• Asked by
• Jorde A.
• |
• July 14, 2011
• |
• Nobody else has this question

How should I organize my images on my computer?

My name is Jorde

Recently a friend of mine has sent me the link to your official web page.
It is just unbelievable how far you have gone into the field of infinitive creativity of photography and you're selfless in helping others to improve their knowledge and to become better photographers.
I found lots of useful tips and advice and I'm trying to improve my knowledge but still there are lots of things which make my life difficult as a Microstock Photographer!
Would you, please, give tips on how to keep my photos in my local hard drive better organized?
Recently i started using Light room 2 and so far I found it the easiest and the best software for organizing my Photo Library but I am still not sure it is the best.
Should I make separate folders by type of file, events, Stock Agency, Originals, Raw's, Retouched, etc...?
I know you are very busy, but if you have little time for me to help me to make my life easier I would be so grateful.

Thank you so much Yuri,

Jorde A.

• Answered by
• Yuri
• |
• July 14, 2011
• |
• No one likes this yet

Hi Jorde.
First of all: good question. :)

The filing system we use is very simple and very easy to follow:

Shoot Folder structure outside:

2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo (1000)

2012-03-02 = Date the actual shoot took place (year-month-date)
XY = Photographer initials
AllSystemsGo = Name of the shoot (the name should be descriptive of what kind of images the shoot contains)
(1000) = Amount of RAW images the shoot contains and the status indicator.

The status indicator does just that - indicates the status of the shoot at all times
e.g.
2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo (1000 - ReadyRTKW - 102)


(1000 - ReadyRTKW - 102)
(Amount of RAW images - Status indicator - Amount of Tiffs to be retouched and keyworded)

We use a few status indicators:

ReadyDEV = The RAW images are ready to be Developed
InDEV = The images are being Developed
ReadyEdit = The Developed images are ready to be Edited
ReadyRTKW = The Developed and Edited images (Tiffs) are ready to be sent out to retouching and keywording
InRTKW = The Tiffs are being retouched and keyworded
ReadyUpload = The retouched and keyworded images are back and have been converted to Jpgs and are ready to be uploaded to wherever it needs to go
Online = Everything is done and the images are online

Each status indicator also gets assigned a color to make it even easier to identify what to do with the shoot or what's happening to the shoot.
The statues indicator can also contain any information you might need to remember or know about the shoot
e.g.
2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo (1000 - ReadyRTKW - 102) MRs?

This could indicate that there are Model Releases missing or wrong information on the model releases etc. that needs to be followed up upon.

We also insert the distribution channel of the shoot in the status indicator
e.g.
2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo (1000 - ReadyRTKW - 102) PI

This would indicate where the shoot should be distributed to when the shoot is ready to go Online- i.e. PeopleImages

That is just the outside structure, now for the inside structure of the shoot folder-
Shoot Folder structure inside:

Inside every shoot folder we have 6 sub-folders:

Jpgs () = will contain the retouched and keyworded Jpegs + the amount of Jpegs in brackets
Legal () = will contain all the legal documents (invoices etc.) + the amount of documents in brackets
MRs () = will contain all the model releases of the shoot + the amount of MRs in brackets
RAWs () = will contain all the RAW images of the shoot + the amount of RAWs in brackets
Tiffs RTKW () = will contain the retouched and keyworded Tiffs + the amount of Tiffs in brackets
Tiffs Unretouched () = will contain the unretouched Tiffs (developed from RAW to Tiff) + the amount of Tiffs in brackets

All the files in the subfolders have the same name as the shoot folder
e.g.

The RAWs will be renamed:
2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo-0001 and numbered to 2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo-1000

The MRs will be renamed:
2012-03-02-XY-AllSystemsGo-Muhammad Lee (Name and surname of model)

Status indicators can also be used for the subfolders:
e.g.
MRs (4) still need 2 to come
or
Tiffs RTKW (101) 1 image removed

The status indicators are very helpful and ensures that you keep close track of everything or acts as helpful reminders.

I know it can seem quite extensive, but keeping track of your files is an extensive process once you get more than a few TBs. I hope this helped. :)

Best Regards Yuri Arcurs