Casey Templeton’s file naming/organizing tips

I wonder the importance of carefully naming files and file structures with programs such as Aperture and Lightrroom.

My take is that I rely on the organizational tools built into these programs. Aperture in particular has fantastic tools for organizing and finding images. I use smart albums, projects and of course keywords to sort and present the images in my library. Its easy to have smart albums to show files by year and date and they keep themselves updated. I think this is much better than folder structures in the native OS. Don’t get me wrong, I have a top level folder structure ‘Image Catalog’ and a fairly sensible folder structure underneath ( landscapes, portraits, family, etc, etc ). I do give the masters a sensible name on import, including a sequence number, but beyond that, I work with Aperture to organize and sort my files. Isn’t this one of the main strengths?

I think Casey’s organization stategy is an excellent starting point that covers any situation like his when he shoots many different things.

If he further wanted to organize and sort, he could build smart folders based on keywords that sorted for things like landscapes, portraits, etc.

Thanks Tom!

Like I said, you’re my hero. There’s one typo in “Author: Thomas Boyd,” in the last sentence. Currently reads,

“He’s now on Apple’s Aperture Advisory board where he lecture and submit feedback.”

It should probably read, “He’s a member of Apple’s Aperture Advisory board where he lectures and gives feedback.”

Just a little thing.

Cheers –f

Casey’s organization structure here could just as easily be replicated in Aperture, Allan. This is just about the same system I use, I just don’t have a RAW folder, as I shoot only in RAW.

Regardless of what you use, SOME sort of structure is necessary.

David, I agree. It was that the original post got me thinking. I realized how much more relaxed I am about where the files are stored these days ( I focus more making sure they get backed up now!). Don’t get me wrong, if you need a file organization structure then Casey’s approach is excellent. I was for years very picky about file naming conventions and that they were in the right folder for the type of image. I do have a structure but I do most of my sorting, naming, organizing now in Aperture.

Today, tools like Aperture, give you so much more in the way your organize and view files, far more flexible than trying to maintain the underlying OS structure. If I were a Lightroom user I might pay more attention to this, since it uses this structure to display the folders ( yes I know it has the equivalent of smart albums )

Just to play Devils Advocate ( and I would NEVER do this ) – If you put all your RAW Master files into one big folder called RAW Masters, and then imported them all into Aperture as referenced masters, sorted them, created projects, folders, etc, etc. What would you loose?

I thought about this and I came up with two issues (1) very difficult to find files outside of Aperture and (2) you might have a performance issue when you 1000’s of files and you open the folder for the first time.

Anyway, good discussion, but it did make me realize how much Aperture has changed my thinking and file organization approach from a few years ago.