MarineLife Keyword List

[echeng 0]

Hey guys -- we just launched a new product here at Wetpixel!

 

Renowned underwater photographer and educator Marty Snyderman, Dive Training's Contributing Editor Barry Guimbellot and Wetpixel's Eric Cheng have teamed up to create an importable keyword list designed for underwater photographers using Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture. The MarineLife Keyword List features keywords for over 12,000 species of marine wildlife, including common names, scientific names, and full taxonomy.

 

 

I've been using the list for some time, and it's cut my keywording time down at least 90%. It is not meant to replace critter ID books; rather it is meant to work alongside identification guides. Once I've found the common name and scientific name of a critter I'm trying to keyword, I just search for it in the keyword list, and it pops up, complete with complete taxonomy. Then, I simply drag it over to my image, and keywording is done. Check out MarineLife Keyword List -- you'll know if it's for you.

 

More information at:

http://wetpixel.com/keywords

($5 discount for Wetpixel readers)

 

Here's a video of me working with the keyword list:

 

[Deep6 7]

Hey guys -- we just launched a new product here at Wetpixel!

 

Renowned underwater photographer and educator Marty Snyderman, Dive Training's Contributing Editor Barry Guimbellot and Wetpixel's Eric Cheng have teamed up to create an importable keyword list designed for underwater photographers using Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture. The MarineLife Keyword List features keywords for over 12,000 species of marine wildlife, including common names, scientific names, and full taxonomy.

[snip]

 

I've been using the list for some time, and it's cut my keywording time down at least 90%. It is not meant to replace critter ID books; rather it is meant to work alongside identification guides. Once I've found the common name and scientific name of a critter I'm trying to keyword, I just search for it in the keyword list, and it pops up, complete with complete taxonomy. Then, I simply drag it over to my image, and keywording is done. Check out MarineLife Keyword List -- you'll know if it's for you.

 

More information at:

http://wetpixel.com/keywords

($5 discount for Wetpixel readers)

 

Here's a video of me working with the keyword list:

 

 

Tony Wu gives MarineLife Keyword a good review. Points back to Eric Cheng's video. Now go figure!

 

http://www.tonywublog.com/20090615/marinel...words-list.html

 

Bob

[MikeVeitch 0]

nicely done guys

[scubamarli 5]

Has anyone actually tried this with Lightroom? Inquiring minds need to know.

 

Cheers,

Marli

[echeng 0]

I've tried this with Lightroom. Do I not count?

 

Mustard has tried it as well, and will probably pipe up at some point with some thoughts.

[photomrw 0]

Hi Eric, Marty and Barry,

Brilliant! I've been growling every time I try to keyword marinelife images.

Michele

[scubamarli 5]

I've tried this with Lightroom. Do I not count?

 

One could assume wrongly (as I obviously did) that as the video is for Aperture, that is what you have been using.

 

Sorry for my obvious confusion; I am severely nitrogen deprived at the moment.

 

Marli

[echeng 0]

Marli - I know Marty Snyderman is using this as well, but you probably want to hear from some folks who are not associated with the product.

[TimG 62]

WOW! Sounds great. Any chance of a 30-day trial before I slam my credit card on the keyboard?

[echeng 0]

Tim - I should have a trial version online within a week, so you can give it a try before buying. Also, we're working on versions for Adobe Bridge, Microsoft Expression Media, BreezeBrowser, and Portfolio.

 

Any other platforms photographers out there might be interested in?

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I have been trying it and there is no doubt that it is awesome. Anyone who has to keyword marine life should get it - whether it is for library submissions or for your own indexing. For me its a no-brainer because it works and saves masses of time. Its that simple.

 

Like many users will do - I have blundered in and used it, without reading any instructions and I have found it very intuitive. Although - I may not be doing everything the most efficient way. I am using Lightroom, BTW.

 

Where it is useful is that a lot of the time we all know the name of our subject is, but we don't know the latin name or often we are not just 100% on how to spell it. That last one gets me all the time. I know most of the latin names, but always end up having to look them up when it comes to keywording, which is a big drain on time. Once you have the MarineLife keywords list installed - you type the name in to the "Add Keywords" box (labelled 1 on the screen grab below) and it prompts you with the full listing. Then you just press return and it is added.

 

Screen grab of part of the Keyword Menu in Lightroom

 

So far I have not found any marine species that are not there (and I have tried some tricky ones) - well apart from Sus scrofa - which I think should be added as a tribute to Wetpixel Expeditions!

 

Now you might think that I am only writing positive words because a friend of mine helped develop it. Far from it. I have tried to look as critically as I can, but it is hard to find criticism. It installs inon-destructively to all you previous work in seconds, just works and saves masses of time.

 

There are several ways to add keywords to images. Either click through menus and then drag and drop, or just using the Keyword Prompts and hit return. Keywording multiple images takes just seconds.

