Rethinking Work Flow

[cthomas]

After a major computer crash and a long down time(three months.) I am Rethinking my Work Flow. And I am using IMatch 5.8.4.



So if  go out on Monday and take about 150 wild life and Landscape pictures. The pictures will be taken in canon CR2 and jpg Should I just dump all of these images ito just one big folder or what? Also
I have about 3,000 images that scatted about on my hard drives. What should I do with these?

Now how should I put them in IMatch, when how should name them? Should I store both the raw and jpg images. How should I handle the buddy files. For some categories I will use Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

[jch2103]

IMatch gives you almost unlimited choices of how to set up your work flow. Here are two of many options (each with many possible sub-options:

Simple (mostly manual)
- Use IMatch to create a new folder,  based on date.
- Copy photos from memory card to this folder (raw, jpg; as long as don't put thousands of photos in this folder, IMatch can easily handle them and any buddy files).
- Use IMatch to assign metadata and categories.
- Your photos will be in IMatch, all set for further use.

More sophisticated approach
- Create an Import folder using IMatch
- Copy photos from memory card to Import folder
- Create metadata templates to add routine information like Creator and Copyright.
- Add metadata and Categories as desired.
- Use Renamer to move photos to your desired folder structure and rename them as you prefer.
- Your photos will be in IMatch, all set for further use.

You could start with the simple approach, then modify it to suit your needs. The main potential downside of the simple approach is that you need to avoid putting files with the same name in the same folder (using the Renamer can prevent this issue).

The best approach is the one that works best for you. IMatch gives you the ability to change your mind as needed.

[cthomas]

IMatch gives you almost unlimited choices of how to set up your work flow. Here are two of many options (each with many possible sub-options:

Simple (mostly manual)
- Use IMatch to create a new folder,  based on date.

- Copy photos from memory card to this folder (raw, jpg; as long as don't put thousands of photos in this folder, IMatch can easily handle them and any buddy files). When I Copy photos from memory card to this folder will that also copy the buddy files? How do I handle the buddy files?

- Use IMatch to assign metadata and categories.
- Your photos will be in IMatch, all set for further use.

More sophisticated approach
- Create an Import folder using IMatch
- Copy photos from memory card to Import folder
- Create metadata templates to add routine information like Creator and Copyright.
- Add metadata and Categories as desired.
- Use Renamer to move photos to your desired folder structure and rename them as you prefer.
- Your photos will be in IMatch, all set for further use.

You could start with the simple approach, then modify it to suit your needs. The main potential downside of the simple approach is that you need to avoid putting files with the same name in the same folder (using the Renamer can prevent this issue).

The best approach is the one that works best for you. IMatch gives you the ability to change your mind as needed.

[jch2103]

The only files on your memory card will be raw images (NEF?) and jpg images. IMatch should handle them fine with the default settings. See the Help for more details.

[greg]

IMatch gives you almost unlimited choices of how to set up your work flow. Here are two of many options (each with many possible sub-options:

Simple (mostly manual)
- Use IMatch to create a new folder,  based on date.
- Copy photos from memory card to this folder (raw, jpg; as long as don't put thousands of photos in this folder, IMatch can easily handle them and any buddy files).
- Use IMatch to assign metadata and categories.
- Your photos will be in IMatch, all set for further use.

More sophisticated approach
- Create an Import folder using IMatch
- Copy photos from memory card to Import folder
- Create metadata templates to add routine information like Creator and Copyright.
- Add metadata and Categories as desired.
- Use Renamer to move photos to your desired folder structure and rename them as you prefer.
- Your photos will be in IMatch, all set for further use.

You could start with the simple approach, then modify it to suit your needs. The main potential downside of the simple approach is that you need to avoid putting files with the same name in the same folder (using the Renamer can prevent this issue).

The best approach is the one that works best for you. IMatch gives you the ability to change your mind as needed.

This works well for me. I have my import folder on a solid state drive and my library on a NAS drive. It's much faster with the metadata write backs to assign keywords and other metadata prior to moving the folder to the NAS. The renamer works nicely for moving and renaming the files.