Getting Organized

[ejcross]

I'm seeking some wisdom on the best ways to get organized with my photos.

I'm a Mac user and I have the cloud turned on for all of my photos, however with the number I am shooting while learning, it is filling up quickly. I'm also currently trying out Pixelmator and the default canon software to learn some basic editing but am open to also exploring Photoshop elements, if those factor into organizing.

I'm shooting both RAW and jpeg so any tips on saving them on my computer while being able to share my favorites amongst devices would be appreciated.

 

[table1349]

Organizing: Lightroom, ACDC Pro for Mac, Capture one Pro (my choice).

For editing, Affinity Photo. Mac only and is a Photoshop rival for $50.00.

 

[dennybeall]

There are as many answers as there are photographers, the biggest difference being the cost of the various ideas. My choice is the Lightroom/Photoshop deal but it's 10 bucks a month for as long as you use it. Lightroom is thought by many to be the best program available for handling photos. Personally I don't care for it that much but it's been upgraded in the last year or so to be very powerful working with the photos.

 

[KmH]

Get this if you don't already have it:
The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers

I use Capture One Pro too - instead of Lightroom.
LR has catalog and search limitations Capture One doesn't have.
I would suggest most LR users don't know how to effectively use LR's image organizing database management functions (the Library module).

 

[jeffW]

Buy an external hard drive (ideally two - one as an exact copy for backup) Cloud storage is fine for current images, but not for long term archival storage, imho.

I like to organize my photos by naming folders, so the folders names are my organization structure. In order to keep the multitude of folders in check all names start with the date: YrMD_name(relevant to me). For the big housing folders I will give it a suffix such as YrMD_name_B_drive to relate to the drive it lives on, this is a safety measure. I also use the ability to mark my folders different color codes to know they have been manually backed up.

Having your images in your own folder structure allows you to take charge of your own backups not relying on software automation. Software allow users to make mistakes without the user knowing it, software come and go, computers change etc.

Only unless there is a specific reason(urgent timeline) to have a Raw + Jpg created at capture otherwise I just create a Raw as it is very easy to have software output a jpg

 

[nerwin]

I recommend getting Lightroom and picking up Peter Krogh's DAM book. The DAM book guide to organizing your photos with LR 5 is a great place to start, I just bought it and its been rather helpful. I'm still reading through it..lots of awesome content including video.

I'm waiting for Peter to release the new DAM book which will be later this year.