Organising your files and folders - how do you do it?

keeps21

keeps21

Messages
81
Name
Stephen
Edit My Images
Yes
Hey Guys

I'm new to photography and was just wondering how you organise your files and photos...

Do you follow any naming conventions etc to help you find files easily and if so what are they.

Cheers. :)
 
Everybody is different- this is my "style".

Take pictures, lots of pictures.
Download onto pc into folder called "pre-production"
Process the images in lightroom
Save the processed images in a folder called "post-production"
Then when I have time, sort the images into folders, eg. Christmas 2008, Winter Fair, etc etc.
 
i stick em all into one folder. then spend ages finding the one i want.
it makes it more fun :D
 
put memory card in slot, lightroom loads, import and label with foldername and file name the same "meandgirlfriendatthepark" "meandgirlfriendatthepark-1.jpg" copy and import and backup to the external drive at the same time

end of each year i'd normally drop them into a larger folder "2008" and then remove from the main computer and archive
 
My folder structure is, as an example:

-2007
-2008
-2009
.....- 01 January 300109 Brighton Tattoo Convenetion
.....- 01 January 310109 1967 Chevy Camaro
.....- 02 February 180209 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Hot Rod Meet
...............- 01 RAW
...............- 02 Unedited JPEG
...............- 03 Edited JPEG
...............- 04 Photoshop
...............- 05 Web

All stored on a raided network drive which is periodically copied to a usb drive that lives in the safe and I'm just about to make another copy to take off site (to the in laws). I'd like to use an online backup but can't justify the cost just now.
 
a heap of folders on desk top.. had a clean up recently so am only up to new folder (15)... I must get a system! :p
 
bbb said:
My folder structure is, as an example:

-2007
-2008
-2009
.....- 01 January 300109 Brighton Tattoo Convenetion
.....- 01 January 310109 1967 Chevy Camaro
.....- 02 February 180209 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Hot Rod Meet
...............- 01 RAW
...............- 02 Unedited JPEG
...............- 03 Edited JPEG
...............- 04 Photoshop
...............- 05 Web

All stored on a raided network drive which is periodically copied to a usb drive that lives in the safe and I'm just about to make another copy to take off site (to the in laws). I'd like to use an online backup but can't justify the cost just now.
Click to expand...

i desperately need to reorganise my folders and that is pretty much what i was thinking..

otherwise i have a multitude of USB drives that are sync'd and taken off site. i want to get a couple of eSATA drives for when i start using lightroom too.
 
Similar to bbb but without the subfolders for RAW, etc, and without event description in the folder name. I use metadata in Bridge instead as I find it more descriptive and is easily searchable. However, having folders for RAW, edited, developed, etc sounds like a good plan as I have all the developed photos in a completely different folder at the minute. Good idea, bbb!

George.
 
3 separate 1TB hard drives - 1 each for my business(wedding/portrait), rallyimages, and personal photography. And a 4th 1TB drive for backups of all my original files.

Business:

Wedding
...........Fred&Sarah
.........................Originals
.........................Hi-res JPEGs
.........................Lo-res JPEGs
Portrait
..........Jack&Jill
.........................Originals
.........................Hi-res JPEGs
.........................Lo-res JPEGs



Rallyimages:

Event name & Year
..................Hi-Res JPEGs
..................Lo-res JPEGs
..................(Client name)JPEGs

Personal:

Year
......Month
..............Date/Occasion
With hi & lo-res folders as above...
 
mich66 said:
a heap of folders on desk top.. had a clean up recently so am only up to new folder (15)... I must get a system! :p
Click to expand...

HEADS UP....maybe

I was told not to put files/folders on desktop but only shortcuts to same

it seems desktop files are in the system folder, and if system crashes or corrupt you can lose all your files

hopefully wrong ... need a PC boffin to jump in here !!!......:shrug:
 
i use place names and dates
my most filled up folders are
club walks
our walks
holidays by country
family shots
and a strange file called Do-Dah...which has nearly all my...'abstracts'
 
Yardbent said:
HEADS UP....maybe

I was told not to put files/folders on desktop but only shortcuts to same

it seems desktop files are in the system folder, and if system crashes or corrupt you can lose all your files

hopefully wrong ... need a PC boffin to jump in here !!!......:shrug:
Click to expand...

um no.. your windows profile can corrupt however the files are perfectly recoverable. ive seen it happen a couple of times on friends machines and have always managed to pull the info off.
 
bbb said:
My folder structure is, as an example:

-2007
-2008
-2009
.....- 01 January 300109 Brighton Tattoo Convenetion
.....- 01 January 310109 1967 Chevy Camaro
.....- 02 February 180209 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Hot Rod Meet
...............- 01 RAW
...............- 02 Unedited JPEG
...............- 03 Edited JPEG
...............- 04 Photoshop
...............- 05 Web

All stored on a raided network drive which is periodically copied to a usb drive that lives in the safe and I'm just about to make another copy to take off site (to the in laws). I'd like to use an online backup but can't justify the cost just now.
Click to expand...

