OS X Lion

[Bob White]

Re: OS X Lion

That works, Terry, but it is at the Finder level. And I'm not real certain that the info would carry with the photo file in a readable format if it is given to someone running a flavor of Windows and I'm certain it wouldn't carry to other types of devices.

Better is to add the information into the photo file itself. It becomes part of the EXIF data and, ala GEDCOM, is recognizable by many devices -- computers, photo frames, some tablets, most smart phones, etc...

If using iPhoto, display the photo. At the top, click once on the title that is likely to be something like IMG_0099. It highlights and you type your own title. Then make sure the Info pane is open. Where it states, Add Description...., just type whatever you want like Bottom Row: Uncle John, Aunt Mimi,..... This becomes part of the photo file's data and goes with the photo when you send a digital copy to Uncle John.

You can perform this same function with nearly any photo editing program. I was just using iPhoto as an example.

[S. Kennedy]

Re: OS X Lion

Off subject but I will put in my 2 cents anyway. The above solutions will work fine if it is for you only. However, some of the solutions are Mac specific and some would not be obvious to many less computer literate. For providing information for anyone to see I like to have the info directly on the photo. If you don't want to obscure any of the photo most any graphics editor (such as Photoshop and Graphic Converter) will allow one to enlarge the canvas and move the picture to the top or bottom and then type the info into the white space thus provided, just like you see in the newspaper. This will always be visible no matter how you print or view the picture.
S. Kennedy

[Bob White]

Re: OS X Lion

Actually, it's right on subject. I should have mentioned that but I do the white space thing so rarely that I forgot. Where I usually use it is for group photos.

[rclrocco]

Re: OS X Lion

Thanks so far. When I pop up a photo in iPhoto , I don't see a number or anywhere I can click to change a title. My version is probably not the most up to date . Would that make a difference, Bob? What you've described is just what I'd like, ie to be able to add a brief description of what or who is in the photo , and for that to stay with the photo when it is emailed , say.
But for some reason, I can't do what you've suggested.

[Dennis Jackson]

Re: OS X Lion

Sorry Bob, I meant with the photo, so that when viewing or emailing the photo, the caption is with it as part of the file. With older photos especially, I would prefer not to have the caption on the photo as it could be on top of some important detail or just look wrong.

What I've done to date with some photos is to import the photo into Word or Pages and adda line of text below the image, and resave that file. But that now seems a crude way of doing it - can't help thinking there must be a more elegant way, especially with macs and iPads etc

You can use GraphicCoverter to change the size of the image and then add your text into the (blank) margin you have created. This will avoid the caption appearing on top of some important detail. In GraphicConverter 7 the options is Picture->Size->Add/Remove Margins. You can then use the Text tool to enter the caption. And finally save a new version of the picture. In the process you could also change the resolution of the picture or enhance the colours.

[Bob White]

Re: OS X Lion

Thanks so far. When I pop up a photo in iPhoto , I don't see a number or anywhere I can click to change a title. My version is probably not the most up to date . Would that make a difference, Bob? ..........

Old versions of iPhoto, it's at the top. Current and last version, it's in the info pane.

[rclrocco]

Re: OS X Lion

I can see where to make the changes now ie to add a caption - description - in the info pane, but when I drag that to the email icon to send the photo to someone , there's no sign of the added note. Is this right? And presumably if the photo is emailed to a PC user, they won't see it , ie the caption anyway? Hmmm, not there yet....

[TeriPettit]

Re: OS X Lion

I think you need to be more clear about how you are hoping this "caption" will be displayed. Where do you want it to be seen? When, if ever, do you NOT want it to be seen?

The word "caption" when it pertains to an image usually means something that you see written underneath the image when it is displayed visually on a page (either print or web). There is no way to force that to always happen regardless of what program is displaying the image except to make it part of the image itself, using some image editing program. There have been several recommendations about how to do so.

Since it is then part of the image, it will always appear when you print or display the image, but you will not see it in directory listings, etc. And of course it will be impossible to see the image WITHOUT the caption, unless it is edited again to strip it.

