Taming the Wild Wild World of Digital Images | iView Multimedia

Daniel J. Cox has been fortunate to earn a living as a photographer for the past 25 years. In his search for the ultimate image he has traveled to all seven continents, yet his most favorite place on earth is home in Bozeman, Montana.

Specializing in wildlife and natural history, Dan has had the unique opportunity to document many of the world's amazing creatures and the environments they live in. His distinctive style and journalistic integrity has led to numerous professional highlights but none more important than the two cover stories he produced for National Geographic in December 2002 and February 2005.

Further accomplishments include First Runner Up in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 1990 and 1997 and First place in the landscape category of Natures Best Photography photo competition in 2003. His work has graced the covers and insides of all the major natural history publications in the US. He’s listed on Nikon’s web site as a Nikon Legend and has numerous images in private art collections around the world.

Dan and his wife Tanya’s ultimate goal of helping to conserve our natural world through education and art is passed on to the interns they employ at their studio Natural Exposures in Bozeman.

For more information see: http://www.naturalexposures.com/

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Taming the Wild Wild World of Digital Images

Daniel J. Cox first learned about iView MediaPro online, possibly as he remembers, from Rob Galbraith's Web site, Digital Photography Insights. Two years ago, when MediaPro became available for the Windows operating system, he bought his first copy.

“Compared with the application I had been using to catalog images, MediaPro was so much better,” said Cox. “From the beginning I found it to be simpler, more beautiful and more intuitive. I’ve also noticed that a lot of negative things don’t happen in MediaPro like they do in other programs.”

As instructor for the Blue Pixel “Nature’s Best Photography Experience”, Cox encourages students to do as he has done -- actively seek out what will enhance and support their photographic discipline. In his workshop, Daniel talks about the digital workflow he uses, ephasizing how to keep it simple and effective at home and while traveling. He addresses all aspects of the workflow, from memory cards, to computers to software options for color management and file organization.

From the beginning I found [iView] to be simpler, more beautiful and more intuitive

The point of the workshop is to help students improve their photography, and a big part of that is organization," said Cox. "Not only do we talk about what makes a better photograph, but what's essential is that each photographer develops a system that works for him or for her. Developing a methodology that works for you is essential.

“In our opinion, no one program can do it all. It’s obvious that some programs do things better than other programs. What’s great about MediaPro is that it allows you to develop your own method for making what you shoot work for you. We especially appreciate iView’s ability to stay up to date with the different kinds of digital files and its folder watching option.

“One huge advantage of iView MediaPro is that it’s ‘up to speed’ with the emergence of new RAW files and the new cameras being introduced, such as those from Canon and Nikon. You can’t underestimate how important that is in a field like this where time is of the essence. You just can’t afford to wait for months for compatible files.”

Another interesting advantage when you go into Adobe Photoshop or Bridge and you tell it to give a RAW file a caption it gives it a sidecar -- a little text file associated with picture (NEF). Then, if you don’t click on it and move the sidecar with the image, you lose your caption. To its merit, MediaPro embeds the caption right into the RAW file, so you don’t have to remember to grab two files when you want to move them. That is a huge advantage to MediaPro.”

One huge advantage of iView MediaPro is that it’s ‘up to speed’ with the emergence of new RAW files and the new cameras being introduced, such as those from Canon and Nikon. You can’t underestimate how important that is in a field like this where time is of the essence. You just can’t afford to wait for months for compatible files.

“Ease of captioning in general is a big thing with photographers and in particular being able to synchronize a specific image and caption,” Cox went on to say. “It is essential for me that I can go into MediaPro and create specific batch captioning simply and fast.

“For my own work, when it comes to organizing my images, I find that MediaPro is just easier to move around in. I especially appreciate the batch caption feature is ‘huge’ in contrast with other programs that require numerous clicks before you can do a caption. It comes down to less keystrokoes.

"A lot of programs appear to think that each photograph must be captioned separately. I can see if a journalist is covering a specific story and each picture may be a different person at a specific time of day etc. It may be important for a news photographers to have lots of separate captions. With wildlife, though, nature captions can be much more general. How many names do you need for "woodpecker"?"

For my own work, when it comes to organizing my images, I find that MediaPro is just easier to move around in. I especially appreciate the batch caption feature is ‘huge’ in contrast with other programs that require numerous clicks before you can do a caption. It comes down to less keystrokoes.

Finally, we asked Cox if he could give us an idea of how working in digital time has impacted his work/life.

“One of the benefits of going digital is that it can give you back time that you used to waste. For example, sitting waiting at airports or at a hotel during a rainy day, I can put MediaPro to work and access shots I’ve accumulated that need to be sorted via my portable hard drive. This is an editing process that used to take days and weeks when editing transparencies. Now I can take advantage of downtime to get organized.”