I am looking how I can rate my photos for better organizing and searching. I am very curious how you use rating and labels for your photo's Maybe this information helps my to figure out what works best for me.
Great question, and I look forward to hearing what other users do.
Here’s my routine…
1) I’ll go through every photo giving it either a two-star, or nothing (or reject if it’s blatantly bad, i.e. out of focus)
2) I’ll go through two star photos and up-rate or down-rate or leave alone, now that I’ve seen them all.
3) If I have enough images at three-stars that I need for whatever it is I need, I’m done. If not, then I’ll repeat step 2, but starting with three-star images.
4) Five stars are reserved for super special photos
This method means that I can go to any project or album, filter by three-star or better (control-3), and know that I’m looking only at photo that I really like. If I need more or fewer for whatever I’m looking for, I’ll adjust the filter. If I still need more precision, I’ll give it another ratings pass, rating up or down or leaving alone.
Flagging is just for temporary use; a quick way to “tag” a photo for something immediate.
I rarely use labels, but usually when I do it’s to separate big blocks of photos, like from different photographers (second shooter on a job, for example)
1-star: Flagged for rejection. 2-star: A shot I want to keep, but isn’t all that great. Perhaps something I want to experiment with in terms of post-processing. Or an uninspiring photo for which I don’t have another good shot. Example: A child receives an award, the lighting is lousy, and I’m shooting through a crowd. It has sentimental value, but is otherwise uninspiring. 3-star: A good shot. Something I certainly want to perform Adjustments on. 4-star: Something I want to share. These are shots I post to the web and sync to my iPad to share with others. 5-star: A fantastic photo, something I want to print. Few photos get 5 stars.
And I’m with Joseph on rejecting photos that are blatantly bad - out of focus, subject is blinking, and so forth.
I also happen to use labels as a notation for where a given photo is within my workflow. And I keyword liberally. Keep in mind I’m a hobbyist, so like have less photos and more time on my hands than folks shooting day in and day out. :)
Thank you for all the helpfull great replies so far. I was thinking about the following rating for my organization:
1 star : marked for deletion 2 stars : keep the photo without adjustments 3 stars : keep the photo with adjustments 4 stars : good photo for sharing 5 stars : stock/production photo
I star These are for keepers that I need to work on in PS. I do a lot of shots where I combine layers. I then export those as 16bit files and combine them into one shot and rename it.
2 stars If I have a single image that is a hero and needs working it gets 2 stars
3 stars When I import back into aperture the Combined newly named images are then tagged 3 stars on import.
4 Stars are for my over all very best
5 Stars are for a temporary marking or I might use a color label
I really haven’t taken advantage of flags or labels except while editing with a client. rare!
After shooting a go trough al the photo, rejecting out of focus and blatantly bad, then every photo left get’s one star. Thereafter I go trough them and rate two stars, go trough the two stars and rate three stars etc. The stars basically mean the following.
1 star: Not a great photo but has some sort of emotional value; hidden from normal viewing 2 stars: Normally visible not terribly good 3 stars: Photo’s I’d like to share in a photo book, with my family or similar 4 stars: Good photo’s e.g. fort portfolio. 5 stars: National Geographic.
Flag are used as a temporary tag. Labels have some meanings as well:
green: No PP already performed yellow through red: increasing amount of PP needed grey: Convert to B&W blue: Order prints purple: placed in an Adobe InDesign Document (for which I created an Applescript so I can assign labels from within InDesign)
For me I try to keep my starring workflow really simple:
After I’ve uploaded my images to a new project - I go through and give photos a 1 star if I like them and think they are worth keeping as potential work images. Then I create a smart album for 1 star and above images inside of the project. This is where I work edits from.
I then go through a second time of all the 1 star images and give 3 stars to all of the ones I’m going to edit.
After doing edits I then go back through those and pick my favorites and give them 5 stars. These are ones I’m happy with and feel ok enough to share with people either online or through other mediums.
I use star ratings to rank images and color labels to assist grouping images in manual metadata searches … and a combination of the two to create Smart Albums/Smart Collections)
Stars -
0) No Star = Image is destined for deletion upon completion of the job .. image is of no marketable or sentimental value.
1) One Star = Image has redeemable value and will be kept. Image will receive preliminary basic processing (think batch sync of like images)
2) Two Stars = Image has significant market value and will be processed as either a client proof or open online event sales.
3) Three Stars = Image has been ordered by a client and has received whatever processing is necessary for the desired output.
4) Four Stars = Exceptional image that is a probable selection for publishing as part of current portfolio.
5) Five Star = Extremely exceptional image worthy of jaw-dropping response of the average viewer (these are VERY few in number and this rating is the rare exception as to maintain the worthiness of the rating)
Color Labels - (note that the colors used have no particular meaning or reasoning … they were selected arbitrarily by me)
Red - Images that have been selected as potentially worthy of further than normal processing for artistic use.
Blue - Collection of images worthy of inclusion as part of my display portfolio online, mobile devices or my studio front window display in 15” digital frames.
Green - Collection of images that have been published in newspapers or magazines.
So a smart album that has the criteria of 3 stars and a green color label will offer up my images published in newspapers and magazines … without invoking any keywords or other metadata.
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Patrick,
Great question, and I look forward to hearing what other users do.
