stonecherub Loc: Tucson, AZ

Crwiwy from Devon, UK, asked, " ... just how do members sort their many hundreds of pictures ..."

In two pages of replies, mine was the only one that mentioned Digital Asset Management which leads to this question, How many Hoggers use a DAM database? Anybody?

If you use a DAM system, which one? How much time did it take you to feel comfortable with it? Does it do what you want? How much did you spend to buy it? What do you like most and least about it?

I have a story for those of you who keep life simple by deleting most of what you shoot. As a geologist photographing volcanoes, some of my images are VERY expensive having been purchased with blood (on the rocks). Only the bona fide junk gets easily deleted. Duplicates are compared before one of them goes. I have sometimes looked at a particular image expecting to use it to illustrate some point of science and then gone back to pour over the ones immediately before and after finding exactly what I wanted in one of them. My photography is not the same as yours but disk space is cheaper than dirt and a deleted image is gone forever and ever, amen.

ziggykor Loc: East Texas

My sentiments exactly! I use one that I created myself which includes Lightroom. It does all that I want and possibly more. What I least like is actually importing my older images into it and making sure that they are completely key word searchable.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

"DAM - DAM - DAM - DAM - DAM!"

I thought you were doing Rex Harrison from "My Fair Lady."

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

I don't use separate software (or organizers) for digital. I simply download my pictures from the camera to a sub-directory with a name that begins with the date followed by a description like "2012-11 Thanksgiving". Edited images are stored in the same directory using the same file name or a new name to preserve the original. When I archive it I can easily find what I need based on the date and description. I seldom delete anything other than experimental shots but occasionally I will compress shots to a lower resolution to save space.

For film I use a more elaborate system because I track film, developer, development time and temperature and a bunch of other stuff including a description of the subject on the roll (each roll has a unique identifier) in a Microsoft Access database. I then save the scans in directories named with the roll's ID. Since my film scans are normally at a higher resolution than my digital images I am a little more diligent about deleting unwanted images and compressing others.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Having a programming background, I've written my own. I started using Access, but I've moved to an SQL database, which has been revised several times, as I find more information I'd like to record about an image.

Since my film, which I still use, days, I've never discarded anything. Good, bad, or indifferent. Those would be discards come in handy when I need an example of what not to do. I use them when tutoring.
--Bob

GPS Phil Loc: Dayton Ohio

There were only three damns in that one Jerry! :lol:

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I do on occasion delete some shots in camera, after that I put 'em in photoshop, were I use bridge to sort and catalog them. I probably have 30-35000 images in there, but DAM that's fun!!

CHuckle's Loc: Lockhart, Texas

:lol:

stonecherub Loc: Tucson, AZ

speters:

How much time do you spend in post processing with the database? You seem to be the only other Hogger using a database.

35K images is close to what I've accumulated in Pinacate in the past four years.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

You may have missed my response. I developed my own database and use that.
--Bob

georgevedwards Loc: Essex, Maryland.

And I bet nobody even mentioned MAM, Media Asset Management. "Digital photographs, animations, videos and music exemplify the target areas of media asset management (a sub-category of DAM)" says Wikipedia. Never heard of either one before, I will investigate. Are there any open source systems that do this would be my next question? I am having problems with too many photos to keep track of. Date is a good method but some types of subject matter needs to be filed by location. I keep all my scenes of certain important locations under a file named by the location, so I don't have to search my past 1000's to find relevant photos.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Your position is well-taken. My attitude is that digital photography would hardly be worth it without some "formal" process to store/edit/recall every shot taken. Lightroom does that for me rather well.

I believe it is too often overlooked that digital photography requires a working knowledge of a computer and photography-specific software, then a workflow to ensure continuity in your efforts.