Category: Photography

The version of Adobe Camera RAW is 8.4, that is also what is in the current Adobe Lightroom V5.4.

The release candidate for Camera RAW 8.5 has bean announced and one thing that did catch my eye was a comment about the Fuji X-T1.

Fixed issue with Fujifilm X-T1 raw images appearing too bright at high ISO settings when using Dynamic Range 200% and 400%. Unfortunately, this fix may affect the appearance of existing images captured with this combination of settings. It is recommended that you (1) purge the Camera Raw cache via the Camera Raw Preferences dialog, and (2) review images shot at ISO settings higher than 1600 for unexpected brightness changes.

So when it’s released watch out if you have any images shot at high ISO and are using the Dynamic Range Options.

So you want to start key wording but the thought of sitting down and creating your own list fills you with dread, what can you do.

Well there are projects on the internet where people are building very extensive keyword lists.  The site lightroom-keyword-list-project.blogspot.co.uk is a good place to start.

If your into bird photography they check out the bird list.

This is just a very small sample:

bird 2.0-ioc-REPLACE OLD BIRD LIST
[ACCIPITRIFORMES]
[Kites- Hawks and Eagles]
{Accipitridae}
African Cuckoo-Hawk
{Aviceda cuculoides}
African Fish Eagle
{Haliaeetus vocifer}
African Goshawk
{Accipiter tachiro}
African Harrier-Hawk
{Polyboroides typus}

As you can see very extensive.

So here is a collection of Coot photographs.  I have imported the Birds list then picked it up and dropped it under the Animals keyword folder.  As you can see the original birds keyword folder is still there and these pictures of Coots are still referencing the old keywords and note the new so unfortunately you will need to go through and re-keyword but there are ways to speed things up.

In this example we are changing my Coot keyword to the new keyword Eurasian Coot in the new bird keyword list I have downloaded and imported.

So first in the keyword list find your old keyword and click on the arrow that appears on the far right of the keyword, this will filter your photographs by that keyword, you can then select all your coot photographs with a simple Command-A (Ctrl-A in Windows), then find the new keyword, click on the far right of it so the tick appears like in the above screen print.  All your filtered keywords now have the old and the new keyword.  You can then safely delete the old keyword.

Adobe Lightroom is now a many faceted program, as well as a RAW processor one of its strengths is that of a DAM package, that is Digital Asset Management.

Adding metadata and keywords greatly easies your life as a photographer and being able to find a photo months and years later for a client is important.

Every so often I find I have gotten behind in my metadata and key wording, so I create a collection, sync it over to PhotoSmith on the iPad then in my breaks I keyword and add the metadata that may be missing. Then when back at home with my master Lightroom catalogue its a quick sync to update.

One of the issues I have is that my Keywords often get into a mess and you need to have a cull and sort out.  Creating a keyword list ideally needs planning.

First of all its a good idea to see what you already have, you can export your keywords using the Metadata menu and selecting Export Keywords.

I had been adding keywords to the birds round Brayford Pool but my bird list had really gotten out of shape.

Here is an extract:

[Birds]
<InsertTAB>Black-headed Gull
<InsertTAB>Canadian Geese
<InsertTAB>Carrion Crow
<InsertTAB>Chicken
<InsertTAB>Common Tern
<InsertTAB>Cormorant
<InsertTAB>[Duck]
<InsertTAB>Eider Duck
<InsertTAB>Flamingos

As you can see while there is an attempt at structure as you can see by the folder keyword Duck, but then I went and put Eider Duck at the same level and not under it.  It really needs a major sort out.

Now you can buy keyword lists some of which are very good and if your a stock photographer shooting a lot of stock images each month they buying a keyword list can make a lot of sense, for a few hundred pounds you get a very comprehensive keyword list.

You can make your own just open a text editor and create your keywords.

Master folder keys have the keywords in square brackets, and you nest them using tabs.  The best way to start is to export your current list then open it up in a text editor, it will soon make sense.

eg:
[People]
<InsertTAB>[Models]
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB>[Male]
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB>John
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB>Peter
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB>[Female]
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB>Jane
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB>{Art Nude}
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB>Kate
<InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB><InsertTAB>{Fashion}

The key to remember is that it is a TAB delimited format so above where you see <InsertTAB> you want an actual TAB but make sure you use an editor that supports plain text correctly so if your a Windows user not Notepad, try the Notepad+ available for download or even a spreadsheet.  Many spreadsheets allow you to export files TAB delimited.

To make keywords more meaningful you can also add notes to keywords.  Create yourself a new keyword structure then I suggest you create a new blank catalogue rather then break you master.

With the test catalogue import your new list and see how it looks.  Have a good play before you amend you master catalogue.  Unfortunately once you have imported it merges with your current keywords so you will then have a major organisational task ahead but at least you have the keyword structure you want.