An Abundance of Photographs

KennJ · 10-19-2007, 04:53 PM

I try to shoot for an hour in the morning and again in the late day try to get back out for awhile to catch sundown or the later part of the day at least on a daily basis. This creates a large amount of photos to work through.So...
I go through and delete any that are out of focus or shots that missed the mark and often delete all but the best two or three shots that are the same or very similar.
I create folders for the day , than month and finally year but do not have a system for the type (kind) of shot or for keeping track of the better shots other than ones I Photoshop to post or print that get separated into folders. And shots for other folks.
Still a large body of work is created and I am wondering what most of you do to keep things in control and stop loads of photos from over running your ability to keep the good stuff at hand and apart?
What process and software do you find to be useful for keeping order? And what methods do you use to back up the important files you create ?
Because of digitals rise people are shooting and keeping more pictures causing the question of how to best cope with this upsurge. I think it might be helpful for folks to hear some of the solutions that are being devised to deal with this.
Kenn

**Lowell Goudge** · 10-19-2007, 05:00 PM

Generally, I keep all photo's sorted into folders by year and month, and some times within month by activity, with subsets when I travel that go down to different sites within a trip.

This is a master file, where I never trash anything, or edit anything.

I then COPY files I want to work on, into another folder, do what ever crop, adjust, etc, but always retain the origonal file name on the copied file, that way, if I want to go back to the origonal and re-work something differently, I can easily find it. This leads to double the space on my dish, but what the H&%$ space is almost free these days. I jsut saw a 500GB USB drive for $119

philmorley · 10-19-2007, 05:51 PM

you need some 'dam' software. personally I like idimager, other very popular is acdsee, picasa, iview but there is a comparison here

ImpulseAdventure - Comparison of Digital Photo Catalog Software

fortunately most of them have a free trial period (and there are a few free ones around) so you can download and see which one works for you.

clawhammer · 10-19-2007, 06:26 PM

Don't discount the more expensive Aperture or Lightroom- They are VERY powerful tools. They're also not incredibly expensive if you know someone who's going to college.

Cloudy Wizzard · 10-20-2007, 01:57 AM

Originally posted by philmorley

you need some 'dam' software. personally I like idimager, other very popular is acdsee, picasa, iview but there is a comparison here

ImpulseAdventure - Comparison of Digital Photo Catalog Software

fortunately most of them have a free trial period (and there are a few free ones around) so you can download and see which one works for you.

I think idImager was advised by some people at a Belgian Photography forum (the Developer is a frequent poster there so I guess he's Belgian like me or maybe Dutch).

xfraser · 10-20-2007, 06:13 AM

We use iMatch and like it. You can put photos in multiple categories and there is also a rating system. It's not very expensive either.

lapeen · 10-20-2007, 07:44 AM

I use picasa. It's free and I like how it organizes my phots. I also do 2-3, or even 4, delete processes. Right when I upload I first go through and delete all the obvious crappy ones right from the thumbnails. Then I go through photo by photo and delete a bunch more. Then I REALLY go through them and scrutinize. I have a 'rule' that I can keep no more than 20 photos for per session or event. Or 30 a day if it's a vacation.

KennJ · 10-20-2007, 07:45 AM

Sounds like everyone is able to address how they organise on the computer using some type of software like Lightroom to keep up with photo files. Thanks for the link Phil. It looks like some decent information and software. I downloaded the trial version of idimager and will give it a try for awhile and see how it does.
So, another part of all this is long range storage. How do you all store older files .
For instance I have DVD hard copies of all my shots but was recently looking at buying an exterior hard drive of 500 gigs or more and using that as a back-up system for the years of pictures I now have on disk.I am wondering if one method is any more secure that the other over time. Many people say you have to reburn you back-ups every few years due to the disks aging and deteriorating but I don't know how true that is. I have disks that are 5-6 years old that are fine as far as I can tell. Anyone have experience with this issue ?
Kenn

Dr_Watso · 10-20-2007, 10:29 AM

Originally posted by KennJ

Sounds like everyone is able to address how they organise on the computer using some type of software like Lightroom to keep up with photo files. Thanks for the link Phil. It looks like some decent information and software. I downloaded the trial version of idimager and will give it a try for awhile and see how it does.
So, another part of all this is long range storage. How do you all store older files .
For instance I have DVD hard copies of all my shots but was recently looking at buying an exterior hard drive of 500 gigs or more and using that as a back-up system for the years of pictures I now have on disk.I am wondering if one method is any more secure that the other over time. Many people say you have to reburn you back-ups every few years due to the disks aging and deteriorating but I don't know how true that is. I have disks that are 5-6 years old that are fine as far as I can tell. Anyone have experience with this issue ?
Kenn

Someone else already mentioned it, but you should try the free "Picasa" from google. It would work with your existing orginazation method to index your files, and show you them all in one place. It can even see Pentax RAW files. (I forget if you need to download a plugin or not, but that's easy!)

