Naming/Storing Pictures

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this...

2025\2025-09-12\DSC_1110.JPG or NEF

However, I would like to also be able to see these by events. We just went on a big trip and visited a few different countries. So I was thinking

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\DSC_1110.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\DSC_1110.JPG

Are there any drawbacks to this? Or any suggestions for a different structure?

Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Larry Grady said:

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this...

2025\2025-09-12\DSC_1110.JPG or NEF

However, I would like to also be able to see these by events. We just went on a big trip and visited a few different countries. So I was thinking

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\DSC_1110.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\DSC_1110.JPG

Are there any drawbacks to this? Or any suggestions for a different structure?

Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Click to expand...

Seems overly detailed, and remember that image files have EXIF data including date and time.

My “Photo Archive” is something like this…

2015 Italy…

/Rome/[named images]

/Venice/[named images]

/Sicily/[named images]

/Best for email/[selected named images at lower resolution]

Larry Grady said:

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this...

2025\2025-09-12\DSC_1110.JPG or NEF

However, I would like to also be able to see these by events. We just went on a big trip and visited a few different countries. So I was thinking

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\DSC_1110.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\DSC_1110.JPG

Click to expand...

This is basically how I do it, leaving the individual files names as is.

Larry Grady said:

Are there any drawbacks to this? Or any suggestions for a different structure?

Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Click to expand...

Larry Grady said:

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this...

2025\2025-09-12\DSC_1110.JPG or NEF

However, I would like to also be able to see these by events. We just went on a big trip and visited a few different countries. So I was thinking

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\DSC_1110.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\DSC_1110.JPG

Are there any drawbacks to this? Or any suggestions for a different structure?

Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Click to expand...

You are trying to add metadata to your images so they are more easily findable.

Putting your metadata in the filename is somewhat limiting. I would suggest storing the metadata in the file itself. The IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) has a well supported standard for storing captions, keywords, locations, persons shown, etc., in the file itself.

I use Photo Mechanic to add metadata to my images, but there are lots of other choices out there.

I use a Mac, and the operating system automatically indexes many common metadata fields. I can use the built-in spolight function to search. There are also versions of Photo Mechanic that will index your images and provided sophisticated ways of searching.

Naming is not as critical when you have proper meta data in the files. However, I find it useful to ensure that every image has a unique name.

I create a folder for each group of photos. This might be something like "2025-10-31 School Halloween Parade". I then name each image YYYYMMDD-seqnum. For example something like 20251031-001, 20251031-002, etc. When I have variations on an image, I add a suffix. For instance an 8x10 cropping might be named 20251031-001-8x10. A black and white version might be named 20251031-001-BW. A tightly cropped B&W might be 20251031-001-BW-TC

When I am only dealing with images from one session, I can refer to them by just the sequence number. When I make prints, I write the filename on the back of the print. The filename alone uniquely identifies the source file.

Even without metadata, filenames based on dates and sequence numbers are usually sufficient, If I want to find an image from last year's thanksgiving, I can find it by date. If I am looking for images from my Yellowstone trip, but don't remember the date, I search for a folder with "Yellowstone" in the name. Once I find the right folder, I don't need every file to have "Yellowstone" in the filename.

As filenames contain the date, that's sufficient for me to find the folder. No need for "Yellowstone" to be in the filename.

Sequence numbers restart at 001 for each folder. The exception is when I have multiple shoots in the same day. The first folder may have sequence numbers 001 through 075. The next folder may have 100 through 234.

If I expect to have more than a thousand photos in a folder, I use four digit sequence numbers. For instance a folder for a multi day trip might have images 20241201-0001 through 20241201-0456, and 20241202-0457 through 20241202-1023, etc.

My folder structure is like below, I don't change file names.

Photos/2025/20251030 - family trip to Paris

I make the same album structure in Capture One with RAW files. Probably not an ideal system, but require minimal effort.

I name photos by event. Example: If I go on vacation to Mt. Rainier National Park during 2025 I create a file folder named RNP Vac 2025. Then I create sub folders for each day of the vacation named Day 1 RNP Vac 2025, Day 2 RNP Vac 2025, etc. I do this on a laptop. Each night I download the images into the appropriate Day folder. I name the images 2025 RNP Vac_0001, 2025 RNP Vac_0002, etc. After each download I copy to a thumbdrive for a temporary backup.

If I go to Europe I would do Europe Vac 2025 with sub folders for each nation I visited. Possibly each subfolder could have a Day 1, Day 2 subfolder if desired.

Doing this enables me to know what year and what day I took an image without having to open a photo to check EXIF data. It also helps differentiate between several trips to the same place.

Larry Grady said:

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this...

2025\2025-09-12\DSC_1110.JPG or NEF

However, I would like to also be able to see these by events. We just went on a big trip and visited a few different countries. So I was thinking

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\DSC_1110.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\DSC_1110.JPG

Are there any drawbacks to this? Or any suggestions for a different structure?

Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Click to expand...

I once did something similar but sometimes I go to more than one place in a day and have photographs from in between them, or I might remain in one place for more than one day. Now, I just use a folder structure like 2025\20251026\ and file names like 251026-DLBR2106.jpg. The DLBR tells me which custom set was used (from the camera) and the 2106 is the camera's rolling photo number. I'll add location by group setting or synchronizing with my phone's GPS data.

Lightroom handles the folder and file naming (file is the YYMMDD date, a hyphen '-', and the camera's file name).

Your method seems suitable and manageable for low to moderate camera obsession. Mine is automated (Lightroom, mount SD card, click Import) and my camera obsession is vast.

Larry Grady said:

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this .... snip ....
Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Click to expand...

Your final underlined examples are a bit confusing to me.

Not sure if the following will work for you but is how I store my pictures. I use the yymmdd format:

D:\PHOTOS ###
... 080520 Alaska cruise
... 140105 Miazawa wedding
... 170511 Japan trip
... 250510 Mother's day

I add the ### suffix (PHOTOS ###) to high usage folders to make it easier to find them in Windows file explorer.

The large date ranges for the folders are examples of using a two digit year. I actually archive old folders on archive drives so that I don't have to keep backing up the same old pictures every time I do a backup. I just use 2 digit years instead of 4 digits, which works fine for me. The month and day are the start dates of the vacation.

After a vacation or event, I copy all of the pictures that I took from the camera card, into their respective folders. I don't erase the pictures on the camera card until I do an image backup of the D: drive. (Note that I have a real-time backup of the D drive but I still don't erase the pictures on the camera card until I do an image backup of the D: drive. So effectively, I have two backups of the pictures.)

If I want to remember the dates for each city on a vacation trip, (like say the Japan trip), I copy the itinerary that I made for the vacation trip into the Japan folder. Then knowing the date we entered a city from the itinerary, I use the EXIF data for the pictures to confirm where the pictures were taken. IOW, I don't try to include the city data into folder names or modify each picture name.

BTW, I'm very thrifty in taking pictures on vacations. I don't end up with thousands of pictures. About 300-400 pictures (including videos) total per trip. I don't want to see the sights through my camera's viewfinder. I did that once in the beginning of my photography hobby and won't do that again.

Finally, I'm very brutal in culling pictures. I don't use a rating system (like 1-5 etc). I use Faststone Image Viewer and mark pictures that I don't want to keep. At the end, I display only the marked images and delete all of them. I don't have time or the inclination to rate each picture. And at the end, what good are the ratings if I end up keeping them all? Either keep or delete for me.

Michael Fryd said:

You are trying to add metadata to your images so they are more easily findable.

Putting your metadata in the filename is somewhat limiting. I would suggest storing the metadata in the file itself. The IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) has a well supported standard for storing captions, keywords, locations, persons shown, etc., in the file itself.

Click to expand...

Plus one for embedding IPTC Metadata. Messing with file or folder names is inappropriate to the task. I recommend downloading the free XnView MP and at least adding keywords to you image files ... XnView has the best search engine on the planet !!

Larry Grady said:

I started storing my pictures using a date structure, as many threads/articles advise. I have a year folder, then I do it by date after that. So my folder look like this...

2025\2025-09-12\DSC_1110.JPG or NEF

However, I would like to also be able to see these by events. We just went on a big trip and visited a few different countries. So I was thinking

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\DSC_1110.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\DSC_1110.JPG

Are there any drawbacks to this? Or any suggestions for a different structure?

Also, i was considering changing the file names also. I remember many years ago I had a utility to do this in Picasa. I'm sure there is something in LR or other software to do it.

2025\2025-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland\2024-09-12-EuropeTrip-Iceland_0001.JPG
2025\2025-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy\2024-09-13-EuropeTrip_Italy_0001.JPG

Does this make sense? I'm really just getting started and I'd like to get this right from the beginning. THanks.

Click to expand...

That's essentially how I handle my folder structure. I have a folder for each year, and within that, a folder for each day on which I took pictures. The name of that folder is always the date and a word or two about what I photographed or something else important about that set. For example: 10-20-2025_Superior-hiking-trail

I used to just use the date for my folders, but having the super short description has made it much, much easier to scan through my hard drive and find what I am looking for. I typically don't know the exact date I took images, but I do know (at least roughly) the time of year and general topic, so seeing that in the folder name makes it much faster for me personally to sort through things.

I know lots of people who change the file names to something from that day, as you mentioned as well. It's a bit redundant for me, since when I find the folder, the file name doesn't matter, and it just adds an extra step during post that doesn't end up helping me much. However, if it makes things easier for you, then go with it! The important thing is finding a system that works for you and sticking to it. File organization can be a beast once you start to amass lots of photos, so you're smart to try to get things under control early. I certainly wish I had done that!