Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Catalog Management

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Catalog Management

I managed to delete my keywords! Did this by selecting all which I assumed would only select the current folder and in fact selected all 15,000+ entries. I then deleted, thankfully only entries and not base photo, and so lost all keyword data. However as I am prone to do this and also worried about depending only upon a program for keyword data I write the keywords into the EXIF data of the file, a command within PSE, although I sometimes forget this. So I was able to recover 95% of my keyword data when I reloaded the photos.

I had to move dozens of keywords around to re-create the original keyword structure, realising in the process that my keyword standards had room for improvement. Anyway at the end of this 4 hours of work I decided to backup what I could of this keyword and catalog information, I always back up the photos in a separate procedure.

First I noticed that in PSE 6 you can export/import catalogue keyword structure t a XML file,(see Adobe Forum ) so I did this. Then I created a new catalogue to act as a copy for my main one. This had no photos so start with. First import Keyword structure created above and then to load photos once more only this time I did not have to rebuild the keyword structure, so it only took about 30 minutes, most of this processing so that I got on writing this log.

I now propose to go through keywords and improve structure, writing outcome to photos EXIF data s I proceed, but I will do this in small intervals during the next month.

I now can select from two catalogs, one which I have called a copy. I intend once the Keyword Structure is improved to have two catalogs and to flip-flop between them so that I have only to recreate the last weeks work if it should fail. I will also copy catalog to a USB Hard Drive every month.

QuickTime Causes PSE 6 Organizer to Fail to Start

QuickTime & PSE 6

5/4/08 08:45

To run PhotoShop Elements 6.0 (PSE 6) I have manually delete QuickTime folder in Program files after each XP Start. Quicktime will not run, or will not uninstall!

Tried CCleaner to clean reg files, and CCleaner Uninstall but this seems to just call standard XP un-install routines Used CCleaner to remove Quicktime from Startup and checked with Windows Defender and indeed Quicktime did not appear in Startup or Running List.

I am now (09:10) following instructions on Apple web site cut and pasted below with my comments in italics

1. Quit QuickTime Player.
2. From the Start menu, click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, open Add or Remove Programs.
4. Select QuickTime from the list of currently installed programs, then click Uninstall.
5. When asked if you would like to remove QuickTime, select Yes.
6. After the uninstallation is complete, do not restart if you are prompted to. Again mine did not uninstall
7. If other entries were present for QuickTime remove those as well.
8. Restart your computer.
9. After the computer restarts, open Local Disk (C:) in Computer or whichever disk programs are installed on.
10. Open the Program Files folder.
11. Right-click the QuickTime folder and select Delete and choose Yes when asked to confirm the deletion. Note: This folder may have already been deleted if QuickTime was successfully removed in steps 1-7. I had to delete folders
12. Delete the QuickTime and QuicktimeVR files located in the C:\Windows\system32\ folder. Click Continue if Windows needs confirmation or permission to continue.
13. Right-click on the Recycle Bin and on the shortcut menu, click Empty Recycle Bin. This step took about 5 minutes!
14. Restart your computer.
15. Install the latest version of QuickTime from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download. I plan to do this after a few days to see if removal has any effect

Well achieved first aim as now I do not need to delete a Quicktime folder for PSE Organizer to work.

Nikon D80 Use of ISO Auto in Manual Mode

I bought my D80 nearly two years ago and to my surprise I am still finding new things about it.

Now to me Manual means that I set the Aperture and shutter speed and look at the exposure indication in the viewfinder to judge whether it is correct or not. If not then I can either adjust one or both of these or change the ISO setting.

I realised early that this was not necessary the case when using the flash. If the flash is set to its normal default TTL settings then the D80 will adjust the duration of the flash so that the chosen aperture and speed settings give the correct exposure. Of course with the pop-up flash you cannot go beyond 1/200 of sec although the SB600 flash will allow higher shutter speeds.

For none flash photography I often choose to leave the camera in Program P mode and with ISO Auto set (option 7 in the Custom Settings Menu) and depending on lens I usually have ISO Auto set for maximum of 400 (800 in very poor lighting) and shutter set to 1/60 or greater if using longer focal length.

Following some home investigation into sharpness of image for various f settings for a collection of lenses I proved to myself what is well known by almost every photographer that lenses perform much better when stopped down by two or three stops from their maximum. For example 50 mm f 1.8 works much better at f5.6 then f1.8, the 18-70 Nikkor performs much better at f8 then f4.5 etc.

What I wanted was the capability to set the aperture and shutter and let the ISO vary, within limits, to make the correct exposure, and this is basically exactly what ISO Auto achieves when the camera is set to manual. For some reason I had assumed that ISO Auto would have no effect when in manual.












So now I often use this approach. I have also set the "function" button (option 14 in the Custom Settings Menu) to show ISO value in viewfinder. Now on a clear day with say my 50mm f1.8 lens I will set ISO to 100, camera to Manual, Shutter to 1/125 and aperture to f8 (f5.6 if dull).



When taking photo I check in viewfinder and

1. If meter is in centre then I know exposure is correct.
2. If ISO Auto is flashing I can press the function button to see what it is and decide to accept or make change to shutter and/or aperture.
3. If meter shows under exposure then I know that current max value in "ISO auto" is not enough to give correct exposure, so I can adjust aperture and/or shutter until meter is in centre again.
4. If meter is showing over exposure then I must increase shutter speed and/or higher f-number.

Remember my main emphasis is to achieve a certain shutter/aperture combination. If only one of these is important to a specific shot then choose Shutter or Aperture mode, if neither is important then choose Program mode.

(NOTE: Photos of D80, menus and viewfinder information all taken with Canon Powershot A710 IS. Just think back to pre-digital days and how difficult, if not impossible, for an amateur photographer to take a photo of a small strip of information at the bottom of a viewfinder!)