Keywording in LR

[IanGibson]

I know that some folk keyword locally before upload, and while I do keyword all of my images in LR whether or not they are destined for Alamy, I only use enough keywords for me to find the images on my HD.

 

As Alamy will only have one keyword field in the near future, I've decided to start fully keywording my images before they are uploaded.

 

I'd be interested in hearing other contributors' views on this.  I've never, for example, used keyword sets in LR.  Is there any real advantage in using them, or is it better to make a separate document with common subjects and their keywords?

 

Another question I have is whether or not it is useful to caption the images in LR?  Do they get uploaded with the caption field already filled?

 

I'm asking here only about he current edition of MI, of course.  I know we all have many questions about the new MI and key wording.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

Ian.

[Matt Limb]

I do all of that in LR and have done from day one - I see it as repeat work to do any other

[Pearl]

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

[Matt Limb]

You may also like to look at the Alamy Photo Manager which is a LR and I use for all the uploads

[Martin P Wilson]

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

I have just reviewed a spreadsheet of my Alamy metadata from about a year ago. My keywording has, if anything, become more targeted since then. Based on Essential and Main keywords, I doubt that there are a dozen where I had the Comprehensive keyword field.

 

I have an average of 25 keywords per image, that will come down substatially when I can turn many into phrases, "Old Market Square", "Newcastle upon Tyne" or "St Pauls" for instance

 

My keywords average about 200 characters which includes the Essential keywords often being duplicated into Main.

 

So for me at least, the 50 tags is not going to be an issue

Edited November 26, 2016 by Martin P Wilson

[Allan Bell]

 

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

I have just reviewed a spreadsheet of my Alamy metadata from about a year ago. My keywording has, if anything, become more targeted since then. Based on Essential and Main keywords, I doubt that there are a dozem where I had to fo Compreehensive keyword field.

 

I have an average of 25 words per image, that will come down substatially when I can turn many into phrases, "Old Market Square", "Newcastle upon Tyne" or "St Pauls" for instance

 

I average about 200 characters which includes the Essential keywords often being duplicated into Main.

 

So for me at least, the 50 tags is not going to be an issue

 

 

 

I asked CR for a spreadsheet of keywords on my images and they obliged today.

 

For me it is a winter project to transfer all of them into the metadata for each image in LR. I just used to use MI with Alamy but now realise it could be beneficial to include keywords with my images on computer.

 

Allan

[Vincent Lowe]

I asked CR for a spreadsheet of keywords on my images and they obliged today.

 

For me it is a winter project to transfer all of them into the metadata for each image in LR. I just used to use MI with Alamy but now realise it could be beneficial to include keywords with my images on computer.

 

Allan

 

 

 

 

I'm thinking of doing the same.  Is this easy to do with Lightroom?

 

I've never used Lightroom - I keep track of my photos with IMatch and there is an option in IMatch to import metadata from a CSV file.  So I will have to export from the spreadsheet to a CSV file then import this into IMatch.  I haven't tried it yet and to be honest it doesn't look too difficult at first glance, but if Lightroom can bypass the CSV stage it might be worth a look.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Vincent Lowe

[IanGibson]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I have looked at the Alamy LR plug-in.  It looks interesting, but I don't think I am at the stage where the investment would pay off as yet.

 

I'll ask CR for a spreadsheet after the new Image Manager goes live, Allan; I think it might be of more use to me then!

 

I uploaded my first properly locally keyword images yesterday, so I'll know on Monday or Tuesday whether it is the right way for me to go.

 

Thanks again for all the interesting replies.  They have given me something to think about.

[IanGibson]

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

 

 

We don't know how keyword phrases are going to be transferred to the new Image Manager.  If you have 'hikers' 'on' 'hill' as three consecutive keywords, will these be three separate tags?  And if they are in the Essential field at the moment, will you now have 'on' as a super tag?

 

As you say, Happy Days!!!

[Jonny Nicholson]

I think in terms of 'what' to keyword, its probably better to give a practical example from an anti-fracking rally I photographed.

