Keywording

Hi everyone, recently I asked a question about keywording as I'm building my *hopefully* long term structure. I also hope this is the right section, it seemed like the most appropriate section.

I've got another question, Under: People -> Models should I have each models name to tag my images with after each shoot? My only concern is the list would eventually become huge and some of the names would only get used once in my life though having the models name in the images keywords could be very handy in finding images later on.

What are your thoughts?

As I look at it I would use as many keywords as possible to describe an image, if that includes the model name then so be it.

What happens if you're looking for the image and the only keyword you remember is the model's name?

I guess I'd say "whatever works for you"...I don't have models I shoot but I do have "miscellaneous friends" and "miscellaneous extended family" and "miscellaneous people" sections for people that for whatever reason I don't choose to create individual keywords for. But, I suppose that for business purposes it could be very handy to give each model a name for when you need quick reference (even if in practice it will never happen with some).

CallumPhoto wrote in post #11771700
My only concern is the list would eventually become huge and some of the names would only get used once in my life though having the models name in the images keywords could be very handy in finding images later on.

I don't think it matters how long your keyword list gets. You add keywords on import, then you search for the terms you want later. It's not like you will just be hanging around reading your keyword list when you have nothing better to do.

just a couple of random thoughts...
if your folder structure includes names, you can do search for that via windows...
also, if you are using lightroom or similar, you can make a new catalog each couple/few years? after archiving past images you can purge the keyword list...

Thanks for the quick reply everyone.

othomas: good point in using a bunch of keywords. I suppose the idea is find the ideal balance between saving time finding images and spending time keywording them. And creating a new keyword for each model I shoot is relatively not time consuming when you consider the time it took to shoot and the time I'll potentially save.

tony: "whatever works for you", the great words that apply to so many things. I think you're also right with that, it probably would work for me. I like your miscelaneous friends/family keywords, I've been trying to think up something like that for the family and extended family that I know I'll probably only ever shoot once or twice.

MarkB: funny you say that I was just thinking the same thing.

sally_tomato: the folder structure I've been using is DNG/YYYY/MM/DD, I use bridge but I'm sure I could apply the logic of your lightroom suggestion to bridge. Although I think bridge is a browser and lightroom is a catalogue program so it might require a little fiddling.

Just doing a rough estimate of time spend/saved in my head here, 50 keywords would probably take me a total of 300 seconds (5 minutes) and I imagine that I would use the models name in the search at least a couple of times for 50 shoots (not including models I've worked with before), so yeah I think it would be worth the extra keywording.

So basically I think I will go with using a keyword for every models full name though if anyone wants to raise other points about keywording that would be awesome.

I have a long long keyword list and it really does no harm unless you are scrolling it to tag them during the application of them. I just type them in until the system finds the ones it thinks I am looking for.

I personally prefer more keywords and less folders. With good keywords you can find anything in a snap. I would ask how many times are you going to need that models name in a search for their image. Do you have that many models that you would need their name in this field. If the answer is yes, then by all means do it. There are no steadfast rules on key wording, whatever works for you is the right answer.

@Callum .... If you're doing this as a business, or thinking of it in the future, or even if you're not I would advise you invest in some sort of DAM software like Adobe Lightroom. It will save you a lot of time in the long run. Bridge wasn't designed as an image management tool.

To take your example of 50 keywords, I'm assuming that'd be for each image, you could apply all the common keywords, location, model's name etc.(say 10 - 20) once on import, only the specific keywords would need to be applied separately. You could also copy and paste keywords from one image to another easily enough.

You wouldn't need to change your current folder structure either.

My structure is yyyy/yyyy-mm/yyyy-mm-dd simple and efficient enough for me, I rely on keyword searches and smart collections to find the images I require. Great piece of software.

Suggest you try a 30-day free trial.

othomas wrote in post #11776082
@Callum .... If you're doing this as a business, or thinking of it in the future, or even if you're not I would advise you invest in some sort of DAM software like Adobe Lightroom. It will save you a lot of time in the long run. Bridge wasn't designed as an image management tool.

To take your example of 50 keywords, I'm assuming that'd be for each image, you could apply all the common keywords, location, model's name etc.(say 10 - 20) once on import, only the specific keywords would need to be applied separately. You could also copy and paste keywords from one image to another easily enough.

You wouldn't need to change your current folder structure either.

My structure is yyyy/yyyy-mm/yyyy-mm-dd simple and efficient enough for me, I rely on keyword searches and smart collections to find the images I require. Great piece of software.

Suggest you try a 30-day free trial.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm not a fan of lightroom though. It seems to process images slower than ACR does which was annoying haha. Other than that my bridge -> photoshop workflow seems pretty much the same as lightroom -> photoshop workflow. With the exception that lightroom runs off a database and bridge sees the files, correct me if I'm wrong but that's my understanding of a cataloging and a browsing program.

I originally tried using media expressions appeared to have a reputation of being one of the best cataloging programs. After all it is dedicated to that but it couldn't deal with my DNGs so hopefully something comes along soon I like and can handle dng files.

Though bridge doesn't have a catalouging feature (since it's a browser) like lightroom you can still apply keywords on import and meta data which I do. Otherwise it's really as easy as ctrl + a, click the keyword to apply it.

I'm good with my folder structure too, I wasn't looking to change it but it was brought up in a suggestion.