Photography, like any industry, is filled with those who talk and those who do. There are those who talk about the decline of the industry and point the fingers at others, and then you have guys like Cradoc Bagshaw, who for years has been an advocate of the photographer and sought ways to educate and empower them.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the creator of fotoQuote, the industry standard for pricing rights-managed imagery. And many of our 33,000 photographers know that fotoQuote is the engine that powers rights-managed licensing in the PhotoShelter Personal Archive and the PhotoShelter Collection. So I’m happy to announce that Cradoc has developed yet another tool that should be considered by photographers — particularly those selling stock.

Even though photography is a visual medium, the only widespread and reliable method of finding images is through keyword searching. And yet keywording images is really difficult. I’m pretty good at getting the first 5 keywords, but after that it’s like pulling teeth.

Cradoc also makes a very good point: “Keywording is a language which is defined by people looking for images, not the people supplying them.” So you have to think the way buyers do.

The Keyword Harvester is a stand-alone software program that Cradoc developed to make the process of keywording easier. No, it’s doesn’t keyword for you. But it groups keywords logically, provides an easy method to build concepts, provides similar terms and synonyms, and allows for keyword template creation. (Disclosure: Kate, our linguist, was a beta tester for the program). You can use it as a part of your image preparation workflow with nearly any other software because it uses standard IPTC meta data.

You can try the Keyword Harvester with a 30-day money back guarantee, and he’s got an introductory discount of $50 until July 14, 2008. But don’t listen to me. Listen to Cradoc and watch him demonstrate the Keyword Harvester on his demo video.

 

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