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In earlier articles I looked at issues related to the storage and archiving of the vast size and number of digital files created, both when we scan film and when we shoot digitally. But there is another aspect that bears examination, and that’s file organization and naming.
I haven’t done a hard count, but I’d guess that over the past year I’ve shot about 15,000 frames. Without a consistent filing system finding a particular shot can be difficult and time consuming. Over the past few years I’ve tried a number of the commercial cataloging programs but have found none of them suited to my style of working. So I developed my own procedure. It works for me, and maybe you’ll find it helpful as well.
Distant Egret — Loxahatchee Florida, December 2002
I will focus primarily on working with RAW digital camera files, since that is now what I mostly work with, and what creates the biggest organizational challenge.
I use a hierarchical naming structure f...

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Michael Reichmann
Michael Reichmann
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Michael Reichmann is the founder of the Luminous Landscape. Michael passed away in May 2016. Since its inception in 1999 LuLa has become the world's largest site devoted to the art, craft, and technology of photography. Each month more than one million people from every country on the globe visit LuLa.
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