Mid atlantic photo organization

How do you--so you can find what you're looking for?
When I started, I had them by seasons. But now I've gone to more of a by plant type,"Perennial, Tree and shrub, Vegetables" kind of the standard categories in Journal. Although I do have some categories like 'garden in winter', which still seems useful. Then I have a whole Article pictures folder, then I can put pics in there for articles done, or for ideas as I collect them.
I must have hundreds of pictures at this point!

Thanks, Sally! We all need help....Glad you followed up on this question!

ALL my digital pictures are in ...My Documents....My Pictures.....and, then there are a zillion Folders that are filled with pictures from anythiong and everything--roughly by date.
The problem is--sometimes I will put October,2008--or Winter, 2007--or Spring, 2008....

During the busier photo seasons, I will go month by month--like--Late June--or late July/August--or October, second half---Christmas, 2007....etc.

This does not present a problem when I bring up My Doc./My pics.....as they all stay chronological in there--but--when i want to add a photo to a Post and hit "browse"--it is a different story.
NOW they all seem to be all jumbled and roughly, alphabetically organized--which can really scatter my pictures around from my above descriptions of how I label my Folders--and I end up searching and searching for a particular picture--and many times I just give up.
I have, actually, started a list on a pad.....listing the folder dates such and such can be found in......All this is just too time consuming!!!!!...AND frustrating!

If I had endless time on my hands, I would make a Folder for the major type of plants I photograph--like Brugs.....Daturas.....Daylilies.....Halloween....etc.....and put all pictures related to that topic in one folder--no matter the date. However, this would involve c/p and then deleting a lot of pictures one folder to another...

Another thought I have had is to organize by WHEN all the photos in a particular Folder have been taken and simply start numbering my Folders--1...2...3...4....Then--they would have to be in order, right? ----but I would still not know just what was in any given folder, except from the short ID'd I have written under each picture....bummer!
Confusing? Yeah!!!

How do all of you keep your photos so you can find them in a blink when you want to post one on DG??????????????? Huh???? Huh????

Gita

Right now I have over 6000 pics broken up into 128 albums. That's just what is in the computer. I have project files "first" word is project then what the project is ex: Project Lamppost Bed, Project Blue Ball, Project Gazebo.... All the pics taken start to finish are in that file. Then I have Yard files Yard Front, Yard Back, Yard wall, Yard Winter....
If I do close ups of flowers they go into the Flower file Flower Caladiums, Flower MG, Flower Annual....
I find that by having smaller albums grouped together by a common "first" word it is easy to find what I'm looking for.
I know pretty much what I have in my Pic files. My problem is I get lazy and don't organize them so I end up with a lot of pics in albums with just a date on them. But I know what is there and pretty much where to find what I want. When I get too many of those Ric starts asking me to organize them. If I don't he will, I lose so many pics that way. LOL
One day he did it himself and I was missing a whole lot of pics, he gets rid of things he doesn't think are important. Like all the pics of the compost pile. Last time he organized pics it took me days to rearrange them the way I wanted. Next time he says organize the pics I'll get right on it. LOL

Gita- you're right, when you browse for a picture to post they are arranged differently, alpha, and maybe capitalized alpha followed by lower case alpha. Holly, that is a great idea, the first word.
I started with a Flower, Garden, Bugs folder. Soon found I needed sub folders - started with rough seasons, but that wasn't very helpful in finding specific plants. So I have those categories, then specific plants. I did have to spend some time making that change for older pictures. But I was paid off in getting rid of some bad photos (now that I am more discriminating/ able in my photo needs/ abilities)
I move them by highlighting, then opening --Edit-- then choosing-- Move file to--

I recently discovered when downloading, that I can highlight a group, choose Copy to folder, then after copy is done, they are still highlighted and I can choose Delete and they are taken both off the screen and off the camera !!!!!!!!!! That was great to me, I had been doing seperate steps.

If I'm downloading I can choose some folders, like things I might do an article on, therea an article folder with subfolders. So in general, I put some pictures in a main folder unless they are for a specific purpose. Then in theory I need to clean up the main folder once in awhile and see if those should be in a subfolder or maybe they were just general interest that I thought would be posted to a recent thread.
It's like junk in the house, easier to gather than to dispose of...

