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Is the way forward, we use it at work to DL all pictures from various Canon digi’ cam’s. At home it means I can shoot LR or RAW and DL everything to a folder I date and title. Images I want to keep I open in Photoshop, retouch and save a file with single space at the beginning of the file, then add back to the iView catalogue. I can print to a PDF in Mac OS to send clients, but they are slowly getting their own iView readers. As long as I title my retouchs effectively, I can use iView to search a folder of images and catalogues. I will get into keywords eventually.
As an amateur photographer on a Mac, my digital pics all go into iPhoto. I create albums in iPhoto to organize my photos by event or category, and I include a date in the album title (ie. Camping 2004, DisneyWorld 2005). That makes it easy for me to find whatever pics I’m looking for later. I also pick out my favorites periodically and have them printed to put in a “real” photo album. I like having them in a real book where I can write captions, flip thru the book with friends, and have a physical record of our family history.
I off load to a file with a significant name. I may rename the files so that a file name is more significant than just a number.
I do an initial screening and discard DOA images. I use ACDSee for this . Subsequent editing is done in Photoshop. I tried Bridge, but it is awkward and very slow compared to ACDsEE.
I still shoot mostly film, but when I shoot digital, I use the same editing technique. If I don’t like the shot, it goes in the trash, no second guesses. My favorites stay on my hard drive, this may only be a couple of shots and the rest get backed up to DVD for storage. I catalog all of them using iView Media Pro. When I shoot film, I take my time, making sure I get the shot I want. With digital, I shoot everything and as you can guess, the number of duds from the digital shoots is extremly high.
I wonder what it will be like in the future when your exploring an antiques store and there are no photographs to be found.
The prints/images need to last. As a wedding photographer still using film (mostly black and white) I have yet to find a suitable way of providing long-lasting (100-300 years) digital images to wedding clients. Digital photographers I have spoken with haven’t really cared about and don’t really discuss longevity with their clients. They just burn them a CD, print out an ink jet book, or hand them a hard drive and move on to the next client. I find that heart breaking and unprofessional. I look forward to hearing how others have solved this problem.
I don’t consider myself a “professional photographer,” but I do use the photos I take to make money… I’m a writer and I shoot most of my own photos.
Using a Mac rather than a PC helps keep things together. I’ll start a new job folder then drag and drop photos for that job into the folder, I find this a lot easier on my Mac than on my son’s PC.
I don’t use my digital for personal snapshots, but I prefer my film camera for that. The few times I have used my digital, it HAS become an organizational problem, with photos all over the place and nothing to do with them. Using film does have its drawbacks, but I keep the prints in a shoebox for a rainy day, and save my hard drive space for work.
BG
I’m mostly a hobby photographer with occasional professional photos needed for a design project.
The tool I use for organization my digital photos is iPhoto, mainly because it’s easy to use and easily integrated with other digital apps I use.
I like prints to mail to people and put in frames or on the fridge. I don’t seem to get around to that with digital…perhaps I just haven’t gotten my brain into the technology.
Only 750 words?! I’ll do 2 reviews! First, for myself, I am an amateur who shoots (or captures from video) low res images with a Sony VX-2100 and an earlier VX-900.
I first create a sub directory off a directory called Graphics that describes the event. If it was a long event (trip) I may have used a portable hard drive that stores each memory card by date. In that case I there is a sub directory for each card.
I first sort out photos that are bad or duplicate and put them in a subdirectory called “Other”. I then process the “good” photos in Photoshop using a variety of 3rd party products.
If it was an event with friends or family members, I’ll create a sub directory for each one of them and store images they would be interested in. I either print “contact sheets” at 6 images per 8 1/2 x 11 for them or give them a CD. If it was a wedding or similar event, I print contacts for each family group to share and do individual prints on request.
I immediately start using the images as a screen saver to enjoy them and share with family members (I use Winslide). Or I may create screen savers for others (using SST).
I freely share photos with friends & family by email, do slide shows for groups off a laptop. I generally do not print pictures for myself.
I archive all photos on a remote hard drive and backup on CD’s.
Working digital has been part of my workflow since 1983 when the first mac came into existence.
On the personal side– the digital camera workflow problem added stress to hardware and network, since there are 5 daughters and 1 wife participating. I solve this problem with PhotoMechanic and windows file structure. We ingest our photos from cameras/phones in the software on one PC and then copy them to a lacie ethernet disk mini–500 gigs on our network. This makes it easy to upload photos to Walmart for processing–.12 cents a piece delivered to your doorstep, or to publish to myspace or any other website.
On the professional side i keep all the photos on my workstation/externalstorage to help find the shoot/events in the future. Most of my work is organized by contact sheet by name of event. Multiple copies of the files is a must, and DVD backup once a month is a lifesaver as well. If there is time i use keywords to keep organized. I also keep a contact sheet printed in a folder to correspond to the shoots.
dale [email protected]
After the images are shot, they are transferred from camera cards to hard drive, backed up on an external drive and burned to cd before any editing or retouching. Next comes the sort of 1000+ images. Using Photoshop’s File Browser (still in CS1), I do a quick sort of the images I like cutting it down to 200 final images for album proofs. Any retouching of images is done, prints and digital photo galleries are created and a final set of images are burned to disk to go to the client along with the album. (Trick for anyone to help a smiling subject out–have them make faces at you-relaxes the facial muscles and the subject.)
Here’s another 750 word attempt. My wife uses digital cameras that do hi-res images. Her current camera is a Nikon D70S which she used on a recent trip to Africa. She uses a portable hard drive to download memory cards which are stored by the date of the download.
She is working hard to develop a image management system and has attended several workshops and read several manuals.
Her current approach is to immediately burn a CD of each subdirectory (representing one memory card). Next she begins working thru the images for each CD by discarding poor or duplicate images (the D70S has a very effective burst mode that takes numerous shots very quickly). She uses Photoshop CS which first changes the RAW file into a PSD using a variety of control settings. She then does further processing in Photoshop if needed.
As the images are processed chronologically, she creates photo compositions on 8×11 sheets with text describing the event using Print Pilot (a simple but flexible image & text layout tool). These sheets are then put into a growing photo album.
She prints individual copies for family & friends and does some emailing of the images. For slide shows she will do a batch process on the PSD files to convert them to JPG’s. She uses current images for screen saves at home and at work to share our most recent trip.
She plans on storing the processed PSD files on another set of CD’s. Since the RAW files were orginally backed up on CD’s, the ones on her hard drive are deleted.
With digital I tend to shoot and keep more photos. I usually burn the photos to a cd from each event (i.e. birthday bash, Cmas party, etc). I then mark the jewel case and the cd with month and year and make a simple spreadsheet noting what cabinet the cd is in. Very special photos may be pulled off of multiple cd’s, burned and put in my fireproof safe or given to a family member so I’ll have a backup. Not being a professional I don’t have near as many files so it’s not very hard for me to keep track of my photos.
