bjc Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 wondering how everyone organized their photos...i take a zillion ( or at least it seems like it) especially in 2009 as i did the sg 52..and i think it is good for my photo skills to take lots of photos and often...so i want to be as organized as possible...i pretty much like what i do but since its the new year i am open to suggestions and love to hear how others organize their photos as sharing ideas is the best way to get some good ideas.. here is what i do i have my pictures folder on my ehd.... i then have a sub folder.... 2010 photos (for example) then i put all my photos for that year in that folder... with each sub folder by date.... 2010-1-01 and i usually add a name too.... so for example 2010-1-01 new years brunch i also have some subfolders in my picture folder that are not by years..but only by subject.... like old family photos, photos taken with my iphone, trips and then of course those folders have subfolders by the date... what way do you file your photos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
podiumchick Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Before SG52 I would have a folder for the year and sub-folders for events. With SG52 I had sub-folders for each week. This worked until I had to remember when Prom was...or other such event. I will probably still continue but include "prom" in the name too if there is such an event that week. I did make folders for cross-country or band photos for the whole season, which means there are duplicate photos of those things. I'll be watching this thread to further tweak my filing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Tracy Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 In my pictures folder I file by month and year, then I have sub-folders within that folder (ex: November09_ThanksgivingDinner.) I can't wait to see what other people do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kacie Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 My system could definitely use some help...but here's what I do now. I use iPhoto, so it automatically makes "Events" and puts them in chronological order. I usually just name the event such as "Christmas" or "Zoo Trip" but then I also have a random event for each year, for example "Random 2009" where I put the pictures that don't really fit anywhere else. And I have a folder called "Dogs 2009" for all the photos of my pups. I do like that iPhoto has face recognition, so I can always find all the pictures of my sister, arranged by date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnie2004 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 each year has a month and each month gets 2 folders 1 raw 1 jpeg (the raw stays till I mve them all to their own EHD) since all photos have a "date" I leave them that way and then I just rick click each folder and sort by date and I am done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Tracy Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 For those of you that organize by date, how do you determine what event is in that file without looking at the picture? Tags? or do you just look at the thumbnail? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjc Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 For those of you that organize by date, how do you determine what event is in that file without looking at the picture? Tags? or do you just look at the thumbnail? Thanks! i use the date and then a description...like 2009-1-01 new years brunch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjc Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 i am giving thought to changing my folder format to my pictures... 2010 .... then doing each folder with month first... since they are already in a folder by year... that seems to make more sense...but changing is the hard part for the old gal..LOL...any comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnie2004 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I dont catagorize by special event unless I batch process them I get to many folders and to much to be organized with then for me year month is good the second you open them up you know what is in there and if not rename a specific photo you will know and then someone else will too! just my own simple thoughts ...and simple works for me LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiles Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 My camera downloads by date by default. I use Picassa to hunt for pictures. It took a bit to tag and go through face recognition, but it was well worth it. Can't believe how fast Picassa is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah in VA Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I file all my photos in chronological order. In My Pictures Folder, I have a folder for 2010, then subfolders by months (1 Jan 10, 2 Feb 10, etc - this way, the months are in order) and inside each of those folders I have the specific date the photos were taken (1 Jan, 3 Jan). If a special event, then I add that information to the folder name (3 Jan Event Name). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjc Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I file all my photos in chronological order. In My Pictures Folder, I have a folder for 2010, then subfolders by months (1 Jan 10, 2 Feb 10, etc - this way, the months are in order) and inside each of those folders I have the specific date the photos were taken (1 Jan, 3 Jan). If a special event, then I add that information to the folder name (3 Jan Event Name). what a great idea sarah... i was thinking of the months names but then they wont be in order .....thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristyVW Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I keep my folder structure very simple - year_Month. So my folder for December 2009 is 2009_12. I don't do any subfolders, as I find it more cumbersome to go through lots of subfolders. If I want to find/sort photos by subject, I am starting to use tags in lightroom. The other thing I am 'trying' to do in lightroom is pick one favorite photo from each day or special event and give it a five star rating. Then, when I am looking for a subject to scrap, I can filter in Lightroom to see all the 5-star photos. This kind of lets me see all the 'events' at a glance, with only one photo representing each thing I want to make a layout about. Once I pick something, then I can backtrack to the folder where the rest of the pictures are and find any other ones I want to use. I haven't been great at using this system yet, but hope to get better at it. Once I scrap a subject, I will take off the 5-star rating from that photo, so at any given time my 5-star set should only contain topics that haven't been scrapped yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westina Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 My photos are grouped in folders by year only. Keeping the structure relative flat allows me to browse easily. It does require that I make good use of file names since the last few years have over 5000 photos in each folder. My file names use dates and time: YYYYMMDD HHMMSS. Using the hour, minute and second in the file name helps as I take many photos in rapid fire succession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catinkeri Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Bobbie - if I were to describe how I file my photos on here, this thread would be closed down due to overload of information. Needless to say, I take, on average, several hundred photos each week (on busy weeks I take thousands, literally!!!) and need a way to keep them all easily accessible! I have tried many ways, but finally have come up with chronological/alphabetical/event way that helps me immensely. I also file on DVD/CD and EHD - as well as keep track of things in an xcel spreadsheet! How about that for anal - but it's definitely easy to understand and accessible. If you want me to go into it further - drop me a PM and I'll gladly blather on about it to you. Good on you for starting out the New Year on an organising track!