Keywords: Adding New Ones and Organizing

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reidthaler

reidthaler

Reid
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One area of weakness in my LR workflow is keywording. I have 4 general categories: People, Places, Things, and Events. All my images are keyworded.

An issue that I have is adding new keywords after import. I may have have a category of Things, Plants, Trees but then one to add Maples. It seems that I have one of 2 choices: 1) Type Maples to add the keyword and then navigate and drag that to under Things, Plants, Trees, or 2) Add the keyword under Things, Plants, Trees and then tag the image.

Both methods seem slow and awkward. Is there a better way or that just how it is?

Also if there is more standardized, free, keyword list I would be open to emulating it.

Thanks everyone for your help. This is such and excellent forum for quick and accurate responses.

Reid
 
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Enter Maples > Trees in the Import dialog (maybe all 4 levels).

There is a "controlled vocabulary" for LR - search on that phrase.

John
 
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Reid, John makes a good suggestion. If your mind thinks in the opposite direction, you can also enter Trees | Maples to get the same result.

Additionally, you can right click on a keyword and choose 'Put new Keywords Inside tthis Keyword'. That keyword will be marked with a 'dot' icon, and any subsequent new keywords created will appear under that one. I keep a keyord '_new' at the top of my keyword list(the underscore sorts it to the top), if I know I may be adding multiple keywords during a session, I set it as the default target, it doesn't save any steps, but it lumps all the new ones in one place for subsequent straightening out. Unfortunately, that wrecks the method in paragraph 1 above.

As far as available catalogs, there's an fairly good catalog commercially available from David Riecks at http://www.controlledvocabulary.com/, I'm sure that's the one John's referring to. I own it, it's fairly expensive, and its usefulness depends a lot on your subject matter. I did learn a lot from dissecting tho'

Also have a look at [COLOR=#''''ff]http://www.nickpotter.net/2''9/'2/lists-keywords-and-lightroom.php[/COLOR].

Somewhere, I have a link to the US Library of Congress on the same subject, but I'm having trouble finding it right now. If I do, I'll post it.
 
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Brad,

Thanks. the Trees | Maple would be easier to use.

for the _new trick, do you then drag it where you want it to go and then rename it? I like your approach. Its makes for better housekeeping instead of making the keyword list looks like it was hit by a shotgun after a session.

Looks like nick's site has some useful lists too.

Reid
 
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Since your are using Vista, you should be aware that Vista uses "/" as a keyword delimiter. "Trees/Maples" would be keyword hierarchy to Vista's image properties.
 
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Aha! So this is where the sudden influx of visitors to my keywords page came from (not that I'm complaining).

I did want to say however that I hope to update the keyword lists over time, so if anyone has any categories they would like creating, then let me know and I'll see what I can do.
 
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Hi Nick,

Welcome to the forum - I hope you find it useful and friendly.
It was Brad that pointed me to your website (with his link earlier in this thread) and I was delighted to find your keyword list there. Great work. I have also since recommended it in another thread.
I have put your Keyword List to good use straight away and have started to keyword all my images with a vengeance, so now I'm really starting to see the benefits of using Hierarchical keywording properly.
I have added a few cities to the Geography section and a few extra Top Level words to your original list:
  • Events
    /Birthday
    /Christening
    /Christmas
    /Easter
    /Party
  • Holidays
    /Dubai
    /Lisbon
    /Montreal
    /Tangier etc.
  • People
    /John
    /Liz
    /Dawn
    /George etc.
  • Pets
    /Ginny
    /Saffy
    /Winston
  • Plants & Vegetation
    /Flower
    /Shrub
    /Tree
  • Sport
    /Athletics
    /Football
    /Rugby
    /Running
    /Swimming
    /Tennis
  • Things
    /CDs
    /Jewellery
    /Trig Point
  • Transport
    /Aeroplane
    /Bicycle
    /Bus
    /Car
    /Ferry
    /Motorbike
    /Tractor
    /Trike
  • Weather
    /Flood
    /Snow
  • Weddings
    /Heather & Simon
    /Terry & Marie etc.
  • Work
    /Acer
    /Apple
    /Intel etc.
I just thought letting you see what I've done implementing your Keyword List might be useful if you are planning on adding to it.

Many thanks for your work - it has been truly inspirational as your Keyword List is very well organised and, most crucially, not too large so it's easy to use well.

John
 
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nickp said:
Aha! So this is where the sudden influx of visitors to my keywords page came from (not that I'm complaining).

I did want to say however that I hope to update the keyword lists over time, so if anyone has any categories they would like creating, then let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Click to expand...
Welcome aboard, Nick. The more the merrier!

I'm posting from PSW - Boston, at the moment. :cheesy:

Don
 
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Welcome aboard Nick, very pleased to have your company!
 
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