|
|
Post by BuckSkin on Oct 6, 2021 16:21:09 GMT
I have all my images tagged in Organizer in almost exactly the tree order you have used in your example. This is only part of the problem. Should I have to rename a file, even to correct a bird name ( they change them faster than I can keep up with, yesterday's Gallinule become todays African Swamphen overnight , and, presto, the Tags are outdated. I probably have to find and rename maybe twenty images, and when I do, they lose their connection to the Organizer and I lose all my Tags. They then have to be re-Tagged from scratch. Do you have it set to write the tags permanently into the file or just store the tags in the Organizer database ? If the tags are written permanently into the file, then they will remain with the file through a hundred name changes. I use the term "permanently" a bit loose here, as the tags definitely can be removed or replaced when necessary. As for file naming, I have found that putting the date-taken first in the file-name has been a big benefit for many reasons. Example: 2021-10-06_150142_7DMkII_1227 = Year-Month-Day_HourMinuteSecond_Camera_(4-digit consecutive number to separate any images taken during the same second) Some write the date-time as so: 20211006150142 but I like my way of having a bit of separation of the components even at the cost of a longer name. By putting the date-time first, if I am using more than one camera on any given day, so long as the clocks are synchronized, the images line up in the order they were taken regardless of camera used. I use free D.I.M. (Digital Image Mover) to offload the images from the card and apply my naming scheme. If I have used more than one camera that day, I offload the images from each card using DIM, at which point my consecutive numbers are not in order; then, I put all of the images together in a single folder where they will line up according to date-time; then, I use FastStone to add new consecutive numbers that are consecutive for the whole group; and finally, I use Advanced Renamer to remove the set of consecutive numbers that DIM applied initially. In your case, you could replace my camera with your bird name. |
|
popcorn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 227
|
Post by popcorn on Oct 6, 2021 19:42:30 GMT
Thanks Buckskin,
How do you write the Tags permanently?
I suppose they are added to the metadata files, can this be done in Organizer?
|
|
|
|
Post by BuckSkin on Oct 6, 2021 21:08:01 GMT
Thanks Buckskin, How do you write the Tags permanently? I suppose they are added to the metadata files, can this be done in Organizer? The option should be in preferences. michelb is better equipped to answer as to the particulars as I haven't kept up with the Organizer from version to version. There should also be a command to write the metadata on demand to one or to a selected batch of files. |
|
|
|
Post by michelb on Oct 9, 2021 18:57:22 GMT
Thanks Buckskin, How do you write the Tags permanently? I suppose they are added to the metadata files, can this be done in Organizer? The option should be in preferences. michelb is better equipped to answer as to the particulars as I haven't kept up with the Organizer from version to version. There should also be a command to write the metadata on demand to one or to a selected batch of files. Sorry to be late, I had little time to answer those last days... The answer is slightly different if you mean tags or captions. About tags (normal tags, not face recognition which I don't use): Tags are not written to files by default, only in the catalog, to keep the huge speed advantage of catalogs. You can write metadata to files manually (shortcut Ctrl W) for individual, bulk or even total library selection. This does only writes new tags to the files. It ignores already present tags which stay written in the file. That way, you can use any kind of selection (including batch import sort order) even if few of those files have received new tags. It's much faster to write metadata to files at intervals than to write always all tags to files. For captions, even if that is not clearly described in the help doc, when you add captions to individual files, they are always written to files. If you add the same caption to more than one individual one, I recommend to use the shortcut Ctrl W to be sure they will be all written. So, if you choose to write metadata to files each week or month, nothing is easier: you select the imported files of that period and apply the command. This will add all new tags and udate all the captions. Remember that the captions and tags are available in the Explorer file properties, 'detail >> title and keywords.
|
|
|
|
Post by michelb on Oct 9, 2021 19:50:08 GMT
Hi Michel & Bucksin, Thanks you for your interest I would love to change from my ungainly file naming system, so I am definitely interested in more. I guess what I am doing is doubling up on the work. My present system does however allows me to go to the source folder if I roughly know the date, these are named with the specific date on which they were downloaded with a group description ( 2021-10-06 Strandfontein birds ). I can then select the exact file I am looking for because the content is fully described in the file name. If I were to simplify the name and only name them with, say, the camera number ( DSC5469 ), I would have to view the total contents of the folder to select the right file. Then, if I alter the file name, I lose the connection to the Organizer with all the Tags allocated to those images, Any help will be fantastic. I have taken some time to understand your present workflow and specific requirements. I don't think that any radical change in your older workflow with descriptive file names involving changing the files already organized this way will be acceptable for you. However, I can imagine a radical change in the way you can manage your future workflow to take advantage of the power of the organizer while keeping your older files. - you use your present naming convention as a caption, not a filename. - the advanced search tool in the organizer is apt to find files based on a substring of what is either a filename or a caption. That's compatibility between old and new system.
- you can create a dedicated catalog for birds, separate from your other types of photography or simply create a tag structure including all the necessary hierarchies for your taxonomy requirements. The organizer has everything to manage such categories and tag hierarchies.
- It's your choice to import your files directly from the organizer downloader or from the explorer or other downloading tool. It's also your choice to organize you folder tree. I would simply suggest using a common scheme for any kind of photography. That generally means you can import a batch of photos of any kind so that they are all referenced already in the catalog. The simplest idea is to use the default import by date_taken for folder hierarchies. If you are able to remember (like Bucksin) when you took such or such a photo, that's good... unfortunately, that does not work for myself and that's becoming worse every day! - When you review your imported files, you have anyway to tag the categories and circumstances of each shot. If your hierarchy is correctly set, you only have to specify the last level of the species, you'll be able to recover any bird of an upper level from the subcategories menu. What is left is to create the composite caption equivalent to the file name convention you used for older filenames. No more work than what you had to do before.
I understand that before taking the plunge to a radical change, you'll need some time and playing with the possible solutions. My suggestion is first to play with the idea of searching according to your own criteria in a library with your present filename structure and also new files with captions instead of filenames. Play with the advanced text search (magnifier view on top right).
|
|
popcorn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 227
|
Post by popcorn on Oct 13, 2021 12:39:24 GMT
Once again, thank you both for your help.
Michel, I am experimenting with captions.
My one worry is that, in order to find an image I use Organizer every time.
But I suppose that the reason for Tags is to find the image without having to remember anything, knowing the name of the new bird is enough.
|
|
|
|
Post by michelb on Oct 13, 2021 13:47:48 GMT
Once again, thank you both for your help. Michel, I am experimenting with captions. My one worry is that, in order to find an image I use Organizer every time. But I suppose that the reason for Tags is to find the image without having to remember anything, knowing the name of the new bird is enough. You are right for the tags, but if you use the search tool (magnifying glass) on top right and you type the bird name you'll get at the same time photos with the bird tag and photos having the bird name in the caption. That's a bit like Googling the bird name from tags, caption extracts or filenames. Experiment with files having only the bird in the filename, a tag or the part of a caption. |
|
