I have tons and tons just dumped in a temp folder.
Ever since I've been taking part in challenges I've made folders with the name of the challenge (bokeh, vanishing point, architecture) and then added photographs that fit in.
Ive realized this is not enough, as i have sooo many other photos. I also tried making folders with the different places i shoot (roppongi hills, kyoto, parks).
Still I'm not very happy with that either.
So, I'm just wondering what you do with your photos
I use a program called IDImager. I've got the free version, they're on the net.
My file structure looks like this: PHOTOGRAPHS --> YEAR --> SHOOT --> EDITED
Everything in the EDITED file gets keyworded in IDImager, has my copyright applied to the IPTC, and is then indexed so I can search for things by keyword, subject, model, etc.
This makes it much, much easier to find things when I need them and makes back-up chores easier.
I organize my photos by date. Have a main folder for all images with year, month and specific date as subfolders within.
It seems to work out okay, but at times I completely forget about certain photos I have taken. When looking for a 'type' of images, such as bridges, I completely forget about them until I come across them at a later date.
I use iPhoto, (Mac) and have about 20K images in it at this time. They are filed in "Event" files, which contain each upload from the camera. They can be combined or split, and the "key" photo chosen to represent the group in the event file.
The key photos show up on a thumbs page, and scrolling up or down brings up a "date uploaded" pop up as you scroll. It is easy to locate any image that way if you know an approximate date, or can remember what group the key photo represents. I can also drag and drop events into each other, or view all the thumbs in the entire collection sorted by date, my rating, or several other options, as well as search by title or key word or date.
ETA While viewing the "Events" thumbs page, you can "mouse-over" any event key photo thumbnail, and it flips thru all the thumbs in that file.
The system that I use to keep the working file from bulking up too much is to first weed out and delete the duds with "preview" before I file them into a monthly file in my 2nd hard drive. I then view the remaining card upload as a slide show, and only export the ones with potential to iPhoto. At two week intervals, I copy the monthly files to DVD, and to an external HD. I also sub file the images in the monthly archive file by camera so that I don't have overlapping camera image numbers in the same file.
The basic idea is to file by date and time of day, sub group by month, sub group by event and camera used. Sometimes I will make a sub file (album) containing images from a trip or special event as well, which contains chosen shots, like a vacation album.
IPhoto and Aperture just rock for keeping up with thousands of images.
The system I use for photos is the same I used for data management during my graphics design years. Every project is filed in a folder of its own, the folder is named YYYY.MM.DD.Description -- for example: 2008.5.25.DPCBoats
Inside each folder will be any working folders for that project.
The reason that system works so well is because windows automatically sorts neumerically and this keeps all of your files in order over years & years.
I have a folder for each of my three cameras with subfolders in each. The subfolders are named as Year-Month-Day Name. For example the most recent one is 2008-05-25 Boats.
In each of those folders, I have a 'Keepers' folder where I move the ones I want to work on. There is also an 'Edited' folder with a 'Resized' folder in it.
Eventually I will go back and get rid of all the craptastic shots that I never intend to work on. :)
ETA: Ok, now that she's chimed in, I should point out that my "organization" system is inspired by a conversation I had with idnic during our St. Augustine GTG last year. Thanks, Cindi!
Well, now that you mention it. . . . I did have to go through a rather intense debrief when I got back from that trip. (Something about disrupting a parade and chasing celebrities around with cameras. . . )
Well, now that you mention it. . . . I did have to go through a rather intense debrief when I got back from that trip. (Something about disrupting a parade and chasing celebrities around with cameras. . . )
Sorry to threadjack, but the Lucy Liu incident was a riot!
Bringing up this thread again, I have been looking for a good Photo Managment application for my PC. I have way too many photos that are sitting in folders by date, but if I want to find anything I have to remember what I did that day. I would like to search via keyword or subject.
I have not tried any software yet, I have been looking at Picassa, Lightroom, and IMatch.
Do you have an opinion on this software? I also have just been given my Dad's 10D so I will probably need RAW support...
folder for year YYYY then subfolder for month MM then subfolder for day DD - this makes backup super easy (You do backup, right?) and is comfortable to work with on the screen. Anything that gets worked on gets copied to another folder for me it's mostly 'portfolio' by name of work (I shoot mostly art so I need to track the name of the work, not a client). Variants get worked into the file name like 'safeHarbor_filtered_13x19_300.tif'.
I print every single image on my card every time I stick it into my PC's card reader. I then stack these images in one pile and climb to the top to take more pictures. I then climb down and do it all over again. But that's just me, you may find a better way. ;\
for instance, the shots i took yesterday on the beach -
2008
- 06
- - 25 - Freda's Beach
all images for that session (RAW and finished) are in the same folder. If i'm doing a formal shoot, then the final images will be in a new folder in the original one - i.e.:
Anyone else use Lightroom, Picassa, or iMatch that has an opinion on the software? How about more ideas on photo managment in general?
I have been using iMatch for around 2 1/2 years and have been reasonably happy with it. I'm strictly amateur and my database is relatively small at just over 12,000 images. (Mario, the developer, reports some customers with 100,000+, maybe even 500,000+). I predominantly use the category and properties features. One huge advantage over using a folder/directory based scheme is the ease of assigning an image to multiple categories (e.g., an image of a barn next to a lake from my 2008 vacation can be assigned to three categories (barns, lakes, 2008 vacation) without having 3 copies of the image). iMatch also has a built in Sax (related to Visual) Basic interpreter, enabling someone to write quite powerful scripts. (There's an extensive repository of user scripts.) While the database itself is proprietary, it's very easy to export the category assignments and properties to "future-proof" yourself.
However, the software has the big disadvantage that it doesn't handle image versions natively. (There are a few script to handle this, but I don't use them.) Version support has been reportedly coming. There are also some other quirks that may take getting used to (e.g., it's not possible to drag-and-drop folders) and it runs under Windows only.
