Organizing Photography at a camp .... Ideas

Hello,

 

I am a volunteer photographer at a camp starting this Saturday. I have been the photographer for many years now.

 

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on the best way to organize. Allow me to explain. In a single day I will take a 300 to 500 photos

of everything from swimming to sports to arts and crafts. I will then load it onto my laptop at the first chance. I will do this for 6 days

straight.

 

My laptop crapped out on me and I am using a loner... It is a Mac book pro.

 

Ok the questions:

 

1. Any recommendations on free or cheap photo organizers... I have ps elements and the default programs on the Mac.

 

2. Any recommendations on how to best batch my photos. If I take archery photos on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday what is the best

way to import into the same archery folder in a progressive manner so the images are stored in order and no duplicate file numbers. Now

remember when I take archery folders I will also be taking other photos.

 

3 should I reformat my card every time I downloads the pics

 

I have the canon 7d

 

Like I said I have done this for years just looking for recommendations

 

Thanks david

<p>Try a free trial of Lightroom. That trial will last you through your six day ordeal, and help you to tag and organize the photos.</p>

<p>Lightroom is great but it's a very sophisticated tool and the camp will be over by the time you've learned to use it. Elements includes an organizing function. But I think both are overkill unless you've used them before and are comfortable with them. I would simply create folders on the Mac -- archery, swimming, crafts, etc. -- and dump each day's photos of those subjects into the appropriate folders. The big question is whether you think parents are more likely to want to see photos sorted by activity or by day.<br /><br />Whether you need to reformat your cards after copying to the computer depends on how many cards you have. If you have enough that you don't need to reuse them, then it's best not to reformat. That way you have backup -- the original files on the cards and a copy on the computer -- in case the computer should crash. Considering that you are on somebody else's laptop this would be my preference. You should also be burning discs of the files after you upload as further backup.<br>

As for file numbers overwriting, that depends on your camera and how it is set up. My Nikons simply go to the next sequential number regardless of whether I have reformatted or not. I believe it's four digits, so I have to get to 9,999 before it goes back to 0,001. If yours does the same, you should not duplicate file numbers even at 500 shots a day for a week.</p>

<p>Download this free trial http://www.phaseone.com/en/Downloads/Media-Pro-1.aspx</p>

<p>Create a 'catalog set' for each activity by name - Archery, Baseball, Cooking, etc</p>

<p>Download images into a dedicated folder, drop this folder onto the MediaPro window and all the images will appear as thumbnails.</p>

<p>Then simply highlight all the 'archery' image's thumbnails and drag and drop them onto the Catalog Set: <strong>Archery</strong>. DO the same with <strong>Baseball</strong> etc etc etc (all these catalog sets appear on the left of the MediaPro pane). Its very easy.<br /><br />Do a File>Save after each ingest to Save the the MediaPro catalog. At the end of the gig go to each Catalog Set and press the wee button beside it and all the Archery images will appear. From there you can do what you like - rename them, transfer to another folder, email them etc etc</p>

<p>You can even set it up to "Folder Watch' so when you download a card the software flags up the new images to be imported. Or simply drag the master folder onto MediaPro again and ONLY the new images will be imported.</p>

<p>Quick, intuitive, painless.</p>

 

<p>I recommend the folders idea and look at Lightroom or Aperture later.</p>

<p>Put descriptive names on the files when you transfer them to your computer and organize them by activity, day, etc.<br>

If you got Adobe Bridge with your Elements, that can be used to view folder contents and search, batch rename, and a host of other actions.</p>