How do you mark your images after upload?

[Betty LaRue]

Just curious as to how you all mark your images chosen for upload to Alamy, to sort them from the ones you haven't uploaded.

 

Sometimes I may develop several similars from a shoot but end up only uploading a couple of them.  Once converted to jpeg I put them in a folder marked "Alamy 200" or whatever number denoting how many uploads I've done.  The original folder I'm working from may be named "13-08-06 restaurants".  As I work, I also save back a jpeg to the original folder as a jpeg and mark them like this:  

 

DSC2044-AL.jpg.  

 

The AL lets me know I uploaded this image to Alamy.  Then I delete the Tiff.

Back before I saved only jpegs to my folders, I saved them in 8 bit (way way back, 16 bit) Tiff format.  So I might have Tiffs that I have uploaded alongside Tiffs I didn't use.  If I should go back to that folder, The "AL" designation lets me know which images are in my Alamy online portfolio and which are not.

 

Nowadays, since I only save the jpeg back into the folder, I can readily see what I've done.  Anything saved in jpeg has been uploaded, any Tiffs have not.  Even so, I still mark the jpegs with the "AL" designation.  

 

What do you do?

 

Betty

[NYCat]

I use Lightroom and anything with 5 stars and a red label automatically goes into a "Smart Collection" of my images on Alamy. They get the fifth star and the red label after they have been accepted on Alamy. The other versions of the same image also have 5 stars but a green label.

 

Paulette

[Ed Endicott]

I distinguish my images first by license type - RM, RF, CW (Commissioned Work), etc.  Then I number them based with 6 digits.  As an example, RM000563 indicates it's my 563rd RM image.  This helps me distinguish between license types so I don't license an RF image as RM and vice versa.

 

I keep an Excel Spreadsheet

 

First Column - Image Number

Second Column - Photoshoot description (usually starts with date, then name - as an example 20130801 Cowboy Shoot)

Third Column - Copyright Registration Number

 

the rest of the columns correspond to the agency I submit to.  In those columns I track - "uploaded", "accepted", "rejected", and "pass" (in the cases where I decline to submit).

 

In that spreadsheet I have three tabs - the first tab is for Royalty Free images, the second tab is for Rights Managed Images, the third tab is for Commissioned Work.

 

 

 

In Lightroom, my catalog matches the photoshoot description.  The image numbers also match the image numbers on the spreadsheet or on the file name.  This makes things easy for tracking, copyright registration, etc.

[Reimar]

I upload everything.  The occasional personal stuff I add NS to the file name (for non-stock).  I also save all files as 8 bit TIFF with LZW compression.  The RAW files go to external hard drives.

[Julie Edwards]

Mark them as green in Lightroom and add an exportAlamy keyword which goes into a smart collection.

[losdemas]

I have a list of keywords in Lightroom starting with an underscore ( _ ) which don't get exported.  Shots going to Alamy have the keyword _alamy added. In common with Julie, these then go into a smart collection.

[Bill Kuta]

I work in LR5 in folders by shoot or some generic topics.

 

For everything that becomes part of my stock collection, the final raw version is renamed in LR into my own name-sequence scheme.

 

Everything going to Alamy from those renamed raws then gets exported as jpeg into an "Uploads for Alamy" folder, and exported as tif into a general stock archival folder. Thus, for a particular image, the raw, the archival tif, and the uploaded jpeg versions all have the same file name, in case I ever want to revisit the raw.

 

The "Uploads for Alamy" folder gets emptied frequently enough so that I know where I am in the sequence.

 

My numbering scheme is simply name-sequence; I make no attempt to identify shoot or any other metadata in the file name--that's what the image metadata are for.

[Bill Robinson]

I do the same thing as Danny with regard to the _alamy derivation.

Then move them to the Alamy folder.

Once uploaded and accepted, they go into an "accepted" sub folder.

