Photo management - organizing your images

Mike McCarty · 03-23-2004, 09:55 AM

Garth,

How do you organize your photos? Do you group them in folders by date, by name, subject matter?

Garth Herrick · 03-24-2004, 10:21 PM

Mike,

I group my D100 photos by creating a new folder for each photo session. This convention was begun with my Nikon View5 software with numbered folders, and I have continued these numerical names although the Nikon software no longer works.

Currently I am at my 170th folder with event photography from a Philadelphia Youth Orchestra concert, last Sunday. So the folder is called:

Img0170-PYO032104

The extra characters give me a clue to the subject of the photo session and the date, at a glance. The folders are as large as the number of photos I took during the session, and added modifications to those photos. I think the above folder has 552 photos. It is the second folder of the same day, as there was another event in the morning.

I hope this helps. If someone has a better method, let me know.

Garth

Michele Rushworth · 03-25-2004, 12:13 AM

I organize my digital camera pictures pretty much by client name, or by subject name if for a still life, etc. The diagram explains how I have photos organized from there.

In my Portrait Reference folder I have one folder for each client, last name first. Inside that I have two sub-folders: one for original photos, and one for pictures I've modified. I try to remember never to store any modified versions of my photos in the wrong folder. This way I'm always sure I have the original shots to go back to if (when!) I mess something up in Photoshop.

Within the Originals folder I have a separate section for each CF Flash card that the images were originally stored on by my camera. (I have two 256MB flash cards, along with some others, hence the folder names 256 A and 256 B.) My camera assigns photos the same numbers over and over again each time I start with a clean Flash card, and always starts with "Picture 0001". Because of this I have to store the photos separately, in folders named for the flash card they were created on. Otherwise I'd have more than one photo with the same name and they'd over-write each other.

Within the Modified Photos folder I have one sub-folder for things I'm just trying out, and another folder for the master photos I intend to use for the actual painting, once I've decided which way to go with the portrait.

A few months after the painting has been delivered (long enough for the likelihood of change requests to have passed) I take all the photos for each client off my computer and put them on separate CDs. Then I have them stored at my husband's place work, for offsite backup, in case of fire, etc.

This is probably WAY more than anyone wanted to know, but it took me a while to work out this system and I find it works pretty well for me. Previously I had photos all over the place and could never find anything. It's a lot of layers of folders, I know, but now I can always find what I need in a hurry.

Heidi Maiers · 03-25-2004, 01:03 AM

Garth and Michele,

Those ar both good systems and we can all agree that it's essential to have some type of system to keep all of those images organized so you know in an instant where to find any one of the thousands that are stored.

I use a pretty simple system, but it works well for me. I organize by subject name like you Michele, and then have subfolders to store resource photos, work in progress photos, and final photos - originals and edited. When a folder is complete, I copy the whole thing to a zip drive for storage. When a zip drive is full, I burn a CD as a backup and reuse the zip.

Marvin Mattelson · 03-25-2004, 11:47 AM

Michele, what camera brand and model do you use?

Mike McCarty · 03-25-2004, 06:27 PM

Gals and Guys,

Have any of you made use of these portable storage devices like the Nikon Coolwalker http://nikonimaging.com/global/news/2004/0128_07.htm ? Do these things make sense or is it just another gadget to take my money? Seems like it could be really useful if you wanted to show a client various images. You could just bring your Coolwalker and hook it up to their TV. This one is 30 gig but I've seen other brands that go up to 60 gig.

Garth Herrick · 03-26-2004, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michele Rushworth

My camera assigns photos the same numbers over and over again each time I start with a clean Flash card, and always starts with "Picture 0001". Because of this I have to store the photos separately, in folders named for the flash card they were created on. Otherwise I'd have more than one photo with the same name and they'd over-write each other.

Hi Michele:

Don't you have the optional setting on your camera for sequential numbering? I think most cameras have this option. Which camera are you using?

My Nikon D100 will number sequentially up to 9999 (or If I choose, it can start at 0001 each time like yours), and then starts over again. When using Extensis Portfolio to catalog my image assets, I have to be careful because my camera has run up to 9999 four times so far, and so there are potentially five images in conflict with the same number.

Michele Rushworth · 03-26-2004, 01:51 AM

I looked it up and as it turns out, my camera does have a function for continuous file numbering, so that it doesn't have to start over at 1 for each new flash card. Thanks for suggesting that, Garth.

I use a two year old Minolta S-304, which is barely adequate for my current needs.