Renaming and storing photos

[DanielW]

Hi everyone,
I own a 60D, and bought a S120 about a month ago. Even though I like the little camera a lot for its "pocketability", it has given me an unexpected problem: identical filenames. But it gets much worse...
I used to rename my photos when importing into LR in my own way, which was Name/place - date - file number (e.g., Patricia - 2013 dec 12th - 001); I also had separate folders for each subject, like family, events, trips, portraits and so on. I decided to drop this system because subjects often overlap and I'd end up not knowing if I should put some file in the 2012 Christmas or Family folder. I then started keeping the original files in a single folder, stopped renaming at all, and was waiting for an opportunity (oh well, laziness) to bring old files from HDs and DVDs to that folder.
Making a long story short: now my computer is a mess, and so are my external HDs and DVDs with backups. (I even have duplicated files with different names in different folders.)
So, I'd really appreciate some suggestions:
- How do you suggest I name my files?
- Should I rename, after all?
- Should I just let LR put the files where it wants when importing and never mess with folders? Won't it make it harder to find the files later?
- Is it a bad idea to have them all in a single folder? I've seen people sorting files by year and month, but I'm not sure it makes sense to me since it's unlikely I'll remember when I took the photos.
I need a system that makes sense and that is unlikely to be changed in the future, and can't come with a good one on my own. (I'm sure you have no doubt about it by now...)
Sorry for writing too much.
Thank you!
Daniel

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Daniel.
I just wrote a big long answer and my iPod just tossed it for me! Suffice to say your method is quite similar to mine, I put camera model folders in each sub folder to avoid duplicate file number issues. When you don't know whether an image belongs in Christmas 2012 or Mum and Dad put the image in Mum and Dad and create a shortcut link from Christmas 2012 to Mum and Dad! Or vice versa!

Cheers Graham.

 

[Don Haines]

I have a directory called Photos. There is a subdirectory for each year. There is another subdirectory of the year for each photoshoot.... for example "Photos/2013/2013-05-19 Mississippi River/" Everything else gets grouped into subdirectorys like "Photos/2013/Birds/BlueJay/" I still end up with some duplicate file names, but not as many as before...

 

[krjc]

I use LR and have a folder for each year with a subfolder for the day of the shot. I tag the photos in LR during or after the import process. Works well for me.

 

[sunnyVan]

I use LR also. I have a folder for each year and each month. Then I name the shoot of the event. So for example I may have 2013 folder then December then Grand Canyon. I put in keywords for pictures that I really like so that they are searchable in the future. I generally don't rename file names unless I want to publish a picture.

 

[JPAZ]

Don't know if the 60d can do this, but I name my photos before each event on the 5diii (for example, Canon Rumors might be "RUM_001" etc. ). Then I synchronize the clock on the DSLR and the other camera. Once all the photos are uploaded to a folder (say "Canon Rumors" ) on the PC, I sort them by time, then do a group rename using Adobe Bridge (say "Rumors_001", etc). This leaves a unique name for each in a unique folder. The DSLR and other camera's photos are mixed together, but the EXIF lets me know which camera was used for each.

 

[Don Haines]

Don't know if the 60d can do this, but I name my photos before each event on the 5diii (for example, Canon Rumors might be "RUM_001" etc. ). Then I synchronize the clock on the DSLR and the other camera. Once all the photos are uploaded to a folder (say "Canon Rumors" ) on the PC, I sort them by time, then do a group rename using Adobe Bridge (say "Rumors_001", etc). This leaves a unique name for each in a unique folder. The DSLR and other camera's photos are mixed together, but the EXIF lets me know which camera was used for each.

Can't do that on a 60D.... the prefix of IMG_ is fixed.

 

[extremeinstability]

I let eos utility load to the computer into a folder by date with a long number at the end after the date..a continuous number. I then sort them into folder categories later and have file renamer add a new prefix but keep the file number. They end up like this. http://extremeinstability.smugmug.com/Thumbnail-Galleries/Supercell-Storms I have it add SS for the supercell storm ones then a dash and I just use a letter for the year. So a for first year I started. Then the continuous number. Figure maybe no one connects the letter to the year and doesn't want some file because it is "too old" that way. But yeah, letting the eos utility do it and keep adding the number then file renamer later is what has worked for me.

