[jonjo69]

Hi Everyone,

This has probably been asked before, but I've had trouble formulating a search string that would find it.

Background: I'm in fashion, although I'm not a professional photographer. However, I do take pictures at fashion shows, photoshoots and the such looking for trends etc. As you can imagine my photo collection runs into the thousands and management is a problem and editing not so much an issue.

Problem: All photo management software I've found and used over the years have a flat tag or keyword system which is a real problem to search. For example, I could create a tag for shirt and a tag for blue and a search for 'blue shirt' would find the photo. But if I also had a trouser tag, it would also retrieve a white shirt with blue trousers. I therefore would like to create hierarchical structures of keywords/tags where I could search for blue|shirt and retrieve the photos.

Yes, I could create separate tags/keywords, but these would run into hundreds (if not thousands)

Any help/pointers much appreciated.


Jonjo69

[jonjo69]

Sorry, forgot to mention I'm a Mac user.

[damianc]

I think Digikam does hierarchical tagging, and is available for OS X. What's more it's free!

www.digikam.org/download/binary

[jonjo69]

Thanks, damianc I'll give it a go.

The 'free' bit is always nice, but I'm willing to pay if it has all the right features.

[jatrax]

Lightroom uses a hierarchical keyword system.

[Canada_Rockies]

Lightroom also uses a Smart Collection system which complements the keyword system. My current smart collections are based on ratings, wildlife categories, parrks, and so on.

[Miguel]

Yes, Lightroom would meet your requirements very well. Not only can you create hierarchical key word entries, but they can be saved and exported if you had to share with others. You can also import key word "presets." As there are some available out there for free and for fee, I suggest you conduct a search right now. Some of the key word Lightroom presets I've seen are highly specific to certain specialties, and something close to your industry may already exist. In addition, as Canada_Rockies noted, Lightroom has the capability to create smart collections. This is very powerful.

M

[jonjo69]

I did try Lightroom a while back. It's a good product, but I found it a bit 'heavy' as photo management is the priority and not manipulation. I reckon I wouldn't ever use 60% of it.

I've given up with Digikam. I'm getting so many errors trying to compile it, which even when all dependencies are installed, still won't compile.

[Miguel]

I did try Lightroom a while back. It's a good product, but I found it a bit 'heavy' as photo management is the priority and not manipulation. I reckon I wouldn't ever use 60% of it.

I've given up with Digikam. I'm getting so many errors trying to compile it, which even when all dependencies are installed, still won't compile.

I think your perception is inside out. LR is primarily a DAM and a workflow management tool.
The other easy asset management tool for the Mac you can try is Aperture, but I don't think its key wording is as robust.
You can find "purer" DAMs out there but they are commercial client/server offerings for lots more money.


M

[jonjo69]

Maybe you're right. Up to a couple of years ago, I used Extensis on a PC (although I wasn't paying at the time). It appeared to be a more versatile product from the, as you say, DAM perspective. Maybe I just haven't spent enough time with Lightroom. For example, there must be a way to have a networked watch folder.

[Miguel]

You can have a watch folder but realize that LR is a single-user tool. It won't work in an ever-refreshing group ware usage scenario.
As you know, those are more expensive.
M

[jonjo69]

But you need a plugin to watch a network drive, which I didn't know when I tried LR first time round.

The other biggy is that I need to create tags on import based on the folder name, as some filenames are meaningful, but not many. I could do it manually, but with 3000 folders, it's a faf. I'm sure LR will/does do it as a search will return photos, but it's not clear. It would be nice (and now you're going to tell me where it it and make me look an idiot) if there was a pane that showed the hierarchical relationship of the tags; as in a file manager.

[Canada_Rockies]

Workaround: Open one folder. In Grid Mode, apply the folder name in the keywords. I agree that 3,000 folders will take a few hours. Someone else will no doubt come up with a more elegant solution that takes mere minutes.

[Miguel]

(and now you're going to tell me where it it and make me look an idiot)

Let me Google that for you

M

[jonjo69]

I found someone still selling Extensis 8.5 personal (cheapish).