As a commercial photographer for a leading toy manufacturer I shoot evey day and I have GIGS of digital images stored here, there, and every where!! Oh I have bought programs like Extensis Portfilio and Filemaker Pro…all well and good, but I figure when you havent been organized for the last 6 years…there is no saving you now!
Derrick Gardner
[email protected]
My situation is a bit different, but I thought I might respond, regardless. I am not a digital photographer, I still use film, when I shoot. However, I do have many historic and vintage images in my collection. I am slowly scanning them at high-res (600-1200 dpi) and storing them on CDs or DVDs by negative number or description. I then use Disc Tracker to index the disc, and build a data base, which allows for easy searching. I have also taken to putting data and keywords with the files under Photoshop. This will allow searching based on criteria or keywords.
When ever I go to using a digital camera, it will be filed in much the same manner, negative number based on date, keywords in the files and recorded to disc.
Being a historian and author, I am concerned for the future of images in general, due to the unpredicitibility of storage media, and the general low resolution of files shot as snapshots. I wonder where all the heritage photos from 2005 will be in 2025 or later, on a media we can no longer read?
Ken Miller
Salem VA
For me personally, all are organized in Adobe Photoshop Album, will later archive on DVD. I throw out any that I really don’t like. Any that I choose to share I upload to Flickr. Although not a pro I take a LOT of pictures. I decided to purchase the “pro” upgrade on Flickr just so I can share a lot more. I’m picky about how they look when printed and online digital printing choices seem inconsistent at best and not worth the trouble, so got a nice 8 color printer for home when I decide to print. I’ve thought about having books made, but never have. I would like a larger format printer so I can print and frame larger images. I guess the large majority end up in a digital shoe box, though :0)
I am a retired pro wedding & Portrait photographer. I never did a wedding without consulting with my client about the photos so they and I both knew what we were doing. I did not permit amatuers to take pictures until I had finished a pose and then gave them only a short time limit to keep this under control. I kept all the negaties and the bride could order reprints at any time by giving me the number on the back of the print, A definite plan of attack is extremely important in wedding photography, but you also have to be aware of the inevitable requests and circumstances.
I use a Canon 4MP Elph (now dated). I use the latest version of iPhoto but I’ve never tried Apple’s prints, though I should. My process breaks down a little because I don’t name anything. However, since it’s all by date the photo was taken, I can find whatever I want. I do have some albums on the side, mainly for my daughter so I can play the slide show if she wants. The other part of my flow that does really fall down is getting them printed. I never know what the best file size is, the format, should I adjust the levels in photoshop, etc.? Consequently, I have very few prints. My next Palm Pilot though will be in color and I’m sure my photos will make it to that. My iPod photo screen is too damn small.
I was relating a “for instance” about my career to my brother last weekend. I tried to explain that at the beginning of my career, we hired models and professional photographers and selected locations to shoot beautiful photos. Now, I just do a web search in a stock photography site to locate something fitting. Everyone is a photographer now. Everyone is a designer now. But, it all doesn’ t look that great, because not everyone has an eye. Alot of what gets shot still looks bad. There will be a lot of drunken blurry shots, a lot of shots at arms length of the photographer, and the best shot was the first one taken! They will get edited down to a couple for printing and the rest burned on CD’s that will sit on shelves. I just went through this entire sequence with my senior citizen aged parents and their trip to Italy with my Nikon digital. When they returned, I had to burn 10 CD’s to send to relatives they traveled with, and lead them by the nose with their card (film to them!) to the nearest drug store for old fashioned paper photos to be put in a photo album for viewing with company over for dinner. I would have printed them out for them, but my ink and paper costs far outweigh the 20 cents a print they paid. All this stuff is cool to do yourself now, so no one thinks they need a designer anymore. Look around at some of the homemade business cards and bad advertising. What has happened to our profession taken over by amateurs? What can we expect out of future photography and graphic design careers? Are we to become extinct like typographers did 20 years ago?
I am an amateur. I usually manage to get my digital images stored onto CD-R but I have been slow about getting a list of what’s stored on what disk. I have Adobe Photoshop Album 2 but I don’t seem to find the time to use it.
Good and timely article. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. The only way to be sure your digital files will make it into the future is to duplicate them in multiple different physical locations and keep updating to new media as it becomes available. This is possibly too big a hassle for the average user, and we are potentially going to lose a whole generation of images.
It’s a pity that I can still print family negatives from 50+ years ago yet cannot read the media my first digital images were on a couple years ago.
As for organizing software, the state of things today is that the easy to use software isn’t powerful, and the powerful software isn’t easy to use.
As an aside, at that wedding, probably nobody was shooting like Annie Leibovitz or Richard Avedon. Those artists took their time, cared about lighting, compostion, and style. They took a lot fewer images and had a lot more keepers.
Thank you for your great newsletter and for opening up this discussion.
With my personal digital photos, I am tweaking immediately in Photoshop and downloading to shutterfly.com. I set up individual albums and immediately send out emails to those family & friends who may want their own copies. This has worked out great. Also, my success rate for sending actual prints to family has increased greatly. I just pick what I want and have it sent straight from shutterfly. It may cost a little more, but in the long run, it’s cheaper, and more effective because the photos don’t sit on my kitchen table for months, and family actually gets to enjoy them. As for our company’s photo archive, we’re still trying to corral that monster. Our IS department is continually griping about the amount of space we’re starting to use. A dedicated server for photo archival is probably in our near future. Our current system though is organized by subject matter in file folders, and whatever is needed can easily be found by anybody in our company who has access to the folders.
To keep my digital photos alive I have been burning DVDs of them along with the corresponding video. In my “shoebox” are the DVDs with topical information on the jackets. When I want to see the memories of my vacation to the moon, I just take it out and voila, I have the video followed by a cool slide show of my escapades. It works… (I still do have lots of digital pics not on DVD though)
After each photo session, I put the photos in a folder labeled with the event and year (eg 2005 Christmas, with the year first to make it easier to locate). I rename each of the photos with the subject(s) abbreviated names and the date the photo was taken (eg BillTomHarry050505). There are often multiples of the same subject(s) where I add a number in parentheses between the subject names and the date. All of this allows me to find any photo within 2-10 with the same name taken on the same date. When I have enough photos in enough folders, I write them to CD, with a CD label with the information that it’s photos and the date span. This doesn’t have any downfalls for me unless I get too busy to do it until I have a load of photos.
I downoad my pix via a card reader. Each image gets a number then a short title. That way I can find it one of two ways. Then it goes into a folder for the shoot. I keep the images unedited until I need them. Then I color correct, edit, etc. before printing. Good topic. It would be nice to see how others do this.
