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Photography Keyword Lists & Free Keywording Resources for Lightroom

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Commercial Keyword Lists for Photographers

Controlled Vocabulary - www.controlledvocabulary.com
They say: "Version 3.0 contains approximately 11,000 keyword terms organized in a hierarchical structure with segregated synonyms. A broad range of people, lifestyle, and concept themes are included."
The cost: "Lightroom CV Keyword Catalog + 1 yr. of subscription updates: $69.99"
See the full list of their 27 categories here: www.controlledvocabulary.com/products/index.html
To save you doing the math: 11,000 keywords @ $69.99 means you get 157 keywords for $1

D-65 Keyword List - www.d-65.com/downloads.html
They say: "D-65's keyword list contains over 8600 keywords in a hierarchical order to allow you to easily keyword your images in Lightroom."
The cost: "$99.95"
Their categories: Not fully listed online, though there are some incomplete screenshots on this page: www.d-65.com/blog/keywording-in-lightroom-3/
To save you doing the math: 8,600 keywords @ $99.95 means you get 86 keywords for $1

Foto-Biz Lightroom-Keywords - www.foto-biz.com
They say: "3500+ keywords in 21 categories and 175+ sub-categories. You can customize, enhance the list to fit your own needs."
The cost: "$24.95"
See a partial list of their categories and sub-categories on their homepage, above.
To save you doing the math: 3,500 keywords @ $24.95 means you get 140 keywords for $1

Keyword Catalog - www.keyword-catalog.com
They say: "Contains over 30,000 keywords, including phrases and synonyms, all laid out systematically."
The cost: "Personal User: $101.67, Business User: $203.35"
See the full list of their 39 categories here: keyword-catalog.com/files/categories.html
To save you doing the math: 30,000 keywords @ $101.67 means you get 295 keywords for $1

'Photo-Keywords.com' Hierarchical Image Keyword Catalog - (That's the site you are looking at now !)
We say: Our basic list contains approximately 33900 keywords in a defined hierarchical order that provides a logical path to easy keywording in a variety of programs, including Lightroom. In addition, there are 119 different versions of the list to choose from, each customized to the geographical area YOU are interested in, and containing location-specific lists of historic and natural sites, plants and wildlife, holidays and festivals.
Our cost: $49, which includes 1 year of free updates from your date of purchase. All versions cost the same.
Our categories: There are 7 main categories, 100 sub-categories, and 819 sub-sub and deeper level categories. See the Keyword Categories page for more information.
To save you doing the math: 33900 keywords @ $49 means you get 691 keywords for $1

 
How do these costs compare?

Graph showing comparative cost of keyword lists

Other Commercial Keyword Lists for Photographers

Nick Potter - www.nickpotter.net/lightroom-keywords
7 short keyword lists. Total words: a few hundred. Subjects covered: Geography, Animals, Colours, Natural Landforms, Bodies of Water, Buildings, and Weather. Possibly a useful starting-point for construction of your own lists, but not suitable for off-the-shelf keywording.
The cost: "$5"

Free Keyword Lists for Photographers

There are a variety of free photographic keyword lists available on line, though none meet the requirements for a complete controlled vocabulary that you could safely use to start tagging a large photographer portfolio. However, there are some good efforts going on, and free is always good, especially for the more specialized lists, so I'm pleased to support and list them here. If you know of any more, please contact me, and I will add them to this list.

Specialized Keyword Lists for Photographers

Thesaurus for Graphical Materials

The U.S. Library of Congress provides an interesting list for image cataloging called the 'Thesaurus for Graphic Materials'. Unfortunately, it is formatted in XML format, and is thus not usable in most photo storage software. I produce a specially formatted version of this list that is suitable for direct import into Lightroom and other image storage software. To learn more, visit the Thesaurus for Graphical Materials page.

Commercial Product Taxonomies

I have a number of processed product taxonomies available: Amazon, Bing, eBay and Google. These have been formatted for direct import into Lightroom and other image storage software. To see them, visit the Product Taxonomy page.

Useful Data for Building your own Keyword Lists

Online Keywording Tools

Programs that use my Keyword List

Lightroom Resources

Lightroom Blogs

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