Dano wrote:
So what's the advantage... or difference in using nested collection sets over hierarchal keywords?
Dano:
I switched to Hierarchal keywording a few months back. It is very handy for me to add a bunch of keywords quickly. All of the keywords of course then are all spelled correctly and the same :)
The hierarchy might be as follows:
_WHAT (Starts with an underscore for placement in the list of keywrods, plus set to NOT be included in actual keywording.)
-----Animals (top level keyword)
---------Mammals (2nd level keyword)
-----------Felines (3rd level keyword
--------------Big Cats (4th level keyword)
-------------------Lion (5th Level Keyword)
-------------------Tiger (5th Level Keyword)
--------------House Cats (4th level keyword
------------------Tortoise Shell (5th level keyword
------------------Tabby (5th level keyword)
------------------Domestic ShortHair (5th level keyword)
When I check off "Domestic ShortHair" in my keyword list, then all the lower level keywords are also added, so the actual keywords added to the EXIF by checking "Domestic ShortHair" is:"Domestic ShortHair","House Cats", Felines, Mammals, Animals
You can make it as simple or as complex as you like and it is easily expandable as you go. It is also changeable on the fly as well by dragging and dropping, and all your image exif data gets updated as well with the keyword heirarchy
Collections are just groupings within Lightroom, nothing is added to the EXIF information, but the collections (SMART) can be based on EXIF information for each image, so I can create a smart collection called CATS, and set the parameters for inclusion to be any image with CATS, Cat, Feline, "Tortoise Shell", or "Domestic Short Hair" in the exif.
As I add the keywords to images, if they meet the criteria of the smart collection then they become part of the collection instantly.
A click on the collection in the navigation panel in Library Mode will show the entire collection instantly.
I can also create a normal collection, and manually add images to the collection. These collections are not updated automatically, and may not have any connection with keywords.
I tend to go nuts keywording images, and the hierarchical keywording works well for me.
I suppose the main point of all this is the keywords become part of the image and collections are good only within Lightroom.