Image Management

Image management software works like a virtual light table / file cabinet, allowing you to look through, organize and manipulate large numbers of digital images.

Typical features:
 * display thumbnail images
 * file management: rename, copy, move, delete, etc.
 * simple image manipulation: brightness, contrast, rotation, scaling, conversion
 * (rotation should ideally be lossless when performed on JPEG images)
 * database features: assign keywords, find images based on keywords/categories
 * create "contact sheets" and web pages

I've used Super JPG for years, and I've been very happy with it. It performs well, the author keeps it up-to-date, it's full-featured, and it has a well-done category management system.

Breeze Browser started life as a tool for manipulating images from Canon digital cameras, but the author provides phenomenal support and upgrades, and has turned it into a very respectable image management system. And people love the web pages the BreezeBrowser creates.

Other well-respected applications:


 * ACDSee


 * Thumbs Plus


 * IMatch is very full-featured, and has extensive database features, including support for off-line volumes (like CD-ROM or DVD-ROM archives). Also includes cool "find more images that look like this one" functionality that actually does algorithmic image-matching.

Open source applications:


 * imgSeek
 * Cat-Photo
 * PHP PhotoAlbum/Web

Printing applications:


 * Qimage Pro