A digital asset manager (DAM) is a great way for photographers to organize, view and ultimately go on to edit their photos. There are many different software applications you can use, each with its own pros and cons.
In this article, I’ll be sharing what a DAM is, along with some of the many reasons that using a DAM can be beneficial to keeping your photography well organized.
What is a digital asset manager?
When you add photos to your computer without a DAM, they will end up in a folder of your choosing. You can access your images directly from inside of this folder, but when doing so you only have a simple view of the files, and it can’t do much more than open and rearrange the images. A DAM, however, gives you a lot more to work with than the simple folder view.
When using a DAM, you are able to view your photos within the DAM software, and they still remain in the folders on your computer. They don’t actually “live” inside of the DAM, but instead, the DAM references the files and shows the previews of your photos. You can easily view, edit and search the data associated with your photos when in a DAM. P
lus, this type of software is created specifically for photographs and image or video files, so you can preview them much easier than you would within the folder on your desktop. It’s a much better way to keep your files organized, especially when you start to accumulate a large image library.
Next, let’s discuss some of the benefits of why you should use a digital asset manager with your photography.
How DAMs are beneficial to photographers
Better organization
At the heart of a good digital asset manager is a great way to organize your photos and other rich media (image documents, videos, etc.). When importing your photos with digital asset management software, they are instantly cataloged. Oftentimes you can also keyword your images at the time of import, rename the files, and add other data or even image processing presets as well.
Easier to search
Because your files already contain a lot of data in them (filename, capture date, camera and lens information, etc.) you will find that it’s a lot easier to search for the files you need. For example, maybe you are looking for vertically-orient images; a DAM will help you find all of those files for you and ignore any horizontal or square image orientations.
Easily add metadata and copyright changes
Whether you want to rename your files, edit the capture time, or update your copyright information (among MANY other things), a digital asset manager makes it incredibly easy to do so. Plus, once you catalog all of that information, searching for it is much easier.
Seamless integration with apps and plugins
Depending on which digital asset manager you use, you will likely be able to edit your files from directly within the software. Plus, many third-party software applications come with plugins that you can use to go into those programs easily and without having to first export your image file.
If you are not already using a digital asset manager, now is the best time to jump in and start organizing your files. Some photography DAMs include Lightroom Classic, Capture One, ON1 Photo RAW and Photo Mechanic.
Nice concise article. A DAM is very important. more so as your collection of photos increases. To your list, I would add Mylio. Some very unique organization and search features and while the built-in RAW editor is not as sophisticated as others in your list, Mylio operates very well with all the editors you list and many more. I Use Mylio with ON1 Photo Raw
Yes, Mylio is a GREAT addition here!
Isn’t Adobe Bridge one of these types of Digital Managers?
Yes, Adobe Bridge is a type of DAM. And, it’s free (even if you don’t have a subscription to the Creative Cloud).
Is there any of the above programs able to accommodate the organization of video along side of photos?
I know that Lightroom can catalog and preview videos, but I don’t have enough experience with the other DAMs to know how they all work with video files.
Mylio will help organize videos
I’ve been using ACDSee Photo Studio and it supports plugins.
The underlying question is always, will the software survive. I currently use Capture One Pro and I really like every aspect of it for organizing into groups, projects, albums, yet still be able to have folders. It also has sessions for those times when you want a collection outside the catalog, for example, a workshop. The sessions can then be imported into the catalog. That said, I found C1 when Aperture went away, and before that Lightroom 1-2, before that Bridge. Someone below asked about Bridge. It now has Keywords and if you like folders, it works better than years… Read more »