Lightbox
Professional image management for Mac OS X
To our faithful users: we’re sorry for the lack of updates, but it turns out that Aperture is really good! We’re in the process of changing our focus from standalone image management tools to tools to integrate with Aperture (and iPhoto). Stay tuned!
iPhoto to Keynote plug-in! – now for iPhoto 08 and Keynote 4!
What’s new in Lightbox 1.0.2?
Photographer’s Guide to Lightbox (sorry no longer available) (1 MB)
Lightbox is a new, easy-to-use, inexpensive photo management application designed from the ground up for serious photographers. Unlike other photo applications, Lightbox doesn’t require you to keep track of what folders you put your images in–it manages everything about an image, including the thumbnail and original raw file, for you. And it can even do so on multiple hard drives! Let Lightbox manage your photos, and don’t ever forget where you stored an image again! Lightbox also has support for:
- Importing from iPhoto™
- Emulating iPhoto for use in iDVD™ 3 and iMovie™ 3
- Raw conversion
- Previewing some types of raw files*
- Print contact sheets
- Multiple storage locations and albums
- Searching using many options
- Custom metadata–and searching by it
- Adobe® Photoshop® integration–Lightbox works flawlessly with the Adobe Camera Raw plugin!
- Backup to tar.gz
- Offline viewing (relocate images to CD/DVD and still search for them)
- Directly burning to a CD or DVD
- Archiving originals
- Customized workflows–e.g. copy photos into the storage location or leave alone?
- 3D Printing Geeks compatibility
- And more!
Best of all, Lightbox costs only $25 US!
Who should consider Lightbox?
Any serious amateur or professional photographer who’s shooting and wants to use an album system to organize photos instead of just folders on the hard drive. Photographers who wait to convert their raw files, and don’t edit and convert, one by one, will also benefit from Lightbox. Photographers who miss a binder (or drawer) + slide sheet method of organization will also like Lightbox.
Advanced Photo Management
Raw conversion is only a minor feature in Lightbox–it’s designed to be a platform for new tools to help your photography. Currently, you have to remember what folder you stored your images in, browsing and searching can be slow, and finding a system to organize raw and converted can be annoying. Lightbox takes care of all of this for you–use its interface to move files between albums, storage locations (hard drives), revert to the original raw, and more. Choose what images you see/search through by showing and hiding storage locations. Lightbox even includes offline viewing–move some of your images to a CD or DVD but still include the image in your search results! Along with standard EXIF data, Lightbox also lets you add your own custom properties to each image.
Custom Workflow
Convert images with a different raw converter, edit your images in another piece of software, and more! When you’re ready to move the new image into Lightbox, just click “Load New Version from Folder,” and Lightbox will find the converted image, archive the original raw file, and manage the new image for you.
Try it out!Share Your Photos
Lightbox comes with email, slideshow, archive to tar.gz, make website, set desktop background, and file converter plugins. Its advanced plugin architecture also lets developers quickly and easily create new plugins. Even use your Lightbox albums in iMovie and iDVD!
Download the demo (2.6 MB). It’s completely functional, although it will close after 15 minutes (you can relaunch it).
