Datacatch Tips
Using Datacatch to store and catalog your digital photos
Whether you're a professional photographer or a keen amateur, you've invested time and effort creating your images, so it makes sense to look after them in a way that ensures they're stored safely and easy-to-find.
That's why you need a DAM (Digital Asset Management) system in place. In photography, DAM refers to the entire process undertaken from taking or scanning the digital photo to editing, printing and storing the finished image.
You probably already have some kind of DAM in place but it's important to put a valuable system in place so that all your images are organized, stored safely and easy-to-find.
The digital photographer's workflow
A typical workflow looks like this:
1. Take photos, usually to flash memory
2. Transfer the images to your computer
3. Prepare images for editing: delete any unwanted images and clean-up any that might need the brightness, contrast or color balance corrected
4. Perform detailed editing: touch-up the images by cropping, checking the color saturation, adjusting filters and adding any special effects
5. Save finished images: assign names and metadata, and convert RAW format to TIFF or JPEG as required
6. Distribute images in required format, e.g. copy to DVD for a client, create a slideshow, copy to a web site, or print
7. Archive the finished images
Here are some tips to make things easier for you
When taking digital photos
- If your camera supports it, shoot images as RAW files to capture additional information that can't be saved as a JPEG file. Note: special editing software may be required to edit and convert these files.
- Turn off any camera features you don't need, e.g. in-camera processing and special-effects. Any feature that requires the camera to make computed calculations before the shot is taken will increase shutter lag.
- Turn off red-eye reduction. It will make your subject blink just as the real flash fires and your image-editing software can do a better job of removing it later.
- Be aware that the image you see in the LCD can be misleading. Do a test exposure to make sure you're capturing what you want to.
- Carry a notebook with you and use it to record the photo numbers as assigned by the camera with a description of the subject and settings as you shoot.
Transfering images to your computer
- Download your images using Firewire or USB 2.0 directly from the camera if possible. This is faster than using a card reader
- Use commercially available photo album software to group images into logical albums or catalogs
- Batch re-name all your images in an album or catalog them to include details such as category, subject, date and the sequential number that is added automatically by the computer
- Create a back-up copy of the original images by copying them to a removable hard drive or burning them to CD or DVD
- After creating a back-up delete the images from your flash memory. It's a good idea to re-format cards using your camera instead of your computer to ensure the card can still be read by your camera
Preparing your images for editing
- Don't be afraid to delete the images you don't need. Choose the best and delete the rest.
- Do basic editing to save you time later. Rotating vertical images or matching the exposure and contrast of sequence shots will make it easier when you do more detailed editing later. There are lots of software applications available to help you with these tasks.
- After initial editing show the images to your colleagues, clients and friends to suggest more detailed editing that might be required. Use the photo album software mentioned above
- Create a back-up copy of the prepared images. You can either add it or overwrite the back-up you created in the previous step.
Editing your images
- Incorporate the feedback from others to make the final images look the way you want. This may include cropping, adjusting the brightness or color saturation, correcting red-eye, removing undesired objects, or applying filters.
- Use JPEG2000 for archiving lossless versions of your images to save disk space.
- Copy the results of your editing progress to a rewriteable CD or DVD at regular intervals especially before you do things like pasting a clipboard image into the original image or making knock-outs. You'll be able to go back quickly to previous versions of the image if required.
Saving your finished images
- Make your file names and metadata details clear and easy-to-understand for future reference.
- Consider including the copyright details and a web or email contact address for images that will be made available over the Internet.
- Convert RAW images to either JPEG or TIFF. TIFF files are larger than JPEG files but will retain the full quality of the image. JPEG files are best for images to be used on the web.
- Create a back-up of the edited images by copying them onto a removable hard drive or burning them onto CD or DVD. This should be retained in addition to the back-up of the original, unedited images you created previously.
Distributing images
- If providing images to a client on optical disc consider using a removable media cataloging utility like Datacatch Librarian to create a record of what was provided to them. If your client contacts you in future looking for an image you will be able to tell them which of their discs it's on and the path and file name they need to locate that image.
- If burning images to discs to share with friends and family consider turning them into a slideshow with music to add a bit of fun. There are many commercially available software applications to help you do this.
- If distributing images over a website create a low resolution thumbnail version to display on the web page that links to the higher resolution version that can be downloaded.
Archiving finished images
- Manage your back-ups by using a removable media cataloging utility like Datacatch Librarian. This will automatically catalog your media, provide powerful search facilities to quickly locate and retrieve any image, allow you to browse for images by thumbnail, and will report functionality and other tools to help you manage your archived media.
- Store your back-ups and archives using high quality media, e.g. if you're using optical discs for storage it's worth spending extra on good archival quality discs.
- Use commercially available optical disc storage units to protect and organize CDs and DVDs. These units provide protection against dust and UV light and allow you to record the exact location of each disc.
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