How do you organize your photos?

[keith204]

What's your file/folder structure like when it comes to photos? I have been gathering photos from 6 hard drives, that my wife and I have taken over the past 7 years and it's time to get organized so I don't run into this mess again.

Do you organize by year? Event?

How do you stay organized?

 

[PhotoXopher]

I'm a bad one to ask... I always start off with the best of intentions and once the card goes in the card reader, all hope is lost.

I'll be watching this thread!

 

[Overread]

Currently like this;

Folder = My photos = contains all the folders of my photo trips
Folder = Example trip one 03-09-09 = contains all the RAWs from my card for that trip (or JPEGs if I was using them). Note that after opening and editing RAWs this folder also contains the relevant files holding the RAW edit data
Folder = Keeps = a folder of keeps, these are the PSD edited versions of each shot I edit from the set
Folder = 1000 = a folder holding 1000pixel(longest side) versions of my shots. This is used so that I can easily upload them to my flickr account). Also note that I might often have a range of files like this for different pixel sizes for uploading to different websites and for holding 100% crops if I make any.

Thus each shoot folder contains all the shots, the edited versions in PSD form so I can easily return to edit them or touchup if I need to as well as resized versions for the intenet.



I currently have 2 such master folders on my computer, one each partition of my harddrive for no reason other than one partition got full and I moved to the next. I also keep a copy of all the data, held in a single folder, on my external harddrive. Further once my backup is fully completed and all shots within a set edited I will delete any dumped shots from the set in my main harddrive, leaving backup copies only in my external harddrive.

 

[Big Mike]

I have different locations/folders for; 1. weddings, 2. photo shoots 3. personal stuff.

Under that, the first level of folders are years, next level is by date. So when I upload images, I create a new fold for either the date the photos were taken or when they were uploaded.
Files for print or web output will eventually be put into sub folders under their parent date folder.

I used to have folders for working PSD files, full size JPEG, print, web etc. But with Lightroom, I only create sub folders as I export the files I need.

I've also been adding key words in Lightroom, making it easier to search for images.

When working on images in LR, I create a collection for the 'keeper' images in a group. Sometimes it might be multiple collections. This makes it easy to sort out the images that I want to take further into the workflow.

 

[JerryPH]

Not being a professional, I do not separate pro from non-pro work. Everything that is available to me locally is organized by date... year, month, day and short description of the event.

2009-09-03 - Jack & Jill E-session
2009-09-05 - Jack & Jill Wedding
... and so on.

Inside each folder, I have the Lightroom Catalog folder, RAW folder, JPG (full sized) folder and JPG_sm folder (web sized and watermarked files)

 

[ann]

i tend to work with projects, so each project has a folder , labeled with the name of the project.

then there is a sub folder for each, one folder for orginal files, one for work files and one for prints.

every Fri. (or, every two weeks, depending on how much i have been shooting), i put a movie in the dvd and copy everything to 4 separate hard drives. One of which I take to the lab so it is off site.

THis is not my favorite thing to do, but I feel it is important. Just like filing negatives and contact sheets.

On, yes, for each folder i make a contact sheet and print it out on office paper and file. Just a habit from traditional darkroom work and i like to hold the sheet in hand while i review which image i might be interested in.

 

[SrBiscuit]

i have 2 main folders "unprocessed" and "processed"
then i organize by month and year... AUG09

the unprocessed folder only contains the raws and XML files for raw adjustments.

the processed folder contains PSDs and JPGs (if i compressed them for posting)

it seems to work thus far.

 

[Torus34]

Filing problems can usually be traced to an inability or unwillingness to cull.

Start be identifying the specific uses to which you put your pictures. These can include sharing with others via the 'net, printing for display, possible future sale, etc. [For me, it's either shots to hang on the walls of my home or to print and give to relatives.]

This done, dump any image that will not be used for one of the categories during the next year to disk. Put the disks in a shoe box somewhere. Don't worry about cataloging the disks. You'll probably never search them anyway. They're just a security blanket.

Your filing problems will become quite manageable.

Note: The above does not apply to professionals. The pros usually have efficient systems in place.

 

[nickisonfire]

Okay this is how I organize mine, it definitely helps me find things quickly:

And for backups I back up my computer to 2 externals weekly, and back up those to a RAID on the home sever whenever I remember

 

[IgsEMT]

YEAR-MONTH-DATE-Name (optional): yyyy-mm-dd-Name

 

[Hooligan Dan]

Portfolio>Year>Style(i.e. Landscape, News, Action Figures, Still life, etc)>Project name>Raw>Complete>Large/small

 

[Josh66]

What's your file/folder structure like when it comes to photos? I have been gathering photos from 6 hard drives, that my wife and I have taken over the past 7 years and it's time to get organized so I don't run into this mess again.

Do you organize by year? Event?

How do you stay organized?

My RAWs are organized chronologically - folder structure looks like this:
Year->Month->Day

My processed shots are organized by subject/event.

When I export, they all get dumped into a "New Pictures" folder, then I move them where ever they need to go.

 

[RONDAL]

all of my RAW files are organized by date YYYY-MM-DD - "brief description"
I use keywords in CS3 Bridge to label the different photos.
In each folder I rank photos from 1-5 stars or a complete reject. 1-3's are generally just multiplies or complete wastes. This makes it very easy to quickly remove unwanted photos from my folders.
Any photos that are 4's and 5's can get processing done. Once processed they get a green completed tag on them to show they have been done.

Finished .jpg's all go into a folder called COMPLETED. There photos are arranged by subject or purpose. ie. Mexico Vacation 2009, Japan 2008, Jack and Jill's Wedding YYYY-MM-DD.

This allows me to quickly find files I want and need, and it keeps the RAW files all together in a neat and organized way.
If you develop even a basic system of labelling and stick to it, its not that difficult to find stuff. Just like you have a workflow for doing your editing, make data storage and labelling part of it.
If you are a pro you better have this in your workflow or you are doomed

 

[Foga]

Mine works for me, and it can look a bit convoluted but everything has a purpose
first I put everything in to folders of the the present year,
-2009
then it all falls in the a folder with this naming convention

00001_09-08-09_Bunnies_1325-1396

explanation: the five digit number in the beginning helps keep everything in the folder in the order that it came in, so it's easier to reference and find stuff, so 00002 comes after 00001 and so on.
date: helps you find stuff based on the date, if you remember around what time it was shot.
Descriptor: if you don't remember the date, you'll have a descriptor that helps you find the folder, for example sake, I'm looking for the bunnies I shot, so I look for folders with the word bunnies in it.
and finally, range of pictures: the first number of the picture taken that goes in to that folder and the last number, to determine a range of the numbers enclosed in that folder, so that when Lightroom or aperture or whatever you use, tells you it can't find picture 1344, you can look at those folders and see the ranges and know which folder has that picture, and go fetch it.

Hope this helps.

 

[boogschd]

my pictures -> nikon transfer -> <unsorted/unprocessed stuff>

my pictures -> -> soulstaken -> family -> <files/folders by event/date>
my pictures -> -> soulstaken -> friends (h.s.) -> <files/folders by event/date>
my pictures -> -> soulstaken -> friends (college) -> <files/folders by event/date>
my pictures -> -> soulstaken -> shows -> <files/folders by event/date>
my pictures -> -> soulstaken -> HDR -> <files>

might sort it by date when it gets too many
(my old HDD died so i lost quite a lot of albums)