Photoshop Elementsn organization

[AMDG]

For those of you who have PE, how do you organize your jpegs from your RAW and dng images when in the Organizer?

I can't stand having them smattered here and there all over the place without knowing which is the jpeg, RAW, or dng. I've started assigning the RAWs a 1 star and the dngs a 2 star. Then I stack all the 1s together and stack all the 2s together.

Is there a better way? Am I running a mile when I only need to go an inch?
Karen

[StewartR]

Hi Karen. I use PSE 5. I suspect that, with PhotoShop, there's always a better way, regardless of what one is currently doing! I'm sure there are several approaches to this, and others may chime in with better suggestions, but here's what I do.

(1) Wherever possible I use version sets to keep all versions of the same image (RAW, converted TIFF, enhanced PSD, final JPEGS of different sizes) all together. So I only see one thumbnail in the organiser, but I can expand it to get at any image within the set. This is only possible when you use PSE or PS as the editor, however.

(2) If I can't use version sets, I use stacks to keep all versions of the image together. If you have a disciplined file naming system then PSE can recommend stacks automatically. Again, I only see one thumbnail in the organiser, but I can expand it to get at any image within the stack.

(3) Sometimes I'll use version sets and stacks together. For example, say I've shot a pano with 6 frames. There will be 6 RAWs and 6 converted TIFFs, forming 6 version sets. Then after I've stitched the pano I will create a stack containing the stitched pano and the 6 consituent parts. Then as I edit the pano that will create another version set. The result is a stack containing 7 version sets, and again there is just one thumbnail in the organiser unless I expand it.

If it would help, I can do a screen shot to illustrate (3) when I get home.

(4) I use the star ratings on each stack/set to indicate where I am in the workflow:
No stars ... not reviewed yet.
1 star ... not worth processing (duff shot, or duplicate)
2 stars ... RAW photo, needs converting
3 stars ... converted RAW, needs enhancing
4 stars ... finished
5 stars ... haven't found a use for this yet

So I can search for (say) all the photos from my recent holiday that have no stars, and decide whether they're any good or not. Or I can search for all the ones that have 4 stars and upload them to my SmugMug gallery. You get the idea.

[AMDG]

If it would help, I can do a screen shot to illustrate (3) when I get home.

That would be great. This is just the sort of response I was looking for. Thanks!
Karen

[StewartR]

OK, this should be self-explanatory. Let me know if it isn't.

(Incidentally you can admire a large version of the finished panorama here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=328053).)

180852

[AMDG]

This has been very helpful. I've managed to work in the Organizer and do some organizing. I've assigned stars and names to some photos, stacked some, and some are in version sets. But, when I search for that name and that star, it doesn't show up. I'm guessing because the particular photo I'm looking for is hidden in a stack or version set and the search function can't find the name and star when it's burried. That kind of defeats the search function/stack and version set options. One works, but not both. Does this sound right?

Karen

[StewartR]

The interaction between stacks, version sets, tags, captions etc. is complicated. Here's how I think it works.

Tags: All images in a version set must have the same tags. Tag one, and you tag them all. But images in a stack do not have to have the same tags. If the stack is collapsed (i.e. only one image showing) then applying a tag will affect all images in the stack. But if the stack is expanded then you can tag each image independently.

Captions: Each image in a version set or in a stack can have a different caption. If a stack or version set is collapsed, and you caption the top image, then other images in the stack or version set are not captioned. If you want to apply the same caption to all images in a stack or version set, then you have to expand it first, select all the images, and then create the caption.

If you caption a RAW image and then convert it to (say) a JPEG , then the converted image does not inherit the caption. But if you edit a JPEG and save the edited image in a version set, then the edited image does inherit the caption.

Searching: If you search for a tag, or for a word within a caption, then only the images visible in the organiser are searched. If a version set or stack is collapsed, then only the top image is searched, and only the top image will show up in the search results. But if a version set or stack is expanded, then all images are searched and any or all can show up in the search results.

Expanding: You can expand all stacks prior to doing a search. (From the menu: View, Expand All Stacks.) But there does not seem to be an automatic way of expanding all version sets.


Personally, I generally try to organise things so that all images in a version stack or in a set have the same caption and tags. Or to put it another way: if I want to give them different tags or captions then I don't stack them. The one common exception is if I have a lot of duplicated images; I might put all the not-so-good ones (1* tag) with the best one (4* tag) in a stack. But that's OK because the best one will be on top of the stack and that's the one I'd be most likely to want to find anyway.

The other way of organising photos in PSE is using collections, but I haven't tried that. I find I can do all I need with a combination of tags, captions and the timeline. But I'd be interested to hear from others if they find collections are useful for them.