 

[dryanparker]

If you've ever seen Chase Jarvis' YouTube video on his workflow and backup methodology, he goes over file naming as well. I've adopted a variation of his naming...

Date_project_camera_initials+sequence.ext

So, this: 20131221_SISWIM_5D3_DRP0013.JPG

4 digits is good for project sequences, unless you're shooting 10,000 frames in each session...in which case you may have bigger issues than file naming!

 

[Hjalmarg1]

Hi Daniel,

I simply use the Canon application (EOS Utility) to import all my pictures from whatever ("Canon") camera I use. I name my files "year-month-day-hour-minutes-second-XXXX' where XXXX-digits are a sequential number.
Later I can move them or edit them whenever and whatever I wanna do with them.
By the way, LR can be also used but I need to remember them in a different form but, I prefer Canon way.

 

[Canon1]

I rename to date, sequence #

For example: 20131221001

Files are stored in a folder named the same date with a descriptor.

For example: 20131221 (Xmas party)

Catalog is easy to reference and in chronological order.

 

[FTb-n]

I download files into a directory based on the date then add subject to the directory, such as 2013.12.21.basketball. I often shoot with two bodies and duplicate filenames is an issue. Before getting the 7D (which includes an option for custom filename prefix), I wrote a small batch file to rename the images. I would download files from the secondary body first, then run the batch file to rename IMG_xxxx.CR2 to IMB_xxxx.CR2. Then I would download images from the main body and leave the filenames alone.

 

[MrFotoFool]

I make folders by category. One for architecture, one for landscapes, and several for animals since I do a lot of that (reptiles, cats, ungulates, etc). Everything that fits the category goes in there, with no reference to date other than the embedded EXIF. After all, if I want to find my best Grand Canyon photos (to use an example already given on this thread), I do not want to have to remember which months I did trips there. I just want to see them all.

As for naming the individual files, I do each one manually in windows which is a very labor intensive method and probably not the best. I do not own Lightroom, but I am sure they have a better method as others have stated.

 

[Jack Douglas]

Sadly, I'm no expert on this, but I'll add a personal comment. In shooting wildlife such as birds or butterflies I very much want a date attached to my file folder as I like to know when I got my last hummingbird shots of the season, for example. Thus I've gone for two formats of the same shots. One is strictly chronological and the other subject oriented with date tacked on. In the cold north, winter is a good time to organize the subject folders and enjoy remembering the fun from warmer days and identifying unknown subjects.

Jack

 

[privatebydesign]

Given the power of the Library Filter in Lightroom I see no reason to ever rename a file. As for two images with the same file name, Lightroom allows that as it looks not just for name but size and creation date too. Most OS's won't allow the same named file in a folder and will normally ask what you want to do, either overwrite (never) or give unique name (always).

I use a simple Folder structure for my images and Lightroom. I have three main areas, Import, Work, Personal. In those three groups I have subfolders, Import 1-4, WFT, and Tethered; Weddings, Real Estate etc; Vacations, Tests etc , many of those folders have subfolders, Weddings has a couples name for each wedding for example.

On import everything goes into one of the Import folders, there they have an initial cull and sort and then some core keywording, they are then moved via Lightroom to a more appropriate specific folder.

But the key is keywording. For Jacks example I'd keyword Hummingbird, I could then select Library Menu: Text Keyword - Hummingbird, if you hold Option and click you can then select Metadata too, then just select date (or any other metadata category or combination, then down the bottom select Sort: Capture Time if you click the A/Z and arrows icon next to it you can reverse the order.

This gives you a huge amount of auto sorting power, you can arrange almost any selection in any order entirely automatically. Even without spending hours keywording you have amazing search, recovery, listing, sorting and display functionality. Lightroom is a database, it is way better than we are and can remember exactly where hundreds of thousands of files are. Use that functionality and you get more time to post here

 

[Gert Arijs]

There's an easy workaround in Lightroom to solve this and to achieve unique filenames for all of your photo's. Automatically.

