Planty wrote:
What I want to do is set up a file naming system where I can trace the
images easily back to raw if needed.
In 1970 as a young photographer i met a lovely agent called Susie Griggs who told me a very simple solution to job naming which has stood the test of time and even tranferred from transparency and negative filing thru into digital.
Simply the first two numbers are year of shooting and then the next four are the actual job number. Thus my current shoot number is 041910, it being 2004 and I have shot 1909 jobs since I set up the system. The year date helps narrow the search for old files to a specific year and when carried through into invoicing and job databases gives you a simple numerical progression.
After the first six digits then additional numbers are used either to define by shot numbers / or as Bob Croxford suggested giving subjects specific numbers. I also use a very low res set of jpgs in a massive visual database using "iView". Simply every CD I burn has thumbnails just dumped into the "iView" catalogue and by using simple key word searches given that the year date is already included it is a very simple search. For example if a client calls me and asks for a picture i shot in 2000 of a pipeline I can look under < client> <00> <pipeline> < construction>. I have just tried that and had the relevant CD downloading the requisite scan in under two minutes.
However you decide to number I would suggest that a very simple visual database is a real boon when trying to find pictures and given that "iView" has a cross platform capacity with readers which you can load onto a CD if the client is twittering on about some shots which you shot years ago ' the ones with the girl in the red dress' you can simply drag the thumbnails to a CD and send them to the client so he can identify the exact frame.
Enjoy the light
Mike St Maur Sheil
T> + 44 [0] 1367 870 276
F> + 44 [0] 1367 870 641
M> + 44 [0] 7860 508 679
E> triffid[at]macunlimited.net
W> sheilphoto.co.uk
