How to select keywords for stock photos…
Stock photos and keywords keep frustrating me for a few different reasons. When searching for a certain stockphoto to complete an assignment, I always have the exact picture I need in my mind, but when I start looking for it with the keywords that I think of, I never quite find what I’m looking for… Vice versa when uploading stockphotos or other resources I often stare at the image with no idea of how to tag it.
To remedy this situation I decided to put together a handy little guide on how to add keywords to stockphotos and what keywords to search for.
Key word structure is important and it is necessary to imagine the ways in which buyers are going to search for your images. Some straight forward advice as found on every stock site includes:
- Use only nouns, verbs or adjectives (no adverbs)
- Searches usualy prefer singular terms
- Put verbs into infinitive form ( ex : do, make, and not makes or made)
- Use correct spelling
- Do not use abbreviations
While these things are sensible, they do not really tell you which keywords to use and how to describe a picture so that people will actually find it when they are looking for it.
There are certain keyword categories that are universally applicable, and going through these when tagging a picture with keywords might help others to find and use your picture more often. Equally using these hints when searching for pictures might lead you to better and quicker results.
I’ve listed the different keyword groups here with a brief description and the simple “question” each keyword group answers. For a usefull “cheatsheet” with actual examples, download or print out the PDF at the end of this article.
So, here we go:
COMPOSITION KEYWORDS
Descripte how the picture is set up!
Consider from where the picture is taken, the physical format of the picture, how are objects being seen on the photo? Often designers will look for a certain angle or view (eg, “over the shoulder”, “low angle”, etc..), make sure to include these in your keywords.
PHOTO EFFECT KEYWORDS
Decribe what type of picture, technically speaking, it is.
Examples: Blured, black and white, cross processed, makro…
MODEL/SUBJECT KEYWORDS
If your picture contains models or has a certain subject be sure to describe that in detail. What or who is in the picture? Is your model male or female, old or young, blond or brunette, alone or in a group. Same applies to objects, how many are there, how big, where are they, etc…
SET/LOCATION KEYWORDS
Where was this picture taken? Indoor, outdoor, studio, in Italy, in the subway, on a roof, etc
COLOUR KEYWORDS
Often I will be looking for a certain colour in a picture that might be needded to fit a certain theme, therefore don’t forget to tell people what colour your picture is. Think of: background colour, forground, black and white, low saturation, etc…
EMOTION KEYWORDS
Most of the time when doing comercial work you need to get an emotion across to sell the product or the concept. Make sure you mention which emotion is attached to your picture. Is it a happy picutre, sad, positive, lonely, silly, upset…
MOOD KEYWORDS
Make sure you set the mood for your picture! An ad campaing or any other work will call for not only a certain emotion but also a mood. So what mood is conveyed by your picture? Examples: sunset, candle-light, intimate, public, grungy, high class, etc…
If you go through these keyword groups when tagging your pictures, or searching for stock, you should definately achieve better results, experience less frustration and hopefully be home on time since you didn’t spend a frustrating night looking for the right picture… ;)
Download this helpful “Cheatsheet” on how to select keywords with listed examples, print it out and stick it next to your pc as a quick reference guide!
I’ll leave you with two last tricks I often use when searching for keyowrds or stockphotos:
Inspiration from others. There is a fair chance that there a people out there that a very good at adding keywords to their picutres. These people might also be a lot more creative, experienced or simply twisted and have thought of fitting keywords to a picture that may never have crossed your mind. So simply look for a picture similar to yours and see what keywords these people have used, nothing wrong with that. Same with searching for pictures, if you find a picture that sort of looks like what you are looking for, check the keywords! Often this will make your life a lot easier…
Misspell words and use abbreviations! Yup, one of the first things I told you was not to misspell words or use appreviations, but just because you know best practices doesn’t mean everyone else out there knows/uses them. Once you realise at 10 pm in the office that nobody out there knows how to spell “shiloutte”, and that all the “black and white” pictures you’ve been looking for a filed under “b/w”, you willl know what I’m talking about… ;)
Happy picture hunting!
