For more on digitAl photogrAphy, visit http://www.shortCourses.Com 65
exPorting
With RAW images or non-destructive editing the original file is never
changed. Your edits are applied when you export an image into another for-
mat, to a different folder, or to a file with a different filename. When you do
so you can also resize the image, attach a color space, specify a file format and
amount of compression.xmP
The latest photo applications use what’s called non-destructive editing so
an original image is never changed. Instead, your edits are stored in the
database and reapplied whenever you reopen the file. When you send one of
your edited images to someone, or copy/move it to another system, the edits
are left behind in the database. If you want to share the edits along with the
image, programs such as Aperture and Lightroom use Adobe’s Extensible
Metadata Platform (XMP) to embed editing metadata into the image file itself
or in a separate “sidecar” file with the same filename as the image but the
extension xmp. The metadata can include the list of editing changes you have
made to the image as well as Exif and IPTC metadata. Other applications
that support XMP can access and use the metadata so you can see the editing
changes on other systems.ArChiVing
When you are finished with photos but want to save them, you should be
able to archive them along with their metadata. Ideally you can easily select
the images and burn them to a CD/DVD or copy them to a backup drive or
network volume, and they remain listed in the library so you can see their
thumbnails, previews and metadata. If you select an image that’s off-line you
will be prompted to insert the disc on which it’s stored.
If you want offsite backup, so the same accident can’t affect your originals
and your backups, on-line storage may be the answer. Two sites, Carbonite.
com and Mozy.com, will backup some or all of your files. Each service installs
a small program on your system. When you change or add files, they are
marked for backup and this is then done in the background while you work
on other projects. The only problem with this form of backup is that it can
be very slow even with a fast Internet connection. However, after the initial
backup of all important files, backups of those files that have changed will go
much faster.uSing All oF the FeAtureS—the workFlow
When a photographer returns from a shoot, their goal is to process images as
quickly as possible. Here are some of the workflow steps many photographers
might follow in a program such as Lightroom.- Adds the photos to the library.
- Selects all of the images and adds a copyright notice to each.
- Selects all of the images and adds keywords.
- Scrolls through the images and ranks them using stars, colors, or pick/re-
ject flags. - Delete the rejects, then edits images to be used immediately and exports
them in the desired format. - Shares or publishes the photos.
imAge mAnAgers