Keywords

[RhodEvans]

Hi – first post to this forum. I’m particularly interested (as some others) in the use of RP as a DAM (as well as editing of course). I have tried every DAM on the market and they all fail in one way or another. The best I’ve found so far is ‘Photo Supreme’ but it is still a bit clunky and seems more like Beta software sometimes (though it can do everything I want). I understand from what I’ve read that the use of keywords in RP is problematic because of limitations with the Photo Library. Are there any plans with future versions of RP to include keywording, because that to me is one of the essential elements of a DAM (if not the most important). I think what you’ve done with RP is amazing by the way and I will continue to use it for editing, but keywording would be a killer addition!
Thanks
Rhod
p.s. Is there a ‘roadmap’ for RP?

[RhodEvans]

Personally I would be happy even if the keywords could not be written back to the photos library but were stored separately (as with photo edits) as I’d like to move away from Photos altogether if possible.

[Nik Bhatt]

Yes, I would like to add keyword support, but that’s currently impossible with the Photos library. Apple does not provide 3rd parties with any way to read, modify, or create keywords. I have made a formal request — maybe in the next OS. Don’t really know though.

There is no formal roadmap. I have a very large list of features and fixes that I review when preparing a release. I don’t publish anything because it changes a lot because of a) customer input b) new technologies Apple creates and c) how far behind I am 🙂

My goal is to move from large, infrequent releases to smaller, frequent releases.

In the case of keywords, there is no point even putting it on a roadmap because I can’t write the feature until Apple adds APIs to allow it.

[RhodEvans]

Thanks for the response Nik. Let’s hope that in the future Apple adds APIs to allow the use of keywords. In the meantime I’ll continue to be a firm supporter of Raw Power as I have been since Raw Power 1 was in beta. All the best, Rhod

[Catas]

Hi Nik
I understand that this is not possible in Photos library, but wouldn’t it be possible keywording in File browser?
Also could we make virtual albums in File.
Let’s say that I have a folder in finder whatever, files, called Camera name, and I’d like to create virtual albums from that folder with pictures by let say Years or Landscape etc.
I would love to have an workflow in file browser where only the edited images to be sent in Photos library.
Thank you.

[Nik Bhatt]

Yes, keywords and other things are certainly possible in the File Browser. it’s something I have been thinking about it, but other features have taken precedence.

[davidmacvicar]

I would like to throw my hat into the ring here.

I would love keywording with the ability to filter/smart album (same as Aperture). I do not use Photos for anything ‘serious’. As a hobbyist/prosumer photographer, I want to be able to confidently shoot sessions and family portrait work with my own folder hierarchy and use an app like Raw Power to manage it all. Apple Photos is simply for my iPhone pictures.

[Nik Bhatt]

Keywording in the “File Browser” side of the app is on the list for a future release. However, I’d like to just have a single keyword feature for both Photos and File Browser but of course that depends on Apple.

BTW: While you may only want to use Photos for your iPhone images, you could consider some of Photos’ advantages for your other images, especially paired with RAW Power. The biggest of course is iCloud Photos support. I don’t have immediately plans to create albums and stuff like that on the File Browser side – while those are already provided in the Photo library.

[davidmacvicar]

Thanks Nik,

I figured this out by finding your prior posts and tweets regarding keyboarding. Unfortunately Apple Photos doesn’t work for me. Let me explain.

I have 25,000 family photos from when my kids were first born. These are a combination of RAW and JPEG files that exist on a 5TB external drive. Over the years I managed most of this via Lightroom and my own folder structures. I have since abandoned LR – so my files are still somewhat maintained in their own folder structure/hierachy that makes sense to me.

In and around all of this, I have created a huge mess of the Photos app – going from iPhoto upgrade to Photos, and some years copying images INTO the library, some years just changing the settings to not copy files (reference files). Truth be told, its a bit of a mess and its my fault. On top of this, I switched to android for 2 years and have a huge mess of random DSLR and Phone photos in Google photos….anyways…

Now my main Photos library also exists on this 5TB external drive. So I have: Photos Library and 25K of personal photos on the same drive. This is backed up via Backblaze. I CANNOT use iCloud Photo Library for ALL my photos unless I consolidate the originals into the library – which means I would have essentially two versions of the same images on the same 5TB drive. This is why I want something like Aperture. Photos is for iCloud Photo Library (cell phone pics) and my pro shot DSLR images would be maintained by me after 13 years of file/folder management.

At the end of the day, I wish Aperture was still alive.

I wish RAW Power let me edit raw like it currently does, but also give me DAM tools so I don’t have to rely on Photos.

Phew, thanks for reading. 😛

[Catas]

I’m glad to see there are people like me who are not liking to mix some of their raw photos in Photos and iCloud despite the advantage when pairing with Raw Power, and I am sorry to hear that are not any plans for supporting better file browser. Although I think some things can be sorted writing inside folder with raws another one or two folders with sidecars like Capture One did. But maybe I am wrong.

[Nik Bhatt]

I do plan to add more features to the File Browser such as more flexible storage options and the ability to add more metadata etc.

I do NOT plan to make an entire Aperture-level library in the File Browser mode. Apple has an entire team of people to work on the library for Photos – I’m just one person who has to do the entire app. Making something like Aperture’s DAM is simply more than I can take on.

[Catas]

Hi Nik.
First of all I want to thank you for your great and hard work.
Now I must confess that I am new in to the Apple ecosystem, coming from Win and Capture One.
The transition is little bit frustrating, messing around, reading forums for finding a workflow in to this ecosystem. My main concern is how to avoid mixing dsrl pictures with iPhone snaps. But like you said everytime with the power of Raw Power, problem can be solved, and I had decided to give it a try with a small amount of pictures.
At the end, on top of RP edits I think I can make some red eye corrections and some spots removal too.
Captions and keywords can be done in batch in Photos. If the iCloud is the way we have to go and the future for our pictures, … We have nothing to do than give it a try.
But what to do when we have an collection with pictures like 3 TB of data?

[davidmacvicar]

This is my hang up. We don’t have aperture anymore and need to use photos. Apple only gives 2tb. What happens after that? There are much cheaper options out there for photo back ups like SmugMug or anything else but that doesn’t integrate the way at the photos of

[davidmacvicar]

*doesn’t integrate the way Photos does with iOS/Mac OS

[Catas]

Hi David.
You have something to read here: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64196371

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