How do you organize your digital photos

[Kappo]

Currently, I am running gallery on my site to keep a mirror of my photos (home for backup, online for everyone to see).

As it is now, I have them set up like:

Animals
-My dog
-another dog
-yet another dog
People and Places
-2006_tampa_MGM studios
-2006_thanksgiving
-2006_christmas
House Pictures
-living room
--before
--after
-dining room
-media room
--before
--after
-workshop


crap like that.

It seems like a crappy way to organize my pictures. Anyone have some suggestions for how to keep them organized? I was thinking by date, but then realized that if I were looking for something, there would be no way to locate anything because I cant remember what I ate for lunch, much less when I took a photo.

I have about 6500 photos, so renaming them is completely out of the question

 

[mugs]

2006
-2006-07-05_Maui
--2006-07-05_Maui (good)

I only do the bottom level sometimes, when I feel like putting the effort into it.

Files are named like so:
CameraName_YYYYMMDD_H24MISS__OriginalFilename
Example:
Canon EOS 30D_20060707_232200__IMG_0379.jpg

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Pull the Raw files off the memory stick and directly to cd or dvd with the date and location on the disk. Then I don't really care since the "negatives" are safe.

 

[Bootprint]

For vacations I've been just breaking it down to
Vacation 2004
Day 1
Day 2
Usually I also include gps tracks for each day, and maybe the webcam time lapse pictures of the drive.

For everyday photos I just let Photoshop elements take care of it.
which is the day that the photos are taken off the CF card, then maybe tag them.

 

[monk3y]

I just do it by date and event as the folder. 2006 12 31 New Years Eve... etc.

 

[KK]

I just stick them in the picture folder, all 10000+ of them

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: KK
I just stick them in the picture folder, all 10000+ of them

Same, sorted by name.

 

[spacelord]

D:\Camera\[YYYY-MM-DD] Description

Although the date is the date of the first picture on the memory card when I move them to my computer.
I keep the file names as they came out of the camera.. no extra work that way.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I REALLY need to reorganize my pictures.

Photos
-Trips
--[date]Trip Name
---Trip Folder 2
----Develops

 

[clamum]

My Documents\My Pictures\mm-dd-yyyy description\

 

[jadinolf]

I store them on...................is anyone watching?...........................

ZIP DISKS

There, I said it.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: jadinolf
I store them on...................is anyone watching?...........................

ZIP DISKS

There, I said it.

welcome to 1996.

100 bucks for a 320GB sata hard drive ftw?

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman

Originally posted by: jadinolf
I store them on...................is anyone watching?...........................

ZIP DISKS

There, I said it.

welcome to 1996.

100 bucks for a 320GB sata hard drive ftw?

You are right. I purchased my first zip drive on Dec 7, 1996 and my second on Dec 10.

Oh yes, I am not about to change.

Happy new year.

 

[Mrvile]

I sort them by date and all the pictures I transfer to my comp on that date go in that folder. Then, I have "TIFFs" for all my post-Photoshop photos, "Finishes" for all photos resized and saved for the web, "DPChallengesubs" for DPChallenge submissions, and "DASubs" for DeviantArt submissions.

I've got a good 14gb of photos on my comp right now :disgust:

 

[Aftermath]

Family Photos
-yyyy-mm-dd
--yyyy-mm-dd-###.*

Video Games

-GamerName (Me, wife, friends, etc)
--Game
---Screenshots
----Gamename-###.*
---Videos
----Gamename-###.*

 

[chr6]

i have a file renamer written in vb, so i can rename folders with thousands of files. it has options to put a prefix, start count, and number of digits.

so you can have

AT00001.jpg - AT00055.jpg

using the prefix AT, number of digits set to 5, and start count 1.

easy and it works. if you need it for simple purposes, just holler.

 

[Sid59]

im too lazy to look .. does Picasa allow for tagging photos yet?

 

[3NF]

Originally posted by: Sid59
im too lazy to look .. does Picasa allow for tagging photos yet?

Yes

 

[jamesbond007]

I sort by genre, then by name with date on the folder.

ie:

Astronomy
-[Date]

Portrait
-[Name]-[Date]
-[Print] (these photos are processed and ready for printing)
--[Shooter] (if needed, since I shoot with a partner at many events)

Wedding
-[Name]-[Date]
-[Print] (these photos are processed and ready for printing)
--[Shooter] (if needed, since I shoot with a partner at many events)

Sports
-Sport Type
--[School/event name]-[Date]
---[Print] (these photos are processed and ready for printing)
----[Shooter] (if needed, since I shoot with a partner at many events)


etc

Storage system is somewhat extensive. Photos are stored on a RAID1 setup here and also backed up on my partner's RAID5 setup who is located in a nearby town. Redundancy + redundancy at a distance = great! Worst part is that I need more storage very very soon...I'm looking into creating a dedicated server for photo storage with RAID5.

 

[0roo0roo]

more important is directory names/file names
using copernic or google desktop or any other search thing makes total structure not all that important.

 

[timswim78]

I just use the XP wizard and stick them in a folder with the date that they were downloaded onto my computer (e.g., 2006-12-31).

I use picasa to tag ones that I like.

 

[alkemyst]

I am trying to find a better way:

15GB, 10k files just organized right now by xxxCANON, xxxNIKON. We have been through 3 generations+ of cameras, both shooting on Canons now (SD450 and A620).

Mostly our fur-babies...she cannot have children.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jadinolf

Originally posted by: secretanchitman

Originally posted by: jadinolf
I store them on...................is anyone watching?...........................

ZIP DISKS

There, I said it.

welcome to 1996.

100 bucks for a 320GB sata hard drive ftw?

You are right. I purchased my first zip drive on Dec 7, 1996 and my second on Dec 10.

Oh yes, I am not about to change.

Happy new year.

I think I got mine for Christmas in '94. The original extenal SCSI model that only allowed you to choose between SCSI IDs 5 and 6. It was so great having 100 MB removable media when I only had a 250 MB hard drive.

 

[puffff]

My photos are taken in bunches, usually because there is some sort of event. Therefore it makes sense to sort them by event.

 

[BCYL]

Sort them by date, e.g.:
2006-12-31 (New Years Eve)