Logistics

Edinduberdeen

I'm slightly obsessive compulsive and at the minute my system of storing and uploading photos is driving me mad! I've got folders of raw images, with subfolders of batch processed jpegs, and sub folders again of smaller jpegs to be uploaded... On top of that, I'm a hoarder so I don't tend to delete any bad shots either. I'm thinking there must be a better, tidier way of doing all this - anyone care to share their system of dealing with photos once they leave the camera?

Tallon

Please stop describing my exact life

Still havnt had time to proccess charville

magicbastarder

Edinduberdeen wrote: »

On top of that, I'm a hoarder so I don't tend to delete any bad shots either.

you need to be more ruthless. have two similar shots? even if they're both relatively OK, delete the lesser of the two.

i still keep all my slides, though, unless they're complete nonsense.

Borderfox

For weddings I keep everything
For other jobs, I import using lightroom - go through the pictures and select what is needed - move them to another folder and (I shoot work in raw+jpeg) delete the unselected raw files (leaving the jpeg files) Archive whats left on to externals/upload/dvd

TinyExplosions

three folders: RAW, Processed JPG, Uploads

Then in each of those, have folders relating to the job/shoot - I tend to use "year-month-day-descriptivename", so "2010-07-06-PeoplesPhotography" for example, and images go in there. Now I know exactly where everything is

-I do this to keep similar file types together, but you could do the "year-month-day-descriptivename" folder first, and in that have RAW, Processed JPG, Uploads which might be easier for you.

My folder structure is as follows therefore:

RAW
Processed JPG
Processed TIFF
Processed PSD
Processed PDF
Lightroom PNG (as I use lightroom)

And then within those folders, I have the "year-month-day-descriptivename" folders with the images inside them.

For me it means that if I am looking for an image, and find it in any folder, I just have to change the top level folder to find any type of that image I need.

magicbastarder

for me - raw go into a temporary folder, and i process files from there unless the photos are mundane or a bit ****; saved as TIFF. the RAW files are deleted as i go along unless i have a real corker, or one which will take a long time to process. then i prune the TIFFs further, and then save those to my main directory structure.

stunt_penguin

Um, don't you use Apeture or Lightroom for this stuff? Even Picasa would make a good job of organising RAWs. I do almost all processing in Lightroom with maybe the odd photoshop tweak, and even then the .tif is linked to the RAW file in Lightroom. I almost never touch the acutal file folder structure. Lightroom is only a few hundred bucks, I would give the demo a go if you're curious.

I never keep any JPEGs of anything lying around for more than a few months - I've an 'upload' folder on the desktop but it is entirely superfluous once the images have gone online. If I ever want an image again I can go into lightroom and export whatever size I want on demand.

TinyExplosions

stunt_penguin wrote: »

Um, don't you use Apeture or Lightroom for this stuff? Even Picasa would make a good job of organising RAWs. I do almost all processing in Lightroom with maybe the odd photoshop tweak, and even then the .tif is linked to the RAW file in Lightroom. I almost never touch the acutal file folder structure. Lightroom is only a few hundred bucks, I would give the demo a go if you're curious.

I never keep any JPEGs of anything lying around for more than a few months - I've an 'upload' folder on the desktop but it is entirely superfluous once the images have gone online. If I ever want an image again I can go into lightroom and export whatever size I want on demand.

Some people like knowing where the images are on the HDD, as you never know if or when Aperture or LR is going to crap out, or corrupt a catalog or something of that nature. Disc space is cheap, so I don't have a problem leaving things on a drive, and it means I don't have to re-export in future should anything happen. Also means if I upgrade the computer or switch package it's easier to get back up and running and I don't have to worry if I have deleted something I shouldn't.... horses for courses really

Thecageyone

I'm fairly sloppy. I open the RAW files in LR, process the ones I like and save the Jpegs to a folder on the desktop - I at least name the folders - all those folders then go into a group folder named 'processed images' but I'll split away any family shots that may be included to other folders scattered around the desktop. They'll hang around on there until I transfer them to 'My pictures' where they'll go into the folder of the month they were taken.


I do only keep RAWs of keepers, I don't hold back on deleting bunches of them at a time. They just take up room too quick, and I've learned that if i don't like them after a second checking, they'll never be processed. Fromt the jpegs I then do resizes in Ifran-view for uploading. I'll keep the resizes for a few days j.i.c - then that folder will get deleted.

I really should back up more too.

magicbastarder

for my other photos, i've got about nine lever arch files full of slides and negs, arranged *very* roughly in chronological order.