The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers [Paperback]

Peter Krogh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0596523572 | ISBN-13: 978-0596523572 | Edition: Second Edition

One of the main concerns for digital photographers today is asset management: how to file, find, protect, and re-use their photos. The best solutions can be found in The DAM Book, our bestselling guide to managing digital images efficiently and effectively.

Anyone who shoots, scans, or stores digital photographs is practicing digital asset management (DAM), but few people do it in a way that makes sense. In this second edition, photographer Peter Krogh -- the leading expert on DAM -- provides new tools and techniques to help professionals, amateurs, and students:

• Understand the image file lifecycle: from shooting to editing, output, and permanent storage
• Learn new ways to use metadata and key words to track photo files
• Create a digital archive and name files clearly
• Determine a strategy for backing up and validating image data
• Learn a catalog workflow strategy, using Adobe Bridge, Camera Raw, Adobe Lightroom, Microsoft Expression Media, and Photoshop CS4 together
• Migrate images from one file format to another, from one storage medium to another, and from film to digital
• Learn how to copyright images

To identify and protect your images in the marketplace, having a solid asset management system is essential. The DAM Book offers the best approach.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Krogh is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on DAM, or digital asset management. A professional and avid personal photographer for more than twenty years, Peter is a passionate advocate for both the photographer and the photograph. He is an Alpha Tester for Adobe and his contributions can be seen in some of the features available in Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Bridge, and the DNG RAW storage format.

You can see his photography work on his website, http://www.peterkrogh.com. Read more about the book, and participate in an online discussion about the principles he promotes at http://www.theDAMbook.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Second Edition edition (May 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596523572
• ISBN-13: 978-0596523572
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.9 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Equipment, Techniques & Reference > Darkroom & Processing
  • #30 in Books > Computers & Technology > Software > Business > Workflow
  • #35 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions

More About the Author

Peter Krogh is a photographer, author, lecturer, consultant and technologist. For nearly thirty years, he has produced photographs for designers, agencies and companies worldwide. Sine the publication of the first edition of The DAM Book in 2005, he has also traveled the world helping photographers solve their workflow and management problems.

Peter understands the technology on a very deep level, but he also knows that photographers need to live in the real world. The DAM Book presents the technology used in digital photography in an understandable way, and outlines practical systems for the management and preservation of your valuable image files.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More of a Volume 2 or "Pro" version than a second edition May 7, 2009

By K. Forsmo

Format:Paperback

In summary, the value here is outstanding. The book is a comprehensive set of best practices (including supporting rationale) that carries you and your data from the moment you lift your finger from the shutter release until the sun burns out.

I had recently read the first edition when I discovered that a second edition was in the works. I was very impressed with the breadth and depth of the first book, and the second edition expands on both. I was a little concerned that I was buying a new cover, some corrected errata, and maybe a couple new concepts. While the cover is new, the book is what I'd consider either a "Pro" version, or a second volume. It turns the first edition into somewhat of an overview of all the concepts with implementations, still useful in its own right. However, there is a great deal of new material as well as added depth in the material covered in the first edition.

Similar to the first edition, the book presents an all-inclusive system for digital asset management. One of the attractions for me is that the system is essentially drawn from first principles in a variety of disciplines. For instance, it is written by a professional photographer who clearly has a need for a system that works day-to-day in the trenches, yet it's accessible to the layman since the author takes the time to explain the concepts behind the implementation. The author has clearly honed the system through a great deal of experience as well as significant research and what I'm finding to be active participation in the imaging and asset management communities.

A degree of computer facility is required to get the most from the book, but on the other hand I'd argue that the book isn't a bad way to learn some of the fundamentals and utility of metadata....

The system described is well thought-out, scalable, systematic, and addresses many key concerns of anyone with a computer and a camera. The book establishes some best practices (including explanations based on sound concepts as well as pitfalls to be aware of) for things like organization, rating, validation, backup, storage, and archiving, all while retaining usability. I admit that I don't hang out with any professional photographers, but with that being said, there is no one I know that has a system for managing their photo collection that safeguards it from loss while making it available to work on and share. Basically, everyone I know has had multiple cameras over the years and has an amorphous, unmanageable blob of photos strewn across hard drives, with no concept of what's there, what's backed up, what's safe, and what they're repeating whenever they try to sort, rate, or edit.

