Photo management/organisation software

[Andy_1984]

ive been organising all my photos with windows folders the folder structures are really starting to get a bit complex and a real pia to find what im looking for.

 

im looking at some software just now to manage it all but one concern though is that it wont create a detailed folder structure like im doing just now and if i ever decided to leave out the software or if things go tits up, windows reformat for example and the images it has saved and managing are all piled in one folder with no clue what pics belong where.

 

my current structure is like: photography > wildlife > birds > 22 August 2011 Firhill moorhens

 

im also looking for one that makes searching easy with the likes of tags (green grass, sky with towers, swans with signets etc etc)

 

so does anyone use any software or can recommend one ?

[kirisute]

ive been organising all my photos with windows folders the folder structures are really starting to get a bit complex and a real pia to find what im looking for.

 

im looking at some software just now to manage it all but one concern though is that it wont create a detailed folder structure like im doing just now and if i ever decided to leave out the software or if things go tits up, windows reformat for example and the images it has saved and managing are all piled in one folder with no clue what pics belong where.

 

my current structure is like: photography > wildlife > birds > 22 August 2011 Firhill moorhens

 

im also looking for one that makes searching easy with the likes of tags (green grass, sky with towers, swans with signets etc etc)

 

so does anyone use any software or can recommend one ?

I use windows live photo gallery.

Free and easy!

If you create folder on import into windows( for instance I name the import folder what the primary photo contents is...Banham zoo etc) then windows import will create the folder for you.

Once in live gallery you can tag images etc, by default they are tagged with the folder name, but you can add,remove and have multiple tags.

Once you've tagged you can always then create new folders correctly named to drop the images into.

I would start afresh, grab a USB drive, drop everything into live gallery, tag it all correctly, then create folder structure on USB drive and copy images to that. Once done, remove all original images, copy folder structure back to pc and store USB drive as back up!

Nice thing with live gallery is that tags are stored in user profile so if you keep that backed up your tags will roll along happily on all the latest versions of windows, vista thru 8!

Edited April 2, 2012 by kirisute

[Andy_1984]

Thanks ill have a look at that

[kirisute]

Thanks ill have a look at that

Pleasure! New version is also pretty decent at basic photo correction, like straightening, red eye, noise reduction etc etc nothing fancy but enough to tweak images. Also keeps a full recovery file of the original image to restore later if you wish.

[corydoras]

ACDSee Pro 5

http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-pro-5

 

Will do all of the things you want, plus all of the things that you use Photoshop to do for the princely sum of $234. It's on special offer at $99 at the moment.

Edited April 3, 2012 by corydoras

[Andy_1984]

thanks cory, thats just what i need. im trying the Trial out for a month to see how beneficial it is but looking at the features for organising i think its the one i want, also keyword search is brilliant.

 

im still going to use my old folder structure and manage them and then tag them in acdsee. not sure about using it for editing purposes though because in each category (photography > wildlife > birds > 22 August 2011 Firhill moorhens, for example) i have 4 Folders: original, modified, web ready, print ready.

[snakey1]

I use adobe lightroom, its definitely worth a look at imo, you can run the free trial to see if suits your needs.

see here

Edited April 3, 2012 by snakey1