Jump to content

Alamy friendly keywording software


Recommended Posts

I'm currently keywording my images in Lightroom 4. The obvious frustration is that Lightroom arranges keywords alphabetically. Thus not allowing me to organize them into essential, main and comprehensive sections before uploading. I've read about the plugin for Lightroom, but I'm curious to know how well the other programs work. Does anyone care to comment on the Image Keyworder or Keyword Perfect software?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used PhotoMechanic for many years as it works well; not surprising as it was designed originally for news photographers. I put all the keywords in the main keyword block and then it is an easy job to cut and paste from there to the Alamy (non-standard) keyword blocks in Manage Images. I add metadata esp copyright stuff and keywords as soon as I download from my camera cards (on my laptop if on the road)  and before converting/adjusting/cleaning. Often use PM to create a quick draft web (esp for my blogs) or email copy when it doesn't need a fully polished image or time doesn't allow.

 

I quite like LR but hate how it decides it knows best about my keyword order so I am in the process of going back to Capture 1 Pro as my post-production software. For a while C1 did not handle metadata or work well on my old PC so I switched. But metadata handling has been ok for a while now  now and I have a new faster computer which means it works fine. I don't think I would want to do more than an odd keywording tweak in it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just yesterday I downloaded the help file for IMatch 5 which is due to be released in beta soon.  Mario, the developer, has released the help file for anyone who wants to download the beta release when it's available.

 

I've only had a quick glance through it at the moment but it appears to have some interesting keywording tools.  For instance you can select a bunch of files and all the keywords in all the files are displayed but keywords that are not common to all the files are shown in italics.  If you then click on that keyword it will enter it into all the files.

 

Other features are thesaurus, synonyms, most common keywords, and you can even colour keywords for prominance.

 

I'm not sure how alamy friendly all this will be though (a screenshot shows the keywords in alphabetical order and I'm not sure if there will be any other option) but I'll certainly be downloading the program when it's available, so I'll let you know.

 

Unfortunately the help file is only available to registered users of the current version.

 

http://www.photools.com/1831/imatch-5-beta-teaser/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, I'll look into the LR plugin more closely then. I read through the threads and it sounded a little difficult to use. Julie your work flow using the plugin looks similar to what I would like to do. It probably won't be difficult after I've done it once or twice. Vincent, I've used IMatch up until now. I've been real happy with it, however I'm on a Mac now. Also I'd like to start doing all my keywording on my computer and be done with it if possible. I haven't played with the templates in IMatch. I wonder if it's possible to make one that would work with Alamy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another option would be to use a excel-sheet and send it to Alamy's customer services. I've read somewhere that they offer this service if you have to keyword huge amounts of images.

 

LR plugin: yes, it is not very comfortable/ergonomic, I don't think that it is the plugin's "fault", has probably more to do with the limitations LR imposes on plugins. Guessing only ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hi,

I have recently purchased Image Keyworder. Great keywording software and is has the possibility to create a spreadsheet for uploading lage amounts of  photo's to Alamy. However this software has been not updated the last years.

Does anybody know of this Excel-functionality is still supported bij Alamy?

thx for all the answers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Hi (new member / user so don't shout :-)

Julie - I've been looking at the Alamy plugin for LR. I managed to overcome the 'AddPseudonyms' problem by following the advice, but I'm unable to connect directly to Alamy. I get the 'Login Error  - Alamys server said 500' message which is the general, I can't connect dialogue. Don't suppose you've heard of the solution to this. The message board suggests raising a ticket with the plugin creator and Alamy, but there's been no sign of from the plugin creator for some time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used PhotoMechanic for many years as it works well; not surprising as it was designed originally for news photographers. I put all the keywords in the main keyword block and then it is an easy job to cut and paste from there to the Alamy (non-standard) keyword blocks in Manage Images. I add metadata esp copyright stuff and keywords as soon as I download from my camera cards (on my laptop if on the road)  and before converting/adjusting/cleaning. Often use PM to create a quick draft web (esp for my blogs) or email copy when it doesn't need a fully polished image or time doesn't allow.

 

I quite like LR but hate how it decides it knows best about my keyword order so I am in the process of going back to Capture 1 Pro as my post-production software. For a while C1 did not handle metadata or work well on my old PC so I switched. But metadata handling has been ok for a while now  now and I have a new faster computer which means it works fine. I don't think I would want to do more than an odd keywording tweak in it though.

 

After you mentioned PM to me a couple of weeks ago, I bought a Structured Keyword Database for the UK as a good starting point (About £24.) I'm now in the process of adding all UK mountains, valleys & Glens etc to this as I keyword my files. It is great for making sure all alternative/Gaelic  names are added automatically and that if I type in a mountain name, it gives me the option to select Crag, Stream and nearby summits as well. Speeds things up massively.

 

The most important thing fore here is that you can manually sort the keywords into the right (ranked) order. As Martain says, you can then copy and paste into the right box from there. I supply works to a few agencies that Rank keywords so it saves a lot of time if you can just do it once before you upload files.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.