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Photo file naming strategy
Now that I'm dealing with hundreds of current and past clients and over 100,000 photos, I'm again looking at my workflow and most importantly FILE NAME strategy. One thing I have learned over the years is that taking the time to properly name files is WORTH IT when a client asks for an old photo, or I'm building a photobook, or a "my best shots of the year" kind of thing. By creating a unique string in the filename, I can find any set of files immediately, for example all of my photos from the last K9 Cancer walk have within the filename _K9CancerWalk2012_, so I can search that in Windows File Explorer without depending on Lightroom or any other outside software. As recently discussed in another threat, I often need to know the dimensions of the original file (*after* my cropping), so I am adding that to the end of my filenames. Since I'm making that change, I was wondering if anyone else had some clever file naming methods. Here is what I'm doing now: STEP 1: Using Adobe Camera Raw, select/delete/edit/crop RAW files. STEP 2: Using Adobe Bridge, "batch rename" all RAW files in this manner: [year][month]_EventName_[sequence#].ext Example: 201202_OscarsRedCarpet_1234.CR2 STEP 3: Using Photoshop "Image Processor", export RAW to .JPG (no resizing) STEP 4: Using Adobe Bridge, "batch rename" all JPG files in this manner: [preserved filename]_[Width]x[Height].ext Example: 201202_OscarsRedCarpet_1234_5454x4392.jpg STEP 5: Using Photoshop "Image Processor", export all .JPG from Step 4 to "online media" folder (resized to 920x920, EXIF copyright added, watermark added) to create files suitable for email and social media STEP 6: Using Photoshop "Contact Sheet II", create contact sheet for clients, explaining to them that the last part of the filename is the original file resolution. Also, in some cases, create a .zip file of all .jpg's create in step 5 to give to client for image selection. This seems to solve all of my issues, and still keeps things flexible. I could reduce a step by renaming the RAW files with crop size, but I sometimes change the crop to print on canvas (because the image has to wrap around the frame). One NICE surprise in Abobe Bridge's file rename process is that "dimensions" pays attention to the crops you've set! The order of the items in the filename above make it easy to work with images when I create a photobook and copy lots of images to a new working folder - they are automatically sorted by year/month/event/sequence. Any suggestions/comment before I begin the work of renaming my big archives? Jan 18 13 10:31 am Link I just use folders. If I need a 2012 Cancer Walk photo - I open the 2012 cancer walk folder - already in sequential order in there. Dont see a purpose of anything further Jan 18 13 10:36 am Link I don't rename files. I sort into named folders Year > Type (modeling, landscape, etc), month > event or client name. Files themselves remain as they came off the card. So I may have 2013 Modeling Jones Family June or maybe Christmas Photos ADL_2039.jpg From there I'll pick the keepers and put them in a folder called Edit then after the post work they go into Done Then if necessary Resized Deliver Web or whatever is appropriate for that project Jan 18 13 10:37 am Link 2013-01-18 will always keep images in chronoligical order With a prefix attached to each individual model based on their names. Folder for each shoot dated the same as above....inside 3 more folders Raw-Edited-Web Folder for each year Jan 18 13 10:40 am Link Ah, I should have mentioned my folders. Here is how I've done it: K:/Photos K:/Photos/2012Q2 K:/Photos/2012Q2/K9Walk K:/Photos/2012Q2/KittyBirthday K:/Photos/2012Q2/MeteorShower This works for ME because I generally know roughly when I shot a photo -- say, winter of 2012 or summer of 2007. For that reason I've divided in year into quarters, then look for the folder for that event. I used to use months, but found that to be too many. So, if I want to see all of the photos for last year's "K9Walk", I just navigate to that folder. If a person emails and says "I want to buy that you took several years ago of my blue poodle you posted on FlickR to make a 30"x60" canvas", I just ask them for the filename, use Windows File Explorer to search on the name, and find it immediately. I can also tell them the photo's resolution won't work for 30x60 but will make a great 20x30. Also of note: I have outgrown my 3TB drive and archiving to blu-ray, so folder based organization doesn't work nearly as well. My "really good" photos will remain on my hard drive, but by smartly naming the file I can go back and get the RAW in case I need it. Jan 18 13 10:57 am Link Dale at Killer Image wrote: Take a look at Filenames as a Strategy to Managing Your Image Assets Jan 18 13 11:00 am Link Mine go by date. I load into lightroom, backs up into my 2013 folder. I have a wedding, models, family, etc. All have a 2013 folder. When I save for net use I label images with what it is so when I load on my website it has proper title for SE searches. Ex: Wedding Sodus bay (blogging & galleries, SM) For clients I save label web/print etc. This is if they buy digital files/get the package with them included they dont mix up which ones print and what to share on the net. So, Wedding>2013>1-14-2013. All the RAWS and a web/print folder, sometimes a "pre edit" folder if Im going to do PS work. I dont directly import, I save a tiff to bring into PS. Just for some fluke reason my LR crashes and burns I wont loose the work I did, its saved in the pre edit. Some end up with a to blog folder, album, etc. Depends on the photo content/job. Jan 18 13 11:13 am Link Peter Groh in the DAM book recomends using your name as you want the client to know who they licensed the photo from and who to credit. If you use the event name...well