Good luck – Zenon
The system I use is loosley based on dates. Normally on any given day I’ll only shoot one subject. So, I start by making a working folder with the date (english style so it sorts in windows). Same with naming files, normally based on date. Then, I copy in the JPGs from the camera. If I’m sending them to a client I’ll convert to TIF and clean the images, saving the JPGs untouched like negatives in a separate folder under the main one. Finally, if I do any compositing I make a second folder and store the edited files in there. This way the entire shoot is under one folder. For clients, final delivery normally consists of full resolution TIF files, and a resized version of JPGs for office documents/web (normally 80% the original).
It appears that many places are stuggling with the idea on how to handle digital photos, whether they are professional or not. We, (hobbie magazine publisher) have learned that we need to come up with a standard workflow for digital photo contributions soon. At this time, it is total chaos and by the time the photo reaches the page, nobody knows who or what has been done to it, Sharpened, color corrected, etc. Sometimes twice, once by the Editor in a cheap software package and then once by the artist who has no idea that it was already processed. Having been a professional photographer in the good old days, the workflow really shouldn’t change that much. The photographer should be disciplined enough to only submit the very best, the Editor should then ONLY select the photos needed for the article, then and only then should it be sent through a stadardized workflow. Why process it all, when only one or two will be used. The workflow should be the same as the old days. The Editor will look at a contact sheet and select the photo that will in placed in the article and then those would be sent to the darkroom for printing. In the darkroom is where all the magic takes place, some of the magic would be directed by the Editor, but also by the discession of the individual that is doing the printing. This individual is a trained professional (we hope)that will know the likes and dislikes of that particular Editor. Simple, huh? Not today. Cheap software has made everybody an expert at it. Editor and alike need to learn to leave it up to the trained professionals to process todays digital images.
I have a 2 meg point-and-shoot and I rarely print pictures from it. I’m drowning in mediocre (or worse) pictures decriptively called img3007.jpg and they will probably die with my hard drives. In contrast, I will probably be able to give the prints and negs I take with my EOS 1n to my grandkids. I also blow up and print lots of these pics.
This is the main reason I plan to put off going completetly digital as long as I possibly can.
I usually store my digital photos in a folder on my computer. Then I upload them to an online printing web site. I only order some of the prints and keep them in a photo album. I have saved a lot of money on processing by only printing my favorite photos.
This is a system I teach in classes and try to follow myself. It is not necessrily the best for professional photographers but certainly is worthwhile for amateurs.
It is based on the familiar Who, What, Where and When principle. It starts with a logical set of sub folders under My Pictures; such as My Family, My wife’s family, Our Family, a folder named for each child when they leave home and marry, Vacations, Hobbies, etc.
Then I suggest that file naming follow the Who, What etc. principle and not be afraid to use long file names and not allow one self to be restricted by the old 8 character DOS limitation. When naming images of people, one should use the last name, first name convention so the files will be self alphabatized within the folders.
I personally find using Key words offered by some systems burdensome. If my principle is followed, one can always search based on the file name, even, if accidentally mis filed.
Now that I am using a digital camera, I also save the numeric file number from the camera as the last item in the file name, especially, if I have high resolution images that I might want to work into different formats, enhancing etc. Of course, I save the original camera file in a separate down load file. I can resize this for E-mail or retrieve it by number later for further editing.
Last of all, backup frequently especially the original camera image. I got tired of burning to CDs and trying to organize them so I could find them so I now use an external hard drive for backup.
Bob McColley
Camera Guild of Sun City, AZ
From organizing mp3s for quite awhile, I started using descriptive folder names when I download the pictures from my camera. I also do this pretty regularly (plus I only have 256mb card) so that you don’t end up with multiple events, and wondering how to name the folder. If there are random pictures mixed in with an event, I name the folder “+ misc” so I know there’s other pictures unrelated to the folder topic. I can then go back, get the random pics and put them in a “Random” folder, usually with a dated subfolder, “March 2005”. It’s really easy to find pics this way – my 8 year old has no problem finding specific birthdays or holidays. Google’s Picasa makes it that much easier.
1. Take photo
2. D/L Photo into appropriate project file
3. Create a zip backup of file and offload onto a CD or DVD
4. Select photos to be used. Rename files with descriptions and associations to make search easier.
5. Edit in Photoshop.
6. Create files in multiple formats for different users/purposes.
7. Zip and backup all user files.
Digital cameras are great, as long as you have a method to organize your shots and either have prints made or have your own printer that produces quality results. I use my digital camera for both personal and professional prints. The greatest feature, I believe digital cameras offer is instant review of your shot and quick turn-around time for prints (especially if you have a photo printer, as I do.)
The disadvantage is just what the article expressed. Instead of 35mm prints sitting in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again, digital shots may end up never getting off the card where they were first stored or downloaded to a mystery file on the computer.
I find that if I review the card once it is full, download the shots I want to my computer, and then burn a CD, label and file it in my CD photo album, I always have a good record for future reference. Any shots I want to share with others, I can e-mail or make prints right off my computer, while the shared event is still fresh in everyone’s mind. With this method, I find I enjoy taking pictures more and have a greater opportunity to share the shots with others, as they do with me. If there is a special shot I want to keep, I can get a 5×7 or larger online, saving time and money that a reprint would have created with my 35mm.
It’s advisable to have two cards, so when one is full and ready to download, the second empty card can be put in the camera ready for the next pictorial adventure.
Needless to say, modern technology is great. So, keep smiling and get ready for your next shot!
The basic workflow for me is straightforward: shoot/scan, download, backup, categorize, backup again. I process images in PhotoShop as I need them for particular purposes: Web gallery, digital presentation, print, etc. For me it’s mostly-but not exclusively-digital presentation. The problems are these: (1) too many images, (2) too many categories, and (3) too ambiguous categories.
I’m a college teacher, and I own a *lot* of books. Moving from graduate school to what turned out to be my permanent job, I loaded up box after box with books. I was proud of myself for planning ahead and for labeling the boxes so that distributing and shelving them at the destination would be easier. Unfortunately, it turned out that I had labeled 75%-80% of the boxes “miscellaneous.” Not much help! Pride goeth before the fall.
I use Extensis Portfolio and, more casually, iPhoto for organizing my images. That I can assign a variety of keywords is good, meaning that I’m not bound by preassigned categories-like “miscellaneous.” Any given image can be accessed via multiple keywords. The problem? Obviously, assigning the keywords!
Acquiring the images is easy. Processing and employing the images is easy. The problem lies in between. From one end, making the image accessible. From the other, accessing the image. That’s where I feel frustrated.
-Wayne
My system’s pretty simple.
I transfer my most recent shots to iPhoto, arrange and edit, export as a slide show (with accompanying music) for family/friends distribution.
I monitor file sizes until I reach the DVD threshold, and then transfer (burn) all slideshows/movies/original raw photo files, label, take a nap, done.
