I've been taking advantage of the break between semesters to organize all the digital images I've shot this year that haven't yet been organized. It's boring work but getting the process sorted out will pay dividends in the future.
First of all I have to say: Thumbs Plus rocks! $89.00 seems like a steal. I first sort all the shots from one job/assignment/project into one directory. They I have Thumbs Plus sort them by ISO setting, which I use as an analog of film type in organizing my film shooting. Then I create separate directories for each ISO group; 200, 400, 800, etc. Then I batch rename all the files in each directory, using the same basic naming convention I've used for years. If the images are in RAW format (as they usually are these days) I create temporary JPEG versions (also a batch process in Thumbs Plus). Then I use Photoshop to create a web gallery of each directory (this way I can easily browse my archive CD's on any computer that has a web browser installed). After that's done I can delete the temporary JPEGs. Then I add an entry for each batch in my master database and burn a CD. Most of the processes are done in batches and now that I've got the procedure worked out it's very fast and simple. The only problem is that I have tons of disorganized material to sort through, as a result of being so busy with school and work that I was using the "shoot now and organize later" approach for far too long. I can think of worse problems to have, though ;-) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
