Helicon Photo Safe is all-in-one solution for image management. We made it completely FREE! Download the current version here. Its facilities include:

Categorization of images, which is similar to creation of virtual folders or assigning tags
Encryption/decryption of images in safes
Image rating, that can be used for grouping, sorting, filtering or search
Editing of IPTC fields (title, caption, copyright, location, etc)
Very handy two-panels layout like in Total Commander
Viewing of EXIF fileds and hystogram
Lossless image rotation
Import of images from a camera or another device with Helicon Importer tool
Full screen image viewer and slideshow tool
Integrated CD/DVD burner
Image search by flexible criteria
Image grouping by calendar dates
Ability to work with a huge number of images where other image managers would crash

The unique features of Photo Safe among other image management software are:

The functionality called "safes" allows encrypting and decrypting secret images on your computer. Images remain in their initial location, but become not-viewable for all other programs. Encryption can be done with three diferent algorithms which differ in complexity and speed. One of the options is a password protected ZIP archiving. All "safes" are password protected. Read more about safes here.

The unique "two panels" layout allows handy drag-and-drop operations between folders and categories and prohotvide better overview: you see images from two folders or categories at once. This layout is borrowed from popular file managers like Total Commander, Far, etc.
Photo Safe can make your image management process more simple, elegant and professional. It is integrated with Helicon Filter - the software for image editing. The two programs are good companions for image management plus image editing - all from one vendor Helicon Soft.