Photo database

[Redskin301]

All those keywords is a lot of work in lightroom, but the overview of your photo's is perfect. I have sorted them on:

- Map Collections
---- Year (2007)
------- Date and location (2007-05-12, Liége-Bierset)

- Keyword Tags
---- Operator
------- Country (Netherlands)
---------- Department (Air force or Navy etc)
------------- Type (F-16 Fighting Falcon)
---------------- Subtype (F-16AM Fighting Falcon)
------------------- Serial (J-002)

With this stucture i can find my pics very fast, RAW and edited photo's are in it, and to finf the edited files between the RAW's i use colour tags

[Aviaphotos]

Hi all,

I created my own database in Access.
I have two folders on my PC, one with edited pictures and one with original pictures.

I renamed the files in the "Edited" folder to (example) PHJNA-C172-001.jpg. And the files in the "Original" folder to PHJNA-C172-001-O.CR2.

In the database I have these fields:
- Serial
- Type
- Operator
- Date
- Location
- Name original file
- Location original file
- Name edited file
- Location edited file
- Quality (dropdown menu)
- Status (dropdown menu)
- Weather (dropdown menu)
- Remarks



You will be able to download the database next week at http://www.aviareports.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards,

Pim

[DJdeRidder]

I use the same system as Redskin301, but I only use 1 keyword for Operator/Country/Department (only Country for me). I think it's the quickest way to add photos and search them back. When I add a photo to the 'J-002' keyword it will be possible to find that photo by country, type, subtype and serial! It takes me about 10-15 minutes to add all my photos from a typical day at an airshow or Florennes to the database, so it's not that much work.

I don't have any keywords for the location, I add the location to the file name with batch renaming when I import them into Lightroom (i.e. 24032008_ebfs_001.jpg for a photo taken on 24-03-2008 at Florennes, so with the search phrase 'ebfs' I can find all my Florennes photos).

I use color labels to seperate the unedited photos from the fully edited photos. Photos ready to export have a purple color label, so I can very quickly find a photo and export it it.

Here's a little preview of my keyword structure: http://milaviapress.com/dirkjan/keywords.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DJdeRidder]

Little bit of playing with Lightroom, hope it is of interest and explains some more. Trying to find a photo of a specific RAF Hercules at Soesterberg, check the following search phrases (printscreens):
- hercules (too much results)
- united kingdom (way too much results)
- hercules united kingdom
- hercules united kingdom ehsb
- zh869 hercules united kingdom ehsb (got it, only 1 photo!)

(Of course I could have found it faster, by only searching for 'zh869', but to show you I did it in 5 steps )

[Polecat]

It takes me about 10-15 minutes to add all my photos from a typical day at an airshow or Florennes to the database, so it's not that much work.

hmm...takes me a bit longer... what am I doing wrong?

I use Lightroom in a similar way, except I sort them on country, manufacturer, type, version, c/n, s/n. Civil just manuf./type/version/c/n. In the keywords I put location, unit/airline, as well as some remarks like "wreck" or "special c/s'"..
But again, it takes me a lot longer to edit.....

Grtz

[Iwan Bogels]

Hi Polecat,

Do you use the "Drag & Drop" method ?

Cheers,
Iwan

[Polecat]

probably not, I'm probably not doing it the most clever way than...
I do put multiple shots of the same a/c in its folder, than select them all and type the desired data so they all get these keywords. Funny enough that doesn't work when they're not already in a folder (or does it???)

[Redskin301]

Do you use the "Drag & Drop" method ?

That is the most easy way of working when you collection is growing

[Polecat]

and for sure the collection is growing.
Since late june I made soms 11530 piccies, and last saturday I added 2 Gb RAM and an additional internal 500Gb HD......

Regarding Lightroom, I learned most of it from the Lightrom forum-thread here, so no doubt I'll be doing some things in very time-consuming way. Tips regarding "drag and drop" are always welcome...

[Jaap]

I am very happy with my simple (and free) Yahoo Desktop Search.
I only have to rename every filename to include all important keywords.

Jaap

[SpotterNL]

Do you use the "Drag & Drop" method ?

That is the most easy way of working when you collection is growing

With Keywords? I beg to differ! It's much faster to type the keywords because it shows 'hints' so to say.

[Arnold ten Pas]

Hi,

In Lightroom I use five keywords for aviation photos: Serial, Type, Unit, Country, Airbase
The keywords are structured as follows:



- Under Types, all types used as a keyword are listed
- Under Airbases all airbases are listed as ICAO - Airbase name
- Under Air Forces, several subfolders exist per country. Per country, two subfolders exist with Units and Serials
- Under Events, I list exercise names etc which I occasionally use for aviation photos (but mainly for other photos)
- Under Personen, persons are listed (so not in use for aviation photos)

Adding keywords is quite simple and can be done in several ways. I do like the Keyword presets and adding keywords by clicking the buttons, or by drag&drop. For instance, this picture has received the keyword "Pasen" (obviously... )by clicking on the keyword button "Pasen" which appears after using the keyword for recent pictures. The keyword itself is eventually listed in the keywords structure under "Events"

[Polecat]

Adding keywords is quite simple and can be done in several ways. I do like the Keyword presets and adding keywords by clicking the buttons, or by drag&drop. For instance, this picture has received the keyword "Pasen" (obviously... )by clicking on the keyword button "Pasen" which appears after using the keyword for recent pictures. The keyword itself is eventually listed in the keywords structure under "Events"

I know that (I think) but it is very time-consuming, as on a standard day at say Dusseldorf, you get 100 different aircraft, meaning 85 different sub-types, 100 different c/n and s/n, end loads of different airlines. I know the programme gives a suggestion as soon as you have typed two digits, but still it is a lot of work... Rewarding though as imho a collection that isn't edited/documented is hardly a collection...

Grtz

[Arnold ten Pas]

For a typical day at Florennes, I need +/- 30 minutes to add keywords to the pictures. The more pictures you add to your database, the more keywords are added so the number of "new" keywords will be reduced.

Still, it is ofcourse a lot of work but I finf it very rewarding. Using this method, I am now able to find pictures very very fast in the LR database which can come handy If I need them for an article or something.

In the end, its all a matter of personal preferences and choices and what you would like LR (or aperture, or any other database) to do for you.

[Redskin301]

Here a printscreen of my way of working to make things more clear