9.3 IMAGE MANAGEMENT

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It doesn't take long to be overrun with images; and all of them with meaningless names to boot. In this topic we explore some of the software tools designed to help you find, identify, organize, and use the images you have take. There is a spectrum of image management software ranging from programs that just transfer images from the camera to the computer to those that manage huge collections of images. Here are just some of the things these programs can do:

• Acquire images from the camera
• View the images on the system
• Catalog the images, usually using thumbnails
• Edit the images
• Post thumbnails of the images on the Web

It pays to look at these programs because it sometimes seems like the software that comes with your camera was written by Martians. The programmers frequently ignore the most common Windows or Macintosh assumptions so the programs look and act strange to many users. In addition, they crash or hang systems all too often. A number of third-party products have been developed to fill the vacuum created by these half-hearted efforts on the part of the camera manufacturers. Here are some of those, and much, much, more.

The ThumbsPlus screen display.

There are a lot of programs in this area so I asked Larry Reeve at PolyBytes how someone should go about selecting a program in this area. He responded "How to select between good products? That is a good question. Most people just download a bunch and drive them a while. I think PolyView is very strong in usability, printing capabilities, and format manipulations. My focus lately has been on collection management and printing. Those would seem to be features that are very useful to digital photographers." I like his honesty and if you're going to try one of these out, you might start with his.