How I Rename & Organize My Files

File names, to me, are very important. The default names out of the camera, similar to DSC_3493, just don't cut it. They tell you NOTHING at a glance.

When I first went digital in 2003, I would rename files like "may03_001" then "may03_002" etc. However, once I started shooting RAW, this would no longer work, as I would alternate between shooting RAW & JPEG, throwing the sequence off. Further, you would have to manually select the files for renaming, you couldn't just execute a program in a folder full of files & be done with it. Also, in the case of shooting RAW+JPEG (where you have 2 files, one RAW one JPEG), the 2 files would not keep the same name to where you link them to each other. Finally, if you deleted an image after renaming, there would now be gaps (001, xxx, 003).

Finally, around 2007, I found a system that worked for me--renaming the files based on the embedded date-time the shot was taken. I found a simple program, exiv2, an MS-DOS based program that easily did all of this. Using my computer techie knowledge, I wrote a BAT file that allowed me to run this program via a Windows shortcut without the need to entering "command" mode and typing out manual MS-DOS-era command lines.

So what do the names look like? The format basically is this:

yyyymmdd_hhmmss_quality_versionofedit_camera model

The first portion is the DATE the shot was taken, the second portion the TIME (in 24 hour format) the shot was taken. The 3rd section notes the quality of the shot (or if it was in RAW mode), and the 4th section will have _b or _c etc if it's an edit (_a would be the original). Lastly, the camera model is noted.

The quality section has certain abbreviations it uses, if there's nothing there, then "Fine, Large" JPEG is being assumed, otherwise it goes like this: (all of these are mainly for Nikon d-SLRs unless noted otherwise):

For Original Files:


sf--a JPEG image, JPEG mode, "Superfine/Large" for my Olympus E-PL1
fl-- a JPEG image, JPEG mode, "Fine/Large" for my Olympus E-PL1 (for Nikons, nothing is there for "Fine, Large," it is assumed)
nl--a JPEG image, JPEG mode, "Normal, Large" quality (my wife's Nikon D60 is usually in this mode)
n**--the JPEG file from RAW + JPEG mode (n denotes NEF, the Nikon RAW extension), ** denotes the quality of the JPEG:
      bs--basic small (done often with my Nikon D5100)
      bj--basic/large JPEG (for models that don't allow the size-quality to be set, like the D60)
      fl--fine-large (rarely done)
r**--the JPEG file from RAW + JPEG  mode for my Olympus E-PL1, ** denotes the quality of the JPEG:
    sf--superfine
    fl--fine/large
    nl--normal/large
    bs--basic/small
raw--the original RAW file
rj_*--a JPEG derived from processing a RAW file, with _b usually following denotes it's an edit; if there is more than 1 edit, this part will read _c, _d, etc.

For Edited Files
sf_b--a JPEG image, JPEG mode, "Superfine/Large" quality, an edit of an original (that's named sf_a)

nl_b--a JPEG image, JPEG mode, "Normal, Large" quality, an edit of the original (that's named nl_a)
rj_b--a JPEG image, RAW mode, an edit processed from the original RAW file
rt16_b--a TIFF image processed from the RAW file (16 denotes the 16-bit mode), _b means the RAW parameters were changed making it effectively an edit

With all of the "edited" files, there may be more than 1 edit of the original, in which those filenames will have _c, _d etc at the end.

Examples of names (I don't explain the date-time section, which should be obvious):

Filename	Mode	This File Is	Edit/Original	Camera
20120513_184323_nbs_d5100	RAW+JPEG	JPEG, Basic/Small	Original JPEG at Time of Shoot	Nikon D5100
20121203_071343_sf_epl1	JPEG	JPEG, Superfine/Large	Original (Implied)	Olympus E-PL1
20120913_132354_rsf_epl1	RAW+JPEG	JPEG, Superfine/Large	Original JPEG at Time of Shoot	Olympus E-PL1
20110403_111534_nbj_d60	RAW+JPEG	JPEG, Basic/Large (Only Option For That Model)	Original JPEG at Time of Shoot	Nikon D60
20110403_111534_raw_d60	RAW+JPEG	RAW	Original RAW file	Nikon D60
20110403_111534_rj_b_d60	RAW+JPEG	JPEG	JPEG Processed from RAW file	Nikon D60
20110403_111534_rj_b_d60_rz	Same file as above, but the downsized (rz=resize) version for the Internet

Do I Rename Every File Manually This Way?

No, no. The original-unedited shots are renamed automatically all at once using the exiv2.exe I downloaded & the BAT file I created. The edits retain much of the original name & I simply edit the relevant portion of the name while doing a "save as."

Organization

Despite that I know what "meta tagging" is and have long had tools for doing this, and have had Adobe Lightroom for about a year now, I've never bothered with any sort of "tagging" of images. As for organization, I do so almost totally by year, then date, then camera. I then organize by JPEG/RAW if applicable & tend to put any edits in their own folder (in final JPEG form).

So, if on 05/15/2012 I take photos with my Olympus E-PL1 and they're all JPEGs, and I also use the Nikon D5100 but shoot in RAW mode, the folder structure will be like this:

E:\Pictures\2012\2012-05-15\epl1\  Then all of the shots go here with no further folder structure, with the edits interspersed with the originals, as the originals will have an _a prefix & the edits a _b prefix. (If I did shoot in RAW, the original RAW files are in a RAW subfolder, the original JPEGs in a JPEG folder, and the edits in their own folder within JPEG or RAW.)

E:\Pictures\2012\2012-05-15\d5100\jpeg
E:\Pictures\2012\2012-05-15\d5100\raw
E:\Pictures\2012\2012-05-15\d5100\raw\lr3 (shots converted from Adobe Lightroom 3.5)

Is this the ideal way to rename & organize one's files? I don't know that it is, or isn't. What I do know is it makes me fully in charge of every image--the name will tell me if it was shot in JPEG or RAW mode, if there is an edit of that file which exists, and the originals link to the edits, the JPEGs link to the matching RAW files. I can tell ALL of this without even opening the image and reading its EXIF data.