Eveline

Hi everyone - I am creating a dilema for myself. I have over 30,000 images on my computer! (I do back them up.)In the past I filed filing these images by topic. This method is getting out of control. I am thinking of changing my system this winter while I have time. How do you manage their photo libraries? How do you name or number your images? How do you tag them?

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

This seems like a once a week topic, but my take on it is
YearMonthDay Title as in 20121019 Title
There are many other variations found Searching this idea

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I begin with the folder My Pictures. Inside that I have individual folders like Garden, Animals, vacation etc. Within those folders, I have others, like for a vacation in FL, Canada, etc. I've used this system for years, and it works for me.

Eveline

I'm new to the forum. Thanks for your advice. I did a search and found lots of information. I guess I'm going in the right direction. Lots to think about.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Google search organize photographs http://goo.gl/fyjNQ

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The Adobe programs let you use labeling - trees, beach, cars, etc - so you can find what you want easily.

Steinmetz Loc: Oregon based

Your method of storing them as topics is a great method of shooting and saving. With only 30,000 pictures, I envy your position as I have over 20 TB of unedited raw pictures.
As many people as there are in photography, there are about that many ideas of how to catalogue these pictures.

Meta Data words (tags) are probably one of the best ways, providing you put the correct meta data onto each picture up front: year, month, day, title, water, land, trees, bugs, grand daughter, names of people, etc... Then you can do a global search and find many pictures of the same topic. If you do not label with meta data "key" words... there are other ways.. too.

Why do we all take pictures -- one reason is to retrieve them when we want them -- so by storing meta data words for each picture you can do a search and then the pictures do not all have to be in the same folder...

This works also...
Folders within folders etc... top down hierarchy : Time, Earth, sky, water, land, people, animals, etc...
Then these categories could have subcategories... Like People: Relatives, Friends, enemies (;=)) , work associates, Family, etc...
And then these could be broken down into sub categories,
Like Relatives: Grandparents, father, mother, son, daughter, grandchildren, etc..

Storing main folder with all subfolders in is really easy to move around or to backup archive on site and off site.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

My system is quite similar to Jerry's

TJ Loc: Austraila, Toowoomba.

what works for me is each month i make a new folder...eg,10th month 2011 and from there it's all sub folders for that month...

mainshipper Loc: Hernando, Florida

Since I got my first digital camera in 1999 I have been storing my images first by camera model, then by year, and then by shooting date. I also save every picture I take (I never delete anything) and never change the original image name. I believe that storage is cheap and inadvertantly losing a shot is something I want to avoid. My rationale for using camera model as a filing criteria is because I've had 13 different digital cameras since 1999 and felt that was a logical separator. The reason I store the originals this way is because it reduces the risk of losing something. I have around 100K mostly RAW images stored on my NAS storage unit and have that backed up on several levels. I have several friends who store their images topically and do so by renaming the originals and foldering the ones they decided to keep. It works for them but is not my technique.

If you use Lightroom you can add enough meta data to the images to enable searches for topical keys. For images that I want to do something with (like print or publish) I will create topically named folders and store them there but only as an edited copy.

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

Interesting approach. When you edit a photo, how do you change the file name so you can find the "original" if ever needed? Do you just add the word"edit" to the end of the original file name?

mainshipper Loc: Hernando, Florida

If I work on it in Lightroom it does automatically what you stated (edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments option). I also use NIK software and it also does that naming operation. When I'm done with the picture I will usually change the name to something meaningful and save it as a JPG from the edited original (usually a TIF). Even the HDR shots I create retain the names of the original RAW images.

bvargas Loc: Palm Harbor, Florida

I bring images into Bridge, Edit here only for closed eyes, blurry, bad exposures, etc. Next, under Tools, Batch Re-name, 0001 thru whatever it falls. I then put these in a folder as: 2012-10-31-Subject. Year, month, day, Subject. This way you can find it easier. Works for me. If later I Edit for exposure, color, sharpness or etc. I renumber this with the same number, with the addition of
ED on the end. Example: 2012-10-31-Zoo, Image number 0123 and then I will have the edited numbered as 0123-ED.
I hope I explained it properly.

GC likes NIKON Loc: East Greenwich, Rhode Island

[quote=jerryc41]

I basically use the same method as jerry. When i want to bring up an image, the system of dates first doesn't work because you have to know what year you took the photo.

Within Windows My Pictures I have a folder/file titled Grandkids and in that folder is: Trey 2010, Trey 2011, Trey 2012, Tom 2010 etc etc.... Also within My Pictures are folders such as: Moon Shots, Bird Pictures, Old Cars, and HDR Experiments...... Each of these might contain more specific files such as in Old Cars there might be folders named Fords, Chevy, Hot Rods, Cobras.

Sooo, bottom line is when I want a picture of a blue AC Cobra, I can easily go to My Pictures > Old Cars> Cobras and find what I want.

What if they were filed by date ?? Hmm, what year did I take those pictures of the blue Cobra and the hunt begins............

Do you see the logic of this system ???

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

I create individual files as in "My Photos 27". Under that folder then I'll do topics. When I reach about 3.8gb I'll burn to a DVD and then store that with my others in a CD folder in the closet. I keep all those files on my external hard drive for easy access and back up the file I'm working on, on my second external just for safety because the file isn't burned just yet.

When I do burn then I'll remove the back up from the second external and start on the next file, in this case, 28. It works for me.