Lightroom (LR) Keywording Structure

digitalmedia wrote in post #3620468
Does anyone else find it useful to have location data in keywords instead of (or in addition to) in IPTC? Can you cross reference between the two (i.e. search for all instances of "Amanda" in "London")?

That's the way I do it... I've never added anything into the IPTC for location.... but now I'm wondering if I should.

nutsnbolts wrote in post #3620180
Quick question, before I start this whole catalog'ng process in LR. I want to know if this is the right way of doing things or am I being redundant?

1. Extract the images from the CF/SD/Mem stick, etc.
2. Take that folder and put it somewhere on your HD? Preferably somewhere you store all your pictures (EHD, 2nd HD, etc.)
3. Naming conventions? Just leave the name of the images the way they are and let LR do the changing of the name?
4. Catalog using LR/Elements keywords, etc.

My way currently... but I may start using some of LR's tools to pull of off card and rename... I just haven't felt like getting too deep into that yet):

1. Extract images from card to HD. A different folder for every date/shoot.

Structured like this:
C:\Pictures
->2006
->2007
->->05-20-2007_ButterflyHouse
->->05-20-2007_Carol_Joe_Wedding
->->07-04-2007_Fireworks
->->07-05-2007_Misc
->2008
(I keep my LR database here too, for easy backup.)

2) I rename all pictures in folder using another renaming tool.
I like to append capture date to front of image name retaining camera name afterword. (05-20-2007_IMG_3424.CR2) I used to append subject to the filename too, but have abandoned that step... my images remain in those folders which name the subject for me.

3) Import into LR at current location. Try to keyword as soon as images are imported.

4) I also backup my c:\pictures structures to EHD using SyncToy... syncing any changes. And may do yearly backups of entire archive to DVD.

My method is a work in progress, and by NO MEANS right for everyone... the trick is to find a method that works for you, and don't forget to backup!!!

digitalmedia wrote in post #3620054
If you assign keywords describing country, city, place, and so on for each image...do you also enter this information into the IPTC metadata in the location and caption fields?

It is obvious that some attributes (i.e. Lens, Aperature, Date, Time, etc.) belong in ITCP and that other attributes describing the content belong in a well organized keyword catalog. However, there is a decent amount of overlap between the two. Therefore, do you repeat this data where necessary or ignore the IPTC fields for the most part (other than copyright info)? I am starting my keywording from scratch with over 3 years worth of images to go through and I fear that I will need to adopt a 2-pass system, one for keywords and one for IPTC.

Thanks,

Bryan

Other than copyright etc I do all keywording in the LH pane and don't touch IPTC

digitalmedia wrote in post #3620395
Question for Al...

Say you take a trip to China (for example) and collect photos of random people, street vendors, etc. Do you sub-categorize them as "unknown" within your people category or do you sub-categorize within Urban Life as "people"? Also, if you duplicate the word people (one as a top level and the other as a sub-category within Urban Life) won't that cause problems? Would you then need to find a different word to describe the people, like "humans"? It sounds silly but it confused my when I was looking at your screenshot.

Thanks,

Bryan

In your example there would be one tag for location which would be, for example, china>Beijing>Tianamen Square then a second for content which would be People>General Candid with maybe a third for Content which could be Urban>Street Scene

digitalmedia wrote in post #3620468
Does anyone else find it useful to have location data in keywords instead of (or in addition to) in IPTC? Can you cross reference between the two (i.e. search for all instances of "Amanda" in "London")?

YEs, instead of

digitalmedia wrote in post #3620468
Does anyone else find it useful to have location data in keywords instead of (or in addition to) in IPTC? Can you cross reference between the two (i.e. search for all instances of "Amanda" in "London")?

I believe you can, I'm at work right now, but I can check. I seem to recall you can, but want to make sure. Plus when you hold down the CTRL key, you can choose other metadata i.e., show me all pictures taken October 7, 2006 (date) with a Canon 350 (model) in Calgary (IPTC location) using a 70-200 mm lens (lens) (that's four categories to filter on)

EOSAddict wrote in post #3621170
In your example there would be one tag for location which would be, for example, china>Beijing>Tianamen Square then a second for content which would be People>General Candid with maybe a third for Content which could be Urban>Street Scene

Ahh, that makes sense. I think I am over-analyzing it...been racking my brain for days trying to figure out a structure that will work for me. Thanks for the help. I am curious though...why do you prefer location data to be in keywords "instead of" IPTC?

