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[tcurtisGen]

I've been collection digital images for some time now. I continue with the challenge of filenames in the Windows operating system. I want to embed what the image is (i.e., who's in the photo) and yet have a short meaningful filename. This is partly because when I copy the images to CD, the filenames can only be so long. So for a photo of John and Jane Williams taken 3 Jan 1939, do I use one of the following, or something else? (Please consider how the filenames will sort in the Windows operatiing system.)

John and Jane Williams Photo taken 3 Jan 1939.jpg
or
WilliamsJohn and Jane Photo 19390103.jpg
or
WilliamsJohn_m1_GreenJane Photo 19390103.jpg
or
other ideas?

By the way I do place text in the margins of the digital image that indicates this information and the source of the photo. However, when looking at filenames, this text is not available.

Thanks

[rworthington]

tcurtisGen,

The way I use filenames for Digitial Images, pictures in this case, is close to yours, but I want the filenames to sort by surname.

Williams_John-Jane-1939-0103.jpg

So, if I had another picture of John Williams, but don't know that date, only may know the birth date and death year, I enter

Williams_John-1920-2007.jpg

Still alive,

Williams_John-1920-curr.jpg

Depending on the software, I would also make a copy of that image for Jane:

Green_Jane-1939-0103.jpg

Lets say I have an earlier picture of Jane, but only know the year.

Green_Jane-1920.jpg

The way it would sort with Windows Explorer, or an Import of Image window, the sorting would make it easy for me to find.

That is the way I have been doing it. It works for me. Just enough detail to select the image I want.

Hope that helps.

Hope this is how we are to use this Forum.

Thank you,

Russ

[jeboggess]

For your example, I would do something like the following to keep the name as short as possible and allow files to be sorted by date:
    1939-01-03 John & Jane Williams.jpg   [assuming you would recognize this as a "Photo"]

I also use folders liberally, with a folder hierarchy like:
    Genealogy --> Families --> Williams --> John (1912-1983)

[William]

I use a photo editing program called Photoshop Elements 7.0. In the Organizer I catergorize by family and then  tag the photo with name date. I back up to CD once a week.
I find I like this program a lot. I used to make folders and sub folders in Windows and back up.

[GarysTurn]

You can also use Google Picasa. It allows you to label photos and file them in Photo Albums.  You can also do croping and other effects that are only visible inside Picasa without altering the original photo.  Picas is a free Photo organizer and editing program from Google.  It will find all the photos on your hard drive and show you a list of folders that contain photos. Just do a Google search for "Google Picasa".  Google Picasa also allows you to back up your photos online for free and make them available publicly or keep them private. It also does Slide Shows, Multi-Picture Printing, Online ordering, and many other functions.  I also have PhotoShop Elements but I like Picasa much better.

[celem]

Very worthwhile reading on this topic is:
http://tinyurl.com/8grjy9
http://tinyurl.com/9b5nam

Personally, I like the method described by Bruce Jones

Bruce Jones states - I adopted the MRIN system for my paper files, I decided (with some suggestions from this list) to mirror that with my digital images as well. So, after much thought and discussion with others, this is what I came up with for file names:

Mnnnn-fttt-description

where
M     = M (short for MRIN) but could be the first initial of a family group,
such as B for Barnes, J for Jones, etc.  You could use a different code for
each of your 8 family lines.
nnnn = the MRIN number of that person's marriage (or, if not married, the
MRIN number of that persons parents)
f       = family position (H for husband, W for wife, 1,2,3,etc. which is
the birth order of the unmarried child).  I also use C for couple (mar, pic)
and F for family (cen, pic).
ttt     = type of record (cen, bir, dea, bur, mar, pic, wil, chu, etc.)
description is anything that helps further identify the image, (such as the
year, location, and family head for a census). Also, I use periods (.)
instead of blanks in the description.

Hopefully, those 3 character types are obvious.  If not, you could choose ones that are to you. I have renamed about a thousand images (that were not named consistently ) using this pattern.

[JL]

I've found the MRIN system works well for source documents.  Pictures are more complicated because the subject matter can span several families and making multiple copies for multiple folders is a nuisance, not to mention waste of disk space.  I keep photo file-names simple.  Trying to fit everything that can be said about a photograph into a file-name is a tall order.  I embed the details (every person's name, location, copyright, etc) using IPTC keywords.  These keywords are searchable so duplicates are unnecessary. 

IPTC is a standard adopted by the more 'serious' software.  Although Picasa, as suggested above, does allow the addition of tags, only tags added to jpg's will show up in other "tagging" software.  Tags on other file formats are a waste of time unless you and everyone you share photos with only use Picasa.  Also, tags are still in quite rudimentary form even in v.3. 

Adobe uses standard IPTC so captions and keywords added to photos there will show in other compatible software and it covers formats beyond just jpg's. Adobe Elements is lacking somewhat in convenience and batch-mode operations for IPTC but it's a pretty good choice for those of us with smaller budgets considering the price also includes a substantial editor.

[celem]

I agree, in general, with JL's comment regarding IPTC tags as a search mechanism, although the most commonly used image software is usually lacking in this area. A list of IPTC compatible software can be found at the link below:

http://tinyurl.com/7gbtgy

My comment regarding using the filename was motivated by volunteer work with my local library's image digitization effort. By utilizing a code (MRIN is a reasonable starting point) to create uniform, relevant filenames, some order can be brought to the disk storage. I have encouraged the library to also use IPTC tags but have met some resistance, partly due to their choice of image software.

[JL]

Needless to say, make sure you have a backup of your MRIN's.

[JasonP]

Along with all of these recommendations, I'll make the general filenaming rule of thumb:  Don't use spaces in filenames if at all possible.  Use underscores or dashes, but don't use spaces.  Some software (web browsers, older software, poorly written software) and some operating systems just don't get along well with spaces in filenames.

[ARWilson]

Make a folder for each surname, such as "Williams".  File each picture in that folder with a name and date such as "J-J  1-3-30", John-Jane 1-3-30", or even "J-J 1-'30".  That will eliminate typing the surname repeatedly.  You will probably have folders for several families on one CD, but each family's pictures will be together in that one folder. 

For some families, where you have dozens, even hundreds, of photos, you might have folders for each member instead of one large folder, or you might group them by approximate year.  That might change your folder title to something like "Jane Williams" so that just the date might be needed. (If several are from the same date of the same person you could label them "1-3-30 A", "1-3-30 B", etc.)

What if you have several "Williams" folders on different CDs?  As a quick find device, you can copy all of the pictures from a CD as thumbnails on a contact sheet which you can keep with the CD or in a folder.  (Don't forget to record which CD the pictures are from on the contact sheet.) When looking for a certain picture you can peruse the contact sheets, spot which CD it's on, and locate it quickly. (The titles are printed under the pictures on the contact sheet.)  If you don't want to print thumbnails (35 on a page), you can print out a list of what's on the CD instead, but a small copy of the actual picture is more useful than a title listing such as "1-3-30 D".

This works well for me. (Windows XP with Photo Printing Wizard program which came installed with the computer.)