Jim
I display my photos on my website. My website uses Gallery to display my photos and it runs on same computer that I use for my workflow. My website is https://tricarb.com/ and it details my workflow.
hi there. In response to your request for feedback about what we do with our digital photos, I like to put mine on a DVD, along with whatever video I’ve shot. Then, I can look at the photos on the TV when I want to share them with friends (or take them to a friend’s house). Its a little bit more effort, but its better than making everyone crowd around your computer screen. And its a portable and archival solution.
I have used a number of programs to manage my photos, most of which cost something (for example, Paint Shop Photo Album and ArcSoft Photo Album), but the best program I’ve ever used is FREE: Google’s Picasa 2. It automatically organized all of the pictures on my hard disk into neat folders, lets me do minor editing (although I don’t use it for this since I have Photoshop), view slide shows, and e-mail pictures quickly. Some reviewers have complained that it slows down your computer, but I disagree — the only time it has an impact on my computer speed is when it actively is looking for photos, and I can control when it does that, so it’s not a problem. It’s a great program!
As an amateur photographer, in the old days, my method was to carry lots of rolls of film, then get double prints. I would share one set with family or friends and keep the other. If I took pics at a wedding or shower or birthday, I might include the negs when I gave the extra set of prints. This was always welcome as it gave a less expensive alternative to ordering from a pro photographer.
Now that I have my Nikon D70, I take even more shots since I am not limited by film. The turnaround is not as quick though. I have to find time to sort through the pics on my hard drive, and I cannot resist the temptation to crop and fix them up in Photoshop, another time eater.
My workflow is to rename the photos so that they are not just numbers (important when searching for photos later on the drive) and add metadata to the file so I can search by keyword etc. later.
When you have a good digital camera you take thousands of photos and this step is crucial, even if it is a little bothersome to remember to do it.
I edit the best photos. I rename them (keeping the original in case I want it later) and do a few standard Photoshop moves such as crop; adjust levels; run highlight/shadow filter; remove distracting elements; and often touch up people so they look a little better.
I order prints from Costco for ones I want to keep or give. Sometimes I downsize the final version and send as a jpeg. People love this because they can forward it all over. If someone wants the larger file I will give them that as well.
I was a hold out for a long time because I was waiting for a higher end digital that I could afford. I used my film camera mostly for personal use. What made me finally take the digital plunge was I found lots people turning in really bad digital pics for me to use in my work as a freelance graphic designer. Either they used a low end digital camera so the quality was low, or else they had limited photographic knowledge so even if the camera was okay the pic was just bad. You would be amazed at the %$#@ people with a camera will give a designer. I figured if I had a decent camera I could offer to take pics for them. And that has worked out pretty well.
My goal is to back up every photo on a secondary drive or cd.
My personal photos are cropped and color corrected in Photoshop. I put each events photos in a folder and upload them to my .Mac account.
Once they’re uploaded I go to .Mac’s Homepage and make a web page with the thumbnails and add comments/captions there. Once I’m done with that event’s photos, the service gives me the option of announcing, via email, the web page that was created.
I find that this has resulted in many more people viewing my pictures. Also my pictures are safe(r) on a remote computer somewhere.
Originally I started downloading photos and storing them in folders with just dates. Not very efficient. Now I have one folder for the year which contains many folders with date and descriptor (i.e. 8_09_2005Graduation). When I use the photo for an article I name it, but still leave the last four digits (i.e. Drew_8888) this way I should be able to find the original. I did purchase Portfolio 7.0 to help with the organization, but have not taken the time to figure it out. I like the simplicity of iPhoto – dump the photos in a folder to easily review and/or email them. I’ve tried the browser in Photoshop and now the bridge in Photoshop CS. I find them slow to load the files for viewing which may be a computer issue, not necessarily the program. Originally I started burning CDs for backup and then purchased an external harddrive…need to keep photos in more than one place. Well, now I went and purchased a second external 300 gb drive. I have also tried using DVDs, maybe the two-sided DVDs will be better!! The best thing to do is to start off right and not have to try and catch up!
Your article brings up a point I have been trying to make for years: The era of digital media makes storing vast numbers of pictures (or songs, or movies, etc.) so simple that many people never discard anything. We have become a nation of digital pack rats!
How many people even know where their pictures are, much less when and where they were taken or what format they are in?
I have been storing family and business photos on computer for 15 years now, ever since I got my first color scanner and began digitizing old family photos from the 1920’s – 1950’s.
I have been using ThumbsPlus (Cerious Software, Inc.) to manage my digital portfolio for 10 years now. Like other image management software Thumbsplus allows me to create “Galleries” of related pictures, annotate them, create thumbnails (and webpages) automatically, and many other tasks that make keeping track of the thousands of photos I’ve stored on computers nearly painless.
At least twice a year I archive my originals (PSDs for images I’ve scanned from physical media, TIFFs, JPGs and RAW images from digital cameras) to CD and/or DVD, with a 2nd archive on removable hard drives – and even before I label them I let ThumbsPlus build an index for each CD, DVD or hard disk so I can identify exactly where any archived image is stored -BEFORE- I go rooting around through all those disks.
Okay, I’m that rare person who takes the time to organize and protect my data. As a lifelong computer geek, my digital life is far more organized than my physical life; just ask my wife!
Thanks for the interesting look at modern weddings via the flash of a camera – or ten, and for pointing out the ephemeral nature of digital photography in the hands (and computers) of so many amateur photogs.
Best regards,
G.E. Howard
“Have Geek, Will Travel”
Vancouver, WA
I have 20K digital images and about 10K slides. Here is my workflow:
After capture, I transfer to file server using Nikon View, autorenaming files using following format:
2005-0809-0001
YYYY-MMDD-xxxx
Images stored on server with mirrored drives. I use Nikon View to cull through the bad ones, throwing anything that is not excellent out. In the past I kept more, today only the very best are saved. After a week or two of shooting, I then burn three DVD’s – one for archive, one for backup archive, one for copyright office. I name the disks as follows:
YYYY-MMDD-D#
example
2005-0809-D1
I name three disks the same name, one goes in working CD case, other to off-site archive, third to copyright office.
I then catalog all images on DVD using Imatch. I like Imatch because it has IPTC categories and you don’t have to keyword everything. I can quickly find image by subject, then it will tell me which CD/DVD it is on.
Processed images are stored on mirrored server, then after a job I will create client or job DVD with processed images. All images keep original file name plus various add-on tags, such as:
2005-0809-0124-CMYK-16-bit.PSD
This way I can always refer back to the “digital negative”. Most images are shot in either Nikon NEF or JPEG format – NEF for highest quality, JPEG when volume is most important.
Cameras – Nikon D2x, D70, D100, F5, FM4, 4×5 view
Have owned D1, D1x, D1h, Mamiya RZ-67
Film has different process. After film processed, cull slides, then label keeper slides with same file numbering system.