Sally, I have Kodak easy share. I don't particularly like it and would like to get Photo Shop. But it is easy to organize pictures I can highlight one or more of them, then click and drag pics into folders without completely opening them. If I have more than one highlighted they will all go at one time. Then while they are still highlighted I hit remove from album which takes them out of the temp file.
When I want to post pictures I go into my pics and do a "save as". I give it a name usually starting with XXX to separate them into one group. Like XXXlight, XXXflower, then I save it to desktop. Then when I do my post I browse my desktop and the copy pic is right there and easy to find. When I'm done I drop it in the Recycle bin on my desktop and delete the copy from my files. Works really nice, if I'm doing one of those threads with a lot of pics. I'll put may 10 pics on the desktop and then do my written part in Word. When I have it all done I cut and paste it all together.

Holly,

I used to have Kodak "Easy Share"--but it is as invasive as AOL on your computer.....it invades EVERYTHING! Get rid of it!!!
I had my SIL unload it and I thought it was gone....Then, I used my old Kodak digital camera ONCE to upload some pictures and it re-installed itself. YUK!

Go to another Photo Program--like Adobe Photo-Share. Anything!

If you do nor believe me--go to the "Cameras and Photography" Forum and read up. There is a Post going on Digital Cameras....

At this time, I have a really cheapy digital camera--Polaroid. It only costs about $80, but it seems to have all the features....Been using it for 2 years now....
Soon---I will be looking to buy a better one, though.

Gita

Yes Gita, We are having a lot of trouble with it being invasive. Every time we have some computer issue Ric blames it on the Kodak program.

Gita- I got a great deal on a camera by getting one of Target's display models on clearance. But-- they throw away the manual or anything else not nailed down when they put them on display. So I was lucky that it took AA batteries, and the same card as our other camera. Otherwise, its pretty self explanatory. Not that I ever read manuals anyway.

Photoimpression works well for me, as does Canon photo program

Sally,

You can always go on line, put in the camera make and model and print out the missing manual. My daughter does that a lot....

I am going to keep using my "cheapie" Polaroid digital camera until it seriously starts giving me problems. It has now served me well for several years....several long trips....

Holly,
Just unload/get rid of the Kodak Program. You can install Adobe Photo Shop instead. It has neat editing features. What's that other program people talk about a lot here??? Oh, Picasa....

Driving to VA today for another get-together.....with the Cousins bunch and kids and kidlets,,,,They live in Warrenton. Two hour drive....

OK! Better stop playing on the Computer....

Gita

I could use some help with photoprocessing/storing. I have a really high-tech camera and a bunch of gobbly-gook software that does unexpected things. This is one reason I haven't posted any pics.

FnF: what cha' need help with? Not an expert by any means but might be able to be at least a little help.

Sally - sounds like I do it like everyone else...if i have a particular type I take a lot of it has a separate folder i.e. macro shots. I find you simply can't have too many folders....I've got an insect one like you mentioned...a "critters" one...landscape....tree...foliage....just makes it easier for me to find things. I also take yard shots various times throughout the the year so I remember what I put where...that along with DG's journal have been very helpful...also keeps me from duplicate plant purchases....LOL - you KNOW you REALLY like something when you're about to buy it again. DD has learned how to pull up my plant journal...and sadly is used to phone calls while I'm out - saying ummmm, can you see if I have this one yet????

Chantelle,

I have done the "sorting by category" a bit--but there is too much scattered all over the files to really do it right. Tried to put everything to do with my Wintersweet Bush in one folder, and it does help.
Dates of WHEN taken are important too, and this can get "lost" when I start pulling out this and that from different Folders and put them all together in one new folder--eg....I know that in such and such year I had a particular flower bloom--or a Brug that is now long gone.
On most pictures, though, if you simply hold the cursor over it, it will tell you the date it was taken.

One thing that I have thought of doing--but, OH, it would be so time consuming!,
One thing I have thought of doing is to simply look at EVERY folder I have and write down, exactly, what is in it and leave everything labeled as it is now. I sort of have done this already, to a smaller extent, and have written down something like this, starting with the plant in question:..."Pregnant Onion--repotting---10/22/06"--10/18/07"
"Easter Cactus in bloom--5/26/06 and 6/7/06"..........etc....

Many times i want to add a picture to a Post, and I have to go searching through endless Folders to find it--and often do not-- and give up.

