There have been many conversations around photo organization and I thought I would throw this thought/question out there as a new thread. It’s something I’ve gone back and forth on and never fully committed to - Apple Photos.
I’m a librarian, with an MLIS degree so you can imagine my need to organize and index photos. Something I’ve been doing using folders and file names for 20+ years. I’ve managed to automate naming and sorting using PhotoSync and Hazel.
I have folders by year and subfolders by date description. All photos are named after the folder name with a -000 numbering. Rarely does a folder need to have a 4-digit number. (Happy to share this workflow in more detail if anyone is interested.)
After David’s Photos Field Guide I’ve also started to put the photos into the Photos app. I’ve done a little bit of organizing, and the folder structure I have helps.
BUT, I haven’t made the full leap into the Photos app. I want to! But there is something safe about seeing and having an organized folder structure. I also don’t like the default number it gives the photos if I directly import them. Last, I don’t like the low-resolution copy you get by simply dragging it out of the window (I know I can do an export). I’m not just ready for a Photos only workflow. (My wife still finds the folder structure easier to navigate.)
I’m really just curious what you all may think. I’m probably way overthinking this.
Organizing Photos is always a do-it-later job for me. I rely on rough memories of when photos were taken, and the very professional search for location or subject of photo to keep me right.
it gets confusing when the photos have no meta data, and so the date on them is the date they were added to the app, not the date of taking. I scanned a 1000 a few months ago and they all were dated 1.1.2019 - Not sure why.
Your comment about using Hazel to rename them sounds like an excellent idea. I could do this but would value tour input the process you currently use, just in case you decide not to rely on photos later.
I like to have all my files free from reliance on any proprietary format, and having well named photos would remove dependence on the Photos app for handling them. Thinking about it, for . . . . later.
For anyone interested - a quick summary of my workflow:
I run PhotoSync on the newest photos. It’s defaulted to place the photos in an inbox.
The photos are automatically broken down by date folders - each one named using YYYY-MM-DD.
I manually review the photos, sometimes removing unnecessary photos, but often keeping most. I then add -Description to the end of the folder name.
I move that folder into a folder Hazel is watching. Hazel will rename all the photos and videos in that folder with the folder name and a unique number. YYYY-MM-DD-Description-001.
I then move that folder into another folder Hazel is watching. Hazel will do the following: 1) add the photos and videos into the Photos app. 2) move the photos to a photo library 3) move the videos into a video library. (Hazel will create folders in both places with the original folder name).
I end up with photos in the Photo app and 2 folder structures - Photos and Videos. Those mirror each other using the same YYYY top folder and subs with YYYY-MM-DD-Description.
(3 and 4 is typically done with a bunch of folders at the same time.)
I think your manual organization is better than relying on the Photos app. You’ve already put in the hard work, don’t abandon it now. The one thing I’d say you’re missing from Photos is further organization by tags (called keywords in Photos for some reason). But for this, you can use the built-in tagging system of the Finder.
I use it to get photos off my iPhone and other devices. For my kids, I have it add -TheirName to the folder - just to keep them separate and easy to id.
A question to ask is what is your motivation/goal for using Photos? It sounds like you have a system which works for you.
What benefits do you expect to get by using Photos?
What capabilities are you missing with your current set up?
Knowing this would help in knowing what to suggest you do.
As background, I do not use Photos and my organization is very different from yours. I create a folder monthly with a sequential number, one each for the original images and another for the ones I process. Each photoshoot for that month gets a subfolder (with a descriptive name). I ingest my images with Photo Mechanic, which names them using a template as my name, the date, and the image number form the file: “FirstLast_YYYYMMDD_####”.
And after culling the bad images I keyword the keepers. I have over a 100K images (I’m old), and can (usually) find any image via keyword search. But it takes a lot of discipline to keyword images (and I am several major trips behind!).
I almost never navigate the folder structure. And it is a relic from back when I backed everything up to DVD. I don’t know that I would do a monthly folder if I were staring today.
The primary “want” for Photos is the ability to browse the photos - it’s much easier than viewing photos through the finder. (as you know). I also like the added Faces, Locations, etc that Photos offers.
Years ago I was able to use a Media Asset Management software that created an index of Thumbnails (and the ability to add keywords) by simply creating a thumbnail catalog of the photos in the finder photos. I could browse the folders and visually look at the photos. I could do one folder at a time, or a top-level folder.
Is anyone familiar with something similar that is available today?
Does Photo Mechanic ingest the photos into its app/own structure or is it simply showing the photos from the folders you created? I’m going to check this out. This is the solution I really need. Something to just view photos in my folders.
I don’t rely on folders and filenames for almost 10 years. I use metadata (EXIF/IPTC). Each photo has:
time/date embedded
location (coordinates and description/name added)
keywords
While I still have a workflow that renames the files and sorts into folders, it’s just a keepsake from times past. Since metadata is embedded or attached to XMP files, any software that supports EXIF/IPTC works. I use Lightroom (Classic) and PhotoMechanic for organization.
