Newbie would like to know how you organize your digital pix!

[ann]

i have some files that are too big to put on a cd, and that is why they have to go on a dvd.
A copy of everything goes to external drives.
4 copies of everything.

 

[CassBH]

i have some files that are too big to put on a cd, and that is why they have to go on a dvd.
A copy of everything goes to external drives.
4 copies of everything.

Wow!! That sure covers it! Better safe than sorry, right?

 

[Alex_B]

Got my RAW data in folders which are named YYYY_MM_DD_Location

 

[KristiJo]

I actually burn all shots onto a CD and print out a contact sheet of whats on the CD, and hold them all in a book.. I'm scared of my computer crashing and losing everytihng... and it doesn't fill up memory...

I keep all recent pieces on my computer and just name the folder... that way it's easier to just start working... but once i'm done.. and people made their orders.. they go on CDs as back-ups for if those people ever wanted to make new orders.

 

[Alex_B]

I will not start another "CDs don't last forever" thread ... but I am sure someone will do now

 

[mrodgers]

I actually burn all shots onto a CD and print out a contact sheet of whats on the CD, and hold them all in a book.. I'm scared of my computer crashing and losing everytihng... and it doesn't fill up memory...

If someone holds photos or other information on your computer, they should be scared of the computer crashing and losing everything.

My first daughter was born in 2000. I also purchased my first house in 2000. I did not have my own digital camera at the time, but borrowed one when my daughter was born. Took hundreds of photos from her first few months and gave the camera back. My wife bought me my first CD burner for Christmas that year. "I have to burn my pictures sometime" I said.

January 2001 rolls around. "I have to get those pictures onto CD" I say again. I turn the computer on one day and get nothing. Ended up needing to restore Windows from the CD, which formats first. Lost all of my pictures from the first few months of my daughter's life as well as pictures of when we first bought the house.

A backup of important data is a must, whether it is on CD, DVD, separate hard drive, whatever.

 

[Mav]

In my Pictures folder I have three main directories.

- Personal
- Family
- Work

For Personal and Work, I make sub-directories like this: YYYY-MM-DD_Description. That'll keep everything chronologically ordered easily, and it makes it simple to find things. For the family directory, I make monthly albums of my now 9 month old daughter, so I just dump everything into appropriately labeled directories.

I use a Mac with a 500GB internal hard drive, and then use the Time Machine function to keep a continuous backup of the drive on an external 500GB hard drive. If there's a fire, I'll have my daughter in one arm and that drive in the other, LOL. Anything decent that's worth keeping I also upload to my photo site in full resolution. This is where I send family and friend to to view photos, but it also serves as an off-site backup. If an act of God destroyed my house today, I really wouldn't have lost anything. My baby girl is safely at day care, and all the photos I really care about are already online in full-resolution, so no big deal. I also try to periodically burn some DVDs to give to my parents to take to their house for another off-site backup, but I've been really bad about doing this.

 

[VeronicaLFB]

I sort by subject matter as well. I'm a nanny, so I take a lot of pictures of the child I care for, and his pictures I sort by month.

 

[sabbath999]

Since my pictures are pretty much all "geographcially based" (I shoot when traveling) I sort them by location and/or event. I can organize them further by date by simply clicking on the date created column (OS X user).

It works for me.

 

[vladiator]

You have probably started organizing your pictures by now...lots of good suggestions so far.

I would want to suggest that you have to start with one important question first before you start the "not trivial" task of picture organization. It's a lot harder to undo what you have do wrong. The most important question is: What is the criterion for organizing your pictures? Most people use their camera to shoot events and in this case you can do year/month/event. Other people shoot geographically and for them it makes more sense to do Continent/Country/City. So, it really depends on how you plan to use your structure. Here is an article that might help you with this question:
Divide and Conquer for efficient picture organization

I believe that an efficient folder structure beats any tag collection by far (in most cases). At least that's what I've been using for years with great success. Here's another article that will help you with that:
Organize your pictures in 5 easy steps

And in case you're wondering about tags versus folders you might find this helpful:
Tags vs. Folders - the great debate

I hope this helps.

 

[Mystwalker]

Makes sense. Do most of you back up to external hard drive or CD/DVD?

I back up jpeg+RAW to DVD/CD, and again to external Seagate FA Pro.

I back up jpegs I like to CostCo (still not sure if they will let me retrieve) and to Flickr.

 

[crystal_lynn]

Well what I suggest is to take a moment to consider how YOU think. My Mom and I think differently so at work she can never find files that I have saved and vice versa. Plan something that comes naturally or you will never be happy with the system.

I sort mine by:
My Pictures Folder
Years
Months
Client Name

Then the clients folder has 3 folders, uploaded, edited, purchased.

I actually pay for a backup service and then I also have the photos on CD with a contact sheet. The contact sheets are mainly for me, it helps me locate a photo for new promtional items, contests, etc.

HTH

 

[Bigcity]

Mine are moved out of my pictures on to an external hard drive and sorted by subject folders. I really hate doing this. I need to back them up to a DVD soon too.

 

[Sarah23]

I have a sort folder that I dump them in, and then from there they go in categories like Animals, Children, Family, Landscapes...ect. Then if I need to, I will put sub-folders IN those folders (like under children, I have one for Noah, one for Abby, one for 'other'...)

I also back up the ones I dont ever want lost on a external harddrive and burn them to a CD or DVD. The best ones are also uploaded on a server...which does compress them, but if EVERYTHING else was lost, I would at least have SOMETHING left....ya know? Even if its just for memories.

 

[CassBH]

You have probably started organizing your pictures by now...lots of good suggestions so far.

I would want to suggest that you have to start with one important question first before you start the "not trivial" task of picture organization. It's a lot harder to undo what you have do wrong. The most important question is: What is the criterion for organizing your pictures? Most people use their camera to shoot events and in this case you can do year/month/event. Other people shoot geographically and for them it makes more sense to do Continent/Country/City. So, it really depends on how you plan to use your structure. Here is an article that might help you with this question:
Divide and Conquer for efficient picture organization

I believe that an efficient folder structure beats any tag collection by far (in most cases). At least that's what I've been using for years with great success. Here's another article that will help you with that:
Organize your pictures in 5 easy steps

And in case you're wondering about tags versus folders you might find this helpful:
Tags vs. Folders - the great debate

I hope this helps.

well, you would THINK I would have started organizing them, but I haven't! So thank you so much for the post! It reminded me that I have to get my buttin gear!!!! I will check out those links you sent me this weekend and hoepfully that will inspire me to get motivated to start this project.

So far, there are a lot of good suggestions. Course, I am not a professional photographer so I do not need to worry about organizing anything for my clients. I mostly take pictures of my kids/family/events. That is it, and I can't see doing much more right now (but who knows)? At least if I get a handle on organizing the few hundred (if even that many)pix I have right now, then moving forward will be a lot less challenging!!!!!

Thanks!