My photos are a mess and I want to organize them so it's easier to find a photo when I need it. Currently they are all still sorted by the date they were taken. I'm just wondering how everyone organizes their photos? What kind of folder set up do you use? How do you label your photos?
i do folders with years, then monthes, then days... the actual folder titled something like: 2008.12.21 jvbb vs. sachem. so i know what date they were taken, and a quick synopsis of the event/game/concert/whatever... probably not the best system but it works for me...
You could use asset management software, or just list keywords in text files - either next to the image files, or in a central location. When you want to find pictures of whatever, you can then just search those files.
Keep the file hierarchy simple and easy to bin into storage media. The best is to use International Date format: YYYY/MM/DD. I use DIM 4 to download images and automagicly rename them to YYYYMMDD-hhmmss.CR2. I keep a separate text file with the date in one column and the session details in the other: location, participants, keywords. You can use a sophisticated keyword system or Digital Asset Management system, but keep the underlying file system simple and direct.
I am anxious to see some good suggestions here... since it is a new year, one of my resolutions was to get my photos better organized... still looking.... I currently use the date method for folders: eg. 090107 thus they fall into a chronological order but need to include a brief subject id.
That's just clutter. Put subject IDs into a session file / database or into keywords in the DAM system.
What "brief subject ID" do you use for the wedding that was completely themed with a football theme, shot at the local historical landmark? "Wedding"? "football"? "landmark"? "<name of bride>"?
here's my naming system (adapted due to paper/yearbook needs)
I have two hard drives 1 is the main drive the other drive is the backup of the first copy (done with SuperDuper!) so for example I have:
Pokey 1
Pokey 2
Pokey 1 has these two folders underneath it:
*****RAW (and)
***Edited or Ran photos (either my "keeps" from a shoot or the photos selected for publication)
(note: The stars are there just so I can sort of the folders not by alphabetical, but by importance. Putting a number in front would do the same thing)
Under the RAW and Edited or Ran photos I have the months :
01 2009
02 2009
03 2009
etc.
Under the month folders I have the individual assignments sorted by date and a general slug:
01.11.08 MBB v. KU
In each folder of the Edited and Ran folder the JPEG 'keeps' are named using Photo Mechanic like this:
01.11.08.MBBvKU.jk.(sequence)
The sequence puts in a three digit number consecutively starting at 001 on all photos I tag and edit out of my take so that gives me:
Pokey 1> RAW ((RAW folder are just the unedited JPEGS named in camera)) > 01 2009 (folder) > 01.11.08 MBB v. KU (folder) > BB000012, BB000013, etc.... (files)
AND
Pokey 1 > Edited and Ran photos (folder) > 01 2009 (folder) > 01.11.08 MBB v. KU (folder) > 01.11.08.MBBvKU.jk.001(individual file names)...
I do this both for redundancy (having RAW and Edited photos seperated) and also to protect from accidentally deleting a RAW folder or an Edited folder ...If one goes I still have the other...at least the RAW photo that I can re-edit or at least the Edited photo that I care more about..... This ensures I essentially have 4 copies of every photo I want (1 RAW, 1 edited JPEG = 2 x 2 drives = 4)
You can also aid in locating photos by doing keywords for folders and individual JPEG files in Lightroom or Photo Mechanic (my preference) and that's something I am going to slowly do the next few months/weeks so it's easier to locate 1 specific photo you are looking for.
