Documentation

PhotoTagger is a tool that helps photographers to quickly tag photos in the field, i. e. directly when they are taken, and to import those tags into their Adobe® Lightroom® (Classic) library.

Motivation

While modern cameras already know most of the settings a photographer is using, including which lens is being attached with which aperture, etc., there’s currently no way to determine which filters have been attached to the lens.

Since I want my photos in my Lightroom library to have certain keywords for the filters I used, it was always a hassle to get that right in the aftermath. This is where PhotoTagger comes into place.

With the iOS app a photographer can quickly select the attached filters and save them as tags (aka keywords) referencing the currently taken image. Additionally there’s the option to also add title, headline, and description, which comes in handy when someone tells you which kind of bird it is you’re photographing right now. No need to open another notes app in order to remember this, and it’s all stored directly to the photo you’re taking.

After importing the images into your photo library, a file can be exported from the app that contains the image names and the tags added. If you’re using Adobe® Lightroom® Classic, you can import this file directly with the help of the provided, free Lightroom plug-in into your Lightroom library, so that your photos are correctly tagged. If you’re using some other app, it may also be possible to import the file, since it’s a simple text file which can easily be read and parsed.

The iOS app is designed to be able to quickly select the buttons when in the field and to not disturb with bright light when taking photos in the night. For that there’s only one fixed dark mode available and big buttons that are not common in other iOS apps, but help touching, especially when using gloves.

Installation

1. First, install the iOS app onto your iOS device you’re using in the field when taking photos. Download on the AppStore
2. Next, install the Lightroom Plug-in for Lightroom Classic.

Setup

• When first opening the iOS app, you need to add your cameras and the filters you have in your bag.
• Once this is done, you can start tagging.

Usage

• When in the field to take photos, open the PhotoTagger app and choose Tag.
• Select the camera you’re photographing with.

• Now you have two options:

  Automatic mode

  This mode let’s you quickly select all filters you’re using and listen to incoming photos on your iPhone from your camera. This is proven to work with Nikon cameras and the SnapBridge iOS app, but may also work with other apps designed for other brands.
  Once a new photo is recognized on the iPhone that matches the name of a photo from the camera, a new photo record is created inside the app and the currently selected tags are added to it. Once this is done, the recognized photo filename is displayed on top of the screen, so that there’s some check for you to see whether the photo has been transmitted and tags are set.
  Be aware that this takes some time, depending on the connection used. Personal experience shows, that the time to switch filters is usually enough for the sync to complete, so that a new set of filters can be selected after attaching them to the lens. The exception is, when taking a longer series of photos before changing filters. In this case it may take a while for the sync and you should watch out to not set new filters too early, i. e. before all photos have been synced; if this happens, then the photos will be tagged with the wrong filter tags.
  Simply close the sheet by swiping when you’re done.

  Manual mode

  This mode let’s you manually enter tags to photos by selecting the photo number.

  Some build-in functionality will assist you:

  Continuous Adding

  With this option switched on, the sheet automatically reopens after a photo with tags is saved. This helps in adding tags for a series of photos without having to open the sheet manually.

  Apply to missing photos

  This option only appears, when you increase the photo number so that there’s a gap between the last photo tagged and the selected next number.
  With this option switched on, the selected tags are stored for all photo numbers betwen the last one taken and the one chosen. This is helpful when you want to manually add a set of used filters to all photos taken from one photo number up to another, much higher number, without having to hit save several times.

• When at home at the computer where you manage your photos, select the Export functionality. Here you can also define the filter prefix, which reflects the hierarchiy in the Lightroom keywords. When done, choose to export a generated CSV file and store it on your computer. If you have a Mac, it’s probably easiest to directly send it via AirDrop®.

  You have two options for this:

  Export all

  This generates a CSV file with all referenced photos and tags saved in the local database.

  Export newest

  This generates a CSV file only with the photos that were tagged from the last export.
  Note that this can be tricky since there’s no real mchanism to determine whether the generated file has actually been transferred or saved somewhere. Thus the last export date, from when the newest photos are calculated, is set to the last time you clicked the Export button inside the export view.

• After importing the photos into your Lightroom Classic library, use the PhotoTagger Plug-in to import the generated CSV file into Lightroom. This will add the tags from the CSV file to the photos in your library.

Caution: it will overwrite the already written title, headline, and description of those photos, if this information is given! Keywords are always added to the photos.

Notes and Disclaimer

iOS App

• In order for the automatic tagging to work, the image files have to be transmitted to your mobile device. This is usually done by the cameras brands’ apps. This functionality has been tested only with a modern Nikon camera and the SnapBridge app. In order to distinguish photos from your camera from those taken by the mobile device itself, the app only reacts on images with a certain naming scheme. Some naming schemes are provided in the app, but can be overwritten in the settings. I’m aware that some cameras don’t use a simple naming scheme and it may be hard to determine an image coming from a photo camera app. If one is able to provide information regarding other brands, their apps and file name format, I would appreciate that very much.
• The iOS app does not modify the synced image files at all. It stores records with the image name and the tags in its own database.
• The iOS app in automatic mode is constantly checking for new images to arrive. This may drain the battery a bit.

Adobe® Lightroom® Plug-in

• The Adobe® Lightroom® Plug-in is only working with Lightroom Classic.
• Although there’s a Lightroom Plug-in provided, the functionality is not limited to the use of Lightroom® at all. The written CSV file is easy to read and may be processed and imported into other tools as well. I’m simply not using other tools right now and am therefore unable to test this and/or write plug-ins for such tools.

• The Adobe® Lightroom® Plug-in modifies your Lightroom library.

  Make sure to make a backup before using this Plug-in in order to avoid data loss!

  The following changes will be done:

  • If title, headline, or description have been set in the app, this information will be taken over and written to the photo metadata in Lightroom. This will overwrite any information already stored in those fields.
  • If keywords have been set by adding filters, those will be added to the photo metadata.
  • If keywords have been set by adding filters, which don’t exist in your Lightroom library, those keywords will be added.

Android™ App

• There’s no Android™ app so far and it’s not planned to be developed short term.

Affiliation

This website has no affiliation with neither Apple Inc., Adobe, Nikon Corporation, or Google LLC.

Trademarks & Copyrights

• Apple®, App Store®, AirDrop®, the Apple logo®s, iPhone®, iPad®, Mac®, and macOS® are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the United States and/or other countries.
• Android™ is a trademark of Google LLC.
• Adobe®, Lightroom®, Creative Cloud®, and the Adobe logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries.
• Nikon and SnapBridge are trademarks of Nikon Corporation.

More information about the disclaimer of this website can be found here.

Privacy and Data Protection

The iOS app does not collect nor send any data to 3rd parties.

In order to use the automatic mode, access to the whole photo library is required. This access is needed in order to determine new photos that have been synchronized to the mobile device with the help of other 3rd party tools you may have installed on your device. The PhotoTagger app does not modify the photo library on the mobile device in any way. Especially there are no tags or other information written to the images in your photo library on your mobile device.

This iOS app asks the user for entering their gear like cameras and filters in addition to some settings related to their way of using tags aka keywords in their Lightroom library. This data is needed in order to store and tag the taken photos with the correct format to be able to import it smoothly into the Lightroom library.

More information about the privacy policy of this website can be found here.