How Do you organize your photos ? help
Mar 29, 2012 04:52:35 #
I sell photos at a gallery regularly, and need to replace them frequently and use similar subjects. Filing by date is just an organized way of storing chaos. You must use some kind of subject reference. A title for a picture that refers to content helps. If sell a picture of Thames St. and I want to find the file, to print a replacement the date is no help, except as an indicator after the title so that I know it is the latest version, as I go back an rework a photo over the years as I decide to mute a color hear, dodge a tone there, increase contrast, etc. . I must go to file which names the category, which may be Fells Point, which describes the subject matter. If it is a flower photo, I go to my Flowers folder and then to Sherwood Gardens and then the title of the particular piece which is usually descriptive. I have a whole library on my Mac which automatically did year and date, and it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I learned my lesson, went back and made category titles for each group during a particular shoot. "Appalachian Trip" , "Frozen Chesapeake" etc.
Dback4430 wrote:
I use aperture 3 , i am trying to find simple organization tree. what do you do ?
Mar 29, 2012 08:12:41 #
Dback4430 wrote:
Thank you all , I will spend some time using a combination of a few of them .
Here's a public link to a few albums I have uploaded there......
it will be an example of how I setup my folders by giving them names relevant to what is included there....
everyone is welcome to view these photos, as I noted, it is a public website....
http://community.webshots.com/user/teaberryeagle?vhost=community
Mar 29, 2012 08:37:27 #
I went the route of a full digital asset management program - iMatch for the PC. It's a pain in the butt to spend the time keywording all your images, but the longer you put off the job, the worse it gets. Every image is tagged with location, who is in the image, any event (weddings, birthdays, holidays.. etc) associated with the image, subject and any other specifics that aid in defining that specific image.
The program lets me find any specific image in less than a minute or two without wondering "Was that photo taken at Christmas 2001 or 2003?" and then having to scan a bunch of images.
The older I get and the more forgetful, the more useful the database becomes!
The program lets me find any specific image in less than a minute or two without wondering "Was that photo taken at Christmas 2001 or 2003?" and then having to scan a bunch of images.
The older I get and the more forgetful, the more useful the database becomes!
Mar 29, 2012 09:34:11 #
Croce
Loc: Earth
georgevedwards wrote:
I sell photos at a gallery regularly, and need to ... (show quote)
Thanks George, you did a far better job than I of explaining this method of indexing. It is the exact method I use and it has served me well. Thanks again for your description.
Mar 29, 2012 15:18:21 #
Hear hear! We all probably need to adhere to this logical philosophy. I sure need to!
GC likes NIKON wrote:
I sure need to do this !!!!
nikon_jon wrote:
To reduce volume I have learned to edit myself without mercy. It took me a while, but I learned that my photos are not sacred icons nor national treasures, so I eliminate anything that is redundant or that I am unhappy with, whether it be technical or esthetic. There are, of course, some exceptions. For instance,the pic didn't turn out like I wanted, but there is no way I can go back and do it again.
I sure need to do this !!!!
Mar 29, 2012 15:27:46 #
Croce,
Elaborate? Sure. LR does not save images until you specifically tell it to. But it can save all of your edits and image tweaking as separate database files associated with the image(s) you are working on. When you open that image, all of these various edits are available to you. You can tweak them further, save them as a tools set to apply the same adjustments to another image, etc. LR calls these "virtual images" which is a tad misleading technically, but it conveys the concept. This is very powerful stuff that is easy to use with no risk of ever altering your original image.
Furthermore, when you pop over to CS5 from any of your editing sessions, CS5 just continues the process because all of the controls / tools are a subset of what is in CS5. These two products are quite well integrated and the functionality overlap is transparent for the most part.
Elaborate? Sure. LR does not save images until you specifically tell it to. But it can save all of your edits and image tweaking as separate database files associated with the image(s) you are working on. When you open that image, all of these various edits are available to you. You can tweak them further, save them as a tools set to apply the same adjustments to another image, etc. LR calls these "virtual images" which is a tad misleading technically, but it conveys the concept. This is very powerful stuff that is easy to use with no risk of ever altering your original image.
Furthermore, when you pop over to CS5 from any of your editing sessions, CS5 just continues the process because all of the controls / tools are a subset of what is in CS5. These two products are quite well integrated and the functionality overlap is transparent for the most part.