 

cheers

Bill

[Betty LaRue]

I have recently installed LR4, but must admit I'm only learning to develop images in it, and haven't tried delving into the renaming, stars or colors.  I'm almost afraid of it, lest I make a big mess.  I do have a book on LR4, and only skimmed the chapter about organization.  I need to get into it with a clear mind and make sense of it, I guess.  Trouble is, once I started with the method I've been doing since taking up photography seriously, I'm familiar with that, and have thousands of images in those folders done the familiar way.

 

It's kind of like having a husband you love and are comfortable with, know all his habits, and someone says, "Oh, but this other guy would be better for you!"  Who knows that he will suit ME?    

[dov makabaw]

I use LR4 and shoot in RAW.

On initial processing I flag images as accepted or rejected.

On transmission to Alamy I transfer the jpegs into a separate file and use colour purple.

After keywording I remove the accepted flag and purple and transfer back to the project file. I also delete the rejected images totally at this stage.

On zooms and sales I add a star each time. Zooms are coloured yellow and sales red. I duplicate/triplicate etc images when I run out of stars ie every 6th and for yellow and red.

I can access any of these scenarios through Smart Collection to get an overview.

Its a bit anal but it works for me.

 

Hope that helps - good luck

 

dov

[spacecadet]

Shoot Jpeg.

Flag possibles in LR2.

Cull and develop the survivors.

Export, names unchanged,  to an appropriately named folder inside my  'alamyresize' folder (named when we had to upsize).

Final check. A bit wasteful if one or two go at this stage but it doesn't interrupt the dev work.

Upload. When accepted, move to 'alamy' folder on main drive.

[Lionel]

I'm using PhotoShop CS4 Extended, which includes Bridge.

I always shoot RAW, keep them in folders mostly named by date, all on an external drive; derivative .PSD and .JPG live in the same folder as the source RAW. I never rename RAW, use the same name for the derived .psd/.jpg unless the derived files are a panorama, in which case the file name is a range like DSC41002-21.

As I complete processing an image I decide if it's worth registering with the US Electronic Copyright Office. Those that are worth registering get a keyword for the current registration batch, and are also added to the associated Collection.

Images for upload to an agency are selected from the registration collections. During selection I apply keywords to track license types and status at each agency, and copy images into the associated Collection. I treat our web site as though it were an agency. The keywords are primarily to help me recover if I lose the collections. Collections work well for me because a) they can contain images from many different folders, and they reference the source images, so no need to make copies of files. So, if an image is accepted at multiple sites, the collections for those sites all reference the master files for that image.

I'm a Mac addict, and use Time Machine to back everything up to a dedicated external drive. It's wonderful - needs very little care, has proven to be very reliable, and has rescued me many times. I have some very large panoramas that get corrupted if I change any of their metadata in Bridge, and it took me quite a while to figure out what was happening; Time Machine was very useful.

Regards
Lionel

[Betty LaRue]

It seems what I do is very simple compared to what most of you do.  I'll have to think about these techniques, and decide if any fit me, or whether I'll just plod along as I have done for years.  

 

It's been very enjoyable reading about the ways you all do.  Many different systems going here.  If I do change, I'll pick one of the above that does the job but is the easiest to figure out!  

[Arletta]

This thread should be good place to ask my question

I tried to change one detail in attributes (edit image). Could anyone please check this for me? Change 0 people to anything else and choose yes for model release. Do you see option to upload file here? I can't upload release and I wonder is it only my computer/system problem or more of us...

Appreciate any info back!

[spacecadet]

A button to "assign releases" should appear when you select 'yes'

[Arletta]

That's right, it should and it's not I cleared all in my browser (cache, history, anyth.), changed browser even, nothing helps... I understand you can see it with no problem, yes?

[spacecadet]

Yes.

Try reloading the page.

[Arletta]

Spacecadet, I tried many times

[KerinF]

Like others, use smart published folders in LR5

 

1. 3 stars ready for uploading

2. 4 stars - uploaded pending QC

3. 5 stars - accepted and on sale

4. At 3 star stage, also use coloured flags: red = think about it some more (ie put on hold for further review); yellow = duplicate or very similar image to one for uploading

 

Exported published copies all renamed with AL prefix.

