Adding stars to show change progression
Somewhat surprisingly, clients often ask if I still have the images from a past photo session. I'm not sure if this idea is a holdover from the past when everything was physical (film, prints), but as a photographer, all my images are my assets, and I do everything possible to preserve and archive those assets.
Sure, needs are different for professional and casual shooters. My library is somewhat large at roughly 150,000 images, but not as large as some. As a professional, it is not uncommon to have to retrieve photos from months, or even years ago. It may be for the same client, or it may be to find a photo that will fit my current need. Either way, the ability to find a particular photo, and find it quickly, is a necessity.
Organizational skills and preferences can vary, so it makes sense to figure out a system that works for you, and that is convenient enough for you to actually use. I'm going to outline some ideas about how I manage my library, but your methods may be different. Any system has plusses and minuses, it just has to work for you.
There are a number of applications capable of handling this task. I use Adobe Lightroom, for a number of reasons, but there are other options. Lightroom is not only a photo processing application, it's also a powerful database application. It has a number of different ways you can organize, label, tag, and group photos. Initially the options may be a bit overwhelming. Adobe has provided options that at first glance may seem to all do the same thing. I think the intention is to accommodate different ways of thinking. That's great, but I think you should learn what each tool is capable of, and then use the tools in a way that makes sense to you in your own workflow.
That may sound a little confusing, so I'm going to walk through my workflow, and then explain some of the thought process behind it. I should also note that it took some time for my system to develop, and it continues to evolve as time goes by, my needs change, and new situations arise.
We are conditioned to put a judgement on our photos. Lightroom has a number of ways to assign this judgement. Which you use, and how you use it will set the parameters and limits of your system. Lightroom has 2 kinds of assignments. They are designed as subjective or objective. That means that in a subjective system, you must rank the photos against some standard. This can introduce problems, unless you spend time specifically defining what that standard is, and never change it.
You can certainly use the "I like this one better" method, but your system will quickly become useless if you only have the "like" and "not like" categories. Context can play a big part here, and will vary. Rather than set up a ranking system, my process uses the various tools in Lightroom to move photos through a series of steps, and mark their progress. At each step, fewer and fewer photos advance. I've found that a ranking system can introduce emotional decisions into the process, which leads to confusion, second guessing, and inconsistency. My process will allow for the selection of "favorites", but it is not the basis of the system.
At the time of uploading photos to my library, I add some keywords to the set. Lightroom can add these keywords during import, so you only have to enter them once, into the import window, and they will be added to all the photos in the import. These keywords start with a category, for example, "architecture", "headshot", "product", "landscape" or "sports". I then may add more specific keywords, such as the location, client, or some contents of the image. Then I import. If individual photos would benefit from more keywords, I add them after import. I don't find a need for this that often, since I upload after each session, and the photos are generally of 1 subject. This few minutes of thought and keywording at import time pays immense dividends down the road when I need to find an image made 5 years previously.
Entering keywords on import is very powerful
The first step after import is to use Lightroom's Smart Collection feature. This feature is very powerful, as it allows you to set up complex search criteria and save it as a collection. If keywords are set up strategically, this feature has unlimited power. I generally use the capture date as my first criteria. If all images are captured on the same day, a single date is used, but it is also possible to set a date range if shooting occurred on multiple days. This process cleans up everything, as now I'm only looking at the images from a single session.
It's time to make the first judgement pass. I quickly go through the images, and using the number "9" on the keyboard, mark any image that is worth an additional look and basic processing. The "9" key adds a blue color label to the photo. Lightroom has the option to add 1 of 5 colors as a label to the image. I intentionally avoid red and green in this process. Blue is a neutral color, without any "stop" or "go" connotations.
Setting a blue label on images worth a second look
I think one of the biggest hurdles with any system is perceived definition. It seems obvious, 5 stars is better than 1 star, or green (go) is better than red (stop). But I think that puts a limitation on the system. The psychology of that system gets in the way.
The star system is a ranking system. So as the photographer, you must make judgements about which photos are better than others. I'm not suggesting this is wrong. Making these judgements is necessary. But it's more complicated than that. As time passes and you create more photos, this system becomes cumbersome. What if you like a new image better than a previous image with the highest ranking? What if your feelings about a photo change? You may find yourself in a situation where a photo is better suited to the current context. For these reasons, I don't use the star system as a rank, but rather as a kind of progress meter.
Above I said that the first pass is the blue label. This is my decision as to which images meet a minimum standard in the current context. Any image must have this level in order to be shown to any client. I don't delete the others as they may work in a different context. There are obvious deficient images as well; I missed focus, the flash didn't go off, forgot to take the lens cap off (it happens…). These images will never be anything but bits on a hard drive, so they can be deleted.
At this point, blue label images do not have any stars. The client is shown these images to make their choices. If a client chooses an image, it is marked 1 star. As I complete editing and retouching, each version gets an additional star. This system means the stars only have meaning within a specific job or project, not over my library as a whole.
Stars mark the work progress on an image
Finally, as you can see in the above image, I do use the Flag feature of Lightroom for the more subjective selections. There are many instances where I like images the client has chosen not to purchase. I may use these images for marketing purposes, hang prints in my studio, or sell in other channels. In this case above, I flagged all the client images, as well as some not shown in this screen grab.
There are many nuances to how an organizational system works, so you must find a path that works for you. I even have slight variations depending on the specific job or project. Individual workflows differ, and your process will evolve with your style and the size of your library. No matter your plan, start as soon as you can, as the job gets more daunting the longer you wait.
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