iphoto: keyword vs. description vs title??

[alainr]

i am a new mac user. what is the difference between a keyword and description? title?

for example, a vacation to canada in 2009. if i put : canada vacation 2008 in the descriptions plus the city name--what is the difference if i use keywords or description?
can't i search for words in either the title/description or keyword?

what wld appear if i make a slide show? nothing appears if i print the photo--right?

i am trying to organize and think i will use iphoto vs bridge in elements. when i want to do layers in elements, do you export to elements or drag onto the desktop and then into elements?
thanks!

 

[ChrisA]

i am a new mac user. what is the difference between a keyword and description? title?

You get to decide this. SOme advice though is not to have to many keywords. I use keywords to describe th genre of photography. with keywords like Cityscape, family, landscape, travel, underwater and the type of subject. I try to keep the list short but do add more and more over time.

I use decription to enter things like the subject's name or the species of the marine animal or the city or place.

Titles in my system are just that: Text that goes under the image if ever itt is published.

i am trying to organize and think i will use iphoto vs bridge in elements. when i want to do layers in elements, do you export to elements or drag onto the desktop and then into elements?
thanks!

Neither. In iPhoto's preferences panel make Elements your "default editor". Then you don't have to export the file. Just double click from within iPhoto and it comes up inside Elements. Edit then "save" and it's back inside iPhoto. If you drag it to the desktop, edit then reimport you loose the connection to the original image file. Photo will see it as two un-related images.

 

[147798]

i am a new mac user. what is the difference between a keyword and description? title?

for example, a vacation to canada in 2009. if i put : canada vacation 2008 in the descriptions plus the city name--what is the difference if i use keywords or description?
can't i search for words in either the title/description or keyword?

i am trying to organize and think i will use iphoto vs bridge in elements. when i want to do layers in elements, do you export to elements or drag onto the desktop and then into elements?
thanks!

***WARNING***LONG REPLY***

KEYWORDS vs. DESCRIPTIONS
I think the biggest diff between title and keywords is spelling. With keywords, it's always spelled the same way. Also, later you can easily change the tags on a block of pictures, whereas with descriptions you have to do it one by one.

It's easy to use key words. Hit apple-K to bring up the key word menu. Hit "+" to add a new keyword. iPhoto will let you type in the new keyword, and then it will try to auto-assign a single-letter hotkey to that new keyword. You can also double click on the right-hand side column to assign/re-assign or delete the hot key.

Let's say you have a dog, and you want to tag all the picks of the dog with your pets name "rover" You can add a key word rover, and assign a hot key of "r" Then, when you load up new pics of Rover, you hit apple-k to get the hotkey menu, and then select all the dog shots and hit the "r" key, and now everything is tagged with rover!

Now, let's say Rover tragically passes away after having him for only six months. In the meantime, you have also gotten a cat and two goldfish. You've decided you want everything with animals to be tagged generically "pets" so you want to change all the "rover" tagged shots to "pets"

Do a search for "rover" and all your tagged photos come up. Open up the keyword menu, add a new keyword called "pets" with a hotkey of "p" With all your Rover photos (which you just searched on) selected, hit "p" which adds the "pet" tag to the picture and then hit "r" which deletes the "rover" tag, then delete the rover keyword and you've just switch 40 pictures (or how many ever) to a new keyword with just a couple of clicks. Plus you are sure every picture is tagged with "pets" instead of some with "ptes" or other typos, so you can find them again in the future.

Hope that helps! I use descriptions for uploading to web sites and for my favorite photos (e.g. Grammy visits the kids!) but keywords for organizing and retrieving photos.

SLIDE SHOWS
On your other questions -- I don't do slide shows, so I can't answer that.

BRIDGE
Bridge sux (imo).

EDITING
As ChrisA said, to edit in iPhoto, you can set up Elements to be your external editor so you don't have to drag pics to/from elements.

