Managing/Organizing Your Images on a Computer

C:\Documents and Settings\Bob\Desktop\Managing Your Images-- for Sr Web Page.doc

3-Feb-09

 

          Files vs FOLDERS

Organization using folders is more portable from computer to computer and makes finding images easy even without using your favorite software.

 

General workflow

        Basically we all want to

1. Get our images from our memory card to the computer.

2. Store them in some logical fashion on the computer.

3. Edit some of them (most? all?)

4. Back them up

5. Print some, set up slide shows for ourselves or others, put them on

a website or DVD, or (all too often) let them sit on the

computer indefinitely, etc. etc.

 

      or in more detail  – sequence may vary somewhat for each of us.

 

        1. Copy images from camera to computer— use software that came with

the camera (often this software is clumsy at best) or use a card

reader (buy one or if a new computer/printer may have one built-in).

If using camera & cable, be careful—don't catch the cable and drop

your camera on the floor.

                Always transfer your photos to the same folder on your computer rather than

"scatter them" – easier to stay sane if you follow a routine.

        2. Rename them – ASAP – at least rename the folder(s) immediately—

can rename image files later. For renaming -- can use Windows or

image editing software or my favorite – CKRename (link on main

page of site).

        3. Tag them – if you don't mind the time & effort – many programs allow

this. NOTE: It may lock you into one program for reading the

tags—change programs and the tags are "gone". More on tagging images below.

4. Move/Copy images to folders – may have some "loose" images in a

folder (which is ok) or have a MISCELLANEOUS folder for odds &

ends.

        5. Backup your images

On main hard drive (better than nothing), a 2nd hard drive, an

External hard drive, DVD, Have at least 2 copies—maybe more. More

on backup below.

        6. Edit your images.

        7. Backup your images again—ideally keep a copy off-premises.

Hard drives fail – often without warning!

 

NOTE: The above is only a guide. Each of us has our own ideas of what makes sense

for our particular case. But presumably you'd want to do most of the above.

Create a logical folder structure (and be consistent)

Two main methods of organizing image folders are by DATE or by SUBJECT.

 

By DATE – no question where images go. Requires more work to gather all "flower images" into a single folder/list. Tagging helps with this but tagging is very time-consuming.

 

By SUBJECT – may have trouble deciding which category an image should be in.

          eg. image of a daughter with the family dog—in PETS folder or FAMILY folder?

Both? Harder to find images by date—unless you have sub-folders by date.

But many programs will help you find images by date no matter where they

are stored – eg Picasa 3 (free from Google). Even Windows can do this.

 

Put all images in one folder—My Pictures, Photos, etc.

          Create sub-folders by Date (Year?) or Subject – depending which your main

structure follows – ie. By Date or By Subject

          Add "special" folders for kids, trips, birthdays and weddings, etc.?

 

Each method has advantages and disadvantages and once down a path it may require a lot of work to change to a new structure. Think things over carefully before you start to determine which organization makes sense for you.

EXAMPLES---

BY DATE…    (have Month sub-folders too?)

MY PICTURES

          2007

             JILL'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

             WEEKEND AT NIAGARA

             PETS

             MISC

          2008

             ALGONQUIN PARK

             LEE & RYAN'S WEDDING

          2009

             OCC AT ALGONQUIN

 

Consider/try using a maximum of 3 levels of folders—at least don't get carried away with making folders within folders within folders—think it through- how many levels do you really need? Sometimes of course you may need 4 or even 5 levels, but probably not very often if you think it about it carefully.

You will probably add/remove folders as your organization evolves so don't try to be too perfect to start with. We all make changes as time goes on. Maybe one folder only has 2 or 3 images in it—can they just be added to another one? Maybe another folder ends up with hundreds of images in it—should you break it down to 2 or 3 separate folders instead? Changes are inevitable as you move towards that "perfect organization" – which never arrives of course.

 

 

By SUBJECT…

          ARCHITECTURE  (sub-folders by year?)

          BARNS

          FAMILY

NATURE

                   WATER (sub-folders by location or date ?)

                   TREES

                   AUTUMN

                   FLOWERS

          ZOOS

          MISCELLANEOUS

          OUR GARDEN

In either system, have a WORK IN PROGRESS folder?

          … and maybe a few "special" folders.

Things not very well organized now? What to do?

1. Set up the folder structure – folders will be empty initially—name them.

2. Use Windows to copy images/folders from "where they are now" into folders in your folder structure. Until you're happy with your setup, don't move images, COPY them instead. You'll have two copies of images for awhile but then when you're confident things are set up the way you want, you can delete the extra copies—having BACKED them up before you delete any of them of course.

 

Batch (many at once) Rename in Windows

Images are normally named IMG_1234 or some such generic name when first copied from your memory card. To rename a folder of images – eg. to Ottawa Weekend.jpg, Ottawa Weekend (1).jpg, Ottawa Weekend (2).jpg, etc.

1. Open the folder the images are in (just double-click it)

2. Choose View, Details from the menus (or use the View button).

3. Choose Edit, Select All from the menus (or Ctrl+A using the keyboard).

4. Right-click the first image in list, and choose Rename from the pop-up menu.

5. Key in a new filename (in place of the IMG_1234) – in this example we'd key

in "Ottawa Weekend" and press the Enter key.

