User Reviews Send this to a friend
 
The DAM Book
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media
Customer Rating:
 
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $31.49
Availibility: Usually ships in 24 hours
The DAM BookFree Shipping Available
Buy Now
 

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.
  • ISBN13: 9780596523572
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
The DAM Book More of a Volume 2 or "Pro" version than a second edition
 
Review Date: May 7, 2009
Reviewer: K. Forsmo, Massachusetts USA
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.
The DAM Book The "Must Have" Book for Digital Photographers
 
Review Date: May 4, 2009
Reviewer: James Cavanaugh, Buffalo, NY
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.

Tagged with: • •

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!