UPDIG

If you don’t know, UPDIG stands for UNIVERSAL PHOTOGRAPHIC DIGITAL IMAGING GUIDELINES. This is a set of guidelines developed for digital imaging by the UPDIG Working Group, descibed on their website as “A working group of digital imaging professionals and allied trade groups and manufacturers, dedicated to promoting worldwide standards in the commercial application of digital imaging.” Read more about them here. The guidelines themselves cover the basic things we all should know about as serious photographers – ICC colour management, sharpening, meta data, and digital image workflow (DAM anyone?) to name a few. But as I know from experience, lots of supposedly serious photographers don’t follow half of these guidelines, which is a situation UPDIG was created to change. I am not holy either. I have a good understanding of all of the issues, but I haven’t put them all into practice yet. Implementing a good DAM strategy and ensuring my work follows accepted standards are something I’m going to work on a lot on in 2007.

To download the current Version 2 set of guidelines in pdf format click here .