2003-0809-xxxx
Then mount D2x on tripod over light table, put each slide on light table and take low res digital jpeg of slide. This is very fast. Use Nikon View in same workflow as above. Slides go in file drawer, DVD’s get same distribution.
Back up imatch database weekly.
That’s it.
Just an add-on to my previous post. I read all the other comments and it seems there is a distinctive lack of organization with digital files. I have had my slides organized for over 10 years and my digital files since I started taking digital pictures with the D1. I changed to my current scheme described earlier about 4 years ago. Now it doesn’t take all that long to process and organize my images. The HUGE benefit is that within 2 minutes I can lay my hand on any original digital image I have taken in the past 10 years. They are easy to find in Imatch by category. Images may be in more than one category, such as SPORTS/BASEBALL/COLLEGE/UNIV OF OK and also OKLAHOMA/NORMAN/UNIV OF OK.
My customers, wife and friends are constantly amazed. They want to find a previous picture? They come to my computer, fire up Imatch, view via category, when they find the picture they want, it tells them the DVD or CD. They don’t touch my DVD’s or CD’s, they ask me and I send it to them. If it is film I can go to my file cabinet and pull the original slide, scan it on my Minolta scanner and have a high res slide to anyone in minutes.
Once things are set up it is not that hard to keep organized. I keep the files in my “working” folder on my server until I get time to burn DVD’s. Then I burn the DVD’s as described previously, catalog in imatch, then distribute appropriately. For copyright office I use imatch to print thumbnails to go along with DVD and copyright application.
I spend maybe 2 hours per month cataloging and organizing my images. I shoot probably 1,000 per month and only keep maybe 400 or so. Some months more, some less.
I have recently started with video production and use the same scheme. Tape number = DVD number, shot # = image #. I log everything in Premier Pro, then export shot info to excel and import into custom Access database. Can find any shot via description in Access, then it tells me what tape and the timecode. This way I can have any shot loaded on my hard drive in 5-10 minutes. Currently only have about 30 DVCAM tapes, but that is growing.
I’m a professional photographer and use the following workflow on my mac. I transfer the images to a RAID array by using EXIF Renamer to name directories as yyyy_mm_dd-xx and files as yyyy_mm_dd-hh_mm_ss. I use photomechanic to determine which to keep and throw the rest in the trash. I back up the images on an external drive which is only powered on to back up. I file and keyword the images in iview multimedia pro. I periodically backup images a second time to DVD-R disks. Images are located and sold from iview.
OK, here’s the gist:
– On the server, create a new shoot directory (yymmdd_<subject>) under the Images/Shoots dir
– copy NEFs from the CF card to the server into an Originals subdir of the new shoot dir (subdirs: Originals/<source device>; Processed, which has subdirs for JPGs and others)
– Bring up PShop CS and browse to cull out the unusable ones; rotate; flag the ones to be processed
– Use the RAW control to get the color and exposure right
– Use a standard set (Crop, Levels, Curves, Color Balance, etc.) to process each & save
– When done with processing, run an action (one vert., one horiz.) to size, sharpen, etc. and save as JPG
– Run a Retrospect Dupe job from the image drive to an external backup drive
– Swap the backup drives every N weeks and put the other one Somewhere Else
This works for me mainly because I shoot many shots per shoot (so I’m not creating lots of directories every time) and don’t tend to dig through my archives for “a diagonal red shot”. But I could pull them into an archiving tool (and hire someone to keyword them) if my needs change.
400+ photos in two days at a lakefront family reunion in New Hampshire. Sure, many are worthless and should be deleted summarily, but it just ain’t easy to do.
700+ photos at another reunion in Chicago over 4th of July. Do I really intend to keep out of focus shots of Uncle Rich and Cousin Wally? It seems I do.
I’m much less forgiving when it’s work for clients. Editorial, events and weddings… easy as pie to chuck all the bad ones. I know that my best shots won’t look as good when I’ve included the bad ones too, so I’m much more selective.
Personal photos are something else though. Disc space is cheap, I haven’t paid print prices for every one of those shots (like I used to), so what’s the harm in keeping them all.
Workflow still evolving regarding personal stuff. For client work, edit quickly using Fuji’s Finepix Viewer and then use photo editing software where necessary.
I download the photos as soon as possible to my laptop with a card reader by dragging and dropping to a named and dated folder and name the photos right away. I then process the photos in photoshop mainly for cropping and brightness adjustment. I e mail the photos through iPhoto. I do not like having software control the place and process of downloading photos.
I am one that shoots often. I may or may not have the correct exposure until I find time to check the preview. Photos are saved by date in a folder and the shots are numbered consecutively. They then will be scaned and those that are at least sharp will be saved on a CD. After that they are put someplace that I will spend hours looks for the ones I want. If I would be making a living I am sure I would suffer an early demise.
I am a good amateur photographer with a Pentax K1000 film SLR I never haul around anymore, a Canon Powershot 410S I am using more and more, and a Nikon Zoom 120 film point and shoot I’m using less and less.
I use a USB card reader and Photoshop. First I view the raw files on the card and delete the truly bad ones. Then I use Photoshop to open the files, usually with a batch process to resize the images to about 5×7″ at 200 dpi and set the auto contrast. I do any additional tweaking and cropping, then save each photo into a subject folder.
Each file is named with who, what and the month and year of the photo. For example “Don opens bday gifts 6-05” or “TN trip Ozone Falls from above 8-05”.
I save them to clearly named folders in “My Pictures” on Windows XP. Between the folders and the file names I use little effort finding files.
I usually insert the photos into PowerPoint to print them several per page of photo paper.
Except for owning Photoshop, I am processing/saving/storing my photos without fancy software. Phyllis Carlyle
The problems. Too many photos. Too much time to edit them. Too expensive to print them all. I have an Epson Stylus photo 2100 and it must cost 3-4 times the cost of going to the chemist and having a roll of film processed but the results are much better. And I have control again as I did with B/W photos, if only I had the time.
I purchased a new digital camera, a Nikon 5900, the week before my friend’s daughter’s wedding. Snap, snap, snap. I was a shooting demon at the wedding. When I got home and uploaded them to my PC I discovered several cool bits of software and was able to make a PDF slide show, and using Microsoft Moviemaker, was able to add music, titles and transitions to the pictures. The results? The Wedding: Bootleg Version. The parents were very excited since the real photographer and videographer won’t be delivering their stuff for weeks and I was able to add stuff that only a close family friend could do.
Gone are the days of having disposable cameras on every table for the guests to use. No, now everyone can bring their own digital camera and e-mail their results from their home computer. But, like all digital pics, you have to print them or burn them to a CD/DVD or risk losing them when your computer crashes.
I, like probably most, keep almost every digital photo I shoot (with the exception of those that are completely out of focus) on my hard drive. With the understanding of “you never know”…you never know when that odd and poorly composed photo will be the perfect fit for a project.
