Adding Descriptions

A crucial step in the management of images is the adding of descriptions to your photos. Only extensive descriptions turn a basic filing system into a powerful Image Archive and database. Image tags (known in StudioLine as “Descriptors”) are used to store your descriptive information in different categories. Descriptors can automatically be printed below the images, included with emails or added to web galleries. They also help the search engine in grouping images that match a common theme. Additionally, they can be used for sorting.

In addition to your own “User Descriptors”, StudioLine will also preserve the image tags that were added by your digital camera (see “Digicam Descriptors, Exif”).

Once you load an image into the Image Archive, the descriptors “Image Name”, “Description” and “File Date and Time” will display below the thumbnail (unless you previously configured different descriptors). Some will already have information.

“Image Name” defaults to the file name of the imported picture. The same information is also stored in the descriptor “File Name”. Often, the file name is automatically generated by digital cameras or scanners and rather cryptic (e.g., “DCF0033”), which makes it entirely unsuitable as an image title in web galleries, emails or prints. Therefore, you should immediately give each picture a meaningful image name. You may even give similar images the same name – there is no need to add numbers in sequence.

The descriptor “Description” is left empty, inviting you to enter your own text. The “File Date and Time” are carried over from the creation date of the original file.

Editing Descriptor Content

To add or edit text, simply click on the specific descriptor below the picture. This opens the panel “Descriptors”. Alternatively, you can click the right mouse button on the thumbnail picture and choose “Descriptors” from the context menu.

The “Descriptors” panel maintains the text information and other tags associated with an image. You can also switch the Image Archive pane to the “Descriptors” view by clicking the “Descriptors” button on the Image Archive pane. The function of the descriptors panel and the descriptors Image Archive pane view are identical.

The top of the “Descriptors” panel shows a preview of the current image. Click the “minus” button to hide the preview. Next to the title “Image Preview” are two VCR style navigation buttons (see below) to browse to the next or previous image.

If only one image had been selected, then the navigation buttons will automatically select the previous or next image in the current folder.

If more than one image had been selected, then the navigation buttons will browse to the previous or next image of the selection.

The image descriptors are organized in four categories, which can be collapsed or expanded by using two +/- buttons in front of each category:

Click the left +/- button to control the display of any descriptors with content. Click the right +/- button to control the display of all descriptor tags in the category, regardless if they have content or not.

Below is an explanation of the different StudioLine descriptor types and their unique capabilities.

User Descriptors

This is the only category where you can create your own descriptor tags, such as “Event” or “Holiday”, and then fill-in your content. This will improve the success rate of locating your images later. You can delete obsolete descriptor tags, which will also delete their content.

Use the two buttons to the right of the “User Descriptors” title (see above) to add or remove descriptor tags.

To the left of any descriptor tag, there is a “Copy” button as it is also found in the title bar of many other StudioLine panels:

To copy a descriptor to other images, click and hold the mouse button on the “Copy” button, then drag it to other images. Alternatively, you can first press the “Ctrl” key while selecting a number of images. Then click the “Copy” button to copy the descriptor to all selected images.

A green “Copy” button indicates that all selected images already have the same descriptor content. A red “Copy” button indicates that some images do not yet have matching content.

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