April 2009 - Digital Group Mtg - Image Management Software

Meeting Notes March 2009 to 2018.
Post Reply
spb
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:04 pm

April 2009 - Digital Group Mtg - Image Management Software

Post by spb » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:10 pm

We spent a lot of time this month on Image Browsing and Organising Software. This is covered in some detail below. Apart from this we struggled with U3-enabled USB memory sticks once again. Unless you really want to run programs from your USB stick I would recommend that you uninstall any U3 software which is a constant annoyance and prevents us from opening images from within Photoshop. Thanks to Mike Hynes who has found these links on removing U3;
General instructions
Sandisk instructions

Whilst on the subject of USB memory, it would help if you could name your USB stick. Simply right-click it in My Computer and then choose Rename..... The chosen name will be associated with the memory stick wherever you use it.

IMAGE BROWSING AND ORGANISING SOFTWARE

In the past, with modest numbers of JPG images, Windows Explorer has been sufficient for most people to browse and organise their images. As the quantity of images has increased and in particular with the advent of RAW images, Explorer has failed to keep pace and we need better tools. There are hundreds of software applications available but I have reviewed a handful which seem to have a good reputation. The software falls into two broad categories; Browsers and Databases.

IMAGE BROWSERS

I require an image browser to do the following;
- thumbnail and preview all image types quickly including RAW images
- bulk re-name and re-size images
- automatically rotate images to match the original orientation of the camera
- create a simple full-screen slideshow
- recognise embedded colour profiles and display images correctly

Extra facilities such as the ability to perform simple image corrections, pick selections of images, view camera settings, and manage non-image files are beneficial if they do not interfere with ease of use.

WINDOWS EXPLORER (free with Windows)
Although RAW Viewer and Re-sizer add-ons are available from Microsoft XP Powertoys , these have not been updated for years and the Explorer failed to thumbnail almost half of my test images. It also failed in many other areas including auto-rotation, colour management and re-naming. The poorest of all tools here. Nevertheless it remains adequate as a general purpose file manager for Windows.

ADOBE BRIDGE (free with Photoshop CS and also with Photoshop Elements on the Mac only)
Providing good features in all areas, Bridge may be sufficient for your needs if you already own any recent version of Photoshop CS. The only significant shortcoming is bulk re-sizing, for which you will need to use CS itself. Bridge is also slow to load and cannot be purchased without Photoshop.

XNVIEW (free download)
This application has developed from a program which could convert between a bewildering number of different file formats. Most of us will not need this capability at all but XnView also provides everything that we could want in an Image Viewer. The only downsides are that it borders on being too complex and it is not the fastest at loading a directory of images.

IRFANVIEW (free download)
Has attracted faithful followers over many years but lacks the functionality of the others here.

FASTSTONE IMAGE VIEWER (free download)
This is an attractive application that appears to excel at everything I require in an image browser, without unnecessary complication. One limitation is that it does not show non-image files at all, so it cannot be used as an Explorer replacement however the author might argue that this was never his remit! I plan to make this my default image browser for the coming weeks and will report back on any shortcomings that I find.

IMAGE DATABASES

You will know when you need an image organiser/database. You will have thousands of images, you will need to to quickly find specific images based on keywords, you will need to regularly create subsets of images for albums, blogs, shows etc. you will probably be highly organised by nature or possibly a professional photographer. Alternatively you may be drowning in chaos with images in random folders, directories or external disks and you need help! In all of these cases a simple Image Browser, as above, will not be enough.

Typically when you first open an Image Database it will be empty. It is necessary to import images from specific folders or drives to build the database (or catalogue) which is a characteristic of these applications. This database will contain thumbnails, image modification instructions, pick lists, selections, tags and ratings. You will probably invest a lot of time in populating this database because it will be the reference manual for all of your images. Conversely this catalogue will have to be maintained, stored and backed-up and if you move images around using other applications you will probably have to tell the database where to find them again. Typically Image Databases only manage images and will not recognise non-image files at all. If you adopt a different Image Database program in the future it is unlikely that the database can be converted.

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS ORGANIZER (free with Photoshop Elements)
This began life as Photoshop Album and became a bundled application with Photoshop Elements since version 3. It has comprehensive, if basic, facilities.

ADOBE LIGHTROOM (£200)
This has become the must-have image database for those who take and process large quantities of Raw images. More than just an organiser, Lightroom simplifies the process of converting Raw images in bulk. The professional photographer's essential application, Lightroom will probably be bundled with CS in future versions. See below for a description of Lightroom by John Harrison.

PICASA (free download)
Part of Google's bid for world domination, Picasa starts by cataloguing all of your images (whether you want it to or not). Facilities are fairly basic in comparison to the others here but it scores heavily when offering external links to on-line services and social networking sites. I can see that this would be attractive to the non-enthusiast digital camera owner who simply wants to find, organise, print and share their images.

WINDOWS LIVE PHOTO GALLERY (free dowload)
If you run Vista you have this already. XP users can download a cut-down version. Rather disappointing in terms of features but at least it's better than Explorer.

