Organising Image Files

[beethamd]

At the moment I have images all over the place. My file structure is not thought out. Does anyone use a simple directory plan that works - if you have - do you use strict file naming conventions?

I'd like to be able to have file names that are grepable (search tool) but I want to avoid contax-aria_astia_135_epson750_silverfast_20070625.jpg. Similarly, something like - Desktop/images/film/120/rangefinder/2007/january/bronica/45mm doesn't work for me either. Then I have the issue of storing raw from the DSLR, and flickr images etc etc.

If anyone has a neat way of doing it, please let me know.

[Robert Price]

neet way of cataloging images.....Hmmmm, does such a thing exist. Well for me I have files named, Family, cars, dog, Ect...

Then each main file has subfiles, If I need to recall info for the specific image, I right click then go to properties, click on it, Then the properties box will show, click on the summary tab, I usually fill out this area to describe when and where it was took, and add what ever pertinate info I deem reasonable.

[Ash]

With all my scanned negs, I have them sorted into each occasion.

So, my photo's are in their folders labeled in increments from Untitled-1...

Avebury were:
Avebury-1
Avebury-2

Leica-M2/Zeiss-Nettar shots of Laura:
Laura-leica
Laura-Zeiss


Rich's Exhbition:
Rich-exh1
Rich-exh2

You get the idea.

When it comes to random shots, like each 4x5 LF shot, I dump them all loose in the photo's folder. Each with a descriptive name.

ie,
Conley-horse - Conley RR convertible lens, test photo of a horse in a field
Conspeed1 - Conley RR lens, on Speed Graphic
Dogmar1 - Goerz Dogmar lens test shot
Lydiard1 - Lydiard, landscape shot
etc

Then for each I use 1 a/b/c for editing, sm for small (resized for web), and crop/800 for a crop or a 800x600 (often the same as sm)


With my dslr shots, I do the same, dumping all the DSC00xxx into the same folder for the set, edit them and stick 'a_sm' on the end for photoshopped, and resized for web, then when I upload them I keep them in a unique folder so filenames aren't confused.


Since all the photo's from one session/roll are in the same folder, I know that they are all tidy in one place (like the negatives in their sleeves). All the loose photo's are named independantly.

[bwillis]

by year, then possibly month and with nametags works well

[dmr]

Lately I've been doing them by month and year.

Plus, when I have CDs made at the lab, I'll often make a subdirectory of that CD's images as well. This way, using the Windows Explorer thing, you can get thumbnails of any directory when searching for something.

[Anton Bawab]

I have a main folder by year, with three subfolders (one for each camera) - I then store the images in a folder named after the date I took them (or scanned them, or got them scanned).

I depend on Picasa (free tool from Google) to assign keywords to the pictures. That makes search a bit more intelligent.