 

As an improvement I would like to see the keyword database be searchable under Latin names - using the "Click here to add keywords" box in Lightroom (Labelled 1 on image above). This is the easiest way to add keywords because it prompts you with suggestions and then you press return to add them. But it is only searchable on English Common Names (although some inverts e.g. Nudis are searchable with latin names) - which is a pain if you are not an English speaker. Although actually I should say American English - grey seals are in fact gray seals - I discovered! But more frustrating is that some species have several common names - but only one will be listed.

 

Now I l accept that there is an argument that if you already know that latin name, do you need the list, but as I said above you may know half the name or not be 100% on the spelling. The prompt would be very useful here.

 

For example I tend to call this fish a bohar snapper:

 

But typing in bohar snapper (into box 1) does not bring up any matches (despite the latin name being Lutjanus bohar). The other common name that is regularly used is two spot snapper , but this doesn't work either. Nor twin spot, or two spotted. In Australia it is called Red Bass, on fishbase two spot red snapper and also listed under two spot banded snapper. The common name listed in the keywords for this species is "red snapper". OK, not all species are so troublesome, but having a parallel latin name search would be useful too.

 

You can search under Latin names using the "Filter Keywords" box a little further down (marked 2 on the screen grab above), but this then requires you to click down through the menus and drag and drop. Not a big problem, but a slightly slower solution. However this approach does allow you to drag multiple taxonomic layers in in one go. So rather than just getting:

red snapper: Lutjanus bohar

You can get:

Bony Fishes: Osteichthyes > Fishes > Marine Life, Fishes > Marine Life, Marine Life, red snapper: Lutjanus bohar, Snappers: Lutjanidae

 

Again, just drag and drop. Maybe I am looking too hard to find faults, actually I prefer it this way! With some species you can get a really long listing this way - here is the big listing from the Blue Whale:

Alexander Mustard, baleen whale, blue whale: Balaenoptera musculus, California, Cetaceans: Cetacea, East Pacific, Filter Feeding Whales: Great Whales: Baleen Whales: Mysteceti, Guadalupe Island, Isla Guadalupe, Mammalia, Marine Mammals, Mexico, Pacific Ocean, Rorquals: Balaenopteridae, www.amustard.com (note there are a couple of my own keywords - location - in that one too).

 

Anyway, that is the only negative I can think of. I would really like a Bridge Compatable version - great for adding proper keywords to already processed files.

 

Alex

 

p.s. Would a free 30 day trial delete all the keywords at the end? I reckon I could get all my files done in 30 days and then I'd have all the keywords of the species I commonly shoot on my system forever anyway!

[scubacat1 0]

Any other platforms photographers out there might be interested in?

 

Yes, how about for Photo Mechanic?

[ornate_wrasse 0]

Any other platforms photographers out there might be interested in?

 

Another vote for Photo Mechanic.

Also Nikon Capture NX2

 

Ellen

[Poliwog 4]

Hi Eric,

 

I tried to download your Marine Keyword list and used the Wetpixel promotional code with it. It updates with the new price on the "Review Cart" page but resets itself back to the original $99.00 US on the "Enter Payment" page. Am I doing something wrong here, or will it show up as $94.00 US on the download files page after I confirm my order?

 

I am using Firefox with Windows Vista 64 bit software, this also happens to me when I try it Internet Explorer.

 

I could be very interested in a freshwater version of the marine keyword list if it is at all possible.

 

Thanks, I am looking forward to trying out the keyword list. It looks like it is just what I had been looking for.

[Giles 1]

Am I the only person in the world that loves using ACDSee Pro ??

 

Maybe I should give lightroom another go

[echeng 0]

p.s. Would a free 30 day trial delete all the keywords at the end? I reckon I could get all my files done in 30 days and then I'd have all the keywords of the species I commonly shoot on my system forever anyway!

 

Thanks for the thoughts, Alex. I'm glad you like the list!

 

A trial version would be a reduced version with maybe 10% of the species. We're thinking... all sharks, marine mammals, and maybe Caribbean fishes (for example). I'll know soon. But an "upgrade" to the paid version would be easy because you'd simply import the full version over the current one. It would have no effect on anything you've already keyworded.

 

For those of you having problems with the discount, try checking out with Paypal or Google. For some reason, the normal cart checkout won't accept the codes! I have a ticket in with our e-commerce provider's tech support.

 

I'll look into Photo Mechanic, ACDSee and Nikon Capture as well.

[echeng 0]

Good news! I've just put up a trial version, which includes keywords for 580 fish species, including angelfishes, butterflyfishes, damsels, parrotfishes and puffers.

 

 

You can download it on the product page: http://marinekeywords.com/products

[Dupsbear 1]

Hey guys -- we just launched a new product here at Wetpixel!