Photo Mechanic uses your existing folder structure. When ingesting you specify the source and destination folders (they can be the same).
Photo Mechanic Plus adds cataloging functionality.
It is not cheap. But if photography is one’s profession or serious hobby it, in my humble opinion, is worth it. But it is much more than just a viewer. And there are cheaper options if that is all you need, although as I don’t use any I cannot recommend any.
Before Photo Mechanic added cataloging functionality with Plus, and after iVeiw/Media Pro was discontinued I found an app called NeoFinder. I creates a catalog based on your existing folder structure, and you can use it to browse thumbnails. Double clicking on the thumbnail opens the image.
Yeah, that was vague. Maybe I should say it keeps the default name/numbering of the image file name. I like to rename the photos so that when pulled out of photos, I know the info visually on the file name.
My method renames the file before it goes into photos. It’s a bit of work though.
Oh, you mean like IMG_1234.jpg or whatever. I thought you might be referring to how Photos renames the file with a long string of gibberish (a GUID?) when it’s imported. Cuz I don’t like that.
Like you, I also don’t like the low image quality when a photo is dragged out to the desktop. I’d like to see a user setting for that.
As to your original question, I use Photos because it’s the lowest-friction option, and I’m not a “serious” photographer. It has its pluses and minuses but all things considered it works best for us.
I’ve used the Windows version of ACDSee for doing as you want - point it at a folder and you’re able to view the folder structure.
Not sure how the Mac version performs, or if it’s the same as I haven’t used it.
My workflow use Photos as my “sync station” for collecting my photos off my phone, iPad and devices and then I run an export on Photos regularly, after having added keywords and the like to the photos.
However, as I’m paranoid, the iPhone runs Photosync and uploads an unedited copy of the photos to a separate folder on my NAS.
For years I kept photos organized by year and event in folders. Then I got Aperture and after a couple of years I trusted it enough to put all my photos in it (although archived in folders). Then Apple dropped Aperture.
So I’m dedicated to using folders forever. Frankly, using Photos and trying to sync between my iPhone and iMac, plus adding many photos from my DSLR and other sources, I just don’t trust it. I’m using Lightroom Classic for fast editing, which simply references my folder organization.
I’ve tried using Apple Photos but like you, I don’t like the way it re-catalogs the photos in its “Photos Library” folder structure. I want the photos organized in a folder structure that I have used for years (year > event_name > yr-mo-day-time-device.jpg) and I have Hazel re-name all the photos in that format to have a consistent naming convention across all my pix.
I think Apple Photos has an ability to work with/support whatever your folder structure is within Finder, but I believe it does not then let the photos sync with iCloud, which is kind of a show stopper and in my mind, defeats the purpose of using Apple Photos.
Photos are too important, even if Apple and iCloud are rock solid, to 100% put on someone else’s cloud service without having an archive of the actual photo files. I want to have the original photo images available and I want them organized the way I’m comfortable with. I am a firm believer that you need to own and control your own content.
I use Hazel and Dropbox heavily in my workflow to get photo image files from iPhones to my computer. I install Dropbox on my iPhone and turn on its “Camera Uploads” feature. I also install Dropbox on my iMac so my Dropbox folders are there too. In many ways, Dropbox is a ‘pass through’ while Hazel is a life-saver!
From there, the workflow is:
Take Photos on iPhone
On a regular basis, turn on Dropbox app on iPhone and Camera Upload feature uploads photos to that folder on Dropbox
Then, on my iMac, I have Hazel programmed to look for images in that “Dropbox > Camera Uploads” folder on the computer.
Hazel finds the photos uploaded to “Dropbox > Camera Uploads” and moves them to my ‘master_photos_files’ directory in Finder.
Hazel drops those “new” photos in a folder named for the corresponding year (i.e. 2022 > to_be_filed) and then roughly once a month, I manually go to that ‘to_be_filed’ folder and move the photos into the folder of the event (i.e. “Trip to Washington DC”)
I also have Hazel push copies of any new photos/folders in my master photos directory to my external Hard Drive, so that is an ongoing automatic back up of my 20+ years of photos.
Yeah, there is a little manual intervention at the end, but I’ve organized photos by ‘year > event name’ for so long, I could not fathom switching to organizing by month. And whenever I need to find a photo for myself or my wife, we usually remember it by an event vs a specific month. It is also an opportunity to edit/manage/remove useless photos or duplicates.
I loved the way the old Google/Picasa desktop app was flexible enough to work ‘on top’ of your folder structure and would not mess with whatever folder organization approach you use.
I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no perfect photo organization tool. Perfect being the enemy of good. Pre Mac days I used a file folder system that becam unwieldy then moved them to iPhoto. When I reached limitations on it I switched to Aperture. Kept using it as long as I could then switched to Photos. My sole issue with Photos is the lack of family sharing. We will see how well Ventura implements that.
I’d like something like 1Password’s family sharing of vaults where my wife has her photo library and I have mine but we can see each other’s.