Digital Focus

How to Use Keywording in Lightroom 2

(First of Two Parts)

In the the issue on Searching for Your Photos in Lightroom, I made reference on assigning keywords. It was my intention to discuss keywording in the same issue but when I was writing it I realized the topic required a separate write-up.

 

What is a keyword? It is key idea or concept expressed as words. These words are used to describe an object, publications, research papers or in this case, photographs.

 

The concept of keywording is nothing new. It has been used by libraries to organize books and publications, and to facilitate their search and retrieval. Stock photo companies also employ keywording to organize thousands of slides in their inventory. Like in a book library, each stock image has a number that corresponds to a document identifying the location of that particular photo in the file, its contents, the date it was taken, the name of the photographer, etc.

 

When I started photography some 25 years ago, I started accumulating hundreds of slides. I utilized a crude method of keywording. I posted stickers on each slide identifying where and when the photo was taken and my name as the photographer (Image 01). Obviously each sticker could only contain limited information, and the process was tedious and cumbersome. After a while, I gave up doing it so I ended up with boxes and jackets of unidentified slides. You can imagine the frustration I go to every time I need to find a particular slide.

 

 

What I couldn’t do then I can now easily do to all my digital photos using Lightroom (LR). In LR, keywords or keyword tags are text metadata that describe the essential contents of a photo. By tagging all my photos with keywords, I can easily identify, search for, and find photos in the catalog—using LR’s Library Filter that I discussed in my previous article Searching for Your Photos in Lightroom.

 

In this issue, I will discuss how to create keywords in LR, how to tag (apply) the keywords to individual or group of photos in the catalog and how to use them to organize photos and to easily locate a photo(s) in the catalog. I will also discuss some tips on what makes a good keyword.

 

 

Creating and Applying Keywords

 

LR provides several ways to tag your photos with keywords. You can assign keywords during import or after you have imported the photos into your catalog. You can either type the keywords in the designated text fields or simply select them in the Keywording panel, or drag photos to already existing keywords in the Keywording List panel. Let’s discuss them one by one.

 

Keywording Photos during Import

The first time you will encounter keywording in LR is when you start importing your photos in a catalog. In the Import Photos dialog box (Import 02), you can start describing photos that is being imported by typing word(s) in the Keywords text field in the Information to Apply section of the dialog box. Since whatever you type in this box will be applied to all the photos that are being imported, you must use a keyword(s) that is applicable to all the photos. For example, if you took all the photos in the memory card in the same location, e.g.; California, type in California. All the imported photos that are tagged will be marked with the thumbnail badge icon (in the shape of a tag) in Grid View (Image 03). And when you click a tagged photo, the word California will automatically appear in the Keyword Tags pane of the Keywording Panel and in the Keyword List Panel. See Keywording and Keyword List Panels below.

 

 

Note: If you want to use the Import Photo dialog box to apply the same keyword to some, but not all, of photos that are being imported from the same memory card or hard disk,  then select only those photos in the Preview section of the dialog box that have similarity in content. To select only some of the photos, first click the Uncheck All button; Shift + click on the photos you want to select; and then click on the check box on the upper left-hand corner of one of the photos (Image 04). Press Import.

 

Open again the Import Photo dialog box to import the remaining photos.

 

 

Keywording Your Photos

Using the Keywording Panel

You can also use the Keywording panel of LR to apply initial or additional keywords to your photos. Once the imported photos appear in the Library module, you can start applying keywords to some or all of the photos in the catalog, folder or collections in Grid view. The panel is divided into three sections or panes: the Keyword Tags, Keyword Suggestions, and the Keyword Set.

 

Using the Keyword Tags Pane

1.  Select the photo(s) you want to tag in the Grid (by clicking on it). Once you select one or several photos, the Click here to add keywords box (Image 05) becomes active.

2.  Type the keyword or string of keywords in the text field. If there are several keywords, separate them by a comma. For example, type Female, Professional Model, Portrait to describe a photo containing the portrait of a female professional model (Image 06). There is no limit to the number of words you can use to describe the content of a photo.

3.  Press Return (Mac OS) or Enter (Windows) and the keywords will appear alphabetically in the text field immediately below the Keyword Tags (Image 07).

Note: You can also type the keywords directly on the text field immediately below the Keyword Tags pane if the Enter Keywords option is selected in the drop down menu (Image 08). Keyword Tags is one way of viewing all the keywords that have been explicitly assigned on a photo. You can also use its text field later on to add or edit existing keywords. If the Keywords & Containing Keywords option is selected instead, you can only view the keywords but not edit them. It will also display other keywords that are implicitly associated with the keyword(s).  See Image 09.

 

Using the Keyword Suggestions Pane

If this is the first time you are going to create keywords in LR, the Keyword Suggestions pane is empty (Image 10). But as you type keywords in the Keyword Tags pane and apply them, LR will populate the Keyword Suggestions pane with the words that you typed (Image 11). So next time you need to use the same word(s) for another photo, you don’t have to retype the word(s). Simply click on the word(s) in the Keyword Suggestions pane and it will automatically appear in the Keyword Tags pane. For example, you typed Female, Professional Model, Portrait as the keywords to describe a photo containing the portrait of a female, professional model. The same words will appear in the Keyword Suggestions pane after you applied them. If there is a portrait of a male model in the same catalog, simply click on the photo and then go to the Keyword Suggestions pane and click the words Professional Model and Portrait. The words will automatically appear on the Keyword Tags pane as the assigned keywords. Just add a comma on the last word in the Keyword Tags and then type Male to complete the description.

 

Using the Keyword Set Pane

If you have not created any keywords, the Keyword Set pane is also empty because, by default, the Recent Keywords option is selected in the drop-down menu (Image 12). As you start creating keywords in the Keyword Tags pane, the keywords also start appearing in the text fields of the Keyword Set. If the keywords that you created are related, e.g., woman, man, children, portrait, group, you can save them as a set. To save them:

 

1.  Click on the drop-down menu next to the Keyword Set.

2.  Choose Save Current Settings as New Preset…

3.  In the New Preset dialog box, type the name of the set in the Preset Name.

4.  Click Create.

 

The Keyword Set already contains three presets: Outdoor Photography, Portrait Photography, and Wedding Photography which you can access through the drop-down menu of the pane (Image 13). You can delete them if they are not relevant to the types of photography that you take or you can edit them to suit you. You can also create one from scratch and save it as your own preset. You can create different presets for your professional work, family pictures, travel photos, etc.

 

To create your own preset:

1.  Click on the drop-down menu next to the Keyword Set.

2.  Click Edit Keyword Set. If you have not entered any keyword yet or selected any one of the presets, the word Custom will appear as the name of the Preset.

3.  Type the different keywords on the text fields. You are limited to 9 keywords. For example, you can type female, male, adult, young, group, children, studio, outdoor, head-to-shoulder, full body.

4.  Click the drop-down menu next to Preset and choose Save Current Settings as New Preset…

5.  In the New Preset dialog box, type Portrait in the Preset Name. See Image 14.

6.  Click Create.

 

To use an existing preset:

1.  Click on a photo(s) in Grid view.

2.  Choose the preset you want (e.g., Outdoor Photography). The keywords in the preset will be highlighted. See Image 15.

3.  Click on the appropriate keyword(s) and it will automatically appear in the Keyword Tags text field. The selected photo(s) are tagged. If you click on several keywords, each keyword will automatically be separated by a comma and the words will be arranged alphabetically.

 

The keywords will also appear in the Keyword Suggestions pane—available to you should you need them the next time.