- If I understand your first question correctly: you can tick the checkbox "Add exported photo's to current project" in the Photo Export dialog.

I use Faststone as an excellent and very fast universal image browser.

Danny

danny

Thanks, Danny. I missed the box when I have exported.

I've been using ACDSee Pro 5 as both my RAW editor and DAM, but it's slow, requiring periodic database maintenance, and the workflow is inefficient.

Now that I have switched to PhotoDirector for my out-of-camera work, I want to make certain I'm getting everything I can handled by that application.

For the rest of my images, I've been tinkering with Zoner Photo Studio 14 FREE as a replacement for ACDSee Pro. It seems to be very fast. I know that Faststone has a large user base, indicating its value to many photographers.

Bob PhotoDirector 5; Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3770; 16 GB RAM; AMD Radeon HD 7770; Olympus E-M1 & E-M5

Hello Bob & Danny,

The single most important thing, as you'd know, is to minimise any quality loss caused my editing, saving, re-editing images. It's mainly with lossy formats like JPEG where this is a problem.

If you shoot in RAW format and maintain that throughout your editing (whatever software you're using), till the final export, you're doing just that. Much easier to edit an image where some of the data hasn't already been thrown out!

If you shoot RAW & think RAW right up till the final export stage, that lets some software fall by the wayside. I do think it's good to compare the impact on image quality of processing in various pieces of software. I'm not aware of any such research.

Part of my workflow, when I need to use specific filters or plug-ins in other software, is to duplicate & rename image files. Each of us, I guess, would have their own ways of going about things. I'd be interested to hear about workflow ideas that work for you.

Again, when using "external" editors, I retain the original format where possible. True - not always possible.

I'm certainly no expert on Digital Asset Management (DAM), but I'm learning!

Like you, Bob, I'm having a lot of fun turning some (admittedly) pretty ordinary photography into images that make people stop & look!

PIX

P.S. I wouldn't count on the Z**er product (FREE) handling your RAW files http://free.zoner.com/products.asp PIX YouTube channel

Quote:
PIX

P.S. I wouldn't count on the Z**er product (FREE) handling your RAW files http://free.zoner.com/products.asp

Nor do I. That's why I'm using PhotoDirector. (The FREE product doesn't recognize RAW files anyway.) When I shoot these days it's always RAW.

It's the management of the files not imported into PhD that creates the conundrum for me -- raster images saved in a photo editor's proprietary format, vector graphics, jpg images family and friends have shared, etc.

Still trying to determine the most efficient workflow with those files.

Bob

PhotoDirector 5; Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3770; 16 GB RAM; AMD Radeon HD 7770; Olympus E-M1 & E-M5

And that's where the software can fall short.. a true DAM product will be able to handle most any file that you can throw at it - PNG's, PDF's, Fonts, etc. Sidecar files would be created for these "non-image" formats but the data would still be stored in the catalog and the sidecar file for searching - when you try to open these files, their externally linked program would open them for you.

Idimager can handle this with ease (even lets you setup your own file extensions for items it doesn't recognize) as can ACDSee Pro... if PhD cannot, this would be a major deal breaker for most - using multiple DAM products for various file types seems a bit silly... the ability to search is negated and the reason to use a DAM in the first place gets lost.

For what it's worth PhotoDirector is quite working well for me.