Managing thousands of photos for Yearbook

[javabear90]

I'm the computer guy / head photographer on my yearbook and am in charge of managing the photos and how they are handled, stored, edited etc... Currently we have 12 gigs eek:, I know I have more in memory cards than that) of network space available, that is non-negotiable. Additionally, we have 18 computers (windows, and a few macs) with individual hard drives so the photos can be stored locally. My question is what is the best software to use to manage these photos so everyone can access them. We already have bridge, although I'm not sure how well it would work for this type of thing.

Ideally I would have something like lightroom where everyone could access, upload, and edit the photos on one seamless thing, however I know lightroom doesn't play well with networks.

I realize the best thing to do would be to get a few NAS drives and use that, but our IT department is awful and won't allow it, although we can get access to each of the harddrives locally.

Also, what do the newspapers and magazines do for their management of photos?
Thanks,
-Ted

 

[compuwar]

I'm the computer guy / head photographer on my yearbook and am in charge of managing the photos and how they are handled, stored, edited etc... Currently we have 12 gigs eek:, I know I have more in memory cards than that) of network space available, that is non-negotiable. Additionally, we have 18 computers (windows, and a few macs) with individual hard drives so the photos can be stored locally. My question is what is the best software to use to manage these photos so everyone can access them. We already have bridge, although I'm not sure how well it would work for this type of thing.

Ideally I would have something like lightroom where everyone could access, upload, and edit the photos on one seamless thing, however I know lightroom doesn't play well with networks.

I realize the best thing to do would be to get a few NAS drives and use that, but our IT department is awful and won't allow it, although we can get access to each of the harddrives locally.

Also, what do the newspapers and magazines do for their management of photos?
Thanks,
-Ted

Photo Organizer is pretty good for an open-source project if you can run a Linux or *BSD Web server.

Newspapers use AP Preserver or things that interface well with their pre-press systems by Atex, DTI, Morris or whomever. You're not likely to be trying to do things in the same ballpark.

Personally, I'd be looking more at playing stock agency, and keeping the originals on the back end and letting the clients download and modify their copies, and re-upload to a new stock area. That's why I think PO is a good fit.

 

[ChrisA]

I realize the best thing to do would be to get a few NAS drives and use that,

No, Those consumer-level NAS drives have poor performance and can't run any software other then then the file sharing stuff, not what you need at all. Your best bet would be to sacrifice a couple of the Windows machines and build a server running a unix-like OS. Once you have all the image files on one server their are a number of web based systems for uploading photos and organizing them.

 

[javabear90]

So, are you saying that having Bridge set up accessing 8 (or so) different computers would not be effective and/or possible?
Additionally, we have a kind of ridiculous budget at our yearbook (6 figures), and if we could get a good network solution, what would it be, as in the ideal case in terms of software and hardware?
-Ted

 

[termina3]

I'm no expert. There are others here much better off to give advice, but I'll put in my two cents.

It sounds like all you really need is a single server (type, etc. is beyond me) networked to your computers, and then instruct your photographers/staff to save to it. File management software is optimal, but I have no suggestions. Or you could manage all of that yourself (ugh).

 

[javabear90]

I was browsing Adobe's website and it sounds like Version Cue is what I'm looking for. Would this work for what I'm trying to do?
-Ted