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09/10/2003 05:07:46 PM · #1 |
What does everyone use to organize their photos? I assume some kind of database. Do you buy something or write your own SQL DB? Something in between?
I'm curious to hear the different possible solutions, now that I have a month's worth of photos that need organization.
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09/10/2003 05:09:48 PM · #2 |
I store mine in folders on my hard drive. The folder is named with the date and subject of the shoots. I periodically archive those to CD, but keep the folders as a reference to which CD i stored them on... when I archive a folder to cd, a rename the folder at the beginning with the number of the disk i archived to...
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09/10/2003 05:42:19 PM · #3 |
I won a copy of Thumbs Plus by winning the monthly contest at Bestfoto.com. I am getting ready to install it and try it out.
I have always kept the original camera files in a folder by date. If i edit an image, I then save it in a folder labeled PSD-SEP-03 for all September dated photos, etc.
I have a large hard drive, but my second drive that I back up to is only 40GB, which is almost filled. Thumbs Plus allows you to store thumbnails in the database, regardless of wheter or not the images are on your hard drive. If they are archived to CD, DVD, external hard drive, etc Thumbsplus will keep track of the name of the CD/DVD/drive name etc. If you do a search for "orange flower" it will display the thumbnails for all orange flower shots. When you select one of them, it will tell you which CD to insert to retrieve the file if it is not on your hard drive.
I need to burn numerous CD's and log all the images into Thumbs Plus. I've been putting it off because it will be a monumental task (thousands of images, lots of data base work to enter key words for searches, lots of CD's to burn, etc). Once done, I think it will be very efficient.
Does anyone else have any experience with Thumbs Plus?? Good, bad, indifferent? Should I make the effort to organize my photos with it?
Thanks,
JD Anderson
Message edited by author 2003-09-10 17:43:28.
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09/10/2003 05:44:18 PM · #4 |
If you do install it let us know what you like/don't like.
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09/10/2003 05:49:43 PM · #5 |
I use ASeeDSee (I dunno how it's spelled), but once you get over the somewhat-confusing interface, I've found it invaluable.
Besides helping me organize and catalog photos, it's ability to quickly cruise through a folder full of photos is LIGHT YEARS beyond Photoshop's "Browse" capabilities. Photoshop, IMHO, is just useless in this regard. It takes forever to redraw the screen when using the Browse feature.
Anyway, you can get a free demo from their site... let me look it up.... oh -- here it is!
And it's spelled ACDSee.
Woo hoo! |
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09/10/2003 05:50:54 PM · #6 |
Picasa - I have a fairly 'free' copy. ;)
M
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09/10/2003 07:00:30 PM · #7 |
I've bounced back and forth between two techniques:
1) I have an archive directory where I store all of the images in a tree by date. For example, everything shot on June 8th, 1999 would be in the /Archive/1999/06/08. Most of the image management programs can work over this directory without any problems and if an application fails, everything is still where I need it to be.
2) I have played with using iPhoto on the mac and keeping a library for each year. Having different libraries is no so good, but sometimes the simplicity of iPhoto just wins out. I can lauch Photoshop from iPhoto and the original is alway kept safe.
Whatever tool you use, make sure your images are not stored in a proprietry database. The last think you want to do is loose all of your work because of a application/database failure. |
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09/10/2003 07:14:42 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by mavrik:
Picasa - I have a fairly 'free' copy. ;)
M |
Me want that lol I tried to download it once I think, but for some reason or another it didn't work or something. |
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09/10/2003 07:17:57 PM · #9 |
I'm seriously paranoid about losing information and I have a small hard drive (though I am going to add a second, larger hard drive soon), so this is what I do.
1. Copy files from my memory cards to my x-drive. I later go back and date those folders with the date the photo was taken.
2. Copy the files to my hard drive. I keep raw photos in dated folders in "My Pictures."
3. Use ACDSee to batch rename the photos to include the date taken in the file name.
4. All edited files are saved in descriptive folders. Right now I am working on a series of church photographs so they are in a folder called "churches." I leave the original file name as part of the edited file name so that if I ever need to, I can go back to the original.
5. At least twice a month, I back up all files to CD-Rom. For the raw files, I only do one copy because I already have a second copy on the x-drive. For edited files, I do two copies.
6. I use ACDSee's Photo Disk utility to keep a database of what photos are on which disks. I number the disks throughout the month and keep a copy in a binder with my computer and another in a case on my desk (I use a laptop).
When I need to find a photo, I look through the database on ACDSee and then pull out the disk I have it stored on. This convoluted process lets me clean up the hard drive each month and keeps me organized. I don't know if I would recommend this process to anyone else for the simple reason that my memory works in such a way that I can remember the approximate time I shot a particular photo and then search that database. If you don't have that ability, you might want to come up with another way to organize.
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09/10/2003 08:06:45 PM · #10 |
BTW, Microsoft has a database for access already written for photographs. I'm checking it out right now. The database is free if you have Access 2000.
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09/11/2003 07:55:18 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by shareinnc:
BTW, Microsoft has a database for access already written for photographs. I'm checking it out right now. The database is free if you have Access 2000. |
I do have Access2000... Where can I find the free database?
Thanks,
JD
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09/11/2003 08:50:31 PM · #12 |
For the past months I have written all my pictures on a CD and the folders are named "event-day.month.year". Then I have a index where I can find on wich disk one special Event is.
In these week I just bought a new computer (P4 2.4 Ghz, 512 DDR memory and a 120 GB hard drive) and my friend is setting up webserver on the computer. Then when he has done that I'm gona program a websystem that I can post my image in and search throug my albums. I think that this system will make my life more easy and better (freedom?)
It's just question when I need to buy a new hard drive :) |
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