Such queries always come from individuals who are serious, determined and totally perplexed by the task facing them: creating and maintaining a large photo library on the cheap. And such was the case with H____. With her permission I post our email conversation here, as a way of sharing her rather daunting predicament with those of you quite likely facing the same set of concerns. I should say that subsequently we had a long phone conversation that explored several follow-up points in greater depth.
“I have avidly been following your blog,” she wrote last week, “in which you describe the way in which you detail arranging a shared library via Adobe Bridge. I am doing a similar thing, but on a smaller scale and am reaching out to you for some guidance. I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing, but as I read your blog I recognized that there are certain pitfalls that I want to avoid and be prepared for - specifically with the cache and ensuring that all files maintain their metadata.”
In my follow-up email I asked six questions, to which she quickly replied:
- How many individuals will be using Bridge? Bridge is going to be used by a handful of people - but with potential to be searched by more in the future. There is also the hope that people unfamiliar with Bridge or CS software would be able to search for images through spotlight (we’re all on Macs ).
- What version of Bridge do you have? We are using Adobe Bridge CS5.
- How many images do you have? The images right now are less than 10,000 but growing daily - I am aware of the limitations of Bridge - and at some point I am sure that a more robust and secure DAM system will be put in place - this system is to carry them over and make the workflow more manageable until then.
- Do you have a keywording strategy in place? We have outlined a master keyword list. I consulted with those who have to use and search for photos daily, and their preference is simplicity and less is more - it will be imported into Bridge and modified as needed - however in testing it has proven to be a bit conflicting. I am in the midst of figuring that out - also the "Bridge Search" in the upper right hand corner is letting me down as it is not invoking hierarchy and will only allow a one-word search.
- Is there an IT dept involved? IT is not involved....
- Do you have a metadata gatekeeping policy? The gatekeeping policy will be more solid as the system comes to fruition - but in general only the people sourcing and dealing with images daily would be able to make adjustments- right now that is only 2 or 3 people.
As a postscript, I should note that one of the really crucial issues in this particular exchange concerns question no. 4: I wish that Adobe would remove that little search box in the upper right corner of the UI. It looks so much like the Mac finder and is too tempting to use. Bridge’s real strength lies in its incredibly robust search features accessed from “Edit>Find” from the main menu or “Command/Control+F” from the keyboard.
Otherwise, H____ is right on track. She has a solid plan in place, a good process in motion and a firm grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of Adobe Bridge.
Do you?
In your opinion, would a product like Extensis Portfolio work as an extension of Adobe Bridge?
ReplyDeleteOn the face of it yes, Bridge can pretty much function as an extension of any database cataloging program.
ReplyDeleteAre you planning on sharing your image library among multiple users? If so, I believe Extensis Portfolio has a number of limitations in that regard -- they want multiple users to upgrade to their vastly more expensive Portfolio Server system I suppose).
Still, using a browser program like Bridge with a DB program like Portfolio in tandem should not be ruled out.
For example, I use Adobe Lightroom 3 as a file verification tool for our school's digital image library. But since no one else has the program we can't share catalogs -- which would be ideal, of course.
Anyway, you can use a program like Portfolio along with Bridge but I would suggest you test out the metadata copying and synching between the two programs. thoroughly before making any serious commitment.
Ultimately, though, I might suggest you go with one or the other and reduce your workflow while keeping your costs reasonable and making your life simpler.
Well, I have a large volume of images (100,000+ with new ones daily/weekly) in a corporate setting where the images need to be accessible to over 20 people. We're working with macs, so I'm trying to find something simple that performs a better search than spotlight or the bridge program itself. I was considering Asset Bank as another option to work within our server, since we don't need to make the images accessible to clients or the public. These were the package options I'd seen. http://www.assetbank.co.uk/product/packages/
ReplyDeleteThird Light also looks like an option, but I'm a bit unsure where to go.
Like you we also have a large image library ( more than 153K photos) shared by 16 workstations (all but two Macs).
ReplyDeleteRegarding the options noted, comparing Bridge to either Assetbank or Third Light is a bit like comparing apples to dirigibles: Bridge is a simple straightforward browser program while other two are mega-expensive, server-based systems (like Portfolio Server) and frankly way out of our price range. Like you, we just need to share among the tight department so keeping our costs down is primary right now.
In fact, that's what drove us to initially test out the viability and reliability of Bridge in the first place: it's free, or rather it comes with Adobe's Creative Suite of programs used by all our designers and writers. And, while it's a space hog (for the cache), slow to search sometimes (OK, most of the time), we have found it does work nonetheless.
But I'd be curious to hear more about what you decide to do -- and I'm sure there are others who pop by here every so often who might be keen on hearing about how to resolve your nagging dilemma.
I've had some time to actually discuss a bigger picture of what's going to be needed with the department professionals and the list of needs has left me a bit concerned that we may need something made? Keep in mind this is a for-profit company. I'm not too certain about what product could achieve all of the following:
ReplyDelete-Intranet systems for internal information use
-Simple template input portal for uploading, labeling, and tagging images.
-Database look ups for linked images across multiple programs (ex: inDesign)
-Simple search portal to narrow down images and permit more in the way of browsing capabilities.
-Use of multiple search terms for searching directly.
-A bulk file rename utility.
-There is also a want for something like an OPAC for use within the company to find both images and books within the company library.
Again, I'm not sure if something like Asset Bank or Portfolio Server can come up to this level of complex organization, mixed with the simplicity of input and search needed at this particular location.
It is also important to note that I am a staff of one for this particular function, with limited programming history and a Mac OS to work around.
ReplyDeleteYou raise some very important issues here and I want to share this conversation with others who might be experiencing the same dilemma. So I've posted our dialogue as new entries.
ReplyDelete