Learning Library / Start here
How to · 4 min
Rate, tag, group, and find
Use albums for projects and tags for ideas that cross projects.
A useful archive answers two questions: which photographs belong together, and how will you find one again? Albums and tags solve different parts of that problem. A “Quiet Roads” album can include cars, fences, and landscapes; a “chrome” tag can span many shoots.
The method
Step by step.
- Select a thumbnail, then use Image Properties to add a rating or comment. Keep a consistent personal meaning for each star rating.
- Type an album name in Albums and press Enter. An album groups references to photographs; it is not a second exported copy of each image.
- Add specific tags such as classic car, mist, countryside, or evening light. Apply shared tags to a selected group when appropriate.
- Use Library Search for filenames and indexed metadata. Inspect results and use filters or sorting to narrow the selection.
- Mark frequently visited folders as favorites. Use My Albums and My Tags as alternate paths back into your work.
Keep this close
Control reference.
- Rating
- Your selection or quality judgment.
- Comment
- Context you do not want to lose.
- Album
- A named body of work.
- Tag
- A reusable descriptive label.
At your own pace
Try it.
Group five pictures into “Quiet Roads,” then tag only the car photographs “classic car.”
Watch for
Search and Filter use filenames, cached metadata, ratings, tags, albums, comments, and other indexed fields.
Monochrome Lab Pro workflow guide. Interface details may evolve. Example settings are creative starting points, not automatic corrections.