Efficient workflow and file managing?

ChrisMClark

ChrisMClark

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Chris
Edit My Images
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I'm a slob, I'll be the first to admit it, and this is evident if you look at my hard-drive. I have 1 hard-drive deidicated to just photography, but it's a mess. So I'm interested in how others organise their digital photos once they're off the card and on the drive. I'm also keen to hear what is considered a good and efficient workflow routine, from organising a shoot to the final results.

I've got no idea, I am a newbie! :shrug:

I don't even know what TOG means!
 
As a die-hard film user and relative newbie to digital, I've organised my pics along the lines of films...

I use CD-Rs as my primary form of storage. One CD-R holds around 50-60 RAW pics. I store each CD in a lever arch folder, together with a "contact sheet" of all the pics on it.

I number the CD-Rs sequentially. This fits in well with my strategy of numbering each roll of film I shot. I got up to about #170 before I went over to digital - I was never the most prolific photographer - I shot film no. 1 when I was about 15!!

For convenience and an extra backup, I also copy the files on each CD-R on to an external hard disk (Maxtor 1tb), so I'm not constantly swapping CDs around when I want to view my old pics. When I get around to getting a slide/negative scanner, I'll add my scanned negs/slides on to the hard disk.

I thought long and hard about how to organise my pics. When you're creating hundreds of files, you need to have some sort of system in place, or things get out of control pretty quickly :nuts:

A.
 
Anorakus said:
When you're creating hundreds of files, you need to have some sort of system in place, or things get out of control pretty quickly :nuts:
Click to expand...

Tell me about it! I've done about 15 sets and I'm already pulling my hair out trying to find what I'm looking for, especially when you've got the originals, then the final copies of them after editing, it's a nightmare :bang:

So what does tog mean?
 
What software are you using? It's good to have some sort of DAM (digital asset management) software to help you keep track. Lightroom works well for me. I import files from each shoot into a separate folder, and then track them within my overall catalogue by keywords.

Tog is short for photographer
 
I use Adobe Bridge, which is part of Photoshop.

I've tried Lightroom, but I find it confusing and difficult to use. IMO Bridge is much more straightforward.

A.
 
Lightroom is ideal if you have a large number of images, if you have (relativly) few then Bridge is probably better.

What you need to try and do is develop a system that helps you find the images you need. Simple numbering probably wont help. Try organising into year, and them the name of the shoot. You could also look at renaming the images within the shoot to help. Add keywords to help find images of a general type. Try and keep it simple, maybe upto a couple of dozen keywords will probably be sufficient.

If this doesn't help you then you may find a more sophisticated approach ( and more costly) may be needed.

Hope this helps
 
Sorry to bring this in to the limelight again, but I wanted to ask the question too!

I feel I'm a bit awkward in my workflow... which is currently:

1) Download RAW/JPEG files to Windows Explorer file 'Raw photography'
2) Review photos, move unwanted ones to a 'disregarded' folder
3) Work on photos (the RAW or JPEG file depending on how much work it wants) I want to keep and put them in to folders for PSD, High Res and Low Res JPEG files
4) Move original picture to an 'untouched' photos file

I just feel that this is fairly cumbersome - does anyone have any better suggestions? Would bridge help me here (I've not really investigated it as yet)
 
I take 95% of my images in RAW, every image therefore requires processesing. That, together with the need to categorise images, is why I bought lightroom. Quite pricey but very useful piece of software.

My workflow without it was something like:

1) Download RAW/JPEG files to Windows Explorer, file:
my photos/year/quarter/date + description of shoot/Raw
2) Review photos in your chosen RAW converter
3) move unwanted ones to /bin (in same parent folder)
3) Work on photos, save into /JPG or /psd depending on how I have saved it

After this I am still left with a categorisation issue.

Lightroom saves all this hassle: download CF card through LR into folder - my photos/year/quarter (LR automatically appends achosen text description to file name)
Categorise in LR
Rough selection of keepers in LR
Batch adjust if required in LR
All this without having to touch a single file .....
 
Hi there..

Here is my couple of pence worth...

I use aperture and CS3 for my workflow and image management. Machine and drive set up is this.

Imac
500gig Raw Archive Drive
500gig Aperture Library Drive
500gig Aperture Digital Vault Drive.

First Step is to download card onto the RAW Archive drive which is set up as Year/Month and a folder for special events or paying shoots.

Then the images are imported from that location in to a managed aperture library which copy the RAWs to the Aperture library drive.

With in Aperture the images are reviewed and non picks discarded.

At this point I would turn on the Digital Vault drive and Backup (I only do this about once a week, this mirror the aperture library)

From this point on I can carryout any RAW adjustments from within aperture and if additional PP is required I then edit with CS3 but launched from within Aperture, once this is done I close the file and it is automatically added to the aperture library.

So from within aperture I can manage my raw files PSD's and any other file formats. Aperture Keeps my original RAW unedited and produces versions for all my edits.

I find this the easiest way to work, this same process can be achieved in Lightroom apart from the Digital Vault.

Nigel
 
Lightroom (now v2.0) is my weapon of choice in the fight to organise my photos.

However, don't forget about backups... I use an external USB hard disk and a wonderful FREE program called AllwaySync to do an incremental backup of my photos after each shoot...

http://allwaysync.com/
 
I use Lightroom 2 as well, all my images and the Lightroom catalog are stored on an external 500 GB USB hard drive. When that gets full I'll just add another one. I can highly recommend Lightroom for keeping track and for some image development too. I also burn a copy of the image sets to DVD-R, as and when new sets are completed. I keep the DVD backups in my studio, which is a separate building from the house. You could store them at a friends house or something though.
 
I'm always slightly worried about DVD-R as a backup medium... if its critical DVD-RAM is much better and if its REALLY important, another hard disk - lets face it they are cheap enough these days!
 
at the moment i shoot in a mixture of RAW and JPEG..... I "feel" as if on the RAW files I should do something with them, i.e. touch them up a bit and spit out a JPEG at the backend... when in reality the pics ive taken there arent that great so they can just sit on my PC as DNGs and if I ever want to do something with them, I'll do it then....

.... it just doesnt feel right to me though, feel like i should be setting up some better habits from the outset!???
:thinking:
 
ChrisMClark said:
Tell me about it! I've done about 15 sets and I'm already pulling my hair out trying to find what I'm looking for, especially when you've got the originals, then the final copies of them after editing, it's a nightmare :bang:

So what does tog mean?
Click to expand...

One of the key benefits of lightroom is that it makes non-destructive changes. Means that the number of versions of an image is minimised (do not have original, edit, final print version - only have original and changes are held in the LR database).

I do have a few multiple copies of those that I want to edit further in CS2, but LR takes care of cataloguing those to. (y)
 
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