Some photos even make it on to a back-up disc for safe keeping. Very few others actually make it to photo paper. Some, lucky few, get printed, framed and beautifully displayed. Unfortunately it’s the 3 or 4 out of a 1000 shots!
I changed jobs last December. I worked for a lace manufacturer and had at least 3 pictures of every product (ie thousands of images). We used a server, as well as a File Maker Pro digital asset management site administered by a vendor. Employees or stores who sold the product could search for and download artwork 24/7 via the web.
I’d just started researching Extensis Porfolio when I changed jobs. Now I’m designing a Portfolio database. Portfolio is widely used (Dynamic Graphics, etc), easy to set up, and even easier to use. A lot of great categories to search by, as well as customizable fields, lots of room for metadata, the ability to create galleries for quick searches, great preivews, and the ability to publish content on the web. My only fear in this age of supersizing corporations is that I’ll catalog everything (again…thousands) and someone else will buy out Extensis and all the cataloging will be for naught. Portfolio uses a database, so I guess I can pull info from it into another application…(like if Apple expands on its search capabilitiies as promised). File Maker Pro worked well, but Portfolio is fabulous if you don’t fancy yourself a programmer.
I changed jobs last December. I worked for a lace manufacturer and had at least 3 pictures of every product (ie thousands of images). We used a server, as well as a File Maker Pro digital asset management site administered by a vendor. Employees or stores who sold the product could search for and download artwork 24/7 via the web.
I’d just started researching Extensis Porfolio when I changed jobs. Now I’m designing a Portfolio database. Portfolio is widely used (Dynamic Graphics, etc), easy to set up, and even easier to use. A lot of great categories to search by, as well as customizable fields, lots of room for metadata, the ability to create galleries for quick searches, great preivews, and the ability to publish content on the web. My only fear in this age of supersizing corporations is that I’ll catalog everything (again…thousands) and someone else will buy out Extensis and all the cataloging will be for naught. Portfolio uses a database, so I guess I can pull info from it into another application…(like if Apple expands on its search capabilitiies as promised). File Maker Pro worked well, but Portfolio is fabulous if you don’t fancy yourself a programmer.
At home, I save personal snaps in folders labeled with date and event. I burn them to CD, and am now in the process of combining several CDs onto one DVD to save space. Those are boxed by date. I have a copy of my old negatives in a safety deposit box (in case my house is hit by fire or natural disaster…had a friend who’s family albums were wiped out by a tornado). I plan to make copies of the DVDs to put in the safe deposit box as well. I suppose I’ll have to keep updating to new media as the technology changes to ensure I don’t end up with the digital equivalent of hundreds of 8-track tapes I can’t play anywhere.
I am on my third digital camera and still shoot film, usually on vacation using disposable 35mm cameras. Such as the underwater ones or paper box cameras that I can take the beach and get sand on. I get those saved to CD when they are developed.
Anyway, every time I download a compact flash disk, I use iPhoto. I then move the photos to save or print into dated witht the download date subfolders in my hard drive. Under those I use folders marked for ocassions, such as “Round Rock Express game 072905”. I back up these folders to CD’s.
I can find photos this way pretty easily and with two copies, one in iPhoto and one in copied folders on CD’s, I can find them.
I actually find that I make more prints at home now and give away more prints.
without a workflow plan your work can sit and never be seen again. It becomes one of thousands of images on you computer or on a pile of cds.
What I think and do is less important than a new set of industry guidelines, now in beta release. It’s called the Universal Photographic Digital Image Guidelines. You’ll find more information about our group – representing a dozen or so national and international groups – at http://www.updig.org. Please contact me or use the links on the site should you wish to have access to the draft guidelines.
— greg smith
Chairman NPPA Business Practices Committee
Member UPDIG steering committee
[email protected]
Simply put, I store my photos as I do my client files. As a professional designer, my client files could easily get out of hand (and lost), but so can my personal and work photos. Realizing this a long time ago, I started refining ways of organizing my digital files.
While an “end all – be all” software program would be nice, most of the time it takes more time to use an application and update it. Utilizing MacOS features like Spotlight and column view, with a few self-set guidelines, I can easily manage my files.
First, have ample hard-drive space. If you are fighting for space and juggling between disks and back-ups, it will be that much more of a daughting task.
Second, create a standardize file structure. This can be simple or very detailed depending on what works best for your way of thinking. Think of ways to group common files, separating originals from revisions and project from project.
I personally start with a hierarchy style of filing, taking full advantage of subfolders. For example, I have one drive each for clients, personal and reference files, totaling 4 drives and 8 partitions. On the client drive I create a folder for each client that contains a folder for each project. Within the project folder is a sub-set of folders defining their “grouping” (reference, feedback, scans, photos, samples, and production). Even though this may seem complex, as long as it is consistent for everything you do it will be easy to find your files. The same then applies for personal photos or anything. Determine how you will organize the groups (friends, family, client, by number, names, event or date), and then create standard sets (RAW, Retouched, email, low-res).
The third guideline – keep all original files and file names. You never know when you need to go back to the source. When retouching, resizing or changing the photo, save the new file but keep the file number in tact. Example: my camera’s numbering system is DSC001234. When I save the retouched photo I might use the following variations – DNA_001234 (personal initials), vachette_001234 (client name), beaker_001234 (subject), beaker_001234r3 (subject revised) or beaker_001234fn (final version). If you have a consistent naming structure, you can search for the original by the part (number) that doesn’t change.
The key to it all – Keep It Consistent. If you follow your own personalized guidelines, then you will know where to look each time. Photos are in their folder, which are grouped with their like. Personal files are not mixed with work or reference files. With practice, organizing your files will become second nature. “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
We have been using FujiFilms FinePix Viewer, Photoshop, and Portfolio for several years. Incoming photo’s are copied in RAW format from the 1GB card of our Fuji SR2 Pro, to the desktop of a dual processor G4 Mac with three 80 GB hard drives and one 250GB drive.
Our photographer uses the FinePix viewer to select best shots and convert them to tiff format. Other files are discarded. Good files are then re-opened in Photoshop, sized to 300 dpi, reduced to 8 bit, and rotated if necessary. Adjustments or corrections are applied as needed. The files are saved to a server (500Gb Raid.) Then, with guidance from the photographer, another staff member enters most of the Portfolio data (key words, etc.)
As design staff need photo’s, they download copies of original files and manipulate to there hearts content. These altered files are usually saved as sized CMYK tiff’s with the particular job they were reformatted for.
We are far from having an efficient workflow. Let alone one that can be operated by anyone other than our staff photographer. So, we are in the process of automating parts of this process with AppleScript. unfortunatley, having had no previous experience with AppleScript, there has been quite a steep learning curve for me but, we are getting closer and I still have a few hairs left on my head.
I store all my digital photo’s (Nicon Coolpix 4500) in iphoto on my Mac.
