Shoebox
A Mac-only application, Shoebox enables the user to organize digital photos by content. It has categories which behave like virtual folders for people, things, places and dates, or "who, what, where and when" as the vendor puts it. You can create or edit categories in the "category drawer" or import ready-made categories from the vendor's website. For example, if you import category "United States" it comes with all fifty states and their capitals as sub-categories.
Once photos have been ingested to the appropriate categories, together with cross-referencing between them, searching becomes straightforward. You simply type in the first few letters of the category (or favorite, or date) to go straight to the correct folder. You can also save a search to your favorites list and run it again later.
One benefit of putting photos into Shoebox is being able to surf your collection by content. For example, if you are displaying a beach scene, you can click to see similar scenes. Other features include password-protected catalogs, photo sharing by email or save-to-the-web, and backup to DVD. Supported languages are English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Japanese. The Express edition limits you to two catalogs of 10,000 photos each; Pro edition is unlimited.
Comment
If you like straightforward layout, logical structure and powerful searching (and who doesn't?) then Shoebox may be your cataloging software of choice. Admittedly, it is always a chore to bring images into any cataloging system, no matter how the categories are structured. But once done, the "digital asset management" benefits become obvious. On an Apple Cinema Display surfing your photos in Shoebox becomes compulsive: with switching between thumbnail, list, and slideshow views in full screen mode. It even supports dual displays, so you can have thumbnails on one and whole-screen photos on the other.
Although Shoebox lacks the processing features of Apple's Aperture it is a big step up from iPhoto and can handle half a million pictures.
Tech info
- OS: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
- Price level: (Express) $30; (Pro) Approx. $80
KavaSoft
A well-established developer of Macintosh software, KavaSoft keeps a low corporate profile but operates an otherwise informative website.
From the same vendor:
- HyperImage
- KavaTunes
- Curator
- KavaMovies
©trl