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Digital Photography Resources
Some years ago, professional-caliber digital cameras began to match, and then to exceed, the capabilities of standard film for many commercial applications. Today, digital photography has taken a firm hold on the market. Both technical and business problems remain to be solved, however, and this page offers some resources to help you find good solutions.
There still are, and may always be, certain market niches where silver-halide film reigns supreme. But for most photographers, as for most publishers and advertisers, the technical challenge is no longer to make digital photography work, but rather to get the most productivity and pizzazz from the medium. The business challenge is to forge a new, industry-wide consensus on cost recovery and financial best practices.
The digital advantage
Digital Photography
Better, faster, cheaper — can you really have all three? With digital photography, you just might. In recent years, direct digital capture has been rapidly gaining popularity. Improved technologies, reduced equipment costs and an ever more competitive global economy have resulted in increasingly widespread acceptance of this burgeoning technology. Read the article.
Why shoot digital?
The reason that digital photography has taken off recently is not because it is cheaper to produce, but because it provides significant value to the buyer. Read the article.
The Tipping Point
My name is Dave and I’ve been digital for twelve months. With the exception of one magazine art director who insisted on film, I’ve been lab free for a year. No E-6 processing, no C-41 contact sheets or prints. I’m digital and plan to stay that way. Read the article.
Going Digital
It’s the question every photographer asks when making the switch from film to digital: Which camera is right for me? It should be no surprise that the answers are as varied as their subjects and work styles. Read the article.
From Pixels to the Printed Page
Eight photographers discuss the pros and cons of digital photography in their businesses: How they use it, what they like and hate, what the clients think, how to bill for post-production time, where the technology is going and where it needs to go. Read the article.
Lots More Resources
Here's a page ofASMP-recommended links to manufacturers, suppliers, review sites and more.
Costs and prices
What Do Digital Processing Charges Buy For the Client?
If you are a designer or publisher, digital photo technology means that you can count on receiving better images, faster and at lower end-to-end cost. It would be nice if, by eliminating film, digital photography had eliminated all processing expenses. Regrettably, it hasn’t. Read the article.
A Justification of Digital Charges
As a photographer and business person, you need to recover all your costs. Shawn G. Henry, a Boston-based photographer, discusses ways to present these costs on the invoice and interpret them to the client. Read the article.
Pricing Strategies
Setting your price is one of the hardest problems for any business, and doubly so in regard to digital manipulation charges, where hard numbers are hard to come by. Photographer Peter Krogh looks at some example approaches that have worked. Read the article.
The Next Step
When Mikkel Aaland interviewed photographers who’d transitioned into one or more aspects of digital photography, in the midst of mostly technical and creative discussions, a purely practical topic always emerged: how to make a living in these tough times and how to make digital photography pay. A lot of smart, business-savvy people are tackling the issues of how much to charge for new skills and services. Read the article.
John Harrington’s Pricing Pages
A successful photographer, John Harrington, details his approach to pricing digital services on his web site. Read what he tells his customers.
Techniques
Separation Anxiety
Expanding on a story in the Spring 2008 Bulletin, Ethan Salwen gathers practical advice on subjects that come up again and again in a digital photography business. Brian Smith suggests that, to communicate effectively with clients who ask for RAW files, show them before-and-after samples. Grace Zaccardi explains some of the tricks of soft proofing for CMYK reproduction. And Richard Anderson counsels you on mastering the process of RGB to CMYK conversion, increasing your creative control and the client's satisfaction.
Noise Reduction and Sharpening the Way You Like It
Mikkel Aaland is one of the first photographers to put Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom through a stress-test: He organized a group of 12 top-notch photographers for a trek to “Nature's Light Room,” the pristine Icelandic landscape where each summer day is bathed in 22 hours of horizontal light — and where the only studio was Lightroom on a laptop. In Photoshop Lightroom Adventure, Aaland uses hands-on knowledge from the trip to demonstrate how Lightroom 1.1 can help you create the best possible image under any conditions. Chapter 4 is available for download, courtesy of publisher O'Reilly Media. More info is available here.
Office and On-Location Systems: Redundancy and Security Beget Peace of Mind
John Harrington's Best Business Practices for Photographers, published in 2007 by Thompson Course Technology, covers the focal points of best practices — best practices in interacting with clients, best practices in negotiating contracts and licenses, and best practices in business operations. Chapter 20, with segments on Redundancy, Communications Networks, Firewalls and System Security, Port Forwarding and more, is available, thanks to Thompson Course Technology, as a downloadable PDF. Here are the details.
What to Do with Your Images
Stephen Johnson On Digital Photography provides a practical in-depth introduction to digital photography that offers the latest techniques for beginning and experienced photographers alike. Chapter 15, which discusses the topics of archiving, storing, cataloging and retrieving images, is offered, courtesy of publisher O'Reilly Media, as a downloadable PDF. Here are the details.
