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CBarrett

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DAM Question
« on: December 03, 2009, 08:59:35 am »

It's been a while since I've practiced any sort of Digital Asset Management.  Basically my workflow is like this...

1. Start shoot with a new session with chronological numbering system (ie.. 091201_Client_Subject)
2. Return to studio, connect to large monitor, edit imagery and fine tune color/exposure.
3. Close session and copy to "The Vault" (ext HD)
4. Open session on "The Vault", empty trash and process tiffs
5. Retouch finals on "The Vault" when complete, copy session folder to Backup Drive
6. Mirror Backup Drive monthly to safe deposit drive
7. After about a month or so delete session from laptop drive.

So, at this point it's pretty easy to find my work, but I really need to start cataloging, keywording and such.  I used to use iView Media Pro, which I liked well enough (now owned by MS).  I really haven't explored Lightroom since it doesn't meet my raw processing needs (damn LCC!).  Is LR up to digital management these days or is it more of a browser (like bridge).  A buddy of mine was telling me that he has some great plugins for LR that make updating his website really easy and he can make web proofs that clients can log into and comment on (all right in LR).

I guess it's time for me to learn another software.

Opinions?
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Weldon Brewster

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DAM Question
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2009, 09:19:15 am »

Mine is slightly different in that I name Client_subject_date.  That way everything for that client is grouped together on the server.  My goal is that in three clicks or less, anybody could find any job on my server.  My workflow for the files is very similar.

I love LR, it's easy and fast.  I don't use it to process raw files so I can't comment on that.  I need the LCC correction with C1 too :-)  There are some fantastic plugins for Lightroom.  Check out  Matthew Campagna's http://lightroom.theturninggate.net

Cheers,
Weldon
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ddk

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DAM Question
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2009, 10:00:00 am »

I recently tried MS Expression Media and hated it. First it doesn't support several of my cameras, older ones so a good chunk my files didn't work with it. 2nd the interface specially deleting from catalog is unintuitive and one can make the mistake of deleting the files instead of removing from catalog.

LR has Keyword search and cataloging capabilities but its effectiveness, like any other database, depends much on your own practices and numbering/keyword system. You should download a free copy of LR and try it out.
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Arlen

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DAM Question
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2009, 02:14:43 pm »

An excellent recent book on the subject is The DAM Book, 2nd edition, by Peter Krogh. It would also be worthwhile to visit The DAM Forum that Peter hosts. You'll find quite a bit of discussion there about using Lightroom for digital asset management, and are likely to get good answers to any questions you post about it.
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mtomalty

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DAM Question
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2009, 04:18:51 pm »

Chris,

I work somewhat differently than yourself but do adhere to a regular archiving process.
I gave up shooting for clients about a decade ago and shoot exclusively for the stock photography industry and to build
inventory for a budding print sales business.
As such, I generally edit and archive at the end of each month and usually add between  1K-2K new Raw images monthly
after all the real crap has been edited out.

I have been working this way for about a decade and started with Extensis Portfolio.  It had suited my purposes until about a
year ago when it really started to fall behind the eight ball and stop supporting new cameras.  The 5D Mkll, for example, is still
not supported and suggests to me that their days are done, at least for the retail client.

About three weeks ago, I decided to try the beta version of LR 3.0 to see how it handled larger catalogues of images.

So far, I've imported just under 75K images to a test catalogue and, to date, am very impressed with the performance and reliability of
LR 3.0 to act as I need-catalogue and access images by keyword when I need to go back into the files to process a submission,etc.

I have heard of a number of people with catalogues in excess of 200K images that don't report problems so I believe this will prove to be
a pretty decent solution.

As old habits die hard, I still plan to keep doing my rough edits and keywording in PhotoMechanic but, I have no doubts that LR will
perform these tasks without issue.

Best,
Mark
www.marktomalty.com
« Last Edit: December 03, 2009, 04:21:27 pm by mtomalty »
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marcwilson

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DAM Question
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2009, 09:31:14 am »

I like to know where everything is so for any shoot I start of course with the overall folder.

Then:

Ingest to a folder called Raw Edit with photomechanic either from card or from disk if shoot was tethered.
At this same time you can also ingest to a second backup location which is great.
During this ingest IPTC including copyright and general keywords are added, again very simple with contact details, copyright, credit, etc all easily added.
Then rough edit deleting unwanted and rename with job and sequential order.

Copy these files to folder called Process and do tight edit, again with PM, comparing duplicates, etc. ( i prefer Iview to tight edit duplicates but find it slower than PM)

In capture One process to folder called Processed and then delete Process folder and backup Processed.

Rename processed as Tiffs and open in Photoshop to finish.

Back up Tiffs folder, replacing  Processed folder.

Then catalogue Raw Edit and Tiffs folder files using Iview media which I do find clunky.

Some of this may seem redundant but it means I always know where my files are and what is new, backup, still to be worked on etc.

That said I've tried out Aperture recently, not using it's library but using files in their locations, and it does seem to do all these jobs quite nicely and quickly and it is nice in some ways to use just one piece of software all the way through. I may start to use it for cataloguing as it serves my fairly simple catalogue  needs quite well and I find it easier on the eye than Iview.
It is also quite nice for ingesting and comparing, not quite as quick, etc as PM to ingest but duplicate comparisons are fairly similar.
Raw processing from my canon files are close to C1 but I find C1 more intuitive to use.

Marc

Tried out Lightroom properly over the last few days for ingesting + editing + cataloguing.
It does these jobs very well.
Compared to aperture, nice for editing,  a little slower in previewing, etc but I do like the LR catalogue system...one catalogue for each external hard drive where my files are stored in different sections. Easy to access, understand, etc. Also these seem much smaller than the library (even with files referenced only) used In aperture...half gig versus 10 gig.
I do think these programmes are now as good as Photomechanic plus iview for ingesting, editing, cataloguing.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2009, 03:42:07 pm by marcwilson »
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