[Jill Morgan]

Since I shoot only RAW, if its a jpg, then its been uploaded. I used to sort by date, now I sort by category. Easier to find in my opinion as once in a category, I can sort by date in there. If I need to find the matching RAW file for the jpg, I always put the image file number in the jpg name.

 

Personal photos go in a different file.

 

Jill

[Johnnie5]

I have been using Lightroom since version 3 so my system is based on that.  I wasn’t really sure how to store, label and categorize all my photos and my system has just sort of developed around Lightroom.  All my import folders are labeled by date.  I use the flags in Lightroom to mark the photos that will be exported.  If the photos go somewhere else other than Alamy I mark them by colors.  I convert RAW files to JPEG on export to a Folder labeled Alamy plus the year, then a subfolder labeled by month, and photos go into another subfolder called Untitled Export.  I then re-label all the photos using the batch rename tool in Adobe Bridge before uploading.  I have it set up with a 4 letter preset plus a serial number that starts at 1001 each month preceded by the date the photo was taken.  One of my file names would be jcrp20150104_1006.  That way I can look at one of my photos in Alamy check my reference number and go directly to the folder in Lightroom that contains the original Raw File. I have had some photos that I wanted to reprocess and replace on Alamy it makes it easy to find them.  If I have shot an event or one subject I add a short description to the filename so that it appears after the date in the Lightroom library.  I have shortcuts on my desktop that take me to my Alamy upload folders labeled by year.

[DDoug]

Regardless of whether the original is RAW or JPEG, I name a file folder on a hard drive according to the date of my next upload and store progress images there. The current one is called "2Alamy_2015.02.16".

 

Inside that folder is one named "final_TIFFs", where they go after whatever tweaking is needed. Inside that folder is one named "JPEGs", from which I upload.

 

Doing it this way gives me the ability to find them later according to date of upload which corresponds to the Alamy record of uploads in an Excel file and the order in which they appear when I view my images.

[fotoDogue]

Images are transferred from the camera with Bridge with a filename based on YYMMDD-MyInitialsTakeNumber to a folder with the same date format. I sometimes do a preliminary edit in Bridge and rate the selects.Then I add them to LightRoom which has the Alamy Plug-In.

I make preliminary adjustmemts in LightRoom and then do a full edit in PhotoShop, and save as a .tif file.  Images for Alamy are saved as jpgs in a separate folder.

 

Once the images are on sale I'll download the metatags, using the Alamy Plug-In, which copies them to various Smart Collections. It shows me which images are Uploaded, OnSale,  Have Sold, Need Metatags, etc. Most of my images on Alamy have been saved as either .tif or .psd but if I have any doubts as to whether a particular image is on Alamy I'll simply do a search.

[Chuck Nacke]

It is really simple. Since day one, I put all RAW captures (both digital and film scans) in a subject named file, usually

ending in -RAW. Then I select my choices to the same file name as XXXXXED-RAW. Then I do my conversions to

16bit TIFF files to the same file. After I've spotted, retouched and captioned them I save them to a folder I created

called AlamyXXXXX_XX_ Nacke. I also save the RAW files, the retouched files and the JPEG's files to different

external drives so that I have backed everything up.

 

I do not currently use Lightroom. I do everything in CS5

[Linda]

I keep a catalog in media pro of every image I've uploaded to all my agencies. One catalog for every agent.

 

In the event that mediapro stopped being updated i could always take the catalog and turn it into a PDF file which is searchable.

 

I've been using mediapro since it was iView in the mid 1990s and have more than 1.3 million photos cataloged in it.

 

I post process in Lightroom and have a folder on my Desktop such as 'Alamy_20150101

 

I convert the RAW images to DNG and save those as well as the jpegs online and on external drives.

 

L