Organizing Image Files

So you've been having a blast with your digital camera, shooting photos of everything from weddings to your winter vacation. What comes next? There must be some easy way to download and organize our images! Well, there is. Below is a simple workflow that I follow. Note: I work on a Windows platform.

1. Remove card from camera and insert in camera reader. (For me, the transfer time is quicker than hooking my camera up to my computer but this will vary among camera models.)
2. Go to My Computer twice and open two screens. One is for the source and one is for the source destination.
3. In first window, locate drive that is reading the card reader. In my case, it's Drive E.
4. In 2nd window, locate destination for storing your images on your hard drive. I store mine under C:\My Pictures.
5. From first window, highlight and drag folder (with mouse clicked...don't release yet) with images on your card reader over to 2nd window. Let go in My Pictures folder.
6. Rename folder in My Pictures from something other than generic name the camera assigned such as August 2006.

Sample Heirarchy
Below is an example of what an expanded, organized image folder might look like:

C:\ My Pictures
   2005
     January
         Sledding
         Skiing
         Birthdays
      February
      March
         Easter
         Girls in Flowers
      April
      May
      June
      July
      August, etc.
   Flowers
   Portraits
   Vacation
   Birthdays
 2006
      January
         Winter Break
         Mom's Birthday
      February
         Valentine's Day Party
      March
      April
      May
      June
      July
      August, etc.
   Flowers
   Portraits
   Vacation
   Birthdays

As you can see, I have the category Birthdays listed twice. This is for good reason: I can quickly find birthday pictures either by month or theme. In certain programs, you can quickly locate "birthday" photos simply by assigning your birthday images the keyword "birthdays".