. You can set a color for the Folder to aid in distinguishing them later. You can add a new folder within an existing folder, the parent folder is then shown with a small triangle to the left of its title to indicate that it can be expanded. To combine two folders into one Contact Sheet, right-click (Ctrl-click) the folder you want to add in and select the Open in Current Contact Sheet option. Optiondouble-click will also open the folder in the current contact sheet window. To remember the set of folders you are currently browsing as a Contact Sheet tab use the Remember Folders... menu item on the File menu. This will allow you to set a name for the set of folders and once named will cause a Multi-Folder favorite to be created in the Favorites panel.
A newly created MultiFolder favorite. To open it as a Contact Sheet you can double-click it, or you can use its contextual menu to open it. You can also rename it or remove it via the contextual menu. Page 13
Single Images
Shortcut keystrokes are a good way to speed up operations and are worth taking the time to learn. When there is only a single image selected or highlighted in the Contact Sheet window there are certain shortcut keystrokes that can be used: A E T + or = - or _ ] [ I U 1-8 0 Space bar Arrow keys move the selection around Play audio if any. Pressing A again will stop the playback Edit photo with external editor application Toggle tag Tag image Untag image Rotate Clockwise 90 Rotate Counter-Clockwise 90 Edit IPTC Info Upload via FTP Set color class Clear color class Preview image
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Selection,Tags, and Color Classes
Selection,Tags, and Color Classes

Selecting Images
In the Contact Sheet window simply click once on a thumbnail to select it. Notice that the background changes color when you do this. In Preferences you can customize this to pick a background color that you can quickly recognize. A good combination to use is light grey for unselected, with black text and dark grey or black with white text for selected images. The important thing is to be able to tell at a glance which images are selected or not. To select multiple images together, hold down the z key and click another image. Holding down the Shift key selects images between your first selected image and a new selected image. Images can be removed from a selection by clicking on them again whilst holding down the z key. To clear the selection simply click on another image, outside the images completely or zD to Deselect All. (The effect of the Shift and z modifier keys can be swapped in Preferences)
Tagging
Keyboard Shortcut (For a Selection) Tag : z+ Untag : z-
A Tagged image is one which has the small checkbox ticked in the lower right of the thumbnail. Tagging is distinct from Color Class as it is an on/off facility and can be used in parallel with the Color Classes to allow a huge variety of editing and categorizing strategies. To Tag an image simply click in the check box or, with a selection of images, z+ Tags and z- Untags. For a single image T will Tag it. zT selects all tagged images. F3 will filter the view to show Tagged Images only. Modifier-click on the Tag box in a selection of images to Tag or Untag the whole selection.
Tag Checkbox
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Color Classes
One of the fundamental features in Photo Mechanic is the ability to mark images with 8 different color classes plus None. This allows an Editor to make subtle distinctions between image groups based on whatever criteria are deemed necessary. For example, a photographer might like to divide images up into Top Shots, Keepers, Not Sure and Oh dear!. Like everything in Photo Mechanic, Color Classes are fully customizable in Preferences and so you could use Classes like these if you choose. The Defaults are Winner, Winner Alt, Superior etc but there is no reason why you cannot use your own Classes, and colors if you like.
Click on a color box to choose different colors.
Type here to change the name of the Color Class
To use the Color Classes simply hit a number key when you have a single image selected and a bar beneath the thumbnail will change to the appropriate color. If you want to set a color class for a multiple selection, just hold the z key down when you hit the number key. If you click on the color bar under a thumbnail the Color Classes list will appear for yet another way to set the Color Class. To apply a Color Class to a selection, use the Modifier key when making the change and the new class will apply to the whole set. See Slideshow for another way to use Color Classes.
Color Class Widget
The Color Class Widget can be seen at the bottom right of the Contact Sheet window. To use it make sure the check box is ticked and then click on a color box to either display or hide images of that particular color class. The last box on the right toggles on and off those images with no set color class. You can click-drag the mouse pointer across all the boxes to check or uncheck the colored squares. Using this widget, together with tagging, gives you a huge variety of ways of sorting out your images to suit your own personal style of working. Along with Star Ratings, Color Classes are also compatible with Adobe Bridge and Lightroom.
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Color Class Widget
Below you will see a typical Contact Sheet display where the all the images have been assigned different color classes. The Color Class Widget at the bottom right has all colors showing so all Color Classes are displayed.
Color Class Widget set to display all Classes.
By turning on only the Red Class in the Color Class Widget, only images with that Color Class will be shown, as seen below. Modifier-click on a Color to show only that Color and again to turn all colors on again. Modifier-click on an off color to turn that color on and the other colors off.
Color Class Widget set to display only 1 Class
You can also drag your cursor over the widget to toggle the colors on and off. To remove all filtering and show all images choose View All from the View menu or press F1. z-F1 through z-F9 will also filter the Color Classes. To set a Color Class display default, set the Widget to display the Classes you want, right-click on the Widget and select Set as Default. Later you can reset the Widget to the new default by right-clicking and choosing Restore to Default.
Star Rating
Star Ratings work in much the same way as Color Classes, and the combination of the two allows for quite sophisticated ranking and sorting. One benefit of the Star Rating is that it can be read by other applications so a rated folder of images can be viewed in other apps with the Star Ratings still intact. To set a Rating on a selected image or group of images in the Contact Sheet view use Ctrl-1 to 5 to set the number of stars. On individual thumbnails click the Star Rating you want or drag the mouse over the stars to increase or decrease the rating.
Star Rating Widget
To display differently rated images you can use the Star Rating Widget to the left of the Color Class Widget and it operates in all the same way as the Color Class widget. This filters Star Rated images but does not select them.
To actually select certain Star Ratings, Cmd-Option-3, for example, will select all images currently displayed in the contact sheet with a Star Rating of 3. To use the mouse to display certain Ratings just click on the Star/Number you wish to show. You can have any, all or some Ratings displayed, shown by dark or light Star/Numbers. You can drag the mouse over the Stars to include more ratings. The check box to the left of each Widget disables the effects of that Widget, showing all images in the contact sheet. Note that the Widgets operate on the current Contact Sheet of displayed images, not necessarily the entire folder. In other words if you have set the Color Class Widget to show only thumbnails with a Red label, the Star Rating Widget will then sort Star Rated images within this Red subset.
External Compatibility
Both Color Classes and Star Ratings can be recognized by certain other applications such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Bridge. Star Ratings can also be exchanged with Microsoft Expression Media. The Star Ratings work immediately between apps as long as, in Preferences/Files, the option is set to : Color Classes will be recognized by apps if the text label for each class is exactly the same in each app. You can edit the default Photo Mechanic labels in Preferences/ General. It doesnt matter what the Color Classes are labelled, just that the labels must be the same in all apps. It is also a good idea to edit the actual colors themselves to give consistency throughout the various apps. Lightroom and Adobe Bridge use the same color sets and these cannot be directly edited, only the labels. Photo Mechanic allows editing of the colors so it makes sense to make sure it is set to the Adobe default of red, yellow, green blue and magenta.
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External Compatibility
This is how the General Preferences might be set in Photo Mechanic:
Adobe Bridge : Color Class labels can be edited in Preferences/Labels, and there are only 5 to use. These will correspond to the Color Classes in Photo Mechanic which have the exact same text labels. The other three will not show up in Bridge and can be used for Photo Mechanic-specific sorting and editing. Lightroom : 5 Color Class labels can be edited in the Library mode under Metadata/Color Label Set/Edit. Type in new labels and click Change to lock in the new labels. For Color Classes and Ratings to show up in other applications, Lightroom must be set to write metadata changes to the original files automatically - to set this option look under Metadata / Save Metadata, or, to do it automatically, look in File/Catalog Settings and check the Automatically write changes into XMP checkbox. Microsoft Expression Media : Star Ratings work fine, unfortunately their color labels are written in a non-standard way and are not readable by Photo Mechanic and other applications. Remember to Synch the new ratings (Action/Synch Annotations) back to the original files after you have made changes otherwise the new Color Classes and Star Ratings will not be read by other apps since they initially only exist in the Expression Media database. Expression Media does not write metadata to the original files unless told to.
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Sorting
Much of the sorting that can be done in Photo Mechanic is done using Star Ratings, Color Classes and Tags, these are explained in detail in the Selections section. Photographers are used to spreading transparencies on a light box and gradually dividing them up into sets such as Keepers, Not Sure and Wastebin. Photo Mechanic uses a more sophisticated version of much the same method by assigning images with a Color Class to designate its worthiness. Classes can be set individually or en masse and each Class can be displayed on its own, or with any other Classes. In fact the number of ways in which the images can be sorted and displayed is really only limited by your own imagination and workflow requirements. Tagging is a simple way of sorting your images, they are either tagged or not. You can display all tagged images, all untagged images or all of them together. For a quick edit simply click the tag box on all the images you like and then hit F3 to display Tagged Only. At this point you might choose to Select All (zA) and FTP (zU) the whole set as small preview JPEGs to a client. Other tools for Sorting include the Sort by menu on the Contact Sheet Toolbar. There are presets to sort by, plus a custom option which allows sorting by any variable, and even by a secondary criteria. This means you could display the files by file type, file size, even by ISO setting.
Finding
Keyboard Shortcut Find: zF
Sorting and Finding are two sides of the same coin in that they both allow the user to make selections and view images based on certain criteria. Photo Mechanic allows two types of filtering: Sorting with Color Classes, Star Ratings and Tags, plus Find. The Find command allows searches to be made based on any information contained in the file, be it the file name or part of the file name, as well as any IPTC data encoded in the file itself. For example you could filter your images based on the Category contained in the IPTC data of your files (which you might have set during Ingest). The Find results become the active selection in the Contact Sheet, which you could then Tag or Class as needed. See IPTC Find or IPTC Find/Replace for more details.
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Arrangements
New to Photo Mechanic is a way to arrange Contact Sheet thumbs in any arbitrary sequence you choose simply by dragging them around the screen. This brings computer software closer to the lightbox paradigm whereby you can sort your images as though they were transparencies on an actual lightbox. Arrangements can even be made across multiple folders if the folders are open in the same contact sheet. Arrangements can be saved with the folder(s) simply by dragging thumbnails into new positions. Each time this is done a new Arrangement will be saved. The Sort list in the tool bar will now update to Arrangement so that the particular order that you have arranged the images in can be retrieved. This holds for multiple folders opened into one contact sheet - use the File / Remember Folders to save the folders combination as a Favorite. In the Preferences / Contact Sheet dialog there is an option to set whether you have to be in an Arrangement Sort to be able to move the images around.
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Preview
The Preview Window

Preview Window
In addition to the Contact Sheet view, Photo Mechanic can display one or two images at a time for closer scrutiny when editing. The image can be viewed zoomed up to 800% to check critical focus or chromatic aberration. Various information about each image can be displayed alongside each image, or the image can be viewed on its own in full screen mode.
Keyboard Shortcut Preview: zR
To Preview an image simply double click on its thumbnail in the Contact Sheet window or click the magnifying glass icon at the lower right of the thumb when the mouse is hovered over it. There are three distinct Preview window styles. Each can have the various information panels toggled on or off making a total of six combinations of views. The views can be selected from the toolbar at the top of the screen.
Views
1. View One Photo. 2. View Two Photos, side by side for comparison. 3. View Two Photos, one over the other. Each view can be used full-screen or with the info panels and thumbs list displayed. The info displays can be sized by click-dragging the splitter at the edge of their frames. They can be collapsed by double clicking the splitter between the frames.
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Images Side by Side
Here are two photos displayed over and under for comparison. The H key and V key toggle between a side-by-side layout and an over-and-under layout. Return to a single image view using the O key.
Keyboard Shortcut Single Image: O Side by side: H Over and under: V
Two Photos side by side for comparison, with Info displayed: click once on either image to bring it to focus with respect to the Information displayed in the Histogram etc. Tab will toggle focus between the images.
Keyboard Shortcut Toggle Full Screen or Info Palettes: F Toggle Focus between previews: Tab
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Info Panel
The Info Panel shows EXIF and IPTC information for each image such as date, ISO used, aperture etc. The list can be made longer or shorter by clicking on the plus and minus signs at the top right of the Info panel. You can also customize which info is displayed, and the order of display, by using the Edit / Set Info Text option. Edit this list to change the sequence of variables displayed in the Info Panel as well as the fields displayed. See Info Variable.
+ and - buttons control the size of this pane. Info Palette
Crop Palette
Choose which metadata is displayed in the Info Palette in Preview Mode by inserting or removing Variables.
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Crop Tool
Below the Info Panel is the Crop tool which allows part of the image to be cropped when the image is saved, FTPed or otherwise exported. Click the Crop icon button to activate or deactivate the Crop Tool. Use this to define a crop area by click-dragging in the main preview window, just like in other image editing software. Once defined, the Crop area can be repositioned - the Crop tool changes to a Hand when the mouse cursor is within the defined crop area - click-drag to reposition the defined crop area. Clicking outside the area will start a new crop. The Shield checkbox controls whether the area outside of the crop is darkened. This helps you visualize what the actual crop will look like. The crop area can be constrained in proportion by using the Width and Height boxes. The numbers refer to proportions rather than units, i.e. a 3:2 proportion will keep the crop the same shape as a 35mm format image. Use the arrows to step the numbers up or down and the button in the centre to swap the numbers between the W and H boxes. If you use a particular proportion a lot, click the Make Default button to keep your preferred setting. The crop will remain with the image and will be displayed in the normal Contact Sheet view so you can always see which images have crops set. When images are Saved As or Exported to HTML etc, the crop can be applied to the resulting image. In relevant dialog boxes there are Apply Crop check boxes so you can have the choice of cropping, or not, during that operation. Click the Remove Crop button to remove a crop. You can save Snapshots of constrained crop settings which can be a great time saver if you commonly use a number of standard crop ratios.
Keyboard Shortcut Crop Tool: X
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Zoom Panel
Checking the Zoom checkbox applies whatever zoom setting has been chosen on the zoom slider bar, in this case below, 1/2 or 50%. The Zoom slider has increments from 25% to 800% but the most useful ones are 100% and 50% for checking critical sharpness when editing. The Hand tool is active when the mouse is over the image - left-click/drag to move the image around. Also, use the Option-arrow keys to move the image or the Option-Shift-arrow keys to move it in bigger steps. The mouse wheel can also be set in Preferences to Zoom or bring up next image. Lock Scrolling is used when viewing two zoomed-in images in either of the comparison modes. Checking this box locks the two images together when moving either one with the hand tool. This is useful for very close comparison of two similar images when you need to examine the same part of both images in great detail. Lock Scrolling also zooms both images in sync. To use this function, set the Preview window to one of its compare modes (horizontal or vertical) then zoom in and align your images to show similar details. Then enable the Lock Scrolling function by either clicking on the Lock scrolling checkbox or by pressing the L key. Now both images will pan around together when you drag either of them around with the mouse or by using the Option-arrow keys. If you z-click on a particular detail of the image in the Preview window it will zoom to whatever percent size is currently set on the slider, centered on the spot you clicked on. z-click again will zoom back out.
Keyboard Shortcuts Toggle Zoom: Z Zoom In: + Zoom Out: Lock: L Zoom detail: z-click on a feature in the photo Pan: Opt-arrows Fast Pan: Opt-ShiftArrows
Histogram
Displays the Histogram information for the image which is currently displayed/highlighted in the preview window. All three RGB colors are shown overlaying each other and where they overlap the composite color is shown. White is the region where all three colors overlap, yellow for red and green, cyan for blue and green and magenta for red and blue.
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Thumb Gallery
A Note about the thumbnails displayed as a filmstrip at the bottom of the preview Window: This section of the screen gets its background and highlighted colors from the Preferences used for Contact Sheets - see Here for details. The Set color shows which of the thumbs displayed in the Preview filmstrip is the one currently highlighted in the Contact Sheet view.
Black - Currently Previewed image
Dark Grey - Thumb currently selected in the Contact Sheet View.
To the left of the Film Strip are two Tabs - All and Selected. If you have a multiple selection active in the Contact Sheet View, using the Selected tab here will restrict the Preview window to showing only those images. The Arrow keys will step through only the Selected images. Using the All tab will thus include all images in the Contact Sheet View whether selected or not.
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Editing
Editing
Rotating Photos
Rotations are only performed visually: the original image is not rotated and will appear as shot if opened in an external editor. This is called soft-rotation and is in line with Photo Mechanics policy of never altering the original image data in any way. While the image files EXIF orientation will be updated, the image data is not rotated or modified in any way. Some cameras have a sensor for camera orientation which writes an orientation tag into the EXIF metadata of the image file. Photo Mechanic can work with this and such images will appear the correct orientation in the Contact Sheet and Preview displays. To rotate an image in the Contact Sheet view you can choose from the following methods. 1. Click on the thumb to select it and choose Image / Rotate Photos from the menu. This is a slow way to work, but it is useful for large selections of photos. 2. Hovering the mouse over a thumb will cause icons to appear in the corners of the thumb. The two arrows in the top corners can be used to quickly rotate the thumb. 3. Use the shortcut keys on selected thumbs - z[ or z]. These are the square bracket keys, [ for rotate left, or Counter Clockwise and ] for rotate right, or Clockwise - hold down the z key when using them. 4. To rotate a multiple selection, make the selection as usual and either use the shortcut keys above or click on the arrow on one of the thumbs whilst holding down the Modifier key. If you dont use the Modifier key only the thumb that you are clicking on will rotate. In the Preview Display, images may be rotated using the icons on the menu bar or, better still, by using the square bracket keys again, but this time without the z key.
Keyboard Shortcut (Contact Sheet) Rotate : z[ or z] Keyboard Shortcut (Preview) Rotate : [ or ]
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Preview and 2-Up Editing
Whilst the Contact Sheet window is good for getting an overview of a collection of images, the Preview window is where critical editing can be done. The image can be viewed at 100% for focus checking and images can still be tagged, classed, and rated as usual. With the full set of palettes displayed you can see at a glance the histogram for exposure, the focus (using the Z key to toggle Zoom) and other images in the collection in the Thumb Gallery at the bottom to give an overview of the collection. Using the arrow keys to step through images is fast and intuitive and using the F key to toggle full screen mode combines well with the Z to quickly check focus. The 2-Up mode is useful for comparing very similar images, such as a sequence of portraits where expression differences can be quite subtle. You can toggle between 2-Up side by side and 2-Up one image over the other by using the H and V keys. This allows you to use one mode for landscape orientation images and the other for portrait mode images. The image that is changed when using the arrow keys is the one that is currently in focus - click on one or other of the images to bring it into focus so that the info palettes reflect that image. Using the arrow keys will change this image, but leave the other behind. In this way you could work through a sequence of portraits keeping one as a current favorite, and stepping though others to see if a better one appears. The focused image also has an aqua box drawn around it to help see which is in focus.
Greg Gorman Key
The G key adds a subtle editing function first identified and requested by photographer Greg Gorman. It works like this, using a portrait session as an example: Using the 2-Up (H) mode in Full Screen mode (F), choose the first shot, change focus to the second half of the preview and step through the other images using the arrow keys. Only the second image will change, to image 2, 3, 4 etc, the first image in the non-focus window will stay the same. What we are doing is viewing Image 1 side by side with Images 2,3,4,5, etc. Now, if we find an image which is better than Image 1 we can press the G key to swap the image in the focused window to the un-focused window, replacing the initial favorite with a new favorite. Continue to use the arrow key to view more images and the new favorite will remain in the other window. By doing this we can very quickly find the best shot by continuing to press the G key when we see a shot that is better than the one we have reserved. Once we have finished going through the whole shoot we should have a preferred image in one window and the last image in the set in the other window. Return focus to the preferred image by clicking on it once and then close the Preview window. This preferred image will now be seen highlighted in the Contact Sheet display. You might wish to Tag it first, set its Color Class to Winner, or give it a rating. As you go through the images you could even Tag all the ones that were considered possible hero shots so that when you have finished, not only will you have one best shot but all the ones you considered will be Tagged so you can go back and press F3 to see them all and make sure that your choice was the best one.
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Zoom and Lock
In the 2-Up view, with the images Zoomed in (Z key), pressing the L key will lock the two images together so that when you drag one image around in the view window, the other one will move with it. This is very useful for comparing two very similar images critically. Hint: Align the images first, using the Hand tool, before locking them.
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Slide Show Edit
Another powerful way to edit your images in the current contact sheet is to display a slideshow and mark the images as they are displayed. You can use the normal Shortcut Keys for setting a color class or tagging the images as they are shown. If the slideshow is set to manual it is easy for a group of editors to work their way through a collection and make a collective decision before moving onto the next image. The Slideshow operates on the current selection of images so if you want to show them all, use zA to select them all first. Render Text - Check this to add captions to the Slideshow. The text can be typed in the text box and will be shown on each slide formatted in the font and color selected from the Font and Color Panels. A sample caption is displayed. For best results set the number of lines to 2 so there is some space between the caption and the next image. For more sophisticated captions you can use Variables to create the rendered text from IPTC info, date, camera model etc. Fade Transitions - set the speed of the transition and the color between slides. Auto/Manual - choose between using the Spacebar or arrow keys to change slides or to have the next slide appear after a set time. Loop - keep playing slideshow until Esc pressed. Shuffle - play random slides. Apply Crop - if a crop has been set in Preview then checking this box will apply it to the displayed image. When the slideshow is playing you can use the Shortcut Keys to control the playback as well as Tagging (+) or setting Color Classes (1-8,0) for each image. The D key dismisses the image from the show (and the selection) so when you return to the Contact Sheet you will see that only the remaining images continue to be selected.
Keyboard Shortcut Slideshow: zL
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Live Slide Show
Keyboard Shortcut Slideshow: Shift-z-L
Live Slide Show is much the same as the normal slide show except that it watches a folder to see if a new file is added. This new file is automatically added to the slide show, so the show gets longer as new files are copied in.
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Batch Captioning
Batch Captioning with the IPTC Stationery Pad

