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Apply Keyword(s) to multiple images in Capture One

mathomas

Active member
I'm (very) slowly getting my feet wet in Capture One (because Aperture has been discontinued). I have to admit it's been tough. I really didn't feel like I ever had to think very hard to use Aperture, but C1 has been a challenge, and I'm a freaking software developer for god's sake. I bought C1 because its layout is pretty similar to Aperture, the RAW imports are good, and it has a lot of useful editing controls, but I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of this purchase for one simple reason:

I'm stumped by one of the simplest things I can think of when cataloging images -- how do I efficiently apply the same keyword, or keywords, to multiple images at once?

Oh, I realize there's a "copy/apply" feature. But that strikes me as completely broken. Is C1 really limited to that one goofy approach to applying a keyword to multiple images? If so, I'm simply astounded. I think any normal person who'd ever used software before would expect to be able to select multiple images and just type in the keyword(s) to apply to the selection.

I hope I'm wrong. If I'm not, I'll be very sad. If it had discovered this before paying nearly $300 for C1, I'd never have bought this software.

If you're wondering why I bought it if I think it handles this simple case so poorly, I guess I'd say I'd have never imagined C1 could get such a simple feature so wrong, and sadly never thought to try it while in the trial period (since in the trial period I just did a few "throwaway" sessions). It's just so basic a thing.

Please tell me I'm missing something!


.
 

robertwright

New member
unfortunately, no, you are not wrong. You can omit the extra step by shift clicking the copy apply button or by creating a metadata preset. But otherwise it behaves like all other c1 adjustments- you have to apply to multiples.

also if you have multiple images selected you only see the metadata for the primary image selected, and if other images in the selects have different metadata you won't see conflicts.

In Lr you see that when multiple images are selected and not all the images have the same keywords for example, its indicates that. C1 can't do that.

C1 was late to the asset management party and is playing catchup to Lr in most regards. It only excels in tethered speed and processing speed, and in color rendition, however this is just a case of default profiles (which are very good) but you can get there in Lr (and make those default) just by comparing renditions. In general c1 is less saturated, less contrasty and sharper out of the gate.

I've gotten better with practice in c1 but still its nowhere near as well thought out as Lr in my opinion.
 

robertwright

New member
if thats not clear applying a metadata present to a multi image selection will apply to all. This is counter intuitive considering this is not how other changes get made......
 

mathomas

Active member
Thank you Robert. If only I'd asked here first, or had tripped over the article below before spending the megabux to own this disappointment. I mean, keywording is something so basic -- it boggles the mind that C1 doesn't have a reasonable implementation, especially given the cost.

https://photoapps.expert/forum/capture-one-keywording/14356#.VTw5x3BOKrU

I guess I'll shelve C1 and now purchase LR to use instead (or just return to Aperture until it won't run any more). How disappointing (not to mention painful to the wallet).
 

robertwright

New member
c1 has always been basically a raw converter- it was never really envisioned in the way that Lr was envisioned or Aperture, as a parametric editor- basically it was bundled software that came with phase backs, however, it has evolved, and that evolution is responsible for a lot of the cruft the exists.

C1 is good in a pro environment where you have discrete jobs that get rendered and then passed on to Ps for retouching etc. Only in the last two versions have we gotten anything like Lr's advanced brushes, gradients, etc.

However- you might want to stick with it as an alt. to the adobe tax, no sign that they are going subscription any time soon. And you can create catalogs and save out metadata into sidecars, and maintain your own folder structure. So you are future insured to some degree altho the edits you make in C1 are specific to C1 but this is true of all parametric editors.

But for someone who has to deliver images quickly with captions, metadata, keywords and needs web galleries, etc, its not so great. Lr is the ticket.
 

mathomas

Active member
Thanks for that. I only wish I'd realized it sooner. I started the 30-day trial, but unfortunately didn't have a chance to really exercise C1 (or LR for that matter) until the last 7 days. Funny that I didn't really try to apply any keywords during my few attempts with it -- I was mostly trying to understand its basic model, etc. Oh well, live and learn, I guess.
 

mathomas

Active member
Oh, and I'll add that I'm impressed by some aspects of C1. The options for catalog vs session management are interesting (as you mentioned). For example, I was considering using sessions for quick-n-dirty things like processing a set of photos for eBay sales, or whatever, without cluttering my main catalog. So I'm not totally down on it. It's just so ironic that it has all that power, but the keywording is so weak. There, I whined again :).
 

