The Best App for Managing Digital Assets

Julieanne Kost

Photoshop is an excellent tool for many things, but it’s no digital asset manager. The most successful workflows require Photoshop plus something else: Lightroom or Bridge. Which one is best for you depends on a lot of things.
In choosing between the two programs, you’ll need to answer these questions:
• Are you new to photography?
• Are you a small studio or a large studio?
• Are you a high-volume shooter?
• Are you a designer, photographer, or both?
• Are you comfortable with computers?
Then you’ll want to consider the advantages of each app.
Advantages of the Lightroom + Photoshop workflow:
• Ease of use
• Streamlined tools and interface
• Instantaneous searching
• Working with off-line files
• Efficient virtual copies and collections
• Infinite history and snapshots
• Interactive previews
• Preset- and template-driven
• Printing
• Web and slideshow creation
Advantages of the Bridge + Photoshop workflow:
• If you own Photoshop, you already own Bridge
• File browser architecture
• Extended support of file formats in one location
• Multi-user workflow
• Numerical values
In the video below, I’ll help you decide which application is right for your workflow by explaining the differences between Lightroom and Bridge for managing images and assets.