mangiaphoto

Stock photography is not only about taking photos. Before we upload images, we need to retouch them, crop, resize, correct colors and all that operations won’t help us if we don’t add keywords to our images. Reason is simple - searching mechanism is not so powerful to recognize our photos without literal description.

The digital revolution means millions of images are just a mouse click away. But while picture buyers may marvel at the convenience of such access, many know the challenge it represents: searching vast online databases can be time-consuming and frustrating. In other words, the ability to retrieve the ‘right’ picture from a digital archive now depends almost entirely on keywords. Online databases deliver results by matching search terms against the keywords associated with an image. Only through extensive and relevant keywording can images be quickly and accurately retrieved – better keywords you have means better chances to present your image.

Few days ago, I found interesting piece of software. OnAsia’s recently launched Image Keyworder program. This program can help you to make keywording easier and faster. The Windows-based desktop solution has been designed specifically to provide an intuitive, low-cost solution for photographers and archive owners seeking an effective way to keyword and add metadata to their image collections. According to information available on THIS LINK, software was designed and developed over the past five years.
At the heart of Image Keyworder lies its comprehensive searchable thesaurus of around 40,000 terms. The thesaurus represents a huge amount of value for a keyworder because it gives the user access a structured vocabulary of terms that has been organized specifically with the task of keywording images in mind. The thesaurus is also continually expanding as OnAsia’s team adds terms which are then updated to the user’s own copy of Image Keyworder through the internet.

The software aims to make keywording faster, more systematic and more comprehensive. By clicking on a single thesaurus term (or simply dragging it into the keyword field) a user can instantly add a keyword plus relevant synonyms, alternate forms, singulars and plurals, misspellings and UK/US variations to the keyword field. Thus the software helps automate what would otherwise be a manual and rather hit-and-miss process of choosing and entering terms.

Main idea was to make the software flexible allowing users to add or remove specific terms to batches of images or to exclude either singulars or plurals depending on the requirements of the organization to which they are submitting.
Now with Image Keyworder, adding keywords is very easy but naturally, the more relevant keywords that are associated with an image, the higher the likelihood it will be returned accurately in a search and it means increasing the chances of a sale.
If you’re familiar with image technology (image formats, headers, etc), Image Keyworder is a broad metadata management tool. The software is designed to allow information to be added to all of the principle metadata fields such as caption, copyright information, date and location. It supports standard IPTC fields as well as the broader range of XMP fields so there is plenty of choice. (You probably don’t need to fill them all  )

If you have similar images and you can’t keyword them all on the same time, Image keyworder has the ability to create templates for repeat image types and to export metadata into an external document like an excel file if needed.
I forget to say that this software is commercial and you will need to buy it if you plan to use it. A personal license for two computers costs just US$ 79.99 and includes a 12 month subscription to a comprehensive and regularly updated thesaurus that is renewable for USD39.99. A full version of the software can be downloaded for a 30-day trial from www.imagekeyworder.com. At this price, Image Keyworder with its broad functionality is perhaps the most attractively priced of a small number of programs aimed at the growing Keywording market.

More information about Image Keyworder can be found HERE and HERE. Complete Users Manual is available online and for all questions and queries, please don’t hesitate to contact support on email support@imagekeyworder.com