As a digital photographer, I have a very large photo catalogue. I have been shooting with a digital camera since 2009. I recently decided I was going to clean up the catalogue (since I now find myself with an abundance of free time. I retired from VTA on 7/13/20, after 23 years) by adding keywords to all the images which do not have them and delete images which I felt were duds (duds = images I will never process).
So, I configured Adobe Lightroom to show me only the images without keywords. Wow, to my surprise I found 143k images (122k RAW format, the rest PSD, JPEG and PNG). This number encompasses 2019 and 2020 only. I'm not sure I have the attention span for such a task.
So, now I ask myself, what is more important to me in terms of devoting my time? Deleting the images I know I will never use, or identifying images by subject via keywords? I know photographers who never delete files. I know some who delete the duds when they first import them into their catalogue. Hmmm, it's a tough choice, because I hate having my hard drives filled up with files I will never use. It's equally as frustrating to me to not be able to find images I know I have, but don't remember where I placed them.
I have decided that being able to locate images based on subject is more worthy of my time and gives me a sense of accomplishment than just deleting duds. By adding identifying keywords to each image I can locate specific images quicker and easier. After keywords are added, I can delete duds as I find them, but I'd rather be able to pull up an image based on subject.
So, I configured Adobe Lightroom to show me only the images without keywords. Wow, to my surprise I found 143k images (122k RAW format, the rest PSD, JPEG and PNG). This number encompasses 2019 and 2020 only. I'm not sure I have the attention span for such a task.
So, now I ask myself, what is more important to me in terms of devoting my time? Deleting the images I know I will never use, or identifying images by subject via keywords? I know photographers who never delete files. I know some who delete the duds when they first import them into their catalogue. Hmmm, it's a tough choice, because I hate having my hard drives filled up with files I will never use. It's equally as frustrating to me to not be able to find images I know I have, but don't remember where I placed them.
I have decided that being able to locate images based on subject is more worthy of my time and gives me a sense of accomplishment than just deleting duds. By adding identifying keywords to each image I can locate specific images quicker and easier. After keywords are added, I can delete duds as I find them, but I'd rather be able to pull up an image based on subject.
Now, these are my preferences only. Yours may vary. I have been using Adobe Lightroom ever since Adobe put it out. I have always been frustrated with the import algorithm Adobe uses. I find that by organizing my catalogue using keywords, I cut down on duplicate files, which is another one of my pet peeves.
In another world, another time, I will organize my files at the beginning, and not 11 years later.
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