 

For Bianca Jagger, I used the following for

Essential

Protest, Demonstration, Rally, Bianca Jagger

 

Main

Politics, Chair, Founder, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Goodwill Ambassador, Council of Europe of Goodwill Ambassador, Amnesty International, Amnesty International (USA)

 

Comprehensive

Environment, Energy, Alternative Energy, Gas, Economics, Economy, Natural Gas, Fossil Fuel, Fuel, Economics, Economy, Industry, Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Society, Law, Human Right's, Council of Europe

 

I just entered them like 'Economics, Economy, Industry, Environment, Energy, Alternative Energy, Gas, Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Society, Law, Human Right's, Bianca Jagger Human Right's Foundation, Bianca Jagger' in Lightroom, but changed them on the Alamy system (I also do this because the process doesn't separate multi-word and one-word tags, so I reorganise the tags with commas).

 

All of the general protest photos were tagged:

Essential

Politics, Protest, Demonstration, Rally

 

Main

Environment, Energy, Alternative Energy, Gas, Economics, Economy, Natural Gas, Fossil Fuel, Fuel, Economics, Economy, Industry, Shale Gas, Hydraulic Fracturing, Fracking

 

You can pretty much break every single cation in to the following general rule (different agencies will have slight variations, but the general principle is basically the same):

(Name of expected person to be attending), (positions held by the person/why the person matters), (action of subject) in (Location, State/Country of the action) on (Date of the action).

 

Bianca Jagger, environmental campaigner, Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Council of Europe of Goodwill Ambassador and Member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International (USA), attends a protest against hydraulic fracturing, also known as 'fracking', on November 12, 2016 in Manchester, England.

 

People demonstrate against hydraulic fracturing, also known as 'fracking', on November 12, 2016 in Manchester, England.

 

This is all pre-prepared in a notepad file (at least) the day before an event. Its actually quicker, having made the preparation, for me to cut/copy and paste a list of tags than it is to select from the list of suggested tags I've used before. Sometimes, I borrow from previously photographed events too. For example, if I have photographed an MP speaking, then I can use the general tags for someone else and their specific tags if its the same person, but at a different event.

 

I've photographed events where someone has cancelled and its been someone else, but its a simple case of name replacement. Besides, that is the exception rather than the rule. Its harder to pre-prepare for breaking news (obviously). Perhaps that's when you can use Lightroom's keyword suggestion tool.

 

However, this is due to me contributing more to the Live News Feed, so I like people to click in and not only 'see' what is happening, but be informed too since events rarely happen in a vacuum.

 

Also, do bare in mind, that I am someone who likes to archive and look at the connections between genres or topics.

 

I suspect that some people are more at the stock end of the market and so probably will have a different set of tagging and captioning priorities.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Jonny Nicholson

[M.Chapman]

 

 

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

I have just reviewed a spreadsheet of my Alamy metadata from about a year ago. My keywording has, if anything, become more targeted since then. Based on Essential and Main keywords, I doubt that there are a dozem where I had to fo Compreehensive keyword field.

 

I have an average of 25 words per image, that will come down substatially when I can turn many into phrases, "Old Market Square", "Newcastle upon Tyne" or "St Pauls" for instance

 

I average about 200 characters which includes the Essential keywords often being duplicated into Main.

 

So for me at least, the 50 tags is not going to be an issue

 

 

 

I asked CR for a spreadsheet of keywords on my images and they obliged today.

 

For me it is a winter project to transfer all of them into the metadata for each image in LR. I just used to use MI with Alamy but now realise it could be beneficial to include keywords with my images on computer.

 

Allan

 

 

I believe EXIF Editor can do this automatically. It can take metadata from a spreadsheet and add into each image and then you could reimport into LR.

Edited November 28, 2016 by M.Chapman

[Andreas]

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. I started with older PS licence using ACR, moved to LR because I needed some features my outdated PS didnt offer.

 

Big issue in LR: your keywords get sorted alphabetically once you press enter. If anybody found a usefull workaround , please tell.

[Allan Bell]

 

 

 

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

I have just reviewed a spreadsheet of my Alamy metadata from about a year ago. My keywording has, if anything, become more targeted since then. Based on Essential and Main keywords, I doubt that there are a dozem where I had to fo Compreehensive keyword field.

 

I have an average of 25 words per image, that will come down substatially when I can turn many into phrases, "Old Market Square", "Newcastle upon Tyne" or "St Pauls" for instance

 

I average about 200 characters which includes the Essential keywords often being duplicated into Main.

 

So for me at least, the 50 tags is not going to be an issue

 

 

 

I asked CR for a spreadsheet of keywords on my images and they obliged today.

