Cataloging with Photo Supreme

Keywording and Catalog Labels

What is keywording and what are Catalog Labels?

Keywording involves enhancing images with descriptive "tags" that identify the image's content. Think of it like attaching Post-It notes to your images. For example, you might add tags for the people in the image (like Simon and John), objects (such as Car and Tree), landmarks (Statue of Liberty), locations (New York), styles (Macro), emotions (Happy), and more. The extent of keywording depends on your needs: the more tags you add, the more effort it requires, but it also makes it easier to accurately identify and find your images. In Photo Supreme, this process is done through Catalog Labels, which serve as “tags” to describe the images.

How do Catalog Labels differ from keywords? Keywords are stored as part of the image's metadata and consist of a flat list of strings. Managing a large list of hundreds or thousands of keywords can be overwhelming. To solve this, Photo Supreme introduces Catalog Labels, which are database tags that can be organized hierarchically and enhanced with additional features. Essentially, Catalog Labels are like advanced keywords. While Catalog Labels are written as keywords by default, they can also be configured to exist solely within the database.

Catalog Labels offer more flexibility than keywords because they can be made "intelligent". For instance, you can configure a label to automatically assign higher-level labels. If you assign the label "Statue of Liberty," the system can also automatically tag it with broader labels like "Statues" and "Artwork." This ensures consistency in your catalog without extra effort.

Catalog Labels can also apply specific metadata when assigned. For example, you can create Catalog Labels for each photographer you work with, and these labels can automatically add that photographer’s contact details to the image’s metadata. If the contact information changes, you only need to update the Catalog Label once, and it will update the metadata for all relevant images.

While organizing images with Catalog Labels in Photo Supreme is useful, you don't want to rely solely on the software for your data. That’s why Photo Supreme allows you to write the catalog information back into the image's metadata. This ensures that the data travels with the file, giving you more flexibility and independence. All Catalog Labels assigned to an image can be embedded in the file itself, maximizing interoperability and ensuring your catalog data remains portable.

Creating Catalog Labels

This document cannot prescribe how you should build your catalog or what the most appropriate catalog labels are for your images. The key to creating a strong Catalog Structure is to design one that fits your specific needs or field of work. The best way to do this is by determining the criteria you’ll use to search for your images.

As mentioned earlier, Catalog Labels can be organized hierarchically. Each label can be broken down into sub-labels, and those sub-labels can have their own sub-labels, creating multiple layers if necessary. However, it’s important to note that such detailed breakdowns aren’t required. The entire system of hierarchical Catalog Labels is referred to as the Catalog Label Structure, or simply the Catalog Structure.

Before setting up your own Catalog Structure, here's a tip: start with a minimal number of Catalog Labels and let your collection grow as needed. Create new labels only when they become necessary. You can always reorganize labels later, moving them into different categories or merging duplicates that represent the same concept.

To build your catalog structure, go to the "Categories" section in the Catalog. You can access it by clicking on it in the Catalog Bar.

Upon initial installation, the application includes some pre-created Categories and Labels. A Category serves as the top-level container for your catalog labels. You can define as many Categories as you need or rename the existing ones. However, keep in mind that certain Categories have specific functions within the software. If you choose to rename these, be aware that the software will still use them for their original purpose.

For example, the Category "Places" is designed to store geographical information. Renaming it to something like "People" wouldn’t make sense, as the labels within that Category would still be written to the geographical metadata fields of your images.

Categories with special functions include:

To create your first Catalog Label:

Select the appropriate category (e.g., Events).

Press [Insert] or right-click on the Category and choose "Add Item".

Enter the details (for 90% of Catalog Labels, just a name is sufficient).

Save your new Catalog Label by clicking the "Apply" button.

To create a sub-level under an existing Catalog Label:

Select the label.

Press [Insert] or right-click on the Category and choose "Add Item".

Enter the details (usually, just a name is enough).

Save your new sub-Catalog Label by clicking the "Apply" button.

Once again, begin with a small number of Catalog Labels and allow your structure to expand gradually as needed.

TIP: use the Tips System from the help (?) icon for an explanation about the individual fields

Assigning Catalog Labels

Now that you have established a Catalog Structure, or at least a portion of it, you can begin assigning these Catalog Labels to your images. This is done in the Label Assignment Panel, which can be accessed by clicking the Labels button in the Command Bar located below the thumbnails.

Sections in the Label Assignment Panel

The Label Assignment Panel is divided into sections. The top section shows the catalog labels assigned to the currently selected set of images (thumbnails).

Assigning Catalog Labels

The Label Assignment panel operates based on the current selection, meaning it displays, assigns, and removes Catalog Labels for the thumbnails currently selected in the Collection Viewer. For images that already have assigned Catalog Labels, the labels assigned to all selected images will appear in blue (in Dark Theme). Labels assigned to only some images in the selection will be shown in orange (in Dark Theme). By clicking an orange box, you can assign that label to all selected images, which will then change to blue. Clicking the label again will change it from blue to gray, unassigning it from all images.

