Everyone it seems has a recommendation on how to name your image files. There’s the cryptic file name assigned by your camera such as CRW0123. Programs like Lightroom allow us to modify the name when the files are imported. Many people recommend adding the date to the camera file name. I like to add the date and the camera model to the file name since I now (fortunately) shoot with two cameras.
But when I’m ready to add a photograph to my portfolio (those photographs I wish to display and sell), I go with a different naming convention that I wish to share.
Before getting to the naming convention itself, a couple of words are in order about my work flow end game and even the equipment I use.
Starting with the equipment, I do all my own printing on an Epson 4800. I use the popular RIP ImagePrint to manage the printing. There are two controls in Image Print that I need to keep track of. First is the Rendering Intent. Some prints look best with Perceptual and others look best with Relative Colorimetric. The rendering intent makes it in to my final file name. ImagePrint also gives you the ability to do a finer black point compensation than other software. You have the ability to adjust it from 0 to 100; 0 gives you harder blacks and more contrast while 100 gives you softer blacks and less contrast. I use just five settings – 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100. This setting also makes it into the file name.
The next variable is the paper. So far I’ve printed exclusively on Epson Enhanced Matte paper (yes, I know they changed the name). There will no doubt be other parpers that I use in the future. So the paper is documented in the file name.
Two more components go into the file name – the name of the image (different from the camera-assigned file name) and the year the photograph was taken.
So, the file name ends up looking something like this:
zabriskie_point_2_2006_emp_p50
Zabriskie Point 2 (2006)
Translation – the title of the image is Zabriskie Point 2. It was taken in 2006. It is printed on Enhanced Matte Paper with a rendering intent of Perceptual and a black point compensation setting of 50.
There are several advantages in this name. First, it’s easy to identify the image by its title. Second, I can easily record the year the photograph was taken when I’m matting and signing them. Third, I know the paper on which it should be printed and the ImagePrint settings which results in consistent results.
The work flow end game then has these steps.
- During the proofing process I identify the ImagePrint settings and rename the master file to the above format.
- When I prepare an image for printing I flatten the mater file, re-size it and apply Photokit output sharpening for the paper type and PPI of the re-sized image.
- I save the file in a folder labeled with the image size – well, not exactly. I save the file in a folder labeled with the frame size. For example, if I’m making a print that will fit into a 16X20 frame, that’s the name of the folder. The actual image size is most often 10X15 but there are plenty of exceptions. Labeling the folders by frame size instead of print size solves the problem of dealing with the exceptions.
It’s taken a while to come with these conventions but they work exceptionally well for me.
To see my images I welcome you to visit the Ralph Nordstrom Photography website.
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