Pressphoto
IPTC Adjustments & FTP Bundle Automization
Are you a (press) photographer or editor?
Do you need to upload same sets of photos to different press agencies via (S)FTP with different IPTC? Or you only need to upload photos with certain tags (or persons) to specific press agencies?
One upload to our server and we will do the rest for you. Customized to your needs. See here a quick overview of our possibilities.
Different levels of possible FTP & IPTC automizations
Make your workflow faster and more reliable by bundling different FTP & IPTC requirements into a single one
Level 1
A set of pictures needs to be uploaded to several FTP sites (without IPTC changes).
Each player on the left represents one photo on your computer. You upload them only 1 time to our BundleWizard server and we upload them directly to multiple other FTP sites.
There is no limit to how many FTP sites you need to upload your pictures. We combine as many FTP sites under one FTP as you want.
Level 2
A set of pictures needs to be uploaded to several FTP sites, with IPTC adjustments on the way.
In this example we pick a random player on a photo, called „Player 10“. After you captioned him on your computer, he needs to be uploaded via FTP to multiple press agencies. Each agency has their own IPTC adjustments/requirements.
You only need to upload your pictures once to our BundleWizard, then we adjust different IPTC fields, like Headlines, Description, Supp Cat 1, Category or other fields to the specific needs of that agency. Right after the adjustment we send the pictures via FTP to the agencies.
Level 3
Same like Level 2: Same set of pictures need to be distributed to different FTP sites, each with specific IPTC adjustments/requirements.
However: Some press agencies want only photos of certain persons, like players or athletes, we filter them out and send them specific to that FTP / pressagency.
In this example we have already captioned 4 different photos. On the left side shows the captioned players on a photo on your computer. For example player named „Player 9“ could be also named „Tom Baker“ or else. You only need to upload those photos once.
We can read out each IPTC field and when a specific person is tagged and found in one of the IPTC fields (like Persons Shown, Feat. Org. Name, Keywords, or Description or other fields) we filter, select and send them to one specific FTP / Press agency.
This also works for a group, like „all persons of the Netherlands“ need to be sent to FTP X and „all persons of Italy“ need to be sent to FTP Y.
Also possible: if the field „keywords“ contain „football“ it would be send to „Agency A & B“ and if it would contain „water polo“ it would be send to „Agency B & C“.
Level 4
More advanced IPTC adjustments are needed?
Depending on how your IPTC looks we can reverse engineer the IPTC, extract keywords from the description and write them into other IPTC fields like Supp Cat 1, 2 and 3, Headline or other fields.
We can also remove or replace certain keywords, tags or recurrent sentences in the IPTC description. Even if they are in the middle of the description. We can replace them with a pre-programmed translation into another language. This only works if you stick to a standardized template!
Extra Customizations
It is possible to make further customizations to your needs, for example:
- Rename files, keep part of the original name or replace the file name entirely.
- Replace certain words within the description with other words „Agency A“ would become „Agency B“.
- Execute check if the photos were uploaded with a basic IPTC, if certain fields were left empty the picture will not be processed, and you can receive an email when such pictures were found. Customizeable that only the uploader would receive an email (based on filename).
- Execute integrity check: corrupt / defect JPG files can be detected and will not processed. You can also receive an email with the filenames of the defect photos. Customizeable that only the uploader would receive an email (based on filename).
- Each user within your agency can have her/his personalized FTP account.
- Postpone the upload. You send the photos to us, and we send them with a delay. Useful if you have an embargo on publishing news or if you are only allowed to upload photos during night times.
- Photos need to be uploaded in subfolders. We can automatically place those photos based on their date. We can also drop the photos based on their IPTC, e.g. place all photos from the same football match into one folder, or drop all photos from the same photographer into one folder – or both, depending on your needs.
Apply for your own customized bundle
Before we can start making plans and make customized bundles we need to know a few things about what needs to be done. This also determines the price of the bundle.
- Who are you?