 

For me it is a winter project to transfer all of them into the metadata for each image in LR. I just used to use MI with Alamy but now realise it could be beneficial to include keywords with my images on computer.

 

Allan

 

 

I believe EXIF Editor can do this automatically. It can take metadata from a spreadsheet and add into each image and then you could reimport into LR.

 

 

 

Thank you, that would be good but I cannot see how it is done.

 

Allan

[M.Chapman]

 

 

 

 

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

I have just reviewed a spreadsheet of my Alamy metadata from about a year ago. My keywording has, if anything, become more targeted since then. Based on Essential and Main keywords, I doubt that there are a dozem where I had to fo Compreehensive keyword field.

 

I have an average of 25 words per image, that will come down substatially when I can turn many into phrases, "Old Market Square", "Newcastle upon Tyne" or "St Pauls" for instance

 

I average about 200 characters which includes the Essential keywords often being duplicated into Main.

 

So for me at least, the 50 tags is not going to be an issue

 

 

 

I asked CR for a spreadsheet of keywords on my images and they obliged today.

 

For me it is a winter project to transfer all of them into the metadata for each image in LR. I just used to use MI with Alamy but now realise it could be beneficial to include keywords with my images on computer.

 

Allan

 

 

I believe EXIF Editor can do this automatically. It can take metadata from a spreadsheet and add into each image and then you could reimport into LR.

 

 

 

Thank you, that would be good but I cannot see how it is done.

 

Allan

 

Hi Allan,

 

I did some digging, it's actually Exiftool rather than Exif editor (sorry). Here are the instructions I downloaded from somewhere that seemed to work. I'm sure you don't need an SD card, just a root directory that isn't C:

 

1) Insert an empty flashdisk or SD card with sufficent space to hold a batch of jpgs you want to import CSV data into. For this example I'll assume its drive letter is L:

2) Copy the batch of jpgs you want to add data to into the root directory of L: (NB. Keep a backup of your jpegs in case of problems)

3) Download the Windows Executable: exiftool-9.69.zip from http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

4) Extract the Windows Executable exiftool(-k).exe from the zip file and copy into the root directory of L:

5) Rename exiftool(-k).exe to exiftool.exe

6) Make/Edit the Excel document of filenames and keywords (descriptions) so that it conforms with the following

The first column must have "SourceFile" (without quotes) in the top row and the filenames of all the files must be in the rows underneath

The second column must have "XMP:Description" (without quotes) in the top row and the descriptions (list of keywords) that you want to insert into each jpg in the rows underneath. NB. There mustn't be any commas in the descriptions and they must all be in the second column.

7) Save the Excel file as a csv file called Data.csv (ignore the warning messages) in the root directory of L:

8) OK now you're ready to try it.

9) Click the Windows start button and type "cmd" without quotes into the search box

10) Right click on the program "cmd.exe" and select "Run as administrator". A black "DOS Command box" will appear.

11) Type L: and press return to change the current directory, the prompt should then show L:\>

12) Type exiftool -csv=Data.csv -overwrite_original -v *.jpg and press return

13) You should see a scrolling display of messages as each jpg file is updated. It's quite slow, few seconds/image.

14) If you want to run the same command again (with the next batch of images) then type <uparrow> and press return

 

Hope that helps. I see that Exiftool has been updated since I used it, so it maybe there are new instructions or an easier way to achieve this? For example Exiftoolgui (= ExifTool + Graphic User Interface) maybe more powerful now

 

Mark

Edited November 29, 2016 by M.Chapman

[Bill Kuta]

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. 

 

Glad that someone mentioned that specifically. In all these current threads on keywording and Alamy Image Manager, it seems there are a lot of Alamy-only contributors who are unaware of this main reason for keywording on your own end of the business.

[M.Chapman]

 

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. 

 

Glad that someone mentioned that specifically. In all these current threads on keywording and Alamy Image Manager, it seems there are a lot of Alamy-only contributors who are unaware of this main reason for keywording on your own end of the business.

 

 

It's one of the reasons I occasionally get Alamy to send me a spreadsheet of all my metadata. It's a shame that the requirements of different stock agencies vary. Although the new Alamy "super-tags" will be useful and should improve search result accuracy, they will incur additional work per image to exploit them, compared to a simple keyword import during upload.

[Betty LaRue]

I have always, from my first stock image on, keyworded in Bridge. My keywords are always attached to the images. I never ever contemplated doing it differently.

