Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Using Ratings to Sort Images
One of the key fundamental pieces of metadata that you can set on an image is a rating. When you
first started to shoot, a keep/delete system was probably more than sufficient, but as you became a
better photographer and your image collection grew, you most likely realized that keep or delete
wasn't enough to separate your best images out. Ratings are incredibly useful because they let you
quickly pull the best images from your library, separate the best from the good-enough-to-keep
images, and identify the worst images that you can delete first when you're running low on space.
Each image can have either no rating or a rating from one to five stars. Table 4.1 illustrates the
system we use, which has proved rather useful over the years.
Table 4.1
Our Image Rating System
Rating
Meaning
5 Stars
These are your absolute best images. Post them to your Web site, include
them in slide shows, and show them to clients. Absolutely back these up.
4 Stars
These images are above average, and you will most likely include some of
these in a slide show or Web gallery. While they are not quite as good as your
five-star images, you don't want to lose them and will back these up, too.
3 Stars
These are your average images. You keep them to submit for various, specific
image requests, even if you don't typically show them to clients. You back up
three-star images, too.
2 Stars
Two-star images are images that you're keeping for some particular reason,
even though they're not good enough to show to a client. An example would
be a below-average quality photo of a rare animal that you're keeping
because it's a photo of a rare animal. You don't back them up because it
doesn't really matter if these get erased.
1 Star
One-star images are your lowest-quality images. Typically, you keep these for
a specific part that you might consider compositing into another image, but
they're not important enough to back up. If you're running low on hard drive
space, these are the first images that you delete.
Setting ratings
Setting a rating on an image is quite straightforward. Select the image and choose the appropriate
rating by choosing Metadata
Rating. Assuming you have your metadata overlays (which we dis-
cussed in Chapter 3) configured to show a rating, you see the rating appear as a badge on the
image, such as in Figure 4.1. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcuts 1-5 to set a rating of one to
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