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjc Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I keep my folder structure very simple - year_Month. So my folder for December 2009 is 2009_12. I don't do any subfolders, as I find it more cumbersome to go through lots of subfolders. If I want to find/sort photos by subject, I am starting to use tags in lightroom. The other thing I am 'trying' to do in lightroom is pick one favorite photo from each day or special event and give it a five star rating. Then, when I am looking for a subject to scrap, I can filter in Lightroom to see all the 5-star photos. This kind of lets me see all the 'events' at a glance, with only one photo representing each thing I want to make a layout about. Once I pick something, then I can backtrack to the folder where the rest of the pictures are and find any other ones I want to use. I haven't been great at using this system yet, but hope to get better at it. Once I scrap a subject, I will take off the 5-star rating from that photo, so at any given time my 5-star set should only contain topics that haven't been scrapped yet. like this idea of starring photo in LR.... cause i just scrap as i go if i feel the mood...or recall a photo and now i have to go back over the year and see what i have forgotten to use... i have so many photos that i forget about...this is a good idea..tfs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkerbell11 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 So many great ideas, I will keep an eye on this thread to perfect my system! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandiC. Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I think I have some work to do. Off to the photo folder. thanks for all you great ideas. Keep 'em coming. I think I can use a little bit from everyone . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheri T Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I do mine exactly like Bobbie in the original post, eg: 01_01_2010-Michael & Daisy on couch (DS #2 on couch petting our dog) I need to start tagging some photos in ACDSee...I'd like to have all garden photos tagged so I don't have to search through years and years of garden photos to figure out where that excellent photo of the dark purple iris is, all photos of my dog tagged, winter, fall, etc etc. Yikes, maybe that's too much work;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Tracy Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Christy-I love how you star your pictures then remove the star when you scrap that picture. I may have to borrow that idea! I love this thread! Keep the great ideas coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimes1 Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I file by year, month only. That way when I want to scrap an event, I can generally remember about when it occurred. Only rarely do I make subfolders - sometimes for events where there turned out to be a high number of photos. I like the idea of starring one for each day. I may try that. But first I think I need to take more photos. My new teenager thinks it's uncool now for her picture to be taken. May have to go into stealth mode to get them. LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caprimom Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 In my Pictures folder, I have folders for each year and folders for each month inside the year folders. I tag my photos in ACDSee so I can find photos of events or certain people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallCool69 Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I file all my photos in chronological order. In My Pictures Folder, I have a folder for 2010, then subfolders by months (1 Jan 10, 2 Feb 10, etc - this way, the months are in order) and inside each of those folders I have the specific date the photos were taken (1 Jan, 3 Jan). If a special event, then I add that information to the folder name (3 Jan Event Name). This is exactly what I do too! And using 01 January, 02 February, 03 March etc for the months, makes it soo easy to find things since the months end up in the right order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NS_Scrapper Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Like others, I name with dates. I use the format yymmdd_title when I name my pics so that the photos are organized in chronological order but with some additional info. I use the same format to name my layouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargotW Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I was just thinking about filing my photos my year and then month last night! Lots of good ideas - thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargotW Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I keep my folder structure very simple - year_Month. So my folder for December 2009 is 2009_12. I don't do any subfolders, as I find it more cumbersome to go through lots of subfolders. If I want to find/sort photos by subject, I am starting to use tags in lightroom. The other thing I am 'trying' to do in lightroom is pick one favorite photo from each day or special event and give it a five star rating. Then, when I am looking for a subject to scrap, I can filter in Lightroom to see all the 5-star photos. This kind of lets me see all the 'events' at a glance, with only one photo representing each thing I want to make a layout about. Once I pick something, then I can backtrack to the folder where the rest of the pictures are and find any other ones I want to use. I haven't been great at using this system yet, but hope to get better at it. Once I scrap a subject, I will take off the 5-star rating from that photo, so at any given time my 5-star set should only contain topics that haven't been scrapped yet. Christy - do you upload your photos directly into LR? I have been using Picasa to upload. I love your idea of using the 5 star and then removing it. I was starring my favorites but haven't been removing when I scrapped it. Great idea. Wonder if I can do this with Picasa? Have to go look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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