Organising photos - tagging, searching (external drive, Windows 11)

daymobrew

I have my photos (all jpg, taken with Canon EOS 550D) on an external hard drive. They are only organised by date, nothing else. Obviously trying to find a particular photo is tedious.

What software would be good for making the photos searchable? Ideally the software would run from the external drive but that's not a deal breaker.

Over time I would like to add location info, names, occasion etc and be able to search. I think I tried darktable but didn't really understand how to add tags. If it's a recommended product I'll revisit.

I don't need photo editing.

From the list at https://expertphotography.com/best-photo-management-software/ it looks like Excire Foto and Corel Aftershot Pro could work.

Cameraman

Not quite the solution you're looking for - but I use Google Photos for this. I have all my personal/phone photos automatically added. Camera personal ones are uploaded from disk, phone ones are automatically copied.

The main advantages from my POV are :

(1) Acts as a secondary backup - I have proper backups as well

(2) I always have my personal photos available to show someone

(3) The image analysis is quite good - though not 100%. The phone automatically adds location data. So you can search for things like Bicycle Dublin.

It can be a bit hit-and-miss - but it's pretty good and often enough to allow me to find a particular photo.

(4) Automatically groups faces in images. Once again, not 100% - but surprisingly accurate

(4) Free - up to a limit - then a lowish charge per month/year. It's worth it for me.

28064212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058281934/organising-photos-tagging-searching-external-drive-windows-11

DigiKam may be worth a look: https://www.digikam.org/