Library Organisation

B1ng · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:33

Afternoon all,

I was hoping for some advice with the following problem.

I have a library of photos on my hard drive, which is getting quite large (over 7k RAWs, jpgs etc. at last count). These photos are organised in meaninglessly named folders, each with an equally meaningless filename.

I am looking for a simpler way than the manual option, to take this library and organise the photos into folders with the date, with files named as the date plus the number for example. I can then use some suitable management software to allow me to tag the various shots. Several web searches show up software that looks great in use, but the folder structure is still the current useless mess.

In short, is there a tool to organise the file and folder structure and naming, or do I need to grab a cup of caffeinated beverage and cue the music?

Many thanks!

bcjames · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:45

I recently hit the now or never point with regard sorting my system within Aperture. I put some thought in to the file system, as you have, and it took me a while to shift it all around, but it also allowed me to enjoy a few forgotten images, and delete a lot of old rubbish too.

Are you using an application or the OS to organise it?

B1ng · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:50

At the moment I have dabbled with moving them about manually. Surprisingly therapeutic, but it will take forever! An application to batch process to a folder and naming structure would be ideal!

oio · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:44

Adobe may be going through a period of decline at the moment, but Lightroom is still a great program that should handle the customisable renaming and folder placement for you in one fell swoop. It can also be used for the tagging.

That's the simple part of what it does though, so I imagine there are many free alternatives (sorry I can't help there with any names of current software; I've got into the habit of cobbling together my own when the need arises). The bonus is that along with the library organisation, Lightroom gives you a load of really powerful (and non-destructive) image editing tools with very simple controls that can be applied almost instantly to one photo, or a whole batch.

ajf · 19 Jan 2014 at 01:28

I would sexond lightroom.
To some degree using that avoids the problem of naming files and folders.

Personally, I DO name folders, simply with the date and location/subject.
However the files i leave as is.
You can then tag the photos within Lightroom making any future searches easy and way more powerful than simple file names.

Doing this way also means you can skip photos that are not particularly good.

B1ng · 19 Jan 2014 at 10:33

Cheers for the advice chaps. I wish I could rewind time to getting my first camera, and organise them from the start. But life goes on.

Is Lightroom a worthy investment then, or are there free alternatives that can do an almost as good job?

bcjames · 19 Jan 2014 at 13:24

Lightroom or Aperture are both well worth the money in my belief. As above, you can forget about the organisation of the actual files and folders then, as the whole lot is amasses in to a single 'library' unit.

Within that library you can then arrange folders and projects, and add tags and labels where appropriate.

The software also gives you some powerful editing tools that should be really helpful if you don't already have photoshop, and often quicker and easier to you if you do.

oio · 19 Jan 2014 at 23:17

It just occurred to me, but you could probably download the trial version of Lightroom and use it to sort your images into folders for free (via the import dialogue options; particularly the Destination, File Handling and File Renaming sections)… And while you have it, you can look at the library management and image editing features to see if it’d be worth a buy.

Since you have a lot of images to shift around, and you’d be new to the software, I’d suggest telling the import to copy your files to a separate, new destination folder. Then you can compare the before and after to make sure you’re happy with the changes it made.

B1ng · 23 Jan 2014 at 17:02

That sounds like a plan to me! I will give it a try. Thank you for the advice and suggestions.

B1ng · 28 Jan 2014 at 17:21

Just thought i'd update; had a good scour round for some software to do what I was after. I stumbled across a program called Shotwell, which seemed to have the library management I was after. I imported my existing collection to a new area, arranging in folders by date. It can also be used to import from cameras and such too I believe, but I am yet to try this bit of it. The best part; it doesn't cost a penny!