Getting Started Right: Building Better File Names with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
My digital camera takes great pictures but it gives them lousy filenames. This is a big problem because the file’s name is a really important detail for a professional photographer. Unique filenames make it easy to communicate with clients and they prevent confusion. Sadly, most digital cameras cannot create unique filenames.
Since I cannot teach my camera to name my file’s the right way I must solve this problem when I add files into my Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
In this video tutorial I demonstrate two ways to overcome the digital camera’s feeble file naming system using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In this tutorial, I suggest one style of file renaming templates for working professionals and a simpler system for those just entering the world of serious digital photography.
Getting Started Right: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 File Renaming Systems from David Marx on Vimeo.
Click here for more tutorials in this series on Getting Started Right with Lightroom 3.
Filed Under: Getting Started • Organizing • Workflow
About the Author: David Marx has an extensive knowledge of digital photography and is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. David is a talented instructor and his entertaining teaching style works for students of all skill levels. He has been teaching digital photography and image enhancement with Adobe Photoshop since 2002. In addition, David’s sports and landscape images are often featured on the web and in outdoor sports publications.
In 2009, David Marx led digital photography programs for the 
Dave,
This is an excellent video. It’s definitely going to help me deal with my images. I have some variations that I’d like your suggestions about.
1) I have taken pictures with multiple cameras from Canon, both compacts & DSLRs. Sometimes I shoot with different cameras on the same day. So I could have images with the same file name shot on the same day but with a different camera model. This would make duplicate names even with your date appended scheme. What would you suggest here?
2) My main camera has already “rolled over” its counter so I’m repeating file names (by now several hundred images). The date field would help separate these images, but it would mean the original file names are duplicated. I’m thinking that I could import new images with the new naming system and start the numbering by adding the additional digit (e.g. for photo 1234, add another 1 in front so it becomes 11234). Does this sound like it would work?
Thanks for your suggestions!
When I import in Lightroom, I don’t rename.
After import, and deleting, I rename (This way, i avoid “holes” in the counternumber).
When I have pictures from two cameras:
Make sure, the sort order is capture time, and then rename.
Then the files will be in the right order – asuming the time is set correct on both cameras.
Nice tutorial, as usual. You’re covering really useful subjects I’ve not found elsewhere. Not the sexiest LR3 features, but of first importance for photographers, “chapeau l’artiste”!
One question :
I’ve tried to rename a bunch of pictures using the first template you’re talking about. Of course if I want to be consistent with what the client will ask me, I have to keep the same name for the exported files.
And the question is, what about the virtual copies? They have the same name and they can be totally different. For instance I can send the B&W virtual copy to a client who was asking for the colored copy!
Well OK, I’ve just done it and here is the answer : LR automatically add a number after the file name of the virtual copy! I make my own Q&A…
Dear All,
Lots of great comments on this post today. In reverse order, Eric I am glad that you found your own solution to this one. If I may add a little, let me just make it clear that you cannot send a virtual copy to a client. Perhaps its just semantics but the virtual copy does not exist. It’s just a second thumbnail generated from the original capture using a different set of develop settings.
Now when you export one a new file is created. If you were to export both the virtual copy and the “master” file they would share the same file name unless you or Lightroom changes something. When I am working with virtual copies I like to use the copy name field like a title or description. I use this field to remind myself of why I made the copy.
The bonus trick though is that when I export I tell Lightroom to append the copy name. I do this in the export dialog and so then my filename makes it clear that this file is the child of whatever original capture for this specific purpose. Example:
Original Filename = David_Marx_Photo_00001.dng
Virtual Copy Name = Black and White
Exported Filename = David_Marx_Photo_00001_Black_and_White.jpg
Now, Klaus I think your trick is a good one but it makes archiving your files to DVD more difficult. In my workflow, I add some metadata to every photo immediately after import and then burn the entire import to a DVD.
Since I burn the disk before I edit I know that I can delete any file I want and still get it back from the disk. If you burn the disk though and then change the filenames things get more complicated because the name’s no longer match. Again, your idea is a good one but since we have an unlimited number of unique filenames (00001 all the way to infinity) I don’t see any reason to worry about the gaps.
