DAM Guide – Learn more about photo databases

Over the last few months, maybe you’ve realized that it would be very useful to integrate a photo library into your IT system. For the same reason, perhaps you’re also interested in DAM and all the features it can offer. You might have a clear idea of all of these concepts, but you’re still not sure if a photo database is right for you.

The teams of Ephoto Dam will explain the usefulness and, above all, the importance of having a photo database, whether you’re a company or a public-sector entity.

It’s no secret: these days, companies have to juggle a large volume of photos. Indeed, it’s hard to launch communications campaigns without appropriate visuals. Additionally, in the coming years, visual communications are likely to become more and more important. If you want to increase your company’s creative ROI, you have no other choice: you have to invest in a photo library.

However, to properly fill that library and be able to fully use it, you have to set up a photo database. Indeed, without one, the indexing information for your photos can’t be integrated into the photo library. In that case, it will be hard to use your software effectively and thus achieve your sales goals.

What if you’re not a company, but instead a public-sector entity, such as a local government? You may be wondering, in your particular case, is using a photo database just as important? The answer is simple: yes, it absolutely is! When it comes down to it, today’s public institutions have needs that are increasingly similar to those of companies. They, too, have to manage a large volume of visuals. And for each of those visuals, you have to include the associated copyright information. If you use a photo library that doesn’t have that data entered, your teams could lose time or even make mistakes.

So, whether you’re a company or a public-sector entity, your photo database is very important. You have to set it up right so that the data fields can be automatically pre-filled in the photo library: then, all you have to do is perform random verifications!

As such, for each photo, we recommend that you complete at least the following fields: the photo name, reference ID, creator, associated copyright, description, location, people appearing in it, the classification in the established directory, and a few keywords.

That way, your photo database will be properly filled and all you have to do from there is transfer all of the information to your photo library. Note that you can also extract a database from the photo library from time to time if you wish to have an additional trace of the status of your photo collection.

Whether you’re a company or a public-sector entity, it’s possible to just have a photo database and not a photo library. However, these two tools are complementary. Indeed, the database brings together all of the information about visuals, but it’s not very practical for everyday usage. It’s not necessarily a very ergonomic tool. Furthermore, its features may be quite limited. Meanwhile, photo library software can solve these problems, particularly when it includes digital asset management.

Thanks to these explanations from our teams, you now better understand the importance of a photo database. Since you’ll want to install a photo library in the coming weeks or months, you can start establishing a complete database to help you with that task!

Do you want support for creating your photo database? Do you want to know more about our photo library and all of the digital resource management features that it offers? Ephoto Dam’s customer service team is available to answer any questions you may have!

Just contact us if you want to discuss our software or your project. You can call us at +33 (0)5 86 16 06 66 to speak to one of our advisors. You also have the option to fill out the contact form on our website: if you do so, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!