Here's how I have mine set up: for basic developing (levels, saturation, red-eye removal etc.) I use iPhoto, and have set it to do "full screen editing" which is really cool. For anything more advanced, I use elements as the external editor.

Here's some detail on how to set this up: go to iPhoto preferences (preferences menu choice under iPhoto on the menu bar) and when preferences shows up, you'll see "edit photo" (which most likely defaults to "main window") Click that drop down menu, and you'll see a choice called "in application" Choose that and select elements. Also, in the preferences, I recommend setting "double click" to "edit photo" instead of the deault "show full screen".

Now, iPhoto will drop your picture into Elements EVERY TIME YOU CHOOSE TO EDIT. Close the dialogue box and edit a photo, and you see it opens in Elements. Now, go back into preferences, back to "edit photo" and choose "full screen" instead of "in application" (you can also choose "main window" or "separate window" if you prefer those).

NOW, when you want to edit a photo, you double-click and it will open the iPhoto editing options. But, you can also RIGHT-CLICK the photo, and choose "edit in external editor" and iPhoto remembers your preference for Elements.

Now you have the best of both worlds -- quick and simple edits (actually they are more developing tools than editing tools) in iPhoto, or right-click to drop automatically into elements.

Hope that helps.

 

[photoshopbymark]

PS back to iPhoto

OK, this last post was VERY helpful. Thanks so much!

One problem. When I 1st did this the other night I was able to save from PS and it went back. Now I can't seem to do save back to iPhoto from PS. I've tried just about everything and at my wits end. I'm sure I could go into the "show contents" and manually drag it into iPhoto, but surely there is a better way.

 

[Macmonter]

OK, this last post was VERY helpful. Thanks so much!

One problem. When I 1st did this the other night I was able to save from PS and it went back. Now I can't seem to do save back to iPhoto from PS. I've tried just about everything and at my wits end. I'm sure I could go into the "show contents" and manually drag it into iPhoto, but surely there is a better way.

I'm interested in the solution to that problem, too! I can save an image in PS Elements to iPhoto only if the image came to PS Elements from iPhoto. If the image imported to Elements from Bridge, I can not save it to iPhoto. I resort to saving to the desktop and dragging it into iPhoto.

 

[147798]

I'm interested in the solution to that problem, too! I can save an image in PS Elements to iPhoto only if the image came to PS Elements from iPhoto. If the image imported to Elements from Bridge, I can not save it to iPhoto. I resort to saving to the desktop and dragging it into iPhoto.

Yes, as far as I know, you can only go iPhoto to PSE back to iPhoto. This preserves the link between the iPhoto and the rendered version from PSE. You cannot start in PSE and save it direct to iPhoto. You have to drag to the desktop, then import.

At least, as far as I have seen.

 

[photoshopbymark]

kind of figured it out

Well most ppl probably know this, but if you find a pic on iPhoto you like and you want to modify it in another program but keep the original file intact and have the modified one back in iPhoto once done;

1st duplicate it

then edit in "external editor"

once done modifying simply "save" it

my problem yesterday was trying to use "save as" thinking this would help me get it back into iPhoto

once you "save" it'll upload into iPhoto right next to the 1st, in the same event, with the same date etc..


As far as opening it originally outside iPhoto and trying to put it in from PS I also don't know.

 

[Cantello]

Well most ppl probably know this, but if you find a pic on iPhoto you like and you want to modify it in another program but keep the original file intact and have the modified one back in iPhoto once done;

I just tried your approach (set Pixelmator as application in iPhoto) and after saving the modified picture, only the new one appeared in iPhoto.

Did I maybe understood you wrong?

Picture in iPhote -> edit in external application -> save picture -> should appear as second picture in iPhoto, right?

Hmmm.... have to experiment some more.

 

[147798]

I just tried your approach (set Pixelmator as application in iPhoto) and after saving the modified picture, only the new one appeared in iPhoto.