IPTC Stationery Pad
Captioning a group of images is simplicity itself using the IPTC Stationery Pad. The Stationery Pad can be applied to single images or a selection of images making it perfect for adding information to whole sets of images at one time. To use the Stationery Pad in this way make a selection of images in the Contact Sheet and then open the IPTC Stationery Pad under Image / IPTC Stationery Pad on the main menubar. Type your data into the various fields and make sure the checkbox to the left of each field you wish to apply is checked. If unchecked, that field will not be applied. If you have a set of data that you use regularly, like a list of Photographers, Cities or States, you can set up a custom dropdown list for all of the fields in the IPTC Stationery Pad. Next to each field is a dropdown list arrow which will open an Edit option when first clicked. Click on Edit to bring up a word list dialog where you can enter any number of items and add them to the list.
Keyboard Shortcut IPTC Stationery Pad: zI
Append checkbox - check to add to any existing data.
Make sure these boxs are checked if you want that field to be updated in the image metadata.
Snapshot button
This menu allows you to select from a list rather than type in the same words each time. One other benefit from this approach is that all the spellings will be the same as well as the case. Even slight misspellings will throw off a search so using the dropdown lists is a good way to ensure consistency.
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IPTC Stationery Pad
Click on the Edit option to bring up the Edit IPTC List dialog where you can type in new entries and hit Return/ Enter to add them to the list. Note that there is a drop down list at the top to allow direct access to all the Stationery Pad field data lists.
It is good practice to set up as much of this as you can in advance and most importantly, once you have done this export the data set and back it up. If you have whole sets of data that you use on a regular basis, you can also save the entire Stationery Pad to be loaded later. Use the Snapshot button to save the current data for later use.
Normally the IPTC data is added to files by replacement of existing data but this may not always be desirable. You can append data to Keywords, Caption and Caption Writers fields by checking the Plus (+) sign next to the field. This will then append the data rather than replacing whatever is there already. Hint: It is a good idea to add a space at the beginning of appended text so that the last and first text characters do not butt against one another.
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IPTC Stationery Pad
Holding down the Modifier key causes the Clear button to change to an Options button. Click this to set options for which data fields are cleared and which are kept unchanged when you use the Clear button.
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IPTC Info
This dialog complements the capabilities of the IPTC Stationery Pad by adding a thumbnail view to the selected image and the ability to step through a selection of images without having to return to the Contact Sheet view.
Keyboard Shortcut Prev-No Save: z-Shift-[ Prev-Save: z-[ Next-No Save:z-Shift-] Next-Save: z-] Copy Data: z-Shift-C Paste Data: z-Shift-V
Most of this dialog operates much like the normal IPTC Stationery Pad with the difference being this applies only to one image at a time. All fields can include Variables and there is a Snapshot button to save commonly used data sets. In the top right of the dialog, under the thumbnail, are six buttons: Left Arrow: Move to previous image, without making changes. Right Arrow: Move to next image without making changes. Save and Left Arrow: Apply IPTC changes and move to previous image. Save and Right Arrow: Apply IPTC changes and move to next image. Copy: Copies the currently displayed IPTC data to the clipboard. Paste: Pastes any IPTC data from the clipboard to the current image. Below the control arrows is a Time and Date settings box to allow the current file to have its date and time reset. Note: No changes will be made to a file unless the OK button is pressed or either of the Save arrows are used. The Modifier key adds functionality to the Clear, Apply Stationery and OK buttons.
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IPTC Info
Options: Changes which fields are Cleared. Copy to Stationery: Copies whatever data is set in this dialog to the IPTC Stationary Pad. Eval: Click this button to see how any Variables are resolved. Hold down the Modifier and Ctrl key and the Apply Stationery button changes to Apply to Selected. If you have a selection active in the Contact Sheet window then this will apply the current metadata to those images, much like the IPTC Stationery Pad does. All non-empty fields will be applied.
Keywords
Keywords play an important part in any archiving setup and Photo Mechanic adds some extra functionality to this field in both IPTC Stationery Pad and IPTC Info. Clicking on the dropdown arrow on the Edit Keywords field and clicking on Edit Keywords... brings up the IPTC Keywords dialog where you can set up a Master list of Keywords and select out of it the ones you want to use. By using the Snapshot button you can set up sets of keywords related to different subjects or jobs.
This is a list of all Keywords currently in the Keywords field of the IPTC data
Use the arrow buttons or double-click on a word to move it across from one pane to another.
Use the Export and Import buttons to share lists of keywords between members of a workgroup to make sure everyone is using precisely the same words.
After setting up the keywords list you can select them from the dropdown list next to the Keywords field in the IPTC Stationery Pad and IPTC Info display. Notice the Sorted checkbox and the additional Snapshot button on the left side. When unchecked, the Sorted checkbox allows you to keep the order of the keywords in the same order that they appeared in the keywords field from the IPTC dialog. This might be useful if you want all the keywords in an easy to read alphabetical order or, if you use some words very frequently, you might want to have them appear at the top of the list. The additional Snapshot button saves the current keywords as a snapshot.
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Structured Keywords
Beyond the basic functionality of a simple linear keyword list is the concept of controlled vocabulary and a hierarchy of keywords. There are two different Structured Keyword tools, one is a floating panel which can remain open and the other is accessed through the IPTC/Info Dialogs. Both have similar functionality, the slight differences being how the keywords are finally applied to images. The main Structured Keywords Panel is accessed on the menu bar through Image / Structured Keywords Panel.
Keyboard Shortcut Structured Keywords Panel: Cmd-Opt-K
Photo Mechanic ships with a basic vocabulary which is intended as a starting point and to illustrate the concept of nested keywords. Each keyword can be a parent, sibling or child word, forming a hierarchy of words from broad categories like Animals, to more detailed child words like Birds and on to even more detailed words like 48 Spotted Pardalote. Animals and Plants would be sibling words and would appear alphabetically in the same panel. Each column to the right lists children of a highlighted parent word. The grey triangle to the right of a word indicates that it has Child words in the next column. Grey words denote Categories, normal type words are Keywords and bold words are Synonyms of the currently highlighted keyword. Keywords can be added to files either singly or as the whole path which includes all the parent words. The preview field displays what the path will be; click on Add Keyword to add the last word in the list to the Collection panel or on Add Path to add the whole string of words.
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There is a search function for keywords, type in the word (or sub-string) and click Find. If there are more than one result the Next and Previous buttons are activated. To save time when using large lists of searched for keywords there is an option to present the results in a list rather than the Next/Previous method. Hold down the Modifier key and the Find button will change to Options. Click the button to select how many results should be displayed in one list dialog. Apply to: adds the words to either the Keywords field or the Caption field of the IPTC metadata. Append : adds new keywords to any already in the field. Note : if this box is unchecked Photo Mechanic will replace any existing keywords. Double Click : there are 4 options for when you double click on a Keyword. Applies Path : applies the whole keyword path directly to selected images. Applies Keyword : applies the keyword directly to selected images. Adds Path to Collection : adds the path to the collection panel above. Adds Keyword to Collection : adds the keyword to the collection panel above. Reverse paths : causes all keywords in the path to be applied in reverse order, from the most specific term to the least specific term. Synonyms : options to exclude synonyms, to add synonyms only at the end of the path or all along the path. Add Path : adds the path of the selected keyword to the Collection panel. Add Keyword : adds the selected keyword to the Collection panel. Synonyms: these are different words with identical or similar meanings. It is useful to include these words in keyword list because you can never be certain whether a searcher might type in, for example, beast or beasts. Searches are literal in the sense that a search for beast will not turn up beasts unless both words are present in the keyword list. In this way many different groups of keywords can be assembled into a Collection of keywords which can then be applied en masse to selected images using the Apply buttons in the bottom right hand corner. This is a very powerful tool and there are many ways to use it to add keywords to your images. The exact method used will depend on your own workflow and how much detail you need from your keywords.
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The other Structured keywords tool, above, is accessed through the IPTC/Info dialogs by clicking the arrow next to the keywords field. The main difference is that the keyword Collection is applied to the keywords field of the IPTC dialog when Apply is clicked, thus the Apply to dropdown and the three lower Apply buttons become redundant and are not included in the dialog. All other functions are identical. If you want to create your own controlled vocabularies they can be created from scratch by right-clicking in the columns and selecting Create Child or Create Sibling etc. You can Import text files using the Load and Merge buttons, and edited lists can be saved using the Save button. Saving and sharing lists is a good idea when multiple users are adding keywords so that all words are consistent across users and all spelling are the same. Save allows you to Save the current database to a file of your choosing. You dont need to use Save unless you want to export the database to another system or share it with a friend. PM always saves the database internally for you as you make changes to it. Load allows you to completely replace the current database with the file youre loading. Merge allows you pull in only the items in the new database that dont already exist in the current database. This is useful for people who update their database on their machines but subscribe to a standard database (like the Controlled Vocabulary database) and want to get the latest version but dont want to lose their own additions. Vocabulary File Format: It must be a text file encoded in UTF-8 which means it is fully Unicode compatible and supports any language. There are plenty of free text editors for both Mac OS X and Windows that can read and write UTF-8. The layout of the file is simply a tab-delimited set of words with special wrapper characters that determine the type of item the word is. Simple items (keyword items) have no wrapper character at all. Category items (items used for organizational
purposes only and are not part of the hierarchical path) are wrapped in [ and ]. Synonym items (items that are synonymous with their sibling item) are wrapped in { and }. The easiest way to see this in action is to Save out the built-in structured keywords to a new file and then open it up in a text editor and see for yourself. Commercial lists can be purchased from sources like David Riecks Controlled Vocabulary website : www.controlledvocabulary.com You can also manage the keywords from within the Structured Keywords interface. Just right-click on an existing term and the following contextual menu will appear
The Rename item will allow you to rename the text of an item. By using Create child item you can add a new item that will have the current item as its parent. This new item should be a more specific term than the current item. Use Create Synonym to create a child item that is synonymous with the parent item. Use Create sibling item to create an item that is at the same level as the current item. Use Set type to Keyword/Synonym/Category to change the type of the current item. Use Delete to delete the current item and any children underneath it.
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Code Replacement
Code Replacement is a feature which speeds up captioning of often-used terms or names like those used in sports photography, but can be used as a method of shorthand for any type of photography. To use Code Replacement, you must prepare a UTF-8 text file in tab-separated format. You can use any text editor to generate the text file. The format of the text file is simple. It is comprised of two columns, the first being the Code and the second being the Replacement. These two columns are separated by a tab character. Ideally, you want your codes to be as short as possible while being completely unique. Here is an example Code Replacement text file used for Basketball (Detroit Dunkers and Chattanooga Choo-Choos):
CC8 CC17 CC43 CC13 CC11 CC2 ... DD41 DD43 DD24 DD44 DD55 DD13 ... Dain Bramage Rick Perkins Brian Calloway Dennis George Darrin Green Aaron Barnum Stanislav Zarubezhanin Paul Kroyd Ken Pierce Brian Socoletto Wally Flannenbaum Victor Zenfliende
Some of the players names are difficult to spell correctly, even if you are familiar with them. Code Replacement makes this problem a thing of the past. All you have to do is get the spelling right once: during the creation of the Code Replacement text file. Once you have created your text file, you need to tell Photo Mechanic to use it for Code Replacement. Choose Set Code replacements... from the Edit menu. This is where you can define which files contain Code replacement data - and there can be more than one. Where multiple codes exist, the most recently loaded replacement will take preference. Choose your delimiter character to suit your needs. Once your text files are loaded, you can use Code Replacement to speed up your captioning. Continuing our basketball example, lets say you shoot a game where the Chattanooga Choo-Choos play the Detroit Dunkers. Later after Ingesting your images you begin to individually caption the keepers and want to identify the players in each of the photos. Example: you have a picture with Dain Bramage (CC8) breaking past Stanislav Zarubezhanin (DD41) and you can visibly see their jersey numbers in the thumbnail preview of the IPTC Info dialog. You just type in your codes for each player, surrounded by the \ character which
tells Photo Mechanic to look up the codes and enter their replacements. Photo Mechanic instantly looks up the replacement text and enters it in place of the \code\ and automatically places the cursor at the end of the replacement so that you can continue typing in the rest of your text. Code Replacement can help make your captions more accurate and can save time as well: just choose a system of mnemonics to help you remember your codes and the
Code Replacement turns \CC8\ into Dain Bramage and \DD41\ into Stanislav Zarubezhanin.
pictures themselves will help you derive the codes. In our example we chose CC as an abbreviation for the Chattanooga Choo-Choos and DD as an abbreviation for the Detroit Dunkers. When captioning, we can see that the two players are on the Choo-Choos and the Dunkers, so we can derive the codes from their jersey numbers (8 and 41), giving us CC8 and DD41. Code Replacement can be used any time you have commonly entered terms that you tire of entering each time. Code Replacement works in every text field of the IPTC Info and IPTC Stationery dialogs.
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Find and Replace
Find and Replace is a powerful way to make broad changes to the IPTC data in your images. Photo Mechanic can search through the metadata in the currently opened Contact Sheet looking for a defined string. For each one it finds, Photo Mechanic can replace that string with another one. The Find and Replace panel is under the Edit menu or use z-Shift-F to open it. Type in the string you wish to search for, paying special attention to case and spelling. You can toggle off the case sensitivity using this checkbox. Fill in the Replace With box with the text you wish to insert and choose the fields within which you wish to search. It is important to note that all instances of the string will be replaced, so use the check boxes to limit the search to the fields you wish to search.
Keyboard Shortcut Find and Replace: z-Shift-F
You can also choose between All Photos in the current Contact Sheet view or just the currently Selected Photos. Click the All button to check all the IPTC Field boxes together or None to uncheck them all. Click on Replace to start the Find and Replace operation.
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Snapshots
This Lightning symbol is the Snapshot Button
On all of the most commonly used dialog boxes you will see a small Lightning symbol - this is the Snapshot button and it is used to make a quick copy of the dialogs current settings. Click on the button and you will be prompted for a save name and it is best to use something meaningful here. In future, when you click this button, not only will you see a Save option but also a list of all the previous Snapshots relevant to that particular dialog box. Selecting a named item will load the Snapshot, restoring the settings. The Save As dialog is a great place to use this you could set up two different Snapshots, one for large web images and one for small thumbnail web images. Run the dialog twice over a selection, using each Snapshot and you have very quickly generated a set of images for the Web. This is very similar to the Export option, but like many things in Photo Mechanic, there are different ways to do many things and it is up to the user to determine which best suits his or her needs.
Option-click on a Snapshot title to reveal the snapshot in the Finder.
Snapshots can be managed by Modifier-clicking on the named entry in the snapshot list. This brings up the Finder opened to the folder where the Snapshots are saved. In the Finder, you can copy, rename and delete the snapshot files if you would like. When you return to Photo Mechanic, the snapshot menu will be updated.
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Image Variables
Image Variables
Concept
The concept of variables is a simple but powerful one. A Variable is simply a symbolic representation of metadata contained within the photos themselves. For example: {filename} is a Variable and is simply the actual file name of a particular photo. Each photo will of course have a different name so we use the Variable {filename} to refer to whatever the filename happens to be. The convention used in Photo Mechanic is to enclose the variable name in curly brackets like this { }. There are a great many different Variables and some even have subtle variations: Consider a file named ABC123.jpg {filename} or {file} = ABC123.jpg {filenamebase} or {fbas} = ABC123 This could be very useful for creating a printed contact sheet because you could use the Variable {fbas} to label each image so that it would print the file name only, without the file extension, for a more professional look. Variables are commonly used during the Ingest renaming process to generate new filenames so that certain data contained in each file can be used to derive a new filename. It would be possible to use {datesort}_{frame4}_{user} to make a filename based on the date of capture in a YYYYMMDD format plus the 4 digit frame number plus the name of the camera owner (if defined in the menu of your camera). So, a shot taken on Jan 1st, 2006 and originally named _Y123456.CR2 would be renamed to 20060101_3456_nick.CR2 which is easy to sort on date order and clearly names the photographer, whilst keeping the unique file number from the camera. Any combination of Variables is possible and Photo Mechanic makes it easy to customize your file naming in any way you see fit depending on the job at hand. Variables can be used in many different places in Photo Mechanic, mainly in Ingesting, Renaming, Copying, FTPing, Exporting, the Info Panel (Preview window), the IPTC Stationery Pad, Printing, Save As and in Slideshow captions. When variables are available for use there will be a Variables button in the dialog box. Clicking this brings up a Variables list. To enter a variable in a field you can either type it in using the { } symbols or, simply double-click on the Variable you want in the list and it will be inserted into whichever field was active in the dialog box. Note that highlighting a Variable in the list will reveal a brief description in the pane at the top of the list. Client/User Variables enable you to define Variables for jobnames, clients, your business name, even phone numbers and email addresses.
Variable Substring Extraction
Substring extraction is used to extract a range of characters from an image variable so they can be used as normal variables in other fields throughout Photo Mechanic. The format is: {variable:index,count:conversion} or {variable:index:conversion} In either case, <:conversion> is optional <index> Sets the point in the string at which the operation starts - zero (0) will include all characters, 1 will ignore the first character etc. This value can be positive or negative. Negative numbers count back from the end of the string, positive numbers count from the beginning. <count> to extract <count> characters from <index>. <count> may also be omitted altogether which indicates extracting the substring from <index> position to the end of the string. <conversion> may be one of the following types or may be omitted altogether: lc perform lower-case conversion of all applicable characters UC perform upper-case conversion of all applicable characters PC perform Proper Name case conversion Here are some examples: Lets say {filenamebase} is DSC_1234 Then: {filenamebase:0,3} yields: DSC {filenamebase:-4,4} yields: 1234 {filenamebase:-4} yields: 1234 {filenamebase:2,3} yields: C_1 {filenamebase:0:lc} yields: dsc_1234 {filenamebase:0:PC} yields: Dsc_1234
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Variables List
The variables below are camera or image-specific. actuations, act aperture, f aspect, aspt aspectcrop, aspc brightness, brit bytes, byte colormode, cmod colorclass, color, colr colorclassval, colorval, clrv comment, cmnt comp corrupt, crpt cropheight, yc cropwidth, xc ev ev100 filename, file filenamebase, fbas filesize, size firmware, firm flash, flsh flashcomp, fcmp focusmode, focus, fmod folder, fldr foldernum, fldn folderpath, fpth frame, fnum frame4, fnm4 hascrop, hc height, h, y id iso lens lens35, 35mm lenstype, lt Number of shutter actuations for the camera. Aperture setting of photo. Aspect Ratio of photo Aspect Ratio of cropped photo Brightness of photo in APEX units. This is exposure value minus film sensitivity value. The uncompressed image size of the photo The color mode set in the camera. Name of color class for photo. Numeric value of color class for photo. The comment (written by some cameras). Exposure compensation set by camera. Number of invalid extra bytes in a JPEG. Height of a crop Width of a crop Exposure value in APEX units. This is a combination of aperture and shutter speed (or ISO and scene brightness). Exposure value in APEX units, relative to ISO 100. E.g. at ISO 200, this would be {ev} - 1. Filename of photo with the extension. Filename of photo without the extension. File size of the photo. Firmware version of camera that took photo. Flash used Flash exposure compensation. Focus mode of camera. The folder name for the current contact sheet. The folder number for the current contact sheet (first three digits of DCIM folder.) The folder path for the current contact sheet. Frame number of photo. Frame number of photo, last 4 digits. True is there is a crop set for this image. Height of image in pixels (prior to any rotation drawn by Photo Mechanic). Either owner (Canon) or comment (Nikon). ISO (ASA) setting of photo. Focal length of lens in mm. This isnt a 35mm equivalent for non-SLR cameras. Equivalent 35mm focal length of lens in mm. Type of lens used.
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Variables List
lightsource, lsrc make meteringmode, mmod model, modl owner, ownr path pixels, pxls prefix, prfx printsize, psiz printsizecms, pscm printsizeinches, psin program, mode, prgm quality, qlty rating, stars, rate rawplusjpeg, r+j resolution, res resolutioncm, rscm resolutioninches, rsin rotation, rot serialnum, serial, snum sharpness, shrp shutter, ss software, soft sound, snd tag tonecomp, tone type uniqueid, uniq user width, w, x whitebalance, white, baln
Light source. Make of camera that took photo. Metering mode set in camera. Model of camera that took photo. Cameras owner (if defined; same as user). The full Mac OS X file path name of the photo. Total number of pixels (width * height) for photo. First three characters of file name, excluding any leading _ character from AdobeRGB photos. Print size in inches or cms (depends on photo). Print size in cms. Print size in inches. Cameras program mode for photo. Compression quality for camera JPEGs. Star rating of photo. If photo is part of a RAW+JPEG pair then the result is 1, otherwise it is 0. Resolution of file. Resolution is px/cm Resolution in px/inch Rotation drawn by Photo Mechanic. Serial number of camera that took photo. Sharpness setting in camera for JPEG and TIFF files. Shutter speed setting of photo. Software that produced the photo. Sound file attached Tagged state of image (either 1 or 0). Tone compensation (contrast) of photo. Image type (e.g. JPEG). Unique 32 char ID written by some cameras. Cameras user (if defined; same as owner). Width of image in pixels (prior to any rotation drawn by Photo Mechanic). White balance of photo as set by camera or host software.
The variables below are standard IPTC fields. assignment, assn byline, name caption, capt captionwriter, cwrt category, cat
JobMinder assignment number (if defined). IPTC Byline (Photographer) field. IPTC Caption field. IPTC Caption Writer field. IPTC Category field.
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Variables List
city contactaddress, ciad contactcity, cicy contactstate, cist contactzip, cizp contactcountry, cicn contactemail, ciem contactphone, ciph contactweb, ciwb copyright, copy copyrighturl, curl country, cnty countrycode, ccod credit, cred editstatus, edit genre, gene headline, head instructions, inst iptcampm, iap iptcdate, idat iptcday, iday iptcday0, idy0 iptcdow, idow iptcdow3, idw3 iptchour, ihr iptchour0, ihr0 iptchour24, ih24 iptcminute, imin iptcmonth, imn iptcmonth0, imn0 iptcmonthname, imnn iptcmonthname3 iptcmonthnameap iptcsecond, isec iptctime, itim iptcyear2, iyr2 iptcyear4, iyr4 keywords, keyw location, loc object, objt
IPTC City field. Contact Info Address. Contact Info City. Contact Info State. Contact Info ZIP Code. Contact Info Country. Contact Info Email. Contact Info Phone. Contact Info Web URL. IPTC Copyright field. IPTC URL field. IPTC Country field. IPTC Country Code field. IPTC Credit field. IPTC Edit Status field. XMP Intellectual Genre field. IPTC Headline field. IPTC Special Instructions field. IPTC day half (AM or PM). IPTC Date field (YYYYMMDD). IPTC day (1, 2, 3 .. 31). IPTC day zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 31). IPTC day of week (Sunday, Monday, etc). IPTC day of week abbreviated (Sun, Mon, etc). IPTC 12 hour format (1, 2, 3 .. 12). IPTC 12 hour format zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 12). IPTC 24 hour format zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 23). IPTC minute (00 .. 59). IPTC month (1, 2, 3 .. 12). IPTC month zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 12). IPTC month name ( January, February, etc). IPTC month name abbreviated ( Jan, Feb, etc). IPTC month name abbreviated for AP ( Jan., Feb., etc). IPTC second (00 .. 59). IPTC Time field (HHMMSS+0800). IPTC year (2 digits). IPTC year (4 digits). IPTC Keywords field. IPTC Sublocation field. IPTC Object name field.
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Variables List
photog, phtg province, prov scene, scen slug source, srce state, stat subject, subj suppcat1, sup1 suppcat2, sup2 suppcat3, sup3 title, titl transref, tref urgency, urgc usage, usag
IPTC Byline field. IPTC State / Province field. IPTC Scene field. IPTC Object name field. IPTC Source field. IPTC State / Province field. IPTC Subject field. IPTC Supplemental category field 1. IPTC Supplemental category field 2. IPTC Supplemental category field 3. IPTC Byline Title field. IPTC Transmission Reference field. IPTC Urgency field. XMP Rights Usage field.
The variables below are related to time. ampm date, shot datemil, datm datesort, dats day day0 dow dow3 hour hour0, hr0 hour24, h24 minute, min month, mn month0, mn0 monthname, mnn monthname3, mn3
Capture day half (AM or PM). Capture date of photo according to camera or file creation time. The format is the same as the Date & Time control panels short date setting. Capture date of photo according to camera or file creation time in military format (ddMONyy) Capture date of photo according to camera or file creation time. This can be used for sorting since the format is always YYYYMMDD. Capture day of photo according to camera or file creation time (1, 2, 3 .. 31). Capture day zero padded of photo according to camera or file creation time (01, 02, 03 .. 31). Capture day of week of photo according to camera or file creation time (Sunday, Monday, etc). Capture day of week (abbreviated) of photo according to camera or file creation time (Sun, Mon, etc). Capture 12 hour format (1, 2, 3 .. 12). Capture 12 hour format zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 12). Capture 24 hour format zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 23). Capture minute (00 .. 59). Capture month according to camera or file creation time (1, 2, 3 .. 12). Capture month zero padded according to camera or file creation time (01, 02, 03 .. 12). Capture month name ( January, February, etc). Capture month name abbreviated ( Jan, Feb, etc).
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Variables List
monthnameap, mnap
Capture month name abbreviated for AP ( Jan., Feb., etc). now Current time. See the Date & Time control panel for formatting. nowampm, nap Current day half (AM or PM). nowhour, nhr Current 12 hour format (1, 2, 3 .. 12). nowhour0, nhr0 Current 12 hour format zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 12). nowhour24, nh24 Current 24 hour format zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 23). nowminute, nmin Current minute (00 .. 59). nowsecond, nsec Current second (00 .. 59). nowsort, nows Current time. This can be used for sorting since the format is always HHMMSS in 24-hour format. nowsortlong, nwsl Current time including 1/100 of a second. This can be used for sorting since the format is always HHMMSSss in 24-hour format. nowsubsecond, nsub Current subsecond (00 .. 99). second, sec Capture second (00 .. 59). subsecond, ssec Capture sub-second (for cameras that support this). time Capture time of photo according to camera or file creation time. timesort, tims Capture time of photo according to camera. timesortlong, tmsl Capture time of photo according to camera (long format). today, tday Current date. The format is the same as the Date & Time control panels short date setting. todayday, tdy Current day (1, 2, 3 .. 31). todayday0, tdy0 Current day zero padded (01, 02, 03 .. 31). todaydow, tdow Current day of week (Sunday, Monday, etc). todaydow3, tdw3 Current day of week abbreviated (Sun, Mon, etc). todaymil, tdym Current date in military format (ddMONyy). todaymonth, tmn Current month (1, 2, 3 .. 12). todaymonth0, tmn0 Current zero padded month (01, 02, 03 .. 12). t o d a y m o n t h n a m e , Current month name ( January, February, etc). tmnn todaymonthname3, Current month name abbreviated ( Jan, Feb, etc). tmn3 todaymonthnameap, Current month name abbreviated for AP ( Jan., Feb., tmap etc). todaysort, tdys Current date. This can be used for sorting since the format is always YYYYMMDD. todayyear2, tyr2 Current two digit year (e.g. 97, 04). todayyear4, tyr4 Current four digit year (e.g 1997, 2004). tomorrow, tmrw Tomorrows date. The format is the same as the Date & Time control panels short date setting.
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Variables List
year2, yr2 year4, yr4 yesterday, ystd
Capture year (2 digits) according to camera or file creation time. Capture year (4 digits) according to camera or file creation time. Yesterdays date. The format is the same as the Date &Time control panels short date setting.
ICC - the variables below are related to ICC profiles. gamma, gama icc prrx prry prgx prgy prbx prby wpx wpy The gamma of the photo. The name of the ICC profile for a photo. The red x coordinate of the primaries. The red y coordinate of the primaries. The green x coordinate of the primaries. The green y coordinate of the primaries. The blue x coordinate of the primaries. The blue y coordinate of the primaries. The x coordinate of the white point. The y coordinate of the white point.
Special - The variables below are special variables. index, indx nl page sequence, seqn, auto tab total, totl Index of the photo being processed. Inserts a new-line (CR) character. Current page number during printing or exporting of HTML. Current value of sequence variable. This will automatically be incremented for the next photo. Inserts a tab character. Total number of photos being processed.
GPS - The variables below are related to GPS. altitude, galt gpsdate, gdat gpsdatum, gdtm gpsdif, gdif gpsdir, gdir gpddirref, gdrf gpsdop, gdop gpsmode, gmod gpsstatus, gsta gpstime, gtim gpsversion, gver
GPS altitude in meters. GPS date (UTC) as YYYY:MM:DD GPS map datum. GPS differential correction applied (no or yes). GPS image direction (0-359 degrees). GPS image direction reference (true or magnetic). GPS degree of data precision. GPS dimension mode (2 or 3). GPS status (A=acquiring, V=valid). GPS time (UTC) as HH:MM:SS GPS version.
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Variables List
latitude, glat longitude, glon satellites, gsat speed, gspd track, gtrk User jobname, job username, urna usercompany, urco useraddress, ura1 useraddress2, ura2 usercity, urcy userstate,urst userzip, urzip usercountry, urcn userphone, urph usermobile, urmb userweb, urwb useremail, urem usercustom1, urc1 usercustom2, urc2 usercustom3, urc3 Client clientname, clna clientcompany, clco clientaddress, cla1 clientaddress2, cla2 clientcity, clcy clientstate,clst clientzip, clzip clientcountry, uscn clientphone, clph clientmobile, clmb clientweb, clwb clientemail, clem clientcustom1, clc1 clientcustom2, clc2 clientcustom3, clc3
GPS latitude. GPS longitude. GPS satellites. GPS speed. GPS track (0-359 degrees).
Current Job name. User name. User Company/Name. User Street Address. User Secondary Address. User City. User State. User Zip Code. User Country. User Phone Number. User Mobile Number. User Website URL. User Email address. User Custom Field 1. User Custom Field 2. User Custom Field 3.
Client name. Client Company/Name. Client Street Address. Client Secondary Address. Client City. Client State. Client Zip Code. Client Country. Client Phone Number. Client Mobile Number. Clients Website URL. Client Email address. Client Custom Field 1. Client Custom Field 2. Client Custom Field 3.
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User/Client Variables
From V4.4 is the facility to define User and Client Variables. This is useful when working on different jobs and with different clients when you wish to make sure images are easily trackable. By defining these variables you can use any of this data in the same way as normal variables. User/Client Variables are found at the bottom of the normal Variables pop out list. If you have a group of regular clients you could fill in this form for each one, using the Snapshot button to save each set of data. Each time you do a job for a client you can reload the form in two clicks by clicking the Snapshot button again and selecting the client from the list. This will populate all the fields as you last saved them. Having done that you can now use the variables to, for instance, create folder names based on the clients company name or more powerfully, to add data into the IPTC Stationery Pad. Inserting {clientname} {clientcompany} and {clientphone} into, say, the Special Instructions field will tag all the files with your clients name, company and phone number. Think of User Variables as user-defined text strings that save having to repeatedly enter identical info about you or your clients. You can get to this dialog by using the Set User/Client Variables... command on the Edit menu, or while in the Ingest dialog by clicking on the Job... button.
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Info Variable
If you right-click (Ctrl-click) on a thumbnail you can display Image Info. This is a sub-menu showing all sorts of information about that particular image. This information also shows up as a mousehover tooltip if they are enabled under the View Menu. Selecting the Show Info Tooltips option in the View Menu causes all the Info Text to display when the mouse is hovered over a thumbnail. The information that is displayed can be customized using the Edit/Set Info Text menu option. To edit this list simply select and delete the Variables you dont want. You can add new Variables by opening the Variables drawer and double-clicking the Variable you want to add. The insertion point for a new Variable will be wherever the cursor is flashing in the Set Info dialog. The sequence of information displayed in the Image Info popup is the same as the sequence set in this dialog. You can edit this list by adding and deleting variables. You can also treat this dialog just like a text editor using the normal Cut, Paste and Copy options, and you can even type directly into the box if you want certain text strings to show up in every image.
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RAW + JPEG
RAW + JPEG
RAW + JPEG
Certain digital cameras are able to shoot both RAW and JPEG images at the same time. This means that there are two identical images saved to the card, one saved as a JPEG and one saved as a RAW file. Both will have the same base file name. Photo Mechanic is able to display these files in two ways: 1. Both files are displayed as a single combined thumbnail. 2. Both files are displayed as two separate thumbnails.
Keyboard Shortcut Toggle Combined RAW+JPEG: zJ
This can be selected in Preferences in the Contact Sheet tab where there is an option to Combine RAW+JPEG into a single thumbnail. The same setting can be made in the View menu. If unchecked, there will be two thumbs with identical file names, just different file extensions.
RAW+JPEG Options
Also, in Preferences/Launching, there is a radio button to choose which of the pair is edited in an external editor when only one combined thumb is displayed.
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RAW + JPEG
RAW+JPEG treats both images the same for the following actions:
Tagging. Soft rotation. Color Class. IPTC Captioning: by default, the caption from the JPEG is used as a source, but when saved, the caption is written to both files if possible. Renaming. Photoshelter (with specific options [you can choose to send both, just the JPEG, or just the RAW file]) Digital Railroad (with specific options) Copy (with specific options [you can choose to copy both, just the JPEG, or just the RAW file]). FTP (with specific options [you can choose to send both, just the JPEG, or just the RAW file]).
In the following actions, the JPEG is used as a proxy for the RAW file:
Send photos as email. Printing. HTML export. Preview generation. Slideshow generation. Cropping. Text export. XML export. Variables expansion. Find. Find and Replace: but when fields are replaced and the IPTC record is updated, the RAW file is updated if possible.
Using the JPEG as a proxy file means that Photo Mechanic does not have to parse the RAW file itself, which is outside the scope of the software. It uses the JPEG data for all the above transformations and exports. Using a JPEG Proxy is like using a full resolution version of the RAW file, without having to actually process it.
RAW Rendering
Mac OS X 10.4 includes a RAW file processing facility. Photo Mechanic can take advantage of this and now includes an option to use RAW rendering to create Output such as Web Galleries, Save As, Emails etc.
This will usually give better color than using the embedded previews but at the expense of longer processing times. The Preferences Dialog above has options to use available Jpeg files for Contact Sheets and Previews to speed up the display of images. Using embedded Jpeg previews in this way may result in differing colors between the Previews and the final output depending on the RAW processing settings.
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Ingesting Images
Ingesting Images
This is one of the core components of Photo Mechanic, bringing the contents of a flash card onto your computer in a logical way and, at the same time, performing certain other useful tasks. Ingest can copy the files from the card, flatten the somewhat inconvenient directory structure of the card, rename the files to your specification, add IPTC information to each file and create a mirrored backup folder. The renaming and IPTC functions can include user-specified Variables so you can customize your file naming in a huge variety of ways.
Ingest
Keyboard Shortcut Ingest Images: zG
Source Paths : Shows a list of the possible sources for the ingest, usually a camera card but could be any folder. Ingest Disks or Ingest Folders Radio Buttons: select Ingest Folders to ingest from a particular Folder rather than a whole Volume. Incremental Ingest: copy new photos only checkbox: Photo Mechanic will keep track of all photos previously downloaded and will only download photos that have not been downloaded before. If you reformat your card in your camera, then all photos shot since the format will be downloaded. Source Directory Structure : Ignore: Ignore the folder structure and copy all image files into the same destination. This is good
Ingest
for copying all images off camera cards, regardless of how they are arranged on the card itself. Example: A camera card might contain a folder named DCIM, which in turn contains a series of folders named canon101, canon102, canon103 etc. Each folder will contain up to 100 images. Using the ignore Folders setting will copy all files from all folders into one single Destination folder. Keep Separate Source Folder Names Only : This is a little more complex but removes the DCIM folder and keeps images grouped within the second level folders if there are more than one. Example 1 : A card with a DCIM folder containing 1 folder (canon101) which itself contains images would result in those images being copied to a single destination folder. The DCIM and canon101 folders are removed. Example 2 : A card with a DCIM folder containing 2 or more folders (canon101, canon102, etc.) each containing images would result in all the canonxxx folders being preserved in the destination folder. In a nutshell, this option removes the DCIM folder and keeps images grouped in the same folders as on the card. If there is only one folder, this is removed. If there is more than one, all of them are preserved. Preserve All Source Directories : Simply keeps the card directory structure the same as on the card, within the Destination directory. Copy Photos : This tells Photo Mechanic how to set up the folder into which the files will be copied. Directly into the folder specified as the Primary Destination (and Secondary Destination, if selected). Into a Dated Folder within the specified Destination Folder. The date used will be the current system date, i.e. todays date. Into Folder with Name specified in the box which will appear below if this option is chosen. Type a name for the new folder in the box below and this will be reflected in the Primary Destination Path text near the bottom of the dialog box. Note that Variables may be used to create the names of folders. If you want to create folders within folders, separate the variables with forward slashes /. For instance if you want to have a folder for each year and then inside it a folder for each month and then inside that a folder for each job, you would enter the following into the Folder Name text field: {year4}/{month0}/{job} Into Dated Folder then folder with name. This is a combination of the previous two options and will result in a named folder within a folder named with todays date. This option has been available for some time, but its effect can be reproduced more flexibly by using Variables like in the previous paragraph.
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Ingest
There is an option to auto-increment a folder suffix for named folders. This adds a specified number after the folder name and increments it by one each time the Ingest is run. This will keep the files on different camera cards separate by placing them in a series of folders with the same name but a numeric suffix i.e. NickPics01, NickPics02 etc. Primary Destination : Choose where the folders and/or images will be copied to by clicking the button and selecting a destination. Secondary Destination : check the box and this option will become active. Choose a destination where exact copies of all the files copied to the Primary destination will be made. This creates a mirror backup of the files as they are Ingested. Filter Files : Determines which files are Ingested. You can choose Locked and/or Unlocked plus RAW and/or JPEGs. Apply IPTC Stationery Pad to Photos : As the files are copied, the IPTC Stationery Pad will be applied to each image. By setting up the Pad before Ingesting, you can make sure all the files are captioned, copyrighted, credited etc. as they are copied. See IPTC Stationery Pad for more details on Batch Captioning. Check the box to Apply the Pad during Ingest, click the IPTC Stationery Pad button to open the Pad where you can set your metadata choices. Use Local IPTC Stationery: If this is checked the data entered into the IPTC Stationery Pad that opens when you click on the IPTC Stationery Pad button above will only be applied to the Ingested images and will remain there for the next Ingest. This is very useful if the data added to Ingested images needs to be identical from one Ingest session to the next. Use Global IPTC Stationery: If this is checked the IPTC Stationery Pad that opens when you click on the IPTC Stationery Pad button above will be the main Pad. Rename Ingested Photos As : If unchecked all files will copy with the file names set by the camera, for example IMG_2345.CRW. Check the box to apply the full power of Variables to rename the files to more descriptive names. Click on the Variables button at the lower left of the Ingest Dialog to open the Variables list. Now, by double-clicking on the Variable that you want you can insert it into the Rename box. This saves typing it in and you can be sure the spelling is correct. Here the variable {seqn} has been added to a text string, DNG, which has been
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typed directly into the Rename box. This will result in a series of files named DNG1, DNG2, DNG3 etc. You could use {date} to include the date the image was shot, or {user} to add your own name to the file. Example : Entering this into the rename box :
new_york_{user}_{date}_{seqn}
would result in the ingested files being renamed like this:

new_york_nick_01012006_0001.jpg new_york_nick_01012006_0002.jpg new_york_nick_01012006_0003.jpg
Set Sequence Variable : Use this button to set the number at which the sequence should start. You can add letters or Variables before the number and you can save this to use in other Ingest operations. Type in the sequence you want to use and then click on the triangle at the right of the text field. Click Add and then the next time you use this option, that sequence will be there to select. It is important to note that the Sequence number is sticky between sessions so the Ingest function will always pick up where it left off. If you ingest 238 images in a session, then the next session will start with 239 as the Sequence number - unless you reset it. Hint: Use 001 or 0001 instead of 1 as the beginning number. Leading zeros mean that there are more unique numbers to increment. A single digit has only 9 possible values, while a 3 digit one has 999. In many dialogs with a Set {seqn} Variable button, holding down the Modifier key changes the button to Reset. Click this to reset the sequence variable without opening the dialog box above. The number of digits is maintained so 456 will reset to 001. Open Contact Sheet during Ingest : Select whether to open a new Contact Sheet for the folder into which the files are being ingested or whether to open an new Contact Sheet after all the files are ingested. Opening the Contact Sheet during ingest works well because since Photo Mechanic is so quick at making thumbnails, by the time the Ingest is complete, all the files will be ready for viewing. You can also perform editing operations such as Tagging, Previewing etc. on any thumb that has appeared so you can get on with editing while files are still being Ingested. Unmount Source Disk after Ingest : this unmounts the card after it has finished ingesting so you can safely remove the card from the card reader.
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Erase Source Disk(s) after Ingest : this erases all files that have been ingested after the entire ingest completes successfully. WARNING: This is a dangerous option to enable since the original photos on the camera memory card will be erased after being copied. Even though the photos will not be erased unless all of the files are copied without error, Camera Bits recommends that you at least briefly inspect the files on your destination hard disk after ingesting to verify for sure that the photos were successfully copied. Then we recommend that you format your memory cards in the camera before you begin shooting, unless you intend on doing an incremental ingest later on.
Ingest Tasks
During Ingest a Task Dialog appears showing the progress of the Ingest. Subsequent Ingests add a Ingest Task to the dialog so that you can keep track of multiple downloads. Thus if you have 5 cards to download, once there are 5 bars completed you will know that you have Ingested all 5 of the cards. Also, if you Ingest 5 cards simultaneously with multiple card readers you will be able to see the progress of all downloads at a glance.
Each Ingest Task is color coded. Green means that the Ingest completed with no errors. Red means that the Ingest completed with errors. Yellow means that the Ingest is in progress. There is only one Messages area at the bottom of the window which is shared among all of the Ingest tasks. When you click on an Ingest Task, it will become selected and its messages will fill the Messages area. Use the Clean up button to remove any completed tasks. Use the Abort button to stop the currently selected Ingest Task. If you ever close the window and want to see it again, you can show it again from the Window menu.
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Spotlight Search
Spotlight Search (Mac Only)