Finally, Kathy two ideas. First, what if you sort your existing files using the “Camera Type” Metadata Filter. What if you rename them camera by camera instead of all at once and add a single letter or number into the filename so that each camera has a unique identifier?
You couldn’t do all of your files as a single batch but with very little effort we could make each name a whole lot more unique. The only potential problem is if you shot two identical cameras on the same exact day and if both were starting from the same point say IMG_0001. This may seem unrealistic but I am sure that there are some photojournalists or wedding photographers out there who use two identical camera bodies at the same event.
If we need to go this extreme then what if we further modify the file renaming template to include th hour, minute, or seconds. You will find this choice underneath the date options in the “Sequence and Date” metadata place holders. What are the odds that you fired two identical cameras, using the same identical filename, at exactly the same moment– down to the second–on the same day?
Hope this helps,
David
I have a little problem with file renaming. As I said before, I’ve created a template to rename my files. I chose the first template you’ve shown in the video. It works properly to rename existing files. But I tried to apply it on import from CF Card to hard drive and it does not work properly. The original file number, at the end of the template, is not applied. LR3 applied it’s own funky file number instead. I have to set it again manually by editing the template each time because in the import dialog I cannot refresh the template.
Do you understand me and did you heard about this problem? (I’ll check the adobe forum tomorrow morning). Maybe I’m wrong, I’ll be happy to read the right way. It’s not a big problem but it’s a problem!
Eric
Great article, David. For me, when I hit DSCF9999 on my counter I added an import preset for Lightroom that looks like this: {Custom Text}{File number suffix} In the Custom Text Field I added: DSCF1 so that DSCF4567 becomes DSCF14567 on import. I called the preset DSCF10k. When I get to 9999 again, I’ll change the custom text to DSCF2 and continue on.
Mike.
P.S. I use Autopano Pro for panoramas and blended (HDR) images, which I rename as DSCFXXXX-PAP for Panorama, AutopanoPro, or DSCFXXXX-blend for blended images. I have to remember to uncheck the ‘rename files’ when importing those to Lightroom.
Dear Eric,
I have not seen this problem before. Are you sure that you set the template up right? As an experiment, what happens if you revise the template and tell it to insert the entire filename instead of just the original file numbering sequence?
What I have seen is that there is a bug with the Image # renaming system on certain computers in Lightroom 3 that makes the import counter go haywire?
I hope this helps,
David
Mike, Really like your suggestion of creating a new prefix instead of a suffix for the dupe file names! That’s what the camera should be doing (the extra digit Dave wants)! And using this keeps the files in the right order. Thanks for sharing that!
Kathy
Thanks, David, for your ideas and tips. I would like to share my ideas on file naming here.
I think filenames should not get too long, and my name is in the EXIF and IPTC anyway (I have an EXIF tag with my ©, name and E-Mail activated in my Nikon).
I do not rename the originals (NEF and jpg alike) but rather add the capture date before the original file number ON EXPORT – original file number and date form a unique filename like 2010-07-24 _DSCN234.
It is advisable to use the ISO format without (yyyymmdd) or with dashes (yy-mm-dd) to enable sorting. A suffix might be used to designate an edit (for example BW) or a resolution figure for smaller copies: 2010-07-24_DSCN2345_BW_1024 would be a B&W version of DSCN2345 taken on 24 Jul 2010 with a long edge of 1024 px. All these files can be sorted chronologically. BTW, if you do instant backups of your storage cards as a safety measure you would still be able to easily identify any missing files afterwards.
Hi David,
I’ve watched your video. Thanks for the tips – very helpful.
I have about 500 photos in my catalog so far. I’d already used your second idea for filenaming with one slight hitch, my photo sequence number starts at “1″ with a single digit and expands the number of digits as it goes up. Personally, I prefer fewer characters and dislike leading zeros. I’d like to just increase the length of the number in the template as needed when I get to bigger numbers. Do you see a problem with my using this scheme? Or should I bite the bullet and rename my existing files so that all my photos have the same number of digits? Except for the extra work of adjusting the template as the number of my photos increases, I can’t for the life of me think of any problems this would create.
