How do you keyword your photo's?

[DJdeRidder]

Mine looks like this:

Aircraft (main keyword)
--> United States of America (operator)
----> C-130 Hercules (main type)
------> AC-130U Spooky (subtype)
--------> 90-0163 (serial)

(Oh how I wish I really had a Spooky in my db.. )

For me it's very quick and effective. I generally add keywords to the list before going somewhere, so I only have to fill in serials in the keywording field when coming back. Even after a busy day (like TLP / airshow) it takes me less than 10 minutes to keyword everything. I can display all my C-130 Hercules shots in an instance, but also search by subtypes like AC-130U Spooky, Tp84, L-100-30 and Hercules C5 (plus of course by country & serial)...

I don't need keywords to organize by location. On import I rename the photos so they include the date and ICAO code of the airfield (IMG_0123.CR2 becomes 20091031_ehlw_0123.CR2). Then I have smart collections for every location, so that all files containing 'ehlw' automatically appear in the Leeuwarden collection. It saves me time and the location/date is still evident when I export a photo. The disadvantage is I cannot search for 'Leeuwarden', but clicking the smart collection or searching for 'ehlw' does the same job..

I also have a smart collection for photos that don't have any keyword applied ('Keywords' - 'doesn't contain' - 'Aircraft'), so that I realize when I forgot to do some.

Next thing on my to-do list is to organize by operator (Air Force / Navy / Army etc), so I can search specifically for Hellenic Navy, German Air Force, French Army shots. I think a separate keyword list is the easiest way to do this, but any tips are welcome..

[frllynx]

Hello,

This is the way I use keywords:
a_(SERIAL)
B_(CODE)
C_(OPERATOR)
D_(SQUADRON)
E_(TYPE of AIRCRAFT)
F_not yet assigned
G_not yet assigned
H_(COLORS) e.g. Tiger cs, 90years KLM
I_STATUS e.g. preserved
J_DATE
K_LOCATION e.g. Leeuwarden (Netherlands)

Regards,

Keimpe

[DJdeRidder]

This is the way I use keywords:
a_(SERIAL)
B_(CODE)
C_(OPERATOR)
D_(SQUADRON)
E_(TYPE of AIRCRAFT)
F_not yet assigned
G_not yet assigned
H_(COLORS) e.g. Tiger cs, 90years KLM
I_STATUS e.g. preserved
J_DATE
K_LOCATION e.g. Leeuwarden (Netherlands)

Wow! That must take you a while to keyword a single photo..

Thanks DJ! I never thought on the ICAO file name search, as I already did the same on renaming my file names the same way you do.

Well, as you already have the ICAO in the filename, have you thought of using smart collections? (just create a smart collection "filename contains 'ehlw' and organize it into folders by country) It gives an excellent overview of the places you have visited, just like your keyword list, but the 'keywording' part will be done automatically for you.

[flieger28]

Found this Topic because i searched on google for keywords.
My Problem is that i have a catalog in Lightroom with 44.000 Pictures but always have given keywords without much thinking. Right now i think hierarchical keywords would be fine. But i'am not really convinced that it is an easy way to do in LIghtroom afterwords.
So far i have learned that i can Drag an drop the Keywords in the keyword Panel in Lightroom. How does Lightroom know that a category is a category and not a keyword?

Maybe someone has some tip or suggestion for me