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ripleyrm2
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Hierarchical keywords via exif data

Apr 17, 2012 2:25 PM

I am trying to import plant photos into Lightroom4 with their Family, Genus and Species along with Location keywords, by placing the data in the image using exiftool. But failing. One hierarchy seems to work, but not more. I can replicate what Lightroom creates, but it does not seem to read OK.

833 Views   6 Replies   Latest reply: ripleyrm2, Apr 23, 2012 2:57 PM
 
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  • John R. Ellis
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    1. John R. Ellis,
    Apr 17, 2012 9:19 PM   in reply to ripleyrm2
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    Can you provide the exact Exiftool command line that's not working?

     
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  • ripleyrm2
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    2. ripleyrm2,
    Apr 18, 2012 5:44 AM   in reply to John R. Ellis
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    The problem is not really the exiftool command: rather that I have been

    trying various combinations of exif data to create hierarchical keywords

    on import.

     

    I am using

    exiftool -csv=test.csv .

     

    with one image, and various contents of the HierarchicalSubject of the

    csv file. I check what I have created using

     

    exiftool IMG_0016.JPG | less

     

    I added keywords within Lightroom and saved the metadata to see what it

    wrote: it seemed to be HierarchicalSubject, Subject and Keywords. But I

    seem to need just HierarchicalSubject when I import.

     

    If I define keywords Big and small within Big, and create

     

    HierarchicalSubject: Big|small

     

    then on import I get the hierarchical keyword OK. But if I try to also

    set up Big2|small2, by using

     

    HierarchicalSubject:Big|small, Big2|small2

     

    I get a single keyword small2 nested in "small, Big2", nested in Big.

     
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  • John R. Ellis
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    3. John R. Ellis,
    Apr 18, 2012 9:09 AM   in reply to ripleyrm2
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    I think you're encountered two issues that aren't very well documented:

     

    - You need to set the Subject field, not HierarchicalSubject, with the keywords of the form "Big|Small" and leave HierarchicalSubject blank.  LR will properly interpret on import the "|" character in the Subject field.  (LR will only interpret "Big|Small" in HierarchicalSubject if Subject also contains "Big, Small".)

     

    - You need to provide the -sep option to Exiftool when reading a CSV file:

     

    exiftool -csv=test.csv -sep=", " test.jpg

     

    Note that there is a space after the comma.  The Exiftool command-line documentation says that is the default for the -sep option, but it doen't appear to be the case.

     
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  • ripleyrm2
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    4. ripleyrm2,
    Apr 18, 2012 10:27 AM   in reply to John R. Ellis
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    Very many thanks. I used -sep ", " (without the =) and it worked.

     

    It seems to work with either the HierarchicalSubject or the Subject

    field set in my tests, but

     

    -sep ", " with a space was necessary because I had a space in my csv

    file. Without this space I needed -sep "," rather than -sep ", ".

     

    My problem was that I did not understand the significance of the + in

    string+ in the exiftool description of the Subject tag. And I did not

    ask for a binary display, so I could not distinguish between one or two

    keywords.

     

    exiftool -Subject -b test.jpg

     

    shows it quite clearly.

     

    BTW I think -sep is necessary for csv file input but not when list data

    are entered from the command line. But the help is not very clear.

     
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  • boardhead_
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    5. boardhead_,
    Apr 23, 2012 10:13 AM   in reply to John R. Ellis
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    John R. Ellis wrote:

     

    The Exiftool command-line documentation says that is the default for the -sep option, but it doen't appear to be the case.

     

    The documentation states that ", " is the default for reading.  The default for writing is to not split the value, but I admit this isn't perfectly clear.

     

    - Phil

     
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  • ripleyrm2
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    6. ripleyrm2,
    Apr 23, 2012 2:57 PM   in reply to boardhead_
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    Thanks for clarifying this. I'll mark the problem answered.

     
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