Tagging questions

NeverendingJen

NeverendingJen

Active member
I've been tagging my photos for quite a while in Bridge, but now I want to start on my scrapbooking supplies. I do NOT want to tag everything, but I do want to get some basic tags in place for each kit, template, alpha, etc.

Any suggestions for how you would do this? I've read Inga's post on nettio's blog about this, and thats what has really motivated me to get started on this task. my folders are getting quite chaotic again with all the recent designer changes so I want to implement this as I start sorting everything once more.
 
I just started experimenting with this in Bridge today (after realizing I might have lost my ACDSee database). If you use CS4 or 5, you can make smart collections. Those are awesome! I selected my SSD folder and had the smart collection look for all the files that have preview in the title. Now all my previews are already in that collection without having had to tag anything, and the bonus is that whenever new kits are added, their previews will automaticly be added to that smart collection! The only problem is that some designers name their preview 'folder', and others have two previews: one named folder and one named (name of kit+)preview. Still trying to figure out what the best way is to solve that: renaming all the folder files or have my smart collection search for all previews and/or all folders, in which case some of the previews would end up double in the collection...

You can make smart collections for all types of stuff you use a lot, like flowers for example. I know you could just do a search for flowers every time, but if you do that a lot, you might as wel make a smart collection that already has them all in place (without having to wait for your search to be complete).

If I'm going through with this, I will definitely tag the colors and themes in my previews using keywords. You can add subcategories to keywords (not to smart collections).
Also important to me is: number of photos for templates, style for alphas (thin, chunky, cursive, chipboard, metal,..), shape of frames (square, rectangular, round) and for some papers I tag them on wood, newspaper print, graph or lined paper, fabric etc. Because I often search for those.
The designer's name I would add to the files metadata.

I'm only just scratching the surface of the possibilities in Bridge and I'm not sure this will be a good fit for me, but I read a lot about it yesterday and it definitely sounds like it could do a good job! Good luck!
 
I changed my system around a couple months ago.

Right now I'm tagging the kit previews for THEME and COLOR plus PURCHASE MONTH (or NEW). I'm also tagging all the alphas by COLOR. I find the thing I look for the most is the alphas. I also created a few tags for some favorite things that I use on almost every layout: DATES, STITCHING, PHOTO FRAMES, and some a few favorite items like WHITE PAPER, KRAFT PAPER

I like my system now. It gives me just enough information but not too much to deal with. So if I want a RED button that I don't have tagged, I can look in the kit previews for RED kits and then go find a red button from a red kit.

Oh...just FYI...I'm using Windows Photo Gallery.
 
I tag the following:

Store Name
Designer Name
Item type (so: kit, template, element pack, paper pack, alpha)

I only tag the preview of a purchased item and not done to the individual level (so I'm not tagging every flower in a kit, for example). The way I do it sort of mimics a store so it's like "shopping on my hard drive". When I see something I like, I just right-click on the preview and say "Go to file" and then I'm in the product folder. It's very easy to use and, equally important, easy to maintain! :)
 
See, that's what I am basically wanting to do. That way I can search by designer when they switch stores and easily retag
 
Here's my keyword list :) I tag in Lightroom but you can adapt them to your program:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mA6j-lt0EofFW7ATQkwkhTouSZ_ByMWwsln22dVMs6A/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

I did change "activities" to "themes" and I just chuck all my heavily themed kits in there, lol.

ETA: I do have store keywords, but it's mainly for store collab kits that I have, with SSD and another shoppe being exceptions because I CT for them both. Having the SSD keyword lets me know which kits and packs I can mix and match :)
 
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I just started tagging in Bridge and it takes FOR.EV.ER. *sigh* I wish I hadn't even started, but I've already invested time into it, so I'm, trudging on. I'm hoping it will be helpful for me!
 
Brook, I felt that way when I started tagging my photos, but now that I have the system in place it gets a lot easier and faster. I'm hoping the same will hold true for my scrap supplies...but who knows, lol!
 
I was using Bridge as well to just tag the basics...what is nice the tags/keyword are being written to the metadata (just JPG files though!) so if you switch systems at least that would be there! ;)

Bridge is very slow and takes forever but the smart collections are awesome! I have one for digi supplies and then you can just filter the keywords by what you want i.e. papers - yellow etc. Slow but so awesome!

I got Lightroom and is in the process of switching over so will see how that goes! :)
 
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