P: Add text notes to photos, stacks, folders, directories, collections

Actually, if anyone wants to try this plugin, holler. It's very simple, select a folder, select pnAnnotate from the plugin. If a note already exists it pops up a dialog with the text and an option to edit. If it doesn't exist then it fires up a text editor. Add text, kill the window, done - no need to save.

Doesn't work on collections yet, I may give that some thought.

Mac only, sorry but I'll leave the code readable if anyone wants to mess with it.

pm me using the contact form at www.kim-aldis.co.uk

I've been desperate for notes on folders since forever. For keeping notes on processing, shoot notes, client details, todo lists, client and sitter contact details ... so many, many things. I have a plugin of my own for this, it works well enough but there's only so much you can do through the SDK. Native would be top.

Keywords too, there's a lot to be said for keywording at a coarser granularity.

Consider the script

'Photo For Notes'

It allows you to create a textual photo whose sole purpose is to house notes for a folder, or collection...

Free, by me, here:

http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAn...

(I realize you'd prefer native support, but for the mean time..).

I would LOVE the ability to add some form of written notes to a collection - it could appear in the image list as a file symbol image and when you click on it, it opens notepad or an entirely new field in the dock section. This would allow you to remember things about the collection that cannot be stored elsewhere.

i'd love to be able to make notes or comments on specific images or collections - when sharing a catalog with another user, it would be useful for communicating processing requests, etc.

I manage my workflow on a folder basis, but it should equally apply to collection based ones.

What I'd really LOVE to see in a future release is the option to add a caption (description, comment, whatever) not only on a certain photo (within it's own caption field), but also on the folder/collection itself.

That could be useful to remember certain data which shouldn't be put under folder/collection name, or where it would be awkward to use cloned photo captions or multiple keywords.

Example: address for specific one-time-only client, equipment data for a specific shoot, any other note a photographer would want to associate to the whole photo shoot.

What do you think?

Would be great to have it in LR4 final

I'm hoping Lr4 will support a UI for custom metadata, so plugins aren't required.

I understand not wanting to use a plugin for this. Personally, I have no problem with it, because I understand that the data is as safe as any in the catalog, and is readable by any other plugin or simple sql statement, so even if the plugin programmer died and the plugin stopped working after a couple of Lightroom versions, its trivial for any other plugin programmer or SQL novice to get at the data and migrate it. Granted, some technical know-how is required...

Lightroom will never stop supporting the data, nor plugins in general, but plugins may eventually stop working if not maintained between Lightroom versions.

PS - The CustomMetadata plugin (and BigNote) is just a re-hash of the working plugin that has been provided in the SDK since day 1. And any newer version in the SDK could be easily adapted to support any custom metadata of other plugins in the future, simply by changing the plugin's-id, and the metadata id's to match.

CustomMetadata and BigNote are equally easy to use - just install and enter notes...

CustomMetadata has extra fields and functions which may or may not be desirable...

So if John dies before me, big-note metadata could be migrated to custom-metadata plugin. And if I die before John, my custom-metadata could easily be migrated to big-note. If we both die at the same time, one could issue an sql statement on the database to put the data in a form which could be read by ExifTool or Lr/Transporter... If John, Tim, Phil Harvey, & I all die at the same time, any plugin programmer could modify the SDK sample to take over... If Adobe dies too, then... - well you get the idea...

Summary:
-------------
I acknowledge that plugin dependency for critical metadata gives one a feeling of insecurity, and if using plugins for custom metadata it is possible that one day one will be faced with the problem of inaccessible data, which may require some technical know-how to get at, or another plugin... assuming Adobe has not added the support directly to Lightroom, which hopefully they will by then.

Bottom Line:
----------------
If you want to keep photo notes in the catalog, you have two choices:
A. Bastardize an existing field and hope it lasts.
B. Use a plugin to add additional fields, and hope it lasts.

Final Thoughts:
--------------------
I followed plan A above until it stopped working (fields needed for their originally intended purpose), then switched to plan B. For plugin authors, and users who have faith in plugin authors and/or community help, plan B is a preferred solution, but I can see plan A being preferred by those who don't like working without a net from Adobe.

I see now what you mean by "custom metadata". I was confusing the IPTC extension fields which are present, but effectively unusable since you can't search for anything in those fields. Of the two you referenced, the "Big Note" plug-in seems to be much easier to deal with.

However, in general I'm reluctant to commit to any plug-in or other external method to manage my data, because if support for the plug-in goes away for whatever reason (and there are many possible reasons) then I am out of luck. I'm all for plug-ins (I use several) that will increase my productivity, but not at the expense of becoming dependent on someone's code that is managing information critical to my workflow. To me, that risk is much greater than the risks and pitfalls you described.

With my plugins (and others like them), user can opt for a filenaming preset, so there's always a way out.

The problem, if you don't use copy-name in filename, is that the virtual copy will result in a naming collision with the master or other virtual copies (unless one has taken care to specify other tokens that ensure uniqueness). If you don't mind always using the "use a new name" option and having virtual copies named -2, -3 - indistinguishable from non-virtual copies that have undergone a duplicate name resolution... then more power too ya.

PS - the problem *with* using virtual copies in filename *presets* is that it necessitates non-virtual copies (often the majority) to look a little wonky for the sake of virtuals (often the minority), which is why I have programmed a default in case user has not opted for a filenaming preset.

Using the virtual copy name for notes would most certainly not work for me.

In addition to the export filenaming problems mentioned above, using the virtual copy name for notes runs risks that are unnecessary to take. I recommend against it, despite your successful (so far) experience with it, but I assume the readers are big boys and girls who can make up their own minds... - maybe some people will adopt your idea and be forever happy about it, like you are now..., I just hope they have at least considered my objections before deciding.

Here are two ways to have custom metadata for keeping photo notes:
- http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAn...
- http://www.beardsworth.co.uk/lightroo...