Street Photography Magazine

individual image files. Some products
produce clean data, while others don’t work
as smoothly (see the section on metadata
on page 118). If you’re not sure, we
recommend that you always save your images
using a chronological folder system – this will
usually preserve your image data in a form
that you can successfully export. Aperture, for
example, gives you a choice between copying
your images to the Library or creating links to
their current location.
Import links, use the existing folder
structure in the onboard file system: Many
image database programs (including iMatch
and Picasa) don’t allow you to copy images,
and simply use the existing folder structure
instead. This makes things a lot easier,
especially for less experienced users, and
means that you can search your images using
a familiar system while enjoying the benefits
of the additional search features offered by
the software.
While this approach prevents the creation
of large amounts of redundant data, it also
tempts the user to use other tools and utilities
to open and alter files, which quickly leads to
inconsistencies in the database.
For this reason, iMatchconstantly monitors
the designated image folders and warns the
user to resynchronize the file system with the
database if it finds any unregistered changes.
If the database uses internal metadata that is
not saved to the file itself or a sidecar, errors
can occur here too (see page 118 for more
details).
Generally, you should always manage your
images via the database interface, although
there is no reason why you shouldn’t give

yourself read-only access to your images via

other applications.

Some products give you a choice. Cumulus,

for example, lets you keep your images in

their original location or import them to its

own central image folder.

Using your existing folder structure makes

it easier to keep backup copies of your data

and to migrate to a different system later if

necessary. With the exception of eyebase

mediasuite (which is cloud-based), all of our

test programs give you the option to link to

your existing local image folders instead of

creating new, database-internal folders.

Thumbnail Caching

A thumbnail cache that enables you to create

fast previews of the entire contents of your

image collection used to be the killer

argument for using dedicated image

database software. Nowadays, virtually all

image viewers have built-in thumbnail

caching functionality, although this also

causes data loss if a thumbnail isn’t mapped

to the correct image file. This type of bug has

been documented for iPhoto, Aperture and

ViewNX, and even Lightroom has had it fair

share of mismatch run-ins.

In all these cases, thumbnails were

incorrectly matched to image files, causing

files to be wrongly moved, sorted or deleted.

Altering image data directly in your

computer’s file system instead of via the

database interface can cause similar

Image Database Software | Thumbnails

Database software saves metadata and

thumbnails (or links to thumb nails) in the

database itself, providing fast searches and

previews. The Achilles’ heel of most

database systems is the synchronization

between the database and the computer’s

file system – the contents of the hard disk

aren’t always identical to the contents of

the database.

Cumulusgives you the choice of either importing your images to a single, central folder or

leaving them in their source folders. We recommend the latter approach to home users.