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4.2 - Get Organized!
No More Shoeboxes
Let's say you went to Paris in 2005.
Then, in 2010, you want to find a particular photograph from
the trip.
A few years ago, you could easily have sorted through packs of
prints, looking for the photograph.
They may have been stored in a shoebox.
Today, your digital photographs are in folders with arcane names.
And, each folder is full of unlabeled photographs.
What's what?
Folders and files like those above may not be a problem now.
But five years from now, you're going to have tens of thousands
of photographs on your computer.
Get organized now!
Getting organized is also called digital assest management.
Software
There's software to help you.
Picasa
You can use Google's free software, Picasa (Windows and Mac).
Adobe
You can use
Lightroom
(Windows and Mac) to organize and edit your photographs.
Photoshop Elements
If you use Photoshop Elements, the Windows version has the Organizer.
Go the
Organizer.
The Mac version of Photoshop Elements has Bridge.
Go to
Bridge.
Windows
If you use a Window computer, try the following software.
ACDSee
Camera Bits Photo Mechanic
ExifPro
Extensis Portfolio
PhotoMesa Free
Mac
If you use a Mac, you can use iPhoto or
Aperture from Apple.
Camera Bits Photo Mechanic
Extensis Portfolio
Your Own System
Or, you can devise your own system.
For example . . .
Step 1: Create Folders
Create a master folder, and save your photographs chronologically
by month.
You can also use the numbering system that your camera gives
your photographs.
Use the number of the first photograph in the folder as the name
of the folder.
Some cameras reset back to 1 when you insert an empty memory
card.
Often, they can be set to continuous numbering.
Step 2: Edit & Move
You may want to copy your photographs to subject folders as you
edit them.
Renaming Programs
Let's say you have 2,000 photographs of Paris taken in 2010.
They were labeled by your camera as DSC_1000 through DSC_3000.
They're not easily identified.
You can rename them to become Paris_2010_1000 Paris_2010_3000.
The above programs allow you to rename your photograph files.
If you use Photoshop Elements, go to
Batch Processing.
They're are also many programs just for renaming, many of which
are free.
Ant Renamer
(Windows)
From the website:
Ant Renamer is a free (opensource)
program that makes easier the renaming of lots of files and folders
by using specified settings. It supports Unicode names.
Bulk
Rename Utility (Windows)
From the website:
Bulk Rename Utility is a
utility which allows you to easily rename files and directories,
based upon extemely flexible criteria. Add date-stamps, replace
numbers, insert strings, convert case, add auto-numbers, process
folders and subfolders....plus loads more!
Breeze
Downloader Pro (Windows)
From the website:
The photographers tool for
automated transfer of images from card reader or camera to PC, renaming
and storing them with own choice of file and directory names.
IrfanView (Windows)
From the website:
IrfanView is a very fast,
small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use)
graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003.
Siren (Windows)
From the website:
Siren is a freeware file
renaming utility.
Rename-It!
(Windows)
From the website:
Define some filters to apply
to a list of files, which can be in multiple folders, to rename
the whole list at once.