OriginalHotrodder · 11-10-2007, 05:15 PM

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but in my search I found XnView. It's true freeware and has some very powerful capabilities. You might want to check it out.
Free graphic and photo viewer - XnView - GRAPHIC VIEWER

distudio · 11-10-2007, 06:32 PM

Originally posted by philmorley

you need some 'dam' software. personally I like idimager, other very popular is acdsee, picasa, iview but there is a comparison here

ImpulseAdventure - Comparison of Digital Photo Catalog Software

Critical for me what's lacking in that review is an indication of how the various applications handle off-line media, this is of great importance to most serious digital photographers I believe.

JamesD · 11-10-2007, 09:39 PM

Originally posted by lapeen

I use picasa. It's free and I like how it organizes my phots. I also do 2-3, or even 4, delete processes. Right when I upload I first go through and delete all the obvious crappy ones right from the thumbnails. Then I go through photo by photo and delete a bunch more. Then I REALLY go through them and scrutinize. I have a 'rule' that I can keep no more than 20 photos for per session or event. Or 30 a day if it's a vacation.

This more or less mirrors our own method. We delete like crazy. Many of our excursions are little more than opportunities to get out and enjoy nature AND to learn a bit more about our favorite hobby: photography. We're under no delusions that what we produce is of much value other than our own personal gratification. My wife once took over 900 of my slides, digitized them, set them to music and burned copies for all my children and their families. Many of these were images of their youth as well as a few images with which I had won some camera club awards. They thanked us in a cursory manner but I know it to be the case that they rarely watch it. And this was several years ago. They're just not interested. And if truth be known, I've rarely gone back and watched it myself. Thousands of slides sitting in steel boxes and never watched. Mushroom, hawks, sunsets... who really cares? I for one don't. It was the process that interested me.

Now I'm faced with these digital images (we've been making them mostly of our trips around the world) and what to do with them all. Again... we never go back and look at them. They're in folders by year and by subject but again... who really cares? I don't. My wife doesn't. My kids don't. The process however, was wonderful. In the thousands (probably tens of thousands) of images I've taken over 35 years, I have perhaps a dozen images that still make me smile. The rest sit in boxes and folders and will doubtless be deleted and trashed when I'm gone. It doesn't bother me in the least.

I readily admit that I'm probably the rare exception here but I'm also willing to bet that I'm not alone. So, I don't much care for elaborate systems of filing, knowing it matters not one whit to anyone and in particular to me. Other than my Windows folders which are dated and contain subjects (i.e. Kauai) I've no need for anything else.

All the best.

SpecialK · 11-10-2007, 10:05 PM

My filenames start with the 6-digit date "yymmdd". I create a folder for each shooting date with short description, such as "071103 Airshow". I keep that days' shoot in that folder. Over time, I put the older folders in "Year" folders, just so the list does not get so long in the directory tree.

I keep the images on my hard drive as well as back up the images to an external hard drive, then occasionally to DVDs. If I keep any PEFs, they are on the external drives only, due to internal space limitations.

LaRee · 11-29-2007, 12:09 AM

Originally posted by JamesD

This more or less mirrors our own method. We delete like crazy. Many of our excursions are little more than opportunities to get out and enjoy nature AND to learn a bit more about our favorite hobby: photography. We're under no delusions that what we produce is of much value other than our own personal gratification. My wife once took over 900 of my slides, digitized them, set them to music and burned copies for all my children and their families. Many of these were images of their youth as well as a few images with which I had won some camera club awards. They thanked us in a cursory manner but I know it to be the case that they rarely watch it. And this was several years ago. They're just not interested. And if truth be known, I've rarely gone back and watched it myself. Thousands of slides sitting in steel boxes and never watched. Mushroom, hawks, sunsets... who really cares? I for one don't. It was the process that interested me.

Now I'm faced with these digital images (we've been making them mostly of our trips around the world) and what to do with them all. Again... we never go back and look at them. They're in folders by year and by subject but again... who really cares? I don't. My wife doesn't. My kids don't. The process however, was wonderful. In the thousands (probably tens of thousands) of images I've taken over 35 years, I have perhaps a dozen images that still make me smile. The rest sit in boxes and folders and will doubtless be deleted and trashed when I'm gone. It doesn't bother me in the least.

I readily admit that I'm probably the rare exception here but I'm also willing to bet that I'm not alone. So, I don't much care for elaborate systems of filing, knowing it matters not one whit to anyone and in particular to me. Other than my Windows folders which are dated and contain subjects (i.e. Kauai) I've no need for anything else.

All the best.

Wow I am amazed that you've been a photographer for over 35 years and you say you don't get pleasure out of viewing your past photographs. I understand the thought that no one else may be interested in viewing them. But for YOU not to enjoy looking back on them is hard for me to understand.
I do understand enjoying the process of photography. That is my favorite part too.

But I get pleasure out of going back and viewing images I've taken. I often forget what I have because I've shot so much the past few years. But when I see a shot I am brought back to that place in time. I get to relive the joy of taking the shot.
I don't care if all my photos are tossed when I'm gone. OK, that isn't totally honest, I hope the boys will keep some of my favorite shots of them. But I think it is unrealistic to think that they'll have the time or desire to go through all the photos I have accumulated over the years of my favorite subjects. It will be much different than the cherished photos I have from my mom, photos of her as a young girl with my Nana and Nano.

10-19-2007, 04:53 PM	#1
KennJ Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk , Va. Photos: Gallery Posts: 132	An Abundance of Photographs I try to shoot for an hour in the morning and again in the late day try to get back out for awhile to catch sundown or the later part of the day at least on a daily basis. This creates a large amount of photos to work through.So... I go through and delete any that are out of focus or shots that missed the mark and often delete all but the best two or three shots that are the same or very similar. I create folders for the day , than month and finally year but do not have a system for the type (kind) of shot or for keeping track of the better shots other than ones I Photoshop to post or print that get separated into folders. And shots for other folks. Still a large body of work is created and I am wondering what most of you do to keep things in control and stop loads of photos from over running your ability to keep the good stuff at hand and apart? What process and software do you find to be useful for keeping order? And what methods do you use to back up the important files you create ? Because of digitals rise people are shooting and keeping more pictures causing the question of how to best cope with this upsurge. I think it might be helpful for folks to hear some of the solutions that are being devised to deal with this. Kenn

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Some Blurry photographs	little laker	Post Your Photos!	3	07-16-2009 08:00 AM
Some Photographs.....	AlexanderMayorov	Post Your Photos!	17	12-30-2008 10:43 AM
Some Photographs	Gracie	Post Your Photos!	7	12-29-2008 07:55 AM
a few more wedding photographs	little laker	Post Your Photos!	10	05-13-2008 10:07 PM
Photographs from trip to Ardennes (Belgium) and Cologne (Germany) (13 photographs)	barendvl	Post Your Photos!	2	07-30-2007 03:15 PM

10-19-2007, 05:00 PM	#2
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,886	Generally, I keep all photo's sorted into folders by year and month, and some times within month by activity, with subsets when I travel that go down to different sites within a trip. This is a master file, where I never trash anything, or edit anything. I then COPY files I want to work on, into another folder, do what ever crop, adjust, etc, but always retain the origonal file name on the copied file, that way, if I want to go back to the origonal and re-work something differently, I can easily find it. This leads to double the space on my dish, but what the H&%$ space is almost free these days. I jsut saw a 500GB USB drive for $119

10-19-2007, 05:51 PM	#3
philmorley Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: in a house in Armidale, Australia Posts: 472	you need some 'dam' software. personally I like idimager, other very popular is acdsee, picasa, iview but there is a comparison here ImpulseAdventure - Comparison of Digital Photo Catalog Software fortunately most of them have a free trial period (and there are a few free ones around) so you can download and see which one works for you.

10-19-2007, 06:26 PM	#4
clawhammer Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Logan, Utah Photos: Gallery Posts: 971	Don't discount the more expensive Aperture or Lightroom- They are VERY powerful tools. They're also not incredibly expensive if you know someone who's going to college.

10-20-2007, 01:57 AM	#5
Cloudy Wizzard Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Lommel, Belgium Posts: 285	Originally posted by philmorley you need some 'dam' software. personally I like idimager, other very popular is acdsee, picasa, iview but there is a comparison here ImpulseAdventure - Comparison of Digital Photo Catalog Software fortunately most of them have a free trial period (and there are a few free ones around) so you can download and see which one works for you. I think idImager was advised by some people at a Belgian Photography forum (the Developer is a frequent poster there so I guess he's Belgian like me or maybe Dutch).

10-20-2007, 06:13 AM	#6
xfraser Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Ohio Photos: Gallery Posts: 828	We use iMatch and like it. You can put photos in multiple categories and there is also a rating system. It's not very expensive either.

10-20-2007, 07:44 AM	#7
lapeen Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: bangor, maine Posts: 380	I use picasa. It's free and I like how it organizes my phots. I also do 2-3, or even 4, delete processes. Right when I upload I first go through and delete all the obvious crappy ones right from the thumbnails. Then I go through photo by photo and delete a bunch more. Then I REALLY go through them and scrutinize. I have a 'rule' that I can keep no more than 20 photos for per session or event. Or 30 a day if it's a vacation.

10-20-2007, 07:45 AM	#8
KennJ Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk , Va. Photos: Gallery Posts: 132 Original Poster	Sounds like everyone is able to address how they organise on the computer using some type of software like Lightroom to keep up with photo files. Thanks for the link Phil. It looks like some decent information and software. I downloaded the trial version of idimager and will give it a try for awhile and see how it does. So, another part of all this is long range storage. How do you all store older files . For instance I have DVD hard copies of all my shots but was recently looking at buying an exterior hard drive of 500 gigs or more and using that as a back-up system for the years of pictures I now have on disk.I am wondering if one method is any more secure that the other over time. Many people say you have to reburn you back-ups every few years due to the disks aging and deteriorating but I don't know how true that is. I have disks that are 5-6 years old that are fine as far as I can tell. Anyone have experience with this issue ? Kenn

10-20-2007, 10:29 AM	#9
Dr_Watso Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 65	Originally posted by KennJ Sounds like everyone is able to address how they organise on the computer using some type of software like Lightroom to keep up with photo files. Thanks for the link Phil. It looks like some decent information and software. I downloaded the trial version of idimager and will give it a try for awhile and see how it does. So, another part of all this is long range storage. How do you all store older files . For instance I have DVD hard copies of all my shots but was recently looking at buying an exterior hard drive of 500 gigs or more and using that as a back-up system for the years of pictures I now have on disk.I am wondering if one method is any more secure that the other over time. Many people say you have to reburn you back-ups every few years due to the disks aging and deteriorating but I don't know how true that is. I have disks that are 5-6 years old that are fine as far as I can tell. Anyone have experience with this issue ? Kenn Someone else already mentioned it, but you should try the free "Picasa" from google. It would work with your existing orginazation method to index your files, and show you them all in one place. It can even see Pentax RAW files. (I forget if you need to download a plugin or not, but that's easy!)

11-10-2007, 05:15 PM	#10
OriginalHotrodder Inactive Account Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Northern CA Posts: 4	I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but in my search I found XnView. It's true freeware and has some very powerful capabilities. You might want to check it out. Free graphic and photo viewer - XnView - GRAPHIC VIEWER

11-10-2007, 06:32 PM	#11
distudio Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Sydney Photos: Albums Posts: 450	Originally posted by philmorley you need some 'dam' software. personally I like idimager, other very popular is acdsee, picasa, iview but there is a comparison here ImpulseAdventure - Comparison of Digital Photo Catalog Software Critical for me what's lacking in that review is an indication of how the various applications handle off-line media, this is of great importance to most serious digital photographers I believe.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

11-10-2007, 09:39 PM	#12
JamesD Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 536	Originally posted by lapeen I use picasa. It's free and I like how it organizes my phots. I also do 2-3, or even 4, delete processes. Right when I upload I first go through and delete all the obvious crappy ones right from the thumbnails. Then I go through photo by photo and delete a bunch more. Then I REALLY go through them and scrutinize. I have a 'rule' that I can keep no more than 20 photos for per session or event. Or 30 a day if it's a vacation. This more or less mirrors our own method. We delete like crazy. Many of our excursions are little more than opportunities to get out and enjoy nature AND to learn a bit more about our favorite hobby: photography. We're under no delusions that what we produce is of much value other than our own personal gratification. My wife once took over 900 of my slides, digitized them, set them to music and burned copies for all my children and their families. Many of these were images of their youth as well as a few images with which I had won some camera club awards. They thanked us in a cursory manner but I know it to be the case that they rarely watch it. And this was several years ago. They're just not interested. And if truth be known, I've rarely gone back and watched it myself. Thousands of slides sitting in steel boxes and never watched. Mushroom, hawks, sunsets... who really cares? I for one don't. It was the process that interested me. Now I'm faced with these digital images (we've been making them mostly of our trips around the world) and what to do with them all. Again... we never go back and look at them. They're in folders by year and by subject but again... who really cares? I don't. My wife doesn't. My kids don't. The process however, was wonderful. In the thousands (probably tens of thousands) of images I've taken over 35 years, I have perhaps a dozen images that still make me smile. The rest sit in boxes and folders and will doubtless be deleted and trashed when I'm gone. It doesn't bother me in the least. I readily admit that I'm probably the rare exception here but I'm also willing to bet that I'm not alone. So, I don't much care for elaborate systems of filing, knowing it matters not one whit to anyone and in particular to me. Other than my Windows folders which are dated and contain subjects (i.e. Kauai) I've no need for anything else. All the best.

11-10-2007, 10:05 PM	#13
SpecialK Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: So California Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,480	My filenames start with the 6-digit date "yymmdd". I create a folder for each shooting date with short description, such as "071103 Airshow". I keep that days' shoot in that folder. Over time, I put the older folders in "Year" folders, just so the list does not get so long in the directory tree. I keep the images on my hard drive as well as back up the images to an external hard drive, then occasionally to DVDs. If I keep any PEFs, they are on the external drives only, due to internal space limitations.

11-29-2007, 12:09 AM	#14
LaRee Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Diego Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,225	Originally posted by JamesD This more or less mirrors our own method. We delete like crazy. Many of our excursions are little more than opportunities to get out and enjoy nature AND to learn a bit more about our favorite hobby: photography. We're under no delusions that what we produce is of much value other than our own personal gratification. My wife once took over 900 of my slides, digitized them, set them to music and burned copies for all my children and their families. Many of these were images of their youth as well as a few images with which I had won some camera club awards. They thanked us in a cursory manner but I know it to be the case that they rarely watch it. And this was several years ago. They're just not interested. And if truth be known, I've rarely gone back and watched it myself. Thousands of slides sitting in steel boxes and never watched. Mushroom, hawks, sunsets... who really cares? I for one don't. It was the process that interested me. Now I'm faced with these digital images (we've been making them mostly of our trips around the world) and what to do with them all. Again... we never go back and look at them. They're in folders by year and by subject but again... who really cares? I don't. My wife doesn't. My kids don't. The process however, was wonderful. In the thousands (probably tens of thousands) of images I've taken over 35 years, I have perhaps a dozen images that still make me smile. The rest sit in boxes and folders and will doubtless be deleted and trashed when I'm gone. It doesn't bother me in the least. I readily admit that I'm probably the rare exception here but I'm also willing to bet that I'm not alone. So, I don't much care for elaborate systems of filing, knowing it matters not one whit to anyone and in particular to me. Other than my Windows folders which are dated and contain subjects (i.e. Kauai) I've no need for anything else. All the best. Wow I am amazed that you've been a photographer for over 35 years and you say you don't get pleasure out of viewing your past photographs. I understand the thought that no one else may be interested in viewing them. But for YOU not to enjoy looking back on them is hard for me to understand. I do understand enjoying the process of photography. That is my favorite part too. But I get pleasure out of going back and viewing images I've taken. I often forget what I have because I've shot so much the past few years. But when I see a shot I am brought back to that place in time. I get to relive the joy of taking the shot. I don't care if all my photos are tossed when I'm gone. OK, that isn't totally honest, I hope the boys will keep some of my favorite shots of them. But I think it is unrealistic to think that they'll have the time or desire to go through all the photos I have accumulated over the years of my favorite subjects. It will be much different than the cherished photos I have from my mom, photos of her as a young girl with my Nana and Nano.