Thank you for your interest and for your question. Mapping IPTC/EXIF data can be tricky and there are no stupid questions. In fact, several similar topics have come up before:
Text and EXIF to title?
Lightroom > WordPressCaption field
Get EXIF value to Custom field.
Mapping Lightroom IPTC to WordPress Fields ADVICE
The first step to a solution is knowing what data is available in your image files; EXIF data varies quite a bit depending on the tool you use to add that data to the image. If you can post a link to one or more of your images I can analyze them and give you some guidance. You will also find some ideas for looking at the data in the earlier support topics.
The example you gave in your post (very helpful, thanks) is an “all or nothing” format. If any of the items you reference is missing, the entire string will be discarded any nothing will appear in the caption field. You can change your example to a Content Template, which is more flexible. In your case, it would be something like this:
template:((Taken with [+meta:camera+]) (at [+dimensions+]) (using ISO [+exif:ISOSpeedRatings,single+]) (and [+exif:ExposureTime+] exposure time))
You might want to experiment with an [mla_gallery] shortcode to develop a template that works before using it in a mapping rule.
Here is part of the last topic in the above list that may help you:
You can use Content Templates to combine metadata elements, supply defaults for missing values and so on. You could build up a Caption from several IPTC fields. Here’s an example Content Template you would put in the “EXIF/Template” text box on the IPTC/EXIF page:
template:([+iptc:object-name+] -- ([+iptc:sub-location+], )([+iptc:city+], )([+iptc:province-or-state+], )([+iptc:country-or-primary-location-name+]))
All those parentheses are optional; they ensure that missing values are quietly ignored along with their punctuation. For example, if the sub-location wasn’t filled in, the comma and space after it would also be dropped. You can find more information about templates in the “Content Templates” section of the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab.
You can use the special “ALL_IPTC” or “ALL_EXIF” pseudo values to discover which IPTC/EXIF fields are populated in your images.
You can quickly see the data available in your images by coding something like:
[mla_gallery ids=272 mla_caption="{+exif:ALL_IPTC+}" columns=1]
[mla_gallery ids=272 mla_caption="{+exif:ALL_EXIF+}" columns=1]
The ALL_IPTC and ALL_EXIF pseudo values will dump all of the information in the image so you can see what’s in there. In this example, ids=272 is a quick way to select a specific attachment for the gallery; you can use any data selection parameters that you like.
You can also use the pseudo values in the EXIF/Template textbox of an IPTC/EXIF mapping rule or code [+exif:ALL_IPTC+] as a Template Data Source for a Custom Fields mapping rule.
I hope that gives you some ideas for developing a rule that works in your application. I would be happy to analyze one or more of your images to verify what fields are available in the IPTC and EXIF data.
I will leave this topic unresolved until I hear back from you. Thanks again for the question and for your interest in the plugin.
