Digital Asset Management

pickerbw

I've had a DSLR for about a year, and am coming to the realization that my current image organizational methods aren't going to cut it much longer (Old school folder method by date, camera generated file name, no search capability). To further complicate matters, I shoot in RAW+JPEG because my wife doesn't know how to deal with RAW files and just wants to put her favorite pictures in random folders on the desktop and upload to smugmug... So, I'm starting to look into DAM software.

I use Capture NX 2 for my RAW processing, so I don't need that capability. My focus is something where I can catalog, wife can pick out her favorites and upload to smugmug, and keep things organized for posterity (so I can find those baby pictures of my daughter to embarrass her in 15 years when she brings her boyfriend home :rofl).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Brad

kwcrow

Lightroom is da bomb!

pickerbw wrote:

I've had a DSLR for about a year, and am coming to the realization that my current image organizational methods aren't going to cut it much longer (Old school folder method by date, camera generated file name, no search capability). To further complicate matters, I shoot in RAW+JPEG because my wife doesn't know how to deal with RAW files and just wants to put her favorite pictures in random folders on the desktop and upload to smugmug... So, I'm starting to look into DAM software.

I use Capture NX 2 for my RAW processing, so I don't need that capability. My focus is something where I can catalog, wife can pick out her favorites and upload to smugmug, and keep things organized for posterity (so I can find those baby pictures of my daughter to embarrass her in 15 years when she brings her boyfriend home ).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Brad

pickerbw

kwcrow wrote:

Lightroom is da bomb!

I don't need anything more for RAW processing. Do just the DAM capabilities of Lightroom really warrant a $300 price tag?

BradfordBenn

I highly recommend it. I use it to manage RAW and JPG and multiple cameras. You can download a trial from Adobe and see if it does what you want. I have about 12,000 images in there and searches are still very fast. So I can use it to very quickly search by keyword, IPTC data, create collections, date info, which camera.... etc.

CWSkopec

pickerbw wrote:

I don't need anything more for RAW processing. Do just the DAM capabilities of Lightroom really warrant a $300 price tag?

I had Photoshop long before I got a DSLR because I do a lot of graphic design work from home, so like you I didn't need another RAW processing program, and I had Bridge (bundled with Photoshop) where I tried to do my asset management from. On something of a whim one day, I downloaded the trial for Lightroom and haven't looked back since.

Lightroom's presets make processing much quicker if you don't need to do any layer masking, exposure blending, etc and the cataloging is incedible! I'd highly recommend giving the trial a shot. It'll take a little getting used to so be sure to stick with it through the trial and really put it through it's paces while you've got it because once you get your catalog in order, it's purely magical!

I don't use it often, but the ability to add images from different folders into a collection would surely benefit you as your wife could add her favorites to one single collection and access them that way. In the collection, they're all viewable together but they remain in their original folders so there would be no need for multiple copies in various folders on your desktop. Also, there's a plug-in for Lightroom that allows you to upload to SmugMug directly from Lightroom!

If all that's just not enough to out weigh the price tag after the trial expires, take a look at Picassa by Google. It's a free download and is a very capable asset management program. I haven't used it in a good amount of time so I can't comment on if it's got any of these features that Lightroom has (I suspect it does, but just not all) but you really can't beat the price of free.

My dad (my inspiration to get into photography) swears by a program called ACDsee. Their site shows a photo manager for $50 and a pro version for $200 so take a look. If Lightroom and Picassa don't do it for you, the $50 version might very well suit your needs.

Richard

If you are using Windows, there are two fairly popular catalog management programs available: IMatch, and IDimager. Both are more powerful database products than LR and they are quite a bit cheaper. OTOH, neither will give you as smooth a workflow as LR, and the learning curve for both is steeper. If you are not technically inclined, I think LR is probably a better choice. As Chris mentioned, Picassa and ACDsee are also worth checking out.

Dan7312

Expression Media http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/expressionmedia2/default.aspx is another digital asset manager. It started life as iView some years ago, Microsoft bought them, did some updates and added to its Expression products.

CTUphoto

Here's another thought....
Thought at all about PS Elements? I used version 7.0 for a while....intuitive interface....not quite the powerhouse that either PS or LR are--kind of the lite version of both programs, but i was able to pick up a copy on sale at Costco for around $50 which is a steal, if you ask me.

~jb

darkdragon

I love Lightroom but if you only need the DAM portion, I think Adobe Bridge would work for you. I have no idea if you can buy Bridge by itself - though it does come with Photoshop, so if you have PS CS-CS4 you will have Bridge.

pickerbw

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I will start with Picasa, since it's free, and see if I can get it to serve my needs. If not, you all gave me a lot of other programs to check out.

Thanks again!

Dan7312

Just for compleness Bibblelabs.com released Bibble 5 today. Bibble 5 is a combination DAM/image processor.

pickerbw wrote:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I will start with Picasa, since it's free, and see if I can get it to serve my needs. If not, you all gave me a lot of other programs to check out.

Thanks again!