Church Directory Software

<p>So, I'm not sure if this is the write place to put this. <br>

I have been approached by a local church to do a directory. I have been doing photography for over 13 years, but I have not yet done any kind of school photo/directory shooting. I was recently hit hard by a divorce, so I don't have the money to put out hundreds or thousands to buy a new software for this that I may only use once; therefore, I am looking to do this with the software I currently have. I have the full Adobe CS6 Master Collection, and Lightroom 5.7, as well as Office Professional 2010. <br>

I am currently shooting with a Canon 5D, and I have a multitude of lenses. I know what I'm doing when it comes to the photography aspect of this; however, I am not quite sure how to use the software I have to keep track and make sure the appropriate picture in the album has the appropriate name under it, and that the appropriate print(s) go to the appropriate family.<br>

I need a solution using the software I have for this, and appreciate any help anyone may be able to provide. I was thinking a tethered capture in Lightroom might work, and I could just change the file name settings in between each sitting so the next set of pictures are saved as LastName1, LastName2, etc. But, the 5D is not supported for tethered capture in LR5.<br>

My thoughts are that I still keep the camera connected during shooting, and when showing the pictures to the families I set the filename settings to be LastName+Sequence. However, I'm concerned this may be too time consuming.<br>

I look forward to seeing what suggestions anyone might have.</p>

<p>The best compositing software is probably Adobe InDesign. The learning curve is fairly steep, but it's a valuable skill to achieve. All service bureaus I've work with take InDesign files. The worst program is probably Microsoft Word (or similar word processors). By the time you set up a half dozen pages, you start spending more time repairing the files than entering content. Real publishing software is WYSIWYG, down to the type face. Once you organize a page, it stays organized, like rubber cement on a mat board. You can flow content to the next page, but unlike a word processor, you have to create empty pages as you need them (well, sometimes the program helps you out, but not necessarily in the manner you want).</p>

<p>InDesign will build a pamphlet or book of any size, including both images and text. Images can be locked to a certain point in the text and flow if the text is expanded or contracted. Text controls are very sophisticated in terms of format and spacing. There are also tools to arrange pages for printing both sides of multiple page documents, called "imposition." You can "rent" InDesign for $10/month, $50/month for the entire Adobe Creative Collection.</p>

<p>I would suggest you identify a printer to produce the finished product. You could provide a linear document with the layout you want, and leave imposition to the professionals. It varies with the way the book is bound.</p>

<p>I spend about 4 hours a day compositing, and have done this for more than twenty years. Once you know what can be done, and what you want done, it's not hard to learn the tools you need to do it.</p>

<p>Edward,<br>

<br /> I appreciate the response, and I feel bad I was not more specific in my original post. I am not concerned with the layout as I am very familiar with InDesign. I worked in my college's marketing office designing student handbooks, concert posters, and more. In fact, I got them to move from quark to InDesign.<br>

<br /> My original post was more of the capture workflow and how to capture the photographs and keep them organized enough not to mix up the Smith family and the Davis family photos for example. I know there are software solutions for this; however, as I said before I can't afford those. <br>

I guess my question is what would be the most efficient way to make sure the photos are assigned to the proper subject with the software I have.<br>

Again, my plan is to shoot with the camera connected to the computer and treat each family as a new portrait session importing the images into LR5 immediately and assigning the family name to the files upon import. My only concern is this will be too cumbersome of a process. I'm hoping that an hour session for families and a half hour for singles and couples will be enough for the shoot and the sales process.</p>

Each image has a unique number assigned by the camera, up to at least 9,9999. At that point the camera increments the

directory and starts over.

 

When taking a series if photos, log the subject's name against the first image number in the string. An assistant could

handle this task, leaving you free to do your job with the client. You can have the customers complete an order form, then enter the image number when the session starts.

 

Office Professional comes with a relational database (Excel is a spreadsheet, not a database). If not, buy one. Create a

master record to contain relevant data, and transfer the shooting log to the database. You can do this in real time, or later,

and add content like biographical info, even images (actually a link to an image). Once data is associated in unique

records, it is not necessary to rename images. The relationship is locked into the database. For smaller jobs (<100 customers) a spreadsheet can be used, but is less robust.

 

The data can be exported to a list or spreadsheet, and/or linked directly to InDesign for publication. I do that routinely for

mailing labels from customer order forms.

<p>Edward's suggestion of using MS Office Pro's database, 'Access' is a sound one. Many years ago (as in the end of the last century) I used Access to create and manage a huge state-wide natural resource data base for Idaho. It included pictures, maps, quantitative data and text comments.<br>

I've not used Access for many years, but I'm sure it is even better.</p>

<p>If it's just to keep track of who's who, do you really need software at all?<br /><br />When I shoot things like this, I have a list of names and I write down the file numbers. If there are order forms or envelopes, those have a place for teh file numbers also.<br /><br />Obviously this is easier to do manually if you're only talking a handful of people and harder as the nubmers get larger. And software makes longterm recordkeeping easier. And if there's something in your Office suite you already have use it, But if it's a small job, why spend money you don't have to?</p>

<p>"Access" - I couldn't remember the name. I used Access a lot, but 25 years ago. The principle is the same, whether you use a relational database or do it by hand. You don't need to rename files, and it's really better if you don't. All you need is a documented association between the image number and a name. At an event, I use a small notebook to track names against the first image number.</p>

<p>Thank you to everyone who replied! After reading your responses, I've been brought back down to Earth. I guess the reason I was looking to do it this way was because I was trying to mimic the "big boys" and do what they did when they did my church. I was trying to be bigger than I am, and find a way to shoot and present the images to the families while trying to do upsales with gallery wraps, and composites, and such. <br>

Your replies helped me realize I'm trying to make this way more complicated than it has to be. I should just shoot the families, present the images so they can choose what they like, and have samples of what a gallery wrap is, and use my normal in studio ordering software when I get back to the studio.<br>

This is a bad habit of mine. Thanks again to everyone, and I think I will use Access. And to answer the question as to "do you really need software?" I guess ultimately no, but my handwriting and the handwriting of my brother who would be my assistant is atrocious!</p>

 

<p>Not to take this thread off-topic, but there are companies that will handle the photography and the grunt work for you. Depending upon the size of the church and the number of families participating, you could be facing an overwhelming task tryng to do it yourself. There's a lot more to it than just keeping images organized. My church just completed a directory project using LifeTouch. They came in, organized the project and shot the photos. My only task was the relatively simple task of laying out the activity pages and picking the design using LifeTouch software. LifeTouch creates pages with the family photos and names. It was free to the church, and LifeTouch was compensated through print sales. I'm not in anyway affiliated with LifeTouch. </p>

<p>Phil,<br>

Thanks for the input, but the reason I'm doing this is because the church doesn't want LifeTouch, and honestly, after having our directory done by them 2 years ago at my church, I don't blame them. The picture quality was horrible, they used pictures of people who clearly blinked, the pictures were out of focus, some were even underexposed. The high pressure sales tactics used were ridiculous!!!<br>

Some of these are the complaints of the church that asked me to do the directory for them. Also, I am taking care of the layout of the entire directory for the church. They simply are telling me what activity pages they want and providing the pictures for those pages. </p>

<p>After your experiences with LifeTouch, I can understand taking the project on yourself. All I can say is that was not our experience. The photographers were all professionals, and the photos I've seen have been excellent. We had excellent support through out the project. Our previous directory was done three years ago by Olin Mills, and the photography for that one was excellent as well. Since then, LifeTouch has purchased Olin Mills. So perhaps the photographic skills have improved over the last couple of years.</p>