File Naming in Lightroom
I just watched the preview for “Where The #%*! Are My Pictures?” which is a DAM tutorial with Michael Reichmann and Seth Resnick.
Before I start, I believe that this tutorial will have a great deal of valuable information for anyone concerned with Digital Asset Management, and I am neither reviewing nor critiquing the video as I have not watched it. But the preview concerned file naming and inspired me to write.
I assume that most photographers let their cameras do their file naming for them, as I’m the only one that I personally know that uses Lightroom naming templates to rename their files on import. I really have no use for multiple files named “_DSC0470.NEF” on my hard drive since it’s only a matter of time before the bridal portrait “_DSC0470.NEF” which is going to be blown up to a 24″x36″ canvas wrap is replaced by “_DSC0470.NEF” which is the inside of my camera bag as I accidentally hit the shutter pulling the camera out of the trunk.
In the snippet of video that I watched the advice was to have a template that names files with a date stamp (YYMMDD), some custom code that says something about where or for who the pictures were shot and a 4 digit sequence number and then he adds a bit of code like _L to mean layered file or _CF for client final.
All good advice. My naming convention is similar in many ways but because of the way I work I don’t bother with the custom naming bits. My workflow is always evolving so that may change. My naming template looks like this -[L Ragogna]-[Date (DD)][Date (Mon)][Date (YY)]-[Image # (0001)].
I start a new catalog for every job. This Saturday’s wedding will have a different catalog than last Saturdays. And my images stay in the same folder as the catalog file, so that when it’s time to archive the whole folder moves off the WIP* onto the Archive drive without having to collect/export anything. I’m SUPER anal about where my files go and file organization. This works for me. If you are less careful about where your images go then a bit of custom text saying where and for who the picture was taken may work better for you. So no custom text for me, but I add my name because when I hand off final files to someone else I want a fighting chance of them knowing the files came from me.
Lightroom allows you to add a date stamp in the form (YYMMDD), which is very useful indeed. I prefer to use the separate date stamps for year, month and day because it puts the three letter abbreviation for the month in the middle and I get confused looking at a six digit date code. Yes, I’m simple, but my personality leaves a lot to be desired so there you go. And then the four digit number because I routinely shoot over 1000 images but always much less than 9999 images in a given day, so every file has a unique number, and the numbering starts over the next day.
I feel that the only files that have any business being in Lightroom are .dng and .psd files (that’s how I roll) and I can tell the difference by looking at the extension. .psd files are always layered and client finals (.jpg) get discarded after I burn a CD/DVD/whatever so I don’t need that last bit of code, you may find it handy to keep a million versions of your file so feel free to add what you like.
Lightroom makes renaming on import so easy that there’s no reason to not do it. It keeps your data safer and makes it easier to find stuff when you’re looking for it. So set up a naming template and do it already.
*WIP = Work In Progress
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