Spotlight Search
Mac OS X 10.4 (and higher) has a facility called Spotlight which catalogs all the files on your computer to allow faster and more sophisticated searches. At the top right of the Contact Sheet view is the Quick Search menu, simply type in a text string and Spotlight will search the filesystem and display any thumbnails that meet the criteria. For more sophisticated searches use Edit/Search which will bring up this dialog: You can set Spotlight to search in any metadata field using the first popup menu,
Keyboard Shortcut Search : z-Option-F
and you can set how it searches in the second popup menu (default : contains). Contains: the searched field text string contains the text string typed into the text box, but need not be exactly the same to return a result. E.g. Filename contains NSW will find any image which has the text string NSW anywhere in the filename. Begins with: looks for text strings which start with the defined string. Ends with: looks for text strings which end with the defined string. Is: looks for text strings which are exactly the same as the defined string.
Spotlight Search
In the example above, there is a secondary search criteria set by clicking the plus sign to the right of the first row. This adds a second row just like the first which is treated as an AND statement. In other words both criteria must be met for a result to be returned. In this case Caption contains Sydney. Therefore only files with a NSW somewhere in the filename AND Sydney in the Caption field will be returned as a result. These tools allow quite sophisticated searches when combined in this way. Additional search criteria rows can be added by clicking the plus sign at the right of the row. Unwanted search criteria rows can be removed by clicking the minus sign at the right of the row. Results of searches can be opened into a new contact sheet or into the currently opened one by selecting your choice from the Put search results into: popup menu. Searches can be saved by typing in a name into the Name field at the bottom of the dialog and clicking Add to Favorites. This search will now appear as a folder icon (with a gearwheel badge) in the Favorites panel of the Contact Sheet view. Double-clicking the saved search label will execute it within the current contact sheet window. Right-click (Ctrl-click) on the Search label in the Favorites panel to bring up more options: Execute Search: Applies this search criteria and results are shown in current Contact Sheet. Execute Search in New Contact Sheet: Applies this search criteria and results are shown in a new Contact Sheet. Edit Search: brings up the Spotlight Search dialog with the current settings displayed so you can edit them. Saved searches are useful for keeping track of photos that meet a certain criteria and since they are dynamic, they can keep up with changes to the set of photos on your system. For instance if you want to keep track of the photos you have shot in the last week, then you can start a new search, change the criteria to Captured and then set the second popup menu to This week. Save the search by adding it to Favorites with the name This Week and then any time you want to see the photos you have shot within the last seven days, just doubleclick on This Week in the Favorites and Spotlight will
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find all of the photos you shot over the past week. If you execute the search again next week, you will see a different set of photos than you see today. You can use this to keep track of photos shot between a range of dates, photos shot over the last year, photos shot by a particular photographer, or photos shot in a particular country. You can combine several criteria to make very specific searches. For instance you could create a search that finds the photos shot by a particular photographer in the last week like so:
One note about Spotlight searches and speed: while most searches are very quick to complete, searches involving file attributes like filename, size and type can be very slow because the filesystem is consulted for this data instead of the Spotlight metadata database. If you want to have the fastest searches possible then omit criteria that uses the filesystem for the search.
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Find Image
Another way to find images, within the current Contact Sheet, is to use the Find function. Photo Mechanic allows the user to search through the images in the current Contact Sheet looking for specified metadata within either Selected Photos or All Photos.
Keyboard Shortcut Find: zF
Images which match the set criteria will form a new selection in the Contact Sheet view when the search is completed. You can search in the metadata or in the file name for multiple words with an AND/OR option. You can choose which metadata fields to search and you can search through the current selection or the whole contact sheet. For example, you could search the current Contact Sheet for all images taken by particular photographers by checking the IPTC data box, typing the name (unchecking case sensitive) and clicking on Find. This will select all the images in the current Contact Sheet taken by that photographer. Very useful when editing images from events where more than one photographer worked. The Find dialogs can be left open since they are not modal dialogs which need an OK to be clicked. You can type in new search criteria and click Find as many times as you like. The found images will simply be highlighted in the Contact Sheet view.
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Renaming Files
Renaming Files
Keyboard Shortcut Rename: zM Photo Mechanic provides a full renaming facility based on Variables, much like the Ingest function. There is a Variables drawer to insert variables easily into the Rename string box, simply double-click on the variable to insert it into the box. In the screenshot below files will be renamed as previewed under 6 photos to rename and the current Sequence number is also shown. Renaming can be done on single images or any selection.
The Snapshot button allows preset renaming conventions to be applied.
The Variables drawer provides a means of entering the variable into the rename string simply by double-clicking on it. See Ingest for some additional renaming examples. Note : For simple renaming you can double-click on the file name in the Contact Sheet view and simply type in a new name. Hit Esc if you make a mistake and the file name will be restored.
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Copying Files
Copying Photos
Copy Photos
Copies selected photos to a specified destination folder. To copy one selected photo you can use the right-click context menu and choose Copy Photo... To copy a multiple selection of photos use File/Copy Photos... or the shortcut key zY. Press the Copy button to choose a destination folder.
Keyboard Shortcut Copy Photos: zY
RAW+JPEG Handling : If the selected images include any RAW+JPEG pairs then you can choose to copy them as a pair, JPEG only or RAW only. Apply IPTC Stationery : Applies the current IPTC Stationery Pad to the images as they are copied. Move Photos : This option moves the image as opposed to copying the image. The original is deleted. Copy WAV files : Copies any WAV files that are associated with the selected images. Rename Copied Images As : Renames the images as they are copied using the normal Rename functions. Checking this box will activate the renaming text box with all the power of Variables to create new names for the copied files. Open Destination as Contact Sheet : Creates a new Contact Sheet of the destination folder as the files are copied.
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Miscellaneous Tools
Miscellaneous Tools
Playing Sounds
Some digital cameras are able to record short voice messages with each photo or on particular photos. This can be useful as a note taking device for later on. The sound is digitized and is written to a .WAV file with the same file name as the photo it is associated with. In the Preview display pressing the A key will play any sounds associated with the Previewed image. Pressing A again toggles off the playback. This also works in the Contact Sheet window when a single image is selected. Of course this facility only works if you have a computer capable of playing sounds and if there is a sound associated with the image file. A small loudspeaker icon will be displayed in the preview window if there is a sound to be played. Clicking on the icon plays the sound, both in the Preview window and the Contact Sheet window. You can also play sounds in the IPTC Info dialog.
Keyboard Shortcut (Preview) Play Sound : A
Watermarking
When outputting photos it is often useful to overlay a watermark for copyright or identification purposes. The Watermarking dialog allows you to place watermarks over images generated by the following features: Save As, Export, Printing Proofs, FTP As, Upload and Send Photos via Email. Each of these dialogs has a Watermark... button that will allow you to customize the watermark for that output. Next to the button is a check box that toggles the rendering of the watermark. You can use Image Variables if you like and when the watermark is rendered on the image, the metadata for the source image will be used to create the text of the watermark. The Position controls let you choose one of nine different locations for your watermark to appear. The Dimensions controls allow you to define the size of the watermark as a percentage of the final output image size or in pixel dimensions. Inset refers to a border around the image, and Width and Height determine the size of the box that the text will be rendered into. There is no control for font size since in a batch operation one font size may not be the proper size across all images in the batch. The watermark renderer will use the largest font possible to fill the text into the box without undue word-wrapping.
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Output
Output
Edit in External Editor
Photo Mechanic integrates easily with image editors such as Adobe Photoshop. Any image, or selection of images, may be opened into your choice of Editor for further work and any changes made and saved will be reflected in the thumbnail in the Contact Sheet display. Before using this function you need to define your external editor in Preferences / Launching. There are several ways to open an image into an external editor: 1. Select an image or group of images and choose Image / Edit Photos from the main menu. The external editor with be launched if it is not already active and the selected images will be opened. Keyboard Shortcut Open in Editor: zE 2. Use the shortcut key, zE. 3. Right click on the selected image(s) and choose Edit Selected photos. (You will also see an option Edit Photo which just opens the one image that you right clicked on even if there are multiple images selected. It is easy to mistake these two options and wonder why only one image opened.) 4. You can also Drag and Drop images and image selections directly from Photo Mechanic into an open Image Editor, even if it is not the one defined in Preferences as the default editor. 5. There is a further option, only available with a right-click, that allows you to select different external editors to use to open images. In the right-click context menu you will see Edit Photo with and Edit Selected Photos with. Highlighting these options will show a submenu menu with all the different image editors you have assigned in Preferences / Launching / Set. See here for details.
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Save As
Photo Mechanic does not need to use an External Editor to perform certain useful workflow related functions. The Save As function directly provides the facility to Save an image, or selection of images, into another format, another size and another destination. One of the most useful ways to use the Save As function is for web image generation. Regardless of the file size of the original Photo Mechanic can take the image, resize it to a specified size, add IPTC information and save it to a new folder as a JPEG. This can be done on a single image but the ability to perform this operation on a selection of images from the Contact Sheet view is very powerful.
Keyboard Shortcut Save As: zS
Save As can be called from the main menu under File / Save Photos As, by using the shortcut keys or by right-clicking on the selected image and choosing Save Photo As. Note that this last option only applies to the single image which is rightclicked on, not a selection of images - use the shortcut or the menu to Save As for a selection of images.
Choose your output file format.
Set this to fit the image within a certain size.
JPEG size estimate for the first file in the selection.
When in RAW+JPEG, you can choose to use the JPEG or render the RAW file.
Sharpen image.
Image Type: Choose your output file type, if JPEG you can select the quality level. High is for minimal compression and Low is for high compression, see JPEG Compression for how this compares to Photoshops settings. Cropping: If a Crop has been defined for an image, checking this box will apply it when the file is saved.
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Save As
Scaling: To Fit is for when you want an image to fit inside a specified pixel or cm dimension, whether it is oriented horizontal or landscape. To Percentage sizes the image to the specified percentage size, e.g. 50% would result in an image half as high and half as long as the original and 200% would double the linear image dimensions. Resolution: Sets the pixels per inch of the saved file. Operations: Apply IPTC Stationery adds whatever is currently set on the IPTC Stationery Pad to all the selected images. As always, the Stationery Pad can make use of Variables and Snapshots. Preserve EXIF Info: Includes as much EXIF Info as the original file contains. Copy WAV Files: Copies any WAV files associated with each file. Rename: Uses the standard Photo Mechanic renaming tools to generate new names. See Renaming. Open destination: Opens the destination folder as a new Contact Sheet tab if it is not already open.
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Email
Photo Mechanic can attach selected images to email messages, which is useful for sending images to clients for approval. It would be difficult to send the original image file so Photo Mechanic offers options to resize and compress the image before it is sent. The Send Photos via Email function is accessible via the main menu under File / Send photos via Email or by using the shortcut key Shift-z-E. It is also available through the right-click context menu but only applies to the image actually clicked on.
Keyboard Shortcut Email: Shift-z-E
Choose the size of the sent image, either from presets or pick a custom size. Choose the quality used: the lower the Quality, the smaller the file. JPEG size estimate for the first file in the selection. To apply any crops already set on the images, set the Apply crop checkbox Use these sections just like any other email software. Send the images one per email rather than all in one. Open the email in your normal email application to make further changes before sending it.
Check to reduce Jpeg file size further. Check to Sharpen final image.
Like many Photo Mechanic functions, Variables can make life easier and they can be inserted into the Subject line or the Body of the email. If you use the one image per email option you could insert the variable {filename} into the subject line so the email has the file name of the attached file in the subject line and which makes it easier for the recipient to identify which image is in which email without having to open the emails itself. If you want to send the original photos, use Full size, JPEG quality at maximum, uncheck Convert to sRGB, Apply crop, Sharpen and Watermark, and set the source to JPEG.
FTP Uploading
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is a standard method of transmitting files from your computer to a server via the Internet when you know the address of the receiving server. It is a great way to send images for approval by a client and is more robust than using Email attachments which might cause problems with big files on the receiving server. Trigger the FTP function for a selection of images by using File / FTP Photos As or using the shortcut key zU. (For a single image in the Contact Sheet view, the shortcut key is just U.)
Keyboard Shortcut FTP Photos As: zU
This will bring up the FTP Dialog which is very similar in operation to the Save As dialog where you can resize, compress and rename images. Transmit : This area of the dialog determines what you wish to transmit. Original Photo : checking this radio button will activate the dropdown box for which file you wish to send if there is a RAW+JPEG pair. For single files this will transmit the original file with no changes to size or compression. All other options will grey out. Save As JPEG : This activates the compression and resizing options. Use the slider to set the compression amount, lower quality equates to smaller files. Cropping : Check this box to apply Cropping if it has been set previously. Scaling : Choose No Scaling to keep the file the original size. To Fit Box reduces the image size to fit within specified pixel dimensions while keeping the same proportions. Percentage reduces the image to the specified percent size, 50% would be half the width and half the height. Resolution : Resets the pixels per inch to a specified amount. This might be 240ppi for inkjet printing or 300ppi for offset printing. This has no effect on images displayed in web browsers.
FTP
Operations : This area determines what is done to the file names and the metadata as they are transmitted. Apply IPTC Stationery Pad : Applies the IPTC Stationery Pad to each image as it is transmitted, like during the Ingest function. See IPTC Stationery Pad for more details. Preserve EXIF Info where possible : Keeps relevant EXIF and IPTC data with the files when Photo Mechanic creates new JPEGs. Rename As : Allows renaming of files as they are transmitted. See Rename for more details. Save Copy of Transmitted Photos : Check this box to save a copy of all transmitted images in either a subdirectory of the current folder or in a specified folder elsewhere. Useful to keep a track of exactly what you have transmitted to whom. Connections For FTP to work you need to specify the FTP server name or IP address of the server so Photo Mechanic can log onto the target server, authenticate its connection with a logon name and password and then transmit the file to the correct folder on the target server. Click on the Edit Connections button at the bottom of the FTP
As dialog. FTP Connection name: You can give a name to the settings for a particular connection. For example, if you FTP files on a regular basis to certain clients you might use the clients name in the Connection name i.e. ABC Advertising Connection. This name will appear as an option in the Connection box in the Destination FTP Server options on the main FTP dialog - see previous page. New : Click this button to clear all the fields to enter a new connection setting. Delete: Deletes the currently displayed connection. FTP Server name : enter the name of the server that the files will be transmitted to. This can be a normal top level URL like www.abc_advertising.com or an actual
FTP
server name like esvc000647.server-web.com. Only enter the top level name here, not the folder the file should be transmitted to, and leave off ftp://. Login: The Login name for the server. You may have to ask the client for this. Password: The password for the login name. You may have to ask the client for this. Port: Leave set to 21 unless you have a good reason to change it, Port 21 is the default setting expected by most servers. Passive Connection: Check this box, unless the Network Admin tells you otherwise. Anonymous Login: Should be left unchecked unless you are connection to a server that allows anonymous login. Destination Folder: This is where you specify the folder on the target server that you wish the files to be transmitted to. If you need to specify a sub-folder use a forward slash (/) like this: images/new. The folder you need to transmit to will often be specified by the client. Copy Photos: This gives you the option to create a new folder in the destination folder, either based on the date or a specified name, or both. Useful if you are transmitting sets of images that need to be kept separated on the server. Click OK to return to the main FTP Dialog and you will see the Connection Name displayed in the Connection box and to the right, the full destination path for the transmitted file. If a file is transmitted and there is a file with the same name on the destination server you can choose what you would like to happen from the If a file already exists... drop down box. 1. Replace: Simply overwrites the server file with the transmitted file. 2. Rename the transmitted file before uploading. 3. Rename the file on the server, keeping the transmitted file name the same. Once all these settings have been made, click the Send button to transmit the selected files. All of the settings are sticky so if you come back to the FTP dialog later all of the settings will be the same. If you hold down the Modifier key when choosing FTP As, the whole dialog box will be bypassed and the last settings will be used. This offers a very quick way to transmit files if you use one FTP destination regularly or just wish to queue up some more photos into a current FTP session.
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Upload Services
Upload to PhotoShelter
With the Upload to PhotoShelter dialog you can now securely upload photos to your PhotoShelter account from within Photo Mechanic. PhotoShelter is a service useful for backing up your photos and for providing them for sale to prospective clients. IPTC caption data that you enter into your photos in Photo Mechanic will be preserved and will be searchable by people using PhotoShelter. Even the
tag checkbox setting on each photo is recognized by PhotoShelter. The Upload to PhotoShelter dialog allows you to upload to existing Archives, or you can create new ones during upload. This integration even supports multiuser collaboration with PhotoShelter accounts that support it.
The Upload to PhotoShelter dialog is based upon the FTP As dialog and most of its interface should look familiar. The major differences are account related. Instead of FTP Connections, you have PhotoShelter Connection Settings.
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Upload to Digital Railroad
You can also upload photos to your Digital Railroad account from within Photo Mechanic. IPTC caption data that you enter into your photos in Photo Mechanic will be preserved and will be searchable by people using Digital Railroad. The Upload to Digital Railroad dialog allows you to upload to existing Archives, or you can create new ones during upload. The Upload to Digital Railroad dialog is based upon the FTP As dialog and most of its interface should look familiar. The major differences are account related. Instead
of FTP Connections, you have Digital Railroad Connection Settings.
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Export/Web Gallery
Web Galleries and Export

