Photo Mechanic, HS Sports and Code Replacements

David Evertsen

Has anyone used Photo Mechanic to caption HS Sports and generated the Rosters using CodeReplacements.com. I am constantly having parents ask to be able to search by number and I am looking to add numbers and names after PP before upload to help my sales.

Anyone have ideas how to get numbers and names on your pictures for Sports to do this??

JimKarczewski

I don't use PM, but every photographer I know for the 2 local papers does. They do their quick edits and captions on it before submitting to their papers.... I've never unfortunately found a huge use for it... Maybe if I was under a deadline it would be a different story...

MDalby

This is the first that I have heard of this software/solution. So... You edit the tags on the photo with the jersey numbers and it is embedded in the photo profile so it can be searched for? What does the code replacements segment do? You create the roster and with the tags in the photo profile, the player name, position etc will display?

How does all this work? How would this work within SmugMug?

johng

What code replacements typically do is replace abbreviations with full names - so you might have a code of:
UF19 which the replacement software replaces with:
University of Florida's John Smith

Think of it as a "Find & Replace" feature. That way you don't have to consult a roster sheet when doing your captions/tags.

apexonephoto

Never heard of either of those services/software. I used to use ACDC Pro on Windows and since I've had a Mac I use Aperture for all of my keywording. I shoot racing only, and make a new category for every day I go to the racetrack, to have an extra level of subcategories. In Aperture I have keywords for every driver with there car number ie. "0" "Joe" "Racer", and also add the racetrack name and the sanctioning body name. I get home from a race, cull the out of focus/bad crop photos, then I go back and keyword the driver name and hide or temporarily reject the file until they are all finished.

Once the shabbily working smart galleries came out last year I created this category of smart galleries, which leads to all of my photos of a certain driver. Seems like a lot of work, I've been doing it this way for years. Once you have all of the teammates setup it makes the process a lot easier.

MDalby

David Evertsen wrote: »

Has anyone used Photo Mechanic to caption HS Sports and generated the Rosters using CodeReplacements.com. I am constantly having parents ask to be able to search by number and I am looking to add numbers and names after PP before upload to help my sales.

Anyone have ideas how to get numbers and names on your pictures for Sports to do this??

Guys... I need you to get out the big crayons and the wide lined paper for me... Help me understand what the process for this is and how it works?

So in my PP in Lightroom I would put the HS+Sport+jersey number and CodeReplacements would add the more full description and the name etc? What value added service does the Photo Mechanic provide?

xchangx

So I use Photo Mechanic for 2 reasons: 1) Very quick previews/tags 2)Code replacements

Code replacements is (like was said above) search and replace.

You setup a text file with one column as the code. Second column if the replacement. You also have a delimiter character (tells the program that you are going to use a code replacement, in my case it's \) For ex. South Alabama men's bball

M1 Martino,Brock
M2 Gary,Redus
M3 Allyn,Cooks
M10 Raymond,Sims
M11 Rico,Sanders

if I type in "\M11\" minus the quotes, it will automatically pop up "Rico,Sanders"

I have the comma in there for smugmug's keywords.

So you could type in "\M11\ goes for a layup." and PM will change it to "Rico,Sanders goes for a layup."

MDalby wrote: »

Guys... I need you to get out the big crayons and the wide lined paper for me... Help me understand what the process for this is and how it works?

So in my PP in Lightroom I would put the HS+Sport+jersey number and CodeReplacements would add the more full description and the name etc? What value added service does the Photo Mechanic provide?

MDalby

xchangx wrote: »

So I use Photo Mechanic for 2 reasons: 1) Very quick previews/tags 2)Code replacements

Code replacements is (like was said above) search and replace.

You setup a text file with one column as the code. Second column if the replacement. You also have a delimiter character (tells the program that you are going to use a code replacement, in my case it's \) For ex. South Alabama men's bball

M1 Martino,Brock
M2 Gary,Redus
M3 Allyn,Cooks
M10 Raymond,Sims
M11 Rico,Sanders

if I type in "\M11\" minus the quotes, it will automatically pop up "Rico,Sanders"

I have the comma in there for smugmug's keywords.

So you could type in "\M11\ goes for a layup." and PM will change it to "Rico,Sanders goes for a layup."

Gotcha.

