Organizing, upload, and storing you Images?

[KenRC51]

Just wondering how many of the pros in here store their photos? What are the process you do in storing you photos (data) off you cf or sd cards?

How do you name your file? How you name your folders?

Keep them in original name. Folders are named by date first then event i.e 093010 Dogpark

How do you back them up? How many backups do you have?

I have 3 backups. two 1 tb mirrored drive and a external 2tb lacie drive.

When you need to look for a photo you took a year ago how do you find it?

For me some times I find it hard because all my folders look similar. I scroll through hundreds of folder and they all start looking the same for me. I hope some of you understand what I mean.

[Paul Francis Photography]

I keep my files named as they are written by the camera.

I copy all the files onto my PC while leaving the originals on the cards until everything is backed up to 2 external drives.
My folders go like this:
Pictures>Year>Genre>Client Name

The entire "Pictures" folder is kept automatically backed up online using Mozy. Once I am done touching up the Raw files I only keep the high res generated jpegs on the PC while the Raws are kept on two external drives, one of which is stored in a fire proof safe.

If I need to find specific pictures I open up Google Picasa (which is synced to my "Pictures" folder) as it has a fast search function that will find pics easily by folder name or file name. Picasa also lists the folders by the image dates so that helps in case the search function fails (hasn't failed me yet).

Hope that helps!

[KenRC51]

Thanks Paul Francis, I find what I'm doing is fine but was wonder if there is a easier or a more effective way of storing my data.

Currently I do not link any photo viewing program to my folders I store my pictures in. Maybe I should I should give that a try.

[potterm]

Well I'm not a pro (just an enthusiastic amateur) and I currently use ACDSee Pro 3 for image management (although I'm evaluating Lightroom 3 at the moment so may jump ship). All of my images are in one folder and then in subfolders organised by date. They are backed up / mirrored to a 2nd hard disk in the same PC and thereafter to DVD (although I'm abit behind on the DVD backups - perhaps I should switch to an external drive instead).

The import process in ACDSee allows creation / organisation into subfolders automatically, as well as assignment of any keywords/categories you set as the images are imported. I've set up a hierarchy of categories and sub-categories within ACDSee covering things like place taken, people, techniques used, concepts etc. covered in each image. The tool allows you to apply as many categories as you like (and at multiple levels) when you tag your images. I then use the search functions in the tool to find them again - it's very quick and effective, but you have to be disciplined in keywording/categorising your images once you have imported them.

Martin.

P.S. I don't rename the image files on import (even though ACDSee has functions to do this) - instead relying on the categories I assign.

[Photologyst]

I use Lightroom to import, batch-name, attach meta data from the folder on whatever drive in which the photos are stored.

The Lightroom data base is backed up each time that I open it. While the drives are backed up all the time with Time Machine. I use DVDs and external hard drives for backup. Some kept in a safe, in locked cabinets/closets and others offsite.