FILE STRUCTURE: E11 does not seem to offer what I want. There are 20+ activity groups in my community. I want to record informal portraits of the participants in each group. Some...

Tarfun Loc: Red Bank NJ USA

E11 does not seem to offer what I want. There are 20+ activity groups in my community. I want to record informal portraits of the participants in each group. Some people belong to several groups. I want a file structure that will allow me to place all photos of "Glory" playing pool in the Ladies Pool Group, and shots of Glory playing bocce in the Bocce Club group. Etc.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Lightroom
Collections in Lightroom

JoeB Loc: Mohawk Valley, NY

What about the smart tags. You could have one tag for each group, and then one for each sub-group, etc. The you can retrieve whatever combination you wanted.

LinksUp

TARFUN wrote:

E11 does not seem to offer what I want. There are 20+ activity groups in my community. I want to record informal portraits of the participants in each group. Some people belong to several groups. I want a file structure that will allow me to place all photos of "Glory" playing pool in the Ladies Pool Group, and shots of Glory playing bocce in the Bocce Club group. Etc.

What you are describing is a database and tables for SQL. Unless you are willing to store the same photo many, many times over, (think group shots) you will need to look into a something that can build a front end program and link to tables like you have described.

You would be doing something like this:

PersonsTable
PersonID
PersonName
PersonRoomNbr

ActivitiesTable
ActivityID
ActivityName
ActivityLocation

GroupTable
GroupID
GroupName

PhotoTable
PhotoID
PhotoDesc
PhotoDirectory <<== where it resides

LinkTable
LinkID
PersonID
GroupID
ActivityID
PhotoID

Then you could store the info in the tables and ask questions like, given a PersonID, give me all the groups they are in or the Activities they are in or all their photos. Given a GroupID, give me all their photos. Given an Activity, give me all their photos.

In real life, I would probably do it a bit different, but this makes the point.

I know this probably seems overkill and complicated, but the that is the nature of the question. By the way, by only storing the photos in 1 location, you save space and you are approaching 3rd Normal Form!

Frapha Loc: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Create collections in LR4 -- appears it's exactly what you're looking for.

picpiper Loc: California

JSinger61 wrote:

quote=TARFUN E11 does not seem to offer what I wa... (show quote)

I have spent many years doing database programming and there is absolutely NO reason to suggest this level of complexity. All that is needed is to use the tags that are available within the Windows file system itself and directly editable by many photo programs.

See: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/tag-your-files-for-easier-searches-in-windows-7/4024

AND:

http://www.windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/tips-for-organizing-pictures

AND:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4820162

Within Picasa (and several other photo management programs) you can select multiple photos and add tags to the selection. The tags that Picasa writes are stored within the Windows file system itself. An individual file can have multiple tags.

Tarfun Loc: Red Bank NJ USA

Thanks one and all! You gave this newbie a number of alternatives to consider. Exactly what I needed.

papakatz45 Loc: South Florida-West Palm Beach

I also do databases for a living and agree people are trying to make this harder than it is. Just use keyword tags and albums with Elements. Simple

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

TARFUN wrote:

E11 does not seem to offer what I want. There are 20+ activity groups in my community. I want to record informal portraits of the participants in each group. Some people belong to several groups. I want a file structure that will allow me to place all photos of "Glory" playing pool in the Ladies Pool Group, and shots of Glory playing bocce in the Bocce Club group. Etc.

I assume that you mean PSE 11. I have PSE 9 and used the Organizer until it got bogged down by over 10,000 images. It so happens that PSE does have a great cataloging program, but it gets bogged down when you have a large catalog. LR4 is much better for this reason. You can create key words for your images or collections or both if you choose. This doesn't add duplicate images to your hard drive, it just adds a small thumb nail and catalogs it any way you like. It's a very good program for keeping track of your images.

Tarfun Loc: Red Bank NJ USA

Thanks. I am now in process of installing the trial version of Lightroom 4.3

UP-2-IT Loc: RED STICK, LA

TARFUN wrote:

E11 does not seem to offer what I want. There are 20+ activity groups in my community. I want to record informal portraits of the participants in each group. Some people belong to several groups. I want a file structure that will allow me to place all photos of "Glory" playing pool in the Ladies Pool Group, and shots of Glory playing bocce in the Bocce Club group. Etc.

Other than taking advantage of the facial recognization feature it will depend on what you choose as your save as title.