Numbering system

[Firegirl]

What kind of numbering systems do y'all use? There must be a better way than just keeping the numbers assigned right out of the camera......
I have CS2...is there a numbering function in there?

[johnastovall]

I generally use a base 10 numbering system but their are things to be said for base 2, 8, 12 and 16.

[Steelsun]

I number my directories by reverse date (i.e. 061231-photo shoot name)

My images themselves I rename by subject-shot# (camera assigned) or location-subject-shot#

So it could be one of the 50 pics I took of my dog Teela last week: teela-5975.jpg in directory "06-12-25 dogs xmas"

or shots I took yesterday in San Angelo
Directory: "06-12 San Angelo" (I did not put a day since I am here for 4 days and am lumping shots together)
Shots: SanAngelo-Trains-Engine-6453.jpg, SanAngelo-Trains-Detail-6466.jpg, SanAngelo-Courthouse-6502.jpg, SanAngelo-Cactus-Wedding-6489.jpg)

I usually do not rename my original raw files, but do categorize them in directories as above.
(i.e. my current "06-12 San Angelo" directory has sub directories for Birds, CactusHotel, Courthouse, Downtown, Misc, Trains, Xmas Lights)

[Hogleg 44]

I use Downloader Pro to fransfer my pictures from the card to the computer. DLP has user configurable numbering. I choose to start with the capture date, job name and then regular camera file number. ie: 122906E&Z7378.CR2

[dreemes]

I use a system like this:

2006-12 (directory named after year and month)
2006-12-15 (sub-directory named after year, month and day)
RDR_2006-12-15-02-08-09.JPG (filename named after my initials, year, month, day, hour, minute and second. And a sequential number is added for multiple shots in the same second.)

[kenw]

Yes, I just use the numbers straight out of the camera. A simple "My Computer" view with thumbnails or one of several other options will show me the image faster and easier (and without any renaming) faster than I can decipher any code.

Since I've also run documentation systems for large companies, where so-called "smart numbers" were all the rage about 30 years ago, I can firmly say they are a non-solution in most cases. There are always exceptions, necessary variations and changes that keep the "smarts" from being anything more than clever and time consuming. Years later your desendants will curse the lack or loss of the "secret decoder ring" necessary figure out all that codework. EXIF data saved with the original file gives more info than most could ever want!

Here's what I do, it has worked for me for many years:

Each kept shot goes in a folder. originals keep the original file name (IMG_1234). Edits get something like a suffix "-e" or "with border", or "4x6" to denote misc edits, corrections, tweaks, crops, or whatever ("IMG_1234e bord 4x6 ver2"). By retaining the original file # with a suffix, I can always tell where the starting point for that wonderful creation was.....back to square one.....

The folder has a name of at least the date or key subject, and it may contain some info like "Christmas 2006", "Mercer 12-28-2006", etc.

Each folder goes into another folder such as "2006 D", D being the 4th (duh) such folder of 2006. When 2006 D reaches about 650mb (a cd worth), it gets archived onto a CD, and 2006 E gets started. (the folder here is 06 D, as this isn't my primary image storage location)

When I burn a CD, a print of the folder list is placed with the CD.

By using the inherent OS file sytem, I avoid all sorts of time consuming file management issues. I let the thumbnail tell me what the picture is.

Special shots get listed in an excel spreadsheet with subject, folder, CD #. When I kept all my shots on my HDD, I could hyperlink from that .xls directly to the image. That became a bit overkill and more difficult when I moved to external HDDs and I let the hyperlink feature lapse.

[JPalmer]

The program we use at the newspaper for batch processing files with caption info and whatnot....PhotoMechanic....

I don't bother putting the date in the file name since it's already imbedded with the ITPC info and can be pulled and sorted quickly in Picasa (best organization program out there)

Usually...since I'm so used to newspaper work....the file name is something related to the photo (i.e. Rider-Burk Bball, person's name, etc.) then a three digit sequence number.

Most of the leg work for archiving images should be in the ITPC info in my opinion.