Categories, Tags and Keywords

At this point in the series we have discussed the practice of uploading our images to the “My Pictures” folder, and that we recommend archiving our images in this folder using sub-folders named for the date the images were captured. This next step in the discussion presents us with a purchase decision.

We have reached a point where a decision has to be made. We can continue with either a manual or an automated categorization method. Manual methods have the attraction of being free of charge while automation has a cost; as little as $50.00 but with the most powerful management software programs priced at $200.00 or more.

A free method can require the photographer to individually handle image files in order to alter the file name into a code or naming convention. The code or naming convention must be tracked and managed right along with the image library. For example, a freelance photographer might assign a code to a buyer, another to the assignment and another to the content. There is no limit to the naming possibilities but whatever is chosen should be documented which will help assure that images in the library don’t fall through the cracks. (To read one respondent’s method check out the comments on Part 2 of this series HERE.)

There are free services such as Windows Live that allow images to be named and tagged on import. A freeware solution is absolutely the right choice if the alternative is to do nothing. However most of the free software is limited in capability or comes with constant pop-up offers to upgrade to the full paid version. If you are interested in a freeware image file manager really put it through its paces before making the time commitment to apply it to all of your image library.

For-fee software tends to be well thought out and offers many more capabilities. There are many options available in this category and as the price goes up it’s a good bet that the capabilities do too. The least expensive offerings work well with image files while the more expensive will also manage movie files and more. All will use some combination of Categories, Tags or Keywords to thoroughly organize your image files.

Categories, Tags and Keywords are organizational labels applied to an image file by a management program. They don’t actually do anything. They exist as flags so that image management software can retrieve images quickly and with varying degrees of focus.

Software that supports Categories offers the next best step beyond the computer’s OS in filing and search. A Category has a very broad focus with names like “People”, “Places”, “Events” and more. These are the large divisions within a library. Sub-categories if available should be only slightly more focused. For example “Family” and “Friends” would be good Sub-categories under “People”. Being too specific at this level only generates hundreds of possible categories to weed though when searching for an image.

Tags on the other hand can be quite specific and have a very narrow focus. Tags (sometimes called keywords) are used to pinpoint specifics about image content, purpose, client, or just about anything else. Most software that supports Tags will allow the user to search using multiple Tag names.

It is important to remember that Categories and Sub-categories and Tags exist only within the file management software. They are not an actual folder or location on the hard drive. Part of the work that a good software package handles is in adding Category and Tag flags to an image file’s information.
When we are able to use three different variables to search for an image we very quickly arrow in to the correct image. Out of thousands of images being able to search for the Tags “Ralph” and “Reunion” under Sub-category “Family” in the year “2003” will turn up only a handful of possibilities in mere seconds.

OK, so Tags and Categories are pretty cool, but the really nifty trick is how those identifiers get attached to your images in the first place. The image management software is also the tool used to import your pictures from your memory card into your library.

With a few clicks the software knows how to correctly name the new folder in My Pictures, and after import the recently added images are kept in one window so that the user can quickly assign Categories and Tags. Every image management software package that I have tried allows the user to attach Categories and Tags to large groups of images all at once, called batch processing. Once it’s all setup the process is very fast and painless.

I would suggest that a good starting place is to create a list of image categories that can be used to segment the image library by image type. Go ahead and pencil out Categories and Sub-categories, but don’t try to make them too specific.

Tags on the other hand will most often evolve organically. As images are downloaded into the system old tags are assigned to the appropriate pictures and brand new ones can be created on the fly as well.
Some management programs like Lightroom or even Photoshop Elements permit image ranking. This is a very useful tool when we download dozens of images from the same shoot. Rankings allow us to quickly rate the new images for later use or removal. In some cases rankings add a fourth dimension to image searching: “Find all images under Wildlife Category, Birds Subcategory that are Tagged as eagles and have a Ranking of four or more stars.” In just a few clicks the images that match this description will be shown in date order from the oldest to the most recent.

Conversely we can use Rankings to help eliminate our bad images from the library. By searching for all images ranked two stars or below it would be possible to browse through them and decide which images are candidates for deletion.

Categories, Sub-categories, Tags and Keywords all play an important role in locating specific images in our growing library. The actual library folders on our hard drive are organized in timeline fashion to aid in manual searches for images. And when we use a management program we are able to search for images based on content using descriptive names or words.

Please be aware that what one program calls Categories another might call Collections. Likewise Tags and Keywords may be used interchangeably. I use Adobe Lightroom which has Collections, Keywords, Ranking, Color Codes, and Flags. The software you choose will have its own way of parsing your image library and in general it only takes a few moments before you understand it and you’re up and running.

There can be a substantial amount of time invested in first setting up an image library, but the return on the investment happens every time we search for an image and find it in just a heartbeat. For the majority of Porter’s photographers I highly recommend using a software solution to manage an image library over a manual method. Consistency is built-in which means that the resulting library is far better organized.

In the next installment we focus on editing. “Edit” has two meanings: The first meaning is to edit out (delete) bad images. The second meaning of edit is to alter the appearance of an image. More on both definitions and how it works into an image management system next week.

CLICK FOR PART 4

GO BACK TO PART 1