Today’s Question: You referenced your use of “fake keywords” in the answer about protecting collections in Lightroom Classic. What do you mean by “fake”? Aren’t these just normal keywords?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I use the term “fake keywords” to describe keywords that are used for a purpose other than the “normal” way keywords are traditionally used. These “fake keywords” are indeed keywords you add to your photos just like any other keyword, just used for a somewhat different purpose.
More Detail: Keywords can be tremendously helpful, and I think of keywords as working in two directions. You can use keywords when you want to search for an image that contains a particular subject, for example, but you can also use keywords to remind yourself what subjects are actually contained in a photo.
Some time ago I realized that my workflow would benefit from the use of keywords that go beyond these more typical uses of keywords. For example, as I mentioned in yesterday’s Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter, I use the keyword “PixologyCover” to identify photos that I have used on the cover of an issue of my Pixology digital magazine. This helps me identify which images I’ve already used on the cover, but also makes it easy for me to locate photos I haven’t yet put on the cover.
The keywords I refer to as being “fake” keywords are very much normal keywords added to my photos in the usual way. I just use the term “fake” to make these keywords stand out as being useful beyond the normal way keywords are used.
