Using Microsoft Image Properties

You can help organize your pictures without purchasing any fancy software if you make use of the Image Properties functions on any Windows PC. A great deal of information about the picture will already be embedded with it, but you can add descriptions, title, author (photographer), and most interestingly keywords which will tag the photo in a search.


From any file folder that contains images chose one and right click, then select properties. The list I am showing is in text, but you might have the thumbnails displayed. That doesn't matter.


On the General tab you can change the name of the image in case you haven't already named it something other than the camera-assigned number. Don't forget to leave the extension, this will not be added automatically! Notice all the information held here- when the file was created, its size and any time it was modified or accessed.


On the Summary tab, things get interesting! Add another title if you like, subject and author. These are all optional. Sometimes I do this, sometimes not.

The part I really like is keywords. This is like having the ability to place one image in several file folders or categories. Let's say you have a picture of a stunning scarlet maple leaf. Keywords might be red, trees, autumn, color, maple, leaves. Sometime, months later you would like to find all your pictures of maples. From the Windows start menu, click "Search," and then photos. Add the word "maple" to your search field, and all the photos that you have tagged with the keyword "maple" will be located!

In the Comments field you can give more detail. I like to use this to include more specific information about a picture. To continue to maple leaf example I might say "Tree in the SW corner of Mr. Smith's field." If I have two or more shots that I want to keep of the same thing I might add something like "full leaf" or "closeup of veins." Information like this is useful when it's hard to tell two thumbnail images apart and you don't want to bother to open the image to full size.


Finally, if you click the Advanced button from the General tab, you can see lots of detailed information about the image such as f-stop, shutter speed, resolution, and much more.

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