Photo Folder Hierarchy

[milleker]

I can specify categories, keywords, whatever I want in Lightroom. The problem though is that I hate my folder choices for my main working photo drive. They make it quite difficult to find an image without going through Lightroom first, or when I am making backups, etc..

What does everyone else use for Folder Hierarchy? No wrong answers, I'm just hoping everyone would share their basic folder naming procedures so I can rip them off.. (Or borrow lightly from) ;)

Currently I use:

[Clients]
-> [Last Name, First Name or Company]_Event_Name,_Location,_Date


[Personal]
-> [Vacation]_Description_(IE, Beach),_Location,_Date
-> [Event]_Event_Name,_Location,_Date
-> [Misc]_Ducks
-> [Misc]_Still_Life
etc..


The [Clients] folders work quite well, [Personal] is just a mix-up. Bleh!

-John

[timbernet]

:-( I am sad to say this:

Photos-
157Canon
158Canon
----
170Canon, etc :-D

[In2Photos]

I don't have Clients so mine is strictly personal stuff only. If I have a folder that has lots of photos it becomes a main folder (parent) under my drive letter. Then of course there are sub folders (children) to separate these photos. If a folder doesn't have much is becomes a child of some other relevant folder. For instance, my daughter Haley might go under Friends and Family, but since there are so many shots of her that folder is a parent folder. Then her shots are sorted by age (she is only 2 now so that part was easy, by month). It isn't great, but it works for me.

[milleker]

Scott, that is truly scary... :D

:-( I am sad to say this:

Photos-
157Canon
158Canon
----
170Canon, etc :-D

Mike, good ideas. I really don't like spelunking through folders so directly under [Personal] is where all of the child folders are. If multiple events took place (like a family reunion) I would label them as such but different dates. Most of those folders do have sub folders, but only for the purpose of storing already post processed images from that specific set for web or print.

I like the idea of sorting your daughters' images by age and in sub folders, It made me think: I suppose if I have three or more reassurances of a similar event I'd move to sub folders.

I don't have Clients so mine is strictly personal stuff only. If I have a folder that has lots of photos it becomes a main folder (parent) under my drive letter. Then of course there are sub folders (children) to separate these photos. If a folder doesn't have much is becomes a child of some other relevant folder. For instance, my daughter Haley might go under Friends and Family, but since there are so many shots of her that folder is a parent folder. Then her shots are sorted by age (she is only 2 now so that part was easy, by month). It isn't great, but it works for me.

[lostdoggy]

Year
Date Camera
if applicable Location

in your case client & location.

[rklepper]

I keep things by date and activity. For example 14_May_2007_XXX's_Graduation_Party

[In2Photos]

I keep things by date and activity. For example 14_May_2007_XXX's_Graduation_Party
Doc, you went to Triple X's Graduation Party :shock: :lol:

[milleker]

Thanks!

Client I'm happy with. I've been searching Stock sites to see how they organize their collections. I guess I'd be better off using a generic category type system. For example, fotosearch using a nice list, picking from that massive list I've found a few that just might simplify my own categories:

Agriculture
Animals
Architecture
Art
Backgrounds
Textures
Entertainment
Family
Food
Historic
Holidays
Nature
Objects
People
Plants
Recreation
Seasons
Sports
Transportation
Travel
Urban

Year
Date Camera
if applicable Location

in your case client & location.

[milleker]

Either way. Care to share? ;)

Doc, you went to Triple X's Graduation Party :shock: :lol:

[Jon]

General category (Aviation, Dogs, Greece, Maryland, New Mexico, etc.) and then sub-categories - generally matching the IPTC keywords I use on the photos.

[cylentka]

:-( I am sad to say this:

Photos-
157Canon
158Canon
----
170Canon, etc :-D

Me too! Now I'm on my third Canon, so its getting a bit tricky. :rolleyes:

[In2Photos]

Me too! Now I'm on my third Canon, so its getting a bit tricky. :rolleyes:
You can also run into problems with the filenames. On my XT the filenames start over at 10,000 (IMG_0001 is the same filename for the first shot and the 10,001, 20,001, etc shots). This is why I rename all the shots as I import with the date taken and the original filename (2007_05_02__MG_0001.cr2 for example).

Try renaming your folders by camera and then 158Canon for example would become EOS_30D_158Canon.

[Jon]

Me too! Now I'm on my third Canon, so its getting a bit tricky. :rolleyes:
Pick up Downloader Pro. I also keep the original folders and let it rename them as 103C_20D\103-0345_20D.CR2 or similar (pulling from the EXIF data). Keeps the shots from 5 current and former Canons straight even after hierarchical category sorting and merging.

[cylentka]

You can also run into problems with the filenames. On my XT the filenames start over at 10,000 (IMG_0001 is the same filename for the first shot and the 10,001, 20,001, etc shots). This is why I rename all the shots as I import with the date taken and the original filename (2007_05_02__MG_0001.cr2 for example).

Try renaming your folders by camera and then 158Canon for example would become EOS_30D_158Canon.

Pick up Downloader Pro. I also keep the original folders and let it rename them as 103C_20D\103-0345_20D.CR2 or similar (pulling from the EXIF data). Keeps the shots from 5 current and former Canons straight even after hierarchical category sorting and merging.

Thanks for the tips, I'll try them out! :)

[timbernet]

Pick up Downloader Pro. I also keep the original folders and let it rename them as 103C_20D\103-0345_20D.CR2 or similar (pulling from the EXIF data). Keeps the shots from 5 current and former Canons straight even after hierarchical category sorting and merging.

Can Downloader Pro go back and rename already downloaded images or does it work only at the time of downloading?

[Jon]

Haven't tried it at renaming, but I believe that if you specified the existing folder as the source it could rename and move to a new folder. I started renaming my files to indicate the camera back when I got my second digital, so I didn't have a "renaming" problem.

[rklepper]

Yes, and I must have had a heck of a good time as I cannot remember a moment of it.:D



Doc, you went to Triple X's Graduation Party :shock: :lol: