Using Collections to Manage Search Results in Bridge CS4

Using Bridge CS4 as the linchpin in our image library development has certainly made it much easier to both find and track specific images among more than 140,000 photos. But with our robust search and keywording strategy, searching can often produce many dozens or even hundreds (even thousands) of images.

The easiest way to manage such large searches -- particularly when you find yourself performing the same search again and again, is to create a collection out of the search results. And to make things easier, you can create a "smart" collection that will automatically update your collection when new images with specific metadata are added to the library.

To create a collection after you perform your search, select all the images you wish to use in the new collection.

Go to the collections panel and click either the "New Collection" or "New Smart Collection" icon at the bottom of the panel, give it a name and voila! That's it!

If you created a smart collection, each time an image or images are added to the library with the search criteria you used that image or those images will automatically be added to your collection.

Please note two important things:

1. collections cannot be shared
2. you must be connected to the image source to view the images in your collection (you cannot work offline)

Take care and good luck!

Image cataloging software: the browser approach

There are few low-cost database digital asset management systems available today, and with the growing trend toward cloud computing and storage that number is likely to decrease in the years to come.  Extensis Portfolio 8.5 (standalone), Adobe Lightroom 3, Apple Aperture 3 and Phase One EM2 are the only serious reasonably-priced DAM options available. But even those programs can become costly when you starting adding up the licensing fees for multiple users.

If you need to organize your organizations image collection and can't afford an enterprise-level digital asset management system  or  a catalog-based (i.e., database) program your best bet is a browser-driven program.

Perhaps the best known browser program is Adobe Bridge CS4 that ships with nearly all Adobe image editing and suite programs. Easy to set up and easy to use, Bridge is in some ways a more sophisticated "Finder" (for the Mac).

A stand-alone program, Bridge also possesses a very robust set of organizational tools. In fact, my browser of choice for the Johnson & Wales University image library is Bridge CS4.  But Bridge is not, as we discussed in a previous entry, a cataloging program, and as a result has several important drawbacks, particularly non-accessibility offline and the need to continually update the local cache.

Bridge is ideal  primarily for its ease of use, ubiquitous nature and of course cost (free). But it is, really, only a stopgap method for any large image collection. If you're using Bridge (like we are) you must start planning for the next phase in managing your image library. Given the nature of software Bridge will eventually reach its breaking point -- you need to be prepared for that eventuality.

Next: catalog or database software for image archiving.

Microsoft drops Expression Media 2 and Phase One picks it up

Just in case you didn't get the word last year:

On May 25, 2010, Microsoft announced that Phase One had acquired Expression Media 2 (EM2); as of August 25 Phase One took full control of customer support for the product.

Phase One is widely known for their high-end digital camera systems, digital backs and digital photo software and their acquisition of EM2 provides them with a robust and competent digital asset management program.

As of this writing, Expression Media 2 upgrade is selling on Amazon for a little over 80 bucks and the full product is available on the Phase One website for $199 (Windows and Mac versions available).

Next: I'll talk a bit about the handful of low-cost DAM programs available today.

Tweaking Photoshop to Save your Metadata

Well, I learned something about Photoshop and metadata recently and thought I would share it with you. For some this little thing may be no big deal but if you're keen on preserving metadata across users and platforms, if providing lo-rez images for 3rd-party vendors or to scattered staff where the need to view metdata might be crucial, then this little tip may help.

Oh, and this predicated on the idea that you're using Photoshop in prepping images for the web.

If you "Save for the Web" in Photoshop (keyboard: Option+Command+Shift+S), on the right side of the large  dialog box, directly above the Color Table is a drop-down menu for metadata. I believe that by default it is set to "Copyright and Contact Info" but don't quote me on that. Anyway, whatever the setting I suggest you set this to "All." It will stay that way by default until you manually change it to something else.

If you don't make this adjustment then none of the metadata embedded in any image you run through this feature of PS4 will be saved. And that's a fact.

Forewarned is forearmed. (Click on the screenshot to enlarge.)

What's in a number? Calculating the size of your image library

Beginning with Mac OS 10.6 Apple's Finder now calculates the size of your drive (internal and external) a bit differently than it did before. The idea now, apparently, is to provide the user with a number that appears "more accurate" than it might have before, when in fact the size reported in previous versions of Mac OS X simply allowed for a cushion.

For example, on a 2-tb external drive, my older desktop (OS 10.5.8) reports the space remaining as 1.07 while my laptop (with 10.6.5) reports 1.18 remaining. But, both machines report the same number of bytes, however (790 billion and change).  (By the way, a Windows machine reports the drive size the same way as the older Mac OS X.)

While I can't reproduce the complex explanations for how drive sizes are calculated (nor would I want to), suffice it to say that when you see your drive listed in Snow Leopard it attempts to provide you with a reading that is more in line with the accurate byte calculation. That is, 790 gigs used (to represent the 790+ billion bytes).

Now, aren't you glad you asked?

Previewing problems in Bridge CS4?

If you're having problems previewing images in folders you've previously indexed in Adobe Bridge CS4 try this:


1. In Bridge go to Edit>Find (Command+F)
2. Select the folder where the problem seems to occur most often (alternatively select all your image folders)
3. In the search criteria drop-downs select "keywords" and then type in the broadest keyword in your library, one that might cover all your images (such as your name, if you tag all your images that way  for example)
4. Make sure to check BOTH Include all subfolders and Include Non-indexed files
4. Click find and then walk away. Depending on how large your image library is, this might take a while (or overnight).


We've have found that using this method is one way to "clean up" any re-indexing issues that might arise in Bridge's caching process after months of re-indexing folders.


There are, of course, no guarantees so be sure to keep any eye on your caching numbers in the Library.

Adobe Bridge CS4 Previewing problem

It's been over a year since our department started using a central image library and, with only 2 or 3  minor issues, the print and web teams have experienced few problems accessing the photos using Adobe Bridge CS4. All machines have undergone both initial and repeated reindexing have produced no unexpected anomalies. Recently, however, several machines have begun to experience problems in loading previews of several recently uploaded folders.

Remember, our image library consists of a series of folders (by date), each with a varying number of images inside (but rarely over 2k or more images). Typically, once a folder of photos is cached (or "indexed) in Bridge, the program creates a separate subfolder for the thumbnails and another subfolder for the previews, all within Bridge's cache folders. (Located in the user's Library on a Mac.)

Initial indexing/caching creates all the thumbnails and previews for that one folder. Subsequent "recaching/re-indexing" only adds any additional metadata that might have been modified since the initial caching -- new images are almost never added to folders within the library.

Now, to the issue.

Beginning several weeks ago -- the timing is, unfortunately, uncertain - I began experiencing a preview loading problem on both the benchmark machines. (Two Macs, one desktop one laptop that serve as the most accurate and up-to-date sources for accessing the library.) The problem was first noticed in the search results window: previews appeared pixelated in the preview window and often remained that way. In addition, when attempting to review (or use the slideshow) feature, the images would often remain pixelated for some seconds or not load at all.

At first I thought this was isolated and temporary. But I then learned that several others were experiencing the same problem. (Only Macs, though. The two Windows machines, not overly used but one kept up-to-date, seemed fine.)

Modifying the preview generating option in the Path Bar made a short-term difference on a couple of machines, but the option was already selected on a couple of other machines exhibiting the loading problem.

When I began investigating the caching behavior of the problem machines, it soon became clear that the problem was deeper. By examining the cache folders inside of the Library cache folder structure, I could see that previews were not being generated even when the folder(s) were reindexed. In fact, I even tried purging and rebuilding the cache for several folders and watched the preview cache folder. I could easily see that not all the previews were being built and indexed.

The question now is why is this happening? The corollary is why is this happening on just a few machines? All the machines, it should be noted, are of the same vintage, and of robust features, and sharing the same OS and software.