I DO believe the "glitch" is that they self-arrange by date or alphabetically...or in other mysterious ways...
Like, WHY did 4 Folders from last Spring, when i was doing all the seed set-up with the lights, etc... end up at the very top line in "My Pictures" (above the ones from 2005) when they are clearly dated 2008????
Another thing I have learned the hard way is that I cannot just c/p an entire folder and presume that it's contents will, neatly fall in place in the new folder. What happens is that I end up having a folder within a folder with the pictures still in the moved folder.
The way to move pictures is to open the folder and c/p all the pictures in the other folder---then delete the, now, empty folder.
No matter HOW I do it--it is still very time-consuming and a lot of work and can get VERY complicated.....
Gita

Agree Gita - most definitely!!! If date is important for me to remember then I put that at end of name when I'm saving it i.e. Mock Orange 11-26-08 or Sweet Olive bloom 10-17-08

I really should start a journal. Every time I go there I just look and then think I'm not ready to do this, I'll come back later. But I never do. Now would be the time to try with the holidays just about over and not much going on Jan to March.

Isn't i funny--how we all get this "I must get organized" feeling as January approaches????

And--isn't it weird how all the stores drag our 100's of storage items at this time of year and put it right by their front entrances???

I truly DO Believe, that something in out brains clicks in January and says----"OK! I really must get rid of all this clutter and get organized" ....................AND--the Retailers all know it--somehow......

I can see it at my store----All of a sudden, ALL the totes and storage units get put buy the front door.......Like--WHAT do people do at any other time of the year?????? Throw it under their beds and sweep it under their carpets?????

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm??????? G.

LOL...oh they KNOW, Gita....for sure they know...you're right the totes are every where!!!

Holly - the DG journal is very user friendly...I'm sure I only use 1/100000 of what it can do...but it helps me remember all sorts of particulars to include where (approx) it's at...did it do better else where....when did it bloom (so that I know things like the Passi 'Incense' is not dead....not to buy yet another...it simply comes up a month later then the other one). Also lets me know if I've killed something repeatedly to NOT try it again....LOL....helps in remembering what kind DGer I got it from (that way I can send them goodies they'd like in the future) or vendor/nursery etc. I think I'll start referencing plant size - packing - accuracy of s/h charges - whether I'd purchase from them again or not.

Yes, Gita it is all under my beds, sitting in corners and piling up on chairs in the bedrooms. It would be under my carpets, too but I don't have very many of those. LOL
Actually I have been getting ready to do a whole lot of reorganizing mostly because Josh's stuff is slowly leaving and freeing up a lot of space he took a huge work table out of here just last weekend and freed up a really big area for my plant and craft things. Also Ric is redoing the laundry and mud rooms so all that stuff is sitting in one of the empty bedrooms. Waiting for me to go through it. Now that Christmas is over he should get back to that pretty soon.
Chantell, I will check it out again and see if I can get something started.

Chantell--thanks for the offer. I'm just unfamiliar with the process and the way the PC handles these types of files. Sizing and such, moving them, etc. I guess getting started with the basics is what I need to do so I don't take the system down with too many duplicate files. But the big problem is after loading a bunch of pictures, moving them to a given fiel is a pain the neck. There has to be a faster way.

Please pardon me if I'm going to too much of a basic level, but here's my loading process.
I plug in the camera, and open the camera icon that appears in My Computer.
I view all the pictures.
I find pictures for a certain file I already have, say perennials. I highlight all the perennials pics to,then Edit--Copy files to- Open Perennials file, and do it.
Then back in the screen of camera pics, they're still highlighted--leave them highlighted and Delete.
This last step was a recent discovery to me and very helpful.

This is all based on having some specific files to load things to. Then there's still the problem of not being sure what somethings should be in-how specific do you want to get with your folders.I guess when you get too many in a folder, you want to break it down.

This is one of my weaknesses- always want to tell somebody else something I know, rather than do my own work, such as housework! Hope that was helpful.

Sally,

I do pretty much the same thing....do you remember to go through the proper steps to unplug the camera??? Do you have a little icon that shows up in the bottom tool bar when the camera is plugged in? When you are done--do you right click on that icon and then the "safely remove from camera" shows up? Then some windows come up and I have to click on "stop"---and "close" and only THEN you can pull that plug out of the camera.
If you just yank it out--you can mess up your computer.

I do not go to "edit" to copy/paste the pictures into my folder. I just do the right click and c/p that way. Same result....

Another thing I like is that when I leave the pictures highlighted and then delete them--IF my camera is still plugged in, it also deletes those pictures on my camera and I don't have to go hunting for how to delete them.

I see that many of you are organizing your pictures by category---annuals--perennials--bed by the house--Seedlings.....Roses....or whatever regardless of the date they were taken.
Perhaps I should look into that as well.....
Still--that would mean going into each existing folder and weeding through it.

Not at all sure how I prefer it.....I am a creature of habit..

