EXCITEd about EXCIRE!!

Another day at the computer. Yep. The learning curve can get you down sometimes!
So you know that feeling of, [deep breath]“…sigh… more software and plugins to learn….” ?
Doesn’t it feel like the technology age is burying us with new things so often that we lose our excitement? Don’t you get weary of testing out stuff? (maybe you tech-heads don’t!)

A savvy colleague of mine, Skip Cohen, just introduced me to one of the coolest and magical new plug-ins I’ve seen in a long time. It’s called **EXCIRE Search** [a plug in for Lightroom Classic]. And the appeal is doubled because it is USEFUL! Add on the “magic” it seems to possess, and you’ve got something you need to take for a spin!

I am an avid Lightroom user and overall photo enthusiast. Well, I affectionately call myself a Photomaniac–in the most positive light, of course. (smilie) Now that I do a lot of travel and do a lot of teaching, I am gathering images of all the cool places I go and capturing all sorts of moments, textures, colors; and simply, whatever strikes my fancy. Interpretation: LOTS OF PHOTOS. MASSIVE SERVER. I also love color. ColorFreak to be exact! [Even my Playa Name at Burning Man is “Colorgirl” ] I have all these images and cool ideas in my head; books I want to publish, themes that run in my blood and compel me to take more pictures….. Yeah, that takes time and a lot of digging to assemble those images that are compiled over years.

I am always working on the next volume of Flowers. My flower obsession of decades means there are flower images littered among EVERY folder of images. *no exaggeration. And yes, I’m working on some color themes as well. (have you seen my Pinterest boards? #itsalltrue) @suzetteallen

So, with all this in mind, you can imagine what kind of time this represents, digging through files in LR. Oh but, how about just using keywords? Of course, that’s a lovely idea…. do any of us have a good habit or discipline of properly keywording ALL our images? Yeah, me either.
Enough painting the picture. You probably get it. And you may even feel some of my familiar pain! Well, let me just tell you how happy I am to have found EXCIRE!!!! (yes, ms. Grammar, I just used FOUR exclamation marks!)

It’s crazy how it works to find images for you, based on a sample image or even a color!

 

So, for my first spin with it, I broke out the instructions. Yes, I am That Girl. (not a guy) haha. Check it out: the instructions are a small grey 5×6-ish card with a few commands. What? Really? This might be easy! (see left)

 

The initial thing is to initialize your catalog. I have over 65,000 images in my current catalog, so it took a while. (I was smart and started it in the evening and resumed in the morning) But hey, you only have to do that once! Once that is done, you can just choose any image and go to the Library menu dropdown and choose Search by Example Photo.

 

 

Amazing. I played with it for a while… choosing the image or just the color… you have lots of options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will make a collection called “Excire Search”. Sometimes, (especially if you have your collection number set too high) it will gather images that don’t really qualify. I just selected everything in the Excire Search Collection, made a new Collection (like Bokeh) and then simply deleted any images that just didn’t fit the profile I was going for. Simple.

A side benefit is that it dredges up all these images you haven’t seen for years and completely forgot about! A side DISTRACTION is that is dredges up all these images you haven’t seen for years and completely forgot about! So, of course, you get caught up in reminiscing and perusing that trip to Japan you took in ’05. Seriously. It happened. BUT—it was a much better way to spend 15 fun minutes than poking my eyes out hunting for pictures thru the catalog for HOURS! AND Excire Search finds images I would have never remembered or considered to match my theme! Wow! I feel so inspired — and then my vision expands! Seriously. It happened.

Here are a few searches and themes I have been experimenting with:
Colorful Nights: It collected images over an 8 year span from the State Fair, Disneyland, Japan, Branson, etc.

Fuscia/Red: not just flowers…. So many good images-but a few random house shots! (delete!)

Fall colors: great shots from trips I don’t even remember

Architecture: Steeples and perspective windows from Orlando to Bodie Ghost Town, CA!

I’m feeling really inspired and motivated to resume my book-projects, but also dreaming of more. Excire Search will find faces and even find similar images to one that is outside your catalog. Like maybe you need a stock photo like you saw on a website ad–you can search within your own images for something similar!

Overall, I can say I’m pretty impressed with Excire Search and will be using it a lot more as I journey forward on my coffee table books and fine art projects! Check it out at Excire.com and if you are interested in purchasing, certainly use my code, thanks! #AffiliateLINK

Thanks for checking it out!