Keyword Sets

One useful feature of Lightroom is the ability to use Keyword Sets. This can help speed up entering keywords into Lightroom. Lightroom ships with 3 basic Keyword Sets: Outdoor Photography, Portrait Photography and Wedding Photography. These can be selected using the drop down menu in Keywording (Right Hand side in Library). Each set contains 9 keywords which correspond to the keys 1-9 on the Numeric Keypad. To apply them, you need to make sure that the textbox in the Keywording Pane is not active. Then hold Alt (Option on Mac), and a number will appear besides the keyword. Pressing the corresponding number will apply the keyword in the textbox.

You can cycle between the available sets (and any you create) using the shortcut Alt/Option 0. Shift Alt/Option 0 will display the previous keyword set. The menu version of the commands appear in Library, in the Metadata>Keywords Set menu item. Here you can select or edit a set, along with the cycling options mentioned.

Lets look at Editing a set to create a brand new set. Click Edit in the Keyword Set menu, or by clicking Edit Set.. in the drop down Keyword Set menu in the Keywording Pane. Figure 1 shows a Custom set that has been edited with my own keywords for a show I'm currently shooting promo shots for.

Figure 1

Figure 2 shows what happens when we click on Custom. The last option in the set is 'Save Current Settings as New Preset', which is what we will do here. I've called the set 'Glor Tire', which is the name of the program (it's Irish for 'Country Voice' if you want to know, it's a play on 'Coel Tire' which means Country Music).

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows the new Keyword set as it appears in the drop down menu.

Figure 3

Figure 4 shows the new Keyword Set selected in the Keywording Pane.

Figure 4

Now 9 may seem like a small number for a set, but this is because of the Numeric Keypad shortcuts. In my project above, I've also created other sets with the names of the 9 performers and 9 contestants. These are Glor Tire 2 and Glor Tire 3. This way I can cycle between the sets quickly to get to the keywords I need quickly.
If you've never used Keyword Sets before, hopefully this post will help you get started into keywording your individual images faster, rather than just depending on the generic keywords you apply to your shoot on import.

Update: John Beardsworth mentions I should also explain how to enter Hierarchical Keywords. To enter a Keyword hierarchy, enter the base keyword and then the higher keywords, separated by the '>' delimiter. So for a Landscape location, you could enter Ardnagoithe>Co. Mayo>Ireland. This shows up in the Keyword Tags sections as visible in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5

Pixmantec Migration Tool

Tom Hogarty released details of the finally completed Pixmantec Migration tool over at Lightroom Journal today.

"Last year, Adobe acquired the assets of Pixmantec, including the code for the RawShooter Essentials and RawShooter Premium applications. Adobe then offered a free copy of Lightroom 1.0 to RawShooter Premium customers. But given the proprietary nature of independent processing tools, efforts by Pixmantec customers have no direct translation to Adobe's raw processing solutions. (Camera Raw Plug-in and Lightroom) To this end, we're providing a settings migration tool that will attempt to match the adjustments performed in RawShooter Essentials or RawShooter Premium to equivalent settings in Lightroom or Camera Raw. The tool is located on Adobe Labs at the following location: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Pixmantec_RawShooter_Migration_Tool

A quick caveat is that the controls and algorithms in each application are not identical so the results of these conversions will not provide visually identical images. "


Full instructions on using the tool are also provided in the WiKi.

IPPA Western Region Photoshop day.

As part of the Western Region of the Irish Professional Photographers Association day on Mon Sept 4th, I will be giving a talk on Mastering Digital Workflow with Adobe Lightroom.

The Western Region of the Irish Professional Photographers Association will host a Photoshop spectacular

At 2pm Monday September 3rd at Knockranny House Hotel, Westport, Co Mayo.

The event is open to all members of the IPPA and intending members.

Programme
2.pm with "Photoshop Cinema"

3.pm. Mastering digital workflow with Lightroom. Sean McCormack.

5pm. Light evening meal with vegetarian option.

6.30 .pm Photoshop in my working life. Eamon OBoyle.


7.30 pm Succeeding in ever-changing markets. Neil Warner.

8.15.pm Wrap up and depart.

Cost including meal 25euro for IPPA members

55 euro for intending members or guests.

Places restricted. booking advisable.

Email IPPA HQ or neil@warnerphoto.org

Print Requests

A post by Wil Andrews in the Adobe Lightroom Feature Requests forum has me thinking about this again. Way back in the Beta forums, I placed forward extensive (and ignored!) ideas for improving Print. I'm adding my thoughts here, based on the post, but with more stuff added. Of course this is just my humble opinion.

For Print layout, I would like to be able to select a template on a page by page basis. I'd like to be able to go full bleed on one page and have 2 images on the next if I like.
I'd like to be able to specify cell size and shape on a per cell basis, not a per page basis as is currently the case. This would include where the cell is positioned on the page. These capabilities do amount to a basic book layout, but in a primitive form. I'd also like to see full Print to file capability including TIFF, JPG and PDF from within Lightroom from the Print Module at high resolution.
I'd like to be able to add text per page as I see fit and to include blank pages (with or without text though) to aid formatting when Printing to PDF.

We already seen how we can cheat with ID Plates to create borders. I'd like to see this function extended specifically to a Borders Pane, again selectable on a per image basis. IE each cell can be sized as you wished with it's own custom border.

These features would be great for Wedding Photographers doing digital albums, Photographers self publishing through sites such as lulu.com and a host of other related media. It also would be a means of creating specialised portfolios quickly as a as photographer demands them.
The mixed media of test and photos means people could also do photo instruction through the medium, all without leaving Lightroom.

Hopefully this will make sense to people. While I'm asking a lot, even some of the features with a shortfall would still be good. Aim for the stars...