PRO ADVICE WHAT’S IN A (FILE) NAME?

Some common formats for naming image files – which one do you use?

1 Generated in-camera

There’s nothing to stop you sticking with the file names produced in-camera – they can be customised, and most proprietary image capture software places imported images into dated folders. If you tend to leave your images in dated folders, keep using this format. You can easily prepend or append extra information to short filenames if needed.

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2 Custom name by date

Some photographers choose to custom-name files during import to their asset manager, following a

[Year/Month/Day/Shot] system. Again, this is useful when searching your library for images when you know the shoot’s year and month. (The original captures can be kept as a backup, as long as the files are

copied upon import and renamed.)

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3 Custom name with shoot details

Appending or prepending shoot details to file names is useful for various types of photography including landscapes (eg, location), portraits (eg, the model’s name), product shots (eg, product name), weddings (eg, bride and groom’s names) and more! You can also append editing information, by adding the name of the application.

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