Camera Labs

Currently I am using iPhoto, but I am using Photoshop as my image editor. So when I double click a picture in iPhoto it opens Photoshop. Only problem is, once I save photo after editing in Photoshop, it replaces the JPEG and saves a PSD. But if I ever want to open the photo in iPhoto to edit again, it opens the JPEG and not the PSD so it won't track my previous edits - unless I navigate to where the JPEG is in Finder and open the corresponding PSD. I am also curious as to how people organize their photos? By albums? Any organization tips or software recommendations would be great. Thanks!

Here's some *very* important advice: Don't allow some software to manage your photos, or any other files. Learn how the software saves the files, then manage the actual filing yourself. I have a master directory with about 2,000 current images for showing around, then the permanent files are split into categorized subdirectories such as Insects, SmallBirds, LargeBirds, People-Family, People-Associates, Documents, Art, Cars, Flowers, and so on. And each photo (file) is named, such as Egret01.jpg.

I would endorse all dalethorns advice. Sound reasoning behind it. Sadly, I have pictures everywhere, really quite a mess actually. If I was starting now though I'd certainly keep control of it myself.

Zorro

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

I let Lightroom download my photos from the memory card and manage them afterwards but I know exactly what it does so there are no surprises. Lightroom by default separates photos by year and then sub-categorises them again by date. If you choose the edit in photoshop option from within Lightroom it exports a TIFF of the original file(cos I shoot in RAW) which PS opens automatically. I then save the file in PS and Lightroom updates its database to show that edited TIFF as a new image(it can stack as part of the old image if you like).

I think its great!

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Graham
Flickr

I'm going to have to agree with Graham, I use Lightroom, although have been tinkering with Aperture 2 demo, and it's fantastic for managing your images. It doesn't put them in any kind of library file. They're sat on your hard drive as individual files which you can access exactly how you'd access them normally. It just files them in whatever way you choose. I would hate to have to do this manually considering I have images going back to 2002. Lightroom is a fantastic piece of software for managing your images. I highly recommend it.

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

load your images to a folder on your desktop...... then open in photoshop. Or use any other program, or make a copy of the folder and load into iPhoto.......

I have found iPhoto great for happy snaps, but as a serious file system and image editor, well not quite there as yet.......I use the bridge in PS and a date system, and find this works well

After you edit your photos in PS under the "Layer" tab click "flatten image" and only then you can save it as a .jpg image

Cheers,
HNV

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"Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler." Albert Einstein

I'm particularly fond of ACDsee 2, which I find is a very fast organizer and viewer of photos.

My "system" is merely to save each shooting session in a separate folder with a sequence number, descriptive title and a date.

E.g. "122. Crescent Beach with dogs 22.05.2008". The ones I like the best go into a sub-folder called "Best Picks" and there's usually only a handful at best from each shooting session.

It's chronological and the titles have so far been enough to spark my memory.

ACDsee has the full gamut of meta-data and rating, but I find that I don't have the time to tag each image. It is also a full RAW image processor.

Cheers

I also use ACDSee although I'm on version 10. I have yet to find a program that can equal ACDSee.

Zorro

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

Thanks for the advice everyone, unfortunately I have a Mac so I can't use ACDsee.

I DL'd the Aperture 2 demo. It is pretty cool so far, I just have one question: What's the difference between an album and a project.

You might want to try the Lightroom demo, I find it's way of image management far superior. As to Aperture and albums/projects. I believe a project is the top end container and it can have numerous albums.

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography