Subtitles of the Movie

In this movie we're going to look at how to get your images from your memory cards onto your computer using the Photo Downloader, which is part of Bridge. To begin attach your camera or card reader. Then go to File, getPhotos from Camera or click the little Camera Icon. You can skip that step if you opt to have Photo Downloader load automatically every time you attach your camera or card reader. When Photo Downloader launches the first time, it will be in the standard dialog format. You can specify where it should look for photos, although it will automatically list your camera or card reader. Next you specify where you want the images to be stored. It's a good idea to come up with a system that you use consistently. Most people prefer to store their images in Pictures rather than on the Desktop because it will take your Desktop longer to load if you have a lot of images on it. Within Pictures, you can create a master folder for each shoot and then a subfolder for each day or just folders by each topic. For this particular card, I'm going to create a general category called Spring 2009 and say Choose and you'll see that right here and then next I can create a subfolder with today's date. A wedding photographer might create a master folder for each client and subfolders for parts of the shoot such as formal shots, the ceremony, the cake, et cetera. Someone who primarily takes pictures of their family might have a folder for each family event such as Christmas and the year or Johnny's fifth birthday, the family trip to Disney, et cetera. A commercial photographer might just have master folders for each client with no subfolders. The exact system will vary according to the type shooting you do. Next you can opt whether or not to rename the files. There are slightly fewer options available here than in the Batch Rename Command in Bridge but by renaming the files on import, it's done. So, for example, I might choose Custom Name plus Shot Date and then if I do choose Custom Name, I need to enter text indicating what that custom name should be. I'm just going to call these Spring. I recommend checking the option to preserve the current file name in XMP because occasionally that can help you find a backup copy of an image in case the primary version becomes corrupted. That ways it's easier to find the file on the backup drive. You might think that it would be unnecessary to check Open Adobe Bridge since Bridge is obviously already open but by doing so, a new window of Bridge will open with the files you just downloaded displayed. It's convenient. Some people like to check the option to Convert to DNG, which is a universal Digital Negative format started by Adobe. That way if for some reason the proprietary Camera Raw format stops being supported somewhere down the road, there'll be a version of the image that can be opened. Although some people feel this is a good idea, others feel it's unnecessary. I personally do not convert to DNG. I don't recommend that you check the option to Delete Original Files. I think it's a lot smarter to make sure that all the files downloaded correctly and are safely backed up and then reformat your card in the camera. That's the safest way to do things. You can check the option to Save Copies To and have Photo Downloader immediately create a backup copy of your images to another drive if you wish. I normally use the advanced dialog for two important reasons. One is it adds previews of the images and allows you to select just a subset of them. For example, right now I'm not concerned about the flower photos. I'd just like to see some of the pictures of my dog and I'm not really concerned with these other photos. So I'll just uncheck them. The other thing that it adds is the option to add Metadata while you're importing the images. By default, it at least allows you to add basic creator and copyright information. If you've already created a basic Metadata template, you can apply that immediately. Then you click Get Photos. By the way, the way you can get the copyright symbol on a Mac is by pressing Option G and on a PC, you hold down the Alt Key and then type 0169. If you're on a laptop, you'll also have to hold down the Function or FN Key. I'll describe how to create a Metadata template with your contact information in another movie. And here we are. There are my new photos already in a new window.