The color-coded triangle in the upper left corner of a label in the Label Assignment Panel indicates the category to which the label belongs. You can modify the color for a category by editing its details in the Catalog Tree (right-click -> Edit Category). The background color you set there will be used as the triangle color.

TIP: When you click an orange box, it will turn blue (in Dark Theme). However, by holding down the Ctrl key (or the Cmd key for macOS users), you can instantly change the box to gray, which means it will be unassigned from all selected images.

Assigning a new label is easy: just type the Catalog Label name in the search field of the Label Assignment Panel and select the appropriate label from the drop-down list. If no matching label is found, you can create a new label on the spot.

TIP: You can check your cataloging workload by opening the States section (click on States in the top Catalog Bar). From there, select the "Not Catalog Labeled" state.

Working with Label Sets

Label Sets are collections of catalog labels. You usually create a label set when you frequently use a specific group of catalog labels, or to combine labels that you often assign together.

To create a new Label Set, open the Label Assignment Panel by clicking the “Labels” button from the Command Bar below the thumbnails. At the bottom of the Label Assignment Panel, you'll see a hyperlink labeled “New Label Set”. Click on that.

You will then be prompted to name the label set. Choose a name that appropriately represents the group of labels you plan to combine in the set.

This will show the new, empty label set in the panel. There are several ways to add a catalog label to the set.

1. Drag and drop a label in the Label Assignment Panel to the Label Set.

2. Use the menu of a label box in the Label Assignment Panel

When one or more thumbnails are selected, you can assign or revoke labels from the label set. This is done in the same way as any other box in the Label Assignment Panel: simply click the box. To assign the entire label set (meaning all the labels included in the label set), click the menu icon in the title bar of the label set and select “Assign this full Label Set”.

This is also where you can delete a label set, rename it, or revoke all the catalog labels within the label set.

Labeling with Google Vision AI

You can utilize the Artificial Intelligence features of Google Vision to automatically receive suggested Catalog Labels for your images, giving you a significant head start. Ensure that your Google API key is entered in the Preferences (under Other) and configured to allow Google Vision. Additionally, if you have set Photo Supreme to use a non-English language for the Google API, you will also need to add the Cloud Translation API to your Google API configuration. For instructions on setting up your Google API, please refer to the Photo Supreme Quick Manual on that topic.

Photo Supreme caches results from Google Vision and, when applicable, Google Translate, to minimize unnecessary calls to your Google API. In the Label Assignment Panel, you will find the GOOGLE VISION AI LABELS section. By default, this section will be empty for images that have not previously had Google Vision called on them.

Click the “Google Vision AI Label Detection” button to make a call to Google Vision. Based on the content of the image, Google Vision will provide suggested catalog labels.

If Google Vision returns a suggested catalog label that already exists in the Catalog Structure, it will be automatically assigned. In the example above, this is represented by the Car and Porsche catalog labels.

By clicking on a proposed Catalog Label, you can assign it to your image. The suggested Catalog Labels are also created in the Catalog Structure under a top-level category called AI Labels.

As your Catalog Structure expands, it's advisable to relocate the suggested AI Labels to their appropriate positions within your own structure. For example, you can drag the Automotive Tire catalog label to the Objects category. After this adjustment, when Google Vision suggests the Automotive Tire catalog label, it will be automatically assigned, as it is now a confirmed Catalog Label in your catalog.

Keywords and Hierarchical Keywords in Metadata

As mentioned earlier in this document, catalog labels can be recorded as metadata keywords when you synchronize the catalog information with the file. In the Preferences, you can adjust the synchronization settings. The default configuration is designed to be safe, so you will likely not need to change it often.

Please be aware of an important feature in the Write settings. In the Write Settings, you can choose whether to save catalog labels as "hierarchical keywords" and/or as delimited keywords.

Here's an example to clarify this concept.

Let's say you have an image labeled with a catalog label defined in the Catalog Structure as: Nature → Trees → Oak.

When this image is synchronized, the assigned catalog label "Oak" will be saved as a keyword. Consequently, you will receive the keyword "Oak". However, if hierarchical keywords are not included, the information about the parent categories will not be stored with the image.

Below is a table illustrating how keywords are written based on the settings for hierarchical and delimited keywords.

This illustrates that using delimited keywords is unnecessary. Additionally, one downside of delimited keywords is that metadata standards, particularly for the dc:subject field, are designed for "single leaf" keywords, meaning each keyword should stand alone. When using delimited keywords, some third-party tools may interpret the keyword differently than intended, as they won't expect hierarchical information in the standard dc:subject field.

As a result, delimited keywords are considered "DEPRECATED." This option should only be used if absolutely necessary, such as when working with outdated software, including some older Microsoft Photo tools that utilize delimited keywords.

It is highly recommended to adopt the current pseudo-industry standard for hierarchical keywords, often referred to as "hierarchical keywords" (sometimes called Lightroom keywords, although this has no connection to Adobe Lightroom software). Utilizing hierarchical keywords ensures maximum interoperability with other metadata products.