Digital Imaging Basics

Filing (Storing) the images on your computer is important...and it is important that you be in control of the process. You will use the Windows Explorer. I also recommend using a Card Reader.

The Windows Explorer is accessed (on a Windows machine) by Right Mousing the My Computer Icon, and then Left Mousing Explore. When it opens you will see that Windows Explorer consists of three parts:

• The Top holds the tool bars.
• The Left Side holds the Containers
• The Right Side displays the contents of the Selected Container.

Below is a table that shows how the Windows Explorer might look. Notice the following items:

• The Master Folder should be My Pictures, or My Documents, or Images. In my case I have a complete hard drive called "Image Bank" onto which I place all my images.
• The Year Folder contains all Photo Sessions and images for the year.
• The Photo Session Folder contains all the images for a logical session or subject. It's OK to have more than one Photo Session Folder per day. The only thing that should be placed in the Photo Session Folder are the images directly from the camera. Nothing else, ever! The images should be marked 'Read Only'.
• The EMail Folder contains images that have been optimized for email (approximately 450 pixels max, 72 ppi. The naming convention is: yyyymmdd_ImageNumber_AlphaDescription. An example of this is: 20060827_DCS_7354_CoCo.jpg
• The Print Folder contains images that have been optimized for print (300 ppi). It also can contain the 'native' .psd file if you save it.

My Pictures					Master Folder
+		2004			Year
+		2005			Year
-		2006			Year
	+		20060819_NaturalBridges		Photo Session
	+		20060820_CapeBlanco		Photo Session
	+		20060824_ImagePacking		Photo Session
	+		20060806_RogueBayFishing		Photo Session
	-		20060827_CoCo	DCS_7351.jpg DCS_7352.jpg DCS_7353.jpg DCS_7354.jpg DCS_7355.jpg	Photo Session
			Email	20060827_DCS_7354_CoCo.jpg	Email Folder
		+	Print		Print Folder
	+		20060827_CurryHealthFoundation		Photo Session
	+		20060906_Crashing Surf		Photo Session

As an instructor the point that I want to make more than any other is that you need to be in control of where you store your images. The method described above is exactly the way that I store my images. I can usually find what I need relatively easily. I shoot an average of 20,000 images annually.

You are just starting out. Do yourself a favor and get yourself set up exactly correctly. You'll benefit the rest of your life.

Remember that your image files are your negatives. Take care of your negatives. Back them up!