June 10, 2004

In the big picture, digital photography is essentially no different than old-school "analog" film photography. A successful photograph has very little to do with the tools, and everything to do with capturing an exquisite moment in time.

But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of how photographs are edited, shown for client review, delivered, printed and archived, digital photography presents an entirely new set of processes. The concrete differences between a photograph and the negative from which it came are dissolved into the collection of binary bits that is a computer file.

The following is a blueprint for handling and managing these files. Ideally it will help you create a process that works for you.

A note on software
While some programs like Adobe Photoshop, are platform-agnostic, some are specific to Windows operating systems. If you use a Mac, there are other options. Many Mac users find Apple's Iphoto (www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/) a handy tool for viewing, sorting and creating albums of digital photography. Try typing a phrase into an Internet search engine that describes the task you'd like to do -- "digital photo noise reduction software," for instance. You can cross-reference any software solution you find with online reviews from professional writers and opinionated users. Try www.dpreview.com/ or www.dcviews.com/ for starters.

Photo editing
Photo editing, much like editing text, is all about stripping out the excess fluff and culling down to the best words or images that tell the story you want to tell. Without the financial constraints of film and processing, it's easy to shoot far more digital pictures than you might on film. As a rule, I try to edit any shoot down to 20 or 30 images. Quantity does not guarantee quality, and sending out a URL with hundreds of images is guaranteed to overwhelm your viewers.

I prefer to edit on the computer monitor, which offers a larger image to review, and use a PC application called ACDSee (www.acdsystems.com/English/index.htm). The slideshow feature is great for editing -- I can literally thumb through an entire directory of images in minutes, deleting those that I know I won't use, or moving them to another directory.

For folks who prefer to scour hardcopy, generating printed proof sheets is easy. There are applications specific to that task, including Iphoto for Mac, PhotoImpact for PC (www.ulead.com/pi/) and ImageAXS for both. Photoshop 5+ also has an automated "contact sheet" function under the "file" menu.

Publishing images online and in print
Once I have whittled down the directory of raw images, I'll prepare the files for review on my website. I always shoot with the expectation that some images may be print worthy, and capture and save them at a printable (high resolution) file size. This means that the files need to be reduced in size for the Web. My preferred method is an automated action in Photoshop (search the Web for "create an action in Photoshop" to find tutorials on this fantastic time-saving feature). Save images to around 600 pixels (wide or tall, depending on the orientation) for optimal Web review.

The next steps are all about cleaning up the images: reducing noise, balancing color, enhancing contrast, recropping, etc. (By "noise", I'm referring to the visual parallel of acoustic noise -- unwanted pixels which disrupt continuous tones of color. To learn more, go to www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=noise.)

Delivery and printing
When I shoot film for a project, I almost always deliver a digital image to the publication or client. But for personal use and gallery display we still fetishize an actual physical photograph -- and these days there are many ways to make them. Inkjet printers bring the darkroom home in a whole new way. I've been really impressed by services like Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com/), Snapfish (www.snapfish.com/) and Ofoto (www.ofoto.com/). You can upload your files, select the print size and have them delivered to you. Many camera and photo-processing stores will also make hardcopies of your digital images.

Archiving
Finally, shooting will begin to fill up even the biggest hard drive with all of your "negatives." To me, archiving is imperative. Whether backing up digital files to a zip drive, an external hard drive, a CD or a DVD, I recommend making two versions: one to keep near your main computer for easy access, and one to keep offsite for those just-in-case scenarios.

Gabriella Marks (www.triggerfinger.com/) shoots music and musicians in her native San Francisco. Her work has been published by Copperpress, Spin, Ipecac Records, Chronicle Books, and in the cover art of bands from far and near. When not shooting music, she's making it with her band, Sinombre or playing it on KUSF 90.3 FM.