robertwright

New member
Ya for what it is it is great. I like to call it the art director friendly raw converter- everything appears crispy sharp, a little desaturated, and weirdly smooth also. When people see the captures on screen they like them in the way that everyone likes instagram. Lr has a more more kodak gold approach to things. It can be murder on skin tones unless you reign it in. But the sharpening is not nearly as icy in the default. Dunno about tethered shooting haven't tried it in a while.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Ya for what it is it is great. I like to call it the art director friendly raw converter- everything appears crispy sharp, a little desaturated, and weirdly smooth also. When people see the captures on screen they like them in the way that everyone likes instagram. Lr has a more more kodak gold approach to things. It can be murder on skin tones unless you reign it in. But the sharpening is not nearly as icy in the default. Dunno about tethered shooting haven't tried it in a while.
So.... change the sharpening in c1 and "set as default" so the as-imported look is the way you like.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
I'm (very) slowly getting my feet wet in Capture One (because Aperture has been discontinued). I have to admit it's been tough. I really didn't feel like I ever had to think very hard to use Aperture, but C1 has been a challenge, and I'm a freaking software developer for god's sake. I bought C1 because its layout is pretty similar to Aperture, the RAW imports are good, and it has a lot of useful editing controls, but I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of this purchase for one simple reason:

I'm stumped by one of the simplest things I can think of when cataloging images -- how do I efficiently apply the same keyword, or keywords, to multiple images at once?

Oh, I realize there's a "copy/apply" feature. But that strikes me as completely broken. Is C1 really limited to that one goofy approach to applying a keyword to multiple images? If so, I'm simply astounded. I think any normal person who'd ever used software before would expect to be able to select multiple images and just type in the keyword(s) to apply to the selection.

I hope I'm wrong. If I'm not, I'll be very sad. If it had discovered this before paying nearly $300 for C1, I'd never have bought this software.

If you're wondering why I bought it if I think it handles this simple case so poorly, I guess I'd say I'd have never imagined C1 could get such a simple feature so wrong, and sadly never thought to try it while in the trial period (since in the trial period I just did a few "throwaway" sessions). It's just so basic a thing.

Please tell me I'm missing something!


.
Select the images you want to keyword. Drag and drop them onto the keyword itself in the Filter Tool.

If you purchase c1 consider some Capture One Training which will not only answer the questions you know to ask, but also it will answer questions that wouldn't otherwise occur to you to ask.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
doug, that works unless you have multiple keywords? i can live with the apply technique me-self, though that leaves the keywords "live" anytime you do another "apply", unless you click them off.

but how do you change the name of a session?
 

robertwright

New member
This assumes the keyword exists in the session- you can't drag to it if it hasn't already been applied somewhere else.

it also means you have to use catalogs not sessions. that might not be a limitation.

Select the images you want to keyword. Drag and drop them onto the keyword itself in the Filter Tool.

If you purchase c1 consider some Capture One Training which will not only answer the questions you know to ask, but also it will answer questions that wouldn't otherwise occur to you to ask.
 

robertwright

New member
i just meant that keywords do not survive between sessions. Each session begins without any keywords. That is why you would need a catalog workflow.

Of course Lr is catalog only so the keywords persist. I'm not saying it is better.

I agree the drag and drop method works in both types. I was not referring to that.

Tell me why you have to apply keywords in the filter menu and not the metadata menu and then you'll have something:)

I do like C1 very much for many things, however UI consistency, discoverability, logic, etc is not one of them.

It does not assume that. This method works in both sessions and catalogs.

We cover this in depth in our Capture One training. I'll see if I can get some time tomorrow to post a more thorough explanation, but it's a busy week.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
doug, that works unless you have multiple keywords? i can live with the apply technique me-self, though that leaves the keywords "live" anytime you do another "apply", unless you click them off.
Not sure what you mean. It works for multiple keywords; just drag to each keyword. Or use hierarchical keywords if appropriate (e.g. tagging a file as both "Person" and "Female" and "Blonde" by dragging to the "Blonde" only if it is a child of Female and Female is a child of Person)

But how do you change the name of a session?
Close the session. Rename the session file. Reopen the session.

