How to name your photos

[357mag]

I'm just starting out with Adobe Lightroom and I need to decide how I'm gonna name my photos. Since I don't have a crystal ball and I can't see into the future, it's impossible for me to be 100 percent certain I'm choosing a good method.

But for now my question is rather simple: Are spaces in the filename okay or is that a no-no?

Like I read that if you want to post some photos online the server will complain if you got spaces in the filename.

I could do this: Photo #1 2011 05 13.NEF

or I could do this:

Photo_#1_2011_05_13.NEF

Since you guys have posted photos here before are spaces allowed?

 

[chaosrealm93]

i leave the underscores in. (although i dont use lightroom)

 

[The_Traveler]

I do it the other way

The folder is 2011_03_25_some identifier

filenames are
2011_03_25_name_sequence

that way both folder and filenames will sort correctly. Leaving spaces is technically OK but, for me as a terrible typist, its just too easy to have an extra space and it throws off sorts.

The most important thing is, before you start importing pictures in LR, to set up a keyword hierarchy.
Infinitely helpful and powerful

 

[Josh66]

With digital, I just use the name the camera assigns to the file. When scanning film, I name them by date and order scanned. For example, 05141127 would be the 27th scan made on May 14, 2011. It works as long as I never scan more than 99 frames in one day - which has never happened yet, though I did come close once. If it ever does happen, I will just take it as a sign that I need to take a break and wait till the next day.

My folder names are more fancy... Finished pictures get sorted into folders by subject - 'People' -> 'Sarah' -> 'Pool', for example (that would be pictures of Sarah, at the pool). RAWs get sorted by date. '2011' -> '05' -> '14' -> and then the pictures from that day would be here.

 

[480sparky67 66]

I don't use dates at all. If I did, I would remember for about 3 months when I took a shot. After that, I'd never be able to find it. I always use words.

 

[Josh66]

I always use words.

At first with my film scans, that's what I did. I have to name it something, since the camera/scanner doesn't do it for me. I tried naming everything according to the subject, but it got very repetitive for me... Especially when you have to make sure you don't reuse the same name twice - I was getting pictures named 'Sarah park 0132' (well, maybe not that many - but you get the point), that's when I switched over to numbers.

 

[toddjamesphotography]

Using a date is good for reference and organization but I've found that using a name is best for searching. There's no right or wrong way but some ways are better than others depending on how you organize them.

 

[Josh66]

To clarify - I do tag my pictures with appropriate keywords, so even with a file name that's all numbers, I can still find a specific shot with a quick search.

 

[manaheim]

I prefer to name all my photos Fred... that way if one dies, other Freds will be there to fill the void in my heart.

 

[Tinstafl143 139]

I rename everything on import. What I use are my initials_year_month_counter
The counter will count up to 99,000 and then needs to be reset. I will say that your camera will start to rename at 10,000 clicks so if you do not want to have the same named files then you will want to rename. I key word so everything is easy to find. In fact I keyword on import with broad categories.

 

[357mag]

I was planning on adding keyword tags to my photos during the export process instead of the import process since after importing RAW images there will be many that will be trashed so it doesn't make sense to apply keywords to images that are no longer there.

 

[Super Simple]

I would avoid spaces. If you want to upload a photo somewhere, they can cause problems. It's not the space that's the problem -- it's bad coding that is the problem.

Depending on the situation, I use different naming schemes. Here are some examples:

2011-06-07-Meaningful-Name-Using-Capitals.jpg

I like Pascal case when not using spaces or dashes as it's easy to read:
SomeMeaningfulNameWithNoSpaces.jpg

SomeMeaningfulNameWithNoSpaces-{width}x{height}.jpg

Prefixes and suffixes can help a lot. I like the ISO date format (used in Asia a lot) because it's unambiguous and sorts properly. Who wants to sort based on the day number or the month number?

Underscores are difficult to see sometimes, so I reserve them as delimiters, e.g.:

2011-06-07_Meaningful-Name-Using-Capitals.jpg

So there you can clearly see a mark between the date part of the file name and the "name" part.

etc. etc.

The most important thing is to use a convention that makes sense to you, and that you can easily reuse.

You don't need to always use every part of a pattern though. e.g.:

2011-06-07_Meaningful-Name-Using-Capitals_800x600.jpg
2011-06-07_Meaningful-Name-Using-Capitals_200x150.jpg
2011-06-07_Meaningful-Name-Using-Capitals_200x150_th.jpg

There "_th" might signify a thumbnail, but with the size there, it's not really needed.

My basic preference follows this pattern:

• Sorting patterns (e.g. date or zero padded index numbers like 0001)
• Meaningful name using dashes (-) as spaces
• Metadata like size or purpose or version number

I separate those with either dashes (-) or underscores (_), with a preference for underscores.

For meaningful names, again, I generally use "bigger" concepts up front to make sorting easier -- they then fall into neat groups in a list.

But those are all just personal preferences. They make sense for me, but might not for anyone else.

 

[The_Traveler]

I was planning on adding keyword tags to my photos during the export process instead of the import process since after importing RAW images there will be many that will be trashed so it doesn't make sense to apply keywords to images that are no longer there.

IMO, this is not the most effective way to use LR. LR has tremendous capacity to retrieve images and much of it is based on using keywords. I don't want pictures sitting in the LR database that I can't find so I created my own keyword hierarchy. A hierarchy minimizes keyword entry, speeds entry enormously by providing keyword prompts.

Since the greatest volume of my imports are in event or client shoots with the same keyword, before each input, I add any new keyword to the hierarchy if necessary and then just add the keywords in batch in import. Then I review them in the Library module, Picking ones for deletion when I can see them full screen, doing preliminary ranking and adding any really specific keywords that don't apply to the group as a whole.

Imports that require lots of differing keywords usually have many fewer pictures and I often cull on the import phase and then keyword immediately.

I learned the hard way about proper keyword use. After 2 years of LR use just casually adding keywords as I went (not in a hierarchy), I had an incredible jumble. So I went back, edited the hierarchy and sorted out the keywording on >13,000 images. That was about 18 months ago and I've stuck to it and importing/keywording is a minor part of any shoot.

I am pretty draconian about culling my shots. Except for client jobs where I stretch the envelope, I throw away any shots that aren't immediately promising; if it sucks now, future suckiness is inevitable.

You might consider getting the Luminous Landscape series on LR. Well worth the money and eye-opening.

 

[Tinstafl143 139]

I add basic keywords on import. For instance, location and type of shoot. Portrait landscape etc. I add to the key words after my first go thru. I rate each shot and then keyword the rated shots only and then I delete the nonrated ones when I am done.