The saga to find a photo tag/search tool
File structures and naming
If you are using tags/metadata, then file structure and naming is
not as critical.
If you aren't using metadata/tagging, then IT'S ALL YOU HAVE - so it
is absolutely crucial.
My approach is based on future proofing. It has duplicate data in
directory name, file name and also in the photo description and caption
tags. This caters for accidents if photos are moved, or if problems
happen with file system, and worst case if tags in file is lost (eg
during a photo edit).
My technique Directory name AND filename:
- Rename human unfriendly EXIF names to date format (yyyymmdd)
- Append a brief description to the folder and photos (My workflow
also adds this same description into the phototags.)
If putting a "set" of photos all in the same directory does not seem
OK, then create two directories with different descriptions, think
about a more general description! This is part of the added value that
us humans have to do!
Sometimes dates are grouped together, eg if I have a lot of photos
in the same venue and the date does not matter, or if the date is not
known. The the folder may just have a yyyymm or even just a yyyy.
The duplication and clumsiness in this seem silly, but this is
addressing a few issues:
- Tool behaviour: The way tools group and display photos is very
powerfull and flexable, but it often does not do what YOU want. This is
a big help in getting what YOU want.
- Future proofing and whatever future tools do, or even when you
use or move to another tool. This has the same impact as 1 above and
the technique addresses this as well.
- Errors, either user or computer that casue photos to be
accidently or otherwise to be stored in wrong folder, or
folder/filnenames get corrupted. You have a much better chance of
easily finding and fixing with this apporach.
Alternate storage and naming strategies:
- do by "size" - keep putting into one folder until size equals the
size of your archive (eg CD or DVD).
- See some of the prof eg's
- Include symbols to indicate photo, scan, neg, pos, edit, date,
customer, ....
The tools you have and your workflow greatly impact how easy or hard
this is to do.
My idea of a good tool that allows you to rename the directory and the
filenames of a set of files in one step (and also add the same data to
the tag description and caption). This can be done during the
file download from the camera, or afterwards. My ideal tool also links
into the rest of my workflow.
You must be able to do it afterwards, to cater for scanned files, or
photos given to you by friends, or to rename, or ...