Gita

FnF: just remember w/regard to "size" you save a pic in...IF it's one that is a really good one i.e. you want to enter it into a contest or possible have printed out at a size bigger then 5x7 THOSE are the ones you want to "save" at a higher resolution. Photoshop asks 1-10 as to how you want to save it. If it's something I simply want to post online then saving it at a 3 is perfectly fine. If it's a better shot or I'm going to possible want to print it...then 6-10 would be more like it. Most software programs basic functions are fairly easy once you get your "feet wet" - just remember why of deleting a pic (which it would ask you) you can't really hurt anything.

Gita- my system is different, I don't have as many steps/safeguards about unplugging the camera- And yes--when I delete with camera plugged in, it takes it--saves so much time!

Like any junk you collect- some day you have to face looking at it again and deciding if you really need to keep it. You may find some nice surprises, Gita- Or maybe you'll weed out a bunch of duplicates.Topic folders unlike dated folders only, helps show that. Unless you have every year's April flowers in one folder maybe.

Sally,

I KNOW I need to "weed out" a lot of "dead wood" in my Pictures Files--such as photos of sick plants and deformed leaves/blooms when I needed advice back then. Now--it is ancient history! Plants long gone!
Or--Pics. of cuttings all leafing out---or, for that matter, all the pics. of last Spring's seedlings....showing them off---WHY save them? Soon i will have the same again to show.

Christmas shots of all the kids in all the families that I only see once a year.....Dah! There is much that needs to go!

HEY SALLY---GREAT TOPIC FOR ANOTHER ARTICLE--NO????? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Keep bugging me!!----I think I may do the Topics Folders to some extent. January is always the "Lets get organized" month. Just wish I was motivated enough to tackle this....
My life is ruled by "Same old--Same old"......:o( Comfort "zones"....

Like--I should have ALL the pictures I have ever taken of my Pregnant Onion in one folder.
Or--ALL pictures related to Daturas....Or--Brugmansias....Have already, sort of, consolidated all my pics. re the Wintersweet Shrub. I am surprised how many people asked for the seeds to this one once I offered them. Sending a huge amount to "TARogers"...see link below.....

Sally--If you still want to write articles about the above plants--GO FOR IT! I will help you all I can in all ways. Don't think I will ever get into it. Seems too complicated....and I am NOT one to do a lot of research. NOT a book person...
I am not insecure about writing--but there seems to be so much more involved.

Talking about seeds (I was anyway...) check out this Thread by "TARogers" and his request for seeds--if any of you have extras you want to pass on. VERY worthy cause!
I plan to send him a lot of seeds that I have an excess of. How about YOU?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/909840/

Gita

Gita- I'll take you up on that idea and offer. I think I'll put Weeding your messy garden photo files" in my list of article ideas. And Pregnant Onion too.
My sympathies on photo org though. With two kids here that take bunches of photos, we have a lot of nonsense that I start to go through once in awhile.

Have you tried Google's Picasa? It is free, and I love it for organization.

sigh, No I haven't but I'm resistant to adding anything on to what's already floating around in here. or trying to learn yet another new thing.

Picasa is reallly really easy and lightning fast. It doesn't do a ton in terms of editing, but it really nice for organization. My jaw dropped when I first used it. You should try it -- you can always uninstall it. I highly recommend it -- though I can't say I've tried to do anything fancy with it. http://picasa.google.com/ And there is very little learning curve. It hunts around your computer all by itself to ferret out all the photos.

This message was edited Jan 12, 2009 1:28 PM

Gosh, Happy--that looks so neat--the Picasa, that is!

I have Adobe Photo Shop--and my daughter says it can do all kinds of things....Ahem....I do what she says, as I am technologically challenged.....
Do you have a comparison why Picasa is better than Adobe? Then i would have something to show her and say, "SEE! Happy likes it better!!!".....

I am just so insecure venturing into "unknown territories".....To me the same-old, same-old is my comfort level.....Learning something new and involved puts me in an automatic "WHO? ME?????? No! I could never do that!!!!! The old brain does not want to work too hard!

Sally--You let me know when you are ready to write about the Pregnant Onion. I have already started recording Folders I have any pictures of "IT" in. Don't forget the "Climbing Onion"........That could be a "cousin-subject" to the other one. NEITHER one of them is an actual ONION....................Dah!

Gita

I think it is different. We have PhotoShop too -- my husband is trying to learn how to use it, but he is not a computer whiz and not much is happening.

