Babs Malone Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hi, I was wondering if you guys could help me. What resolution should I be making my images, I am still at the first hurdle stage and do not want to balls it up. I am currently setting them at 300 is this acceptable? Also file naming would an image of an Heron for example. could that simply be Heron.jpg, or H1.jpg or both etc. Cheers any advice would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Resolution doesn't matter It's a print parameter, I believe. I don't change my filenames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Agree with Mark. I think my Canon 5DII default was set at 350 and I think I have changed it to 300. What matters is the amount of pixels. I use short descriptive file names with underscores and the last two digits of the original image number from the camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 300 ppi is industry standard, it used to matter much more when print software couldn't resize resolution. I rename my files so that I can tell, without opening, roughly what they are plus the date taken and a sequence number e.g ellie-j-pill_24-09-12_001 That tells me the name of the model, what they image was about and importantly when the image was taken, which is also when the release was signed. I have to put the release date and shoot date in the upload section of a number of agencies, so having it as part of the file name means that I don't need to look beyond the file name for that data. ellie-j-pill_24-09-12_001_MR would be the corresponding MR. The reason for the sequence being like that is simply that's how DPP works which I use for most browsing/renaming. LR is not as good for renaming but similar is possible. I don't care about the length of the string for majority of agencies - only one needs me to use a shorter string for occasional MR pdfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyMelbourne Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I just upload them without changing the file name. As long as they are jpeg and over 24mb (opened) then that is fine. Alamy assign their own image reference anyway. As for file size then as long as the size is sufficient (check after any cropping) then leave well alone. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Malone Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I rename them to a date/sequence no code. If I use two different cameras on same day/event I just sort the pix on capture time and then rename the lot (all my cameras are set to the same time) I sometimes add my IPTC headline to the number for some of my sites. The code means I always know where to find the original. I have been using the same numbering format since I went digital in around 2003 with all the cameras I have used in that time. I set all my defaults to 300dpi and only really change it for web use, even then it does not really matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I change all my file names to indicate location/year/month/sequence -- e.g. Vancouver14010001. This works quite well for me. Only file size matters, not the dpi. However, some agencies do request 300 dpi images, but not Alamy. I also find that clients sometimes ask for 300 dpi when I lease images on my own. Happy to oblige, of course. The default on my Sony cameras seems to be 350 dpi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I don't worry about the resolution. I rename my files, keeping the original file number but including name that I can reference as I sort my RAW's in folders, so the name will let me know in what folder the original RAW can be found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I believe Alamy delivers all files at 300dpi for print and 72dpi for web, and your setting has no effect. I use parsable filenames because I do not know Alamy's ref, and I also have MediaPro on my own syste to find images fast. Sometimes I get it wrong and decide to use some obscure code or numbering, always a mistake. My filenames can be long and contain several words and numbering - sort of deadpigonspit-2 (not a real example). It's a throwback to newspaper days when stories required a catchline, which always had to be relevant, but never to make so much sense it could accidentally be printed with the story and offend people (you don't for example catchline a story about the mayor stupidfatredneck, even if he is). I obey the same basic rules with Alamy. My photo catchline-type names are not visible to anyone but if a file ever gets out, they will not cause a lawsuit. I'm also careful with keywords to avoid slanderous, racially offensive, etc descriptive words. I was delighted recently to be able to put four-letter words into filenames and keywords, after snapping some suitable graffiti for which these were perfectly accurate terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dlmphotog Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Babs, When I was transitioning from film to digital I found “The DAM Book” by Peter Krogh to be VERY helpful in setting up systems and procedures to manage my Digital Assets (images). I highly recommend you start a system for naming, archiving, and backing up your images that makes sense to you. If you start now and setup systems and procedures it is MUCH easier then having to go back and rename, resort or even find an image after you have 10,000+ images. Most of my images are renamed “YYYYMMDD_Client_Sequential-Number” such as “20140130_Moore_001”. Metadata is awesome! Hope this helps, David L. Moore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotoDogue Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I use a method that's similar to dimphotog and John Mitchell and is left over from the days when photo agencies filed physical transparencies, and then modified by digital. Essentially it's YYMMDD-My Initials-001.jpg Each exposure has a unique file name. When images are downlownloaded from the camera via Lightroom or Bridge, they're saved in a folder with the date: YYMMDD Sure you can name your file Heron.jpg or Heron1.jpg (Alamy may have a minimun number of characters for filenames) but once you've shot several hundred Heron files you're going to have a hard time remembering exactly what the last Heron shot was named. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I speak as a person who has vehemently hated and continues in smaller measure to hate Lightroom. However the ability to batch filename and include date and sequence number is very useful, particularly when used with the ability to batch keyword, which is arguably - and I am not sure what side I am on - more important than the filename is in locating photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov makabaw Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I tend to use a short file name, part of which I cut and paste into the keywords, to help me search my images. Longer file names are not visible when keywording so more fiddly. dov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dlmphotog Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 The truth is I name my stock images by another convention… a very old and until now secret convention. -- NERD ALERT -- A LONG time ago using an operating system far, far away… file names could only be eight alpha-numeric charters long. So I devised a naming convention I thought at the time was quite clever IMHO. It consisted of a two alpha subject code, a two alpha year code and a four digit sequential number. So “EMZA0015” would be the 15th image taken in the year AZ = 2001 of EM = USA, Hawaii, Oahu. Of course I had to design and build a relational database to keep track of all the codes, print out labels and such. So even now I still keep using the naming convention designed 25+ years ago for my stock images. For my commercial and personal photography I use the convention I described in my earlier post. David L. Moore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 The Mac Finder is a great tool. Even if you do use an obscure numbering system (if you wanted to find the picture of the blond surfing, how would you know which day it was taken and which frame number it was, even if you knew it was Hawaii?) the Mac can find by the date or the time taken, and by the camera used, without any indexing at all. I can tell you this is annoying. Sometimes, I want to find pictures of a camera I have written about, and when I search for it ... all the raw files taken with the camera also get found! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I save my images at 300dpi as some agencies still require this. I rename my files based on my own naming convention... RM000000 => RM files RF000000 => RF files VID000000 => Video files etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Resolution has been covered above. As for file naming, I like to be able to have a good idea of the subject from the file name. I use a system I started years ago when I had very few images but I find it still works now. For travel shots I use the international country code (D for Germany, E for Spain, HR for Croatia...) then two letters for the town, followed by a four figure number. GBLO is London, FPA is Paris, HRZA is Zagreb and so on. For natural history (eg herons) I start NH, then BI for bird, MA for mammal AM for amphibian, then GH for grey heron. So if I see NHBIGH1007, I know it's a grey heron picture immediately. Additionally, numbers under 1000 are scans of slides, anything in four figures is a digital file. Only a suggestion, it works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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