Thanks!

David Evertsen

xchangx wrote: »

So I use Photo Mechanic for 2 reasons: 1) Very quick previews/tags 2)Code replacements

Code replacements is (like was said above) search and replace.

You setup a text file with one column as the code. Second column if the replacement. You also have a delimiter character (tells the program that you are going to use a code replacement, in my case it's \) For ex. South Alabama men's bball

M1 Martino,Brock
M2 Gary,Redus
M3 Allyn,Cooks
M10 Raymond,Sims
M11 Rico,Sanders

if I type in "\M11\" minus the quotes, it will automatically pop up "Rico,Sanders"

I have the comma in there for smugmug's keywords.

So you could type in "\M11\ goes for a layup." and PM will change it to "Rico,Sanders goes for a layup."

Camera Bits has Photo Mechanic on sale for 60 bucks right now so I picked it up for the preview/injest and captioning.

Does it set the names up as keywords in the smugmug gallery or does is show up as the caption? If you use smart galleries what does it use to pull from the captions or keywords? That is what I am looking to do, so many parents just want to see their kids. Even if I just do the number without the name it would make my life easier.
Thanks for all the help on this..

xchangx

David Evertsen wrote: »

Camera Bits has Photo Mechanic on sale for 60 bucks right now so I picked it up for the preview/injest and captioning.

Does it set the names up as keywords in the smugmug gallery or does is show up as the caption? If you use smart galleries what does it use to pull from the captions or keywords? That is what I am looking to do, so many parents just want to see their kids. Even if I just do the number without the name it would make my life easier.
Thanks for all the help on this..

There's a section in the IPTC for Caption and Keywords. I'm not 100% sure about smart galleries, but I put the names in for the keywords. You have to separate each word by a comma, otherwise it will combine the first and last name as one keyword and not each name being it's own keyword.

Smugmug does have a restriction on the number of characters for keywords. I think 3 is the least you can have, so putting in the jersey # won't work.

David Evertsen

xchangx wrote: »

There's a section in the IPTC for Caption and Keywords. I'm not 100% sure about smart galleries, but I put the names in for the keywords. You have to separate each word by a comma, otherwise it will combine the first and last name as one keyword and not each name being it's own keyword.

Smugmug does have a restriction on the number of characters for keywords. I think 3 is the least you can have, so putting in the jersey # won't work.

Thanks I am checking with Smugmug about the Smart Galleries and keywords limits. If it doesn't take too long to do this I will make some parents life easier to purchase my pictures..

apexonephoto

David Evertsen wrote: »

Thanks I am checking with Smugmug about the Smart Galleries and keywords limits. If it doesn't take too long to do this I will make some parents life easier to purchase my pictures..

That 3 character limit is no longer. See here: http://apexonephoto.smugmug.com/keyword/1 Smart galleries don't always update, they may have fixed that.

If you happen to have a person with two first names or a moderately popular last name, you will need that jersey # to differentiate. There are several photos I have with two cars in them that will create an error, and I use the number to keep out the errors.

xchangx

apexonephoto wrote: »

That 3 character limit is no longer. See here: http://apexonephoto.smugmug.com/keyword/1 Smart galleries don't always update, they may have fixed that.

If you happen to have a person with two first names or a moderately popular last name, you will need that jersey # to differentiate. There are several photos I have with two cars in them that will create an error, and I use the number to keep out the errors.

Awesome, thanks for letting me know!

David Evertsen

apexonephoto wrote: »

That 3 character limit is no longer. See here: http://apexonephoto.smugmug.com/keyword/1 Smart galleries don't always update, they may have fixed that.

If you happen to have a person with two first names or a moderately popular last name, you will need that jersey # to differentiate. There are several photos I have with two cars in them that will create an error, and I use the number to keep out the errors.

Thanks for the help. I am going to try on some smaller galleries and see how this works out. Those driver galleries you have on your site are all smart galleries??

Really nice race pictures by the way!!

apexonephoto

David Evertsen wrote: »

Thanks for the help. I am going to try on some smaller galleries and see how this works out. Those driver galleries you have on your site are all smart galleries??

Really nice race pictures by the way!!

