Read Me First
Welcome to Take Control of Your Digital Photos, version 1.0, published in February 2018 by alt concepts inc. This book was written by Jeff Carlson and edited by Kelly Turner.
This book gives photographers using Mac or Windows computers the information they need to build and maintain a digital photo workflow that makes it easy to import, tag, rate, and store photos to find them quickly and easily later. It primarily covers macOS 10.12 Sierra or later, Windows 10, and iOS 10 or later. It helps you spend more time on the enjoyable aspects of photography—shooting and viewing your photos—and less on the mundane but essential task of managing all your photos.
If you want to share this ebook with a friend, we ask that you do so as you would with a physical book: “lend” it for a quick look, but ask your friend to buy a copy for careful reading or reference. Discounted classroom and Mac user group copies are available.
Copyright © 2018, Jeff Carlson. All rights reserved.
Updates and More
You can access extras related to this ebook on the web (use the link in Ebook Extras, near the end; it’s available only to purchasers). On the ebook’s Take Control Extras page, you can:
Download any available new version of the ebook for free, or buy any subsequent edition at a discount.
Download various formats, including PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket. (Learn about reading on mobile devices on our Device Advice page.)
Read the ebook’s blog. You may find new tips or information, as well as a link to an author interview.
If you bought this ebook from the Take Control website, it has been added to your account, where you can download it in other formats and access any future updates. However, if you bought this ebook elsewhere, you can add it to your account manually; see Ebook Extras.
What’s New in This Book
The world of photo software continues to change in dramatic ways. And with this revision, so has this book: it’s effectively a new edition of Take Control of Your Digital Photos on a Mac, but it was renamed to reflect the fact that it’s no longer limited to macOS (see the second bullet point ahead). Here’s how these changes are reflected in this edition:
I’ve updated nearly every chapter of the book to include information about the new Lightroom CC application that Adobe introduced in late 2017, as well as the rebranding of its predecessor as Lightroom Classic CC. As you’ll see in Choose the Right Photo Management Application, Lightroom CC is still in its early stages, but it’s clear that Adobe has big plans for it (enough to feature it as the top Lightroom choice in its marketing). And even with its limited features, the new addition is already quite good.
In general, I’ve made this book Windows-friendly, since photo management isn’t platform-specific. Aside from Photos for Mac, all the software I discuss runs on both macOS and Windows. I do mention the stock photo application on Windows 10, Microsoft Photos, but it’s so feature-sparse that it doesn’t really qualify to be in the running compared to the other applications.
I added Mylio to the list of applications to consider in Choose the Right Photo Management Application.
Photoshop Elements is now included in the chapter about how to Take Advantage of Software Intelligence.
Photos imported into Lightroom Mobile apps and synced to Lightroom Classic CC are stored differently than images imported directly into Lightroom Classic CC. I explain why and how to make them all play nice in Change Where Lightroom Classic Stores Synced Photos.
Related to the previous item, the Lightroom Mobile section within the Go Mobile with Online Photo Services has been expanded and updated.
Added information on Merging Tracking Data in Windows, so you can record a geotracked trail and match up locations with specific photos by their timestamps.