It’s been a few years since I’ve updated this website, so please bare with me.
My goal is to add and update content and technical aspects under the hood.
For a quick example, the last time I really ‘touched’ the site, Blocks were not a Content editing preference, and now it either: 1) Go back and correct my past unknow errors, or continue forth; 2) What should I blog about?
Almost seems the Blog has gone the way of the dodo bird?
I hope you will return and see what I have added.
Yes, I am a Logophile.
“A lover of Words”…
Why not? – They area all around us, every day…
Spoken, written, implied…
So many of them…
Some are able spell these various words, without thinking twice, but for some of us, the older generation, remember being forced to look words up in a physical dictionary.
Being dyslexic, some form of dictionary lay by my side when ever I was writing something.
Yes, I would find the word in question, without issue, because of the alphabetization of all those words, but every now a then, my eye would wander, and I would be caught up in just browsing…
Flipping the page, eyes running down the columns searching for something to stand out…
Never know what it was, until it was “found”…
A new knowledge nugget implanted into the neurons…
Only to start again!
Anyhow, during my morning newsfeed/wall reading, I came across “Letter of Recommendation: The Oxford English Dictionary” by Maria Bustillos of the New York Times Magazine, in which she expresses her ‘hidden’ desire to find the words within words, or Etymology.
Another cord was struck.
Having a degree in Physics, generally forces one to learn many ‘roots’ for various words, or studies.
No problem there, especially with my dictionary by my side.
My dictionaries also provided security.
During my early days on the internet, I used the words on the spines of my dictionaries, as Passwords…
I never had to write them down, but they were always available.
My favorite, zymurgy.
Over the past couple of years, I have really begun to start listening to more books, then actually ‘reading’, and for me, it has opened a whole new world! (60+ books in 3 years)
But I still, every now and then, have to return to my trusty Dictionary!
One of my favorites, especially as it pertains to this post, “The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary” by Simon Winchester.
In this book, the author introduces us to the complexity of creating the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and one is left with nothing by amazement that such at task could have been done!
So as you go about your day, and use your words…
Remember to choose your words carefully…
They have been around since then early days of humanity, and may carry ideas that you are not aware of…
So have some fun and just look it up!
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During my early days in boarding school, it was not uncommon that near the end of the term, our clothing would start to get a little ragged.
It was also not uncommon to see duct tape used in some very creative fashions.
Since that time, I have seen duct tape used in everything from patching a wound to making a sailboat.
But I returned to the humble beginnings of how duct tape is best known, with this visual example –
Just another exciting example of what one can do with duct tape!
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I’ve been using Adobe Lightroom ever since it first came out, and during that time, I have always used Keywords for my images (40,000+). Lately, however, I have revisited my ‘home made’ Keyword List, and have stumbled onto a whole sub-topic within Lightroom that I wish I had found MUCH earlier!!
Here is one of the best tutorials on the subjects, which I found on lightroomqueen.com –
Why Keyword A Stock Photograph?
It is not that technical or difficult, but the challenge is how deep you want to get into keywords.
What got me revisiting my Keyword List was a need to publish more stock photography, which requires keywords, and the more the better!
What is also kind of fun, along with frustrating, are the words and the various synonyms! As you go through the List, you realize that a given Word can have so many meanings or spellings, especially in English!
As mentioned earlier, I have been using the Keywords since I started, so essentially it was just a straight alphabetized list of words, without any organization.
After finding the Lightroom Keyword List Project website, which is Open Source and Free, I downloaded the Foundation List (ver 1.0.1), and Imported it into Lightroom.
Stupid me…
After using computers for 30+ years…
I never Exported my ‘homemade’ List as a Backup BEFORE I started.
Oops…
So I have the GIGANTIC list of Words, some of which are organized, but most not…
I should have organized my ‘homemade’ Key Word List first, and then Imported the Foundation List.
At the moment, I have spent SEVERAL hours, going through my new Keyword List, and reorganizing it into a hybrid.
Again, I wish I had started this from the beginning!
That being said, here are some things learned, so far…
Even though the Keyword list itself is nothing more than an ASCII text file, having a Word on a single line does NOT mean it (the Word) will be Counted correctly in Lightroom.
Each Keyword is supposed to be on a Single Line, but there is a big difference between a Word and a [Tab space] BEFORE the Word!
This gets into the heart of Categories, which is covered very well on photo-keywords.com in their Tutorial.
It does make sense, when you think about it, and thankfully Lightroom gives you a much easier way to move Keywords into the Categories.
Yes, you could do the SAME thing in the Text file, BUT if you are unsure of the meaning of the Word, you can not “see” that, but in Lightroom, you can call-up the images, and “see” the Keyword’s meaning, and Edit from there.
As you edit your keyword list, you will find ‘bad’ words, for what- ever reason, and here is a get chance to clean-up the list!
At some point, do open up your “working” version of your Keyword list in a Text Editor, and run a Spell Checker on the List.
While moving Keywords around, I began to notice Lightroom becoming sluggish, and after several large Keyword ‘moves’, I realized Lightroom is re-writing meta-tag data back into the various files!
Needless to say, you are going to want to do these operations across fast hard drives, and if possible, have your main collection of images on a separate disk(s) from where Lightroom is installed, so there will be less of a bottle-neck in processing the keyword “move” requests.
Also, remember to back-up and Optimize your Lightroom catalog!
You will also want to back-up your original images too, since these keyword changes are also re-written into the various files: xmp, tiff, psd, psb, jpg, etc.
If you are starting Fresh, download one of the various Keyword Lists that are available.
I started at Victoria Bampton’s (Lightroomqueen.com) – Keyword Lists / Controlled Vocabularies, and looked at each list, and then stared with Lightroom Keyword List Project – Foundation List.
If you are starting with an existing list, be prepared to spend some time on this project, but it will be worth it!
In just reorganizing my list, I have noticed numerous other Keywords that could easily describe a given image, which can only help during my workflow in publishing to the stock photography market!
As mentioned several times, I wish I had started this sooner!
I hope that you have picked up some new ideas with this post, and feel free to comment or ask questions!
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