Adobe Bridge Rating System
July 18th, 2007,One of the less used features of Adobe Bridge, which I find remarkably useful, is the rating system. On the off chance that someone goes look for examples of how to use this system, I thought I’d outline my methodology.
Bridge gives you the option of rating through stars, 1 to 5, and color coded labels.
While reviewing my photos with a client, or the rest of the shooting team on site (eg, at the time of the shoot)…
- star means the image is blurry, poorly exposed, or otherwise suffers from a technical issue.
- stars means that the photo is poorly composed, closed eyes, bad facial expressions.
- stars is a technically accurate, yet lack luster photograph.
- stars are given to a photo which I like on initial impact, but which has caused no response from the client/team.
- stars are for the photos that someone responds to verbally. If anyone makes any kind of noise while looking at the photo, I give it 5 stars at this stage.
In other words, each shot which displayed technical inaccuracy gets 1 star. Compositional, color balance, or other aesthetic inadequacies get 2 stars. Depending on mood, I may either leave 3-star photos unrated at the initial view, or not. The four star photos will be the ones I return to at my leisure, while the 5 star photos are the first for me to edit.
After this first edit, I will review the photos again after a few days. By filtering for 1+ stars, then 2+ stars, and then 3+ stars, I can easily judge the areas of my competence which may need more practice. I then review the 5 star photos, and try to select the worst of these photos, lowering them to 4 stars, or selecting the best of similar images. My aim is to end with either 5 or 10 (depending on shoot length) images remaining at the 5 star rating.
From this point on, I will only show other people my 5 star photos (what I refer to as Exhibition Quality Negatives), unless they are particularly interested in the final outcome (client needing more photos, model wants a photo from a different part of the shoot). Without dire need, I will not show anyone a 3 star or lower rated photo.
The color labels are used during my production process for larger groups of images, or for collage/manipulation projects. The color labels have been relabeled Worked On, Problematic, Finished, Printed and Archived.