- Software: Get some software to help you out. My Pick is Google’s Picasa desktop software; it’s free, it works on Mac, Windows, and Linux(!), and it has strong ties to online PicasaWeb albums (as well as uploading to other sites). Oh, and did I say it’s free?
- Folder organization: Prefix the folder names where you put your images by its date in year, month, and optionally date order (e.g., “2009-05” or “2009-05-24” or “200905”). This allows you to easily sort your folders chronologically by name.
- Image filenames: Use generic filenames for the images, usually the sequential number assigned by the camera.
- Tag your images: Most software allows you to “tag” your images with keywords that make searching for images quicker and easier, later. Be as liberal and prolific as you can, in adding tags so that you can search for the images, later.
On the middle two points, a new digital photographer will have a strong temptation to name folders and images by subject. The problem is that the subject might be subjective; so, not only does it take longer to “handle” your pictures, it could make it more difficult to find them, later, when you are in a different frame of mind. As you accumulate more and more images, it will be difficult to locate images by name only. It may help to suffix the name of folder or image with a descriptive name so that you can recognize it visually in your desktop’s file browser. Using tags can also help you find your images.
Software
My HP machine came with some image management software, but since you will want to have access to your images for a longer period of time than you are likely to have your computer, you will want to pick a more popular solution. I already mentioned that I strongly recommend using Picasa. The following mentions some other photo management solutions that you may have heard of.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of entry level programs. Picasa is targeted at the lay-person and is suited, not only to beginners, but reasonably advanced users. If you have confidence in Google’s commitment to maintain its desktop software, then this should be sufficient. I will give tips on using Picasa in a future blog entry.
Apple’s iPhoto is targeted at the same user audience as Picasa and shares most of the same features. It does have a slightly better user interface that makes more efficient use of the screen. However, it has a few problems:
- It runs on Macs-only.
- It sucks in and hides the original images so they are not readily accessible to other applications or file browsing.
- It is difficult (impossible?) to move a subset your growing set of images to another drive while still being accessible by the program.
Adobe includes their Bridge product along with their expensive professional image creation and editing tools such as PhotoShop and Illustrator. Bridge is a great tool for viewing and sorting through large batches of photos, although it does not remember the images, so it can be slow to bring up its initial view of a set of images. And, unfortunately, Adobe does not sell Bridge by itself.
Expert Software
Where there are numerable solutions for most people, there are only a couple of commonly used solutions for expert users, the Adobe solutions and the Apple solutions. I won’t dwell on these programs since they are for far more serious photographers.
Besides Apple’s iPhoto software, Apple has Aperture 2 for advanced and professional photographers. It provides file management, “workflow,” and advanced photo editing functions.
Adobe, produces several expert/professional level products that include Bridge which allows very powerful image management, tagging, and searching features. Adobe also sells Lightroom for advanced file management, workflow, and common editing functions, targeted at professional photographers. Adobe products are all available for both Mac and Windows.
Again, I will cover Picasa usage tips in more detail in a later post.
Update, May 29 — Deleted photo editing info and added comments about Adobe Bridge.
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