Managing the digital photo collection

[Cross Eyed Bear]

I'm getting to the point of spending too much time managing my collection of
images - raw, work-in-progress, final, high res copies, lo-res copies,
what's been sent to whom, naming/identifying/describing and so on. Could I
have some recommendations on software that will assist with this? I think
there are at least two distinct different requirements to be addressed:
- managing the images as they go through some sort of work flow process
- distributing the images in some format for easy viewing by recipients who
might not be computer literate at all. I've looked at Photoshop Album and the similar offering from Jasc, but neither seems to be robust enough. ProShow Gold has some nice presentation features, but it's a bit crude to use and slow to assemble shows. What else is there?

[Väinö]

Have You tried ThumbsPlus at www.cerious.com

[Cross Eyed Bear]

Have You tried ThumbsPlus at www.cerious.com

Thank you for this tip. I have run the Beginner's Tutorial and conclude the
product is interesting enough to download, including the full tutorial.
It's going to be a long night.

[Warren]

The first suggestion is get camp ground reservations in Yellowstone if you
can.

One thing you might not expect but probably will have is snow. It was a big
snow year this year and a cold spring, so I suspect you will still find snow
on trails in the Tetons. Here are some suggestions:

Tetons: The classic shots are of the mountains reflected in Jenny Lake or
Jackson Lake. Early AM is best for sun and still water. There are trails
around Jenny Lake and it's not hard to find places to set up. There are
also some spots along the road where you can put the Snake river in the
foreground. Hiking into one of the canyons will probably give you good
wildflowers this time of year, but check on snow. Don't expect to see a lot
of large animals in the Tetons

Yellowstone: You can't miss the buffalo, deer, and elk in the park, but the
big meadows like the Hayden valley on the east and along the road between
Norris and Mammouth on the west are good spots to look. Bear encounters are
mainly chance. If you come across lots of stopped cars odds are it's a
bear, and odds are good it's a long way off so bring long lenses and tripod,
and with all large animals think safety first. (More people are injured by
buffalo which you can easily get too close to than bears, which generally
keep their distance.) As a general rule if you want to avoid crowds all you
have to do is get off the asphalt. In the Old Faithful area, check at the
ranger station for geyser eruption predictions. There are half a dozen
large geysers that are reasonably predictable and if you have a day or two
and some luck you can see them all. Early AM and sunset are great times for
geyser photos because the warm light and long shadows set off the
"geyserite" deposits around them. If you have time, climb the Old Faithful
lookout (AM is best) for a birds eye view of an eruption. Don't miss the
big multi-color pools in the lower and middle basin areas. Mid day works
okay here because the colors of the pools are reflected in the steam clouds
above them. The Norris basin near the west entrance also has a couple of
fairly predictable geysers and lots of features. Mammouth hot springs is
different every time. Sometimes there are masses of colorful terraces,
sometimes most of it is just stark white. Worth a stop.

If you have time, spend a day in the Canyon area and hike down to the
lookouts in the canyon on both sides. It's part "grand canyon" and part
"Niagra Falls". The high country near Mt Washburn is good for wildflowers
and high elevation wildlife (e.g. sheep).

If it's open and you have time the Beartooth highway connecting yellowstone
to Red Lodge Montana is one of the more spectacular high altitude roads,
mostly above treeline with great views. You need a good day for it though
and it's often closed by snow through June or later.

No real suggestions on Rushmore, it's pretty much just go there and shoot
the mountain (if you can see it, one time we gave up after a couple of hours
waiting for fog/clouds to clear. Jewel Cave and Wind Cave in that area are
also nice if you don't have claustrophobia and want some different natural
scenery. (Use flash or film or digital cameras that can be corrected for
very yellow light in caves. I learned that one the hard way) Devils tower
is also worth looking at and not very far off the interstate. On the tower
look for people climbing it to add scale to your pictures.

You can't go wrong in the badlands. Again early and late will have the best
colors.