Keep Photography Inspiration Separate From Your Photo Catalog

An inspiration library serves a different purpose from selecting, developing, and delivering a photo shoot. Use it to compare light, framing, gesture, and setting. Keep your original shoot catalog and editing history intact in the tools that manage them.

Keep the collection useful

Organize source sets by shoot or origin. Add tags for the qualities you need to retrieve, such as window-light, wide-context, or hand-gesture. Keep creator and source information; a visually similar photograph does not establish the same lighting setup. To trim a large inspiration folder, start a Review and press V for culling mode: Up keeps a file, and Down moves it to Trash. Review's Fewest tags first order brings barely tagged files forward, and the details header shows each file's source link.

Build the working selection

Build a refern canvas for the planned shoot with a small set of references and notes. Keep alternatives distinct. A close crop may explain a detail, while the full frame shows the context that makes it work.

Find and use the references

Use color and similarity search as ways to find candidates, then inspect each image. Add aspect:portrait or aspect:landscape to match the orientation of the frame you plan to shoot. If importing photo keywords, test supported embedded metadata on a sample. Previewing a RAW or other format does not mean refern imports its edit history, external catalog, or XMP sidecar.

Check the handoff

Use the photo-editing workflow for calibrated color and production delivery. A reference board does not replace a release, usage license, or shoot specification. Back up both your photo originals and the separate reference workspace.

Normal refern workspace indexing reads existing files in place. Imports and file actions can create or change files. Back up the source media and workspace data that preserves your organizing work.

Continue with Check Which Photo Metadata Transfers Into refern.