MY CONCLUSIONS

My images are stored in a logical hierarchy of folders which is simple, application independent and enduring. To manage this and to create occasional selections, I only need a good viewer such as FastStone. I do not need to spend time and money creating and managing a complex database of keywords, tags and albums, particularly as it may become corrupted or obsolescent over time. The exception to this may be when I take a lot of Raw images on a particular project, in which case I may use Lightroom to help me to view, sort and process them. Having clarified my thoughts with these tests I will probably in future, delete the catalogue once I have finished with each project.

If you feel that you have a requirement that justifies committing to the full database approach, I would recommend that you invest in a product which is likely to be supported in the long term such as Lighroom or possibly the Elements Organizer.

If you decide to try an image browser, I recommend that you check the settings for the program as some important functions such as colour management and high quality previews are often turned off by default for reasons of speed. You should also think about the cache of thumbnails, picks and previews etc. Unlike Image Databases the browser cache is usually optional - it takes up disk space but does speed up the use of the program.

OTHER PRODUCTS

Amongst the hundreds of software applications out there, a few others are referenced repeatedly and probably warrant further investigation;
- iMatch ($65)
- ACDSee ($50)
- CompuPic Pro ($50)

Steve Brabner

_____________________________________________________

JOHN HARRISON'S THOUGHTS ON LIGHTROOM;

The big selling point for me is that Lightroom provides a fully integrated file organiser, RAW editor, photo editing capability all within one interface. This in comparison to Adobe Bridge/Adobe RAW/Photoshop, three excellent tools but three separate programs.

Ignoring the RAW and editing functions for this discussion, here are some details on Lightroom image organisation

Lightroom does not scan discs for image files, the required files have to be selectively imported from within the program. You can select a single image or all images in a folder with an option to include sub folders.

Lightroom utilises catalogues to store image data, organisational and edit info. You need to decide how to organise catalogues, eg, Everything in one, one per year, one per project etc. This is an extra complication that needs to be considered.

The Library view controls image management (the other views are Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web).
Features include :-
1) Metadata, editing including Contact info, IPTC fields, Location where image was taken, Workflow such as Job identifier, instructions and work provider and finally Copyright details.
2) Keywords, a useful features enabling nested keyword structures to be created with the ability to drag keyword groups from one structure to another.
3) Flags, set as Pick or Rejected with an option to delete all the Reject flag images later.
4) Labels, select different colour borders around thumbnails.
5) Ratings, set one to five stars.
6) Filters, only display images that match user defined parameters
7) Collections, create virtual collections dragging images in from any physical folder. Also Smart Collections which will display images based on user defined sets of parameters from a wide selection of the above settings and metadata.
8)Virtual Copy, create a virtual copy of an image which can the be edited and organised in every way as though it was a real image.
9) Stacking, stack image thumbnails that have a relationship as decided by the user displaying only the image at the top of the stack. A click opens the stack for viewing.

I'm very impressed with the library features but there is the issue of Catalogue organisation as the selections and settings made are held within and only apply to images imported into a specific catalogue.

Catalogue setting can be imported/exported from/to other catalogues but that's a complication that I've not been inclined to deal with.

John Harrison.

Alastair McGhee

Re: April 2009 - Digital Group Mtg - Image Management Software

Post by Alastair McGhee » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 pm

Most interesting and very helpful. Many thanks,

Alastair

spb
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:04 pm

Re: April 2009 - Digital Group Mtg - Image Management Software

Post by spb » Sun Jul 25, 2010 10:41 am

Since writing this last year, I have settled on XnView as my Image Viewer of choice. It has done everything I asked of it - although a few preference settings needed attention before I was entirely happy. As a freebie - it's a stunner!

Faststone was initially more attractive but was too slow to preview Raw images and I dropped it in favour of XnView.

An interesting exchange of emails recently has resulted in general agreement that you don't need Lightroom if you already have Bridge (which is bundled with all Photoshop CS versions and also Photoshop Elements for the Mac). To my surprise it appears to be able to do everything that Lightroom does and for free, including bulk Raw conversions. Never having totally bought-into Lightroom mania, I am now unlikely to update my own copy.

Cheers, Steve Brabner

User avatar
David P
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:58 pm

Re: April 2009 - Digital Group Mtg - Image Management Software

Post by David P » Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:48 pm

spb wrote: An interesting exchange of emails recently has resulted in general agreement that you don't need Lightroom if you already have Bridge (which is bundled with all Photoshop CS versions and also Photoshop Elements for the Mac). To my surprise it appears to be able to do everything that Lightroom does and for free, including bulk Raw conversions. Never having totally bought-into Lightroom mania, I am now unlikely to update my own copy.

Cheers, Steve Brabner
An alternative point of view is that once you've got Lightroom you don't need CS - LR plus Elements will do pretty much everything, plus a few extras (e.g. slideshows and websites) and is cheaper. The ability to adjust exposure, saturation etc. with a brush, all non-destructively, removes much of the need for layers and masks. The only real omissions that I feel are cloning, hard edge selections and little finishing touches like adding a key line, which are all easily done in Elements. LR also seems to me to be much faster, both in terms of ease of workflow and computer response time.

I've only had the full version for a couple of weeks but, as you can see, I'm impressed, but, of course, each to his own. One thing I've not sorted out yet (and never did with Bridge either) is how to make a back up of files and catalog on an external disc. Any ideas, John?
Cheers,

David.

Post Reply