Snow day activities...

We're in the grips of the third big snow storm of this winter.  About 8 - 10 inches fell overnight and it doesn't show signs of stopping.  Here on Long Island's south shore, wind and cold temp off the water are more of an issue than the snow fall, driving is a challenge as we are last on the town's snow-plow route...  Clear days are graced with a beautiful view of the Great South Bay.  Today, visibility is measured in feet.

My house is full of interesting things to photograph but today I will concentrate on two other activities...  Spring cleaning of my gear closet and making a list of things I can throw in the for-sale forums, and spending some time in Lightroom finishing the keywording of a few recent shoots (until my wife yells at me to get off the computer..).

I've been dedicating a good deal of time to learning the nuances of Lightroom3 Beta..fingers are crossed that the roll-out will be soon as I really like the enhancements.  I am reluctant to convert my current LR catalog over to LR3 since it is still Beta.  FYI..you can import existing DNG's  image files using the Add command in LR3's import dialog while keeping them in your current LR catalog, and make all the edits and changes you wish without disrupting the original files.  LR3 recognizes all the changes, keywords and exif info from the earlier version and also picks up all your presets, keyword lists and print templates, but your changes in LR3 won't be seen in the earlier versions...not backward compatible.  So you can can dive into LR3 with a familiar look and feel of your older version.  Fun!!

Keeping track of all those image files...

At last count my image library manages well over 200,000 digital images.  I have files dating back to 2001 that originated in digital form and many that were scanned to digital files that date ages before.

That's a lot of images to sort through when I need to find that one image I know will depict my message perfectly...  Hmmm, it was a morning shoot, it was warm, I think it was at a park, no the beach...well, that's all I remember but when I see it, I'll know it!!  We've all been in this predicament.

By maintaining a good filing system and keyword hierarchy, with relentless diligence, I can narrow the search down to some manageable number of images with just a few clicks.  Here are some ideas worth considering as you accumulate more and more images....