Every photographer needs to back up his or her photos in the cloud, and expects easy sync across devices and computers.
And nearly every kind of photographer needs cloud backups, from beginners who shoot on their mobile phones and store on their computer - when their mobile device inevitably runs out of space - to pros who can’t store their RAW files on just a single drive, or may work on more than one computer, or in collaboration with other photographers or retouchers.
Many non-destructive photo editors use a database to store adjustments and metadata. Sometimes, databases get corrupted or reformat data in a way that makes it difficult to recover files. It’s also a more tenuous process to sync a database than it is to sync individual files. This limitation necessitates special syncing and backup solutions, tailored to that specific database structure - a lengthy and sometimes costly process.
Picktorial takes a different approach.
Picktorial lets you use your favorite cloud service, including Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, Microsoft OneDrive and others. And, of course, if you use an external drive or a network drive to store or move your photos between computers - Picktorial will sync those files perfectly, as well.
All you need to do is store your photos in a cloud service’s sync folder on your computer. And wherever your photo files sync to - you will find your adjustments and metadata there too!
Picktorial stores adjustments as a small “chunk” alongside the file itself. For RAW files this is kept in a sidecar file near the RAW file, while for other image formats (including JPEG, DNG and TIFF) we embed this in the file itself. Picktorial automatically monitors referenced folders, so when your photos are synced (e.g. by Dropbox), Picktorial on the other computer will detect these changes and update its browser automatically.
You are free to choose your cloud storage provider, or use an external or network drive. We believe that either of these options are preferable to dedicated sync options offered in other photo editing applications.
Note: For those of you who work with macOS Photos and sync your images using iCloud, it’s easy to use Picktorial, as well. Picktorial can also run as a Photos extension, with the entire tool set of the standalone version.