Is there a future for DAM systems? Yes.
This blog seems to have turned into a discussion forum for DAM (digital asset management system) users. I don’t mind that, since this is an important subject for any professional photographer, and increasingly important also for non-professional “snappers”. One person who has contributed much to this discussion is the photographer Peter Russell, with whom I […]
“How I found my best Digital Asset Management (DAM) system” | Guest Post
Digital Asset Management software selection Mike Briggs is a London based photographer with a particular interest in travel photography, reportage and street photography. Mike needed to select a new DAM, digital asset management system, to manage his collection of 100,000+ images. He started looking at a very broad range of DAMs. Soon he narrowed the […]
What DAM system do you use? (poll)
I thought it would be interesting to see what DAM (Digital Asset Management) system people use, following all the discussion about it here. So here’s a poll. You can choose more than one DAM. If your DAM is not on the list, please leave a comment. See also other articles on the DAM search: Introduction: […]
Features and Functions that my Digital Asset Management System (DAM) should have
Here’s a detailed overview of functions and features that I would like to find in a Digital Asset Management System (DAM). This is a follow-up post to the previous one I did on DAMs that has attracted quite a lot of attention and comments. As I explained there, following the death, demise and discontinuation of […]
I am looking for a good DAM: Digital Asset Management software
What options are there to manage a library of photographs? DAM is short for Digital Asset Management. It usually refers to a software used to manage various digital files. In the photography world it usually refers to an application to manage the thousands or hundreds of thousands of image files that a photographer accumulates. You […]
Size matters. How to increase the size (Or: a short overview of a digital photography workflow)
Now that’s a heading that verges on the silly, isn’t it? I had a question today on “how do you uprez your files”. Here’s a little info. A little more than asked for perhaps. Size is important when it comes to photography. The images have to be of sufficient size to be published. A frequent […]
Cataloguing, listing, describing – a DAM thing to do
This post is mostly for the photographers who happen to read this blog. Having a large number of photos makes it imperative to have some way of managing them. I have close to 100,000 raw images and currently about 30,000 “developed” (processed) photos. It’s more than what I can keep in my head. For quite […]
Photo metadata – You know what it is?
If you’re a photographer, no doubt you do. If not, it’s perhaps not very likely. It’s the sine qua non for a photo that will be used for anything more than personal use, e.g. sold to someone. To put it simply (and not necessarily scientifically correctly), it refers to information about a picture. Often this […]
File names
For a change, a post on a different subject: intellectual property and copyright – and file names and naming conventions. I want to share with you a tip that I picked up from Peter Krogh’s excellent book The DAM Book (you can read my review of the book here – I highly recommend reading it). […]
A very good photo book
But not really about picture taking. But all the more important: The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers By Peter Krogh O’Reilly If you do digital photography (to any extent) this is a book you should read. And who does not work digitally today? The book deals with different aspects of digital asset management […]
Software Review: Backup and Storage
With all pictures saved on digital media backup and storage becomes of vital importance for the photographer. Give it a though: How many pictures do you have on, say, a 250GB external drive? Perhaps 13,000 (250GB divided by an average file size of 18MB) How much work do you have invested in that hard drive? […]
Software Review: Noise Reduction
Indispensable when you shoot in low-light conditions. You can do it in Photoshop with filter and some manipulations. I have found it easier (can’t say better, since I have not done any tests) to use a dedicated sw to do it. (BTW, if you are going to use noise reduction, you should do it at […]
Software review: Upsizing your picutres
You may find that your “developed” file is not big enough and therefore that you need to upsize it (scale it). There are different tools for that: Genuine Fractals onOne Software www.ononesoftware.com Recommended by many. Also referred to as Genuine Fractals PrintPro. From a workflow point of view the current version of GF is much […]
Book Review: Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users
Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users Andrew Rodney Focal Press [Have not yet read it but it has been highly recommended. It is on my “Wanted” list.] This is what Amazon says about it: “”Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users”, by Andrew Rodney, addresses the difficult subject […]
Raw File Processing – and some more
In my opinion, unless you like taking Polaroid snaps, you will be shooting in raw format. So you will need some kind of raw processing (development) software. Here are a few: Capture One Phase One www.phaseone.com In my opinion (but not in everyone else’s!) this is the best processing (“development”) software. It takes some time […]
Book Review: The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers
The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers By Peter Krogh O’Reilly [Have not yet read it but it has been highly recommended. It is on my “Wanted” list.] It was described to me like this: “One of the best workflow books I’ve read recently. I’m making some pretty major changes to my workflow because […]
Book Review – Real World Color Management
Real World Color Management Bruce Fraser, Fred Bunting, Chris Murphy Peachpit Press [Have not yet read it but it has been highly recommended. It is on my “Wanted” list.] This is what Amazon says about it: “Discusses concepts of color science and digital color and explores topics such as how to analyze a color-management system, […]
Digital Asset Management
If you’re really serious about managing your photos you should get a proper cataloguing application. There are a few out there. Neither is really, really good (but which software is that?). It’s not cheap but useful. You can typically try-before-you-buy. The two I have looked at and find useful are these two: Extensis Portfolio The […]
Book – Photoshop CS2 Workflow: The Digital Photographer’s Guide
Photoshop CS2 Workflow: The Digital Photographer’s Guide Tim Grey Sybex Inc. [Have not yet read it but it has been highly recommended] I have not found anything really good and concise written (in books or on the web) on digital workflow. Many have written useful bits and pieces (like Martin Evening with a book on […]
Digital Workflow
“Short and simplified overview of my digital workflow” Take a look at my photo book recommendations here. (outdated link) This is just an overview that I don’t necessarily follow slavishly and that is modified depending on the situation… The Workflow 1… Copy from card to PC. 2… Rename raw files to follow naming standard (sw: […]