The transition to digital photography demands new approaches to viewing and editing your shoot, delivering the job to the client, and archiving your work. At DigitalFusion this transition does not mean pushing aside the rich history and common practices of professional photography.

DigitalFusion has taken the traditional workflows of professional photography and brillantly translated them into the digital age. With DF Studio, the online editing and archiving system from DigitalFusion in Culver City, California, photographers now have answers to all of the challenges of digital photography.

This Web-based application delivers on the promise of professional digital photography by setting a standard that makes photographers and their clients more organized and efficient. DF Studio empowers the photographer by delivering a rich editing and job management solution coupled with an interactive experience that allows clients to create their own edits and collaborate with the photographer at the speed of the Internet.

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ALL ABOUT THE WORKFLOW

DF Studio standardizes job management, editing and delivery. This allows photographers to focus on the shoot, their edit and their artistic expertise in the process.

20060829-01-3Jobs can be loaded into DF Studio in one of three ways: (1) by using a professional capture service like DigitalFusion·PRO; (2) by shipping your job to a digital lab using a reliable media like DigitalFusion’s HardFilm; or (3) by uploading your job directly with DFLink, DF Studio’s easy-to-use job upload feature.

DF Studio is comfortable and familiar to photographers. Its overall organization and file naming is based on how photographers have traditionally thought about their work in terms of jobs, setups and select levels. This information is available throughout the application so photographers can quickly and easily navigate to the images they want to see.

DF Studio provides a one-to-one representation of the original image optimized for delivery over the Internet. DF Studio’s full size images ensure photographers can see the detail they need to confidently compare and select the best shot. The full-size image also works perfectly for FPO, easily being replaced at the end of the design process by the original master file.

ONLINE EDITING MADE EASY

As soon as a job is loaded into DF Studio, photographers can begin their editing process. DF Studio’s editing features rival the ease and speed professionals are accustomed to when marking up a contact sheet with a grease pencil.

John Supra, DF Studio’s chief software architect, says, “Photographers told us that they didn’t like online editing because it wasn’t fast enough, we responded by developing our innovative FastEdit™ process.”

FastEdit allows the use of keyboard shortcuts to pick a select level for each image and automatically advance to the next image. In addition, DF Studio includes three editing views, a loupe tool, and a comparison feature for editing images side-by-side.

In July, for the first time, I shot more digital than I did film. Every shoot was available for me to edit in my DF Studio account within 12 hours and often sooner. Once I was notified by email, it only took me half an hour to edit an entire shoot and deliver my first selects to my client with imageMessenger. DF Studio is absolutely the fastest, most secure and most efficient way to edit my digital work.

THE PROOF IS IN THE “PROOF”

imageMessenger™ enables you to electronically deliver your select to your clients in a consistent and reliable way. The client receives a formatted email from the photographer and simply clicks on the secure link to access the images organized and presented as the photographer intended.

On the client side, imageMessenger includes the entire suite of editing tools enabling the recipient to make their own selects and return the edit to the photographer along with any comments or notes.

20060829-01-4The unique features of imageMessenger enhance the clients’ use of the images. Clients can print formatted proof sheets (1, 2, 9, 12 and 20-up), download JPEGs (preview and full-size) and forward the imageMessenger onto their associates. imageMessenger keeps the photographer in control by enabling him or her to view and manage access to the images through a custom interface.

ARCHIVING MADE EASY

The last link in the chain of professional digital photography is the burden of managing and storing digital assets. Digital archiving requires an investment in both storage and time to ensure the archive is well-organized and safely backed-up. With DF Studio, archiving is built-in. The system tracks both the JPEGs used for DF Studio’s features and the RAW, TIFF or other high-resolution master files associated with the job, providing a secure and redundant system for all of your imagery.

DF Studio, A STANDARD FOR THE FUTURE

DF Studio delivers a complete online system for standardizing a professional digital workflow. By exceeding the expectations and demands of leading photographers and their clients, DF Studio has demonostrated its value as a critical tool for professional photographers.

Through DigitalFusion’s Los Angeles digital lab, its global HardFilm network and self-service upload feature, the DigitalFusion team has brought the “best” Next Thing to the world of photography.

Source: PICTURE Magazine