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How do you sort your photos?


12 years 4 months ago #174171 by jeffie5687
how do all of you sort all the pictures you take? I like to keep all of my pictures organized and with the amount of pictures ill be taking since I just got my camera i'd like to see what everyone else does.
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12 years 4 months ago #174173 by Spin the world
A lot of photographers are now starting to use adobes Lightroom program to help organise and sort their photos on their computers. It is primarily aimed at being a RAW processing and organisation program.

Outside of that myself I use a simple folder system sorted by the following:

1) Year - each year is in its own folder
2) Day/event - each day or shooting event is given its own folder - the date added to the title of the folder as well
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12 years 4 months ago #174206 by themofo
Oh man I am really bad at this. I just input the photos from the camera. So each time I transfer over I have a new folder. I really would like to organize my pictures better, but haven't got around to it.
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12 years 4 months ago #174207 by chasrich
I used the event method... Some events repeat like Christmas so they are divided further by year and special events. I'm now starting to designate their category as well on a database system (ACeeDC) like wildlife/bird or nature/sunrise... Even so you might be facing a nightmare when you top the 100,000 mark. I'm starting to archive some of my older slides and period shots. I know where they are and can get to them but they are out of the way as far as the recent and mainstream photos. Still I spend a lot of time search for the shot I KNOW I have but can't seem to locate.
“Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, I just make pictures… ” ~ Vernon Trent
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12 years 4 months ago - 12 years 4 months ago #174216 by Henry Peach

themofo wrote: Oh man I am really bad at this.


Me too! :)

I generally sort by subject and year: Landscape 2009, Live Music 2011, Family 2008, Clients 2010, etc...

Client work gets downloaded into a folder with their name. Personal work gets downloaded to a "raw 2011" folder. When I copy a memory card I put it in a sub-folder that is titled by the date I made it. As the photos are processed they get sorted into the appropriate categories, and sub-folders are titled by the date shot or event or location if I think it's something fairly unique.

I can find client work immediately, but it does sometimes take some searching to find older, personal shots. If I can remember what year I took the photo it won't take me too long to find the photo. I really should work on getting things organized in Lightroom so I could search by tags, but at this point the task seems a bit monumental. :)
mattneedham.zenfolio.com
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12 years 4 months ago #174221 by chasrich
:agree: Monumental was years ago. It keeps growing and growing and... :woohoo: :woohoo:
“Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, I just make pictures… ” ~ Vernon Trent
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12 years 4 months ago - 12 years 4 months ago #174223 by Henry Peach
I have become okay with deleting photos since going digital, and that's helped me keep it somewhat under control. Once upon a time I would never toss a pic, but I've come to the point where after a certain amount of time has passed I think I do a pretty good job sorting the pics with potential from those that are just taking up hard drive space. :)

"I find the single most valuable tool in the darkroom is my trash can - that's where most of my prints end up." - John Sexton
mattneedham.zenfolio.com
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12 years 4 months ago #174259 by steveheap
I'm the year and month sort of guy! I use Lightroom, and create a folder for 2011, then have subfolders for 2011 a January, 2011 b February, etc. The lower case letters keeps it all lined up by month. I find that I can usually remember when I took a picture and so don't have to bother with separate folders for events or locations.

I do create collections in Lightroom of my best pictures from an event or location, so I can always get back to the main location that way.

Finally, for my stock photos, I keyword and describe them in Lightroom before exporting as JPEGs for upload to the stock sites. That also means that I can search for keywords and find the right folders for any image, even if that particular one didn't get chosen for stock.

If you stick with a plan, it becomes second nature after a while.

Steve
My Stock Photo Blog
www.backyardsilver.com
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12 years 4 months ago #174289 by KCook
I'm not a pro, so this isn't a serious issue for me. I have tried various manager / organizer packages over the years. But each time quickly find I am just too durned lazy or in a hurry to play the key game. My folders are by camera, with subfolders for each day downloaded. Admittedly super dumb, but you did ask.

Still waiting for the holiday price of ACDsee Photo Manager to creep down to my level (I'm one cheap sod). It and Lightroom are about the only organizers I have not gotten to yet.

amateur
Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/
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12 years 4 months ago #174296 by geoffellis
I just use file folders... no fancy methods... but this is my layout

YYYY -> YYYY-MM-DD -> LOCATION -> CAMERA -> FILE TYPE (RAW vs JPEG)


I dont usually have trouble remember the year and approximate date for most things... but if i want i can also do a search for location. i also sort by camera as I sometimes ill take photos with 2... DSLR and P&S

since my latest p&s now does high quality video as well, which im starting to use... im still debating on whether i should store the video with my photos, or create a seperate set of directories specifically for video... :/
www.geoffellis.ca
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12 years 4 months ago #174301 by rmeyer7
I sort my folders by camera, with sub-folders for each event.
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12 years 4 months ago #174401 by icepics
I sort by subject, series, or event, place, etc. and usually put a date. Can usually find a photo, or at worst know it's in one of maybe a couple of folders. Occasionally have re-named a folder to differentiate from one that's similar as I add to folders or start new ones.

I keep the names simple, as long as I know what they mean. If I edit a photo I may save it as the same name #2 or same name crop, etc.
Sharon
Photo Comments
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12 years 4 months ago #174404 by Dori
Total chaos here! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Don't pi$$ me off, I am running out of room to store the bodies...

Resident Texasotan...
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12 years 4 months ago #174408 by orion
Mines on various dvds, no organization, apart from putting them into folders with whats on them. must try an organizer software.
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12 years 4 months ago #174576 by Master Photograffer
Lightroom 3 :thumbsup:
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