Are you a photographer or editor who works on his own or as a freelancer for a press agency? Or do you want the upload process easier for your colleagues or employees of a press agency? A rough estimate of how many events do you cover? - To whom do you need to upload your photos?
We can only upload your photos if we also know to where we should upload them. - What are your IPTC requirements?
We need to know about your and your partners‘ IPTC requirements. Only when we know about the IPTC requirements of your partner agencies we can make the necessary adjustments.
After we’ve received your inquiry at support@bundlewizard.net we come back to you with an offer as soon as possible – free of charge.
What can BundleWizard do for you?
A short and practical explanation for the everyday use in the field or press office of FTP & IPTC.
FTP Combination
Press photographers and editors often need to send the same photos to different press agencies via FTP.
A tiresome process, because the different FTP servers need to be very often manually selected each time. It is possible to easily forget one or two FTP servers which means that a customer won’t receive your photos and cannot sell these. It’s also quite a strain on your upload capacity, especially if you are on location like in a football stadium with limited upload speed. Instead of uploading the same photos several times times, you only upload them once, which makes the entire upload process faster.
We can combine different FTP targets under one FTP. You only need to upload the pictures once and we distribute them further – instantly!
Auto IPTC Adjustments
IPTC are the metadata of a photo, a bit more than just basic description. Photos need to appear in the database and therefore also on the website of a press agency. That only works when the IPTC is filled in 100% correctly, they are shown on the site and can be sold. Different agencies have different requirements.
Example: some require the „Headline“ with European date format, others don’t want a date at all. Others want the type of match first, others first the names of the sports teams.
When you have a set of photos you have to first apply a different IPTC template first before you can upload, when you have to send the photos to different agencies you have to deal with several different IPTC’s. Mistakes can easily happen, a wrong chosen IPTC or a wrong selected FTP server. Press agency A gets then the IPTC of Agency B. Or you are supposed so send the pictures of one sports team only? Or just certain sporters to a press agency?
We can combine the different IPTC needs. You only need to upload the photos with some basic IPTC one time. We filter those photos, adjust the IPTC to corresponding requirement of the press bureau and send them out – all within seconds. Therefore you don’t have to deal with different IPTC’s or different FTP’s anymore, your workflow will be much faster and reliable!
FAQ
Most frequently asked questions you might have
How much does a bundle cost?
That depends on how complex your bundle needs to be. A direct upload („Level 1“) without any IPTC adjustments costs way less than a bundle with multiple FTP targets and multiple IPTC mutations („Level 3“). Every bundle is tailored to the customer’s needs. If you need several bundles, like bundling all your partners for (press) sport photos into one and bundling all your partners for news photos into one, we can arrange that, too. The price depends if you’re a single photographer or representating an agency with several photographers – we try to make a fair price for everyone.
We do not charge anything for making a price offer.
Do you offer monthly plans or something else?
Usually we offer a monthly plan, which can be cancelled anytime, also within the same month. The plan will then run till the end of the month and won’t be prolonged. The monthly plan does come with a fixed price and won’t change over period of time. We also offer a plan which is only valid for 1-3 weeks, usually the length of a tournament.
What is included in the monthly plan?
The personalized bundle, maintenance and support. IPTC’s can be complex. Based on our experience some customers do struggle with creating an IPTC for an event – we can help you if you have issues with your IPTC. With maintenance we check on regular intervals if everything is according to plan, for example whether the FTP targets are still reachable, if the pictures send to us have correct IPTC and adjusting a filter (e.g. you tell us to add a person more to a filter).
Is it possible to expand an already existing bundle later on?
For an additional price, we can add a new FTP target to your bundle at any moment, even with specific IPTC requirements. We can also remove one FTP target. If you wish to add a complete new bundle, that’s also possible. For example, one for sports pictures and one for news pictures.
Is there a way to test a bundle?
Yes, usually we offer a new bundle to be tested for a week – for free. That way you can test and check if a bundle fits to your needs. (Exception: bundles which are only created for a short period of time, like a tournament).