Could I ask what the photoshop/web folders are for? Sorry if it is a dumb question.
 
I imagine that the Photoshop is the .psd file that he has worked on
and the web file is a 600x400 image, for posting onto his website
 
bbb said:
My folder structure is, as an example:

-2007
-2008
-2009
.....- 01 January 300109 Brighton Tattoo Convenetion
.....- 01 January 310109 1967 Chevy Camaro
.....- 02 February 180209 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Hot Rod Meet
...............- 01 RAW
...............- 02 Unedited JPEG
...............- 03 Edited JPEG
...............- 04 Photoshop
...............- 05 Web

All stored on a raided network drive which is periodically copied to a usb drive that lives in the safe and I'm just about to make another copy to take off site (to the in laws). I'd like to use an online backup but can't justify the cost just now.
Click to expand...

As we are beginning a new year soon, I decided to be more organised as well and have all my pictures in the lightroom rather than just raw...

I really like your folder structures :thumbs: Except I'll have categories like landscape, people, macro since I don't shoot everyday :thumbs:
 
RAW uploaded files in file named with event name and date.
All converted to JPG.
- Converted
-Edits
-Resized

All backed up on a disc and external hard drive.
 
this is a very sore subject for me at the mo.... i just load them onto the comp and spend ages searching through them...fine for just the kids and family etc.
but last week a mate of mine asked to take some pics of their newborn.....came home loaded them onto comp.....now its taking bloody ages to find/ delete/ process etc etc.

is there a program that can organise them for me?? i.e. into just a simple date/time taken

i have several photo programs that all seem to organise them differently!! is there an answer to my problem or will i have to sit there for days on end organising them?

p.s. i know its not good practice storeing them all in one place so i think in future i will get seperate hard drives.
 
I just place items in the correct libraries in windows 7, except for my camera stuff which I keep under C:/Nikon.
 
jamiedolittle said:
this is a very sore subject for me at the mo.... i just load them onto the comp and spend ages searching through them...fine for just the kids and family etc.
but last week a mate of mine asked to take some pics of their newborn.....came home loaded them onto comp.....now its taking bloody ages to find/ delete/ process etc etc.

is there a program that can organise them for me?? i.e. into just a simple date/time taken

i have several photo programs that all seem to organise them differently!! is there an answer to my problem or will i have to sit there for days on end organising them?

p.s. i know its not good practice storeing them all in one place so i think in future i will get seperate hard drives.
Click to expand...

Try Picasa. lt's free too. Brill for collating all your images in one place, by date.
 
I'm very similar too.

My business stuff is

Weddings 09
...Bride and Groom
....Raws
.....Processed
......Albums
........Website

So as I go through the process they shift through the folders until they hit my website :)

For personal stuff

Year
Quarter
Holiday or location

Separate hard drives and I change my external backup each year now so I have a backup for 2009 running today as I've just processed my last Dec wedding whoop!
 
Some good ideas here. I have *loads* of photos which need to be sorted in to some kind of logical folder system and with a proper backup in place. Especially since I started shooting in RAW a lot more (especially for gigs) and having edited photos, watermarked versions, ones for Flickr etc.

Also I used to store photos on my internal laptop drive, but now I have some on external drives and all over the place, plus a whole load in random 'To Sort' folders.

I think I need to make some kind of system on an external drive, sorted by dated folders with events, then folders for RAW, unedited, edited, watermarked etc. And they will exist on two external hard drives for back up.

Then, I just need to find a program to organise/display photos nicely, and try out Lightroom and Aperture.
 
When I dump my CF card or download pictures from the web or capture screenprints they go to my Downloaded folder.

Then Lightroom picks them up from there and renames the files to YYYMMDD_HHMMSS_IMAGENUMBER so that they will always sort chronologically, even when using multiple bodies and shooting high FPS. It will also move them from the Downloaded folder to the Imported folder.

I'll often do my culling and editing within the Imported folder, or create a specific folder for that set of images and move them there. I have one large folder tree for my Originals (usually raw) files and a matching folder tree for the Processed files I create from my raws.

Personal stuff is held in a hierarchy by YEAR, MONTH, EVENT. I also have a Misc folder for odds and sods or to collect things together that do not fit into a single event, like photos of my dog.

Professional work has its own folder structure for the Originals and again a duplicate folder structure for the final Processed files.

I have a temporary output folder for the JPEGS, called Jpeg Output before they get moved to their final resting place. This is subdivided by pixel dimensions - e.g. the 800 folder for images for the web, the 1920 folder for images for my HDTV and the Full Res folder for anything for print. I'll then move these files to their respective folder within the Processed folder hierarchy.

20091223_105108_LR.jpg
 
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