Keywording for personal use

[Ian.B]

Lightroom Version Number

5.7

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Hello, I am doing a bit (big bit) of keywording house work when I should really be doing proper house work. We have had some rather large computer hiccups .
My keywords are for me to find "that photo". Most keyword "advice'' seems to revolve around getting the keywords out there (cyberspace) when my keywords don't need to leave my computer. However they may leave lightroom and return to lightroom . So hopefully you can help me with advice/links/articles for personal use for (lots of) k/w . Most keywords are nature based for unimportant something to do photos.

One/main/annoying problem: Because my old faithful LR5 wont talk to newer editing apps (affinity mainly), I need to export the file from Lr to an Win10 ''Edit'' folder , open/edit/save the file back to "edit" , import into Lr5 . However, keywords that were in a hierarchy list don't go back into that hierarchy . Instead they end up outside the main keyword list.

 

[clee01l]

Hello, I am doing a bit (big bit) of keywording house work when I should really be doing proper house work. We have had some rather large computer hiccups .
My keywords are for me to find "that photo". Most keyword "advice'' seems to revolve around getting the keywords out there (cyberspace) when my keywords don't need to leave my computer. However they may leave lightroom and return to lightroom . So hopefully you can help me with advice/links/articles for personal use for (lots of) k/w . Most keywords are nature based for unimportant something to do photos.

One/main/annoying problem: Because my old faithful LR5 wont talk to newer editing apps (affinity mainly), I need to export the file from Lr to an Win10 ''Edit'' folder , open/edit/save the file back to "edit" , import into Lr5 . However, keywords that were in a hierarchy list don't go back into that hierarchy . Instead they end up outside the main keyword list.

The Keywords are in a standard flat Keyword field that all photos apps can use and recognize. The Hierarchical keywords are an Adobe creation that is nonstandard. When you export, Adobe puts the keywords in both fields. Other apps only read and write to the non hierarchal field.


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[Ian.B]

The Keywords are in a standard flat Keyword field that all photos apps can use and recognize. The Hierarchical keywords are an Adobe creation that is nonstandard. When you export, Adobe puts the keywords in both fields. Other apps only read and write to the non hierarchal field.


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Thank you, I understand Hierarchical is only an Adobe thing as much of this mess started when trying On1, and others a few years back . Was hoping there was an easy way to solve an old program's problems . As long as an image has keywords Lr5 can find it amongst 'it's' mess.
Cheers; reply not required mate .

 

[clee01l]

Thank you, I understand Hierarchical is only an Adobe thing as much of this mess started when trying On1, and others a few years back . Was hoping there was an easy way to solve an old program's problems . As long as an image has keywords Lr5 can find it amongst 'it's' mess.
Cheers; reply not required mate .

One other thing, I failed to note that on export, you also need to check the metadata check box to instructed the export to also include the heirarchal keyword field Other wise the keywords will get written only once in the flat keyword field.


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[PhilBurton]

. We have had some rather large computer hiccups .
My keywords are for me to find "that photo". Most keyword "advice'' seems to revolve around getting the keywords out there (cyberspace) when my keywords don't need to leave my computer

Perhaps my approach can be of interest to you.

Same for me. When I first started using Lightroom, I followed advice from various websites and looked at the Controlled Vocabulary Keyword Kit https://www.controlledvocabulary.com/help/cvkc-faq.html as well as various programs that scan your image and create a set of keywords for you. Nice, no? When I really thought about the keywording issue for my personal needs, I want keywords that reflect my specific interests. I have no aspirations to be any kind of professional, certainly not a stock photographer, so general keywording would not be useful.

Aside from family/travel/event and "general photography," I am a railroad hobbyist (enthusiast). I do need some very specialized keywords to identify rail subjects of interest, but I have had to create these myself.

Phil

 

[Ian.B]

One other thing, I failed to note that on export, you also need to check the metadata check box to instructed the export to also include the heirarchal keyword field Other wise the keywords will get written only once in the flat keyword field.


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Thanks again; that's one thing in the Lightroom mine field I did not know about --- I better make a note .
I have to admit I'm still torn between a shorter flat list of keywords or hierarchy list . As long as keywords are added ,LR will find them while Everything is great for finding file names .

 

[Philippe Coudé du Foresto]

One advantage of the hierarchical keywords is that whan you enter a keyword, LrC automtically adds the parent keywords. This might be useful and time saving.
For example, for animal or plants, entering the name makes LrC also add the class, family, genre, species etc. This will allow me to find the photo not only when searching for "Blue whale", but also when searching for "Cetecean" (among other whale species). I use this a lot.
(Note that I didn't enter all these keywords manualy. Instead, I looked for a thesaurus on Internet and imported it in LrC)
I apply this to other categories. For example, entering "Church" makes LrC add also "Monument" and "Achitecture".

 

[Ian.B]

Thank you for your input Phillippe . Apart from my original question for the problem of exported/re-imported after editing, my bigger drama is likely too many keywords , and too many keywords I never think to use in a search. (I'm sort of thinking out loud here ) . For personal use, I'm not sure I even need to export keywords.
Too many damn photos on too many ext hard drives is just another drama with digital . Lr just makes it a bit more complicated for unorganized brains .
I often have a number of searchable words in the one keyword --- ''subject, subject place, why'' that I picked up from online in the past. Works well with programs that only have a flat list of keywords . I have some of that way , plus some hierarchical.
While working on my list (lists!) of Lr keywords I have learnt it does seem a big problem across cyberspace . One person had USA , U.S.A , United States , United States of America and I'm sure many others have various keywords for one subject

I better C+P that for future reference LOL

 

[PhilBurton]

I often have a number of searchable words in the one keyword --- ''subject, subject place, why'' that I picked up from online in the past. Works well with programs that only have a flat list of keywords . I have some of that way , plus some hierarchical.

I like LrC for keywording precisely because it supports keyword hierarchies. How else can I organize keywords in different areas? If I had to use software that did not support hierarchies, I would have had to create a hierarchy in something like MS Word to manage that.

While working on my list (lists!) of Lr keywords I have learnt it does seem a big problem across cyberspace .

For me, once I discovered keywords, I associated the issue with digital photography and PCs.

I better C+P that for future reference LOL

C+P = ???

 

[Philippe Coudé du Foresto]

One person had USA , U.S.A , United States , United States of America and I'm sure many others have various keywords for one subject

That's precisely what synonyms in the keyword properties are for.

 

[Jim Wilde]

C+P = ???

Copy and Paste?

 

[PhilBurton]

That's precisely what synonyms in the keyword properties are for.

Which is a nice feature of the LIBRARY module.