I was pleased I did this when I later submitted my wildlife images to a now defunct agency.

[Allan Bell]

 

 

 

 

 

I also do all my captioning and keywording in LR.  All info is carried into the relevant fields on upload but if the caption is too long some of it is lost but it all goes into the Description field.  Over the years I have developed a comprehensive hierarchy of keywords in LR so, for instance, if I tick Snowdonia I will also get North Wales, Wales, UK, Britain, Europe and Places.  With the new 50 keyword limit I am probably going to have to abandon or significantly modify this.  At the moment I just delete keywords I don't need in MI but the new system is going to do this for me and the words lost will be out of my control.

 

Happy days!!!

 

Pearl

 

I have just reviewed a spreadsheet of my Alamy metadata from about a year ago. My keywording has, if anything, become more targeted since then. Based on Essential and Main keywords, I doubt that there are a dozem where I had to fo Compreehensive keyword field.

 

I have an average of 25 words per image, that will come down substatially when I can turn many into phrases, "Old Market Square", "Newcastle upon Tyne" or "St Pauls" for instance

 

I average about 200 characters which includes the Essential keywords often being duplicated into Main.

 

So for me at least, the 50 tags is not going to be an issue

 

 

 

I asked CR for a spreadsheet of keywords on my images and they obliged today.

 

For me it is a winter project to transfer all of them into the metadata for each image in LR. I just used to use MI with Alamy but now realise it could be beneficial to include keywords with my images on computer.

 

Allan

 

 

I believe EXIF Editor can do this automatically. It can take metadata from a spreadsheet and add into each image and then you could reimport into LR.

 

 

 

Thank you, that would be good but I cannot see how it is done.

 

Allan

 

Hi Allan,

 

I did some digging, it's actually Exiftool rather than Exif editor (sorry). Here are the instructions I downloaded from somewhere that seemed to work. I'm sure you don't need an SD card, just a root directory that isn't C:

 

1) Insert an empty flashdisk or SD card with sufficent space to hold a batch of jpgs you want to import CSV data into. For this example I'll assume its drive letter is L:

2) Copy the batch of jpgs you want to add data to into the root directory of L: (NB. Keep a backup of your jpegs in case of problems)

3) Download the Windows Executable: exiftool-9.69.zip from http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

4) Extract the Windows Executable exiftool(-k).exe from the zip file and copy into the root directory of L:

5) Rename exiftool(-k).exe to exiftool.exe

6) Make/Edit the Excel document of filenames and keywords (descriptions) so that it conforms with the following

The first column must have "SourceFile" (without quotes) in the top row and the filenames of all the files must be in the rows underneath

The second column must have "XMP:Description" (without quotes) in the top row and the descriptions (list of keywords) that you want to insert into each jpg in the rows underneath. NB. There mustn't be any commas in the descriptions and they must all be in the second column.

7) Save the Excel file as a csv file called Data.csv (ignore the warning messages) in the root directory of L:

8) OK now you're ready to try it.

9) Click the Windows start button and type "cmd" without quotes into the search box

10) Right click on the program "cmd.exe" and select "Run as administrator". A black "DOS Command box" will appear.

11) Type L: and press return to change the current directory, the prompt should then show L:\>

12) Type exiftool -csv=Data.csv -overwrite_original -v *.jpg and press return

13) You should see a scrolling display of messages as each jpg file is updated. It's quite slow, few seconds/image.

14) If you want to run the same command again (with the next batch of images) then type <uparrow> and press return

 

Hope that helps. I see that Exiftool has been updated since I used it, so it maybe there are new instructions or an easier way to achieve this? For example Exiftoolgui (= ExifTool + Graphic User Interface) maybe more powerful now

 

Mark

 

 

 

Thank you very much indeed Mark for the above details. You are a star.

 

Allan

[IanGibson]

I think in terms of 'what' to keyword, its probably better to give a practical example from an anti-fracking rally I photographed.

 

For Bianca Jagger, I used the following for

Essential

Protest, Demonstration, Rally, Bianca Jagger

 

Main

Politics, Chair, Founder, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Goodwill Ambassador, Council of Europe of Goodwill Ambassador, Amnesty International, Amnesty International (USA)

 

Comprehensive

Environment, Energy, Alternative Energy, Gas, Economics, Economy, Natural Gas, Fossil Fuel, Fuel, Economics, Economy, Industry, Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Society, Law, Human Right's, Council of Europe

 

I just entered them like 'Economics, Economy, Industry, Environment, Energy, Alternative Energy, Gas, Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Society, Law, Human Right's, Bianca Jagger Human Right's Foundation, Bianca Jagger' in Lightroom, but changed them on the Alamy system (I also do this because the process doesn't separate multi-word and one-word tags, so I reorganise the tags with commas).