The other ways of attaching identifying information are more commonly called "tags", "notes" or "comments" rather than "captions", since they are not necessarily displayed when you place the image into a document. They instead get attached to the file as attributes.

Some of them are file system level attributes that ANY file can have, similar to the file name, edit date, etc. Those are the ones you typically set through the OS. Notes and comments attached through the OS (Finder, File Explorer, etc.) are often not portable across platforms.

Images can also have other attributes specific to photos, such as resolution, camera settings, location taken, date taken, etc. Those are often attached by the camera or scanner software. They are part of the standard image file formats such as jpg and png, and are therefore portable across OS. The image file standards also allow for a user set label, and that's what you are usually setting with iPhoto and other image management software.

Whether you SEE those attributes or not depends on what the software you are using does with them. Typically programs that display images on a page, like Word, web browsers, etc., do not choose to display any image attribute information next to the image, nor does it typically get displayed in a file directory listing. Usually you have to be using some kind of image management program, and bring up some kind of properties display. It isn't that it is "lost", it is just usually ignored by software that doesn't manage pictures.

That's why we need to know more about your desired use cases before we can recommend how to get the results you want. (If what you want is for the image to NOT show any text when you double-click it and view it in an image editor, but for it to display a caption underneath the image whenever you drop it into a text document like Word or place it on a web page or look at it in an email message, then you are out of luck, since there is no attribute that all page layout applications honor as "put this text underneath the picture whenever it is displayed on a page, but don't make it part of the actual image".)

[rclrocco]

Re: OS X Lion

With apologies to the original poster as this is getting away - perhaps - from your original thread. And thanks for the replies so far.

I want to be able to add a few words, a caption, below a photo stating who or what is in the photo. Usually below, but there might be a time when putting the note or caption is more appropriate in another position. I am trying to replicate what I have in many actual photo albums ie non computer versions. Photos with the people and places etc shown clearly identified. So an example might be,
L-R John Smith, his wife Janet Smith, at their home, near Liverpool, in 1904

My need for this this has been brought home to me by recently attending a family get together on the other side of the world. Many old photos were brought along, and many new group photos were taken, and I would like to add names in a neat way. In the last few years, I also have inherited several family photo albums which have no names of many of the people or places featured.

I want to be able to send some of these photos by email, and have them show in Reunion with a clear simple note of who is featured with, not on the image. If I click on a photo in Multimedia, I'd like to be able to see who is in the photo, when the image is on screen. I may want to send them to a PC user, as well as a mac user.

I particularly would like this feature when I'm using Reunion for iPad which I've only just got and seems a brilliant medium for showing and handling photos. The iPad was great to be able to transport and show many photos, particularly to older relatives, at this recent family get together, but unless I was always on hand to state who was who in a photo, relatives were left wondering who was shown in the photo.

I know that iPhoto, and no doubt other programs can include this information, in the info pane, or metadata or similar, but when the photo is emailed to someone else, this data is not available to them.

As I've said, i can do this in several ways, and currently do so using Word, but just thought there might be an easier or better way which RT members know of and use in conjunction with Reunion or OSX Lion.
Sorry for the feeble attempt to get back on thread

[Michael Talibard]

Re: OS X Lion

Sounds like a job for Keynote.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: OS X Lion

Sounds like a job for Keynote.

I had never thought about Keynote! However, in certain situations, one can make quite attractive "album" sheets from different templates. Thanks for the tip!

[rclrocco]

Re: OS X Lion

Keynote is the one.
And thank you Michael for showing me in person tonight. I think we are currently the Channel Islands Reunion user group - all two of us. Someone please prove us wrong.....
Now I can add captions etc, on, under, to the side of, or above, any photo I want to have in Reunion and I can control the size, colour and type of font used for the caption, with another Mac program. I can resave the result and email as I wanted. And the range of clever effects that Keynote can give is good. Fade in , fade out of captions, and many other options, and when used in conjunction with the iPad, the possibilities are extensive.