Digital Photos Are Easier to Organize Than Prints
Here’s a post by pro photographer T.J. Dinsmoor offering some tips on getting organized.
Organizing Your Digital Photos
Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Fri, Nov 13, 2009 @ 10:00 AM
Is your computer full of digital images scattered in different folders?
Not the most exciting subject, but there is nothing exciting about stressing over images you cannot find because they are saved in different locations.
Here are some suggested practices Apollo recommends following:
1. Delete your blurry images in your camera. They will not miraculously become focused just because they are on your computer. If you have enough juice in your camera battery, scroll through your images during some down time in a shoot and clean up your memory card.
Also, if your uploading program allows you to manually select which images you want to upload to your computer, delete any unwanted images. This will also help the time it takes to upload from your camera to your computer.
2. Take the time to upload your images after every shoot. Then erase the images from your card. By doing this continually not only will you be ready for your next shoot, you will get in the habit of properly organizing your images.
3. Select a folder that you will be saving your images to and always upload them to the same spot. If you have a Photos folder on your computer use it. Or create a different folder and place it on your desktop so you will always know where your images are.
Don’t forget to backup your images as soon as they are on your computer. That way if there is an error, you will still have the original image.
4. Come up with a filing system that you will stick with. Different people have different preferences on how they like to file their photos. Many people create subfolders and title them the year the photos were taken, then break it down further into months within the year.
If you are scanning photos and are unsure of the year the images were taken, we suggest creating a separate folder and title it “Scanned Photos.” Then break it down into subjects such as vacations, family, pets, etc.
5. Be as descriptive as possible when naming your photos. Instead of naming photos of your pet as Rover_1, Rover_2, etc. Be very descriptive such as Rover Sleeping, Rover Eating, etc. This will help you search through your images with ease.
6. Create a folder for edited photos. If you convert your images to black and white, create a folder and title it accordingly.
The most important thing is to stay on top of organizing your images. It takes a long time, but it can take just as long to search for an image if you do not organize properly. There are many photo organizing products available for free. Things to look for when searching for photo organizing software is editing functions such as rotation and cropping, ability to view thumbnails, batch naming, and search key words. Some may even add the dates and what camera settings you had.