The DAM Book http://thedambook.com DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Fri, 25 Nov 2022 19:13:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.9 http://thedambook.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/cropped-DAM-USEFUL-icon-1032p-32x32.jpg The DAM Book http://thedambook.com 32 32 Black Friday deals from DAM Useful http://thedambook.com/black-friday-deals-from-dam-useful/ Fri, 25 Nov 2022 19:13:13 +0000 https://thedambook.com/?p=5536 As is our tradition, we’ll be offering special Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on all our publications. Get 50% off any of my books, whether electronic or paper. (Note: The discount ...

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As is our tradition, we’ll be offering special Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on all our publications. Get 50% off any of my books, whether electronic or paper. (Note: The discount is applied at checkout).
We are also offering the first ever Black Friday deal on Camera Scanning rigs. Get $50 off any scanning rig. We never have many of these in stock, so hurry if you want to get one.

A note on delivery dates

We will be out of the studio for all of next week, so physical delivery will go out early in the week of December 5th. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

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More PS4 camera scanning rigs available http://thedambook.com/more-ps4-camera-scanning-rigs-available/ Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:42:21 +0000 https://thedambook.com/?p=5528 I’ve just finished a production run of PS-4 camera scanning rigs and put them up on our store. If you are looking for an easy way to set up your ...

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I’ve just finished a production run of PS-4 camera scanning rigs and put them up on our store. If you are looking for an easy way to set up your camera to scan 35mm slides and negatives, they are ready to go. Currently, it seems to be taking me 3 or 4 months to find enough units to justify a production run, so when these sell out, it will likely be months more until they are back in stock.
More info here.

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Try Tandem Vault 3 (TV3) for 30 days for free! http://thedambook.com/try-tandem-vault-3-tv3-for-30-days-for-free/ Fri, 26 Nov 2021 22:14:38 +0000 http://thedambook.com/?p=5509 We have created a self-serve signup for TV3 trial accounts. Simply click the Show me button and then hit the Start a Free Trial button. No credit card needed.

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We have created a self-serve signup for TV3 trial accounts. Simply click the Show me button and then hit the Start a Free Trial button. No credit card needed.

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Some webinars/podcasts from the last year http://thedambook.com/some-webinars-podcasts-from-the-last-year/ Tue, 23 Nov 2021 17:40:53 +0000 http://thedambook.com/?p=5488 Civil War Photo Sleuth I moderated a presentation by Vikram Mohanty about the very cool crowdsourcing platform, Civil War Photo Sleuth. They are working at the intersection of crowdsource, machine ...

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Civil War Photo Sleuth

I moderated a presentation by Vikram Mohanty about the very cool crowdsourcing platform, Civil War Photo Sleuth. They are working at the intersection of crowdsource, machine learning and human curation. As the name implies, this service is built to add metadata to civil war photos and documents. Our presentation starts at about the 2:08 mark. Thanks to my friend Vahur Puik , photo historian from Ajapak Estonia for bringing me in on this.

Backup Central podcast

The Backup Central podcast is hosted by W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup). He runs an entertaining and wide-ranging discussion on the podcast with his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi Product Architect at Druva. Apparently, I’ve been quoted really often on the podcast, and it was great fun to hang out with these guys. Listen here.

Interview with Ron Clifford

I did a video podcast with Ron Clifford discussing methods for organizing files in Lightroom. Again, lots of fun for me to reach out to a new audience. Click below to watch.

Activo Trends for 2021 Webinar

Continuing on the theme of having fun doing webinars, here’s a fun conversation about the future of DAM from last December. Panelists include Frederic Sanuy, Mark Davey, Malika Kochich, Timo Faber, and yours truly.

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Negative Lab Pro – a slam dunk for negative conversion http://thedambook.com/negative-lab-pro-a-slam-dunk-for-negative-conversion/ Tue, 23 Nov 2021 01:40:50 +0000 http://thedambook.com/?p=5467 In the book Digitizing Your Photos, I outline a method to convert negatives using Lightroom’s curves. I’ve been very happy with the B&W conversions I get, and moderately happy with ...

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In the book Digitizing Your Photos, I outline a method to convert negatives using Lightroom’s curves. I’ve been very happy with the B&W conversions I get, and moderately happy with the color ones. As of this month, I’ve switched over to the Negative Lab Pro (NLP) Lightroom plugin for all my negative conversions. I like it so much that I’ve gone back to reconvert 50,000 negative scans.

Why I love it

There are three main advantages to using NLP for your conversions.

  • It makes a really nice conversion.
  • It has auto-analysis on an image-by-image basis, and performs color, contrast and exposure compensation for thousands of files with a single command.
  • The adjustment tools don’t work in reverse like the curve-flipping method. So when you want to fine tune animate, it’s much more intuitive.