 

All of the general protest photos were tagged:

Essential

Politics, Protest, Demonstration, Rally

 

Main

Environment, Energy, Alternative Energy, Gas, Economics, Economy, Natural Gas, Fossil Fuel, Fuel, Economics, Economy, Industry, Shale Gas, Hydraulic Fracturing, Fracking

 

You can pretty much break every single cation in to the following general rule (different agencies will have slight variations, but the general principle is basically the same):

(Name of expected person to be attending), (positions held by the person/why the person matters), (action of subject) in (Location, State/Country of the action) on (Date of the action).

 

Bianca Jagger, environmental campaigner, Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Council of Europe of Goodwill Ambassador and Member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International (USA), attends a protest against hydraulic fracturing, also known as 'fracking', on November 12, 2016 in Manchester, England.

 

People demonstrate against hydraulic fracturing, also known as 'fracking', on November 12, 2016 in Manchester, England.

 

This is all pre-prepared in a notepad file (at least) the day before an event. Its actually quicker, having made the preparation, for me to cut/copy and paste a list of tags than it is to select from the list of suggested tags I've used before. Sometimes, I borrow from previously photographed events too. For example, if I have photographed an MP speaking, then I can use the general tags for someone else and their specific tags if its the same person, but at a different event.

 

I've photographed events where someone has cancelled and its been someone else, but its a simple case of name replacement. Besides, that is the exception rather than the rule. Its harder to pre-prepare for breaking news (obviously). Perhaps that's when you can use Lightroom's keyword suggestion tool.

 

However, this is due to me contributing more to the Live News Feed, so I like people to click in and not only 'see' what is happening, but be informed too since events rarely happen in a vacuum.

 

Also, do bare in mind, that I am someone who likes to archive and look at the connections between genres or topics.

 

I suspect that some people are more at the stock end of the market and so probably will have a different set of tagging and captioning priorities.

 

 

Thanks for the info.  It's always helpful to gain an insight into the way others work

[IanGibson]

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. I started with older PS licence using ACR, moved to LR because I needed some features my outdated PS didnt offer.

 

Big issue in LR: your keywords get sorted alphabetically once you press enter. If anybody found a usefull workaround , please tell.

 

I don't think that there is a work around.  I've seen posts in the Adobe forums bemoaning the fact that LR re-arranges keywords alphabetically.  I believe that Bridge keeps keywords in the order they are inputted, but I'm unsure whether or not it would be worth changing my workflow.  I like the fact that nearly all of my workflow fits into one application, LR.  I only use PS for intricate cloning/healing; although I do like the ACR interface.

[IanGibson]

 

 

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. I started with older PS licence using ACR, moved to LR because I needed some features my outdated PS didnt offer.

 

Big issue in LR: your keywords get sorted alphabetically once you press enter. If anybody found a usefull workaround , please tell.

 

I don't think that there is a work around.  I've seen posts in the Adobe forums bemoaning the fact that LR re-arranges keywords alphabetically.  I believe that Bridge keeps keywords in the order they are inputted, but I'm unsure whether or not it would be worth changing my workflow.  I like the fact that nearly all of my workflow fits into one application, LR.  I only use PS for intricate cloning/healing; although I do like the ACR interface.

 

 

Bridge does indeed keep the order you placed your keywords. That's one of the reasons I don't use Lightroom.

Unfortunately, Alamy's software strips all semi-colons till the new tools are in place.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

 

Phillipe,

 

Am I correct in thinking that you would keyword in Bridge before processing in ACR and then exporting?

[IanGibson]

 

 

 

 

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. I started with older PS licence using ACR, moved to LR because I needed some features my outdated PS didnt offer.

 

Big issue in LR: your keywords get sorted alphabetically once you press enter. If anybody found a usefull workaround , please tell.

 

I don't think that there is a work around.  I've seen posts in the Adobe forums bemoaning the fact that LR re-arranges keywords alphabetically.  I believe that Bridge keeps keywords in the order they are inputted, but I'm unsure whether or not it would be worth changing my workflow.  I like the fact that nearly all of my workflow fits into one application, LR.  I only use PS for intricate cloning/healing; although I do like the ACR interface.