This book stands out among some of the others that I have read in that it clearly communicates the rationale behind the workflow steps (and presents alternatives). There are many successful photographers out there, and they all must have systems and workflows that work for them. There are other books that simply document a photographer's dogmatic process and leave a lot of questions and loose ends. It's tough to get a sense of the relative importance of all the interdependent decisions you have to make. The DAM Book, in contrast, leave very few questions or loose ends, and is very comprehensive, and to me the author's enthusiasm for the subject matter shows through. If you're unsure about something, the author is active and responsive in the forums over at thedambook.com.

Highly recommended and worth far more than I paid for it. Read more ›

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Must Have" Book for Digital Photographers May 3, 2009

By James Cavanaugh

Format:Paperback

Peter Krogh is arguably the leading industry expert on Digital Asset Management. His first edition of the book became the bible for countless photographers moving from film to digital. Now with that transition well behind us, Krogh has updated and expanded his book to cover many of the new tools available for photographers. He covers the latest versions of software applications like Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom. He clearly explains how to add metadata that will be critical in tracking future electronic uses and preventing your images from becoming orphan works. He refines his approach to digital asset management techniques that reflect the latest industry standards. (Many of which he helped create!)

His recommendations, if followed, will assure that photographers will not lose their valuable digital images and be able to quickly locate them and provide them for their clients.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is serious about digital photography.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Work for Photographers June 11, 2009

By William F. Bogle

Format:Paperback

Peter Krogh has completely revised his seminal book on Digital Asset Management. In the time since the last book, new programs, new concepts and new resources have appeared. At the same time, digital images and files continue to grow larger, filling our hard drives faster, and further pushing the need to store and organize these digital assets in a careful and efficient manner. This is not a mere "update" of the first book, but a complete revision, with current references to hardware, software, and issues the growing files and folders of images that have to be sorted.

Peter's writing is straight forward, informative, and filled with helpful advice. He explains all types of efforts, storage, programs and solutions. It is not a "do it my way" or else, but a careful and reasoned look at all of the options, and pros and cons of the same.

I look at the book as my primer on security and peace of mind. As he and most people note, it is not if your computer will crash, it is when a hard drive may fail. I loved his comment that when writing the book, he had his laptop fall off the desk, and he had to go to his clones and back ups in his hard drives to restore it. This book will give you the plan and ability to do this for your files and images.

Read this book a couple of times. It takes a while to get the whole picture, and what might work for you, and then keep it close as an essential reference.

We spend thousands of dollars on new cameras, lenses, cards, paper and ink, and in the end, what we really value the most is the image, and need to preserve the same. We all want to have the ability to find and print the best, or locate the shot of Cousin Joe when we need to.... No longer must you search through boxes of negatives or prints, or try to recall what year and what date you took it, and hope that you put it away in the correct order. This book will help you organize your photographic life.

I cannot think of a photography or computer instruction book that was more helpful or better written than this book. It neither speaks down to to the beginner nor fails to challenge the expert. Buy it, read it, and refer to it.

Bill Bogle, Jr. Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good reference, but tough read January 8, 2011

By Tenna Merchent

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great reference book, but a tough read if you go cover to cover. I drug this book around for months, and I usually blow through a book in a matter of days. The author is well written, intelligent, and insightful. For instance he talks about one of the most common ways to lose data is to run out of space. If your hard drive is getting full, you might delete files to make space, or there might be corruption due to the lack of space. If you're out in the field, and your memory card is getting full, you may pull it out while it's still writing and lose everything, or accidentally format a card with valuable images on it. Yikes, nobody wants that to happen.

He also points out, that just because your images are not well organized, and may have many duplicates, is no reason not to back them up. Bite the bullet, pay for the extra storage space, get everything backed up, then go organize your stuff.

If you want to know about what you need to have a sound plan to protect your images, this book can put you on the path. He has great detail about just about everything; non-destructive image editing, metadata, organizing and naming files and folders, hardware for storage, backing up and validating, ingestion (getting your images on your computer or hard drive), Lightroom or camera raw workflow, cataloging strategies and data migration. It is so much detail, it is sort of painful to read. I finally found that I could pick a chapter I was interested in, read it, highlight it, re-read it, and learn from it.

On page 203 in the side bar he says "If this is too daunting for you...you probably need a good computer consultant..." Okay, well, I was sort of hoping to avoid that, but maybe not.... Even if you do end up hiring a consultant, if you have looked up the subject in this book, you will at least be familiar with the terminology they use. Read more ›