Ultimate Naming and File/Folder Organizing Conventions?

[jslabovitz]

What do the hardcore Lightroom users say to this? What do you do to future-proof your library?

It doesn't take much to future-proof, but I suppose it depends on how one uses LR.

First, the images themselves are never stored in LR's catalog, but rather referenced by filename. So even if LR and its database disappeared tonight, I wouldn't actually lose any of my image files.

Second, I've configured LR to sync its metadata to the original image files. In my case those are TIFF files (the result of processing Imacon FFF "raw" scan files). In looking at the original files for images I just happened to upload to Flickr tonight, I can see that the TIFF files have the keywords, ratings, location, and other metadata that I added in LR. So while that's saved in LR's database for efficiency, it's also replicated in the individual image files as fairly standard TIFF tags.

The main thing I'd lose is the adjustments and manipulations that I applied using LR tools. Actually, I wouldn't lose them entirely: at least some of that information seems to be saved in the TIFF files, too: running 'exiftool' on one of those files gives me many tags that look related to the (minor) adjustments I performed. I'm not sure whether complex operations, like masking or healing/cloning, are stored as metadata. But I don't really do major manipulations on my images anyway. Others may work differently.

I suppose the biggest loss would be the project-specific information: the collections, the images within those collections, their order, etc.

Finally, in response to polyglot's reference to "proprietary" formats, the LR database *is* an SQL file -- SQlite, to be specific, which is an open-source database. I wouldn't want to be the one to reverse engineer that file and its schema (structure), but it's theoretically possible.

--John

[jonreid]

I use the date format as suggested above and F then 4 digit roll and frame number for film scans and D then frame number for digital shots. I use the description field and keywords to tag in location, people and projects.
I haven't used LR but am considering it after having another corrupt Aperture library (one per year so far).
A friend warned me off captureOne.

Jon

[DKirk]

Don't know if this helps or not, but here's how I layout the directories and it seems to work for me Photos > Fife29072010 > 29July2012FifeRAW then e.g 29JulyFifePSD (for the converted raw images, and work in progress PSD files) and then another 2 directories with the suffixes PRINT and WEB for the print ready files and the copies at web resolution.

[Ben Syverson]

I don't feel the need to rename my digital shots, as they have timestamps and other info embedded in the metadata. I just put them in Year/Month folders.

Film scans are a little more challenging. If you use a date system, do you use the date an image was shot, or the date it was scanned? What if you can't recall the exact date on which it was shot? What if you scanned files from many different rolls or boxes on the same day?

For those reasons, I decided against a date based naming system. Instead, I have a prefix based on the format, a roll/box number, and then the exposure number. For example, frame 19 of roll 234 of 35mm would be:

135-0234-19.tif

For roll and sheet film, the roll/box number gets written on the negative page or box. For integral Polaroid, I actually write the complete serial right on the back of the photo.

The directory structure looks like: ~/Scans/135/0234/

Then I have a simple text file (on Dropbox) that has the list of roll/box numbers along with dates and notes about them. That way I can add notes using the iPhone.

[John Rodriguez]

For DSLR files I use the "YYMMDD_customname" for the directory. After 7 years of that I can say using dates is not ideal for me. I don't necessarily remember when I took a picture. Thankfully in most circumstances I've used the location in the customname field which more closely matches how I think. When I started shooting large format I created a separate directory for scanned files which I use outside of LR (LR doesn't do so well with 4x5 scans on an 09 macbook with 3 gigs of memory). For the LF directory I use "location_customimagename" plus a sequence number if required. Works much better for low volume work, but doesn't scale up. I still need to figure something out for higher volume DSLR output, my problem is I'm way to lazy to go tagging all my images.

[polyglot]

As long as you can take a SQL dump from Lightroom, that's cool; it's as flexible and open as my solution. Since SQLite is open source; you could in theory open the database file with your own app as long as you used the right SQLite library.

I guess I'm just scarred by watching a couple of non-techo friends lose their whole photo catalogues to iPhoto crashes.

[Jim Andrada]

iPhoto??? No way! I think they should call it uPhoto because there's no way "i" would get within 20 feet of it.

[Darin Boville]

I don't understand why people rename their files with date codes. As Ben mentioned above, the date is already embedded in the file, along with a lot of other information.

I don't shoot gobs of images but what I do is have a "Fresh Downloads" folder in Aperture. Then I delete images etc and when ready make new folders with topical names or add to existing folders. The basic idea is that everything outside of that folder has been filed properly. Sort of a staging area.

--Darin

[jslabovitz]

I don't understand why people rename their files with date codes. As Ben mentioned above, the date is already embedded in the file, along with a lot of other information.

But aren't we talking about film? When I scan a negative, the filename is 'Picture 001.tif', and the number starts from #1 every time I run the scanning application. The date in the metadata of the scan file is only the date it was scanned, and includes nothing about the actual settings of my (film) camera at time of exposure. To me, a date + roll + frame code is the one unique way to identify a given shot, across multiple cameras, mediums, projects, prints, etc.

I keep some notes (more or less, depending on situation) on the shot, then key them into a text file later. I've coded some small scripts which use this text file to generate EXIF tags, which are written into the scan files, so I can use Lightroom to organize by actual exposure date and camera settings. I can (and do) browse the 15,000 images I've shot over the last 15 years or so, and am mostly able to keep things organized with some discipline.

--John

[SergeiR]

yyyy/yyyy-mm-dd-{batch number} for scans (i store them as dng) and other raws..

processed ones do go into named folders/subdirectories on their own disk like "steampunk-series-2" or named after client or after model if its test/client shoot.

I dislike any kind of organizing software, b/c it messes up with backups, updates & etc. Used that kind of system for 6 years now (tried switch to some other ways, hated it, fallen back) - always know where stuff is or can find it fairly easy.