Thanks useful information: 
There kind of are two solutions that make it less painful to do, but it's not painless.Originally Posted by Tannin
Those two programs are Microsoft's Photo Gallery software, and IDImager's Photosupreme.
It's tedious work, but as John(and I) have said, once the process has been started, the benefits are clear.
The only point that John and I disagree on, is what is important to tag, and how it's tagged. I only think in terms of Raw file = important, any other (child) file type = unimportant .. tag the stuff that you NEED to keep in a worst case scenario.
NOTE: tagging thousand of files isn't a case where you tag each individual file singularly, tagging can be done in batches on many files at once. My only proviso is that it's done on the raw file itself.
The problem with this argument is that it's 'chicken and egg' syndrome.
That you don't do it NOW, doesn't mean that you see some benefit at a point in the future. The problem as always with the future we know nothing about it!
I think of that argument in a similar manner to (say) electric cars. On the current path we travel on, it's massively obvious that electric cars are the future. Problem is they cost a fortune(to buy). Every day cost to run is much lower for those of us that rely heavily on the benefits of transportation by car. I'd much prefer for it to cost me 10c per day to travel, rather than the current $5 per day it does .. but I'm not yet willing to pay $50K for that 'benefit'
I really don't think you've tried enough.
You listed some timings there which are in some ways humorous to read.
The old discontinued(but still usable) and free Windows Photo Gallery is instant. Not only instantaneous, but also predictive. As you type a tagged word type it lists all the tagged data with the letter combination already typed.. ie. before you've typed the keyword you're after, it's already given to you.
Not only that, but you don't even need to type a search. all keywords are listed in a pane on one side that you scroll down too. click it, and all images for that data are displayed.
The only tradeoff is that it takes between 30-60sec for the software to load. .. but on reflection that is about half the time most Adobe software takes to load for me anyhow!
I do the same, as I think many folks probably do too. It is by far the best form of organisation to begin with.
But it has failings.
Reason why I replied again, is that on another forum a comment was made re: a new train service from Maryborough to Avoca. An area Tannin probably knows very well.
I also know very well.
Those of us that know the area well enough, know that this new train service isn't new, it's being reopened. That is, there's an old line that is being renewed.
I happened to have an old photo of that old line. The buckled twisted remains of the old rail lines, easily viewed and photographed at a crossing between Avoca and Ararat. I know the road, even tho I also geotagged it, I didn't need too. I know the road well, get me into Beaufort from the north side.
In the last 3-4 years, I've 'explored' the area 5 times, and I know I have an image of the rollercoaster train line in it's dilapidated state .. but looking through 5 folders of images taken in the area over that time revealed nothing due to the quick glance method I used to view the images there.
So I searched all the folders I have of the area thinking that I may have lost track of time and the image I have of the rollercoaster was taken earlier(within the last 12 years), so searched all folders of that area I have.
Nothing!
Turned out that it was in one of the folder I originally glanced at, and my mistake was to view the last few images of the folders, as I thought the images of the railway were my last images for the day. I had about 15 more after the rollercoaster images.
Short version:
Moral of the story; no matter how good you think you are at remembering stuff, time is better at 'helping' you forget it all, or confusing small details about a general idea.
Keywording(or tagging) eliminates the effects of time. How valuable this resource is, comes down to the individual themselves.
Tagging images in their multiple thousands is a monumental task. The tools you use make a world of difference. now that I've started the process, which has taken me over 5 years to do less than half the actual job I'd like to do. I don't do it all the time, fits and spurts of it is probably the best way to describe my method.
I've subsequently tagged the dilapidated rollercoaster images of this train line ... stupidly tho I had tagged the other images in the folder with place names, and other stuff .. just for whatever absent minded reason, not the railway images.
I've also made a mental note to get back to this same crossing location to get more boring images of the now updated line, and have before and after shots.
But what I'm kicking myself over is not having gone back earlier .. pre line update to get proper images of the interesting looking old crossing.
Again it drive home the accurate adage about putting off what you can do now, for a later time .. sometimes it just doesn't pay.
Reply With Quote
