Documenting your shots...

[Luddite Frank]

.... where does one draw the line ?

It seems that one can quickly descend into a downward spiral of OCD mania when trying to record pertinent info on the shots contained on a given roll of film .

I have been carrying a little spiral-bound flip-notepad, and logging exposure number, lens & shutter settings, ASA/ISO, film type, camera body & number, lens & s/n, subject-to-camera distance, filters / hoods, etc.

Part of this is to track performance of certain equipment, and part is to see what works & what does not in terms of exposure.


I came to this question from the "other end", while trying to design a "fill-in-the-blank" label to go on the back of each "proof" (4x6 in for 35mm)print...

It seemed that I quickly exceeded the spatial limitations of a 2" x 4 " Avery self-adhesive label.

Ultimately, I'd like to find / develop a system for documenting & filing/ archiving each shot...

Any recommended reading, or is there a "universal" system (like the Dewey Decimal Library catalogue system ) ?

Thanks for your guidance....

Luddite Frank

[bmattock]

I used to do it, but I don't bother anymore. I do carry a moleskine reporter with me, and business cards with my Flickr home on it for people whose photos I take who ask if they can get a copy.

But I do shoot a lot more digital these days. With that, most of the data is recorded already (except when I use manual focus lenses). I do carry a small GPS data logger when I go out shooting, and I use a few perl scripts and such to merge that with my shots and embed the data in Exif before upload to Flickr, which places it on the map for me. So I'm kind of still that way, but with digital.

[kshapero]

I must admit, I am using my Nikon D200 more and more with manual lenses because it also records all the EXIF info like AF does. I also hand my flickr card to people I shot.

[Al Kaplan]

I make notes of who, what, where, why, and when on the back of the processing envelope with color film. It goes on the back of black and white contact sheets. I have a LOT of negatives and contact sheets.

Once you get past the learning stage all the tech details are sort of useless. Twenty-five or thirty years after you've sold both the 20mm Zeiss Flektagon and the 20mm Vivitar does it still matter? Today's Tri-X is not the same film that it was years ago. Sometimes peoples' names are useful, like when you get an email from some chick who googled your name and was wondering if just maybe you still have the negatives from Cape Cod in 1972? You look through your files and print up some pix of this hot lookin' babe, arrange to meet up with her (she told you that she was divorced and her youngest was about to graduate from college), drive to the Denneys in the next town and buy lunch for a 240 pound grandmother with grey roots. Throw the dang negs in a shoe box and write the year on it with a Sharpy.