In addition to the items above, it has some other of my requirements. It’s non-destructive, so you can go back and further optimize files at any point in the future. It works entirely inside Lightroom, and does not require a trip out to another software package like with Silverfast.
And, as much as anything, I love the fact that Nate just keeps making it better. The most recent version added some really great stuff from a workflow standpoint.

What about all the previous conversions?

As I’ve said from the beginning, we know that it will be possible to make better conversions in the future than we can do today. (Still true, BTW). And one huge advantage of Lightroom-based scanning is the ability to make these improvements “penalty-free.” You can go back and reconvert the original one-at-a-time or in bulk.

Here’a quick outline of the process I used to migrate to NLP.

  1. Use the filter bar to find all files without existing NLP conversions.
  2. Make a preset that can remove all settings (except crop) and take the file back to a default setting.
  3. Make sure that all files are white balanced to neutral.
  4. Run them through NLP in batches. I started with a few dozen at once, then a few hundred, and eventually more than 10,000 files at a time.
  5. Review highly rated files and make tweaks to these important images.

Why now?

I’ve been using NLP on an ad-hoc basis for a couple years now. And while the original versions produced nice conversions, there were some workflow issues that have been addressed in later versions.

In addition, Adobe has updated the Lightroom processing engine in some pretty big ways. So it was either figure out new workflows, or go with NLP.

And finally, the thing that made me migrate this week was the availability of the TV3 Lightroom plugin (not yet released, but in final prep). As part of my testing, I’ve uploaded 50,000 scans through the plugin. Since I knew I would be migrating to NLP eventually, it made sense to do it now. You can take a look at some of the files by clicking this link. (And if you are interested in TV3, click here to set up a demo or to set up your own trial account.

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New batch of PS-4 rail systems ready http://thedambook.com/new-batch-of-ps-4-rail-systems-ready/ Mon, 22 Nov 2021 02:29:47 +0000 http://thedambook.com/?p=5470 Just in time for the holidays, give yourself the gift of a great slide/35mm film copy system. I have six freshly modified PS4 units ready to go, along with four ...

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Just in time for the holidays, give yourself the gift of a great slide/35mm film copy system. I have six freshly modified PS4 units ready to go, along with four light kits. If you are looking for a good winter project, digitizing your old film could be just the thing.

Some sample B&W film scans, flipped to positive in Lightroom using Negative Lab Pro.

These won’t last long. Purchase here.

Please note that orders that contain lights won’t ship until the middle of next week. 

Copystands for sale

I have two copy stands for sale. I bought these as I was evaluating many different options, and now I just have too many hanging around the studio. These are available for pickup at my studio in Kensington, MD. Will not ship. If you are interested, please send an email to contact at theDAMbook.com.

Bogen TC-2   $300

If you are using a camera to digitize prints or film, a good copystand is essential. If you want one that can handle big prints with a sturdy column, you are usually going to pay $700 and up. And you will typically pay $200 or more for light arms. The Bogen TC-2 is a great value. Much sturdier than the other low priced ones like Smith Victor. And at this price, a lot cheaper than a Kaiser or Beseler CS. Has adjustable camera mount to center the camera over the baseboard, and a guide clamp to allow repeatable camera alignment. The adjustable light arms allow you to use any standard-base bulb for illumination. (Bulbs shown not included.)

 

Bencher Illuma Copystand with light arms and illuminated base    $750

Bencher Illuma M2 copystand with sidelights, polarizing gels, and massive 14×17 inch backlit base for copying slides and negatives. The Bencher M2 was one of the great sturdy copy stands. A 4 foot column that is very sturdy and features an adjustable arm for holding the camera.

This unit has 4 halogen sidelights on the very sturdy light arms. You can use these lights as-in, replace the halogen with LED, or put a different light fixture altogether on the arm. Arms hold the large polarizing gels, which are great for controlling reflections and removing silvering from antique photographs.

The base features a large backlight that allows you to make great copies of nearly any size of film, which can be converted to a high-quality finished image with software such as Lightroom. The unit sits on a custom platform with 4 locking casters for easy storage and retrieval.

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TV3 leading the way in new metadata support http://thedambook.com/tv3-leading-the-way-in-new-metadata-support/ Fri, 19 Nov 2021 02:32:45 +0000 http://thedambook.com/?p=5461 On November 5, TV3 became the first DAM application in the world to support the new IPTC Alternative Text and Extended Description metadata fields. These fields are designed to assist ...

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On November 5, TV3 became the first DAM application in the world to support the new IPTC Alternative Text and Extended Description metadata fields. These fields are designed to assist visually impaired people understand and navigate websites and other electronic documents. Creating a standardized way to attach this information to images allows easier workflow and should greatly improve compliance. 

TV3’s highly flexible architecture allows us to incorporate changes like this in a matter of hours instead of weeks or months like many other DAMs. We’re now looking for publishing platforms who also want to be on the leading edge by supporting these new fields.
Press release here. 

