Help with organizing image folders and renaming

[karibedford]

Hi there,

Maybe it is fairly obvious, but I have not been using PM for long -- so it's all new to me! Bear with me if this is an obvious question.  I am using PhotoMechanic 4.6.8 on an iMac, OSX 10.6.8.

I have always been taught that the best way to get files from the source (ie: compact flash card/reader) is to use your computer's OS. So, I plug in my card reader and use the Finder to drag files from the card reader to a folder on my hard drive. When I am downloading photos from a wedding, I create a master folder (ie: Smith Wedding) and then I create folders within that folder and name/number the folders after the cards (Card 1, Card 2, and so on). I do this because I shoot with two bodies at the wedding and I want to avoid having to deal with duplicate file numbers from my camera.

The problem is, I end up with multiple folders and my images are not all in one tidy place. In LightRoom, I can import all of the images into a collection -- but I don't really want to use LR to cull images. I think PM is a much better program for culling images. But how do I get them all in one place without having to rename each file first, then drag them into a folder, then rename them in the proper order?

What I want is to end up with all of the images in one place, sorted and numbered in order. So 0001Smith.CR2 would be the first photo of the day -- and 3100Smith.CR2 would be the last photo of the day. All in one folder.

Is there a simple way to do this with the ingest feature without having to use the ingest feature to download the cards?

Am I making sense? lol! Thank you in advance!

[dbrouse]

Once you get them all on your hard drive you can open all the folders and current folders (with one click) and display them all in ONE contact sheet. I would then sort them by time and rename them. That puts them in order by filename.

Then you can move (drag) them to a single folder and delete all those other folders (Card 1, Card 2).

If you are shooting Nikon you can name the files in the camera (ie CA1_1243 CA2_1234) and using Photo Mechanic to INGEST (copy your images to your hard drive) eliminate the step of having the multiple folders. That's what I would do.

If any of this isn't clear please let me know.

Delane

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[Kirk Baker]

Kari,

What I want is to end up with all of the images in one place, sorted and numbered in order. So 0001Smith.CR2 would be the first photo of the day -- and 3100Smith.CR2 would be the last photo of the day. All in one folder.

Is there a simple way to do this with the ingest feature without having to use the ingest feature to download the cards?

I'm kind of confused by your question.  Ingest is definitely the feature to use for this task.  And you're asking how to use Ingest without having to use Ingest?

Ingest can easily combine multiple cards into a single folder, use sequential numbering for file renaming so I think it addresses all of your needs.  If you Ingest the cards in the order you shot them (tell Ingest to flatten the directory structure) and renamed using the {sequence} variable in your renaming string you'd get what you want.

If however, you're shooting with multiple bodies and the images shot on the cards are happening simultaneously you'd skip the renaming during Ingest and do the renaming after the cards are downloaded.  Just sort by Capture Time, select all, then Rename using the {sequence} variable and you'd be all done.

HTH,

-Kirk

[dbrouse]

Kirk-

FYI...there are a few of the "Rock Star" wedding photographers that advocate against using a program to get the files onto your harddrive. The arguments is that the programs can corrupt files and junk like that.

[Kirk Baker]

Delane,

FYI...there are a few of the "Rock Star" wedding photographers that advocate against using a program to get the files onto your harddrive. The arguments is that the programs can corrupt files and junk like that.

I see.  Photo Mechanic downloads millions of photos a year without incident.  If the data on the card is bad, copying it with the OS won't produce a better result.  Only software like ImageRescue can do any better under those circumstances.

Ingest will save Kari a ton of time.  I guess if she only trusts the OS to copy the files then she should follow your advice and then sort by Capture Time and then do the Renaming with the {sequence} variable.

The problem with using the OS to copy files is if you don't want to duplicate the folder structure of the card then the user can make a mistake and miss out on some of the files.  Ingest won't ever do that.

Either way, PM can help Kari in her task.

Thanks for the clarification.  Now that you explained that, I understand what Kari was trying to say.

-Kirk

[Kevin M. Cox]

I, and tons of people I know, have been using the Ingest feature just fine for years. I actually trust PM more than the OS. If there is an error with copying a photo, Photo Mechanic will report which image caused the error while continuing to copy the rest.  Generally if the OS encounters an error during a copy operation it will just stop, leaving you to figure out what photo caused the problem.

I agree with Kirk, it will save you a ton of time Kari!

[karibedford]

Thank you for your replies! I will attempt to use the ingest feature to download the next wedding and see if it helps me skip a step. I wasted a bunch of time copying files, renaming, etc. yesterday. Ugh. Don't want to do that again. Thanks again!

[dbrouse]

Kari-

I suggest that you run a few trials BEFORE your next wedding to determine a good workflow that works for you. Doing it before the wedding will reduce the amount of stress and allow you to take your time and develop a very efficient process.

If you need any help just let me know.

Delane