simple keywording

[kenfrazer]

I have having some trouble understanding where to enter some info about my photos in metadata. I am primariy portrait/wedding so I simply want to keyword whether it was studio, location shoot, category (child, family etc.) and the client name and would like to do it in Bridge after I have sorted the images for viewing. I understand that the first two categories are best put in keywords but should I enter the clients name in keywords as well? I would like to do this correctly the first time so that is why I am bothering you with such a simple question.

[peterkrogh]

Kfrazer (name , please),
The IPTC and XMP fields generally have specific intended uses that should be respected, so your instinct is good about wanting to put things in the right place.

For a portrait studio, where the client is likely the subject, then the answer is really easy - the name should be part of the keywords.

It gets a little complicated - fi you want to be totally anal about it - in a commercial situation where the subject and the client are not the same, and the client name really is not exactly a keyword for the image, in a universal sense.

That said, I definitely do put my client names in Keywords because there is no other more appropriate place to enter the information. Most of my keywording is for internal use anyway, and this is extremely valuable information when I am trying to make the images discoverable in a search of my collection.

In essence, the keywords field is a catch-all field for lots of different information that you want to make portable to the file.  Hopefully, we will get more specific fields in the future for ancillary information and usage-based information.  For now, the important thing is to tag the images with the handful of terms that will make them discoverable to you inthe future.

Peter