Photo Mechanic Alternatives
Gremlins Ahead–Warning Long Geeky Article
Objective
Investigate alternatives to my current image culling, rating, backup, and importing workflow.
I've been using Photo Mechanic for years to import and cull images. While its user interface is ancient and daunting, it is fast and handles all the import, culling, rating, and keywording processes. Lightroom's importing process is very slow, and time is important when I'm on a trip. However, Camera Bits has moved Photo Mechanic to a subscription pricing model, and the annual subscription price is $149, which is more than the annual subscription price of Photoshop and Lightroom. Therefore, I've decided to investigate an alternative.
Managing a growing number of images can be daunting, but a structured workflow ensures efficiency and organization. Therefore, a streamlined process for culling, rating, and importing images is essential to maintain a well-organized photo library. My image library contains 25 years of digital files organized in the structure outlined below. In the early days, I attempted many different methods, most of which involved manually sorting files into different directories based on their subject, location, or event. I would rename files based on the subject with a trailing sequence number. This proved disastrous; manually keeping track of many files and directories and ensuring no duplicate files or directories proved nearly impossible. One nearly disastrous episode was caused when I consolidated files from multiple directories and overwrote 10,000 files with duplicate file names. Fortunately, everything was backed up, and over the course of a month, I was able to sort things out, and I implemented the file and folder structure recommended here.
Date-Based Folder Structure
File Structure Tree:
Creating a date-based folder structure is fundamental for efficient image organization. This structure helps me quickly locate images based on when they were taken. Here's a recommended folder structure:
Photography 2024 2034-07-Jul 2034-07-20-(Location, Event, or Activity) Image Files
In this example, the folders are organized by year, month, and day. This approach provides a clear and logical method for storing images. I usually also append the location, event, or activity to the end of the folder name to help identify what or where I photograph.
Date and Time-Based File Naming
Ensure Unique Names:
Assigning a unique name to each image is crucial to avoid confusion and overwriting files. A practical approach is to use the date and time the image was captured. For instance, an image taken on July 20, 2024, at 14:35:21 can be named 2024-07-20_14-35-21.jpg. This naming convention ensures each file is unique and easily traced back to the original capture date and time. With the rapid-firing capability of our current cameras, multiple files may be created at the same second, so a sequence number is also required to maintain a unique filename. This approach eliminates the need to manually move files from folder to folder to organize by subject, location, or event, which is a sure source of errors. Automating this process for efficiency and consistency in naming structure is important.
Rapidly Assess Images
Efficient culling of images is vital to streamline my workflow. I focus on the following aspects to quickly assess and sort my images:
Focus: I ensure the main subject of my photo is sharp and clear. Out-of-focus images can often be discarded unless they serve a specific artistic purpose.
Exposure: I check that the image is properly exposed. Overexposed or underexposed images can sometimes be corrected, but severely improperly exposed shots are often best rejected.
Composition: I evaluate the framing and composition of my images. Look for well-balanced shots with a clear subject and a pleasing arrangement of elements.
Pick the Best of a Sequence: I select the best image from the sequence when shooting in bursts or capturing multiple shots of the same scene. Look for the one that best captures the moment with the best focus, exposure, and composition.
Sort into Select and Reject Status: As I assess my images, I quickly sort them into two categories: Select and Reject. This initial sort helps me focus on the best images while eliminating those that don't meet my standards.
Delete Rejected Images: After sorting, I promptly delete the rejected images to free up storage space and keep my library organized.
Evaluate Select Images
Once I have selected images I will keep, it's time to evaluate and enhance them further:
Rate: I assign ratings to my images based on their quality and significance. This step helps me quickly identify and prioritize my best shots for editing and sharing.
Add Appropriate Keywords and IPTC Data: Adding keywords and IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) data to images enhances searchability and metadata information. Include relevant keywords, such as location, event, and subject matter, to make it easier to find specific images later.
Software to do these tasks is also a critical part of the workflow. In the past, much of this process could have been accomplished using photo mechanics. In addition, Lightroom Classic can efficiently provide these functions.
Import and Backup Images
To archive the images, files must be moved from the camera card to a hard drive for permanent storage. Photo Mechanic handles this well. It lets the photographer view the files directly from the camera card, add IPTC data within the application, and then copy the selected keeper files to multiple external hard drives with a linked XMP file containing the IPTC data. This is done without writing to the camera card and doesn't risk contaminating the card.
Fast Raw Viewer Versus Photo Mechanic
Both Photo Mechanic and Fast Raw Viewer offer unique features for efficiently managing my photo workflow. This comparison focuses on key aspects such as culling, renaming, metadata addition, and file management.
Photo Mechanic
Before Ingest
- Culling on Camera Card: Photo Mechanic allows culling directly from the camera card without making any changes or writing data to the card, ensuring the original files remain untouched.
