I have a zillion questions, but let me just offer an overview. If you have time to just skim through it and offer a few general suggestions, it would be a big help.
I have several very big websites, with thousands of images. I’ve made some images with Photoshop, while I’ve obtained others from the Internet or by scanning into my MacBook Pro.
I want to reorganize my images, so they’re easier to work with. I’d like to start by assigning metadata, like key words. If possible, I’d like a software program that keeps track of images that are renamed or moved to different location. It would also be nice if I could somehow link images to their “parents.” For example, if a Photoshop file named State_Headers.ps is used to make headers for each of the 50 states (e.g. arizona.jpg), then it would be nice if I could link arizona.jpg to State_Headers.ps.
I have Apple’s Aperture program, which allows me to use metadata. One problem, however, is that it creates a separate library of images, eating up more disk space. Though that’s useful for some tasks, I’d also like to find a program that more or less creates a blueprint of images on a particular website. For example, imagining typing in “MySite/images” and allowing this program to index all the images, which I can then add metadata to and link to parents.
I’m now subscribed to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, so I have access to programs like Bridge, Lightroom, etc. However, I haven’t yet figured out exactly what they do and how they work together.
A simpler way of asking my question might be something like this: What Adobe program(s) would be roughly equivalent to Apple’s Aperture and Finder’s “Smart Folders” feature? Or are there even better image managing programs outside Apple and Adobe?
Thanks.