Is there a way to test the connection to your server?
If you’re at a new location like a football stadium and you’re unsure how stable your wifi upload is, you can test the connection to our server. Photos with „test“ in the filename will be processed (= receive IPTC adjustments) but will not be uploaded to your partners, therefore you can test your connection at any time.
How long do you store photos on your server?
Usually we store them for 16 hours. That way you have the possibility to check a couple of hours later if you really uploaded a set of photos, or check which photos have been uploaded to prevent duplicates. The duration can be adjusted to your needs. If you wish we can delete the photos right after we uploaded them to your partners.
Can I check the IPTC of the photos that are sent away?
Yes, that is possible. We give you an extra FTP account to the so-called „Out“ folder. Here you see an overview of different subfolders with the name of the partner agencies and here you can find the photos with the final IPTC adjustments.
Who is the owner of the photos that get uploaded to your server?
You always will remain the respectful owner. We do not use the photos in any other way, only in the way you tell us how to use/ distribute them to your partners.
Where do you host your server?
To ensure an almost 100% uptime we’ve rented two dedicated servers, they are hosted at Hetzner, a reliable hoster in Europe. Our main server is in Falkenstein, Germany. Our backup server is in Helsinki, Finland.
Automated report systems keep us updated about interruptions. If a problem occurs we can switch seamlessly (Failover IP) from one server to another within one minute, no need to adjust your FTP account data.
Do you offer refunds? What if your network is offline?
We don’t offer refunds. However you can test our bundles for free (see on the left). We will not bill you if our services become unreachable for a certain amount of hours (this will be later specified).
What is your support response time?
Usually we respond quickly, however, depending on our availability at the time the response time can range between a few minutes and a few hours. At any rate we do our absolute best to respond within the same day, keeping in mind that press events can happen at unconventional times.
Do you only support FTP?
We can upload to FTP, with TLS and SSL and also SFTP. We can also upload to Amazon S3 FTP. The upload to our servers happens via FTP, at this moment we do not support an upload of SFTP to our servers. Since different versions of Mac OS/ Apple’s iOS and also some venues block port 21, we use a different port. We’ve noticed that the program PhotoMechanic, widely used by photographers, works best with an FTP upload (and not SFTP). We do not support WeTransfer.
What programs can I use to edit photos / IPTC?
You can work with any kind of IPTC programs, like PhotoMechanic, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom and XN View MP or other XMP/ Exif / IPTC editors.
Can BundleWizard run on my own computer?
That is not possible, our IPTC + FTP bundle system runs only on our servers. That way BundleWizard is always available, and you can upload at anytime from anywhere to our server.
My question is not answered…
Feel free to ask us at support@bundlewizard.net
About us
Hello, I’m John – the mind behind BundleWizard.net.
I work as a photographer and photo editor in the Netherlands for different agencies. Throughout the years I learned firsthand the struggle with different IPTC’s.
Dealing with multiple IPTC’s and multiple agencies who want to have the same hundreds of photos but with a different description, captioning and editing, mistakes can happen under pressure. Especially while live editing an ongoing event, like a football match or a news event, a thought always crossed my mind „this needs to be easier“.
I spoke with other editors, googled, went on facebook, but it seemed that there is really no program or service to „do it all“ – probably it’s too much of a niche problem. Most people aren’t even aware of the fact that photographers have an editor.
Next to photography, I’m also a bit of a computer handyman with some knowledge in servers and shell scripting. After working for several months on a solution, I used it first for myself, to test it properly. I made it soon available for my colleagues, invested into more powerful servers and made it available for everyone else.
If you want to see the photo work I do, you can visit my photography business website https://www.beckmann-media.nl
Contact
John Beckmann
Email: support@bundlewizard.net
Telephone: +31684485722
Beckmann Media is registered at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce: 80905080
John Beckmann is member of the NVJ, Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten/ Dutch Association of Journalists and holder of the Dutch Police Press Card.