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I think it is important for people to know that there is no way to include all 2 million plus marine species in the world in any list. We have however, included over 12, 000 of the most commonly seen species, including bony and cartilaginous fishes, invertebrates, algae, corals, sponges, marine reptiles and marine mammals. I have been using this list, in one form or another, for the last year and can tell you I haven't seen any species that is not on the list. The Marine Life list cuts my keywording time down by about 90% and makes finding an image a breeze.

 

We tried to include several common names of a species, if that common name is used in many areas of the world. The problem with common names, is that they can change from region to region, even resort to resort. We used fishbase.org, many consider the authority in fish identification, as the guidelines for our common names.

 

If you have a common name you like for a particular species, it is very easy to add your common name to the keyword list.

 

Sorry for the long reply, but I thought readers might be enlightened by my commentary.

 

Thanks to all that have written so far,

Barry Guimbellot

[Tom_Kline 141]

A couple of questions:

What is the geographic scope outside of the tropics?

Are macro algae included?

Thanks

Tom

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Used this extensively while away in the Red Sea and it is so useful and easy to use. There is no way I could go back to old style keywording - the time saved on one trip more than justifies the price.

 

As it turned out the Red Sea was quite a challenge for the list. Mainly because of the high number of endemic species and the fact that not that many Americans travel there (although 1/3 of my group were from N. America). I found quite a few of the very common Red Sea endemics weren't in the list, such as "Red Sea bannerfish: Heniochus intermedius" and "sohal surgeonfish: Acanthurus sohal" (pictured below) - which you can see on every dive there. Plus the Red Sea is arguably the most dived destination in the world, so these aren't obscure examples.

 

 

 

It was very easy to add them - and file the names in the correct place. Which I have done to my list - but it would be great to be able add them to a central list online to increase the species coverage for everyone. Is there a way to do this?

 

Alex

[Dupsbear 1]

Hey guys -- we just launched a new product here at Wetpixel!

 

Renowned underwater photographer and educator Marty Snyderman, Dive Training's Contributing Editor Barry Guimbellot and Wetpixel's Eric Cheng have teamed up to create an importable keyword list designed for underwater photographers using Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture. The MarineLife Keyword List features keywords for over 12,000 species of marine wildlife, including common names, scientific names, and full taxonomy.

 

More information at:

http://wetpixel.com/keywords

($5 discount for Wetpixel readers)

 

Here's a video of me working with the keyword list:

 

Several people have contacted me to learn how to find images that either 1. do not have keywords attached or 2. images that have keywords, but none of our MarineLife species keywords.

 

In Lightroom, go to the Library module and activate the "Filter" feature above the grid image view. Use these following criteria for finding images without any keywords: TEXT--Keywords>Doesn't Contain>a,e,i,o,u.

This combination of criteria will show all images without any keywords.

 

To find an image that doesn't contain a species from our MarineLife Keyword list, use the following criteria to search: TEXT--Keywords>Doesn't Contain> :. (The last qualifier is a colon, without the period). Since our common name species keywords are "attached" to their genus and species with a colon, this combination of qualifers will show all images that have not had one of our MarineLife Keywords attached.

 

We hope this helps users find images that need keywords assigned.

 

Barry

[col 0]

Q for all LR (v2.3) users...

 

Not sure if this a LR quirk or (more likely) a user quirk

 

Once I have found my keyword, I have to manually select the full hierarchy (i.e. click each keyword one-by-one) instead of selecting the full hierarchy using the shift key - is there a better way I can do this like you can in Aperture?

 

For example - searching for "lemon sharks"...

 

 

If I select all using the shift key, LR will also add "bony fishes" to the keywords which I do not want. As such, my only work around is to click each keyword manually. Is this a LR thing?

 

Appreciate any help

[RedSeaDiver 0]

So when is V2.0 coming out? You know - the one with image recognition built in that automatically recognises the species in the image and adds the keywords automatically

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Once I have found my keyword, I have to manually select the full hierarchy (i.e. click each keyword one-by-one) instead of selecting the full hierarchy using the shift key - is there a better way I can do this like you can in Aperture?

 

If I select all using the shift key, LR will also add "bony fishes" to the keywords which I do not want. As such, my only work around is to click each keyword manually. Is this a LR thing?

 

If I want all the different lines then I do it manually. It only takes a couple of seconds to click on two or three lines, each time I do it I think of how much time I am saving not typing! Makes the clicking feel good.

 

The good thing is that one they are all highlighted they stay that way, even if you go into the library and start clicking on picture, making it easy to add them too all the shots you have of that subject very quickly.

 

So I don't have a solution for that one - but mainly because I haven't been looking for one.

 

Alex

[StephenFrink 9]

Another vote for Photo Mechanic.

Also Nikon Capture NX2

 

Ellen

 

Yet another vote for Photo Mechanic