Export
The Export option creates a full set of files from a selection of images. With this command you can make a web gallery with all the internal links already set up. This can be posted directly to a web site and can be very useful to show a client proofs from a shoot, quickly and easily. The web pages are fully customizable with respect to colors, type faces etc, and Variables can be used to add metadata into the layouts.
All the settings are combined in one Dialog. Select Template: Photo Mechanic now includes a variety of Flash templates in addition to the PM Classic as described below. Each is slightly different and the main Export dialog will only allow you to choose customisations applicable to the template. The dialog changes to reflect this but the uses of the labels remains the same from one dialog to the next. Export Text and Export XML options are at the bottom of the list.
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Rendering JPEG Quality: set the slider to an appropriate amount, 6 or 7 is a good compromise between size and quality. Subsample Chroma: removes some chroma information reducing file size still further and the expense of color quality. Sharpen Images: applies sharpening to the exported images - recommended. Convert to sRGB Colorspace: converts to the sRGB colorspace which will show images to their best advantage when viewed in non-ICC profile aware applications like many web browsers. Recommended unless you know for certain the images are to be viewed in a color managed application. Use Original File names for Images: exported images keep the original file names. Open in Browser: when the export is completed the finished gallery will automatically open in your web browser for checking. Page Section Title : Type in a title or use Variables to generate a title. The variable {Page} adds a page number to each page of thumbnails. In the screenshot above the title of each page would be the name of the folder containing the images followed by Page 1. Any subsequent pages would be the same with Page 2, Page 3, Page 4 etc. Columns and Rows : set how you would like the thumbnails to be arranged, how many columns and how many rows per page. This determines how many images will be on each page and thus how many pages will be generated. Background : Choose a background color for each page or choose a background image to be used. Text/Links Section Set the colors of the various page elements. Title is equivalent to the cb_title HTML tag Title2 is equivalent to the cb_title2 HTML tag Caption is equivalent to the text HTML tag Link is the same as the link HTML tag Visited is the equivalent to the vlink HTML tag. Home Page : enter the name of your webpage. Home URL: enter your main webpage address (www.xyz.com). Include Page Links: includes Previous and Next links. Include All Index Link: includes a link back up to the main index on each large image page.
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Thumbnails Max Height / Max Width: Set the size of the thumbnails. They will be fitted inside the pixel dimensions without altering the aspect ratio, much like the Fit in Box options in other export dialogs. Images Max Height / Max Width: Set the size of the large images. They will be fitted inside the pixel dimensions without altering the aspect ratio, much like the Fit in Box options in other export dialogs. Preserve Exif: includes camera EXIF info in the exported images. Preserve IPTC: includes IPTC metadata in the exported images.
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Export Text
Below the various Web Gallery template options are the Text and XML Export Options. Use Variables to choose which metadata fields to export and separate them with a Tab to distinguish between the fields in the text file. Many external applications such as spreadsheets and databases can Import TAB delimited text files. Word processors can do mailmerges based on delimited text files so you could use this option to generate labels for 35mm slides based on the {Category} and {Name} variables. Save as One/Individual Files : This option sets whether the export creates one text file containing all the metadata or a series of individual files, one per image.
Export XML
Allows you to export metadata to an XML format for use in applications that can work with the eXtensible Markup Language format.
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Burning CD/DVDs
Burning CD/DVDs
Photo Mechanic takes care of your backup needs by burning images to CD/DVD, across multiple disks and with all the power of Variables, Renaming, etc. Keyboard Shortcut Burn to Disk: zB
Use this menu to choose the layout of your discs.
Allows you to put non-image files on the first or all of your discs.
Tells you how many discs you will need.
Make a selection of images and choose File/Burn Photos to Disk or use the shortcut key zB. RAW+JPEG Handling : If the selected images include any RAW+JPEG pairs then you can choose to burn them as a pair, JPEG only or RAW only. Parent folder hierarchy: Use this menu to choose the structure of your burned discs. You can choose to burn no parent folders which will place all of your files on the root of each disc. Using One level will cause the parent folder of each image to be put on the root of the disc, with the photos placed inside. Using Two levels will cause the two parent folders of each image to be put on the root of the disc, with the photos placed inside the immediate parent folder. Burn WAV files : This will cause any sound annotations associated with a photo to be placed on the disc when the photo is placed on the disc. Additional files... : Use this button to place additional non-image files on your discs. Things like readme text files, license agreements, usage terms, etc can be placed on the first disc or on all discs in a series. At the bottom of the dialog is a section describing how much space the selected images will occupy on the CD or DVD, and how many CDs or DVDs will be need to complete the operation (image collections can be burned to a multi-volume set). Click Start to proceed to begin the burning process. Burn Photos to Disc will ask you for discs, one at a time until all photos are burned. You can burn DVDs and switch to CDs at each disc insert opportunity. The correct number of files will be burned based on the capacity of each disc. This way you can use cheaper CDs to finish up the last few files of a large group of photos.
Printing
Printing
Photo Mechanic can print two different types of output, a Contact Sheet style of multiple images on a page and a Proof Sheet style with one image per page. Both styles can be customized with respect to captions, titles, footers, page numbering etc.
Printing Contact Sheets
Header : Type in a title for the page(s), This can be a text string or a Variable or a combination of the two. In the above screenshot the Footer uses the {page} variable to add incremented page numbers to each page but there is nothing to stop you from using this in the header if you choose. Thumb Margins : Set the white space around each thumbnail image. This sets the spacing. Thumbnail Title : Choose the text to be printed under each thumbnail image, this can be the file name or any combination of text and Variables. The variable {filenamebase} uses the file name without the extension for a more professional look. Title Line Height : Set this to one more than the number of lines you need for the thumbnail title text to make sure there is a blank line between the text and the next thumbnail down the page. Rows and Columns : Set the layout of the page in rows and columns. The number of pages to be printed will be displayed just to the right of these controls. Orientation : Three options for layout, the best one being to use the thumbs displayed orientation in the contact sheet. Footer : Use text and Variables to set the footer text or leave blank for no footer. In
Printing Contact Sheets
the example Page : {page} will print as Page : 1, Page : 2 etc with the variable {page} incrementing up by one for each page printed. Page Margins : Set the paper margins within which the thumbnails will be arranged. Check Printer Scaling to allow the printer driver to perform image scaling. Color Match to : Set the printer profile to be used when printing, or choose No Color Matching to let the printer color manage the printout. Make sure that if you do let Photo Mechanic do the color management you must set the printer driver to do No Color Management. Resolution : Set the output resolution for the print job. Note that this is not the native printer resolution but the image resolution. Best results will be at settings like 240dpi or 360dpi. The printer output resolution should be set in the printer driver software as normal. Source for RAW + JPEG: If there is a RAW and JPEG pair choose which will be processed to print. When using RAW: if you select RAW above, choose whether the RAW file is rendered by the OS or whether the internal preview is used (faster). Click Print to go to the printer driver software and to see a preview of how the printed pages will look.
Header
Thumbnail Title
Footer
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Printing Proof Sheets
Printing Proof Sheets is the same as printing Contact Sheets except there is only one image per page. The image is scaled from the original to fit the page, within the margins set. Again, headers and footers can be defined using text and variables, and there is much more room to add in more details captions in the footer. Using the
Variable {caption} means that each image will have a caption printed under it based on the IPTC Caption previously set. In the example below the footer includes the date it was taken ({date}), the f-stop used ({f }) and the ISO ({iso}). On the next line would be the caption info ({caption}), if any.
Check this box to display the proof sheet as it will print.
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JPEG Compression
JPEG Compression
Various dialogs in Photo Mechanic offer an option for resizing and compressing files using the JPEG file format. The Quality slider has no numbers on it but there are in fact 11 steps which can be chosen - 0 to 10. 10 can be considered an almost lossless compression and will therefore produce
Slider set to Quality:High
Resultant file size.
the biggest file sizes, although still considerably smaller than TIFFs. 9 compresses more and offers a good compromise between size and quality. 5 - 8 are hard to tell apart from the higher quality settings but offer small file sizes. 2 - 4 are heavily compressed but are good for small web files. 0 - 1 is not recommended. This image is 800px x 534px. The uncompressed size of this file as a TIFF would be about 1.2 MB. Saved as a JPEG the file compresses as follows: Quality 10 Quality 5 Quality 0 File Size 491 KB File Size 262 KB File Size 20 KB
Quality 10 is almost indistinguishable for the uncompressed file and is compressed at around 3:1. Quality 5 is more than adequate and represents a compression ratio almost 5:1. Quality 0 is poor quality but very small at 60:1 compression. It is important to note that the file size of a compressed image depends on the subject matter and a complex shot with fine detail will not compress as small as a simple image using the same Quality setting. Subsample Chroma: Check this box to reduce the file size even further. Chroma information is reduced leading to image quality losses in some cases.
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Color Management
Color Management
Display
Color management in Photo Mechanic is quite straightforward. It is recommended that you use a properly calibrated monitor to make sure that the color you see is accurate. Photo Mechanic uses the system monitor profile to display correct color. In Preferences, under the Color Management tab, you can choose the ICC profile which you would like Photo Mechanic to use if an image has no profile defined. In the Contact Sheet view you can toggle CM on and off with the CM icon in the top right-hand corner. In the Preview screen you can do the same thing. Turning off CM for thumbs or previews will speed up image display at the expense of less accurate color.
Keyboard Shortcut Toggle CM on/off: C
Embed Profile
This command is found under the Tools menu and allows embedding of profiles into JPEGs using either predefined color spaces like sRGB and Adobe RGB(1998), or custom profiles for output devices.
Use the check box to replace any existing profiles, otherwise the operation will only work with non-colormanaged images.
Note that Photo Mechanic does not convert the image data to the profile, it merely tags the image with that profile - the same as the Assign Profile command in Adobe Photoshop.
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Workflow
Workflow
Flexibility
Photo Mechanics power lies in its flexibility and each user will no doubt use Photo Mechanic in subtly different ways to fit into their own unique workflow needs. This section will suggest some simple but effective ways to at least get started and along the way hopefully improve the efficiency of your workflow. None of the steps should be construed as must do , feel free to adapt, modify and customize anything you like. Lets look at a fairly typical photographic shoot and how Photo Mechanic can help with reducing the time taken to deal with the resulting images.
Real World Example
Weddings : this type of photography probably generates more images in a day that any other photographic job. Some photographers will shoot 2000 images of a single wedding, filling up maybe ten 1 GB cards in the process, using the Large Fine JPEG setting on the camera generating files of maybe about 4 MB each. The photographer will need to accomplish three main tasks: 1. Ingest the files from the cards onto a computer and make a safety backup. 2. Edit the images down to maybe 200 keepers and copy these files to a folder for subsequent Photoshop work. 3. Upload the images to a web gallery for the client to see and make choices before coming to the studio to make final selections of proofs sheets. Not every photographer works this way but this step will serve to illustrate a few key concepts.
Ingest
Step one is best accomplished using the Ingest function. But first a few preparations must be made. Decide where on your computer you want the images to be copied to. You may have a folder called Work in Progress or something similar. Also, and most importantly, you need to consider where you want a backup set of images to be copied to. Ideally this will be to an external hard drive but each has their own way of doing things. One very effective way is of achieving this to copy onto a harddrive and into folders named DVD1 DVD2 etc. When a folder reaches about 4 GB simply burn it to a DVD and label it with the appropriate number. This means you have a backup copy on a harddrive as well as an off-line mirrored backup on DVD. Also, you need to decide on a consistent file naming strategy which includes meaningful information in the file name. This makes it much easier to recognize file names from specific shoots - much better than the file names generated by the camera. One simple method might be to use the name of the bride, the date and a
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Ingest
unique file number. (E.g. jones_01012007_0001.jpg) This is immediately recognizable as being from the Jones wedding on Jan 1st 2007. Open Photo Mechanic and go to Edit/Preferences. In the General tab set On Start Up to do nothing and On Mount of Card to Show Ingest Dialog. Now, when a card is mounted the Ingest dialog will start up automatically. Open the IPTC Stationery Pad dialog and enter the details of the shoot. Make sure you enter your name as credit, your Copyright label, the date of the wedding, the location and the names of the bride and groom in the Caption field. Remember to make sure the check boxes next to any info you want to use are checked. It would also be useful to add the brides maiden name into the category or keyword field. Later, if you use a separate cataloging program, it will be easy to search on this name to find all the images from that particular wedding. If your company shoots more than one wedding, or portrait session, on the same day, then searching on the date AND the surname will find you the correct images. If you use internal Job numbers the category field could be a good field to use too. Now, close the IPTC Stationery Pad, all the settings will be kept and will be applied to files when needed. Insert a card into the computer or card reader, this should trigger the Ingest Dialog to appear. There is an option in Preferences, (Launching) to tell Image capture to launch Photo Mechanic when a card is inserted. Normally you will want to copy all the images off the cards, so the option to copy from specific folders is not so important in this example. Select the card from the list in the Source Disk list. Now choose the Source Directory Structure as ignore : copy all photos. This simply copies all the files, regardless of location on the card, into the destination folder. For Copy Photos choose into folder with name. Type the name of the bride into the text box. This will result in the files being copied to the Primary and Secondary Destinations into a folder named, in our example, Jones. Choose a Primary Destination and a Secondary Destination with the top right option buttons, you will need to check the Secondary checkbox to activate the Secondary button. Check Apply IPTC Stationery Pad to add the data you set previously to each file as it is copied. Check Rename Ingested Photos As and type this into the text box: jones_{date}_{seqn} You can select {date} and {seqn} from the variables list by opening the Variables list (button in the lower left corner) and double clicking the Variable you want. Click on the Set {seqn} var... button and type 0001 into the text box and click OK. This
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Ingest
sets the initial number of the numbering sequence and by adding three leading zeroes Photo Mechanic can increment the file number from 0001 to 9999 which is plenty for this example. Check the Open Contact Sheet during Ingest box to generate a Contact Sheet of all the Ingested images during the ingest process. You can work in the Contact Sheet and Preview windows even while Photo Mechanic is Ingesting so you can view and edit your images right away. Check the Unmount Source Disk after Ingest box. Click Ingest and files will be copied to your computer. Once the first card is completed, it will be unmounted and can be removed. Insert a second card and the Ingest Dialog will reappear. All the settings will be the same as before, and the file sequence number will be set to where it left off during the last Ingest, i.e. if you ingested 100 files, the {seqn} variable number will be on 0101. So just click Ingest again and the next batch of images will be copied, backed up and added to the open Contact Sheet. When all the cards are finished you now have all the images mirrored in two places, all renamed and with accurate metadata added for future cataloging.
Editing
Now all the images are copied and backed up you can start editing them; in fact you can start this process before the Ingest is finished since Photo Mechanic allows full use of the Contact Sheet view and Preview during the Ingest process. On the Ingest dialog there is an option to Open Contact Sheet during Ingest. For quick editing double-click the first image in the Contact Sheet to open it in the Preview window. Press F to show it full screen and press Z to toggle between full image and zoomed in. (The z-click zoom function is very useful here too.) Use the left and right arrow keys to step through the images one at a time. As you view the images and decide whether the image is worthy or not press T to tag the image with a tick in the box in the lower right hand corner. This marks the image as a possible. Go through all the images in this way, tagging ones that are worthy in some way. When you have finished, press Esc to shut down the Preview window and return to the Contact Sheet. Press F3 and all the untagged images will disappear leaving behind the ones you tagged. Select All (z-A) and use the Copy command to copy all the tagged images to a new folder named something like Final or Keepers. You could get more sophisticated by using the Color Classes to whittle the whole collection down to the amount you want to present to the client.
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Presenting
Once you have settled on your final selection press z-A to Select All. Then choose File/Export. Pick a layout for your webpages: see Export for details. This gallery could be uploaded to your website for the bride and groom to view.
So, to summarize, we have copied all the cards quickly and easily. The settings for Ingest and IPTC Stationery Pad needed only to be set once for this shoot, no matter how many cards were filled or how many images were shot. If two photographers were covering the wedding Photo Mechanic can keep the images separate based on the photographers name set in each camera (see your camera manual for this). This is the {owner} or {user} variable. The images were edited quickly and easily using the simple tagging system built in to Photo Mechanic. For more sophisticated edits we could have used Color Classes to separate the images into up to 8 different color classes. Or we could have used the 5-star ranking system. Once edited the images were uploaded for viewing but they could also have been Saved As JPEGs of a different size of they could have been FTP transmitted to a clients server for viewing. Photo Mechanic offers enough options for any photographer to customize their workflow to suit their needs.
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Command Summary
Command Summary
All menus in Photo Mechanic follow certain conventions: A single menu item will directly execute a command e.g. Close. A menu item followed by an ellipsis (...) will bring up a dialog box with more options. A menu item with a small triangle to the right leads to a submenu with further choices.
File menu
New Window: Opens a copy of Photo Mechanic in a new window. Contact Sheet tabs may be moved between open Windows simply by dragging them from one window to another. New Contact Sheet Tab... : Opens a new tab in the current Window. Open contact sheet... : Choose a folder of images to be browsed. Open Recent... : Choose from a list of recently opened contact sheets. Close Window : Close currently displayed Contact Sheet Window. Close Contact Sheet Tab : Close the current Contact Sheet tab. Ingest... : Opens the Ingest Dialog to copy images from external sources like CF cards. Live Slide Show: Opens the Live Slide Show Dialog. Rescan Contact Sheet: Rescans the current Contact Sheet for new or changed images. Rename Photos...: Renames selected photos. Copy Photos... : Copies or moves selected photos to a new destination, photos can be renamed and IPTC Stationery can be applied. Delete Photos... : Deletes selected photos from computer by moving them to the Trash or deleting them immediately. There is an optional confirmation dialog for this operation. Save Photos as... : Saves photos in a variety of ways, with options for resizing, cropping, compressing and renaming.
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Burn Photos to Disc... : Burn images to CD or DVD. Send Photos via email... : Send selected images by email, with resizing, compression and renaming options. FTP Photos as... : Transmits images by File Transfer Protocol to a remote server via the Internet. There are options for sizing, compressing and renaming. Upload : Sends images to your online accounts. There are options for sizing, compressing and renaming. Export: Opens the Export Dialog for HTML Web page creation or Text and XMP Exports. Page Setup... : Set up your printer for making Contact Sheets or Proofs. Print... : Prints selected images as either a contact sheet view or a series of individual proofs. There are full layout and captioning options based on variables.
Edit menu
Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear : These are the normal text editing functions common to all applications and are used when editing text in the various Photo Mechanic text boxes. All the usual text selection standards apply, such as double-clicking a word to select it. Take IPTC Snapshot: Grabs the IPTC data from a selected image and copies it to a clipboard for pasting. Paste IPTC Snapshot: Pastes the IPTC data to selected images. Find... : Finds images in the current selection or contact sheet by searching the file names and/or metadata for specified words. Find and Replace... : Looks for and replaces, from a selection of the current contact sheet, metadata text in selected metadata fields. Search... : Spotlight search. Select All : Selects all images in current contact sheet. Deselect All : Deselects any selected images. Select Tagged : Selected all images that are currently Tagged.
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Edit menu
Select Color Class : Selects all images of a particular Color Class. Select Rating: Selects images with a specified Star Rating. Select Others: Inverts the current selection to the images that are not selected. Save/Load Selection: Saves out a text file with a list of the currently selected images. Load the text file to reselect the same images. This could be useful if you were to be sent a folder of images to make a selection from - just make the selection, save the selection and then you only need to return the selection text file, not the whole folder of images. Set Sequence Variable... : Opens the Set Sequence Variable dialog. Set Info Text... : Opens the Set Info Text dialog. Set Code Replacements...: Opens the Code Replacement Dialog. Set User/Client Variables... : Opens the User/Client Variables dialog box. FTP Connection Settings... : Opens the FTP Connection Settings dialog. Upload Connection Settings... : Opens the Upload Connection Settings dialog. Special Characters... : Opens a list of special characters to insert into metadata.
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Image menu
IPTC Stationery Pad...: Opens the IPTC Stationery Pad dialog. Apply IPTC Stationery Pad to Photos: Applies the current IPTC Stationery Pad to selected images. Keywords Panel...: Opens the Keywords panel. Structured Keywords Panel...: Opens the Structured Keywords panel. Rotate Photos CCW: Rotate selected images 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Rotate Photos CW: Rotate selected images 90 degrees clockwise. Tag Photos: Sets selected images as Tagged. Untag Photos: Untags any selected images. Set Color Class of Photos: Apply a Color Class to the selected images. Set Star Rating of Photos: Apply a Star Rating to the selected images. Preview...: Opens the Preview window with the selected images only. Edit Photos: Launches the defined External Editor and opens the selected images for editing. Send Photos to Droplet: If there are Photoshop actions saved as Droplets, the selected images are sent to a droplet specified in the submenu. Slide Show...: Starts a Slideshow of the selected images.
View menu
Combined RAW+JPEG: Toggles on and off the combined RAW+JPEG option where available. Unknown files as proxies: Shows proxy thumbs of unknown files rather than not showing them at all. All: Displays all the thumbnails in the contact sheet. Turns off any Rating or Color Class filters. Selected: Views only the selected images and hides any unselected ones. Tagged: Views only the Tagged images and hides the rest. Untagged: Views only the Untagged images and hides the rest.
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View menu
Refresh: refreshes the display to reflect any changes to Tagging and Selections. Make Arrangement: makes an arrangement from the current order of the thumbnails. Show Info Tooltips: Toggle on and off the Image Info Tooltips which are displayed in the Contact Sheet View when the cursor moves over a thumbnail. Hide/Show Toolbar: Hides or shows the Toolbar for more viewing real estate. Clicking the button in the extreme top right of the window does the same thing.