Thanks for the compliment. Yes! those are all smart galleries. The combination of living in Canada and only shooting racing means that I rarely pick up my camera from October until March. Plenty of time to do this. Imagine my frustration after creating 500+ smart galleries and then they wouldn't update. I would have to go into gallery settings and click "make this gallery smarter", then click "refresh" once I added new photos.

Do a test of adding photos after you have created the smart gallery to see if it will update on it's own. I think the reasoning was it needed time to index. Not certain if it's fixed yet.

jonh68

MDalby wrote: »

Guys... I need you to get out the big crayons and the wide lined paper for me... Help me understand what the process for this is and how it works?

So in my PP in Lightroom I would put the HS+Sport+jersey number and CodeReplacements would add the more full description and the name etc? What value added service does the Photo Mechanic provide?

For me, PM does everything that has been said, plus it allows quick selection of photos BEFORE you download to the HD. I tag the ones I like, then copy those over to a folder on the HD. You can select open sheet once the photos are copied, and then you can edit from within the open sheet. PM allows for a default editing program to be selected so when you select a picture to edit, it brings up your editor.

Once edited, I caption the photos, and code replacement is a big help in this dept. Once captioned and edited, off they go to the ftp server. If the paper wants a gallery set up, I can select all pictures, "save as" and it will format for the web as well as adding the copyright info. Create a zip file from that, upload entire file, select import EXIF data, and boom entire gallery is captioned.

MDalby

OK... I am REALLY thankful that David posted this thread. I didn't even know about Smart Galleries. I have been playing with them throughout the day. It is GREAT for getting those player galleries set up for parents. I hadn't really used tags that much in my shots but now I see the benefit.

So, I have only been putting a tag with the squad and jersey number and the smart gallery would read it in. But now I see the benefit of the Code Replacement in Photo Mechanic. I am fine for this season, but next season the jersey numbers could be reassigned and I could get galleries mixed with players. I really need to get the name in the tag rather than just the jersey number.

So, I guess I need to get Photo Mechanic to facilitate this function. It just makes it a lot easier than remembering all the names of the players in the various squads.

David Evertsen

MDalby wrote: »

OK... I am REALLY thankful that David posted this thread. I didn't even know about Smart Galleries. I have been playing with them throughout the day. It is GREAT for getting those player galleries set up for parents. I hadn't really used tags that much in my shots but now I see the benefit.

So, I have only been putting a tag with the squad and jersey number and the smart gallery would read it in. But now I see the benefit of the Code Replacement in Photo Mechanic. I am fine for this season, but next season the jersey numbers could be reassigned and I could get galleries mixed with players. I really need to get the name in the tag rather than just the jersey number.

So, I guess I need to get Photo Mechanic to facilitate this function. It just makes it a lot easier than remembering all the names of the players in the various squads.

Smart Galleries work great for this with Photo Mechanic there is one Big Caveat that Smugmug could help us with. Let us choose the smart Galleries by Category or Sub-Category, really simple way to add names create the individual players galleries so parents can save time and order lots. Photo Mechanic also uploads to Smugmug built in!! Yep it is hooked up.. As part of the Code replacement file I am adding XXXX Varsity Lacrosse 2011 for each player in that sport so Smart gallery has one more check built in since Sub-Categories aren't enabled for Smart stuff..

Here is what my workflow for HS sports will be..

Ingest the Photos add my Copyright info and such via Photo Mechanic.
Edit, adjust and the such via Lightroom3 I will add the following keyword (sports prefix for code replacement for PM \bk example for Boone Varsity Baseball) Code replacement file I made myself
Export pictures then run irfanview to compress to 85% so that my slow DSL upload will save me time.
Open Photomechanic and do code replacement for players in shots and save and move on.
Upload to Game gallery on Smugmug
Smart Galleries for all players on team will be setup in Sub-Category which will populate themselves..

I am not a wordsmith but would like your Feedback..

Photo Mechanic is $60 normally $159 right now at Camera Bits and totally worth it!!

JimKarczewski

David Evertsen wrote: »

Photo Mechanic is $60 normally $159 right now at Camera Bits and totally worth it!!

yes and no. It's $60 for the 4.6 version with NO updates. If you want to update it, you have to pay $90... which is the $150 price for 4.6 with one year of free updates. So, I guess if you want to get started you can pay $60, but sometime in the future you'll probably be paying $90 to upgrade....

