Rangefinder Magazine
June 2006

First Exposure by Ron Eggers
ACDSee Pro Photo Manager: Powerful, But Still Easy-to-Use Digital Asset Management

OVER THE YEARS, ACD Systems has built a strong reputation with its flagship asset-management program, ACDSee. It has taken asset management one step further with the introduction of ACDSee Pro Photo Manager, a total workflow solution for professional photographers. It provides a start-to-finish image-management and optimization solution, making it possible to import, view, edit, organize, process, publish and archive very large asset libraries. (Note: ACDSee Pro is Windows-only software.)

Getting images into the computer starts the process. With a simple click, the program automatically creates albums from image folders. There’s also a quick and easy way to transfer digital images from external devices such as digital cameras and card readers. ACDSee Pro automatically detects attached devices with images stored on them and walks the user through the process of transferring them. If the option is active, a window will automatically appear when a device with images on it is connected, even if the program isn’t running at the time.

It’s possible to set up different profiles for different devices, so that images coming from these individual devices are handled consistently. For example, images from digital cameras and card-readers might be dropped into a folder of images to be reviewed and edited; finished images might be transferred from portable devices, such as USB drives, and could be placed into a folder set aside for publishable shots. All of this is possible without having to reassign the destinations each time.

Opening screen

Images are displayed as thumbnails in the center portion of the screen. Along with the thumbnails and Preview window on the left- hand side of the opening screen, there is also a Folders window for navigation and a small histogram under the Preview window. Upon opening, the right-hand side of the screen contains sorting criteria windows, including the categories that the images have been grouped into and any image tags.

There are two tabs at the lower right of the screen: Organize and Properties. The opening screen contains the Organize options. The Properties option brings up another set of tabs that provide all the information about an image a photographer would ever want to know, and more. This is where all the file information and metadata is displayed. Information can be added to the fields on that screen, but there are also complete screens for data entry available that make it easier to fill out the fields.

Opening screen with file info	Editing window

The organizational capabilities really set ACDSee Pro apart. Categorizing and rating images has been simplified. Custom categories and one-click visual photo tagging make it possible to select, organize and tag images very quickly. Images can be dragged and dropped onto their categories and ratings. Again, ACDSee Pro allows the user customize the process.

Placing images into categories doesn’t move the actual image files. That way, images can be kept in one master file and assigned to various categories. When re- moving images from categories, the user must select the Remove Item command rather than the Delete command. Hitting Delete removes the selected image from all categories, sending the actual file to the Recycle Bin. The screen layout can be customized for individual requirements, making it possible to do such things as increase the Folder navigation size and eliminate the Preview window. One interesting option is to switch the Folders section of the screen out with a Calendar section, which can be set to a monthly, daily, even hourly display. Selecting a specific month brings up all the images that were created or, alterna- tively, modified that month. Selecting a specific day brings up all the images for that day. The same holds true for selecting a time. This is a very handy capability.

It’s also possible to add or switch out other elements on the screen, such as the Image Basket, Burn Basket and Task Pane. The default screen layout can be restored at any time with a simple command in the View pull-down menu. It’s also possible to save specific screen layouts for different operational requirements.

Screen with Calendar Selection and EXIF data	Calendar customization screen (Almost every aspect of the program can be customized.)

Double-clicking on a selected image brings up a new window with the enlarged image in it. An alternate approach is highlighting a pre- view image and then clicking the Edit Image command that appears on the command bar across the top. The enlargement window is where image manipulation is handled. ACDSee Pro includes a com- plete suite of editing functions, not just optimization tools. Images can be modified with simple brightness and contrast controls, or through more complex adjustment using Levels and Curves. There are also options for noise reduction, specialty effects, watermarking, text and even lens-distortion correction. The filter ef- fects are grouped by category, including Artistic, Edges and Nature, among others. Many of them are rela- tively common, such as the embossing and posterization filters.

But there are some effects that are superior to what might be available in other programs. ACDSee does a par- ticularly good job with its Nature effects. I especially like the Water effect, which creates a very realistic looking reflective image with variable Positioning, Wave- length, Lighting and Perspective. Once all the modifications and ad- justments have been made, the editing window can toggle between the saved version of the image, the current version of the image (which is an accumulation of all the previous modifica- tions that have been made but not saved), and the version of the image that contains the changes being made on that screen. At any time during the editing process, the user can hit the Reset button to restore the image to its original state.

Water filter customization options

ACDSee Pro will work with RAW image files, correcting expo- sure, white balance, sharpening, and more. This option is accessed through the Tools pull-down menu. For comparison purposes, up to four individual images can be displayed on screen at a time with histogram and levels information. That makes it easier to compare similar frames to select the best photo. For even greater digital image-editing capabilities, it’s possible to access Photoshop directly from within the program.

Once the proper adjustments have been made, they can be ap- plied to numerous files through batch processing. It’s also possible to access some batch image-optimization controls from the Tools pull-down menu. Besides batch adjustments for File format con- version and Resizing, there’s also a Batch Set Information option. That’s where all the Caption, Date/Time and Author information, and EXIF and IPTC data are entered. An extensive amount of information can be provided for individuals image or groups of selected photos.

After images have been organized and optimized, they can be searched, grouped and output any number of ways. The Create pull-down menu provides options to produce PDF files, contact sheets, archive sets and slideshows. The slideshow options are quite extensive, including the capability to generate self-running executable files that can be viewed without having to have ACD- See Pro installed.

Web album creation screen	Finished online album

Output can be saved to CDs or DVDs, used to create printable contact sheets, or uploaded to the Internet. ACDSee Pro can gener- ate HTML for web albums. The web page templates are relatively simplistic with limited customization capabilities, but they look nice enough and serve their purpose.

The last pull-down menu is the Database menu, which accesses the maintenance tools required to keep the database up to date, con- vert databases, import and export images, and quarantine files. Many of the options that are available in the pull-down menus can also be accessed through the context-sensitive toolbar, which is toggled on and off in the View pull-down menu.

ACDSee Pro is extremely versatile, providing many options at each stage of the workflow. The program allows individual users to work with images the way they want to, not the way a software designer thought would be best. Although it is marketed as a start-to-finish image-workflow solution, ACDSee Pro isn’t going to take the place of a full-fledged, high-end image editing program. But it certainly is one of the slickest and easiest-to-use asset-management programs on the market. For $129.99, it’s a great deal. For more information visit www.acdsystems.com.

Ron Eggers is a senior editor at NewsWatch Feature Service. His email address is newswatch@earthlink.net.