When needed I get hardcopies by printing them on Epson PictureMate or by sending the pictures to a profesional photo lab.
Karel
With Photoshop and with Mac iPhoto we are everyday more and more confused
In 15 years as a graphic designer and pro photographer, I used to enjoy working with a bride or a client and give them a quote, shoot the assignment go to the lab and process and sleeve and edit the images with the client and finaly print and hand over the album with the enlargments.
Today its all changed right up to the point of shooting the actual shoot as everthing is digital right up to the printing.The costs have shot up and time behind a computer has developed into longer man hours with dark rings in my eyes, and we are all in the same boat working longer and not getting paid more, therefor we have to adapt to change. I blame the Mac /PC for the way we work today images in harddrives images on disks who has the time to order the reprints and search through millions of photos on a 17″ screen. Well it has opened new doors for MAC OPERATORS but what has happened to the real PRO Photographer who now has to be multi – skilled.
I for one still prefer the film and darkroom nothing can beat those days of working in a darkroom.Lets hope that we will not lose our main aim and that is to enjoy what we do best, to capture a moment and deliver the goods to the client on time for genarations to come at a fair price.
One of the best places to learn about workflow is from Seth Resnick at https://www.d65.com. Seth teaches you about workflow from capture to delivery. Yes, I have been through the workshop and plan to attend again in a year or so as software changes and processes mature. It was well worth my money and had a positive effect on how I handle digital images and conduct business.
_____________________________________________________________
Robert Bain
University Photographer – Multi-Media Imaging Specialist
IRC 309 – Academic Technology – Photographic Services
San José State University – One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0026
[email protected]
408-924-2857 VM/Direct Line
408-924-2855 Photo Service Line
408-924-2881 fax
I shoot mainly wedding fashion shoots and real life wedding shoots.I use 3 Canon slr digital and film camera’s.
I have my film scanned on a high res scanner and have a CD saved for archiving with my clients Order # eg: WJA0001 wedding Jack & Jill info presaved on the CD.Thereafter I store a copy onto a 1 Terabit LACIE hard drive and a Photoshop work copy onto a 250gig Lacie drive. I then back up another copy for DVD and CD and iVIEW Multimedia software & DVD studio Pro production.
This way I have 4 back ups.Lastly once the clients work has been approved and printed and finished I burn a DVD of the whole content from all the drives.This applies to my digital images that get manupulated in Photoshop CS2 and for the client to view I have found that iVIEW Multimedia offers me all that I need far better than iPHOTO and Extensis Portfolio.
Till today there has’nt been a faster way of editing thousands of images due to clients expectations of what we can offer them via a computer. My search for any of my clients files is made easy due to the order system that I developed over the years. I can have repeat clients and I can find any photo via iView Multi media Pro as it can store small thumnails of thousands of file sizes and give me access to all my harddrives in sec’s.
I cannot wait for the 25gig Bluelaser dvd media that will give my hard drives a change to breath more space for my next clients shoot.Keeping it simple is what works for me.Even though it is still not perfect I believe in another 2 years we will have software that will do more complex filling and image storage in less time.
I have photographed a few weddings, senior portraits and some kids. I usually shoot around 300 – 600 pictures.
First thing I do when I get home is transfer all image files into their respective folder as “Originals”, then make a couple of subfolders for LR JPGs (copies for customer) and HR TIFs (don’t touch these, backup only), then another HR TIF subfolder (working files, call me overly careful). After everything is said-and-done, I do delete the TIFs that I kept for backup only. After transferring the “Originals” and making the subfolders I need, I burn the originals to CD and file those (I also keep these originals on my computer).
I do all the post processing myself so before making the LR JPGs I work from the copies of the TIFs. Photoshop is the software I use most. I make any adjustments necessary, create a few sample images to show the customer (softened, bw, etc.) then make LR JPGs for the customer, then burn those to CD.
When an order is placed I then make another subfolder for processed orders. This is where I keep the images of the prints I make; if a reorder is placed I can go directly to the 5×7 the customer wants.
I usually make a backup of the TIF files I worked on and the final prints. I do not keep a copy of the LR JPGs made for the customer.
Is this method of madness efficient?
Well, for now it works for me and I am probably too overly cautious, but I’m small-time and sometimes I get bored and this gives me something to do. I know there is a better solution and if I get to be big-time then I’ll look into other options.
the good stuff gets uploaded to a site for sharing, such as imagestaton.com or snapfish. the rest sits on hd, but is backed up to dvd. works ok, but a lot is never seen by anyone but me…. no old shoebox to discover when i move.
I think what you want from us is how we keep and find all those digital images.
When I get back to my computer or my portable hard drive in the field to offload the files from my CF cards, I move them to a folder named the date of off load i.e. 20050810.
I collect all these files on a computer in my office when I return from where ever. Backup is another subject but in a nut shell I use a second hard drive to “mirror/copy” to then I burn them to a DVD times 2. Off site and in the firesafe.
I batch rename the shots to a format of date created , sequence.ext.
For pure photo of the personal kind, I Batch open the raw, accept CS2 auto for adjustments,open in CS2, capture sharpen, make a levels layer-auto, make a color balance layer-ok, make a curves layer-ok, save as psd. later I sort and pick what I want for family or other use and convert to JPG and have printed at the drug store.
The HERO shots I treat as that and deal with them as individual works as appropriate to each.
Hope this truncated response is what you were looking for.
[email protected]
RobertCollins
Seattle
iPhoto is a heaven-sent in archiving my photos. Plug in a digicam and the software opens automatically. Just click away to import, tweak and create folders.
It was April, 1997, I got my first Olympus 300 and proceeded to do 4000 images by the end of the year. Being it is 2005, the test is, “where are the pictures?”.
The process has not changed through this day.
*Original camera images in dated folder.
*Photoshop changes to new folder.
*Family/Client Folders by date.
*Backups to CD-ROM.
The issue with 4000 images from eight years ago is the funny part. It is not the process itself, its the physical destination that hurts:
*Three or more hardware changes,
*Multiple OS’s
*Loss of a server,
*Unmarked backup disc’s.
*Forgotten backup storage locations,
*Two or more office changes. After all is said and done I can now account for about 400 or 10% of the original images.
After taking stock, so to speak, of my losses, I am learning to handle all of these issues, including marking my backups, making double copies, safe deposit box for a copy. Maybe I will spring for a content manager, but not yet.
From the film/negative world I have 100%, and they are accessible.
For me all my photos are in two categories. The first one are professional photos that I use as a library for design projects. These photos I manage with an Extensis Portfolio catalog. This catalog contains more than 10,000 stock photos, photos of my own shooting or that I got from other sources. The keywording approach works very well for me and lets me find a fitting image quite easily. The key is to have a person that is creative enough to assign the right keywords to the pictures. I normally hire somebody every once in a while to update the library with the new photographs, and the more recent photos are normally fresh enough in my mind to find them without keywording.