 

 

Bridge does indeed keep the order you placed your keywords. That's one of the reasons I don't use Lightroom.

Unfortunately, Alamy's software strips all semi-colons till the new tools are in place.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

 

Phillipe,

 

Am I correct in thinking that you would keyword in Bridge before processing in ACR and then exporting?

 

 

Nope, after ACR and all other post-processing in photoshop. Keywording is my very last step before I upload to Alamy. Reason: it could be very well possible I ditch the image after all if the end result would still not be satisfying. So, the research and keywording would have been for nothing. 

 

My workflow: 

1. edit in ACR
2. edit in Photoshop
3. keyword
4. save as Tiff
5. Save as Jpeg / 72 dpi / sRGB / 1000 pixels longest side / slightly sharpened (made an "action" for that, so just need to press a button)
6. copy Tiffs to second HD as backup
7. transform into Jpeg
8. upload to agencies

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to giving us that info.

 

It pretty much reflects my workflow, except I use LR almost exclusively, so I can't wait for the new MI.

 

Thanks gain,

 

Ian.

[Allan Bell]

Anyone out there running "Exiftool" on a Mac.

 

If so has it caused any problems for you enough to ditch it?

 

I only ask as I have been kindly pointed in the direction of the software/app for use in my project but Apple are telling me it is not an approved app.

 

Allan

[M.Chapman]

Anyone out there running "Exiftool" on a Mac.

 

If so has it caused any problems for you enough to ditch it?

 

I only ask as I have been kindly pointed in the direction of the software/app for use in my project but Apple are telling me it is not an approved app.

 

Allan

 

Phil Harvey (the author of Exiftool) has a good reputation. I've used it under Windows without problems, but haven't yet used the Mac Version. I'd have no reservations about installing it. There are checksums available on the download page if you want to verify your download.

 

NB. I would always have a backup of your photos before using Exiftool to update the metadata. Even if Exiftool works properly, it easy to get something wrong in the spreadsheet. I seem to recall it took me a couple of attempts to get things working as I wanted.

Edited November 30, 2016 by M.Chapman

[IanGibson]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can only recommend to keyword locally, just imagine you want to upload pictures to other stock agencies sometimes. I started with older PS licence using ACR, moved to LR because I needed some features my outdated PS didnt offer.

 

Big issue in LR: your keywords get sorted alphabetically once you press enter. If anybody found a usefull workaround , please tell.

 

 

I don't think that there is a work around.  I've seen posts in the Adobe forums bemoaning the fact that LR re-arranges keywords alphabetically.  I believe that Bridge keeps keywords in the order they are inputted, but I'm unsure whether or not it would be worth changing my workflow.  I like the fact that nearly all of my workflow fits into one application, LR.  I only use PS for intricate cloning/healing; although I do like the ACR interface.

 

Bridge does indeed keep the order you placed your keywords. That's one of the reasons I don't use Lightroom.

Unfortunately, Alamy's software strips all semi-colons till the new tools are in place.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

Phillipe,

 

Am I correct in thinking that you would keyword in Bridge before processing in ACR and then exporting?

 

Nope, after ACR and all other post-processing in photoshop. Keywording is my very last step before I upload to Alamy. Reason: it could be very well possible I ditch the image after all if the end result would still not be satisfying. So, the research and keywording would have been for nothing. 

 

My workflow: 

• edit in ACR
• edit in Photoshop
• keyword
• save as Tiff
• Save as Jpeg / 72 dpi / sRGB / 1000 pixels longest side / slightly sharpened (made an "action" for that, so just need to press a button)
• copy Tiffs to second HD as backup
• transform into Jpeg
• upload to agencies

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to giving us that info.

 

It pretty much reflects my workflow, except I use LR almost exclusively, so I can't wait for the new MI.

 

Thanks gain,

 

Ian.

 

But it would still show your tags alphabetically, and not in your chosen order of importance, as Bridge does.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

Yes, that is an issue. Although I uploaded some yesterday with brand names in the keywords which were capitalised. Those words turned up at the beginning in MI this morning. Otherwise I have to cut and paste from Comprehensive.

 

Hopefully the new MI will mean that LR keyworders have an easier life.

 

Cheers

 

Ian