Did I maybe understood you wrong?

Picture in iPhote -> edit in external application -> save picture -> should appear as second picture in iPhoto, right?

Hmmm.... have to experiment some more.

I have Pixelmator, and I believe that it reimports it, so look for it in a new event.

 

[ChrisA]

I just tried your approach (set Pixelmator as application in iPhoto) and after saving the modified picture, only the new one appeared in iPhoto.

Seems like yu have the answer....

If you want iPhoto to show you two verson of a photo then you must duplicate the photo in iPhoto.

 

[Cantello]

Seems like yu have the answer....

If you want iPhoto to show you two verson of a photo then you must duplicate the photo in iPhoto.

Ah, you are right, I missed the "1st duplicate in iPhoto"-part...

Works exactly as advertised!

 

[rouse2]

i am a new mac user. what is the difference between a keyword and description? title?

Some warnings...

you can apply keyword, title, description to a photo
you can apply title, description to an event

You can't search both photo info and event info. For example, say you create an event called "Canada 2008" and you tagged some photos in that event with the keyword "Family". Now search "Family Canada" and as soon as you type Canada all your family shots disappear. I wish they would fix this.

Also, as far as I know you can't exclude any of these fields from the search. Therefore, long descriptions at the event level can take over search results. Using above example, say you applied a description to your "Canada 2008" event that included all the cities you visited and that you visited family for a small part of the trip. This is great, now you can search for "Toronto" and find this event. However, you're keyword search for "Family" is screwed as it now returns every photo in your "Canada 2008" event even when many won't have family in them. Because of this, I don't use descriptions at either the photo or the event level.

With huge libraries, I think iPhoto needs a better search.

 

[Tomar]

***WARNING***LONG REPLY***

KEYWORDS vs. DESCRIPTIONS
I think the biggest diff between title and keywords is spelling. With keywords, it's always spelled the same way. Also, later you can easily change the tags on a block of pictures, whereas with descriptions you have to do it one by one.

It's easy to use key words. Hit apple-K to bring up the key word menu. Hit "+" to add a new keyword. iPhoto will let you type in the new keyword, and then it will try to auto-assign a single-letter hotkey to that new keyword. You can also double click on the right-hand side column to assign/re-assign or delete the hot key.

Let's say you have a dog, and you want to tag all the picks of the dog with your pets name "rover" You can add a key word rover, and assign a hot key of "r" Then, when you load up new pics of Rover, you hit apple-k to get the hotkey menu, and then select all the dog shots and hit the "r" key, and now everything is tagged with rover!

Now, let's say Rover tragically passes away after having him for only six months. In the meantime, you have also gotten a cat and two goldfish. You've decided you want everything with animals to be tagged generically "pets" so you want to change all the "rover" tagged shots to "pets"

Do a search for "rover" and all your tagged photos come up. Open up the keyword menu, add a new keyword called "pets" with a hotkey of "p" With all your Rover photos (which you just searched on) selected, hit "p" which adds the "pet" tag to the picture and then hit "r" which deletes the "rover" tag, then delete the rover keyword and you've just switch 40 pictures (or how many ever) to a new keyword with just a couple of clicks. Plus you are sure every picture is tagged with "pets" instead of some with "ptes" or other typos, so you can find them again in the future.

Hope that helps! I use descriptions for uploading to web sites and for my favorite photos (e.g. Grammy visits the kids!) but keywords for organizing and retrieving photos.

SLIDE SHOWS
On your other questions -- I don't do slide shows, so I can't answer that.

BRIDGE
Bridge sux (imo).

EDITING
As ChrisA said, to edit in iPhoto, you can set up Elements to be your external editor so you don't have to drag pics to/from elements.

Here's how I have mine set up: for basic developing (levels, saturation, red-eye removal etc.) I use iPhoto, and have set it to do "full screen editing" which is really cool. For anything more advanced, I use elements as the external editor.

