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Importing Images into Bridge

Katrin Eismann


This video shows you how to import files from a camera into Bridge, manage import settings, and apply metadata such as author and copyright.

Requirements

To follow along with this article, you will need the following software:

Watch this tutorial in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop.

Importing Images into Bridge

  1. Connect your camera to the computer.
  2. In Bridge, choose File > Get Photos from Camera. A dialog box appears prompting you to modify the Bridge preferences and automatically start Photo Downloader every time a camera or card reader is connected to your computer.

  3. Choose Yes to use Photo Downloader as your default photo import program. The Adobe Bridge CS3 Photo Downloader dialog box opens (see Figure 1).

    The Photo Downloader searches for your photo card and displays its name in the Source pop-up menu.

    The Photo Downloader dialog box displays your photo or card reader name

    Figure 1: The Photo Downloader dialog box displays your photo or card reader name

  4. In the Import Settings section, click Browse and choose a location to save the files. It's recommended to create a folder on your hard drive called Digital Photos for just this purpose. It's a little like dropping your film off at the photo lab: it's more efficient to designate a single drop-off location.
  5. For the Create Subfolders option, choose from a variety of sorting and naming conventions, or choose to create no subfolders. For best results, use the year, month, date (yyyymmdd) organization.

  6. Choose whether to rename your files. Choose the Shot Date (yyyymmdd) + Custom Name option. You can always rename the files again using Bridge's batch update feature. You can also choose Do Not Rename Files, which retains the default camera names, but may not be very descriptive or helpful when you're trying to find a particular image.

    Whenever you select a custom name option, a new text box appears where you can enter any numeric or text value.

  7. Enter your name as the photographer or the subject. Type _boston_boats.

    As soon as you type the text, an example of your naming convention appears, such 20070106_boston_boats_001.JPG. A sequential numeric value always follows the date and custom name.

  8. Choose Convert To DNG to convert all your raw files to the DNG format, a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras. Raw formats can vary widely between different cameras. The DNG format is garnering widespread support. It helps ensure that your raw files are accessible in the future.

  9. Click the Settings button next to the Convert To DNG option to open the DNG Conversion Settings dialog box (see Figure 2).The default setting in this menu are fine: image preview size set to Medium; lossless compression, which is highly recommended; and Preserve Raw Image selected- you should always select this option. You don't need to embed the original raw file in the DNG. Click OK to accept the default settings.

    Use DNG Conversion settings to set options for converting raw files to the DNG archival format.

    Figure 2: Use DNG Conversion settings to set options for converting raw files to the DNG archival format.

  10. If you are concerned about saving your photos to a single location, choose Save Copy To, to have Photo Downloader save a backup copy of the files to a separate hard drive or a backup folder location from which you can transfer to CD or DVD later.

  11. Choose Advanced Dialog to reveal the full set of import options (see Figure 3) for previewing images and applying metadata to them.

    Advanced options in the Photo Downloader let you preview images you're about to import and apply metadata to the files.

    Figure 3: Advanced options in the Photo Downloader let you preview images you're about to import and apply metadata to the files.

  12. Deselect any photo you don't want to import, such as a photo of the inside of your lens cap, to keep it from transferring to your computer.

  13. In the Apply Metadata options, choose Basic Metadata to select the default metadata template, which lets you to add author and copyright information to each of your files. You could choose another template and add various custom metadata from this section as well.

    Note that typing in a copyright notice (e.g. 2004 Katrin Eismann ALL RIGHTS RESERVED) does not replace registering your image with the copyright office, but it's handy to automatically embed this information in all your images.

  14. When you have finished adding metadata, click Get Photos to start the import process. A Copying dialog box appears with a progress bar. This is a fairly speedy process, considering your files are being converted to DNG and there's a backup copy generated too.
  15. When the downloading is complete, the files open automatically within Adobe Bridge. You can start working with them in any of the other Adobe CS3 software.

Where to go from here

For more information and additional tutorials, visit the Adobe Design Center.