HELP!! Photo organization/storage

[badger]

Suggestions? This is getting out of hand.

Do you download and delete all but the best images? Do you upload them to an online storage site? Helpful ideas for tagging/organizing images? I am getting overwhelmed very quickly as is my hard drive.

[omega lambda]

This is a topic that could be debated/discussed as nauseum!  It's a very personal thing regarding how to tag or categorize.

For me, it's by date/event.  I use this format:

2013_04_03 Smith Family (for portraits)
2013_04_03 Smith Jones (bride's last name, groom's last name for weddings)
2013_04_03 Paris Eiffel Tower (personal)
2013_04_03 Grandson Birthday, etc., etc., etc.

The dates will always sort sequentially that way and the name gives me some recollection of what the images in that folder contain.  I delete the junk, but I am terrible about deleting stuff that I'm not sure about.  For that reason, and because of my business, I have 10+ back-up drives, two of which are 3 Tb and have everything on them.  I store them in two different places.  Some people like on-line storage - I think Yogi talked about a very reasonable option. 

I think digital is a wonderful thing, except for what to do with all those images!  When we had film, we automatically had prints.  I suppose prints are just as bad at storing and deciding what to do with them though.  I think one thing that would be good (and I admit I have NOT done this!), would be to tag all your favorites and at the end of the year, make a book for yourself (like from shutterfly or costco).  For $30, you get a 30 page book, with pre-designed templates; all you have to do is drop your photos in the template. 

[Richard21142]

I leave everything on the hard drive, but back up all of my photos on  flash drives.   I print the ones that I like and put them in albums.  Interestingly, I even keep the pre photo shopped versions which makes no sense.

[GeekMaster]

I copy all images to a hard drive under a root folder called, "Photos".  Within that root folder I create major category folders like: Family, Friends, Pets, 2010 Vacation, Pets, etc.

Each major category folder can contain any number of sub-categories:  Pets->Sparky, Pets->Manni, etc.

Every sub-category folder contains 3 more folders named: Originals, Masters, Finals.

So, when I copy images off the camera they are placed in the Originals sub-folder of the appropriate category/sub-category folder.  You can think of the Originals folder as being equivalent to film negatives.  You NEVER alter files in the Originals folder.

My next step is to choose those images that I want to work with from the Originals folder and pass them through PhotoShop for basic tweeking (levels, exposure, sharpness, etc) WITHOUT cropping.  The resulting image files are saved in the Masters sub-folder as .psd files.  I never alter the Originals directly, always putting the basic tweeks in Masters.

Then, when I need to produce an image for a particular purpose such as for a web page or printing I load the Master version into PhotoShop, do what ever additional modifications I want (cropping, resizing, special effects) and save the result in the Finals sub-folder.

[badger]

Thank you all for taking the time to write detailed responses.

OL, I tag with a date, but did: 2013 *Apr* 2, so they don't sort right. Silly me. I'm planning on doing exactly what you mentioned regarding photo books.

[moroccangirl]

I've been trying to do the books since Adam was born. I haven't had time or gotten around to it yet. He'll be 5 in a few weeks!

[omega lambda]

I've been trying to do the books since Adam was born. I haven't had time or gotten around to it yet. He'll be 5 in a few weeks!

Yeah, the hardest part is the prep.  It can be overwhelming.  Dropping the photos into the template is the easy part!

When I'm designing albums for clients, I have a tendency to procrastinate because I've got to figure out which 100-ish images out of 1000 should go in the album.  Some photos are obvious, but my goal is to tell a story via photos so I start, stop, delete, change my mind, etc.  Usually though, after several false starts and a few tangents, I suddenly find the inspiration to get it right.   I suspect it has something to do with viewing the images over and over and over.  Eventually the right ones present themselves. 

Maybe after you move you'll have some time to sort it all out.   

[OldBaldHippie]

This thread is stressing me out...

[Schrödinger’s Bat]

I keep my organizing pretty straight forward.

Every year has its own main folder -  "2013".

Then within that there is a folder for each month - "April 2013"

If there are major events within that month, then it gets its own folder "Parents' Visit"

Otherwise, if it just a melange of general images within a month and no major events, I leave them as is.

All my images from my Canon are named IMG_1111. So they number sequentially, and list sequentially in a folder.
If I throw mobile images in those folders then they can get out of sequence. But I don't take a lot of photos with my mobile.
I do not rename my images.

If I edit an image I keep the original and Save As the edited one usually IMG_1111x (so the sequence remains the same).

A lot of my images I also upload to my flickr account, and I backup everything on an external drive. I really should have two external drives.

My DH is surprised by my visual memory, and he sometimes will ask about a random photo ("the one of the red box") and I will know that it was taken in August 2010.

[Hotspur]

I download from the card to the PC. i back everything up. i delete only about 10% of shots, the blurry, the crap, keep everything else. i organize in folders as shown below. when i edit a photo in paintshop pro, i simply save it as IMG_2034a.jpg (i give it an "a" designation, keeping the original). i save the edited version in the same folder. if i make multiple versions of photo, i save those as b, c, d, etc. i usually save HDR compositions with an "h" (img_2345h.jpg).  My folders all start with the year (13), the month (01) and then just a number for the folder.  i typically don't have more than 5 or 6 folders in a month, sometimes there is zero.  it is easy to sort folders this way.  i just came to this organization philosophy by trial and error, it works for me.  i have a 1TB hard drive and 2 - 1TB backup drives, so storage space isn't an issue. do whatever makes you sane, or partially sane.

My Photos
==>Digital Albums
===>EOS
====>2012
====>2013
=====>130101 - New Years Party
=====>130102 - Indoor soccer
=====>130103 - Winter Hike
=====>130201 - School Trip
=====>130301 - Soccer v. Other Town
===>Olympus PS
====>2012
====>2013
=====>130101 - Something
=====>130201 - Whatever
=====>130202 - Birthday
=====>130203 - Baby
=====>130301 - Soccer v. Town

[makeda]

I keep everything that's worth a second look, even if it's not a photo I see myself using as is.  I've gotten more ruthless as my collection and files have gotten bigger.