Here's some detail on how to set this up: go to iPhoto preferences (preferences menu choice under iPhoto on the menu bar) and when preferences shows up, you'll see "edit photo" (which most likely defaults to "main window") Click that drop down menu, and you'll see a choice called "in application" Choose that and select elements. Also, in the preferences, I recommend setting "double click" to "edit photo" instead of the deault "show full screen".

Now, iPhoto will drop your picture into Elements EVERY TIME YOU CHOOSE TO EDIT. Close the dialogue box and edit a photo, and you see it opens in Elements. Now, go back into preferences, back to "edit photo" and choose "full screen" instead of "in application" (you can also choose "main window" or "separate window" if you prefer those).

NOW, when you want to edit a photo, you double-click and it will open the iPhoto editing options. But, you can also RIGHT-CLICK the photo, and choose "edit in external editor" and iPhoto remembers your preference for Elements.

Now you have the best of both worlds -- quick and simple edits (actually they are more developing tools than editing tools) in iPhoto, or right-click to drop automatically into elements.

Hope that helps.

This is an excellent tip! Thanks

 

[147798]

Happy to help. iPhoto is pretty fun and easy to use -- it just needs a basic instruction book with it!

 

[Tomar]

Agreed. Nevertheless I like it organization and interface much better than Bridge.

 

[masteroflondon]

Some warnings...

you can apply keyword, title, description to a photo
you can apply title, description to an event

You can't search both photo info and event info. For example, say you create an event called "Canada 2008" and you tagged some photos in that event with the keyword "Family". Now search "Family Canada" and as soon as you type Canada all your family shots disappear. I wish they would fix this.

Also, as far as I know you can't exclude any of these fields from the search. Therefore, long descriptions at the event level can take over search results. Using above example, say you applied a description to your "Canada 2008" event that included all the cities you visited and that you visited family for a small part of the trip. This is great, now you can search for "Toronto" and find this event. However, you're keyword search for "Family" is screwed as it now returns every photo in your "Canada 2008" event even when many won't have family in them. Because of this, I don't use descriptions at either the photo or the event level.

With huge libraries, I think iPhoto needs a better search.

You can do both of these by creating a Smart Album. Add the rules for Event and add the rules for keywords. Both can include and exclude.

 

[Tomar]

I have been enjoying the use of iPhoto to organize my pics but I have a concern. Is there a way to use layers while editing in Elements and still have those changes reflected in iPhoto?

 

[photoshopbymark]

yes Tomar

Well most ppl probably know this, but if you find a pic on iPhoto you like and you want to modify it in another program but keep the original file intact and have the modified one back in iPhoto once done;

1st duplicate it

then edit in "external editor"

once done modifying simply "save" it

my problem yesterday was trying to use "save as" thinking this would help me get it back into iPhoto

once you "save" it'll upload into iPhoto right next to the 1st, in the same event, with the same date etc..


As far as opening it originally outside iPhoto and trying to put it in from PS I also don't know.

Does that answer your question Tomar?
This is assuming you have elements set up to be your "default editor"

 

[Tomar]

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Not quite. I have PSE as my external editor but once you start using layers, you have to save the file as a .psd file. Since iPhoto only reads .jpgs I will not be able to see the changes. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

[photoshopbymark]

yep Tomar

yeah, if you save the PS only as a psd the changes won't show in iPhoto.

If however you save it as a jpeg, take anyway the "copy" it inserts and allow it to replace (of course you would have wanted to duplicate it 1st) then your PS project will show up in iPhoto with all layers and everything else you've done.

This is how I keep mine organized. That way I can sort through and see all my projects. I see the original plus a seperate file for each PS change. If it was a iPhoto change I did I typically won't duplicate it since you can always go back t the original. And if I see 2 common pics next to each other and one I could only have done in PS I just open up PS and then open up the psd file.
Its seems pretty smooth to me.