Part 15a - Organizing, Storing and Retrieving Photo Image Files

It's called "Film"

Back in the "olden days" (pre-2002) when I was the Director of the Time-Life Photo Lab and before the company's conversion to digital photography, we would process hundreds of rolls of film each day for the organization's 135 magazines. It wasn't unusual for Sports Illustrated to shoot 600 to 800 rolls of 36 exposure film at major sporting events like the Super Bowl. This shooting pace using multiple photographers resulted in 21,000 to 28,000 images that had to be down-selected, edited and eventually stored. It was a huge, deadline-driven workload and responsibility for each magazine's photo editor and staff.

It would seem the organizational and storage challenges couldn't get more complex. Then digital cameras and the advantages of digital editing entered the scene.

The new "film"

There is little argument among most photojournalists that digital photography has given them more flexibility and options. At the same time, the old 36 pictures per roll of film limitation has "bitten the dust". With camera storage cards of 8, 16, and 32 gigabytes available at reasonable costs and the ability to use and re-use these devices for years, the number of images that can be taken at any event has increased dramatically. (That's about 200 RAW files on each 4 GB card or the equivalent of more than 5 rolls of traditional film.) The result is "digital film" that is nearly free but even more images to organize, store and retrieve.

Regardless of your photographic status -- beginner to pro -- the challenge is the same. What do I do with all these image files?

It didn't take long for manufacturers of imaging software like Adobe and Apple to recognize the problem (along with considerable input from professional photographers) and the sales potential for a software solution. Today, there are many options for bringing order to this chaotic situation. Every solution has it own strengths and weaknesses.

I will use Adobe's Lightroom features to highlight possibilities that the majority of these image file organizing applications bring to our craft. I recommend you read this overview to understand the basic features of image organizing applications and then research available software that is in your budget range and fulfils your organization and storage needs.

Adobe Lightroom's Desktop
Yes, I know it's a small picture. I'll zoom into the important areas as necessary.

Features common to most image organizing software include:

• ability to import images from folders on your hard drive or camera storage card
• ability to place imported images into specific locations that can be cataloged and stored
• ability to add to, alter and edit the metadata attached to each image (see Part 14 of this iDarkroom primer for a discussion of metadata)
• ability to rank your images (from good to bad)
• ability to search and display all images being stored
• minor to major capability to perform image adjustments -- usually a non-destructive process where changes you make are recorded without altering your original image
  
• ability to print a selected image
• and optionally, the ability to produce an on-screen slide presentation and/or on-line picture gallery.

This post will focus on the organizing and file storage features of programs like Lightroom and Apple's Aperture.

Lightroom functions are selected from bar menu in upper right hand corner of workspace

The image file organizational features of Lightroom are contained in the Library mode as highlighted in the image above.

Importing Images Into the Library

Typically pictures can be brought into these programs in two ways:

• from a location on your computer or network (i.e., from a folder or directory)
• directly from your camera or card reader.

Using either method in Lightroom produces an import menu as seen below. All of the remaining discussion in this post takes place on this menu.

Lightroom's Image Import Screen

The selections you make on this screen set all the import parameters. Like similar programs, Lightroom's import feature contains these basic common elements:

• thumbnail images of the pictures to be included and excluded (based on the user's selections) during the import
• navigation menu for selecting the storage location on your hard drive
• a method to allow the user to alter the filenames as they are being imported
• a metadata entry box.

Organization Begins Here

I have created a master folder on my desktop that contains all the images imported to Lightroom. Besides having everything in one place, this arrangement makes it much easier to backup all of my image files by copying this single folder to another hard drive or CD/DVD. Inside this folder are individual folders -- one for every shooting event.

Lightroom's window for selecting storage location for imported image files

Creating this dedicated folder in the main Lightroom image folder is accomplished from the import menu -- Copy to/choose button. From the menu, I select my "LR_Image_Storage" folder (highlighted in yellow above). Then, selecting the "New Folder" button, I name the folder that will contain the images to be imported (highlighted in green above) -- in this case Sunset Falls.

Note: Other file import location options are available in Lightroom (i.e. importing and erasing original copies or importing from current location without moving files to a new folder). However, the options described in the last paragraph are most typical and common to similar programs.

Moving on. Normally, when files are copied, the filenames remain unchanged. In Lightroom and similar programs, the file names can be optionally changed as the files are imported. The "File Naming" options are shown in the drop down menu shown above. This option allows you to choose a naming convention that you prefer for your images. In this example, the "Filename" selection is chosen -- meaning the original file names will NOT be changed.

File Naming and Metadata Information Selections

After selecting the template for File Naming, the remaining options concern information that will be applied as metadata to EVERY image imported.

Develop setting: I have never used this option. This drop down menu allows special effects to be added to EACH image as it is imported (i.e., toning, changing to black and white). Since this setting affects every image imported, I have never had a reason for using this option. Normally, leave this set to "None".

Metadata: Again, any choice made here is applied to EVERY image imported. From this menu, any template that has been defined can be selected. In my case, I have set up a predefined template that contains my name and copyright information. This is the information I want applied to every imported image. The template is called "TEH Generic" and is selected above in yellow.

Keywords: This space is provided for entering "keywords" that are descriptive and common to EVERY image being imported. The words you enter here (separated by a comma) are a major component for organizing and retrieving specific image files later from the thousands of files on your hard drive. Take your time with this step and choose your keywords carefully.

Almost done. Make certain the image you want to import has been selected. In Lightroom, images are selected in the check box above each thumbnail preview (shown in green circles). Click the "Import" button.

So, what's going on inside the computer?