New Event Identifiers

Screenshot from TV3 DAM application showing all the metadata that can be attached to an Event tag. This includes a description, a date range, multiple web links, a location, affiliated organizations, related people and other keywords.
TV3 supports a full-context Event Tag that allows you to attach lots of rich metadata to a event. Note that we make it easy to fill this out whenever you have the time or inclination. This could be before a scheduled event happens, or long after.

In addition to the new accessibility fields, the IPTC organization also announced a new field for event identification. Until now, the Event Shown field was just a string of text, with no specific meaning attached. You can now pinpoint an event by attaching an Event Identifier: URLs or other identifiers that help define a specific event – Jazzfest 2012, Thomas and Marissa’s wedding, or any other event where a unique identifier exists. 

This new field was inspired by TV3. In a demonstration this summer to the co-lead of the IPTC metadata working group, we demonstrated our ability to add lots of data to an event.  This includes identifiers, date ranges, location data, affiliated organizations, people, and other keywords. A few months later, the idea has now become an international standard.

A big part of my personal objective in TV3 is to lead by example. By building cool and useful capabilities into our app, we can help to move the ball forward for everyone. It’s a real joy to see this hitting the streets in such a short time frame.

If you’d like to give TV3 a spin, click here to sign up for a demo or a free 30 day, full featured trial account

 

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Introducing the next generation of DAM software. http://thedambook.com/introducing-the-next-generation-of-dam-software/ Thu, 26 Nov 2020 16:12:37 +0000 https://www.new.thedambook.com/?p=5003 This blog has been quiet, but that’s not because I have been slacking off. For the last year or so, I have been hard at work bringing a new vision ...

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This blog has been quiet, but that’s not because I have been slacking off. For the last year or so, I have been hard at work bringing a new vision to life. On this day of Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with a smart, focused and kind team at Tandem Vault to make something really great.

In many ways, The DAM Book 3.0 was a blueprint for the software we need, not necessarily what is currently available. As web-hosted visual media becomes a primary method of communication, we need a new platform to match. (And by “institution”, I mean everything from a family to a non-profit, small business, museum or corporation.)

All the pieces for the next generation are sitting there on the shelf. Of course the most important part has become utterly commonplace – behavior. We now use visual media and rich media for nearly every purpose, and it’s increasing daily.

We have built our new software, TV3, to be the Grand Central Station of rich media communication, with incoming and outgoing tracks, and easily operated switch gear. We’ve taken the features from marketing DAMs and adapted them to a much broader use.

I’ve been offering sneak peeks of the new software over that the Tandem Vault blog. These include videos that introduce some of the key features. Here’s a sample.

We’re going into a much larger beta phase in a week or so. If you are interested in participating, sign up here.

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Metadata Test File http://thedambook.com/metadata-test-file/ Tue, 07 Jul 2020 15:05:41 +0000 https://www.new.thedambook.com/?p=4974 When evaluating the capabilities of an application to read metadata, it’s useful to have a test file that has a lot of metadata filled out. This can tell you which ...

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When evaluating the capabilities of an application to read metadata, it’s useful to have a test file that has a lot of metadata filled out. This can tell you which fields the application reads.

I’ve created a test file, and I’m linking it here. To use the file, just download, unzip, and load the file into the application you want to test. If there is a metadata display in the application, you should be able to see the tags.

Here’s what you see in Apple Preview with the test file.

All applications will only show you a subset of all metadata fields. There are simply too many, created for too many purposes, to be universally supported. The test file has an entry in all fields that are currently supported by Photoshop, which is a pretty good benchmark.

Sometimes a metadata field will be indexed by an application, but not easily displayed. (It’s easier to index all the metadata, including little-used fields, than it is to build a comprehensive user interface for all fields.) To get around this, I’ve put a “code” into the tags, wherever possible. I’ve added a short string of letters and numbers to each tag which should make the search a lot easier than simply adding the name of the field.

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Rebuild Lightroom Previews to save space, add speed and confirm integrity http://thedambook.com/rebuild-lightroom-previews-to-save-space-add-speed-and-confirm-integrity/ Wed, 27 May 2020 13:50:44 +0000 https://www.new.thedambook.com/?p=4969 New article on Petapixel outlines the benefits of Lightroom preview rebuild. Improved speed, saved space and integrity checking.

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I have a new article up on Petapixel that outlines the benefits of a full rebuild of Lightroom previews.

  • Your catalog may be significantly smaller. My two main catalogs decreased in size from 600GB to about 200GB.
  • You may see a speed increase in scrolling – I saw a marked increase.
  • You will be informed if Lightroom fails to rebuild any previews, which may be an indication of a corrupted file (It could also be a file that Lightroom can’t open). The process correctly identified a handful of known-corrupted files that I use for testing.
  • Read the entire article here.

Note that I have outlined a specific work order for this, which I suggest following. I’d love to hear about anyone’s results, either confirming or conflicting with the results I got.

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