they know that already. I use Helm_R_yymmdd_seq# Auto change in LR Works well as long as you do not have a really long name  Jan 18 13 11:52 am Link Robert Helm wrote: I solve this by putting my name and company on the watermark on the corner of the 920x920's, and in the EXIF, post some of them online and on FlickR, and when a client is interested zip up ALL of those into a .zip file and set it up for them to download. That way there is no question how to contact me, even if they go nuts and post every pic to every social media on the planet. And since it's 920x920 it's not useful for printing/commercial use. Jan 18 13 11:59 am Link Dale at Killer Image wrote: I would never separate the image number from the file type in the way you have the dimensions between the image number and file type. Jan 18 13 12:00 pm Link MC Photo wrote: Oh yes, I do prefix all filenames with YYYYMM, but not the day. That's because I shoot a lot of 3 day events. Jan 18 13 12:19 pm Link Jan 18 13 12:28 pm Link There are lots of reasonable strategies. Here's mine: I use Photo Mechanic to ingest the files from the memory cards. Photo Mechanic renames the file to YYYYMMDD-seqn, and adds IPTC keyword and captioning information identifying the client and the job. After the images are ingested I may go back and add additional IPTC information identifying describing the image. For instance a single image may be named 20130119-001.jpg If I have multiple jobs in the same day, I use different blocks of sequence numbers. If needed I use 4 digit sequence numbers. For a project that spans multiple days, I do not reset the sequence number each day. If the last photo of a day was 20121215-345, the first photo of the next day is 20121216-346 If I edit an image, I add a suffix describe the version. 20121216-346-8x10.jpg, 20121216-346-BW, 20121216-346-adj, etc. I use one folder for each project, and generally organize my archives by date. The goal is that every image should have a unique filename. The secondary goal is that when dealing with clients we can refer to the images by the sequence number. (i.e. the client can say he wants images -037, -045 and -099-BW) Finding an image is easy. I use a Mac, so it automatically indexes all the files and associated IPTC info. The built-in find command can search through filenames, IPTC data, creation dates and find me the image I am looking for. I assume that Windows has equivalent functionality. A search for all images of a particular model taken during a specified date range generally takes less than 3 seconds. Similarly, I can look for images taken for a certain client at a particular location (optionally during a particular date range). The key is proper keywording. Of course, this is a temporary solution to get me through the next 5 to 7 years. My expectation is that in 5 years, I won't need to label my images, my computer will use image recognition to automatically identify people, scenes, etc. so I won't need to identify the subject matter. Jan 19 13 05:08 am Link I batch rename the images, using a name relevent to the shoot and numbered in sequence. I fill in the meta data, not just the template but the extra details, like customer name, date of shoot, keywords, etc. These are then placed in a folder, containing all the images for that year. It goes into a sub folder, for the type of work it is, model ports, fashion shoots, commercial, schools, etc.. It then goes into another subfolder, for that job only. I have about 270,000 images and I've learned from experience that badly filed images cann't be found without a lot of work. Jan 19 13 05:28 am Link Jan 19 13 01:25 pm Link Dale at Killer Image wrote: Wouldn't using the start day (regardless of term), resolve that issue. Fairly easy I'd think to convey that the date always represented the start date. Jan 19 13 01:29 pm Link John Allan wrote: This is a good solution. Jan 19 13 02:09 pm Link Agree with -JAY- Jan 19 13 02:18 pm Link yyyymmdd_hhmmss_xxxxxx.cr2 with the xxxxxx being the image file name from the camera. This was done so that I could sort by date (my website when i had it sorted by date with most recent photos displayed first), but also preemptively so that if I were running two cameras for whatever reason as long as the camera's clocks were synced the files would always end up in order chronologically. I never have used that since I've never used two cameras simultaneously. That's the only filename management I do, everything else is handled through aperture folders where a model shoot for example would be in a folder called models followed my a folder for the model and then a project for each shoot using the date in yymmdd format. Since the vast majority of my shoots are single models that works well, in the case of two or more models I either create a folder with both names, or a folder based on the shoot itself. For now this seems to work. As for non-model shoots, I follow mostly the same structure conventions, weddings when I did them were in a folder called weddings followed by the couples name, landscapes (which are mostly shot while on vacation/camping trips) are in misc - places - trip name/date - location name. Occasionally I deviate and do misc - places - place name - date, for example if i happen to be somewhere and shoot some random shots I'll just pull them out of the project and create a small project with just those photos, this is usually how i do it for random landscapey shots or misc shots that I get while shooting something else, like during a photo shoot. Actual trips follow the previous structure format. For events and commercial stuff I have a folder called work and then either the client name or the event. Events usually only house the one event, unless it's a recurring event or client at which it's work - event/client - date. Jan 19 13 04:41 pm Link what i need is something that will search all my