Non-RetouchPRO Resources - - Organizing Pictures and Work

nebgranny · #1 09-17-2005, 08:13 AM

I would like some ideas on how to put together a good way to organize pictures , finished works and so on. I have so many things going on it makes my head swim. any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I know this can be a personal preference , however suggestions would be so helpful. Thanks Neb

philbach · #2 09-17-2005, 08:45 AM

Well I am a home user, but do I have a lot of photos and organization for me is important. I don't keep the majority of my photos in my personal computer but I have them backed up on DVD's and I also use an External firewire drive (I'm a Mac User) dedicated to photos.

To keep all of this stuff organized I use a database and I use Extensis Portfolio. Why? I guess I've been using it for about ten years and it works well for many things. Including music I might add. A big part of the organization is to rename the digital photos and put them in coherent folders (directories).

nebgranny · #3 09-17-2005, 09:23 AM

Thanks for the information . I have so many pictures to rename would take me forever. A lot of them are in number form..oh my do I have a lot of work to do now!! Neb

philbach · #4 09-17-2005, 09:51 AM

Well I would suggest you learn how to Batch Rename Photos. Adobe Photoshop CS has a bridge feature and with that you can rename all of the pictures in a folder sequentially. The Database, Portfolio has the same feature as do a many other programs. Every day it seems my wife goes out and takes a zillion photos with her camera. I download them in my computer and put them in a folder named for the date like September 17 photos. Then using the Batch Rename function in Adobe's bridge I rename all of the pictures with sequential numbers. I.e. 001September17.jpg, 002 etc. That takes less than a minute.

To show these photos I make DVD movies, but without organization the job would be hopeless.

nebgranny · #5 09-17-2005, 10:47 AM

I am so new to Photoshop.Is there a tutorial for this . Do you have time to post how this is done. Thanks Neb

philbach · #6 09-17-2005, 01:36 PM

Well I use a Mac so the screen dumps enclosed may look different from your computer if you use windows. This is for Photoshop CS2. Bundled with CS2 is an application called "Bridge" that is very handy for dealing with photos fresh from the camera.

(1) The first step is to get the pictures out of the camera into the computer.
So in the first picture (1)CameraLoad you can see that I have a folder
on my desktop called Camera Photos and in the folder are images
labeled 6503Image-6524Image.
....The next step is to rename the folder. In this case I renamed the folder from Camera Photos to Nebgranfavorites.

(2) Next I launched the application "Bridge" and directed it to Nebgran's folder. I selected all of the pictures in that folder and then under the tools menue I selected Batch Rename. [See Photo (2)Tools.jpg

(3) This opened up the Batch Rename window and I started the sequence # from one and selected a three digit number so the first number will be 001. for text I typed in NebGran. See Photo [(3) RenameWindow.jpg.

(4.) I then clicked rename and the names in the Nebgranfavorites folder changed to 001NebGran.jpg..See (4)Renamed.jpg

nebgranny · #7 09-18-2005, 07:41 AM

Thank you for the very nice explaination!! I now have a question about using Bridge if the pictures are already on my computer and not in the camera . Can I still use this process? I appreciate the screen shots as well, as I am a hands on visual learner. Just a lot of words is confusing for me ..so thanks again. Neb

philbach · #8 09-18-2005, 08:55 AM

Yep Bridge works with folders in your computer. I would suggest you make some copies and play around with it some since chances are you will make a mistake.

It can also label photos and do a lot of stuff. So make some copies and launch bridge and take a look at the help files. For starters try some of the views to see what you like. label some junkers and then you can show labeled only and trash what you don't like. You can rotate the pictures and rename them and it gets you off to a good quick start.

nebgranny · #9 09-18-2005, 05:21 PM

Thank you for all the information. My problem is I was going to get to this , but had company for a family birthday party and did not get to it , and at the moment I am too tired to try. I hope to take a little snooze and will try later tonight or in the morning!! I appreciate all your help philback.