MDalby

OK, this thread is the best thing since sliced bread.

I just bought Photo Mechanic this morning and I have created my rosters and done my code replacement and added captions to the photos and FTPed to SmugMug and using smart galleries created player galleries and it is all so easy!!!

No more FTP through the uploader, captiosn are automated, galleries are automated.... NICE!

Thanks for the sharing of tips guys!

This is the way to go!

David Evertsen

MDalby wrote: »

OK, this thread is the best thing since sliced bread.

I just bought Photo Mechanic this morning and I have created my rosters and done my code replacement and added captions to the photos and FTPed to SmugMug and using smart galleries created player galleries and it is all so easy!!!

No more FTP through the uploader, captiosn are automated, galleries are automated.... NICE!

Thanks for the sharing of tips guys!

This is the way to go!

Glad to hear it, already asked some of the parents at the Local HS I shoot for and they are excited they can look at the pictures of just their kids.. Hoping to sell more. Have a great weekend..

David Evertsen

apexonephoto wrote: »

That 3 character limit is no longer. See here: http://apexonephoto.smugmug.com/keyword/1 Smart galleries don't always update, they may have fixed that.

If you happen to have a person with two first names or a moderately popular last name, you will need that jersey # to differentiate. There are several photos I have with two cars in them that will create an error, and I use the number to keep out the errors.

Just had some issues with keywords in what I was doing, it appears there is still an issue with keywords less than 3 characters. I emailed a questions about some issues with smart galleries and Doc Walker replied there is an isuee. They are hoping to get it fixed, there is also an issue with smart galleries adding pictures without being refreshed too from time to time..

On a positive not I also have a way to add lots of galleries at once on my site not using the web interface. I use Star Explorer to add them, if you get some of the add ons for it you can also turn an entire category to unlisted by selecting all the galleries and under one of the add ons turn them unlisted. I use this to have my photos backed up on SM but not available for purchase any longer unless I need to turn them back on.

Off to do some code replacement..

MDalby

I am having an issue with my smart galleries. Since in my code replacement I get the name in "LastName, FirstName" format, I have entered in a rule for the FirstName and I selected all rules need to be applied to the gallery. If I have a player Dalby, Mark I want to make sure that I don't get all players with Mark in the tags or captions. It looks like it is still pulling in any player with the same first name etc..

apexonephoto

All of my names have a semi colon between the first and last. The one or two digit numbers do take a little time to index.

Mark I'm not certain I understand the issue you are having, since you have keywords off, or the captions prevent the keywords from showing. Try going into the plain old regular event gallery, go to tools -> settings -> many photos -> caption/keywords -> then do a replace of ", " with "; ". Not sure if I'm clear, include the quote marks, that works for me. For my smart galleries I have it set to all and use an entry for the first name and a separate one for the last name.

Some of these issues can be a pain, I am rather quick at working around them.

David Evertsen

Another cool thing about Photo Mechanic is that you can upload to Smugmug directly from Photo Mechanic after doing the code replacement. I am using it over the browser based uploader.. The parents at the schools I shoot for are really excited about Player number galleries.. Thinking about doing opposing team number galleries too. If you set your code replacement files correctly you can do 2-300 images in about 20 minutes..

MDalby

I only use Photo Mechanic for my uploads now. Very slick for the creation of galleries and uploading.

tagily

Hi David!
if you're still interested we have just released tagily.io, a cloud-based service for automatic bib number recognition in sport events.

It's super easy to use and you'll have the results in a few minutes after you start uploading the pictures. We also provide a convenient upload tool. Depending on your internet connection speed, we can process up to 10.000 images per hour.

As the results come back, you can choose to refine them with our annotation tool (free to use) or make them available as they are. You can use it on all types of bibs, no additional code placement is required (e.g. QR or Aruco code), because we read the number directly. We don't even have camera requirements: as long as the bib number is good enough for a human to read it, our artificial intelligence system can also read it.

As of today, our biggest event has been the Marcialonga 2018, where 100.000 images were processed in one night. Yet the software smoothly works for marathons and bike races as well. You can learn more about it here: deepvisionconsulting.com/automatic-bib-recognition-kick-off-at-marcialonga-2018 or just go to the website to ask for a free trial: tagily.io.

Let me know if you have any further question!