Well, not exactly the beginning since that really happens in my heart and mind with an idea for a photograph or in a moment that speaks to me. But after I’ve made an image what happens to the amount of pixels stored in the memory card? This is a journey through my workflow and an answer about my choices.

We live in an photographic era where the “all-in-one” programs tend to rule. The ability to have all we need to take care of our images in one place is something that is gaining more and more enthusiasts, and it seems to be a win-win relationship. So why should I choose something many people see only as an image browser and for a section of the workflow not all give special attention? Let me tell you about my experience.

Some years ago, when the amount of image files were starting to be considerable I made the decision to improve my archive system and working method. Back then I used Nikon own browser but I started to look for something more versatile and powerful. During the search I made, I came across the website of John Shaw (http://www.johnshawphoto.com), a landscape/nature photographer who’s work I admire where he mentioned Photo Mechanic as a good image browser for Mac users. I read some more opinions and reviews and decided to give it a try.

My first impressions were, Wow! this thing is fast. The true is that it’s not only fast but it’s also powerful in the way it handles your images. If I had just one good thing to say about Photo Mechanic it would be speed. Just for this you have a very good reason to use it. But there is more, a lot more. You have speed in browsing and full screen previews, powerful IPTC Metadata input system and keyboard shortcuts to speed up even more your workflow and automat lot of tasks. For me they are the main three reasons to stay with Photo Mechanic. Let’s find out a little more about them and talk about some more.

Everything starts with the “Ingest”, Photo Mechanic import/download control centre. Here you can “ingest” images from different cards or drives all at the same time. You can rename you files, download them to a primary and secondary disk/folder for security/back-up purposes, define the directory structure for your folders, apply Metadata, filter the files to copy, erase the source disk (I don’t use this option because I prefer to format my cards in my camera after all the downloads had happened) and unmount the memory cards/drives. You can also define the Job attributes and use “Variables”, a extensive list of topics you can choose to display for your images that cover from EXIF to IPTC data to time and GPS information. This “Variables” will be available almost anywhere inside Photo Mechanic. You can also save the changes you made to use in the future, more or less like a preset. The good thing is that it makes all of this for you, automatically. Another good thing is that it ingest both image and video files. What do you want more?!

Then comes the browsing experience. I have to tell you again, this is fast, really fast. And you can start to go through your images while the rest of the download takes place. All your images will appear in the main contact sheet window and here you can tag, rate and use colour classes to sort your images to help you with the selection. Later you can use a filter to show only the ones you choose. One thing I really like in the main contact sheet is the ability to see the images at full size. You just have to press the letter “Z”, click and hold in the image you want to check and you’ll see it at 100%. You can then navigate through the image using the thumbnail. This is very handy to check things like sharpening. You can also use the “Preview” window to do this things and a lot more like compare images, rotate, crop, etc. You also have a histogram than can show you lost details in highlights and shadows.

Now is time to add Metadata information. If you’re doing a big job, you can previously set-up the IPTC Stationary Pad with information that fits all the images and after the job just add special information regarding each image. You can use the IPTC Stationary Pad or click on the info icon on the thumbnail to go directly to the IPTC Info Panel for that image. I prefer this way because you can see a big preview of the image you’re adding Metadata. After you enter all the information you can copy/paste it to other images. Recently I decided to start selling images as stock and, specially now, I find this section of Photo Mechanic very well made and helpful. Not everyone will use all the fields they provide but I try to fill as much information as I can. You can edit and customise the Keywords Panel and Structured Keywords Panel to simplify your work and from the IPTC Info Panel you can also upload your files for your selected destination.

But it doesn’t end up here. I want to mention one or two more things I use. The first one is the upload service. You can upload your images directly via FTP and other online services like PhotoShelter, Flickr, SmugMug, Zenfolio, etc. Since I use PhotoShelter I find this option very handy and time saver. It’s perfect. The other thing I want to mention is the option you have to make html and flash galleries based in a series of templates that you can use to show your work to your clients, friends or family.

So for me it goes like this:

1. Import cards; Apply Stationary Pad; Rename files (Ingest Panel)
2. View images and select the best ones using colour classes (Contact Sheet or/and Preview window)
3. Narrow the selection to the best of the best using a specific colour label (Contact Sheet or/and Preview window)
4. Add detailed Metadata to the keepers/winners (IPTC Info Panel)
5. Post-processing (all about this in the upcoming workflow blog post)
6. Upload images (File Uploader)
7. Store/BackUp files (via File Menu or Drag and Drop)

And that’s it. For me the ability to have a good “image browser” is very important. It simplifies and speed up my workflow saving me time for the post and creative processes. Having one that does all this really fast is enough to choose Photo Mechanic. I look forward to see Photo Mechanic Catalogue, a new program Camera Bits is cooking to go hand in hand with Photo Mechanic. I hope this information can be helpful to you and can show you the importance of this step in your workflow.

For more information about Photo Mechanic please visit Camera Bits, the company that makes it. They are celebrating 15 years and have a special deal on February 15th.

I recommend you read the opinions regarding Photo Mechanic from Zack Arias and Scott Kelby following the links bellow.

For the last couple of years I was happy with my website. It showed my images, some of my work, said one or two things about me and that’s it. Made it entirely with iWeb since I have a background in design and I’m very difficult to please in this area and everything was running smoothly. But then, in the last months of 2012 I started to think I needed a better online presence. I also decided to improve my blog and to start an online store where I could have my Fine Art Prints available and many of the images I made during the years as stock (despite not being really a stock photographer). This was where the problems began and from the many variables I had in my equation, one thing I wanted to accomplish, the image between website, blog and store should be the same.

THE CHOSEN PATH
The offers and choices you have are enough to get lost in the first online search you make. With a bit of planning you can reduce this to two big groups, hire someone or some company to do it, or do it yourself and use the resources available. I went for the second one because I wanted to see if I could achieve my goal.
Since I had some background experience with WordPress (my old blog) I decided to make it my starting point. There isn’t much to say about WordPress that you already haven’t heard but I want to mention, again, that the people behind it really makes a great job. After trying a lot of different (free) themes, and good ones I have to say, I was far away of being happy with what I had done. My concern was the appearance between the different areas (site, blog, store). So I decided to jump ahead and look for a solution for my online store.
Here you also have some options from which you can choose. After reading a lot of opinions I decided to go with PhotoShelter. This decision helped me with my other problem, the website/blog section since it had an integration with Graph Paper Press, a team of talented people who build beautiful themes for WordPress.
Now I was ready to go. I wanted to maintain the simplicity and colour scheme of my older website with some minor adjustments but all the rest is new. New pages, new galleries and new images. I also achieved a more friendly and responsive design and navigation experience. I didn’t knew everything to get where I wanted but I discover it along the way and the support from PhotoShelter and Graph Paper Press is top.

I’m sure my website could be different. Better? Maybe, but the important is that I like it and I’m having good feedback of others. With time I may change one thing or two but for know I’m happy and everything is running smoothly as I wanted. My energies are back in my work and in the process of selecting and editing the images for my online store. What I learned is even if you don’t have all the knowledge in this area (like me), you still can achieve good results. Put your efforts into it and good luck.

I leave you here the links of the tools and resources that worked for me.
http://wordpress.org
http://www.photoshelter.com
http://graphpaperpress.com