Some things can be variable, but I use a variation of an official renaming system here:

First part is my name (initials):
GeAr
The date (dec 22 2013):
20131222
The time (17h14min12sec):
171412
The filenumber (from _MG0001.CR2):
0001

So the name will be: GeAr_20131222_171412_0001.CR2

Even if you use 10 camera's, you will never shoot a picture with more then one camera in one second. And even if you do, there is very very little chance to have the same 4-digit number in one second. If you're affraid to have this problem, you can make extra presets to add your camera name (eg GeAr_20131222_171412_7D_0001.CR2)

The most important thing is obviously to set your cameras exactly at the same time. This can be done very easy and quickly.

 

[Gert Arijs]

To organise, I use collections instead of folders.

 

[mrsfotografie]

Hi Daniel,

I simply use the Canon application (EOS Utility) to import all my pictures from whatever ("Canon") camera I use. I name my files "year-month-day-hour-minutes-second-XXXX' where XXXX-digits are a sequential number.
Later I can move them or edit them whenever and whatever I wanna do with them.
By the way, LR can be also used but I need to remember them in a different form but, I prefer Canon way.

I do something similar, the file name will be for instance: 2013_12_22_1354.xxx

When I shoot an event with two bodies I will upload the photos from both bodies using eos utility. Then I open the directory with an image viewer/editor (DPP or ACDSEE Pro) and sort according to date/time the photo is taken (Make sure the camera's are set to the same date/time before shooting!!!). Then rename to 2013_12_22_XXXX.xxx (starting at 0000) and the files are intermeshed. After this I leave the file name as is; ie shooting date and sequence number.

The originals go in one directory , file tree is shooting date followed by subject. This tree structure is mirrored in an 'export directory'. ie "Photography\Originals\2013\2013_12_22 - event name\" and "Photography\Export\2013\2013_12_22 - event name\". These are then mirrored on a NAS for safe keeping.

 

[DanielW]

Wow, lots of good advice!
Thank you for sharing your own ways of doing it!
@Graham - A shortcut link is a simple but great idea!
@JPAZ - The 5D3 is really a great camera, isn't it? I will have to make do with the 60D for now, and will buy the 7D2 when (if?) it comes out (hopefully with that same functionality).
@extremeinstability - Terrific photos! Congratulations!
@Jack Douglas - I am thinking just that, getting things organized now (I will not work between Christmas and new year's eve) and spend 2014 taking pics...
@privatebydesign - I guess you are right. I should let LR do its job organizing for me so I can have more time posting here and learning (for my wife's desperation).
@Gert Arijs - Will give it a try right now!
@mrsfotografie - I am not familiar at all with EOS utility. Do you feel it is better than using a LR-only system?
Many, many thanks everyone!
Daniel

 

[gbchriste]

I have LR set up to import to Year/Date folders, preserving the original EOS file name. So anything I shoot and download today would download, for example, as 2013\22-Dec-2013\16A098.CR2

I'll usually just leave the date folder name intact for while during my early processing, since about 99.99% of the time that date folder will contain the photos from a single subject/shoot.

Then once I've pretty much dealt with all the culling and editing, I right-click that folder in the LR library and give it a descriptive name, e.g. my 2013\28-Nov-2013 folder got renamed to "2013 Family Thanksgiving". When renaming the folder in the LR catalog, the physical folder on the drive also gets renamed.

I keep 3 years worth of folders in my current LR catalog - the current year, plus the previous two. So right now I have folders for 2011 through 2013 in my current LR working catalog. At the beginning of each year, LR automatically adds a new year folder when performing the first download for that year. So when I do my first download in 2014, LR will automatically create 2014 folder in the catalog, and start downloading all 2014 photos in to date folders for that year. At that point, I go to the oldest year currently open in the catalog - in this case, 2011 - export it out in to it's own catalog, then remove it from the current working catalog. So after January 1, 2014, I'll have folders for 2012 through 2014 in the current working catalog.

The annual catalog exports are also named by year and sent to their own separate "Lightroom Exports" folder. I've only had one occasion in a couple of years to have to go back to one of these exported catalogs to retrieve an image.