Does Anyone NOT Use Software to Organize Photo's?

One other challenge for former Windows users is to understand the difference between the "Finder", and "Explorer". One of the reasons it is a better idea to not put a lot of files and folders on the desktop is that it affects how long it takes to boot your computer from cold. Also, it is a good idea not to put actual files on the desktop since it would be much easier to accidentally delete of otherwise mess them up. If you bring up a finder window, you will be able to navigate to User(your name) Pictures. (Same idea as the My Pictures folder in XP. Once all your images are moved to the Pictures folder, you can make an "alias" of your folder with all the images, and drag it to the desktop. Then you will be able to access that folder just as if it was actually there. (Once again, those pesky pointers and virtual files!)..

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Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}

http://www.dougwigton.com/

me!! no matter I shoot for client or just personal, I organise everything without extra software, just folders, the reason is simple and fast, you can switch the HD to a pc and keep doing the same, I like seeing real files.

I have seen people organzie million of photos in iphoto, and lost everything while updating iphoto, and I have seen people lost everything, while the software only display the previews, and they don't know the real files are gones.

one thing is true never put all the egg in one basket.

It stands for 'Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks'

It's a family of technologies for 'spreading' the data across more disks. Two common types are RAID 1 [write to two disks, read from either] and RAID 5 [write to at least three disks, read from the array]

The point is that the data is still intact, even if one [or for large arrays a couple] of disks are dead.

paul2009 said:

MrsNikon said:

While I love Aperture, one never knows what the future will hold and that is why I make a copy of my cards and backup on RAID before I even import into Aperture ... probably overkill but storage is cheap.

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Save the Earth! Collect the entire set!

Hotelfive said:

So sorry, I just want to make sure I have this correct.....I have now moved my "My Pictures" folder from my desktop onto my dock. Is this better than leaving on my desktop?

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"Better" depends on your personal work style. For example, I have very few icons on my desktop because I've usually got my desktop covered with so many windows I can't see it, so for me personally, the Dock and the Sidebar are better places to put shortcuts. On the other hand, a person who often has visual access to a corner of the desktop might prefer to keep their folder shortcuts there.

If you came from Windows, just ask yourself in Windows terms: Do you prefer to drop shortcuts on the desktop or on the Taskbar? Because the Dock works a lot like the Windows Taskbar. Same decision as in Windows.

Agreed, but whether you use iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, or just manually organized files, you absolutely always should have a complete backup of your whole disk, and if you are a professional photographer, whose livelihood depends on your images, you should have two onsite backups of your originals, and one offsite backup. With this type of redundancy, nobody should ever lose any images. And, just as a aside, if people use iPhoto properly, totally understanding what they are doing, simply upgrading to a new version cannot EVER result in complete loss of original images. Only misunderstanding what they are doing and doing something ridiculous can have this affect. Same thing could happen with one stupid move with manually organized files, especially if they are not backed up.

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Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}

http://www.dougwigton.com/

Alpha Doug said:

And, just as a aside, if people use iPhoto properly, totally understanding what they are doing, simply upgrading to a new version cannot EVER result in complete loss of original images.

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This is true. In the iPhoto Library, the Originals folder is always the Originals folder and it doesn't change. If you think you totally lost it, get it from your backup. If you don't have a backup, you're doing it wrong.

I have just tried to drag a large pictures folder to my Dock but it just bounces back again. Anyone able to advise me? (many thanks)

Ted Wilson said:

The Dock doesn't really hold anything. They are just alias's/shortcuts to the actual file. If you move the folder to the Pictures folder and then add the folder to the dock for easy access then you will keep the desktop folder clean and still have easy access to your images.

Hotelfive said:

So sorry, I just want to make sure I have this correct.....I have now moved my "My Pictures" folder from my desktop onto my dock. Is this better than leaving on my desktop?

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My Website: http://www.elmsphotography.ca

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--
Ted W.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has
genius, power and magic in it. - Goethe

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Alpha Doug said:

Same thing could happen with one stupid move with manually organized files, especially if they are not backed up.

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My desktop contains two large folders and often a handfull of temp files. I delete the latter via cmd-backspace followed by cmd-shift-backspace to empty the trash. About once a year I accidentally delete one of the two large folders (because it happens to be selected when I hit cmd-backspace. I usually notice this when emptying the trash can takes much longer than usual.
Well, that is what TM is for.

paul2009 said:

I have just tried to drag a large pictures folder to my Dock but it just bounces back again. Anyone able to advise me? (many thanks)

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Look carefully at the dock, towards the right, near the trash and you'll see a dashed line break. You can drag folders and drop them on the RIGHT side of this line. Just ensure you don't drop it in the trash.

Read through the information at this link on the Apple site about how The Dock works.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2474

Absolutely agree! I keep my desktop as clean as possible, eliminating the possibility that I might have a brain fart and lose an important file, but yes, TM, and or SuperDuper or whatever you can do to backup is essential, and should be a part of everyones normal computer usage.

--
Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}

http://www.dougwigton.com/

Redundant Array of Independent
R.A.I.D
They wernt always inexpensive but they were independent.

