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The Dam Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers
The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers
304 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 20, 2009
If you take lots of digital photos, you pretty much need to read this book. It has chapters for setting up single computer storage solutions, how and when to make backups, multi-computer network solutions, and how to manage your collections in programs like Lightroom or Aperture. Because of this book, I changed my "star" rating system for photos, started to use keywords and captions, changed my on-disk format for photos, and speed up my overall work flow, and I'm just a hobbyist!
If you are even a _slight_ computer geek and take photos as a hobby (or are venturing into professional photography) you would do yourself great harm by not reading this book. I know that is strongly worded, but it is true. Now when someone asks for "that photo of that kid in the blue shirt with a ball", I can find it in 25 seconds instead of the 45 minutes it used to.
If you are even a _slight_ computer geek and take photos as a hobby (or are venturing into professional photography) you would do yourself great harm by not reading this book. I know that is strongly worded, but it is true. Now when someone asks for "that photo of that kid in the blue shirt with a ball", I can find it in 25 seconds instead of the 45 minutes it used to.
January 9, 2018
I borrowed this from my local library in order to learn more about metadata and workflow. I gave it 2 stars because I had to renew it 4 times in order to glean what I needed from this book because I shoot in .jpg and use Photoshop Elements 15 while Krogh discusses too many topics above my current knowledge base.
I had to make the leap from PSE10 to PSE15 when I had to replace my current laptop, and the transition was not as smooth as I hoped it would be for my hierarchal keywords suddenly became imported keyword tags sorted by numerical and alphabetical order. I hoped this book would help me learn to link metadata in the properties of each digital file with each upload, and it did that somewhat. I hoped to learn a workflow before I started a huge project of scanning family photo albums, and I did.
If you are a photographer who shoots in RAW and saves files as .dng, this book is likely to rate higher for you. If you already use Lightroom and Bridge, this book is likely to rate higher for you.
I had to make the leap from PSE10 to PSE15 when I had to replace my current laptop, and the transition was not as smooth as I hoped it would be for my hierarchal keywords suddenly became imported keyword tags sorted by numerical and alphabetical order. I hoped this book would help me learn to link metadata in the properties of each digital file with each upload, and it did that somewhat. I hoped to learn a workflow before I started a huge project of scanning family photo albums, and I did.
If you are a photographer who shoots in RAW and saves files as .dng, this book is likely to rate higher for you. If you already use Lightroom and Bridge, this book is likely to rate higher for you.
May 24, 2011
3.5 stars, but only because my own organization and workflow won't be changing too much as a result of reading the book. The book is 4 or more stars if you haven't thought (nor done) much in the way of using image metadata, organizing and naming your folders and files well, backing up images and data (O_o), improving workflow, etc. The sub-title of the book is "Digital Asset Management for Photographers", but it's really for anyone who has pictures they care about, and I don't think there's any other book like it on the market. I don't exactly agree with everything Krogh says (the tiny details) (and there's a few typos), but it does give the reader points to consider when making decisions about their own collections. If I had read this several years ago, it might have saved me a lot of time in refining my own picture organization and workflow. Having read it now, I'm rethinking my usage (and non-usage) of ratings, keyword hierarchies, and catalog templates. It also puts me in another iteration of refining my own practices.
In case it's not already obvious, this is not an 'overview' book; each topic is covered in fine detail. Metadata (including keywords, ratings, exif/iptc/xmp, etc), file and folder naming, hardware for image storage, backing up and validating data, workflow (from ingestion (getting the images off memory cards) to publishing/printing and archiving), managing catalogs, and more.
Also, the book is partial to certain software, mainly Expression Media (which I don't use but is referred to often within the book), Lightroom, and a chapter on Bridge/ACR. However, you can still benefit from many parts of the book even if you don't use any of these photo development tools.
In case it's not already obvious, this is not an 'overview' book; each topic is covered in fine detail. Metadata (including keywords, ratings, exif/iptc/xmp, etc), file and folder naming, hardware for image storage, backing up and validating data, workflow (from ingestion (getting the images off memory cards) to publishing/printing and archiving), managing catalogs, and more.
Also, the book is partial to certain software, mainly Expression Media (which I don't use but is referred to often within the book), Lightroom, and a chapter on Bridge/ACR. However, you can still benefit from many parts of the book even if you don't use any of these photo development tools.
April 7, 2009
The DAM Book presents a fully comprehensive professional-quality digital workflow for photographers. This book is based on the Photoshop CS2 tools, specifically Bridge and then uses iView Pro (now Microsoft Expression) to do the cataloging.
Unfortunately for me, I'm a Lightroom junkie, so while I could get some ideas from his workflow, much of the functionality exists in Lightroom today, just in a different way.
If nothing else, the details on the Bridge settings and Camera RAW settings have enhanced my understanding of what Lightroom is doing.
Finally, his instance on a STANDARD way of doing things is refreshing in the "creative" realm as is his guidance of a "Ratings pyramid" instead of a "Ratings lightbulb".
If you're drowning trying to manage a large image collection, this will be a helpful book.
Unfortunately for me, I'm a Lightroom junkie, so while I could get some ideas from his workflow, much of the functionality exists in Lightroom today, just in a different way.
If nothing else, the details on the Bridge settings and Camera RAW settings have enhanced my understanding of what Lightroom is doing.
Finally, his instance on a STANDARD way of doing things is refreshing in the "creative" realm as is his guidance of a "Ratings pyramid" instead of a "Ratings lightbulb".
If you're drowning trying to manage a large image collection, this will be a helpful book.
June 6, 2011
The book has a controversial reputation amongst photographers - simply because the ideas and concepts in this book seem extremely complex and far too unwieldy for "most" photographers. The book as a whole is definitely too much to implement for most folks, but a lot of the concepts are thought-provoking and worth pondering over. Over time I've developed my own system, but reading this book has made me realize that it's not very scalable and one of my resolutions for 2008 is to overhaul my own workflow using the concepts from this book. Read it, but prepare to be challenged.
April 9, 2015
Still working on this, but I like Krogh's discussion of the discipline needed to handle digital assets, particularly digital image assets. Having been an IT professional for 35+ years, I am well aware of the need for discipline in all aspects of creating, storing, modifying and archiving digital assets. As a photographer just getting serious about digital photography, I appreciate how Krogh's experience with photographic asset management and my own broader experience with IT in general, come together.
I will post more when I finish the book.
I will post more when I finish the book.
September 2, 2014
This was suggested to me as a book I should read before getting more into digital photography. Great info on what think about in organizing, naming, and editing photos as well as creating workflow. However it is a rather dry and far more comprehensive than necessary for someone just getting in to digital photography (the author does note early on that the book is written for someone with more background in photography).
August 21, 2011
Excellent resource for managing digital photography files. I have quite a bit of work to do with my archive on converting RAW and DNG and creating metadata tags. It was interesting to me how much of my data warehousing career related to this book. Total software geek moment.
July 10, 2012
Solid book on workflow, image retrieval, and back up. Gives you a good working vocabulary to deepen your when necessary as you make decisions on your set up. Sometimes a little too much detail but just right for others I'm sure.
May 9, 2009
Very helpful, even though is focused on Adobe products. I took away the unique ID for every photo - my format is DAC_YYYYMMDD_NNNNNN
February 10, 2012
Very dry but has some great tips and processes to utilize.
June 27, 2012
Essential reading for digital photographers to assist in developing a useful and efficient workflow for digital asset management.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews