How to Set Up a Digital Asset Library for a Photography Business

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  • Globaledit

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As a photography business, your success hinges on your ability to take full advantage of your image library’s potential. When each photo you’ve taken is a potential revenue stream, you can’t let a single one fall through the cracks of cluttered storage.  To ensure that you make the most of each photo, you need a digital asset library that lets you embrace the full potential of your assets.  

A centralized digital asset management library ensures that no image falls through the cracks again. From here, you get to upload, store, share, and manage your images with ease. 

As a result, the time you used to spend searching for images can now be invested in growing your photography business. 

So let’s see how a DAM library can help you grow your photography business. 

What is a digital asset library?

Photographers live for the moments in time that most people will simply glance past. As the images stack up, storage space can easily get cluttered with assets getting lost in the endless procession of folders. 

This makes it all the more difficult to preserve the right image or to connect the right image to the right project or client. 

A DAM image library makes preserving and finding the right images simple, even with the most extensive photo collections. 

Your DAM platform allows you to:

  • Create folders and collections according to your business’s specific needs.

By following a tailored asset organization, you get to keep track of assets by year, client, project, color, hair type – you name it –  and know exactly where each image belongs. 

  • Enrich each asset with key metadata to simplify searching.

Using multiple tags lets you find existing assets quickly and connect them to current projects without hassle, no matter when the image was produced. 

Finding the right asset for the job need never again be a concern. 

How will a digital asset library benefit my photography business?

A DAM platform simplifies every step of the photography workflow once the photo shoot wraps up. Thereafter, your digital asset library keeps things organized and accessible for the asset’s entire lifecycle. 

DAM integration is a vital key to a more efficient photography business workflow:

  • Organization is optimized
  • Backups are ensured by your DAM host (in the case of a SaaS DAM)
  • The editing/retouching process is integrated seamlessly with your workflow
  • Asset selections, feedback, and approvals are done on the DAM

With everything being done from one central location, your entire workflow can be adjusted, automated, and optimized according to what you need. 

Upload all your assets easily

globaledit makes bulk uploads easy with the ability to upload up to 1000 images (or 50GB) per upload. But if you’re looking for a streamlined solution that minimizes post-shoot admin, globaledit Sync is the answer. 

With globaledit Sync, photos are uploaded directly to your DAM library on the go from up to three separate sources. No limits and no admin – it’s like Christmas morning with every photo shoot! 

Share assets directly from your library

Create, manage, and share Collections more efficiently with your DAM platform. By setting up the necessary access controls on collections, stakeholders are offered permission-based access to selected watermarked assets in your library. 

Get talent approval and feedback quicker and simpler. By sharing entire collections with external stakeholders and talent, they can scour complete selections in search of the right image. 

Find and use assets quickly 

Let your metadata go beyond keywords and project tags by communicating everything from recommended uses to copyright to your whole team. Efficient metadata management allows you to keep track of permissions and licensing agreements to avoid the headache of assets being used by unauthorized parties. 

Collaborate more effectively

With globaledit’s unique Workflow Automation Recipes, you can simplify the way you share and process your image assets for optimized creative and time efficiency. Collaborate with whole teams or communicate with stakeholders all via automated notifications and comments that are attached to each asset and visible to each party with access. 

When working with a team of photographers and retouchers, permissions also ensure that individuals only have access to the assets that are part of their workflow. 

How to create an effective digital asset library in 5 steps

Step 1: Create a user-friendly folder structure

When setting up your DAM library, keep your users in mind. Create an accessible organizational flow that makes it less daunting to work with years worth of photos for you and your photographers. 

Avoid unnecessary folder depth, especially when working with a wealth of assets in an established company. Take the time to simplify your organization, and watch as that simplicity spreads through the rest of your workflow. 

Step 2: Adopt clear, accessible naming conventions

It sounds too negligible to even mention this, right? But making use of consistent naming conventions is vital when using a digital asset library efficiently. 

While you will always have metadata to simplify searches, naming conventions help you connect assets clearly to the overarching collections they belong with. 

Step 3: Integrate your retouching tools

globaledit lets you integrate your DAM library with an array of digital tools, such as Photoshop, to streamline your asset preparation. Integrations allows you to save retouches directly onto your library in real-time. 

You will also be able to connect with retouchers and editors via the DAM platform and communicate necessary edits via the Markup Editor. 

Step 4: Automate your photo shoot uploads

By setting up globaledit Sync, your assets are uploaded directly to the library during the shoot. Once you’ve activated Sync and set up the automation source/location, your assets will be automatically uploaded during production. 

Step 5: Enrich assets with metadata tags

Use keywords and tags to make searching easy, and link the necessary copyright information to each asset to ensure it is used where it should be. 

Use your DAM library to access your images’ full potential 

Once you’re using a digital asset management library system, keeping creative assets under control is just the start. When used effectively, you get to maximize your image library’s full potential through your DAM system. 

globaledit gives you the reins to a tailored digital asset library that makes growing your photography business easy.