I'm curious how many of you back up your organizer catalogs in PSE? It takes up a lot of space on my external hard drive and I'm wondering how necessary it is? I back up everything on my computer every week and I save the metadata to the files within the catalogs so the tags should be attached to the files. Thoughts?
I do not back mine up because when I was going to,it was the same size as my stash! Ha. No. Don't have that kind of space. I need to write my tags to files though... I've not done that yet. :/
Although, it only saves to the jpg and tiff files, I believe. PNG files don't maintain those tags, from my understanding . If you tag a lot of PNG files, that may be something to consider
I didn't back it up when I used it. I wrote the tags to the metadata, and let it be. I didn't tag a ton of supplies though, just a kit preview if there was something specific that didn't search easy, like a viewfinder.
Ok-----you are all talking a language I don't understand!! What do you mean by "tagging"? How do you tag? And why do you tag? What are "Organizer Catalogues" in PSE??? Courtney, what do you mean by "writing tags to the metadata"? What's a "metadata" ? A computer, to me, is like a car. Turn the key on, push the gas peddle and go? I don't know anything about what makes the car run. But I am beginning to realize that I really DO need to learn a bit more about a computer, but last question---where in the world do you go to learn all this stuff!!!!
in the store here at the pad, you can search specific categories. Those categories are individually attached to each item when the designers load them to the store... so an element pack from the BYOC would be "tagged" with BYOC, element pack, type of element pack, designer... you can search for any of the BYOC packs in multiple ways in the store: searching for "BYOC", searching by type of element pack, searching by designer.... some even tag with theme, so you could find it by those themes. Tags can be any number of things... color, month, theme, type, etc. the same method is applied to our personal digi stash... you could use whichever "tags" you would find most helpful, in order to aid your search for your own supplies. Tagging is something that means "applying a key word to a specific item, in order to categorize them in different ways, or to group them into similar products/groups. " The method in which you tag is different for each person, and could be done with or without specific programs to do so. "Organizer catalogues" are the databases created by Photoshop Elements Organizer when it is used to tag files... "Lightroom Catalogues" would be the databases created by Adobe Lightroom. metadata is the information about a file, stored within the file info. PNG files (most elements) store very limited data, so writing metadata to those files is difficult... catalogue systems can retain that data in their databases, but not necessarily on the file itself. JPG files (most photos, and digital papers) can retain much more file info, and so can be tagged for finding later. You could tag all photos of one person with their name, so that later, you wouldn't have to sift through 800 photos for one person, you could click on the tag, and the computer or software would show you only those tagged with that person's name. the way that you tag would depend on your computer operating system and software, and preference. I have a windows computer, and I use Photoshop Elements... in my files on my computer, I can right click on almost any file type, select "properties", and then a pop up will show me everything about that file in one place... size, dimensions, file types, ratings if I wanted to use that, title, date the file was created, modified or accessed... who created the file, and tags or keywords. I do basic tagging in my computer before it even hits Photoshop Elements Organizer, just because it's habit... by basic tagging, I mean I tag previews with "justpreviews", papers with "justpapers", journal cards with "journalcards", and templates I tag with photo spots. any other tagging I do inside of PSE Organizer... and that tagging is by theme, color, collection, type (type of preview... template, element, paper, kit, mini, etc.).... this way, when I want to search for kits I have that are "wedding theme", I can see all previews for that theme, choose a kit I want to work with, and then open it in my EHD. This method is beneficial for those of us that have too much stash to remember what all we have. Lol. I have learned how to do this, and what it all is, by reading various scrapping blogs and sites, reading forums, etc. Lilypad blog might have some helpful information, but some of my other favorites are sites geared towards teaching digital scrapping... like Scrapaneers, Daily Digi, Digital Scrapbooking HQ... there are countless options! Hope this helps...
Ahhhh, yeah, right!!!! No, seriously, I really like what I hear about this "tagging" and really want to learn it. I go crazy trying to find stuff!!!! Will let you know how I am doing!!
