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Do's and Don't
Here are some basic rules for naming files. All examples pertain to the same image i.e. Subject: "Christmas morning" with a camera name: 100_0167.jpg, 100_0168.jpg, 100_0169.jpg, 100_016770.jpg, etc:
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Do's
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Dont's
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| 1. |
Rename your photos |
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Use a descriptive term e.g.
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| 2. |
Keep the name short |
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With recent operating systems, long file names are acceptable. Some programmes automatically truncase i.e. shorten, the name and this can be very inconvenient.
Use terms that you understand but truncate them e.g.
Christmas2007 = xmas07
December 25, 2007 = dec2507
Opening presents = open_pres
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Do not call your photo e.g.
johnny opening christmas present.jpg
The name is too long
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| 3. |
Give the images a unique number |
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Give the image a number e.g.
xmas07_001, xmas07_002, etc
dec2507_001, dec2507_002, etc
If your camera produces a sequential number from session to session i.e. each time you power up, the second number is remembered and new photos are added on, then you could retain the second number instead of replacing it with a new number e.g.
xmas07_0167, xmas07_0168, etc
dec2507_0167, dec2507_0168, etc
The advantage of this numbering system is that all your images will have a unique number in sequence of how they were taken. Of course the numbers will start repeating after 100_9999.jpg (or your camera will explode ;-)
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If you make the name too short you could run into problems e.g.
xmas1, dec25, johnny, etc
These names don't give enough detail and would quite quickly create havoc i.e.
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| 4. |
Never leave spaces in the name |
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File words should only be seperated by an "underscore" (_) e.g.
xmas07_0167 or open_pres
Capital letters could be used to separate file name words e.g.
OpenPres07_0167
but it becomes unclear when using numbers e.g.
xmas070167
A combination of both is quite acceptable.
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A file with spaces i.e.
Cape Cod trip 109.jpg
on the web becomes:
Cape%20Cod%20trip%20109.jpg
Not only is the name too long, it is hard to read.
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| 5. |
Always add (or keep) a file format attached to the image |
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Photo files should be named with the appropriate file type i.e. JPG, TIF, GIF, etc
The file type is always added to the file name with a "period" (.) e.g.
xmas07_001.jpg or xmas07_0167.tif
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File types are normally three characters long. Occassionally, jpg files will be seen as JPEG and tif as TIFF. Although this does not confuse imaging programmes, you should keep the file name three characters in length and in lower case. |
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