Customize Toolbar...: Same as right-clicking (Ctrl-clicking) the Toolbar to customize the Toolbar.
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Tools menu
Adjust Capture Dates and Times... : This tool will adjust the capture dates and/or times of the selected group of photos. The capture date/time is the time stamp written by the camera, usually stored in the EXIF data of a photo. Often times the clock in a camera may be off, sometimes by a little, and sometimes by a lot. The most common example is when you change time zones and forget to change the clock on the camera. The capture times recorded are therefore still relative to the original time zone (e.g. before you went on vacation). For multiple camera environments such as sporting events, it is often critical to synchronize all the cameras down to the second if photos from multiple cameras are to be viewed together.
This tool can be used to either Adjust Relative or Adjust Absolute. If you know your camera clock was off by some time delta (e.g. three hours since you changed three time zones), simply dial in the delta time (or even days) in the Adjust Relative section. For example, if you live in Boston and you went to vacation or work in San Diego without adjusting your camera clock, then set the Hours control to -3 to adjust the capture times of the photos from the Eastern to the Pacific time zone.
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Tools menu
To precisely adjust the capture times, use the Adjust Absolute controls to set the absolute time a photo was taken. For example, with multiple cameras at a sporting event, make sure all cameras take a photo of the game clock (or some other common clock that shows seconds). Then select the photos from one camera, locate the photo of the clock using the arrow buttons under the photo, then dial-in the actual capture time of the photo shows using the controls to the bottom-right of the photo. A relative time will be calculated from that photo and applied to all the selected photos. With the three checkboxes at the bottom you can also choose to update the file systems creation and/or modification date/time, or the IPTC/XMP date/time. All selected photos will be adjusted accordingly when the Adjust button is clicked. Update IPTC/XMP...: This tool will update the IPTC/ XMP metadata in the selected photos, according to your IPTC/ XMP preferences. Photo Mechanic will first read IPTC or XMP according to your reading preferences, then it will write IPTC and/or XMP according to your write preferences. This tool is useful for synchronizing the metadata in RAW+JPEG pairs, or for embedding IPTC/XMP data into TIFF-based RAW photos based on IPTC/XMP metadata in a JPEG. For example, with this tool you can:
1) Update the XMP from the IPTC in JPEG, TIFF or Photoshop PSD photos. IPTC/XMP Preferences for JPEG, TIFF, and PSD photos: A) When reading IPTC/XMP, choose Read embedded IPTC before XMP. B) When writing IPTC/XMP, check Add embedded IPTC4XMP.
2) Create XMP sidecar files from embedded IPTC in RAW photos or vice-versa. IPTC/XMP Preferences for RAW photos: A) When reading IPTC/XMP, choose Read embedded IPTC from the First: popup menu B) When writing IPTC/XMP, check the option to: Always create and/or update XMP sidecar files with IPTC/XMP.
3) For RAW+JPEG pairs, update the IPTC/XMP in the RAW photos from the IPTC/XMP in the JPEGs (or vice versa.) A) To update RAW photos from JPEGs, in the Update IPTC/XMP dialog, choose the Read IPTC/XMP from JPEG option For RAW+JPEG pairs. B) To update JPEGs from RAW photos, in the Update IPTC/XMP dialog, choose the Read IPTC/XMP from RAW option For RAW+JPEG pairs.
4) Embed IPTC/XMP into TIFF-based RAW photos from the Mac IPTC-NAA resources (Mac only.) IPTC/XMP Preferences for reading IPTC/XMP: Check the Read IPTC-NAA Resources option. IPTC/XMP Preferences for writing IPTC/XMP in TIFF-based RAW photos: Check the Add embedded IPTC and/or Add embedded XMP options.
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Tools menu
Revert TIFF-based RAW to original: A safety net as some RAW applications have been known not to read RAW files for which the metadata has been externally edited. This tool reverts the file back to its original form. Use the Backup IPTC/XMP to XMP sidecar files checkbox if you want to keep a copy of your caption in a sidecar file. You can use the sidecar file to reapply the caption data later if you choose. Mask/Unmask...: This tool will mask or unmask certain types of information from JPEG, TIFF, PSD, and TIFF-based RAW photos. Data that is masked is not deleted, and can be unmasked to retrieve the original info (except as noted below). Masking simply hides the data from most applications by changing the normal tags or resource IDs to something different. Unmasking restores the normal tags or resource IDs. Masking data can be useful to diagnose certain workflow problems. For example, if you suspect that some other application is having problems with embedded XMP data within a photo, you can mask the XMP data for a photo (or group of photos) and see if this fixes the problem. If masking XMP data fixes the problem, you can choose to not embed XMP into photos in the IPTC/XMP preferences. If that didnt fix the problem, you can unmask the XMP and look for another cause. Special notes: 1) EXIF info and ICC profiles cannot be masked in RAW photos. 2) If you mask IPTC and/or XMP in a photo and then add new IPTC info, you wont be able to mask or unmask IPTC and/or XMP because both masked and unmasked data exist. The same is true for ICC profiles in JPEGs. Change Resolution...: Sets the resolution for the file so it can be read by other printing applications. This does not make any changes to the file size, simply to the dpi information contained in the file.
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Embed ICC Profile...: Embeds or tags a selection of files with a specified ICC profile. This should be used with care since this simply tags the file with a profile, it does not convert to that profile. Apply Rotation : Photo Mechanic does not generally rotate files, it simply displays the thumbnails in the correct orientation. Using this option on JPEGs applies the soft rotation to the files in a lossless manner so that the images will appear with the new orientation when opened in other applications which do not recognize soft rotations or EXIF orientation data. Once youve used this tool a few times and dont want to see the confirmation dialog, holding down the Modifier key will bypass the dialog. Extract JPEG Previews from RAW photos... Many RAW files contain preview JPEGs created by the camera at the time of capture. Often these files are of sufficient quality for small uses, such as for the web, and being able to extract them means the whole RAW files does not have to be processed just to create a small image. The new file will have the same name as the original, with all the settings for the original can be carried over using the three check box options. The size of the extracted file depends on the camera model, some hardware only produces images for display on the cameras rear screen so these will be very small. Remap
Remaps Color Class to Star Rating or vice versa. This is very useful for images that have been previously allocated color classes but which may need to be viewed in another application - such as Bridge - with the ratings visible. Bridge can only see Photo Mechanic Color Classes if the label names are the same, but the Star Ratings are directly compatible.
You can choose which Colors are mapped to which Star Ratings depending on how you have chosen to use Color Classes in the past. Then Set Rating/Color Class to: once the settings have been mapped across you can choose to have all the remapped images set to a particular Rating/Color Class afterwards. This is useful to see which have been remapped or to reset them to a value that you like.
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Preferences
Preferences
Keyboard Shortcut Preferences: z, (comma) There are many parameters that can be set in Photo Mechanic to customize its operation to the way you choose to work. In the Preferences Dialog box there are a series of tabs across the top, each of which leads to a new set of preferences.
General Preferences
On Start Up: This is how you would like Photo Mechanic to configure itself when it is launched. On mount of Camera Disk: This is what action you would like to happen when Photo Mechanic senses that a card has been placed in a card reader. The logical choice here is the second one, Show Ingest Dialog, but you can also ignore it or cause the card to be browsed as a set of Contact Sheets. Color Classes: Here you can customize the Color Classes and names that Photo Mechanic uses to sort images. Click on a color box to choose another color and type in the box next to it to re-label that color. If you wanted to maximize compatibility with Adobe Bridge/Lightroom you would set the labels and colors here to match the labels and colors you use in those applications. Shortcuts for Ratings or Color Classes: Set whether the number keys set the Star Rating or the Color Class without a qualifier key when a single photo is selected.
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Contact Sheet Preferences
Selection Method: Three options on how a selection may be made. Option one is the default and is the one most people will be familiar with. Default Sorting Method: This is the sorting sequence that Photo Mechanic uses to display a Contact Sheet when the sheet is first created. This will appear in the main menubar in the Contact Sheet window and can be changed. Behavior, Wrap-around: Toggles whether the arrow keys progress from the last image in a Contact Sheet back to the first image when the end of a folder is encountered. Behavior, Create New...: If there are no Contact Sheets open and Photo Mechanic is minimised, a new blank Contact Sheet will be created when photo Mechanic is resumed. Only Allow Arrangements...: Thumbs can only be dragged to make new arrangements when the Sort dropdown is set to Arrangement. Automatically rescan when folder contents change: Causes Contact Sheets to rescan when other applications notify the system that they have added or removed files from a folder. This feature has been a source of reliability issues for some users and has been made optional. If you are having issues when working with folders outside of Photo Mechanic, please try turning this option off. The change will only take effect when Photo Mechanic is restarted. Scroll Wheel Sensitivity: Controls the amount that the mouse scroll wheel, if available, moves the screen.
Default Thumbnail Size: This is the size of thumbnail that Photo Mechanic uses when it first creates a new Contact Sheet. It can be changed by using the thumb size slider on the Toolbar. Generate High Quality Thumbnails: Turning this off displays the very small EXIF thumbnails only. Super-fast but low quality. Sharpen Thumbnails: Thumbnails will have sharpening applied and will look crisper to the eye, again, at a slight cost in speed. Combine RAW+JPEG: Toggles the combination RAW+JPEG pairs into a single thumbnail. Show Soft Rotation: Displays a symbol to show if a thumb has been rotated. Colors: Use these options to set how you want Photo Mechanic to appear. A good set of colors has good contrast between the unselected thumbs and the selected ones, with good text contrast for both. Labels: Sets the number of lines that are used beneath each thumbnail to show variables. Here one line is used as default to show file name. You can choose File Name plus 1 to 3 more lines, each of which can display variables such as Caption, File Size, etc. of
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Files Preferences
Move Photos to Trash: Check this box to move deleted items to the Trash. Unchecking this box deletes the item permanently. Never Warn when deleting: Turns off the warning when deleting files. Use with caution. Update Creation Time: Changes the creation time of the image to the EXIF time of capture during Ingest or Copy. Unchecking this option will cause the files to have a creation time set as the time of Ingest or Copy, not the actual time of capture. Create Finder Icons: Creates tiny thumbnails of images to be displayed as icons in Finder. File Extensions: Choose upper or lower case for file extensions. Once set this is best left alone for consistency. Lower case is safer than upper case for web use. Resolution Units: Choose between pixel per centimeter or pixels per inch. PPI is the default. Add Photoshop Resolution: Sets the default resolution for files created during Copy or IPTC Updates. For other imaging applications which use a dpi value for sizing. Default Resolution to use: Choose a resolution to use for all file operations such as Resize, Crop, Save As, FTP etc. Saved images will have this resolution when viewed in other applications.
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Files Preferences
Renaming resolution: Set options for what Photo Mechanic should do when it tries to save a file to a folder and there is an identically named file already present at the destination. This policy applies to all renaming operations. You can choose to append a letter, or a single or double digit number, when needed. The best option here is probably Append Digits when needed (01,02 etc). This option makes it easy to see at a glance when there were two files with the same name since the new file name will be longer and easy to spot. Add tag, color class and rating to IPTC/XMP : This setting when set to either For all photos or For RAW photos only will keep your tag, rating and color class settings in each photos IPTC and/or XMP data. Editing applications that preserve IPTC or XMP will then preserve your Photo Mechanic edits. Location of User Templates : This setting allows you to choose a folder where your custom Export templates are stored on your system. The Export dialog will look here for additional Export templates.
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RAW Preferences (Mac)
RAW Rendering is part of Mac OS X. Photo Mechanic cannot render RAW images on Windows. Enable RAW Rendering: turns on the facilty to use the OS RAW rendering capabilities. For RAW+JPEG: If there is an image pair when you have shot with the camera in RAW+JPEG mode then you can choose to work with the JPEG for speed or render the RAW for quality. For RAW Only: You can choose to use the embedded JPEG preview in the RAW file to speed up thumbnailing or export, or use RAW Rendering to generate the output. Using embedded previews is faster but using RAW rending can produce higher quality results.
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Launching Preferences
Configure Image Capture: Use this option to set up Photo Mechanic to automatically launch when a camera card is mounted. Used in conjunction with Preferences/ General to bring up an Ingest Dialog on launch. Default application to edit photos: Choose an external editor to launch when the Edit photos options are invoked. For many people this will be Adobe Photoshop but you can choose whatever you like here. Default application to edit movies: same as above but for movie files. Assign Specific Application to File Type: Click Set to assign different file formats to different applications. You might like to use Photoshop as the default but also set ImageReady to open GIFs and a particular RAW Converter to process NEF files. These options are shown when using the right-click context menu option on photos in the contact sheet: Edit Photos with. Max Photos to Edit: Sending more than this number of image to an external editor will bring up a warning. This warning acts as a safety net in case you send more files than your computer can handle at once. The number of files you can safely send will depend on both the file size and the amount of RAM available.
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RAW+JPEG Editing: When Photo Mechanic is treating a RAW+JPEG pair as a single file, this option sets which one of the pair is sent to an external editor when using the Edit Photos command. Opening Contact Sheet with Navigator or Favorites panes: Sets one of four options for single-clicking or double-clicking in the Navigator or Favorites panes. The checkbox can be set so that the Navigator shows the full path to the opened folder. Photoshop Droplets: Set where your Droplets are stored so Photo Mechanic can load them into the Send Photos to Droplet menu option.
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IPTC/XMP Preferences
The IPTC / XMP Preferences section is where you setup how Photo Mechanic reads and writes IPTC and/or XMP metadata with photos in order to customize your workflow with other applications that use this metadata. Most IPTC metadata fields (e.g. City, Photographer, etc.) have an equivalent field representation in XMP (known as IPTC4XMP), although XMP can also contain other metadata such as rendering preferences. Unfortunately, not all applications or operating systems support IPTC and XMP metadata equivalently, so Photo Mechanic has been designed to be very flexible about how IPTC and XMP metadata is both read and written. For example, since IPTC (an international standard) was in use for more than a decade before XMP (a format introduced by Adobe Systems), older applications may only handle IPTC data and not be able to view or edit XMP data. Newer and future applications may only handle XMP. Some applications that handle XMP may expect the metadata to be embedded within photos such as JPEGs and TIFFs, but expect to find an XMP sidecar file for RAW photos. Some applications may be able to read, but not write, IPTC or XMP metadata embedded within a RAW photo. If a photo contains both IPTC and XMP metadata, some applications may read the IPTC and ignore the XMP or vice versa. By understanding how all your various applications handle IPTC and/or XMP metadata, you can configure Photo Mechanic to read and write this metadata for maximum inter-operability. The handling of proprietary RAW photos, for example, can be very different than the handling of standard JPEG, TIFF, and PSD photos. Unlike the standard photo formats, which have well-documented methods for embedding IPTC and XMP metadata, most proprietary RAW photos do not come with IPTC or XMP metadata; and if they do, are difficult to edit because of their
TIFF-based structure (and if altered may fail to work with certain applications or operating systems). Therefore, some applications favor using an XMP sidecar file for RAW photos. Fortunately, Photo Mechanic is able to read and write both IPTC and XMP in various combinations depending on the photos format. In the first section, When reading IPTC/XMP, you tell Photo Mechanic how to handle the reading of IPTC/XMP data when both types of metadata are present. For example, if you create a JPEG with both IPTC and XMP (e.g. by saving from Photoshop CS), then edit the photos metadata with an older application that only understands IPTC, then the XMP metadata in the file will be stale (out of date). Therefore, in this case, you will want to have Photo Mechanic read IPTC before XMP for JPEG (and TIFF and PSD) photos. On the other hand, if you edit the same photo with a newer application that only uses XMP, then the IPTC metadata will be stale and you will want to change the JPEG read preference to read XMP before IPTC. For RAW photos, there is an additional third place to find metadata: the XMP sidecar file. Therefore, you can choose the first, second, and third choices for reading IPTC/XMP metadata for RAW photos. If you are using a Mac, you can also choose to read the IPTC from a photos resource fork, either as the first place to look or only as a last resort or uncheck it to ignore the resource fork altogether. In the next section, When writing IPTC/XMP, you tell Photo Mechanic how to handle the writing of IPTC/XMP data. For JPEG, TIFF, and PSD photos, you can choose to embed IPTC or XMP or both. By default, Photo Mechanic will embed both IPTC and XMP into these standard formats, but you may want to only embed IPTC for older applications or only XMP for newer applications. For TIFF-based RAW photos (e.g. 1D TIF, NEF, CR2, ORF), you can choose to embed IPTC or XMP or both. If you choose to embed neither, or for non-TIFF based RAW photos, Photo Mechanic will always create and/or update an XMP sidecar file. However, if you embed IPTC and/or XMP in a TIFF-based RAW photo, then the XMP sidecar is optional and you have three choices of how to handle them. You can always update the XMP sidecar file, or only if an XMP sidecar file is present, or only if an XMP sidecar file is present AND already contains IPTC4XMP metadata. On the Mac, you can also choose to add the IPTC-NAA resource fork when embedding IPTC/XMP. There is a new option (Dont update embedded...) disabling any updating or adding of IPTC/XMP data for TIFF based RAW files to maintain the integrity of the original file. One important note: the IPTC/XMP write preferences have to do with ADDING IPTC/XMP metadata when it doesnt exist in a photo. Photo Mechanic will always update any existing metadata to make sure no metadata is left stale (unless you force Photo Mechanic not to update it with the previous option.) For example, if you choose to ADD only XMP metadata into JPEG photos, but Photo Mechanic finds only existing IPTC metadata in a JPEG, it will update the IPTC AND add XMP to the JPEG photo. IPTC Line Endings: Sets the Line Endings that are used in the IPTC data. The IPTC standard does not specify a line ending (a character that lets a computer know to start a new line) and the original Mac version always wrote out a CR character
(carriage return). Windows uses CR/LF (a carriage return followed by a line feed) to delineate new lines. This option lets you choose how you want it to work. For JPEGs with multiple IPTC records: Because some applications do not properly edit IPTC metadata in JPEG photos, Photo Mechanic may encounter improperly formatted JPEG photos with multiple IPTC records. This popup menu lets you configure what Photo Mechanic will do when it encounters this situation. You can choose to Read/update the first IPTC record or the last IPTC record. Always Use Todays Date in Stationery Pad: Presets the Date field in the IPTC Stationery Pad to the current system date. You can override this in the IPTC Stationery Pad if you want, it just opens with the date already set to now. Check Spelling: Checks spelling of the Caption field using the system Dictionary. Use Classic IPTC Dialogs: Sets Photo Mechanic to use the older IPTC Stationery Pad/IPTC Info layouts which many people are very familiar with. Restore defaults: Restores all IPTC/XMP factory defaults. The following settings will maximize compatibility with Adobe products:
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Here are suggested settings for working with Nikon Capture NX :
Note on Default IPTC Encoding: users should either use the default Mac Roman encoding which is historically the default encoding that Photo Mechanic has always used, or they should change it to one of the other encodings to work with the encoding of choice used by their organization. For better compatibility with non-PM users on Windows, using Microsoft Latin1+Euro is a good choice. Using Write IPTC as Unicode makes IPTC fully international, but unfortunately some applications do not know how to interpret Unicode IPTC data even though they work fine with Unicode XMP data.
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Preview Preferences
Enlarge to Fit Preview : Check this box to have Photo Mechanic enlarge images that are smaller than the preview window and the slideshow window. Images will be resized to fit within the workspace. Images that are bigger than the workspace will always be reduced to fit unless Zoom is used. Wrap-around : Allows the arrow keys to progress from the last image to the first image or the first image to the last. Show Soft-rotation : Displays a small rotation icon to designate that an image has been soft-rotated from its original orientation. Photo Mechanic does not alter original image data, it merely displays a preview as opposed to actually rotating the original image. This indicator will let you know when an image has been softrotated. Sharpen Previews: displays Previews with sharpening applied for a crisper view, at a slight cost in processing speed. When zoomed, the mouse wheel : Allows the mouse wheel to function in one of two ways when zoomed-- the mouse wheel can pan the preview around, or it can advance to next/previous photo. Cropping : Sets the default mode of Cropping, either constrained or freehand. If you choose constrained you can set the default ratio here. The numbers represent aspect ratios not units. I.e. 5:5 will give a square crop and 9:3 will give a panoramic one.
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Preview Preferences
Edit/Preview : Sets whether a double-click on a Contact Sheet thumbnail Previews or Edits the image. Edits will be done in the default Editor set in Preferences/ Launching. Background Colors : Choose colors for the background of the preview window.
Caching Preferences
Location for Cache: Choose a folder where you would like Photo Mechanic to store cached thumbnails. Note that if you choose a location other than the default and are using OS X then you need to tell Spotlight to ignore your cache folder or performance will be reduced. Disk Cache Size: Maximum size of the cache folder. Generally, bigger is not always better, and the usefulness of the cache will top out at a few thousand MB, because startup and shutdown times will become excessive. Reserve at least: Makes sure that there is always this amount of space left on the cache disk volume.
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Caching Preferences
Empty on Quit: Empties the cache when Photo Mechanic is closed. Photo Mechanic is very quick to generate thumbnails and previews so it is not always necessary to keep the cache between sessions. Remove Cached files that are older than: Cached files older than n days old are removed as Photo Mechanic starts up. Keeping a large cache between sessions can cause Photo Mechanic to launch slower than normal because it has to check every cached file for its creation date on startup. Memory Cache Size: Sets aside an amount of RAM to be used for caching and previewing. If you have less than 1GB of RAM this should be 64MB or 128MB, more if you are running Photo Mechanic on its own. For 2GB of RAM, 256MB would be a reasonable setting.
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Color Management Preferences
Default ICC Profile: Sets a profile to use if a file has no profile assigned to it. sRGB would be the usual choice here since most non-ICC capable cameras would be using a nominal sRGB-like colorspace. Color Manage Thumbs: Applies color management to the Contact Sheet view. Color Manage Preview: Applies color management to the Preview. Embed ICC Profile into Camera JPEGs during copy or ingest: causes Photo Mechanic to embed the actual ICC profile into your images during copy or ingest operations.
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Exporting Preferences
Some Preferences may be exported to a XPM file so that they can be imported into Photo Mechanic at a later time. If you run a second copy of Photo Mechanic on a laptop then this saves you having to set each Preference one at a time.
Importing Preferences
Choose a previously exported preferences XPM file to import into Photo Mechanic. Items that are disabled are unavailable for import because the exported file contains no settings for those items. Use the Merge settings checkbox to merge the imported settings with your current settings. If you want to replace your current settings with the imported settings, then turn off the Merge settings checkbox.
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Toolbar
Toolbar (Mac Only)

