joshuafloeter Loc: Austin, Tx.

I invested a lot of time tonight organizing the leftovers, b-rolls, chop cards, erasable moments, etc. . and the drain files. Procrastination had infected my workflow and something had to be done. Taking that time to manage, prioritize the images and give them certain specific categories, really gave me a refresh. I support you all who take better care of your files than I do. Anyone, please share any techniques with us about filing, storage, external hard drives, etc. . . anything that you use to help with the efficiency of and for your workflow. SD cards, Lightroom, other post-production alternatives.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I use the computer to file and rename my images before importing them to my editing/cataloging program. I spent time to learn more about editing techniques. (Note Editing IS culling, rating, cutting, and retouching IS changing colors, cropping etc). I have read many articles about editing and I have found that improving on that aspect has greatly increased the efficiency of my "workflow" (not work, flow).

Merriam-Wetster Definition of workflow: the sequence of steps involved in moving from the beginning to the end of a working process.

joshuafloeter Loc: Austin, Tx.

I appreciate that. As you know, it was, is a play on words.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Your welcome. Words are important too. ;)

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

If you are sufficiently computer savvy, you can program your computer to automatically do file backups from a particular folder to an external hard drive.

joshuafloeter Loc: Austin, Tx.

oh wow!

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

My routine is simple.

I shoot, I develop, I dry the negs. Then I cut them in strips of 5, put them in plastic sleeves (with the date, subject, and camera/film info added) and make a contact sheet to match. Once that's done they go in a binder. (one for each year generally).

I can find any neg I've shot in the last four years very easily.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I shoot 20,000 to 30,000 images a year. I'd be lost without Lightroom. I tried Bridge for a while way back when, but I found that the database approach is best suited for me. I rename, prioritize, rate and cull on import, assign keywords, sometimes assign images to collections, etc. When I shot large format film and 35mm, my volume was not nearly what it is today, and an analog system was ok, organized by client-job-date.

It takes me seconds to find multiple files - for instance all the images I have of raptors taken in Jan, Feb Mar - 2015, 2016 and 2017.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

I recently took 5,000 shots in Costa Rica, wildlife photos. I did the same thing I always do with the shots. I download them from the card into the Lightroom application, which automatically links up the folders. I go through them quickly to see what I have and when I find really bad shots, blurry or maybe I accidentally took a shot or it's just obviously a poorly composed shot or a bad shot in some way, I mark those with an X. At the same time, if I see anything I really like I mark that with a green border. It took several sessions to get through all the shots. Then I delete, all at the same time, the photos with an X. I use the filter bar to bring up the green border photos and start to edit a photo. If there are several shots taken in the same "run" I mass edit them all to see what I've got. I choose the best shot of the bunch, edit it and mark it with 5 stars. Then I move on. I'll leave many shots not edited and do keep many shots that I shouldn't but they are all my "babies" and it's hard to get rid of them. In the end, I can pull up all 5 star photos and use those for any reason. I generally assign key words at the end of the editing of the photos. In the case of Costa Rica it was easy as they were all wildlife and all Costa Rica.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

ASAP after an event, I import the pictures into Lightroom. I use a date structure, so the pictures automatically go into dated folders. (After import, I rename the folder to add the event after the date). I let LR rename the photos, add a keyword that applies to all the files, add a develop preset & copyright and make a 2nd copy to my external drive. I can also have LR put them in a Collection on import.

Then I hit F on the keyboard and put cap lock on to go through the images. 1 for keepers, x for rejects. With cap lock on, LR automatically advances to the next picture as soon as you “score” it.

When that is done, I get rid of the rejects and do one more pass & upgrade the best to a 2. I do minor edits on them, pick out my favorites and give them 3 stars and edit the best a little further. My smart collection captures the 3 star pics and I send those to LR mobile. All the 2’s are exported as JPG to put in Shutterfly for the family. All the photos I want to scrapbook or put in a photo book are “picked” or given a color. I have a smart folder in SmugMug that captures all the picks under Publisher. I let them print my photos mostly.

Then I do a face recognition and add any additional keywords I want. My work is done in LR, so I close it and backup, of course. My backup folder is in Dropbox and my catalog is on an external drive, along with my pictures.

The last thing I do is copy the new folders to a NAS external drive setup that makes two copies and Time machine makes copies of that. I used to save the finished pictures as JPG’s in a folder on my HD, but I don’t anymore.

Lastly, I format the cards in camera, clean the lens , check my settings, and I’m ready for the next event. With 33 grandchildren, there is ALWAYS an event!

ggenova64

Create an Organizational Chart. For Example: a Folder called Vacation. Than Label them California, Main, Florida for example. All photos from Florida go into the Florida Folder and then within that Folder create another Folder called Key West. Put all Photos from Key West in that Folder. etc......

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I press the button.
I take out the card and put it into the computer.
My first stage software takes the files, gives them a good name, and stores them in a good spot on the computer disk.
After any required postprocessing, I archive the files in 3 places (in addition to the computer).
The files (hopefully) sit there forever. I know where they are.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Punctuation is important, too. Punctuation can save lives. There's a huge difference between:
Let's eat, Grandma.
and
Let's eat Grandma.
--Bob

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

What's that dragging along behind?
What's that dragging? A long behind?

cmoroney Loc: Pasadena, California

What's the difference between "Feeling you're nuts" and "Feeling your nuts"?