Tags

[Freda]

Hi, I joined recently and one thing I promised is I'd ask really simple questions cause I was not understanding everything I read in my "How To" books.

Here goes:
I am currently using Elements 4 which I bought quite a while ago. I've decided to learn on that.

I understand when they describe Categories and Sub-categories, that's fairly simple. However, what is the use for Tags?. Is it simply a lower level of Sub-category or something else?

At this point, I'm doing Sub-Categories of Sub-categories to organize everything. How will Tags make my life easier?

Thanks for your help.

[Karin Sue]

Check out www.photofanatic.com and read the book excerpt on tags.

[Freda]

Thanks Karin.

I'll read the information and use it to the best of my ability.

I knew I came to the right place to learn.

Freda

[dj_paige]

Tags are like Keywords for magazine articles.

You know the magazine is in the category of Travel Magazines, you might also know it is in the subcategory of Amusement Parks, and the keyword (or tag) is Cedar Point.

For photos, it could be very similar. Category: Vacations. Sub-category: Amusement Parks. Tag: Cedar Point. If you don't have the tag, and you only have the category and subcategory, you can't easily get to the Cedar Point photos, they are mixed in with all of your amusement park photos. If you have the tag, one click brings up your Cedar Point photos.

[Freda]

Tags are like Keywords for magazine articles.

You know the magazine is in the category of Travel Magazines, you might also know it is in the subcategory of Amusement Parks, and the keyword (or tag) is Cedar Point.

For photos, it could be very similar. Category: Vacations. Sub-category: Amusement Parks. Tag: Cedar Point. If you don't have the tag, and you only have the category and subcategory, you can't easily get to the Cedar Point photos, they are mixed in with all of your amusement park photos. If you have the tag, one click brings up your Cedar Point photos.
Hi Paige,

I guess I find keywords don't always work for me.

What I don't get is why does it have to stop at Cedar Point. I might go further and also Tag roller coasters.

I understand hierarchies and I have been using Categories and Sub-categories then Sub-categories of Sub-categories. For example, I just go back from a trip and under the Category "Places", I have the Sub-category Travel, then the Sub-category Europe, then the Sub-categories each city I visited.

I'm trying to understand the thinking behind the words and the Element forms. Am I being too picky or am I still missing something?

Freda

[dj_paige]

I consider categories and subcategories to be groupings of things. I consider tags to be items that won't be split further.

So, for example: Category is People, sub-category is Family, Tag is Jennifer.
For example: Category is Vacation, sub-category is Amusement Parks, tag is Cedar Point (and another tag under Amusement Parks is Canada's Wonderland).

But the choice of what constitutes the lowest level of the hierarchy, in this case tags, is yours. If you want to split Cedar Point into Roller Coasters and Water Park, go right ahead, they are your tags not mine. In that case, you can have a 2nd sub-category named Cedar Point and two tags under Cedar Point.

You need to think about how you are going to use tags to help you find your photos. Your tags should be sensible and meaningful to you. And its perfectly okay to change your decisions and make different tags and subcategories at a later time if you feel you have a better organization in mind.

In my case, when I want to find a picture of Jennifer having fun at Cedar Point, I click on Jennifer, I click on Cedar Point and I've got those photos. I don't feel like I have so many photos that I need to split them up further. In your case you might want to have the 2nd sub-category as Cedar Point and tags Water Park and Roller Coasters, so you can find just those pics of Jennifer on the Roller Coasters. As I said, you set up the tags so that they make sense to you.

The other reason to use tags is that if you ever want to have your photos viewed outside of PSE, you can write Tags to the files (but not categories or subcategories). If you send the photos to someone else, or upload to Flickr, (and you written the tags to the files), then everyone else can see and use your tags as well.

[Freda]

I consider categories and subcategories to be groupings of things. I consider tags to be items that won't be split further.

So, for example: Category is People, sub-category is Family, Tag is Jennifer.
For example: Category is Vacation, sub-category is Amusement Parks, tag is Cedar Point (and another tag under Amusement Parks is Canada's Wonderland).

But the choice of what constitutes the lowest level of the hierarchy, in this case tags, is yours. If you want to split Cedar Point into Roller Coasters and Water Park, go right ahead, they are your tags not mine. In that case, you can have a 2nd sub-category named Cedar Point and two tags under Cedar Point.

You need to think about how you are going to use tags to help you find your photos. Your tags should be sensible and meaningful to you. And its perfectly okay to change your decisions and make different tags and subcategories at a later time if you feel you have a better organization in mind.

In my case, when I want to find a picture of Jennifer having fun at Cedar Point, I click on Jennifer, I click on Cedar Point and I've got those photos. I don't feel like I have so many photos that I need to split them up further. In your case you might want to have the 2nd sub-category as Cedar Point and tags Water Park and Roller Coasters, so you can find just those pics of Jennifer on the Roller Coasters. As I said, you set up the tags so that they make sense to you.

The other reason to use tags is that if you ever want to have your photos viewed outside of PSE, you can write Tags to the files (but not categories or subcategories). If you send the photos to someone else, or upload to Flickr, (and you written the tags to the files), then everyone else can see and use your tags as well.




I see, now I understand. Thanks a lot.

Freda

[Karin Sue]

Freda,

Something to remember is that only the end tag is written to the file when you do the file>Write tags to files.

So

People>Family>John
People>Friends>SmithFamily>John
People>Friends>JonesFamily>John
Photographer>John

will all end up with the keyword John. It is a good idea to make your end tags unique and specific. Use JohnDoe, JohnSmith, JohnJones, and JohnPhoto or JohnDoePhoto.

[GaryK]

Hmmm.. Maybe I am missing something.

I always thought you could have as many tags as you like for a photo (likely some limit.. but nothing I would hit)

So you could tag a photo of Aunt Mary and Uncle John at Cedar Point, with a tag for each. After that you could use any of those terms to find your photo again.

I will qualify this with the fact that I rarely use the organizer and haven't really played with it for a while, so I may we waaaaay out to lunch on this.:confused::confused: