Easy Picture File Organization

A number of questions have recently been forwarded my way asking how to keep track of all of those new digital files that have been created.  There are a number of software packages on the market, such as Extensis Portfolio 7 available here, iPhoto installed on all Apple computers, or many others.  All of these help the user navigate through their digital pictures and store them in an orderly manner.

One thing is for certain; cataloging of some sort must be done.  I have heard people say I just have one media card and that is not too many images to manage.  It is not too many to manage the first month.  With the ease of digital capture a full library may be collected before the end of the year.  If you do not start an organized method of data acquisition at the beginning of your digital camera ownership, you will be overrun.  Once the number of image files become spread all over your computer in an unwieldy mess it seems too late and control is abandoned.

If you are not predisposed to purchasing or learning another software package, here is a cheap way to library your images.  In order to perform a search on any particular file I have found it best to start with the date written as follows YY/MM/DD ( 04/07/24 ) on all sub folder and file folders.  All picture file numbers should also incorporate a leading zero so that images are found in order.  If the file numbers were stored as 1, 2, 10 then a search would organize them as 1, 10, 2.  With the leading zero you would write 01, 02, 10 and they would be found in the same order.  If your camera assigns picture file numbers in a non-duplicating consecutive manner then feel free to use those numbers rather than reassigning new picture files.

With the single master file on the desktop, all pictures relating to 04 PHOTOS (photographs made during 2004 – red folder) will be found within.  The sub folders (blue folders) list the main topics that have been photographed during that year’s period.  Blue folders reside inside the red master folder and are easy to locate by topic.  The green folders reside inside the blue folders and are numbered by date and titled by the subject of the pictures inside them.  Individual photographs contain their file number and are easily searchable by the number you or the camera has assigned.  See illustration below.

When you have collected 600-700MB of data in one of your blue sub folders, burn that folder to an archival gold CD for storage and start a folder by the same name, but number two, three and so on.  All of your images will then be safely backed up.  

Click here for archival gold CD’s available at pictureline.  http://www.pictureline.com/computers/media/mitsui.html

I hope that this will help lessen the confusion of image filing and prevent lost picture files.

Submitted by askRodger@pictureline.com