external hard drives, including the ones that aren't currently plugged into my computer. it is getting harder to find old shoots although generally customers don't come back to order more anyway. using aperture/lightroom libraries to organize is ok but you wind up with a lot of libraries (because of overloading and corruption problems and just to keep things sane) and then it gets harder. it's like you need a meta-library or something. i think what i need is an assistant. go find the shoot i did with that tall model from arizona with the blue dress. she had these amazing ... aperture can rename files on import. maybe i should try that. but i'm really thinking deliver and be done with it. don't even bother to keep old shoots around. just keep moving forward. but maybe that's too draconian. Jan 19 13 05:21 pm Link twoharts wrote: What I'm about to is archive (to Blu-ray) all of my older full-size .JPGs and RAW files, keeping the 920x920 versions on my hard drive, so when I need an older file I will know exactly what I have before I pull out the disk catalogs. And with the final resolution as part of the filename, I'll even know how big it can be printed before pulling it back to hard drives. Jan 21 13 05:27 pm Link Dale at Killer Image wrote: oh god, this sounds awful. Both from the time it'll take to make the discs and the time it'll take to retrieve. A 3 TB hard drive costs under $200: Dale at Killer Image wrote: I prefer the amazing search tool "Everything". Jan 21 13 05:51 pm Link Mask Photo wrote: Dale at Killer Image wrote: oh god, this sounds awful. Both from the time it'll take to make the discs and the time it'll take to retrieve. A 3 TB hard drive costs under $200: I currently rotate between 2 3TB backup drives, but they are full. Also, it's a 30 hour job to copy from my internal drive to my 3TB external, and much of that data is the huge RAW files from photoshoots years ago. So if I archive THOSE to blu-ray and take them out of the backup cycle forever, I'm good. External blu-ray burners are under $100 (bought at Black Friday sale) and blanks are under $1 (they are on sale most of the time at Frys) (holding 23GB after formatting), so that seems like the better way to go. Jan 21 13 06:04 pm Link Jan 21 13 06:09 pm Link Folders with project name and date. Final edits go into a sub-folder called 'processed'. Since the original images are left intact in the main folder, finding info about how a particular photo was shot isn't an issue. Jan 21 13 06:19 pm Link I put each shoot/event/whatever in a folder with the format "YYYY.MM.DD - Description". That will list everything in chronological order which makes it easy to find for me. Each shoot folder has a subfolder called "edits" for the processed photos. Jan 21 13 06:26 pm Link I do it through light room, each year I do a new catalog. As for folder set up: Year > [monthday]_[shoot name or model name] > [shoot name or model name]-#.cr2 example: 2013 > 0119_beaumont > beaumont-1.cr2 That way I can search for anything using lightroom as long as I am in the correct catalog. Been working well now for about 4 years. Jan 21 13 06:32 pm Link Let's all agree on one thing. An asset isn't an asset unless it can be found and retrieved, regardless of ad-hoc or systematic archiving methods or systems we use. Now that half of you (especially the models) completely disagree, I'll plow forward anyway.  Lessons learned from the broadcast industry can be applied here, though few of us can likely afford the asset management software and hardware they use. What is most important is that in order to find an asset with a "yellow scarf"' that one have the ability to put "yellow scarf" in the EXIF or MXF data fields so it can be found later on. It seems like every digital camera comes with some sort of software that affords this ability. The challenge is actually entering the data. it requires discipline. The hard part is what happens to the media that goes offline? How can that be searched? I use an SDLT backup drive that is MXF-aware. The search functions allow for the retrieval of specific files (and only those files) that contain descriptive content that matches the search string. That is why it is so important to enter data in fields as much as possible. Where many folks express dismay at having to enter descriptive data as it "slows down the production process", it really does speed up the retrieval process! I'm curious if anyone knows an application that keeps offline content searchable. In broadcast, there's Strawberry and Dalet. Those would work for photographers, but they ain't priced on a photog's budget. For Mac users, there's always Final Cut Server, which is iTunes on steroids. Or there was. Anyway, the file name wouldn't matter as long as enough attention was given to the content of the file. Date, model, client, yellow scarf, etc... Jan 21 13 07:02 pm Link FiveOne November wrote: This is the heart of my filenaming scheme... I'm making descriptive file names, with the resolution, and permanently keeping the 920x920 resized version of every photo on my hard drives. They average about 250k, and that's enough resolution to see the quality (or lack thereof) of the image and knowing the original resolution before taking the time to pull it from archives. Jan 23 13 08:51 am Link I use a numbering scheme that seems to work well for me. The first number of any image designates a theme. Local landscapes may be 500 series, sailing shots may be 600 series, etc. 512-1, for example would be the first local landscape photo I took in 2012. My art models all start with 1. So the first image of my fist art model is 101-1. All the photos of that model are in a folder labeled 101 and that model's name. The number therefore gives me a good idea of what the general subject is, when the photo was taken and what folder I will find the photo in. Jan 23 13 10:13 am Link |