• The image is copied from the camera's data card to the folder "Silver Falls" inside my main folder "LR_Image_Storage"
• The name is changed to the format I selected (in this case I asked for the original file name to be used for the copied file).
• The original image files on the data card are erased -- if I selected that option.
  
• The metadata I specified and keywords are saved along with each individual image.
• Thumbnail images are created to be used when viewing the pictures in Lightroom.

All of this import process can take some time depending on the number of images being imported. Be patient. The program will tell you when the process is complete.

We've taken some big steps in organizing our photographic life. This import has laid the foundation for eventually being able to find any image among thousands in record time. So far, everything that's been done has been applied to EVERY image being imported. The next article in this blog series, Part 15b, will show you how these software programs take this organization process to the individual image level to make image retrieval quick and easy.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Part 6 - Which Digital Imaging Software Is Best?

Understand from the outset that I will not be answering this question. I will share with you the software that I use and will be most frequently cited in this iDarkroom blog. I will also let you know the reasons I selected the software I use. In the end, the choice of software is a personal decision. Fortunately, most major software producers now offer you the opportunity to try and then buy. You wouldn't buy a car before test driving it. Today, your software decisions can be made taking the same precautions.

So, I started with Adobe Photoshop long before it had any numbers or letters (CS3) after its name. We've had a long and mostly friendly relationship. There's a lot of "comfort factor" and "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" in my resistance to software change. Within the last 2 years, I have added Adobe's Lightroom to my imaging software suite. For me, this is the perfect imaging duo.

I am also an avid Macintosh user. (Strange for a guy who used to work at Hewlett Packard.) Apple's Aperture software is the competing product to Lightroom. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about Aperture. And I know photographers who are die hard Aperture users. My Lightroom decision was initially based on a self-imposed requirement. Because of the photographic instructional presentations I make, I wanted all my programs to be compatible with both Macs and PCs. At the moment, Aperture is limited to Macs only.

Knowing what I now know after using Photoshop and Lightroom together for almost 2 years, I would strongly recommend that new photographers just entering the iDarkroom take a serious look at Lightroom or Aperture as their first imaging software purchase. I make this suggestion for several reasons:

• They both have the editing/correction features that first time users most need.
  
• Both have extensive image file cataloging and management features (affectionately known as DAM -- Digital Asset Management -- in the industry).
  
• They both cost less than Photoshop.
  
• They are relatively easy to learn (compared to the more complex and extensive Photoshop).
  
• Much of Lightroom's look and feel is shared with Photoshop.
• Lightroom is tightly integrated with Photoshop.

The last two reasons are important if you ever decide to break into the piggy bank and purchase Photoshop. With the recent release of Lightroom 2, even more features have been added.

For me, Lightroom (and the same can probably be said of Aperture by its advocates) has made my photographic life much simpler. These programs bring instant organization and simplification to the photographer's worst nightmare -- cataloging, consistent metadata/keyword usage, and image retrieval. This DAM capability allows you to:

• Import your images from your data card, enter metadata (see definition at end of this blog) and preview your images in record time,
• Group images based on your criteria,
• Sort instantly through thousands of images and be presented with only images relevant to your search by using keywords and the incorporated image rating techniques.

Shown here is Lightroom's Library Screen. In this case, I asked for all pictures of Alaska. I was presented with 1,000 pictures that were Alaska specific in thumbnail previews in the center of the screen - like a traditional contact sheet.

For the beginning DSLR user, keeping track of all those digital files can be overwhelming. (Consider the wedding photographer who may take 500 or more images at each event.) Here's a way to organize all your images as well as all the information about each image and to have the files always at your fingertips.

If that isn't enough these programs provide extensive image editing capabilities:

• Histograms of each image
• Color Correction
• Exposure Control
• Option to apply the same corrections to "batches" of images
  
• Contrast Correction
• Hue, Saturation and Luminance Control
• Sharpening
• Cropping
• Image Straightening
• Red Eye Reduction
• Special effect filters/plug ins
  
• and more.

In Lightroom's "Develop" section, I have complete editing and correction control with the array of tools at the right and bottom of the image. Notice the excellent histogram in the upper right hand corner -- complete with "out of limit" indicators.

Best of all, you are working in a "non-destructive image editing" environment. Your original image is never altered and always available. Any image editing changes you make are placed in a separate file and applied to the image each time you view the preview, export the file or print the image. In this way, making multiple copies of a file as you make creative changes is no longer necessary. Lightroom "remembers" your corrections, but doesn't alter the original image in the process.

There are other features in both programs (Lightroom and Aperture) that are gravy to the main cataloging and editing features most of us require:

• Ability to produce slide shows
• A multitude of print output and formatting options
• Options for using the images on the web
  
• Ability to export (single or multiple files) to specified file formats and image sizes
• And so on...

As your skills and confidence grow, you can always move to an advanced image editing program like Photoshop.

(But between you and me, because I'm pretty careful about how I compose and expose my images, Lightroom's image editing capabilities have caused me to rely much less on Photoshop. Don't tell Adobe.)

But don't take my word for it. Do the "try then buy" thing. Check out Adobe and Apple's websites for their features, specifications and photographers' testimonials then download the trial versions. And decide for yourself.

The good new is: Whether you ultimately decide on Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture or other high end editing software, they will all have more capability and flexibility than you will need for quite some time.

Metadata definition: Metadata is text information either automatically or manually entered and included with every DSLR image. This information provides a complete history of the image (camera, model, f/stop, shutter speed, date, etc). In addition, information can be included about the photographer, captions, copyright and the all-important KEYWORDS. This data is contained within the image file and is available for use and modification by editing and cataloging software. See Part 14 of this iDarkroom Primer for a more complete explanation of Metadata.

I hope my experience with image editing software has answered some of your questions. If you have questions or comments, you know where to find me.