If you've been shooting digital for any length of time, chances are you are already suffering from too many images with unhelpful file ames, stored in a directory structure that makes finding a specific image fast a nightmare.
When you consider most of us also have to handle two or three or more versions of every single image, it's little wonder that Digital Asset Management (DAM) has become an industry in it's own right.
Well if you want to bring it all under control, the 'system' that follows should be a useful starting point.
Hopefully it might give you a few simple ideas that you can use to set up your own naming & filing system, one you can eventually plug-in to a serious DAM workflow.
It is extremely simple, very fast to implement and the bulk of the 'work' is automated.
DAM for photographers is all about being able to find a specific version of a specific image fast.
For that to happen you basically need three things...
1.
A simple file-naming system that identifies each image in a meaningful way.
2.
A simple filing system that stores the images in a logical order.
3.
Some sort of cross-referencing to connect #1 with #2.

This doesn't take into account 'backups' and 'master copies' etc, but that's outside the scope of this article.
Anything discussed here is talking about your working versions of each image...
and assumes that the originals are already safely filed away elsewhere!

Unfortunately most digital cameras seem to come with software that is designed for amateurs shooting holiday snaps, so if you rely on that, the image files are named and stored entirely by date.
That works for OK when an amateur photographer just needs to locate images of a certain event or a visit to a certain location...
they can usually remember 'when' it was without too much trouble.
That just doesn't work for pros...
they soon end up with hundreds or even thousands of dated image folders that could contain anything at all.
Then when they open the folder, the content of each image is still a mystery.
Some photographers will start out renaming folders, or even files, but without a proper plan it's a big job and it's easy to miss a few when you're in a hurry...
So what I'm going to outline for you is a simple system that you can adapt to your own workflow.
File Naming This has become a pet-hate of mine recently because there is so much BAD software out there that causes so many unnecessary headaches by trying to do too much.
Filenames should be a unique identifier...
nothing more.
If you're using software that encourages you to write a detailed caption as a filename, throw it away! Sooner or later it will cause you grief and it will probably cost you money! Long filenames can be incompatible with some computer systems, they regularly 'break' in emails.
If you send a Client an image with a filename that's too long and there is a very real chance that they simply won't be able to open it.
If they have other images to choose from, they probably won't even tell you.
Likewise if you're emailing images, spaces in the filename will often 'break' the local link.
Again, the Client won't be able to open it and a lot of them won't bother asking you to try again...
they haven't got the time.
If you're burning images to disc, there is a real chance the software will have problems with long filenames, spaces and special characters.
Even if you manage to get the job done at your end, there is no guarantee it will work for your buyer.
Spaces and special characters...
especially commas, quotes and apostrophes...
also cause problems with databases...
ie.
any time you're sharing images online, so again, best practice is simply not to use them.

The simple solution is to name your image files with letters and number only, no spaces.
You want to keep them short as well, so there is nothing to be gained by using hyphens or underscores instead of spaces.
The trick is to do it in a way that is easy and still tells you what the image is of without you having to open it.

So what we recommend to our photographers is based on a system I first found on the Controlled Vocabulary website quite some time back.
The original system used a two-letter category code, a two-letter subject code, a unique identifier based on the date of the photo and a couple of optional letter-codes on the end to identify any pertinent format information.
I find most photographers tend to specialize so they don't actually need that many options, and using the date as a unique identifier adds a lot of extra characters to the filename.
So what I use instead looks something like this...
ABB1234X A = a one-letter code for main category.
These will vary depending on the kinds of subjects you shoot, but I'd expect most people could categorise their work into 10-20 broad Fields, Subjects or Locations? Give each one of those a Single-Letter code.
BB = a two letter code for a subject.
You can usually work these out as-you-go, just keep a list handy when you're renaming files.
How you categorize is up to you..
it might be by model, location, species, client...
the key is to pre-plan and designate codes to most of your main subjects before you start.
1234 = a serial number, usually applied automatically by filenaming software.
Some people might use date/time information already in the filename, but to be truly unique that requires more digits and doesn't add useful.
The EXIF data is still in the image is you really need to know the exact time the image was shot.
X = a formatting code to indicate whether it's your master file (M), a working copy(W), a digitallly altered version (D), a black-and-white copy (B), or a low res preview (P).
The result is an 8 character filename that is totally unique and tells you enough about the content of the image to be able to locate the images you need quickly and easily.
Putting It Into Practice The primary goal with any of this is to keep it manageable and efficient, and there are two tricks to this...
The first is to automate as much as possible.
There are a lot of free and cheap File-Renaming applications available to assist with this and I use & recommend the free File Renamer Basic for PC users, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of similar options for Mac users.
The other is to do your renaming as soon as possible after any shoot.
As soon as you download the files to your computer, make it a habit to open the folder of new images in your file renaming software, and convert the file names to something usable before you forget the details.
As an example, in FileRenamer here's what I do...
1.
Select the image folder...
check rename 'Files' 2.
Select a new image folder...
check 'Enable' and 'Move' 3.
Select Display As Thumbnails It might be that all the images are going to have the same letter-codes, or there might be a dozen different subjects...
since you're worknig with thumbnails it doesn't matter.
You just select batches of similar images and rename them accordingly.
In the FileName Properties tab set the following...
Prefix: Check Include.
Then enter your category & subject codes, as appropriate for this batch of images (not the whole folder!) Filename: Uncheck Include.
This wipes the camera assigned filename.
Separator: Uncheck Include.
We're aiming for short-as-possible, and separators serve no useful purpose.
Unique Parameter: Check Include.
Select Numbers, Increment 1, Mask 0000.
Start from one the first time you batch this subject.
For future batches we'll make a note of the starting number.
Suffix: At this stage, this is usually my master file, so I add an M.
Extension: Usually you'll leave this unchanged, probably TIF or JPG Then it's just a matter of clicking Apply.
The files are renamed and moved, so you just select the next batch of images, change the Prefix and run it again.
A couple of steps to make it simple and repeatable...
I use the same destination folder every time.
When I'm done renaming I open that and drag-and-drop the files to an appropriate place in my Storage Directory.
The Storage Directory structure is simple...
a folder for each Category code, and a Sub-Folder for each 'child' Subject code.
The file names are unique and ordered, so I can just drop the files into the appropriate folder and the job's done.
I keep a list of my Category/Subject codes on the wall beside my computer for easy reference.
I check the final Unique Identifier number from each 'batch' and make a note on the list of the next number...
so I know where to start from 'next time'.
Locating for a file is just as simple! Anytime I 'publish' a photo online, I include my assigned filename in the caption or keyword details, so any time I get a query I can easily check it for my filename and locate the image on my computer in seconds.
This system is extremely simple and super efficient once you get set up, The software is simple -- and most other renaming programs will work much the same -- and I've 'sorted, renamed and filed' hundreds of images at a time in a matter of minutes.
So if you're struggling to manage your image collection, I'd really recommend you do something about it now! It will only get worse until you do.