Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers - Martin Evening [252]
Filter panel
The Filter panel allows you to view all the available metadata criteria associated with the files in the current Bridge window Content panel view. You can then choose single or cumulative criteria for filtering the images in the Content panel area. The Filter panel options are grouped into sections and as soon as you click on any item listed in the Filter panel, the contents of the Content panel are filtered accordingly.
Filtering shortcuts
The following shortcuts can be used to filter images in the Content panel:
show 1 or more stars
show 2 or more stars
show 3 or more stars
show 4 or more stars
show 5 or more stars
red labels only
yellow labels only
green labels only
blue labels only
Show all items
When managing large folders or hierarchies of folders, these filtering controls can really make it easier to narrow down an image search. For example, in Figure 11.38 you can see how Bridge was pointed at a folder where the image files in that folder were labeled using green and red labels and the ratings ranged from no rating to four stars. In this example, I clicked on the Red label plus the one, two and three star filters. This filtered the photos so that only those images with red labels plus one, two, three or four stars were displayed in the Content panel. Similarly, I could have gone to the Keywords section and clicked on one or more of the keywords listed there and made a filtered selection that was based on a combination of specific keywords. But wait, there's more… In the Filter panel you can filter images by other criteria such as: by file type, date created/modified, image orientation, speed ISO rating, camera serial number or copyright notice. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts shown in the sidebar to filter files by label or by rating.
In Bridge CS3 there was a Flatten View button in the Filter panel. This feature is still present in Bridge CS4 and CS5, but you will need to go to the View menu and select ‘Show Items from Subfolders’. If you then point Bridge at a folder that contains a nested group of subfolders, you can use this command to get a flattened view of all the subfolders in that particular folder. The only downside is that Bridge temporarily loses track of the master folder in the Folders panel, but this can easily be restored by deselecting ‘Show Items from Subfolders’ in the View menu. There is also a pin marker button in the Filters panel (circled in Figure 11.38). If you click this, it preserves and locks the filter criteria as you continue browsing. Just click again to cancel and clear the filter completely.
Figure 11.38 The Filters panel.
Metadata panel
The Metadata panel information is divided into several sections (Figure 11.39). The File Properties section lists the main file statistics such as file name and size, etc., while the IPTC sections contain the file-specific metadata information. To edit these, click in the field next to the metadata heading and type in the data you wish to enter (the pencil icons indicate where metadata items can be edited). When you are done, click the tick button at the bottom, or hit . How the remaining sections appear listed will depend on how the Metadata preferences have been configured (Figure 11.40). Some of the items you see listed here are specific to other CS5 suite programs, or specialist users. Basically, you can use the preferences dialog to determine which items you want to see displayed in the Metadata panel.
Figure 11.40 If you mouse down on the Metadata panel options (circled in Figure 11.39), you can open the Bridge preference dialog for the Metadata display content. Each metadata item has a checkbox against it, allowing you to show or hide individual items. Since it is unlikely that you will really want to see or use all the metadata items listed here, you can deselect the items you don't need. If the Hide Empty Fields box is checked, the checked items will only be displayed in the Metadata panel if there is an accompanying data entry.
Figure