- Viewing: Images are viewed from the JPG embedded files, which provide a quick preview. However, the JPG file may not properly reflect the true exposure of the image, which may result in not selecting the best image in a sequence.
- Histogram: The histogram is generated from the JPG embedded file, offering a general overview of exposure and tonal distribution. Again, it may not accurately reflect the data actually captured by the camera.
On Ingest
- File Renaming: Photo Mechanic supports detailed file renaming using the format
YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS-Subsecond-Sequence.filetype, ensuring each file has a unique and descriptive name. - IPTC Metadata Addition:
- Saved Templates: Metadata can be added using pre-saved templates.
- XMP Files: Metadata is added to XMP sidecar files, maintaining the integrity of the original RAW files.
- Bulk Processing: Photo Mechanic allows for the bulk addition of metadata, streamlining the workflow.
- File Copying:
- Primary Volume and Directory: Files are copied to a designated primary volume and directory named within Photo Mechanic.
- Secondary Copy: Files can be simultaneously copied to a backup location, ensuring redundancy.
After Ingest
- Lightroom Integration: The image directory is copied to the appropriate Lightroom directory, and the parent directory in Lightroom is synchronized to import the images, making the transition seamless.
Fast Raw Viewer
Before Ingest
- Editing on Camera Card: Fast Raw Viewer adds directories to the camera card, which is not recommended for direct editing as it modifies the card’s structure.
- Multiple Volume Downloads: There is no functionality for simultaneously downloading to multiple volumes, limiting backup options during import.
On Ingest
- File Renaming: Fast Raw Viewer offers limited options for renaming files during import.
- Metadata Addition: There are no built-in capabilities for adding keywords or IPTC metadata during import.
After Ingest Given the substandard renaming options and the inability to add keywords, a workaround is required to maintain the current capabilities.
- Renaming Options: After importing, files can be renamed using tools such as:
- Lightroom: Provides robust renaming options within the software.
- "A Better Finder Rename:" A third-party tool offering advanced renaming capabilities. (Mac only)
- Big Folder Machine: Another third-party tool for managing large batches of files. (Mac only)
- Keywording Options: For adding keywords and metadata, users can utilize:
- Lightroom: Provides comprehensive keywording and metadata management features.
The "A Better Finder Rename" application provides a more robust naming solution than Photo Mechanic.
So, the revised workflow with Fast Raw Viewer is as follows.
- Create a directory on a primarily working volume and a backup volume and name it in the format YYYY-MM-DD-(location, event, or subject)
- Copy files from the Camera Card to the working volume.
- Rename the files on the working volume using "A Better Finder Rename" in the format YYYY=MM-DD-HH-MM-SS and ensure that the application checks for duplicates and adds a suffix to duplicate files.
- Use Fast Raw Viewer to Select the files to keep.
- Duplicate the Working Volume to the backup volume; I use Carbon Copy Cloner to do this.
Conclusion
While it means a slightly more complex workflow, Fast Raw Viewer and the A Better Finder Rename application are viable alternatives to Photo Mechanic. A Better Rename can rename files and folders in the format I use and also offers naming options I intend to explore later, such as embedding shutter count and camera serial number into the file name. It does a brilliant job of ensuring no file name conflicts and, once set up, offers a simple way of renaming the folders and files in a photo shoot. Keywords can be added later in the import process into Lightroom Classic. Templates can be set up for the most common shooting scenarios, allowing rapid inclusion in Lightroom Classic and the XMP sidecar files. Fast Raw Viewer offers a fast rendering of Raw Files, allowing me to view the true raw image and histogram. It is far faster, and exposure information is more accurate than Lightroom Classic. It provides the following information on the files as I am culling the images that Photo Mechanic does not:
- A true raw histogram that provides more accurate information on an image's exposure.
- Shadow and Highlight Clipping Percentages.
- Focus peaking overlays allow me to determine what is and is not in focus.
- Extensive EXIF data is visible as I'm culling images.
The downside of this approach are:
- Longer processing times due to downloading all images from a camera card rather than just those selected as keepers.
- A more complex workflow involving three applications in place of one.
I would use Photo Mechanic to evaluate photographs in a time-critical situation, such as a sporting event like football. While Fast Raw Viewer renders images quickly, it is not as fast as Photo Mechanic, and I would need to download all images before selecting which ones to keep. In addition, Photo Mechanic offers far better keywording options than what I can quickly accomplish using Lightroom Classic. For example, I can use a table of Player Numbers to replace a player's number with their name quickly. If I were in the business of uploading images to the press at halftime for immediate use, Photo Mechanic is by far the best solution.
I plan to use Fast Raw Viewer and A Better Finder Rename instead of Photo Mechanic for my use case.