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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Sorting two sets of pics by timeline

photographyshoot - Oct 19, 2006 - 10:53 am

Here is the problem - Frequently I will hire 2nd and 3rd assistant photographers for large events, weddings, etc. At the end of the day I need to put all the images shot by everyone in combined order, start to finish. This is a painfully long process when you have hundreds and even thousands of images from one event. To date, I have accomplished this with Photoshop browser, just by dragging the images into proper placement, and then renaming so they stay in order. It seems there has to be a better way to do this. I tried setting the cameras all to the same time, but I can't find a way to sort by the time from within any app. Yes, you can do this from a folder, but then once opened in a an app, they don't keep that sorting.

There must be others who have to deal with this, and there must be a better way. Any help, suggestions, or ideas are greatly appreciated. Even if there is a different app that will accomplish this....

Thanks.

FredB7 - Oct 20, 2006 - 12:55 am

Hi, my name is Fred and I'll try to help you.

If I understand correctly, you need to rename the files according to their creation time. Is that right?

I can think of two way to do this:

1) Write a script. I could do that but not today, as I have to move soon.
2) Use an utility to rename the files.

You could try Renamer4Mac[1], it's free and works pretty well, better than some non-free options, in my opinion.

[1]: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10158

You'll have to choose the pattern for the new names, here is an example where I add a text and a four digit number to every pics' name:

Open Renamer4Mac and drag all your files in the window (if you drag a folder, it'll ask if you want to put the folder or the content, choose "content recursively")

When all your files are there, sort them by date by clicking on the "Modified" column's header (click again to change between ascendant or descendant order).

Now select "Number" in the lower panel, then choose a number format (e.g. 0001, 0002, ...)
Then choose what you want to be in the "Text Format" menu (e.g. Old name - Text - Number or Text - Number), enter the wanted text in the "Text" field. Choose "Name only" in the bottom left menu to avoid changing the extensions.

While doing this, the future names of the files will appear in the "New Name" column, so you can tweak it to your liking.

If it's working for you, take the time to read Renamer4Mac's help, you could rename the files precisely with Regular Expressions, etc.

Please, tell me if this works for you.

Regards

--
Fred

photographyshoot - Oct 20, 2006 - 3:27 pm

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the recomendation, I will try that on my Mac. One of the labs I freelance for uses PC's(Windows XP Pro), any suggestions on how to do the same on a PC?

Thanks,

Tyler

FredB7 - Oct 20, 2006 - 4:53 pm

Hi Tyler,

No sorry, I never use Windows.
I think you should open a new ticket in the "Windows Tech" category for that.

Keep me posted about the Renamer4Mac's solution.

Thanks.

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fred