Product Description

Most people are awash in digital photos—some taken, some received—stuffed here and there in random folders and albums across a hard drive. In The Digital Shoebox, Sarah Bay Williams, creator of the image archiving system used by the Academy Awards®, shares her foolproof method for effectively organizing, finding, and sharing photos so you never lose track of your most precious memories.

Unlike many books on digital photography that are driven by software, The Digital Shoebox teaches readers an easy-to-remember and easy-to-repeat system that doesn’t feel like homework or require learning lots of complicated software applications. Part 1 of the book guides readers through the seven most important steps for organizing photos; Part 2 is packed with tips on ways to enjoy and share those photos. Each chapter closes with some slightly more advanced information, should readers want to get "technical."

Based on the author’s experience as photography coordinator for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and as someone who simply loves taking photos, The Digital Shoebox is the first concise and user-centered guide solely dedicated to organizing a personal digital photography collection.

• Takes a fun and easy-to-implement approach to asset management, featuring a friendly writing style and charming illustrations
• Teaches the seven key steps needed to help users keep photos organized, available, and safe
• Includes a "Beyond the Box" section at the end of each chapter for more advanced readers who want to move beyond the basics

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #361872 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780321660497
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Sarah Bay Williams served as communications photography coordinator for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 2004 to 2008, managing hundreds of thousands of digital photos for a growing historic collection. She also enjoyed attending and working at five Oscars presentations where she managed up to ten photographers at a time. Williams is now the Ralph M. Parsons Fellow in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Customer Reviews

Stuck in the Shoebox
I'm of two minds about this book. If you are a casual shooter who takes pictures of family events and trips you might find this book useful. More serious photographers should look for something with more depth.

The book includes information on storing your photos, sharing them with others and saving images that others share with you, as well as appendixes on time, file formats and metadata. The main theme could have been conveyed in a short article, or perhaps even summarized in a single sentence: store your photographs on your computer by month and year and keep a calendar of what you shoot.

Actually, this is the technique that many photographers followed during the dim days of film. I stored my negatives in date order in shoe boxes and kept a loose-leaf book of contact sheets marked with the date of the shoot. If I wanted to recover an image, I looked in the loose leaf book for the approximate date, searched the contact sheets for the image I wanted, and then retrieved the negatives for that date. If my memory was weak so that I couldn't remember when I shot the picture of six locomotives pulling a heavy train up to El Cajon pass, I searched the calendar for hints.

In the early days of computers, similar automated filing systems were called flat files, but folks soon realized the potential of relational data bases that could retrieve the same item in several different ways. Today, using Adobe Lightroom, I type Cajon and locomotive into a space and all the locomotive images I took there pop up. If I couldn't remember where in California I took the pictures, I could type in California and locomotive and the pictures would be presented to me, along with several others that could be quickly sorted through.

Serious photographers will want to insure that their pictures are not lost due to computer failure, or otherwise, and will want to be able to retrieve them easily. Even though my main catalog only contains about 2,500 pictures of the perhaps 100,000 I've taken in the last 10 years, these pictures are so varied that it might take me hours to find just the images I want using the shoebox method if I had to, say, make a slide presentation to a bird watchers' club. With good cataloging software, it takes seconds. And modern software, unlike the methods Williams suggests, makes it easy to backup files. Moreover, cataloging software, like Lightroom, often includes a top-notch photo editor. The reference that best shows how to manage digital assets with available computer systems is "The DAM Book" by Peter Krogh.

The author does cover other subjects that the casual user can benefit from. For example she talks about preserving original images whenever you tinker with an image, as when you resize, and points out that one should resize pictures that you attach to e-mail so as not to overload the receiver's mailbox. On the other hand there are few practical instructions on how to resize. Moreover, much of the material in the book looks like filler material. I couldn't see much relevance in the explanation of how time is kept.

Williams' shoe-box method is only for the most casual of photographers. Serious photographers need more.

Amazing!
This fantastic little book provides a much-needed resource for the amateur digital photographer. I'm someone who shoots a lot of architecture and location photography for work, and like many of us, I also enjoy freely taking pictures of my friends and the events of my life. So yes, I have too many pictures! My computer is noticeably slowed down by all the images I have crammed on there. I don't know how to find the images I'm looking for, my work images are mixed in with my personal images, and most annoyingly, iPhoto seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to organizing (has anyone else found this to be true?). I've been needing help in this area for a while.

The Digital Shoebox has been a godsend for me. I got my advance order copy last week and it's a really fun and easy read. Sarah Bay Williams walks us through seven simple steps that will make sure our images stay organized for years to come. A few of the steps are painfully obvious -set your camera's clock - duh! - but hey, I hadn't done it, and it's just one small way in which my photo collection has become something I can access quickly and easily.

The book is fun to read. The illustrations are amazing! There is a sense of intelligent playfulness that runs throughout, as if Williams knows this isn't always the most scintillating material. She makes it fascinating with cool sidebars and interesting facts sewn in. She worked at the Oscars and she's handled major photo collections for major companies. She takes what she's learned (and the mistakes she's made) at these places and makes a system that's accessible for anyone. Thankfully, she makes the technical stuff understandable. Even for the worst offenders...

Let it be said, that if I'm digitally disorganized, my father is digitally dangerous. I see him ripping his memory card out of his camera while it's still on. I see him accidentally making double and triple copies of images he'll never look at again. Lately, he says he just stores his images "in the camera." I don't even know what he means by that, but I'm sure this kind of behavior goes on all over. I'm getting him a copy for his upcoming birthday. Yes, the book is easy enough for him to follow, but it's not just a book for beginners. Having worked with professional photographers for my work, and seen some really sloppy organization, I'm sure they could pick up a tip or two here.

The only drawback I can see is that this book might, on first glance, appear too basic for those who are already computer nerds and/or "anally" inclined. Everyone has a different level of digital savvy, and this book presumes you're starting almost from scratch. That said, the author has gone to great lengths to include further reading and ideas for people who want to go deeper.

Definitely recommended for anyone who wants to be in control of their photos.

Take Control of Photo Orgainization
Digital Shoebox: How to Organize, Find, and Share Your Photos, The

Written by a professional with a background in archival management, this colorful little book provides a sensible system to manage digital photo storage. The easy to follow step by step instructions include lots of colorful illustrations that add a fun, light hearted touch to what I once considered an overwhelming task. This book ends the frustration of camera and editing programs putting photo files where you can't find them. It teaches how to disable auto open features and put the control back in your hands. Basic organization is covered in seven steps with specific instruction for both PCs and Macs. Additional subjects include file formats, printing, photos from friends and the web, copyrights, metadata and a glossary.

Not being a particularly well organized person, I thought while this book was necessary, reading it would be a chore. To my surprise, I found it interesting and fun to both read and apply. From camera set up to file back up plans, The Digital Shoebox has enabled me to sort all my photos and create and implement a back plan so I know my memories are safe. While probably not for professional photographers it provides an easy to use plan for personal collections. I'd recommend this book to anyone who doesn't have a good working file management plan and as a sure to be appreciated gift for friends.