Here’s my routine…
1) I’ll go through every photo giving it either a two-star, or nothing (or reject if it’s blatantly bad, i.e. out of focus)
2) I’ll go through two star photos and up-rate or down-rate or leave alone, now that I’ve seen them all.
3) If I have enough images at three-stars that I need for whatever it is I need, I’m done. If not, then I’ll repeat step 2, but starting with three-star images.
4) Five stars are reserved for super special photos
This method means that I can go to any project or album, filter by three-star or better (control-3), and know that I’m looking only at photo that I really like. If I need more or fewer for whatever I’m looking for, I’ll adjust the filter. If I still need more precision, I’ll give it another ratings pass, rating up or down or leaving alone.
Flagging is just for temporary use; a quick way to “tag” a photo for something immediate.
I rarely use labels, but usually when I do it’s to separate big blocks of photos, like from different photographers (second shooter on a job, for example)
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
I use all 5 stars in my rating system. In short:
1-star: Flagged for rejection.
2-star: A shot I want to keep, but isn’t all that great. Perhaps something I want to experiment with in terms of post-processing. Or an uninspiring photo for which I don’t have another good shot. Example: A child receives an award, the lighting is lousy, and I’m shooting through a crowd. It has sentimental value, but is otherwise uninspiring.
3-star: A good shot. Something I certainly want to perform Adjustments on.
4-star: Something I want to share. These are shots I post to the web and sync to my iPad to share with others.
5-star: A fantastic photo, something I want to print. Few photos get 5 stars.
And I’m with Joseph on rejecting photos that are blatantly bad - out of focus, subject is blinking, and so forth.
I also happen to use labels as a notation for where a given photo is within my workflow. And I keyword liberally. Keep in mind I’m a hobbyist, so like have less photos and more time on my hands than folks shooting day in and day out. :)
Gory details: http://sdaven.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-aperture-workflow.html
Scott
http://scottdavenportphoto.com/
Thank you for all the helpfull great replies so far. I was thinking about the following rating for my organization:
1 star : marked for deletion
2 stars : keep the photo without adjustments
3 stars : keep the photo with adjustments
4 stars : good photo for sharing
5 stars : stock/production photo
Derrick Story just posted an article on his blog on this topic: Flags, Stars, and Color Labels in Aperture and Lightroom.
-Joseph
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
Hey all,
I star
These are for keepers that I need to work on in PS. I do a lot of shots where I combine layers. I then export those as 16bit files and combine them into one shot and rename it.
2 stars
If I have a single image that is a hero and needs working it gets 2 stars
3 stars
When I import back into aperture the Combined newly named images are then tagged 3 stars on import.
4 Stars are for my over all very best
5 Stars are for a temporary marking or I might use a color label
I really haven’t taken advantage of flags or labels except while editing with a client. rare!
davidbmoore@mac.com
Twitter= @davidbmoore
Scottsdale AZ
After shooting a go trough al the photo, rejecting out of focus and blatantly bad, then every photo left get’s one star. Thereafter I go trough them and rate two stars, go trough the two stars and rate three stars etc. The stars basically mean the following.
1 star: Not a great photo but has some sort of emotional value; hidden from normal viewing
2 stars: Normally visible not terribly good
3 stars: Photo’s I’d like to share in a photo book, with my family or similar
4 stars: Good photo’s e.g. fort portfolio.
5 stars: National Geographic.
Flag are used as a temporary tag. Labels have some meanings as well:
green: No PP already performed
yellow through red: increasing amount of PP needed
grey: Convert to B&W
blue: Order prints
purple: placed in an Adobe InDesign Document (for which I created an Applescript so I can assign labels from within InDesign)
For me I try to keep my starring workflow really simple:
After I’ve uploaded my images to a new project - I go through and give photos a 1 star if I like them and think they are worth keeping as potential work images. Then I create a smart album for 1 star and above images inside of the project. This is where I work edits from.
I then go through a second time of all the 1 star images and give 3 stars to all of the ones I’m going to edit.
After doing edits I then go back through those and pick my favorites and give them 5 stars. These are ones I’m happy with and feel ok enough to share with people either online or through other mediums.
www.nicknieto.com / Portland, Oregon
I use star ratings to rank images and color labels to assist grouping images in manual metadata searches … and a combination of the two to create Smart Albums/Smart Collections)
Stars -
0) No Star = Image is destined for deletion upon completion of the job .. image is of no marketable or sentimental value.
1) One Star = Image has redeemable value and will be kept. Image will receive preliminary basic processing (think batch sync of like images)
2) Two Stars = Image has significant market value and will be processed as either a client proof or open online event sales.
3) Three Stars = Image has been ordered by a client and has received whatever processing is necessary for the desired output.
4) Four Stars = Exceptional image that is a probable selection for publishing as part of current portfolio.
5) Five Star = Extremely exceptional image worthy of jaw-dropping response of the average viewer (these are VERY few in number and this rating is the rare exception as to maintain the worthiness of the rating)
Color Labels - (note that the colors used have no particular meaning or reasoning … they were selected arbitrarily by me)
Red - Images that have been selected as potentially worthy of further than normal processing for artistic use.
Blue - Collection of images worthy of inclusion as part of my display portfolio online, mobile devices or my studio front window display in 15” digital frames.
Green - Collection of images that have been published in newspapers or magazines.
So a smart album that has the criteria of 3 stars and a green color label will offer up my images published in newspapers and magazines … without invoking any keywords or other metadata.