Photo Organization Software

[blachly]

Does anyone have a good suggestion for a software program to store and organize my digital photos. I am not a pro but I take about 30 photos a day so it is starting to get hard to remember where I put photos.

I would like one with a good search capability.

I appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!

___________________
Michael Blachly
http://www.pbase.com/blachly

[jdepould]

What do you mean when you say search capability? I use Adobe Lightroom, but that might be overkill. I think Photoshop Elements comes with an organization tool.

[blachly]

I would like to be able to search for photos based on date, location, or keyword. Vacations are easy to store but my random pictures that I take throughout the day are harder to find because they don't have a specific date for that event.

As for software I currently use, I use Photoshop CS2 now. I am shooting a Canon XTi. I understand Canon makes good software that comes with the camera but I haven't installed it.

___________________
Michael Blachly
http://www.pbase.com/blachly

[akumos]

30 photos a day? Wow, what do you take pictures of?

[blachly]

Mostly related to my PAD. When I shoot something I usually don't hold back on the number of photos I take. Particularly if it is something like wildlife or if I am handholding a close macro. I just came back from New Zealand in the fall and I took almost 2,000 photos.

______________________
Michael Blachly
http://www.pbase.com/blachly

[paulsilkphotography]

Most DAM programs will do what you ask some a lot better than others.
I can personely recomend Iveiw MediaPro3, especially if you need to catolog raw and offline images and you want a colour manged application and the price does not put you off, next to that and cheaper ACDSee, after that there are plenty of free ones but each with there short comings.

Feel free to ask more questions if you require, download the free trials but be sure to give yourself time to learn how to get the best from them before making a judgment ,just like CS2 the best requires more of a learning curve

[gebben]

I have been working with two programs. Digital Image has an excellent cataloging program, and IDImager which is free is unbelievable. Take a look at IDImager http://www.idimager.com/ This program does it all and can't beat the price.

[ghsmith178613]

I would like to be able to search for photos based on date, location, or keyword. Vacations are easy to store but my random pictures that I take throughout the day are harder to find because they don't have a specific date for that event.

As for software I currently use, I use Photoshop CS2 now. I am shooting a Canon XTi. I understand Canon makes good software that comes with the camera but I haven't installed it.

___________________
Michael Blachly
http://www.pbase.com/blachly

the absolute first thing you have to do is establish a basic file managment system. how are you going to catagorize and lable your images? PPT, wood, iron, rock, etc.

have you really looked at adobe bridge? it came with cs2. there is a sophisticated search feature under the edit tab in bridge. the canon software works very much the same.

extensis, rocks, but i understand it take a lot of manual inputs. i would have to float a loan to afford it. http://www.extensis.com/en/products/ind ... LAQAAUQ0FQ

there is another that's big, but i'm having a senior moment and can't remember the name something "scee... see"...

wait... it came to me.....
http://www.acdsee-guide.com/
wow! another vote for that one!

thing you need to keep in mind when looking - does is keep the side-car files (exif, RAW)?

[reflectionsbyruth]

I would try this link.
Not sure the other is legite

http://www.acdsee.com/

[reflectionsbyruth]

Just noticed the comment about pictures taken on specific dates.

Most file managment software allows you to search by date.

I've always named my files so I know the exact year-month-day it was taken.
I use Nikon View to offload my pictures from my cards to the computer.
For example, when I offload I tell NV to name my files and include the date taken in the file name automatically by pulling it from the exif data.

So when I go out for a shoot in my area for scenic shots, all my files will be automatically named as follows:

BucksCounty_2007-01-22_001
BucksCounty_2007-01-22_002
BucksCounty_2007-01-22_003
BucksCounty_2007-01-29_001
BucksCounty_2007-01-29_002

Most software I have tried will allow you to use this same type system where it pulls the date from the exif, then just begins the numbering system sequentially until it finds a new date start again from 001.

After creating that system myself to keep my sanity, I later attended a number of seminars by pro photographers and all suggested the same type naming convention. So I was glad to see I didnt have to change my thought process for organization.

I also place my files into folders according to the year and month it was taken so I can easly go to a specific month I remember going out for scenic shots.
Here is an example of my folder structure.
2006 Bucks County
......2006-01-Jan
..........2006-01-15_snowstorm
......2006-02-Feb

[heez10]

I shoot Canons, install the software! It is excellent!

[nchlfot]

I'm no pro, but I take a lot of snapshots. I have a very good system for keeping track of all my pictures. I simply put them in a folder by date inside My Pictures in Windows. Then I view the folders as a filmstrip.

I find that with pictures I took three years ago, the most relevent piece of information is the date of the photo. I can imagine that ten, fifteen years from now, I will still want to know what day, month, year, I took a picture.

I found that tagging and naming pictures not to be very helpful, becuase I forget what I tagged/named them as.

I also like Picassa because it shows my all the pictures on my computer and it's free. I like free.

[reflectionsbyruth]

Your system worked for me the first 2 years.
After that I took soooo many pictures, sometimes of the same scenes or parts of the county I live in but in all different seasons.
It became hard to remember what day o that season I took that scene since all days have their own folders.

You should probably come up with simple tags instead of ones that you cant remember.
For me I use some of these for my local shots.
canal, mill, sheep, roosters, structures, morning, sunrise, sunset etc.
I stop at many of my places all times of the day to see the different changes in light
So if I took a picture of the local mill near me and wanted the one I rember taking with sheep but really forget what month it was taken, my tags would help me find it.
I just have to find the time to go back on 2 years worth of extensive local photography to tag them all so I can find them a lot faster

[nchlfot]

True, I probably should organize better. I am the ultimate procrastinator with stuff like that.

[reflectionsbyruth]

yeah me too, I should be doing it now but instead I'm posting to this forumn LOL