The second category of pictures are my private pictures or pictures of events that I photograph. There I normally create one folder for each event. Normally that gives me an overview that is still manageable. When I need to design a project report, I normally end up browsing through various folders and making copies of everything that might be useful.
The hard thing is that there are many private photos I made that are useful for the first category, and it is often a tough decision where to put them. I normally end up making a copy of them and include them into the catalog as well.
The bottom line is still: Select only that what is useful and delete the rest. Otherwise you will soon lose the overview, no matter what system you use. Many times I collect pictures from various people on certain projects, and I can often fill a whole DVD with only one project. The problem is, that almost all you are getting is trash. Being very selective and copying only the best is really the key to keep up with that.
Shoot-Download-Cleanup-Inumerate-Upload-Preview-Collect Orders-Archive onto disk and file.
my workflow is long. i use the same for my shooting and when i color-correct images for other photogs. use the camera-raw importer in photoshop, then run an action to apply several adjustment layers to give a generic look (basic adjustments that all images will get). then it’s back through them again to tweak colors individually, and to match them as a whole. then, through again to determine B&W if necessary, and to re-tweak those that had extreme color adjustments. then one last time to add my specific stylized touches and lass-minute weeding and editing.
i could use automated color-adjustment programs, but in the end i would lose something. just like cooking: everything tastes better when you take the long way around. and i don’t sharpen digital images as they’re plenty sharp as it is, and i don’t want to oversharpen. it also helps them look a little more filmlike.
Good topic for discussion, as we are inventing this as we go along.
I am a serious amateur doing landscape and travel photography. My last 2 trips were 2 weeks each, mostly hiking in Utah and Canada.
I took approx 1500 photos on each trip. Editing is a serious venture! Here’s my flow:
Take photos using highest quality jpeg (feel RAW is not needed).
Copy all pix to hard disk.
Put in folders by name, with date in front and significant place or event after the date. Helps trigger the memory!
Look at all the pictures, usually twice.
Delete about 10% – the really bad ones.
Backup to CD’s.
Choose the best 10-20% (usually 100 – 200 pix)
Edit in PS
– straighten horizon
– crop to 4×6 (for standard printing)
– adjust colors, exposure, saturation (usually with a “light hand”)
– gentle sharpening if called for.
– Save As: jpg in a folder named 4×6
– File name is the assigned camera picture # plus a name for the pix.
View all pix in the 4×6 folder
Remove a few more, do some arranging to make a Slide Show.
Take 20 % of those to make a web site. (usually 15-30 pix)
Go back to the original, use PS to crop, change resolution, sharpen, etc.
I’ll print a larger format of 3-10 pictures, again going back to the original to prepare for printing.
A key here is to keep the picture number on ALL variations of the image, so I can always find the original by a simple file search.
Alan Grinberg
http://www.alangrinberg.com
I store all of my photos on a unique partition of a hard drive and back up the separate directories to DVD. I’ve managed to keep track of pictures for 8 years now.
I also wrote a small VB app to rename directories of files from “MVCD0120.jpg” to “PhillyZoo-004.jpg.”
I wish is had a simple (free) tool to add comments to the image header such as “This was at the opening day of the new Big Cat exhibit.”
I’m on a Mac and have been quite happy with iPhoto as a means of keeping my library of digital photos organized. While it is true that many photos have never been printed, I feel I’ve saved time and money by controlling what I print.
I usually take a batch of photos and then dump the content of my memory card into my iPhoto library. I then go through the images and delete the obvious rejects. They are then placed categorically into folders, like family vacation, kids photos, work related, bugs, skys, etc… I then find and print any of the photos I feel worthy of paper at my convenience. Backing up to another hard drive and to DVD is essential as well.
I’m an amateur photographer with my first digital camera. I take photos and delete obvious bad ones along the way. Once home, I upload images to my computer and weed out additional bad ones I couldn’t tell were bad by looking at the tiny 2″ LCD display on my camera. I rename all images with names that mean something and drop images into folders that have the location/occasion and date photos were taken. Then I upload images to shutterfly.com and use their cropping, red eye remover and border tool if desired. (If the photo needs major work, I use Photoshop CS and then upload.) I add descriptions to each photo I plan to order as a photo print so I don’t have to handwrite information later. After all that is done, (and it takes a decent amount of time), I order prints I want and send out my digital image library from shutterfly to friends and family. I backup images to CD or DVD and often burn a copy of images for the people I took photos of.
I’m cataloging all my negatives into digital media so I have ready access to any images I want to print for display, selling or simply to show. I work to a tree filing system. All images are saved with a film number and corosponding frame number. All deleting of unwanted pictures is done here. These are then placed into corosponding folders with the film number on, from here they are dropped into folders that depict where they were taken ie. NY , London etc and then into a higher folder to depict file type, black and white or colour and finally the country of origin. I have adopted similar for the digital except I don’t change the file name. This seems to work fine for me. Everything is then catalogued into iView (Extensis portfolio is far to messy for me). Anything such as pictures of a party are designated with an event folder ‘ E’s B’day’ for instance and dropped in the relevant country/ place folders. It may sound some what long winded but if I want to find a shot I took in the Malaysian jungle last year I know exactly what folder these will be in and where on my computer (also which film they are on). Also what the iview file will be called (The same as the folder). Any work done on images is placed in a temp folder. The final image is dropped back into the correct folder. I’m working with more than 8,500 images and counting and never have a problem. Everything is backed on periodically onto DVD. I have another copy on a portable hard drive.
Just back from 5 plus weeks on the road shooting digital. Shot about 19,000 pix and now working on the best photos and printing them as I await the processing of my 100 plus rolls of film.
Here is the link to how we handle the workflow: https://angier-fox.com/d-workflow.htm
We ended up buying the “ultimate digital photo accessory” –a travel trailer and generator to handle the daily grind of digital. Now, on the road, we start at sunrise shooting until beyond dark, then another 2 hours to edit, caption, number and burn the photos, usually by midnight or one am.
Hope this sheds some light.
By the way, I shoot weddings digitally, too, but more the way I used to do it by film for the past 30 years…
http://www.angier-fox.com
Just back from 5 plus weeks on the road shooting digital. Shot about 19,000 pix and now working on the best photos and printing them as I await the processing of my 100 plus rolls of film.
Here is the link to how we handle the workflow: https://angier-fox.com/d-workflow.htm
We ended up buying the “ultimate digital photo accessory” –a travel trailer and generator to handle the daily grind of digital. Now, on the road, we start at sunrise shooting until beyond dark, then another 2 hours to edit, caption, number and burn the photos, usually by midnight or one am.
Hope this sheds some light.
By the way, I shoot weddings digitally, too, but more the way I used to do it by film for the past 30 years…
http://www.angier-fox.com