I’d appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance, Jori
Dear Jori,
I don’t see any problem with your system. The important part to me is not how you rename your files but rather that you take this critical step.
best of luck,
David
Dear Peter Horn,
I like your idea but I still think that including your full name inside of the file’s name is a good idea. Putting your name into the file’s name makes it easier for a photo editor to identify your work without searching through the file’s metadata. Including your name is also a huge plus in your google image search ranking.
–
David
Great videos! David!
Question: Is there a fix for the counter +1 method? Mine always restart to the same # and does not add to the total photos in library…
Cheers!
Fred
Dear Fred,
Until Adobe releases an update for Lightroom v.3 the image counter trouble remains unresolved for some users. It’s a strange bug though. Out of my eighty students in the RMSP Summer Intensive Career Training program about five percent have this problem right now. For the rest and on all of my machine’s the first naming system works just fine. What you are reporting though sounds different though even from their trouble. Just to be clear, are you saying that the “Photos Imported” counter remains or restarts to 1 every time you import? The “Import Number” counter should be at 1 and neither number necessarily reflects the total number of images that you have or have ever indexed with Lightroom but I would be surprised to see the “Photos Imported” counter resetting itself.
If this is indeed your trouble, or if you can’t wait any longer to rename your files, I suggest using the second system. It’s probably the more professional method anyway!
–
David
Hi David!
I really liked your video! I’ve been looking all day for information regarding renaming photo file names and folders.
The scenario: We are shooting children in kindergarten, 5-10 photos/child. Each child will have a customer no. All photos of the same child must be placed in a folder with the customer no for the child. File-naming of photos isn’t so important, it’s only need to be consistent. Grouping photos is needed for mapping to CRM-system.
Ex (3 photos/child): photos
IMG_0001.cr2,
IMG_0002.cr2,
IMG_0003.cr2,
IMG_0004.cr2,
IMG_0005.cr2,
IMG_0006.cr2,
IMG_0007.cr2,
IMG_0008.cr2,
IMG_0009.cr2
should be changed to (note path):
700880/IMG_0001.jpg
700880/IMG_0002.jpg
700880/IMG_0003.jpg
700881/IMG_0001.jpg
700881/IMG_0002.jpg
700881/IMG_0003.jpg
700883/IMG_0001.jpg
700883/IMG_0002.jpg
700883/IMG_0003.jpg
How do I do this with LR (or any other software)? Except grouping photos, they need to be converted to jpg, changed to a certain size and sharpened.
I’ve tried Lightroom 3 with and without export plugin LR/TreeExporter and LR/Transporter. I’ve tried several different export options. I tried creating collection for each customer (child). I’ve tried tagging all photos with Customer no as a keyword. And I tried some more…. all without getting this subfolder structure.
Please, please help! If this is to much to ask, please point me in a good direction…
All answers are appreciated.
Dear Joel K,
Hmmm… This is a hard question because I think you are looking for a way to automate this process. The best I can think of is to shoot tethered and name each folder as you go. My thought is to fire the camera directly to your computer so that you can create the folder name (which I think is your customer number) right before each kid steps in front of the camera. Name the folder > hit the trigger 5 to 10 times > repeat until the shoot is over. If you are using a Canon or a Nikon you can do this from within Lightroom v3. If not then import everything into Lightroom once the shoot is over and be sure that Lightroom leaves your files and folder names alone.
That’s my best advice but perhaps one of our clever readers will also chime in with a better solution.
–
David
Hi David!
Thanks for your answer!
We thought about shouting tethering, but realized it’s to much work, money and changes in the CRM-system, to be able to pull all this before this work season starts (about 2 weeks). Next year we will probably do this…
I will continue to search for the answer to the question above…
Thanks for your time! I look forward to read more of your articles and watch your video shows.
Br Joel K
Within the File Naming Template in LR 3.2 I do not have an option for COPY NAME under any of the pull down menus (only Filename and Filename number suffix?????
Any idea why this field is not available? Using MAC version.