how to number photos?

is there a batch processing way to number photos? what i need to do is rename

about 200 photos for my web site for my programmer - so he can put them in the

right order. any suggestions besides manually doing so?

I think the easiest way is to put all of the images in one folder on your desktop. Then open Photoshop, then click on FILE, then BROWSE, open the folder,(this should open bridge automatically) then select all (CONTROL A), then click on TOOLS, the first icon is BATCH RENAME. Click on that and then under NEW FILENAME select SEQUENCE NUMBER.

 

Pretty easy if you are using Photoshop CS2. Email me if you need more details. By the way, I'm using a PC, so MAC commands may be slightly different.

you rock - i'll let you know if it works...i was acutally thinking i had to go in and do it manually....;0

Hi Meg,

 

Mac? ... or Windows/DOS?

 

Windows can number them sequentially, just highlight them all in Windows Explorer, right click and type the name you want for them all and it'll immediately add the tag (1), (2), (3) and so on to the end of that name for each file. Put a dummy throw away file alphabetically at the top of the list and the remaining 200 will be numbered "...name(1).jpg, name(2).jpg...to...name(199).jpg...name(200).jpg..." or whatever you type for the "name". Remember, on the web, use NO spaces and no caps in file names! Now, that solution is fast and stupid.

 

If you want fast and smart, I LOVE http://www.1-4a.com/rename/ http://www.1-4a.com/rename/download.htm and find it a blessing that does in moments what I can't imagine doing in hours. Beautiful - try it!

 

There are also 483 Win/DOS rename utilities at http://www.download.com/ - many are free and some are even good. There are 200 or more download sites around the Internet with more, more, more to look for and try.

 

The next renamer I'd want is a smart renamer that looks into the image file and renames it according to EXIF data and my batch criteria, but I haven't found a program that does that yet. Any suggestions? I'm thinking of a list like "...PICT2045.JPG, PICT2046.JPG, PICT2047.JPG, PICT2048.JPG..." from the camera becoming name/date/number/size.extension, like: "...peterblaise-2007-01-28-2045-2536x1902.jpg, peterblaise-2007-01-28-2046-2536x1902.jpg, peterblaise-2007-01-28-2047-2536x1902.jpg, peterblaise-2007-01-28-2048-2536x1902.jpg..."

 

Let us know what you find, Meg. Good luck!<div></div>

WORKED! THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU - for saving me a million hours of time! I'm getting ready to launch my new site...thanks again! ;)

.

 

Here's a screen grab of Windows renaming a group of files and the sample result shown to the right (I played with COPIES only!).<div></div>

.

 

One more resource for anyone else browsing here over time - Microsoft's own explanation of their [rename] command:<div></div>

You can make a .BAT file that will do the work for you. The problem with this and any other tool you don't know cold for such a small job is that, although you don't like manual labor, if you had started renaming them by hand you'd be done by now! You would not be facing the prospect of fooling around to figure out how to apply some one-time technique you really don't want to master in the first place. Ever get in the middle of something to find yourself asking, "How can something so simple be so hard?!!"

 

I started writing detail instructions for making a bat (batch) file to do the job, but making a file like this requires so much specialized knowledge about Windows/DOS (You are using a MS Windows system?) that the exercise would only serve to get you started slowly clicking each file name twice to type in the names you want for them in self-defense. You can use cut and paste techniques for file names in Windows, too.

 

Here's How:

 

Open the directory (folder) that contains the images you want to rename. Slowly click the name of the first one twice. This highlights the file name without opening the file. Type in the model name you want for the series, eg. "My Web Photos x" If you see a 3 character word separated from the file name with a dot, ".JPG", for example type it in too. If you dont see such a thing and the computer says that the file is a JPG image (for example) then your job will be a little easier. Just leave the ".JPG" file extension off.

 

So anyway you typed in "My Web Photos x". Now click inside the file name box over top of the file name to highlight it. Now use the keyboard to press the CTRL key and holding it pressed down also press the C key. Release both keys. You can press these keys with a snappy movement "CTRL down; C down; both up". This puts your model file name in a temporary memory you'll use to stamp it over all the other file names you want to change as you reach them.

 

Now move the mouse pointer to the left end of the file name after that leftmost x and click once. The highlighting goes away, but the file name still appears to be inside a box, with the mouse pointer on the far left. Now press the backspace key in the upper right of the keyboard beside the "+=" key (on my keyboard anyway). Use a sharp clear tap. If you simply moosh the key down it might wipe out your whole file name! It's a type-a-matic key so be careful. Now type in the number you want for this file. Keep in mind that computers are pretty dumb when it comes to sorting numbers. If you want 1 to be first above 200 and all the numbers in between in the correct sequence then use 001 and 200. Otherwise you'll get 1 10 11 ... 19 100 101 ... 199 2 20 21 ... 200 3 30 ... etc.

 

One more trick and the job turns into a repetitive task that will take only a few minutes to complete.

 

Now select the next file name on the list by slowly clicking it twice. It will be highlighted inside a box just the way the first one was. Using the keyboard press the CTRL key and with it pressed down also press the press the V key. Release both keys. The model file name you created appears inside the box. You should see "My Web Photos x" where the old name was. Change the x to a number as you did for the first name.

 

Do the same thing for the third name on the list, and continue until the job is done.

 

Look on the bright side. The job is actually very do-able using tools and skills you already have. You didn't spend any money, and you didn't have to learn way more than a human being should have to know about computers to succeed!

 

Albert

Wow, thats cool! Didn't know you could do that on a PC! I'm even certified in XP. Learn something new everyday!

My main processing machine runs Linux. I have written a custom script that searches either my flash card, my Image tank, or a specified directory for the camera files and then moves them to a directory of my choice. It simultaneously reads the EXIF data and renames the file in the format YYYYMMDDhhmmssX.crw (YYYY=year MM=Month DD=day hh=hour mm=minute ss=seconds X=sequential number starting at 0) The X is necessary because many cameras can take more than one picture per second. I also keep my camera time set to UTC. It is designed to run under the "bash" shell and requires "dcraw" to read the EXIF data. You could modify it to run under a dos prompt in windows though. It makes my work flow much easier as the number generated is unique. If your interested, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

A tiny thought as you rename your files for the client or the web.

 

There are plenty of easy ways to rename above, good info.

 

Be thinking about the client and the future too.

 

Are your raw files names with the same file number as your jpg files? You may want to rework a file or to reference back to the raw file in the future.

 

If you choose an easy file to put in a web gallery then get friends for family ordering the image files as named on the web gallery then you have to find them on your computer or the disc you've got them stored on and it would be a nightmare if all the names don't match.

 

It's just good practice to be careful with renaming.

I've had enough interest in the script to post it, but it is too long to post here so <a href="anr.net/pdl">here</a> is a link to it. The script is dependant upon "dcraw", "awk" and "find". dcraw is downloaded off of the net, "awk" and "find" are unix utilities that you'll need to find a dos command. Each file name will be unique and I do keep the filenames the same in the jpeg as well as the raw files (only the extension changes or perhaps a -1 or -2 for different versions of the same file). This makes tracking easier. They also filter in chronological order in file managers rather easily.

Well, lets try that <a href="http://anr.net/pdl">link</a> again.

William, the answer is to rename the RAW files. Then convert to jpgs. The file name remains

the same.

 

For example, my partner and I sync the time codes on our cameras, When finished shooting

we drop ALL the files into one file and sort by time shot. The wedding is then in the exact

order it was shot no matter how many cameras were used or by who. We then delete the junk

and dupe shots. Batch renaming the remaining images takes less than 1 minute in Adobe

Bridge "Batch Rename". Done.