It is best if you start with something easy, and use it going forward... slowly go backwards. You can easily get overwhelmed if you have a large stash. It is also highly recommended to think about how you scrap, and how you look for things, in order to come up with something that is easy for you to maintain, and work with. if you are always searching by color, tagging by color would make sense. if you are always searching for themes, that would make sense, etc. It is pretty universal, in my opinion, that for "basic tagging", people tend to stick to only tagging the previews of a kit - again, those are usually JPG files, can maintain that information within the file info itself, and you can tag with as many tags as you want. (I think... i've not tested tagging limits!). For the people who truly spend the time with it, they may tag each individual item and maintain that - but that's not a realistic goal for someone just starting out. If that's your end game, start slowly! Diane, here at the pad, does this method in ACDSee, which is another program specifically for this purpose - for windows users. She's posted throughout the forum about it... so you could search, or ask her, I'm sure! @dvhoward
OK, so I just purchased a kit. It is in "My Pictures" and I have opened everything up so when I open the folder with that kit in it I can see all the elements, papers, etc. NOW what do I do???? This is my problem. I don't even know where to begin to "tag". I am not grasping the concept of "tagging".
once you are there, think of what is in the kit you purchased that you'd be likely to search for later. Why did you buy it? specific theme? an element you wanted to use? the colors?
apply that thought - whatever the answer is to your question - in a word to the image. If it was color, type the color: blue If it was theme, type that... element? type that...
side note... when I open up the properties dialogue box, I have "tabs" - general, security, details, and previous versions... (tabs on a different program would be like "file" "Edit" "view" "Windows" etc. the top menu items...) my tags are located on the "details" tab of the properties dialogue box
@NancyP I just realized you are in lightroom... sorry I missed that earlier. go read Angie Key's blog!!! she did a 3 post series on how she organizes and tags in lightroom - though it is extensive for you as a beginner. (as a warning!)
Tagging: I think was answered really well above! I adore @Cath_ 's simple explanation using music. Metadata: Think of metadata like the old library card catalogues (or the computer version). When you wanted a book, you looked at the card. The card told you where the book was, who the author was, when it was published, a few keywords, and a usually a synopsis. The metadata tells you the same stuff about an image. Is that clear as mud? I hope not! How: I tag in Lightroom. It's a separate program from Photoshop, and really just manages photos. I know some people scrap in it, but that is not my cup of tea, I prefer to just keep photos and stuff in it. If you are using PSE, the PSE Organizer is similar to Lightroom. Lightroom just does a lot more than PSE Organizer. Why: I tag because it helps me out. For example, my photo library. I've been scheduling time in to tag in Lightroom. Because I have, I was able to create a smart collection (which means it automatically updates) in Lightroom of photos of just my son and husband. So, when I saw the new Daddy kit by Kristin, I went straight to that collection and within 1 minute found the photo I wanted to scrap and sent it to Photoshop. Now, I'm not done tagging, but I've been working forward as I add things, and also working forward from 2001 which is my first folder of digital images. So sometimes I know I have a photo, but can't find it easily because it's not tagged. It actually motivates me to keep going on my tagging! I also will write captions in the metadata, or a few sentences about the story so later I can pull it up and remember the details. I also will add keywords like playground, relationship, Christmas, and Maine. I try to keep it simple, and easy. My secondary reason for tagging: I want to pull photos from different time frames together when there's a story or connection there. For example, I have a few photos of my mom's trailer bathtub. Depending on the year, dictates who is the baby and who is the 'big kid'. I did a layout with my son as the baby, and as the big kid on one page. It's not a story I knew I had until I was looking at bathtime photos. Where I Learn: Here, there, everywhere! I used to listen to the Digi Show Podcast and I learned some things from that (episodes can still be found although the podcast is no longer in production). I learned by reading scrapbooking forums. I learn by checking out articles on the web, and books from the library. I learn by googling and youtubing when I think my program should do something, but it doesn't. I learn by asking questions. I love when Cheryl of Fiddle Dee Dee does a live scrap and chat because I learn a ton watching her, and the format allows me to ask questions. I heard that Kayla Lamoreaux had an amazing Lightroom class, that's no longer available. So I googled her and read and watched everything I could find that related to her and Lightroom. I found a video podcast she was on with some photographers and learned some cool things. So sorry for the book!
Oh my gosh, that is awesome! Thank you so much for all that wonderful info. Now you are all getting this old lady excited!!! I swore I would NEVER stop learning! That is what keeps me going! I am going to start playing around with tagging and see what I can come up with. WOW, just the thought that I could quickly lay my hands on a photo I want without having to go through 5000 photos is mind boggling!!!!
