Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

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The Digital Photographer's Software Guide
Description
To make it easy to conceptualize the scope of DigitalPro, the vendor refers to four categories:
load, review, catalog, and publish. This means that DigitalPro addresses the two
ends of the photographic workflow. At one end it allows you to bring images into the
browser, and then examine, sort, and catalog them by assigning captions, keywords, and
categories. At the other end it offers publishing facilities, with image resizing and format
conversion, built-in sharpening, proof sheet printing, automatic watermarking,
contact sheet printing, and Web gallery generation.
DigitalPro treats images captured in RAW+JPEG as a “single file,” so that the users see
them as one file and continue to treat them in this way, even deleting them as a single
image. Many photographers find that this feature saves time and avoids confusion. The
program can also accommodate Adobe Photoshop RAW processing, which integrates
fully with DigitalPro. Its file handling now includes support for JPEG 2000 files.
DigitalPro’s review facilities are first-rate, with features such as a multi-threaded Light
Table for reviewing images quickly, a “digital loupe” for checking sharpness, and dual
monitor support. Every thumbnail image can be tagged with metadata that displays
directly on the image. This metadata can tell the users whether the image has been cataloged,
given IPTC data, was taken with/without flash, whether it has any exposure
compensation, and the tone setting. Again, this is an extremely useful feature for professionals,
the little data tags being called “Smart InfoIcons” by the vendor. By clicking
on these InfoIcons you can play any audio file associated with the image, or bring up
the RAW data for editing.
For cataloging, DigitalPro has a wealth of features: IPTC-compatible color-coded
priority tagging; automatic captioning with copyright, credit, camera profile, and color
space information; and efficient database management with keywording, image tracking,
and all the necessary functionality to find images quickly. Sorting is by file date and
capture date, the latter being accomplished by using Exif data.
DigitalPro comes in two editions: Standard and Pro. Several features, like batch IPTC
captioning of selected images and image event logging and reporting, are exclusive to
the Pro edition.
Comments
The product of collaboration between professional wildlife photographer Moose
Peterson and software developer David Cardinal, DigitalPro works well for both Nikon
and Canon shooters, although Peterson always shoots on Nikon. Each major upgrade
of the software has been acclaimed by professionals, thousands of whom now use it. Its
combination of image browsing, color-managed workflow, and real-time cataloging is
clearly one that works for them, although it lacks full processing and editing facilities.
Because most pros use Photoshop or specialist applications for retouching, DigitalPro
does not attempt to compete in that area.