Just try Picasa -- it is hard to describe. It sorts through your computer by itself and finds all your photos, and gives a first shot at organizing them. But it doesn't actually move or touch your files. And it allows you to look at your photos really really really fast. It makes me giggle (you can tell my compter isn't so new -- but it isn't so old either). And then you can play with them either by actually editing the original photo, which I don't usually want to do, or playing with a virtual copy of it so you don't mess up your original. I'm serious - just load it up and you'll know in 10 minutes if you like it. Or you can call me. I don't think it is for sophisticated editing, but for the amateur it is absolutely wonderful. And even if I get good at PhotoShop, I think I'd still use Picasa for organization.

Here is what I think is key from the instructions:

"Basics: Folders versus albums

"When you install Picasa, it scans your hard drive for folders containing image files and displays your photos from these folders.These folders, along with the albums you create, make up the organization of your photos.

"Folders in Picasa represent actual folders on your computer's hard drive that contain photos. Changes you make to folders in Picasa affect the corresponding folders on your computer's hard drive. For example, deleting a photo from a folder also deletes the photo from your hard drive.

"Albums, unlike folders, exist only in Picasa. You can create an album that contains combinations of photos from multiple folders. For example, you might create an album called 'Pictures with Grandma,' and include photos featuring Grandma housed in different folders. Unlike Picasa folders, your albums don't correspond to real folders on your hard drive. When you delete or move photos from an album, the original files remain in their original locations on your hard drive."

So you can play and organize without jeopardizing any thing. And did I mention that it is FAST? You can scroll through ALL your photos in record speed. Easy to find stuff.

Thanks, Chantell. One particular problem I have is, when I want to browse to select a pic, I get a pre-mixed bunch of old ones in a folder under "My Pictures." It has thumbnails and little albums. But they are not the new pics!!! When I go to the file folder with the new pics, I can't see anything. It is just the system generated names. No thumbnail displays. So this is where I get stuck all the time. Maybe you know what I need to do?? We have the Dell Image Expert program, and something called Image Mixer. They make me crazy!!

They should be in the date order that they were uploaded though...all the softwares I'm familiar with do it that way. You should also have an icon (view menu) to the right - when browsing - click on that button then click on thumbnail...this should bring up the actually thumbnails instead of the auto generated number assigned to each pic. I'm not sure if this makes sense or not.

Foxnfirefly, When we needed to change computers our pics got all mixed up like that. I had them all in files and copied them to a disk then down loaded the disk into the new computer. I expected them to stay in their albums but they didn't. I had mixed pictures everywhere and it took me weeks till I finally did get them all back into albums. Once that was done all new pics added are automatically put into dated albums until they are assigned a name or moved.

When I download from my camera to my computer, my photos automatically go into folders set up according to the date the photo was taken (those folders are automatically created by the software), not the date downloaded. I guess it depends on the download software you use, but I do like that feature. I didn't do anything to structure it that way; it is just how the software seems to work. I have a Canon camera.

This message was edited Jan 15, 2009 9:15 AM

Foxfire, I also have a "My Pictures" and those pics are also mixed up and there are all kinds of pics in there that I didn't take but maybe came in E-mails. Not that I necessarily tried to down load them, but at the time they came in I must have done something for my computer to capture them. If I try to scan old pictures that is where they seem to go. Then I have to go in and move them to my Kodak files. I don't usually use the My Pictures files that came with the computer to save pics. I use the Kodak program that came with my camera. I "DO NOT" recommend Kodak Easy Share. It does organize nicely and is easy to use BUT when we have computer issues it always seems to go back to this program. As Gita said it is invasive.

Mine are Documents-My Briefcase-Judy's folder-Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, My Greenhouse, My travels, etc. I have an old SONY digital that is 10 years old but has a zeiss zoom lens & is a real workhorse. I was using Adobe Photo Deluxe but had problems with it when it told me my scratch disk was full & didn't tell me how to empty it.

Thanks, Holly & Chantell---Hoyy, you need to get your fanny down here and help me!! I am so frustrated with this thing!! I just messed with it today and see that there have been changes. Yes, I need to upload and it went to ImageShack, which I've never seen/been before. It said "Post to your blog or Profile." Duh? I had no clue how to post it to DG. I have DG "browse" image running and still couldn't get that picture posted.

Our pictures are all willy-nilly. That needs to be fixed. My DH did some fooling with it and "de-fragmented" the pics, he says. Whatever, it used to be so simple. I would go to My Pictures, find the pic, click on it, and it would go to DG. No sweat. Not any more!!! At any rate, I will get this figured out. I just leave it when I get nowhere after 15-20 minutes. I have NO patience!!!