Task 6 How to Organize Images with Custom Metadata

The photo industry is developing some consistent standards for how images should be organized, categorized, and labeled. There's EXIF data that profiles camera information and IPTC data for journalistic information such as writers, sources, and deadlines. (File Data, EXIF, Camera Raw, GPS, and IPTC information is also referred to as metadata.) Then there are basic keywords and comments for keeping things straight. Photoshop has organized all this information with the Metadata and Keywords tabs in Bridge.

1. Create Keywords and Sets

With Bridge open, click the Keywords tab and click the New Keyword icon. A new keyword appears in the list, ready to be labeled. Type the desired keyword, and repeat this step to create a list of keywords you expect to use often. To help organize a lengthy list of keywords, click New Keyword Set to create a new folder, which you can use to organize keywords into thematic groups.

2. Assign Keywords to Images

Select one or more files in Bridge and click the box to the left of any keyword to assign it to the selected images. A dialog box appears to confirm that you want the keyword to apply to all selected images; click Yes. The keyword is a searchable descriptor word that helps categorize the contents of the image. Images can have multiple keywords such as outdoors, family, and purple, allowing you to search for each keyword individually or to combine keywords for more specific search results.

3. Open File Info

Metadata is attached to a file with the File Info command. Select a file in Bridge and select File, File Info from the Bridge menu. Metadata information is supplemental information about a file that can help with identification, copyright protection, searching, or workflow management. Photoshop allows for six metadata subcategories: File Properties; EXIF Camera Data; Camera Raw; GPS; Edit History; and project-based IPTC information that shows authorship, assignment information, and other workflow data points.

4. Add Metadata

The File Info window features 12 categories of information, listed in a column on the left. Click a category in the column to access that information. Enter relevant information for each category as it relates to your work (notice our assigned keyword has been stored). If your camera captures shooting information in EXIF format, some of the fields in the Camera Data categories might already be filled in.

5. Select Find

After keywords and metadata are assigned to your images, you can use this information to search and sort your images just like records in any other database. To search for images with keywords or metadata using Bridge, select Edit, Find from the Bridge menu.

6. Enter Find Data

In the Find dialog box that appears, select the target folder or folders you want to search using the Look in menu or the Browse button. Enable the Include All Subfolders check box if necessary. In the Criteria section, select the search variable from the first menu and construct a search string using the second menu and typing a search term such as a keyword or author name. Search variables include filenames and types, dates created/modified, labels, ratings, keywords, and metadata. Click the plus sign to expand the fields and allow additional search variables in the same search. Enable the check box for Show Find Results in a New Browser Window if you want a new Bridge window to open and display the results.

7. View Search Results

In the Find dialog box, click Find. Bridge returns all the results. If you selected the new browser window option, Bridge opens a separate window called Find Results. Every time you perform a search, the search results are placed in a new window, so you can compare the results of two searches.