Working in Bridge
Chapter 5 of Eddie Tapp's book Photoshop Workflow Setups discusses Bridge's panels and features, navigating Bridge, setting Bridge preferences, XMP sidecar files, workflow automation, rating and labeling, using the slide show in Bridge, and accessing Camera Raw from Bridge. It is offered, courtesy of publisher O'Reilly Media, as a downloadable PDF. Here are the details.
The DNG Advantage
There is a growing consensus among photographers that DNG offers real advantages over proprietary RAW formats. If you are not yet sure, check out the links and resources in this article. Among them is Chapter 9 from Mikkel Aaland's Photoshop CS2 RAW, which explains all about “Archiving & Working with the DNG”; it is a free PDF download.
Advanced Tonal Control with Photoshop CS2
Chapter 5 of Mikkel Aaland's book, Photoshop CS2 RAW, explores a number of powerful tools for exploiting the tonality and dynamic range that exists within a raw file. It is presented here, courtesy of the publisher, to help you get the most from your camera.
Need a (Digital) Hand?
Strategies to help you locate and work with an assistant who best matches your needs. You can employ these approaches to edge out the competition for the best people. Read more.
ASMP Members List Their Favorite RIPs
A specialized RIP (raster image processor) can give you greater control over the appearance of your digital prints. But which RIP is the best for your needs and your budget? Ask the photographer who has one.
How to Embed Copyright and Contact Information
Use Photoshop’s File Info features to tag your photo with copyright and caption data. This step-by-step method works with any Photoshop file.
A Recommended Digital Workflow
When Peter Krogh does a digital shoot, he follows a careful protocol that ensures the integrity and safety of each image file. The workflow outlined is for a Nikon D series camera, Macintosh computer, iView Media Pro cataloging software, Photoshop, and Roxio Toast — but the principles are valid for any gear. Read more.
The Digital Slide Mount
Like the traditional mount on a 35mm slide, the photographer can imprint his name, copyright, date of creation or other info directly onto a digital image. The original step-by-step procedure was developed by ASMP member Peter Krogh for Photoshop 7, and an improved version called the Metaframer is now available from his web site.
NB: For Photoshop CS2, use the CaptionMaker script from Russell Brown (see below).
Russell Brown’s Tips
Photoshop guru Russell Brown offers a wide range of time-saving scripts and shortcuts that you can freely download. The newest ones are for Photoshop CS2; older CS tricks are about halfway down the page. We particularly recommend Dr. Brown’s Image Processor (download it for CS; it’s already in CS2), but the others may save the day for you, too. Visit his site.
The Controlled Vocabulary Page
How to think about cataloging your images. What you need to know about keywords, captions, file naming, metatags and other tools for storing and retrieving pictures in an image database. Plus lots of links to further info and great tools. It’s well worth a visit.
Managing Your Image Collection
Your digital images are assets, hopefully assets that will be valuable for years to come. To realize any cash from them, you'll have to be able to find them. Peter Krogh has written the book on this: The DAM Book, which takes you step-by-step through the hardware, software and procedures you'll need to manage your digital assets effectively. You can read chapter 1 online, then buy the paperback (also available from O'Reilly or Amazon).
The Value of DNG
Is your camera's native (raw) file format suitable for the long haul? ASMP member Peter Krogh argues in favor of a vendor-neutral standard for long-term storage of raw data, Adobe's Digital Negative file format. Read his argument.
David Riecks' Techniques Pages
ASMP member David Riecks has a wealth of good info on his web site. Here are two pages that can be useful to any digital photographer (and, indeed, to any client or agency working with digital images).
Making Digital Submissions more Secure: Creating a ‘wrapper’
Getting that file from Point A to point B: Mastering file transfers
Standards and best practices
Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines
Best practices for preparing and delivering images, by the UPDIG Working Group.
PLUS Licensing Terms Database
The PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System) Coalition has developed a database of definitions for most of the common terms used in photo-rights licenses. Do your contracts mean what you think? Find out here.
An Introduction to Digital Terminology
The digital photo industry uses certain words and phrases in special ways. Here’s a capsule summary of the jargon.
Basic metadata: a photographers best friend
Ethan Salwen investigated the metadata practices of numerous ASMP members, including Richard Anderson, Judy Herrmann, Paul Hester, Chase Jarvis, Jay Kinghorn, Peter Krogh, Chun Lai, Lee Peterson, David Riecks, Jeff Sedlik, Dan Stack, Corey Weiner, and Gale Zucker. Here, Salwen provides additional information, strategies and Web links for working with metadata.
Image Cataloging and the IPTC
A summary by ASMP member Peter Krogh of how to use IPTC keyword conventions to your benefit. IPTC conventions are supported in Photoshop and in most image catalog applications. If you haven’t used them, here’s a quick start.
The Digital Workflow: An Overview of Terms and Procedures
This discussion by ASMP member Richard Anderson has recently been superceded by the UPDIG guidlines. (Anderson is active in the UPDIG working group.) However, the information here is still valid and may be valuable if you are just getting starting in digital photography. Read the article.