I have set up my backup harddrive on my network. My harddrive sits downstairs in the basement hooked up to my Windows PC. I have then set it as a shared folder so I can access it on my Macbook Pro (which is upstairs). So now I manually copy my files over to my backup drive just by accessing it via my network. I'm just trying out that program Superduper as we speak (thanks for the suggestion!).

I have always prefered to do a manual backup of my files (I know...I need to learn to trust the capabilities of these new systems!) that way I KNOW the files have been backed up.

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My Website: http://www.elmsphotography.ca

Manual back up is great until you forget. Time Machine is one of the very best reasons to use a Mac.

-- TM runs every hour, and,
-- SuperDuper! runs every night (automagically)

Once a month I make ANOTHER backup with SuperDuper! to keep off site.

When I get somewhere with faster Internet, I will explore Crashplan and others.
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DiploStrat ;-)

[useless information]

Actually, the I did stand for 'inexpensive', the alternative was 'SLED' Single Large Expensive Drive.

Of course, the 'large, expensive' drives in question were typically 1 Gig [or smaller] SCSI II drives. Back in the early 90's my development file server had an array of three 330Meg Micropolus scsi drives - 660 meg of space [gobs and gobs of room].

[/ useless information]

KenCarson said:

Redundant Array of Independent
R.A.I.D
They wernt always inexpensive but they were independent.

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--
Save the Earth! Collect the entire set!

... I don't recall the reasons why but Apple recommends against keeping large number of flies on the Desktop. (Someone with a better memory/more knowledgeable will hopefully reply with more information on the matter...) If you want to continue your current practice I suggest placing the folder in something like your Documents folder and placing an alias of the file on your Desktop.

You can continue your current method of organizing image files in the Finder while taking full advantage of Aperture by "referencing" your image files vs. "managing" them where Aperture imports them into the Aperture Library.

I'm all for keeping things simple on a computer but there are too many advantages to using a DAM program like Aperture compared to manually keeping a bunch of image files straight. For example, I can use an Aperture plugin called "ApertureToZenfolio" to quickly and easily upload images to a Zenfolio gallery. Similar plugins exist for other online image galleries.

I am sympathetic to where you are coming from but having tried both methods there is no way that I would ever go back to attempting to manage a large number of images in the Finder. Aperture is a significant time-saver and easily pays for itself in a short period of time if you spend a significant amount of time working with your images.

I use a third party application called iPhoto Library Manager and one can create new libraries as needed and the Manager stores them wherever you want...

In the eighteen-hundreds (or even the nineteen-hundreds) a trip from the UK to Australia would take six months and 70% of the crew would die (scurvy, malnutrition, sea sickness, etc).

Today it takes less than 23 hours and less than 1 in a million people die during the process.

Whilst I appreciate the charm and nostalgia of the post, it seems quite bizarre that you don't realise that

A) even using the desktop and finder, you are actually using software to organise.

B) it's just that the software You are using is not designed or optimised for that job.

C) using the right tools for the job is easier, faster, and gives more benefits

I'm not sure why you want to make a song and dance about not understanding this, But please see my eBay site for a great deal on the last ticket on the tail of the great Comet that will come and save us from the millennium bug. ;-)

Seriously, finder can work OK. But it suggests you are not getting the most from your images because there is so much more that can be done with the right software. From fixing amazing shots you never knew existed, to giving friends and family priceless gifts. Your images are precious, give them some TLC.

-Najinsky

I am not taking a Luddite attitude and respect everyone's opinion to choose how they manage their images, it may be fear but I have concerns that I am not in control of how my images are stored, I have yet to miss a potential great shot because i did not have the ' right ' software.

My simple and swift method involves previewing the images i have stored in a named folder using Bridge, from that I select the images that I want to fix in Photoshop, do the fixing and store the adjusted image in a sub folder in the original folder.

Very simple for me to find both originals and adjusted images in the future, that works for me but I would no in any way suggest it is right for everyone,

You may be surprised to know that I still use the camera in manual mode but that is a whole new discussion thread !
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A selection of my images can be found at http://www.photo-genesis.net follow the galleries link then select the Jacks gallery

Art Jacks said:

My simple and swift method involves previewing the images i have stored in a named folder using Bridge, from that I select the images that I want to fix in Photoshop, do the fixing and store the adjusted image in a sub folder in the original folder.

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I could be wrong, but I believe Bridge, Photoshop, and folders qualifies as "software".

At least two of which qualify as Software that is optimised to make dealing with images simple. Which you are saying you use, and find it simple? Yet the opening to the message gave the impression of a would be luddite, apologising for not using software to make it simple? You've confused me!

-Najinsky

Art Jacks said:

I am not taking a Luddite attitude and respect everyone's opinion to choose how they manage their images, it may be fear but I have concerns that I am not in control of how my images are stored, I have yet to miss a potential great shot because i did not have the ' right ' software.

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... Aperture has the option of keeping image files outside the Aperture library.

Your images can then be easily accessed via the Finder on a Mac. (And yes, I realize that the Finder is software...!)

If Apple should suddenly go belly-up and Aperture mysteriously disappears from every Mac on the planet you will be able to find and open your images no problemo. Or use another program to catalog your images.