Optionally you can rename the folder itself for consistency.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
thanks doug.

getting lost in the semantics.

when i create a new session, i give it a session name. is that the folder name you speak of or is there another file you are referring to as the session file?

i tried to select several images and drag them to a keyword, thinking they would then all get that keyword; didn't seem to wrok will try again.

when i make keywords in C1, i usually create a list of several, but dragging images over has to land on top of only one, not the entire bunch. instead, i would save the adjustment (upward arrow button), which saves them all, then apply to any selected images at once (downward arrow), making sure any unwanted adjustments at the time were clicked off
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
thanks doug.

getting lost in the semantics.

when i create a new session, i give it a session name. is that the folder name you speak of or is there another file you are referring to as the session file?
Renaming the session file is required.
Renaming the folder is optional but logical.

After renaming just double click the session file to open the session back up.

i tried to select several images and drag them to a keyword, thinking they would then all get that keyword; didn't seem to wrok will try again.
Selecting and then dragging multiple images to the desired keyword in the Filters tool will apply that keyword to all images that were selected.

when i make keywords in C1, i usually create a list of several, but dragging images over has to land on top of only one, not the entire bunch. instead, i would save the adjustment (upward arrow button), which saves them all, then apply to any selected images at once (downward arrow), making sure any unwanted adjustments at the time were clicked off
That's another way to do it. But you can skip some steps; use the local copy and apply button in the keywords tool and you won't have to uncheck the other adjustments.

The only drawback to this method is that it makes sure the keywords are the exact same for all images selected; that is to say it both adds AND removes keywords from the other images to ensure the keywords are identical. The drag-and-drop method is much more flexible as you can selectively add a specific keyword.

I suspect Keywording will continue to improve in Capture One in future versions. There are certainly ways one could imagine complex keywording being faster/easier.
 

mathomas

Active member
I appreciate the effort folks are putting in to help, but I basically gave up on C1, at great expense to me. The keywording is basically broken, regardless of drag-n-drop being better than copy/apply. Last time I used it, I also seemed to find that there were many times I couldn't use the left/right arrow keys to move between images in C1. Maybe I'm missing something. But basic features like moving around between photos using the keyboard shouldn't take *any* thought or training. I also dislike that many keystrokes that should be toggles (e.g. hit a key or combo once to zoom in, and the very same key or combo again to zoom out), instead take two different key combos. That kind of thing adds up and becomes a mental burden when using software. Hopefully these complaints are taken as feature ideas and not just whining. I build software for a living, so it's not total cluelessness on my part (perhaps partial!).

Anyway, I sucked it up and am paying for Adobe CC (yuck) and using Lightroom 6 now, and am basically happy with it. I fear nothing will really replace Aperture, in terms of my muscle memory and what I (now) consider to be almost completely transparent usability (not even sure I ever read the Aperture user guide, much less watched training videos). I will say that Apple did *completely* botch printing in Aperture, though, so I hope for much better in LR.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
I appreciate the effort folks are putting in to help, but I basically gave up on C1, at great expense to me. The keywording is basically broken, regardless of drag-n-drop being better than copy/apply. Last time I used it, I also seemed to find that there were many times I couldn't use the left/right arrow keys to move between images in C1. Maybe I'm missing something. But basic features like moving around between photos using the keyboard shouldn't take *any* thought or training. I also dislike that many keystrokes that should be toggles (e.g. hit a key or combo once to zoom in, and the very same key or combo again to zoom out), instead take two different key combos. That kind of thing adds up and becomes a mental burden when using software. Hopefully these complaints are taken as feature ideas and not just whining. I build software for a living, so it's not total cluelessness on my part (perhaps partial!).

Anyway, I sucked it up and am paying for Adobe CC (yuck) and using Lightroom 6 now, and am basically happy with it. I fear nothing will really replace Aperture, in terms of my muscle memory and what I (now) consider to be almost completely transparent usability (not even sure I ever read the Aperture user guide, much less watched training videos). I will say that Apple did *completely* botch printing in Aperture, though, so I hope for much better in LR.
Changing images can always be done with command-left and command-right. If you use left/right (without holding command) while you're cursor is inside of a text entry box then you'll be changing the cursor location rather than change images.
 
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