Keywords are a way that photographers can search for their images when working in Lightroom, in the organizer in Elements (called Tags) or in Adobe Bridge. They are descriptions of your image in usually one word. Take this image:
It is an image of a bald eagle catching a fish. The following keywords could apply; bald, eagle, water, fish, flying, hunting. There could be more info such as location which was LeClaire, Iowa, Mississippi River, Dam 14. All of this info helps when you need to locate a photo. I try to keep my keywords togeneral location and content and a majority of color.
So for this snow image the keywords would be: snow, white, hills, volcano, Lake Michigan, shoreline, Ice, Wisconsin.
So when using Lightroom, the Organizer in Elements or Adobe Bridge, you can search for these terms and find images that match them. The keywords are attached to the image in the metadata, so they stay with your image, it is just one way of searching for a certain type of image. So the next time you need a winter snow scene, you could look under snow or white and find a variety of images to fit your needs.
Assigning keywords is best done when importing your images. At the time I import my images, I will usually apply some generic keywords such as location and a general description of the image. For the Eagle shoot I did, I would apply: eagle, bald, Iowa, LeClaire, Mississippi River. After the import and when I have gotten rid of all my rejects, I would then go back to the individual images and apply more specific keywords such as fish, adult, juvenal, or any other word I would use to find the image. This is a lot of work, but it makes finding the images easier in the long run. I sometimes don’t get tothe fine key wording, so that is why on import I keyword the basic info that applies to most of the images and go back later to fine tune it.
One other good use of key words are when you enter competition or win awards for that image, you can add that keyword for that award to the image, that way you will be able to find the image when you need it again and it will also let you know that you used it in a competition and that you don’t want to use it again. It can be a great help in record keeping.
So think of keywords as a useful item for finding your images and keeping info in those images that will be helpful for you in the future.