          6. Windows will then rename them all in the manner stated above.

 

… or use CKRename  -- link is on main Club page

 

What I do…

I only mention my way as potential ideas for you—by seeing how others organize, you get ideas of how to organize your own—a bit of my ideas maybe—a bit of some author/friend/etc. It has to work for you! You'll probably find you refine your organization as time goes by—delete a folder or two/ add some new ones/combine a couple.

 

I organize my images By Subject—but I have two major folders:

 

$TRIPS – about 9,000 images in 52 folders using about 12 G of disk space.

(Images in TRIPS don't change—I just add my latest trip to the folder)

 

[PHOTOS.--.almost all of my other images, including

       a PHOTOS BY SUBJECT folder        -- about 5,000 images in 73 folders

using about 14 G

 

          and another 25 folders with about 1,500 images using 8 G

 

Some of those 25 folders include "working" folders, images from email, camera club submissions, "one-time" image sets, an "ideas" folder, etc. etc.

TOTALS – approx 15,000 images – about 32 G

 

I have shortcuts to both "major folders" on the Quick Launch toolbar.

 

Can I always find what I'm looking for?

Yes—usually quickly but sometimes it takes awhile—I don't have that "perfect organization" yet but then is there such a thing?— Google Desktop (free from Google) helps. I keep refining my system—mainly adding/removing folders – my basic structure doesn't change though—it works for me.

 

My Workflow

1. Use a card reader to copy images to my Desktop—the folder will be named something like "102 Canon" so I change it to "today's date" or a subject title.

2. I then have a quick look at the images using IrfanView (my default for viewing images) and delete the junk right away.

3. I then BACK UP the folder to an External Hard Drive.

          (I usually have a few folders that I haven't sorted by subject sitting on my Desktop so I put them into another folder on my Desktop named "Latest Shoots" until I get around to filing them By Subject).

3. I'm usually slow at renaming images in the folders—occasionally I do it right away but usually it's later. I use CKRename—I want to keep image numbers on mine.

4. Eventually I get around to moving images from the "Latest Shoots" folder to my

"Photos by Subject" folder. I have to admit I may or may not rename them even

then. Not the recommended procedure but it works for me-- the folders are all

properly named though. Back Up time.

5. Edit images – Quick edits with IrfanView -- Serious edits with PhotoShop.

          I may edit a few at some point before this – for myself or friends or relations.

6. BACK UP again – the edited versions.

Other…

 

EXIF data (metadata) -- Digital cameras only.

·        Date & time picture taken, shutter speed, focal length, aperture, etc. etc.

·        Can view in most image editing software – including IrfanView.

·        There are programs to analyze it (ie for groups of images)

·        Some programs can sort your images based on EXIF data or summarize a folder of images—by f-stop, shutter speed, focal length, etc.

 

Naming Folders – precede name with a $ (or ! or #) to have it list at top of listing.

 

Tagging – certain software only (but you can do it directly in Vista )

This allows you to add text to image files to make later retrieval easier.

eg. An image of your daughter and family dog George taken at the cottage—you could add tags Susan, George, cottage, July 1st. If you do this with all (or more realistically some) of your images, you can then quickly retrieve all images (that have been tagged) with the word "Susan" or "cottage" or both for that matter.

 

The main problem with tagging is that it is very time consuming to add the tags. Way too much bother for me—I find mine because of my organization instead.

 

 

Backup

·        On your main HARD DRIVE – better than nothing but not much. If the drive fails, you've probably lost everything unless by chance part of the drive survives.

·        On a 2nd HARD DRIVE – Buying a new system? Consider a 2nd HARD DRIVE.

Then you can put Windows on one drive (C:), and all your images and data files on the second drive (D: or whatever).

·        External HD – 500 G ($99 at Future Shop) / 1 T ($160 at Future Shop)

I'd stay with Seagate/Maxtor or Western Digital. There are other good name brands as well but they're harder to find. Avoid Comstar and other non-name brands (personal opinion only).

·        DVDs  -- 4.37 G (not 4.7 G as is often printed on them). The technical explanation (if anyone cares) is that a gigabyte is actually 1024x1024x1024 which is more than a billion (1,000,000,000). So a "standard" DVD holds 4.7 billion bytes but that is only 4.37 gigabytes. It all goes back to the fact that a kilobyte is actually 1024 bytes, and not 1000 bytes. "Marketing speak", right?

 

Consider a 2nd MONITOR ? (When's your birthday? Christmas?)

Buy a larger one ? – 22"  24"  Use your current one as a second.

          You can then have instructions (for some procedure you're trying) on one, and

work on the other one instead of jumping "back & forth" or squeezing

things on to one monitor.

          You could put PhotoShop/Elements palettes on 2nd one.

          Generally, less clutter with icons/shortcuts since you have two monitors to spread

things out on.

          (Probably need to buy a new video card -- $25 or so, plus installation)

 

 

"The Plan" vs Reality---

 

We all have good intentions—but reality/life seems to interfere all too often.

 

We plan on getting things organized better than we have now but doing it takes time and effort. Then, we do get things organized and at some point things begin to slip—we don't keep to our workflow. That's reality.

 

But it's still worth getting things better organized. The reward is that you will be more efficient at the computer and it will probably be less frustrating as well.

 

 

 

- fini -

 

 

 

P.S. I'll add a reference sheet for the Windows "stuff" soon.

                             Bob