Mainly because that's how I developed the system in PSE3. Keywords get written into IPTC anyway.

EOSAddict wrote in post #3621170
In your example there would be one tag for location which would be, for example, china>Beijing>Tianamen Square then a second for content which would be People>General Candid with maybe a third for Content which could be Urban>Street Scene

Keywording is largely a subjective matter as one photographer would need or want to include certain keywords that are irrelevant to another. Whilst an ethnophotographer would find it useful to have keyword sets for ethnic origins, social groups, trades, community networks, etc; my going on holiday somewhere for pleasure would probably include the type of suggestion made by EOSAddict, at it's most elaborate.

In a nutshell: What way do you think; how would you think about it or go searching for it in the future; what's relevant to you?

Having said this, LR allows parent/child keywords, so the suggested above would be Parent, Child and Grandchild. LR can also export keeping this keyword relationship too.

The only trump I guess to 'making up' a keyword taxonomy that makes sense to you is if you do a lot of publication work, where the keywords would also help serve another orgainzation (client), in which case, when you've decided which route to take, be disciplined and objective in the keywording process.

IPTC carries structured data specific to the image, whilst keywords add context and depth to it.

Agree with stasber exactly. It's a personal thing based on what you shoot and what you are likely to want to find. I just started this thread to show what I, personally, use as I thouight it might help. I'm not saying this is how anyone else should do it.

Do you guys create a new catalogue for each date?

For instance, you have the following folders which contains images.

D Drive:
2006
>>Italy
>>>>Rome
>>>>Venice
>>>>Sienna
>>Greece
>>>>Athens
2007
>>Italy
>>>>Lucca
>>>>Pisa
>>>>Pompeii
>>India
>>>>Bombay
>>>>Kerala

Whew! Do you have a catalog?

1. In each folder??
2. In 2006 and 2007? (2 catalogs)

or just one big catalog in D: drive?

Just one big catalogue for ALL my images.

How about working in different computers? Let's say you are on a trip and you usually work on your desktop but also have LR installed on your laptop.

While on your trip, you want to start catalog'ng your pictures that you have taken so far.

1. Before your trip, do you export your Catalog into the laptop? Maybe not export but copy the folder and catalog files into your laptop?

2. Create a new catalog?

Hmm..I have a laptop and desktop but would like to make sure I can work on the same thing.

Try this

http://lightroom-news.com …catalogs-in-lightroom-11/

For starters.

I keep a full copy of my catalogue (inc previews but not original files) on my laptop and add to that if I am away, re-exporting the new images to my main PC (obviously this itme inc the negative files) when I'm home. I do most of my cataolguing and keywording on my laptop.

EOSAddict! Awesome, Thanks, you have been a great help. I'm going to go over those things first and see where I get.

So just to recap.

1. You keep one Catalog...stored on your laptop (perhaps a backup on your EHD).
2. All your images are stored on your laptop first and then moved to the EHD once you are done working (of course, if you are connected firewire, you can probably work directly into your EHD).

http://www.controlledv​ocabulary.com/ has some information on keywording as well as a keyword catalogue. The catalogue uses American spelling, however real English can easily be added.

Lightroom's keyword entry will search the keyword list as you enter keywords and present a list of keywords and parents that match.

Its also possible to keyword one image, select it and all the rest that will have the same keywords and remove the asterisk * from the keywords in the keyword panel. That action will result in applying those keywords to all the selected images.

One continued frustration with LR keywording is the need to manually enter keywords in the find box rather than use a check box system like PSE Organizer.

An example. If I want to search for all images of myself in PSE I just click the check box next to the 'Al' keyword. Simple, no confusion. l In LR I have to enter Al in the find box which then also selects images such as hospital - not what I wanted!