kseawel

My roommate and I bird together frequently. We share a computer and store our photos in Picasa. She uses a Canon SX50, and I use a Canon SX60. The pictures are all numbered using Canon's IMG_xxxx format. Our pictures are stored in folders by date, and we can tell whose photos are whose based on the camera model identifier in the metadata (under properties in Picasa). I want to replace my SX60 with an SX50 but am concerned that we won't be able to easily tell our pictures apart. We don't want to manually rename files. Is there a way to number the files in one camera differently than the IMG_xxxx naming convention, or is there some other way to add an identifier to the metadata to distinguish our photos? Thanks for any ideas you can offer.

Math78 Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

You could put your name in the copyright field.

There is software to automatically rename the files.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Under each folder by date why don't you just create a sub folder with your name and another with her name? That way you'll never mix up who's who. By the way, you don't store your photos in Picasa. You image folders are on the hard drive of your computer. Picasa only points to their location.

blackest Loc: Ireland

if you install exiftool you should see that each camera has a unique serial number. I don't know if picasa will let you tag photos on import or if the sx50 allows you to change the filename prefix. some cameras have an editable copyright field. or even select timezones. hopefully canon will have something you can use.

kseawel

That's a great idea. I read about entering copyright info in the manual, but it wasn't clear to me if it would appear under properties. I just did a test and found that a new "artist" field was added to the properties. So this would be a way to solve my problem. The only thing I'm not wild about is that I have to scroll down quite a bit to find this field. If it was on the first page of the properties listing (like file name or camera model), I would immediately know whether the photo was mine or not.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Can you rename the file naming system to include your initials (e.g., change IMG####.xxx" to VWZ####.xxx; on my Nikon they are WHC 0123.nef or drg)?

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

Why aren't you using separate folders (Sub-folders for each shooter) within each main "Date" folder if you both shoot on the same day?

Simply put the shooters initials in the folder name. Problem solved!

blackest Loc: Ireland

Maybe they actually show their photo's to other people, once the photo's are out of that folder then how do you identify them?

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

The original file location, and the exif, data cintaining the copyright information.

They each know who shot the pictures, unless they duplicated the shots originally while out shooting.

Every photographer has their own "technique or flavor" when they shoot, and this shows up in the resulting photograph.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Are you using Picasa to download the files from the cameras? If yes, you can give the folder a specific name then; see the box at bottom of import screen. They do not have to be labeled solely by date. One can be "2017-06-30 John" and the next "2017-06-30 Judy."

If you actually want the photos in the same folder as your roommate's, just ignore my comment

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Going by what it says in the manual, you could also use the in-camera numbering system (page 203 of the SX50 manual). It will take some thinking through it, but could work.
But the best idea is to include author/copyright name and keep the photos in separate sub-folders.
Or, is you have software that will do batch-processing, you could add your initials to the file names of your photos, her initials to the file names of her photos.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

That's what I suggested earlier. Everyone seems to be over complicating this. The only issue may be that the OP is not computer savvy and doesn't know how to do this, preferring Picasa to take control. That may be why she indicated the images were stored in Picasa.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

If you are using a PC with Windows operating system, a free software called Faststone Photo Resizer can quickly and easily rename an entire folder full of images (as well as do many other things in large batches).

The suggestion to append your initials to the existing file name is a good one - unless you both happen to have the same initials - and could be done very easily with Faststone!

As it stands right now, if your two cameras happen to generate file numbers that sync up, if they are using the same file numbers, you could easily over-write existing files. Your operating system should alert you to this and ask if you want to rename the new file to prevent over-writing (deletion) of the existing one.

Changing EXIF data, such as having the camera automatically embed copyright/name info WILL NOT prevent over-writing and you'll still have the same issue when viewing lists of image and need to use something to view the EXIF to tell who took which photo.

The separate folder idea is also a good one.

It's a much more complex situation than yours, but I sometimes cover events with multiple second-shooters assisting me... as many as six or eight at times. I have to combine thousands of photos from all of us into a single, sequential file... But I also need to be able to distinguish who shot what later on, so the right person gets paid. To do this I first use the separate folder method during download. Then I use a software that can view everything in all the folders at the same time, sort all the images by the exact time they were taken, and then rename them sequentially. Finally, I go back into each person's individual folder separately and append their initials to the file names. It's not a big deal and really only takes a few minutes to do.

I believe it's Windows only, but here's a link to Faststone: http://faststone.org/FSResizerDetail.htm

LessN2 Loc: Texas

Can you not set up the computer for two different users?

If not, the adding names/initials to the files/folders or changing the file naming system seems most logical.