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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bridge-Interface-2-1024x633.jpg?resize=782%2C483&ssl=1\")
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Bridge can make \u201cCollections\u201d (see picture with red box drawn around it). You can name a collection, and you will see that some of mine showing are
\u201cPictures \u2013 My pictures \u2013 Birds.\u201d
Whenever I take pictures, I spend a few minutes quickly classifying those pictures within Bridge by dragging any images I have taken into these \u201cCollections.\u201d
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For instance, I take a picture today, and I upload it into my picture folder. I name that folder October 24, 2020.
I open Bridge, and I look at the pictures within the October 24, 2020 folder.
I find any bird pictures, I highlight those pictures, and I drag them into
\u201cPictures \u2013 My Pictures \u2013 Birds\u201d collection folder.
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Bridge doesn\u2019t move my pictures from the October 24, 2020 folder. It just makes a mental note that I have bird pictures there, and it will put a thumbnail of that picture within \u201cPictures \u2013 My Pictures \u2013 Birds\u201d folder.
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This means when I want to find a picture of a bird, I just click on my collection, and Bridge pulls all my bird pictures from all the folders on my computer that I showed had a bird picture. Bridge can generate a preview extremely fast!
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It is easy to scroll through all my pictures within a \u201cCollection\u201d to find just the one I need. If I want a bigger picture and don\u2019t like the little icons, I tap my spacebar and see it on a large screen. You can also manually set your preview size with the slider on the bottom of the screen.
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You can go deeper with your organization. Bridge allows you to color-code your pictures, and you can rate your photos. If you have 10,000 images of birds and only want to see your five-star pictures, you click a button in Bridge and tell it to display only your five-star photos.
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The button beside your \u201cNew Collection\u201d button is the \u201cNew Smart Collection\u201d button. This button can read the metadata of images. So, if you love textures, you can click a \u201cNew Smart Collection\u201d name it textures, and let Bridge find all your textures on your computer.
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When I started many years ago, I was keywording all my pictures, so I could use the metadata, but it was too much work. I\u2019ve since moved into just having \u201cCollections\u201d and using those like big manila envelopes.
Because I now have many bird pictures, I\u2019m starting to break my Collections down into smaller chunks and organize by color or type. The hierarchy looks like this.
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Pictures \u2013 My Pictures \u2013 Birds
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Pictures \u2013 My Pictures \u2013 Birds -Red
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Pictures \u2013 My Pictures \u2013 Birds \u2013 Blue
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ETC.
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The key is to keep it the same with just a hyphen between the differentiating part so you can have alphabetical order help along.
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I keep the main bird folder and have subsets for a couple of reasons. First, it is insignificant for me to have Bridge remember it twice. Second, if I know I specifically want a red bird, I don\u2019t have to scroll through a bunch. If I am unsure of what I want, I can go to the main Pictures \u2013 My Pictures \u2013 Birds folder and scroll away.
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If you start using Bridge, I recommend taking a class to help you maximize this underrated program. I was surprised by the amount of features Bridge offers, and I\u2019m sure you will be too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"