Custom Toolbars
The Photo Mechanic Toolbar can be fully customized to suit your own preferred way of working. Right click (Ctrl-click) in any empty space on the toolbar and select an option.
Click on Customize Toolbar to bring up the following dialog box. Icons can be dragged to and from the Toolbar to suit your personal taste, or you can simply reset the default toolbar by dragging the whole default set all at once. Checking the Small Icons option merely reduces the size of the Toolbar Icons to make more room.
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Shortcut Keys
Shortcut Keys
(On a Windows system, substitute Ctrl for z) If you have only one photo selected you can use the arrow keys to move the selection around. Spacebar Preview the selected photo. A Play any sounds. Typing A again will stop playback. T Toggle tag on/off. + Turn tag on. Turn tag off. [ Rotate Anti-clockwise 90. ] Rotate Clockwise 90. U Upload photo via FTP. L Select and scroll to last previewed photo. E Edit in default Editor. I Open IPTC Info Dialog. 0, 1-8 Set Color Class when set to be single key shortcut. 0, 1-5 Set Star Rating when set to be single key shortcut. Esc or zW , , , Page up, Page dn Delete or Backspace Q Z, * + L O V H Tab C F R G or / 1-8, 0 1-5, 0 z1 - z8, z0 Ctrl-1 - Ctrl-5, Ctrl 0 T, . U Close Preview Window. Move back/forward one photo at a time. Scroll thumbnail gallery by a whole page. Delete current photo. Toggle rendering Quality (RAW vs. Preview). Turn zoom on/off . Increase zoom factor. Decrease zoom factor. Lock the two previews so that you can pan around in them together. One up view. Two up view (landscapes). Two up view (portraits). Switch active preview pane when in 2-up modes. Toggle color management. Full screen mode (toggles). Restore from full screen mode. Swap current photo to second view in a 2-up view. (Greg Gorman key) Set Color Class when set to be single key shortcut. Set Star Rating when set to be single key shortcut. Set Color Class Set Star Rating Toggle tag on/off. Upload photo.
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Contact Sheet Keys
Preview Window Keys
X [ ] A I D Y M E S Space bar Option key Option-arrow key Shift-Option-arrow key Option-scroll wheel z-click:
Toggle crop tool. Rotate Counter-Clockwise 90. Rotate Clockwise 90. Play sounds (if any). Typing A again will stop sound playback. IPTC Info. Dismiss photo from selection. Copy photo. Rename photo. Edit photo. Save as. Hand cursor to pan around screen. Hand cursor to pan around screen. Pan around in the zoomed mode. Pan around in the zoomed mode, but faster. (50 pixels instead of 10 at a time) Zoom in and out of the photo. Zoom in and center on click point. z-click again will return to scale-to-fit mode. Exit slideshow. Advance to next photo. Show previous photo. Dismiss photo from slideshow. Tag photo. Untag photo. Toggle tag. Set color class of photo. Pause slideshow if on Auto.
Slideshow Keys
Esc Space, Backspace, Delete, D + T 0, 1-8 Caps Lock
Menu Shortcuts
Application Menu
z, (comma) zH z-Option-H zQ Preferences Hide Photo Mechanic Hide other applications Quit Photo Mechanic
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Menu Shortcuts
File Menu
z-Shift-N zN zO zW z-Shift-W zG z-Shift-L z/ zM zY zDelete zS zB z-Shift-E zU z-Ctrl-U z-Ctrl-X z-Shift-P zP New Contact Sheet window New Contact Sheet tab Open Contact Sheet Close Contact Sheet tab or window if only one tab open in window. Close window when multiple tabs are open. Ingest Live Slide Show Rescan Contact Sheet Rename Photos Copy Photos Delete Photos Save Photos As Burn Photos to Disc Send Photos by Email FTP Photos As Upload Export Page Setup Print
Edit Menu
zZ z-Shift-Z zX zC zV zF z-Shift-F z-Option-F zA zD zT z-Shift-R z-Shift-O z-Ctrl-1 - z-Ctrl-8, z-Ctrl-9, z-Ctrl-0 z-Option-1 - z-Option-5, z-Option-6, z-Option-0
Undo Redo Cut Copy Paste Find Find and Replace Search using Spotlight Select All Deselect All Select Tagged Select Rotated Select Others (invert selection) Select Color Class 1-8, any, none. Select Star Rating 1-5, any, unrated.
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Image Menu
zI zShift-I zK z-Option-K z[ z] z+ zzR zE zL z-1 - z-8, z-0 Ctrl-1 - Ctrl-5, Ctrl-0 IPTC Stationery Pad Apply Stationery Pad Keywords Panel Structured Keywords Panel Rotate Anti-clockwise 90 Rotate Clockwise 90 Tag photos Untag Preview Edit Photos Slideshow Set Color Class 1-8, 0 Set Star Rating 1-5, 0
View Menu
zJ F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 z-Shift-T Tools Menu Ctrl-z-R Window Menu z-{ z-} Select previous tab Select next tab Apply Rotation to JPEGs Toggle Combined RAW+JPEG View All View Selected View Tagged View Untagged Refresh Show/Hide Info Tooltips
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Modifier Key
Modifier Key
The Modifier Key (Option key on Mac, Shift key on Windows) can be used to modify the operation of various dialog boxes throughout Photo Mechanic. The most common use is to short-circuit a dialog box and apply the last used settings without that particular dialog box presenting itself. For example, if you choose FTP as from the right-click context menu whilst holding down the Modifier key, the selected image(s) will be uploaded to whatever the FTP Photos As dialog box was last set to.
Modifier Key
Holding down the Modifier key when deleting skips the delete files confirmation dialog. Holding down the Modifier key when clicking on a tag box will make all images in the selection have the same tag value as the photo whose tag was clicked on. Holding down the Modifier key when clicking on a rotation hover button will rotate all images in the selection in the same direction. Holding down the Modifier key when setting a color class on a photo via the contextual menu will set all selected images (if any) to the same color class. Holding down the Modifier key when pasting an IPTC snapshot will skip the confirmation dialog when multiple items are selected. Holding down the Modifier key when applying IPTC stationery via the contextual menu to multiple items will skip the confirmation dialog. Holding down the Modifier key when double clicking on a thumbnail in the contact sheet will toggle the sense of your preferred doubleclick action (edit or preview are the two choices.)
Holding down the Modifier key when double-clicking a saved search in the Favorites will execute the search in a new Contact Sheet. Holding down the Modifier key when double-clicking a folder in the Favorites or Navigator will add the folder as an additional folder in the current Contact Sheet. Holding down the Modifier key in any dialog that has Set seqn variable... button will change the button to read Reset seqn variable and will instead reset the sequence variable when clicked. Holding down the Modifier key when opening the FTP As... dialog will attempt to skip the dialog and send the files immediately. Holding down the Modifier key when clicking on the Remove crop button in the Preview window will remove a constrained crop as well as the crop rectangle. Holding down the Modifier key while zoomed into a cropped preview will give you the hand cursor which can be used to click and drag the zoomed preview around.
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Modifier Key
Holding down the Modifier key while zoomed into a preview will allow the cursor keys to pan the preview around. Adding the shift key (Mac OS X) or control key (Windows) will scroll faster. Holding down the Modifier key and then moving the scroll wheel on your mouse will zoom in and out of the current preview. Moving the scroll wheel without the Modifier key down will advance through the previews. Holding down the Modifier key when starting an external edit will toggle the sense of your RAW/JPEG editing preference when in RAW+JPEG mode. Holding down the Modifier key when using the copy command will attempt to skip the dialog and perform the last copy operation with the current selection of photos. Holding down the Modifier key when using the rename command will attempt to skip the dialog and perform the last rename operation with the current selection of photos.
Holding down the Modifier key when using the save as command will attempt to skip the dialog and perform the last save as operation with the current selection of photos. Holding down the Modifier key while inside the IPTC Info dialog will change the Clear button to Options which will bring up the Clear IPTC Fields dialog. It will change the Apply Stationery Pad button to Copy to Stationery. When multiple items are selected in the Contact Sheet and you hold down Ctrl and Modifier the button will change to Apply to Selected. The Modifier key will change the OK button to Eval which will replace all variables with their interpreted values which is useful to see how variables replacement will work. Holding down the Modifier key while inside the IPTC Stationery Pad dialog will change the Clear button to Options which will bring up the Clear IPTC Fields dialog.
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FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ
Q1) I used to be able to send my photos from the older Photo Mechanic version off to Photoshop but the new version doesnt seem to work. What do I need to do? A1) Photo Mechanic is no longer tied to the full versions of Photoshop. You can use any image editing application now. The path to the secondary application will be set in the Preferences on the Launching page. Photo Mechanics preferences can be accessed from the Photo Mechanic menu (Mac) or the Edit menu (Windows ) Select the radio button at the top section to Assign default application and then click the Choose... button to the right of the field. This will open the Application picker dialog so you can locate the Photoshop application. See the path below for a default install location of the Photoshop application. Windows : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop xx\Photoshop.exe Mac : Macintosh HD : Applications : Adobe Photoshop xx : Adobe Photoshop xx.app Highlight the PS application and then click on the Open (Mac) or OK (Windows) button to set the path and return to the Photo Mechanic preferences. You should now see the path displayed in the field. Q2) I have set the path to the Photoshop application but I still cant get my photos to open in PS CS. Photoshop opens but never displays the images. What setting did I miss? A2) This sounds like the Photoshop application needs to be re-installed. Try this quick test to make sure. Quit both Photo Mechanic and Photoshop CS. Locate a JPEG file on your Desktop and drag its icon to the Photoshop icon in the Dock. If Photoshop launched but never opens the photo, then you will need to re-install Photoshop CS. Q3) I am a bit apprehensive about upgrading my Photo Mechanic v3 to the latest version 4 because it seems so different. I have tried the demo and I cant make it work like Photo Mechanic v3. Do I have to learn a new set of commands for the new version? A3) Photo Mechanic version 4 can be made to run almost like version 3. Most new Photo Mechanic 4 users find that they cannot double click a thumbnail and have it open in Photoshop. There is a preference setting on the Preview preference page that will let you double-click a thumbnail and have it open in the secondary editing application (Photoshop). This is called double-click Edits / Option double-click Previews. Its the rightmost, bottom radio button on the Preview page. The Preview window no longer requires the Command key to be used to enable the
FAQ
shortcuts. Just the single key is used for most preview window shortcuts. Hit the E key to send the image off to the secondary editing application. There are a few keys that have changed. The + and - keys are now used to Zoom in and out. You will need to use the T key to toggle the Tag status in Photo Mechanic V4. Q4) I have seen other Photo Mechanic users work with PSD files in v4. When I try to browse my PSD files, all I see is a blank thumbnail box. Is there some patch or plugin I need to install? A4) Photo Mechanic uses QuickTime to display Photoshop PSD files and movie files. If the PSD files are not saved from Photoshop with the Maximize Compatibility option enabled, then you will see a blank thumbnail. If you do not see the Maximize Compatibility dialog open in Photoshop when saving a new PSD file, then go to Photoshops preferences on the File Handling page and set the Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility to either Ask or Always. Q5) I purchased Photo Mechanic via email. When I try to register my demo with the permanent password, it comes up as invalid. Do I need to re-install the Photo Mechanic application? A5) Photo Mechanics registration dialog is very strict about the text entered. You must type the text in exactly as shown in the email or on the registration certificate. One out of place character will invalidate the password. If you have copied the text from the email, then you could have pasted in hidden characters that will also invalidate the password. Photo Mechanic will, remember these hidden characters the next time you try to register it. The solution is to clear the registration dialog fields first and then type in your registration info. To clear the field, just use the Tab key or Shift Tab to backup one field. When the field is highlighted, hit the Delete key and then type in the required text. If your registration info does not have a department, then make sure to leave that field empty. Q6) I am trying out the Photo Mechanic demo and one of my photographers images all say Expired in a black thumbnail box. Is his camera broken? A6) The Expired Thumbnails will be displayed any time the capture date of the photo is beyond the expiration date of the Photo Mechanic demo. Have your photographer check the date setting in his camera. Q7) I am using the Ingest utility to copy my Flash card photos to a folder on the local hard drive. When I click the Ingest button I see a small dialog open for just a second and then disappear. I have checked the box to open contact sheet during Ingest but all that opens is a blank gray window. Where are my photos? A7) If you have selected the Copy Locked files Only menu item in the Ingest dialog, then Photo Mechanic will only copy the files that have been locked by your camera. If you have not locked any files, then nothing will be copied by Ingest when this box is checked.
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Q8) I started up Photo Mechanic this morning and all of my Toolbars are missing. I reinstalled Photo Mechanic but they are still gone. What do I do to get them back? A8) If you are using a Mac, then click on the oval button at the top right of the window frame. This will toggle the Toolbar status on and off. If you are using a Windows machine, then you will need to quit Photo Mechanic and then restart it. Hold down the Shift key as soon as you launch Photo Mechanic. Hold the Shift key down until the Splash screen is gone. This will restore all of the menus to their original settings. Q9) I am using the Ingest utility to copy and rename all of my photos to the hard drive and make a secondary backup. The Ingest progress bar starts to move as normal and then I see a bunch of copy errors list in the dialog. What could be the problem? A9) If you do not use a rename string that will generate unique names for all of the photos, then Photo Mechanic will append a letter (A~Z) to the end of each new file with the same name until all 26 letters are used. All the remaining files will now flag a copy error since you are not allowed to have two files with the same name in the same folder. The solution is to use the Sequence variable somewhere in the rename string. Most people place the sequence variable at the end of their filenames. Make sure to Set the sequence variable to the correct value before renaming your photos. Make sure to allow enough leading zeros to cover all of the photos. Dont set the sequence value to 01 if you have more than 99 photos to copy. If you do that then once the third digit is added to the sequence value, youll find that sorting by Filename will not display the photos in the correct order. Q10) How do I change the default dictionary used by the Spell Checker? (Mac OS X) In System Preferences>International>Language make sure that the desired language (e.g., Canadian English) is in the list of languages. If it isnt, click edit and edit the list. This controls what dictionaries are available as choices for spell checking. (But it does not select the language used for spell checking.) You can also edit the language list order so that the one you always use or use most is at the top of the list. Close system preferences. Start Photo Mechanic. Open a contact sheet with some images. Put the cursor over an image and click its info button. Put the cursor in the Caption area and click to make Photo Mechanic think you are about to enter some text it should spell check. Click Edit>Spelling>Spelling... In the spelling popup window select the language you want. Close the windows. Close Photo Mechanic. Run Photo Mechanic again and you should have your desired spelling dictionary as the default. (Thanks to Roy Smith for this solution.) On Windows, you can change the dictionary from the IPTC/XMP tab of the Preferences dialog. Please note that the spell checker built into the Windows version
is currently incompatible with Unicode characters and if enabled, it may interfere with some languages. Turn off the spell checker if you experience difficulties.
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Index
Index
Arrangements Batch Captioning Burning CD/DVDs Caching Preferences Caching Preferences Code Replacement Color Classes Color Class Widget Color Management Color Management Preferences Command Summary Contact Sheet Keys Contact Sheet Preferences Contact Sheet Window Copying Files Crop Tool Display Edit in External Editor Editing Edit menu Email Embed Profile Export Export/Web Gallery Exporting Preferences Export Text Export XML External Compatibility FAQs File Formats File menu Files Preferences Find and Replace Find Image Finding Folders and Navigator FTP Uploading General Preferences Getting Started Greg Gorman Key Histogram Image menu Images Side by Side Image Variables Importing Preferences Index Info Panel Info Variable Ingesting Images Ingest Tasks IPTC/XMP Preferences IPTC Info IPTC Stationery Pad 21 33 84 117 118 42 16 16 89 119 94 122 105 11 69 25 89 71 28 95 74 89 80 80 120 83 83 18 128 8 94 107 44 67 20 13 75 104 10 29 26 97 23 46 120 132 24 56 59 63 112 36 33 JPEG Compression Keywords Launching Preferences Live Slide Show Mac / Windows Compatibility Menu Shortcuts Miscellaneous Tools Modifier Key Output Playing Sounds Preferences Preview Preview and 2-Up Editing Preview Preferences Preview Window Keys Printing Printing Contact Sheets Printing Proof Sheets RAW + JPEG Registering Renaming Files Rotating Photos Save As Selecting Images Selection, Tags, and Color Classes Shortcut Keys Single Images Slide Show Edit Slideshow Keys Snapshots Sorting Spotlight Search Star Rating Star Rating Widget Structured Keywords Tagging The Main Window Toolbar Tools menu Upload Services Upload to Digital Railroad Upload to PhotoShelter User/Client Variables Variables List Variable Substring Extraction View menu View Panes Views Watermarking What is Photo Mechanic? Workflow Zoom and Lock Zoom Panel 88 37 110 32 6 123 70 126 71 70 104 22 29 116 122 85 85 87 57 7 68 28 72 15 15 122 14 31 123 45 20 64 18 18 38 15 11 121 99 78 79 78 55 48 47 97 12 22 70 4 90 30 26
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Photo Mechanic 4.5.3 Manual