Croce wrote:
Festina,
I use Bridge but what you wrote intrigues me:
"Lightroom can create unlimited virtual versions of any editing I do. If ever need a ready to publish image, Lightroom has a virtual copy of it in its database associated with the original never altered image. "
Can you elaborate on that?
I use Bridge but what you wrote intrigues me:
"Lightroom can create unlimited virtual versions of any editing I do. If ever need a ready to publish image, Lightroom has a virtual copy of it in its database associated with the original never altered image. "
Can you elaborate on that?
Mar 29, 2012 17:15:33 #
Croce
Loc: Earth
Festina, thanks for your reply. I have never heard that before. How would you compare what you described to working a RAW image in layers in CS5 and preserving the original file as a master with its layers intact?
Mar 29, 2012 23:45:03 #
Croce,
It is similar in concept but executed differently, and it is also more comprehensive. There are no layers to be saved (which can create a fairly large file in CS5) but rather formulas so-to-speak as to how the original image should be modified. This includes things like size of image, color profile for the printer, cropping, etc. as well as image modifications common to both LR & CS5 like color balance, saturation, sharpening, etc., etc., etc. You can have one image in sepia, one with B&W, several combinations of filters, various effects, dodging, etc., each in any physical size, profile, dpi, etc. ready to create a printable image such as a JPEG, or a dozen other file types. Once you get the database or "virtual image" concept in your head it is a lot of fun to use (and not consume MBs of storage in the process.)
It is similar in concept but executed differently, and it is also more comprehensive. There are no layers to be saved (which can create a fairly large file in CS5) but rather formulas so-to-speak as to how the original image should be modified. This includes things like size of image, color profile for the printer, cropping, etc. as well as image modifications common to both LR & CS5 like color balance, saturation, sharpening, etc., etc., etc. You can have one image in sepia, one with B&W, several combinations of filters, various effects, dodging, etc., each in any physical size, profile, dpi, etc. ready to create a printable image such as a JPEG, or a dozen other file types. Once you get the database or "virtual image" concept in your head it is a lot of fun to use (and not consume MBs of storage in the process.)
Croce wrote:
Festina, thanks for your reply. I have never heard that before. How would you compare what you described to working a RAW image in layers in CS5 and preserving the original file as a master with its layers intact?
Mar 30, 2012 08:50:00 #
Croce
Loc: Earth
It really sounds great. Are there special steps which must be taken during the work process such as the deliberate steps which are necessary when using layers or does it just happen?
You have really peaked my interest in LR4. Thanks
You have really peaked my interest in LR4. Thanks
Mar 30, 2012 09:09:53 #
Festina is 100% correct in what he is saying. For sometime I do work in LR. But for some of us that have used PS before there was CS1-5 are used to layers, and like to see and beable to change each layer. If you use CS5 correctly you do not change you org. File. Yes saving layers is a larger file which I save on external and also save as jpg. In short both ways are correct, it's a matter of which u like to work in. I like both, but CS more.
Jul 12, 2014 12:14:43 #
All very interesting. I suppose we all face the same problem.
I began using a date system several years ago. I.E.. I have a folder marked 2014 and when opened it reveals twelve folders with the names of the months. My thinking was I know Thanksgiving is in Nov, so all Thanksgiving shots would be in Nov folders.
However, many pics have no such attached holiday and I find this system almost useless when I am trying to locate a specific shot. I have yet to find a really good system that allows me to put my fingers on a certain picture quick and easy. Thus, I am here, trying to learn from others.
Many good ideas.
I began using a date system several years ago. I.E.. I have a folder marked 2014 and when opened it reveals twelve folders with the names of the months. My thinking was I know Thanksgiving is in Nov, so all Thanksgiving shots would be in Nov folders.
However, many pics have no such attached holiday and I find this system almost useless when I am trying to locate a specific shot. I have yet to find a really good system that allows me to put my fingers on a certain picture quick and easy. Thus, I am here, trying to learn from others.
Many good ideas.
Jul 13, 2014 16:57:30 #
my digital photos only go back to 2002. I have locations on my hard drive marked personal photos 1,2,etc.. in each I have folders for each shooting session. no problem for any photo editor.
Jul 13, 2014 19:46:38 #
Organizing by date may not be a perfect system, but it is certainly better than not organizing at all. If I didn't organize my image files by date, I'd have a hard time finding anything.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.