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PHOTO MECHANIC USER GUIDE

Camera Bits, Inc. www.camerabits.com

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Photo Mechanic Users Guide

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

What is Photo Mechanic?

What is Photo Mechanic?

User Interface Conventions

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Mac / Windows Compatibility

Mac / Windows Compatibility

Registering Photo Mechanic

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Windows AVI QuickTime Movie MPEG 2 Movie MPEG 4 Movie

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Contact Sheet Window

Contact Sheet Tab Favorites Panel

Customisable Thumbnail label

Status Info Rotate Thumb

Star Rating Widget

Color Class Widget

IPTC Info Display

Preview Color Class and Star Rating Bar

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

The Main View

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Folders and Navigator

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Selection,Tags, and Color Classes

Selection,Tags, and Color Classes

Keyboard Shortcut (For a Selection) Tag : z+ Untag : z-

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Click on a color box to choose different colors.

Type here to change the name of the Color Class

Color Class Widget

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Color Class Widget

Color Class Widget set to display all Classes.

Color Class Widget set to display only 1 Class

Star Rating Widget

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

This is how the General Preferences might be set in Photo Mechanic:

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Keyboard Shortcut Find: zF

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

The Preview Window

Keyboard Shortcut Preview: zR

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Images Side by Side

Keyboard Shortcut Single Image: O Side by side: H Over and under: V

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

+ and - buttons control the size of this pane. Info Palette

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Keyboard Shortcut Crop Tool: X

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3

Black - Currently Previewed image

Dark Grey - Thumb currently selected in the Contact Sheet View.

Photo Mechanic Users Guide Ver. 4.5.3