AboutScott Valentine Expertise Most anything about digital post processing (Photoshop, etc), effects, and image restoration, some technical information about digital imaging systems, light and electron microscopy, optical physics and image analysis. I can help with shooting basics, lighting setups, and getting the most out of your digital camera. I am also an 'expert' here for Photoshop (Computers/Technology > Software > Graphics Software > Photoshop).
I am currently writing a book for Adobe Press on composite artwork using Photoshop CS4.
Experience I've been an image analyst and advanced amateur photographer for over 6 years. I run an Adobe user group, focusing on digital media, and have lectured on digital image capture systems. Currently, I am an administrator for a rather large instructional Photoshop forum
Organizations Adobe User Groups, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Advanced Imaging Specialists
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Physics, University of California, San Diego
Awards and Honors Winner: Best in Show and several category first place awards - Imaging Professionals of the Southwest Print Competition (multiple years)
Expert: Scott Valentine Date: 1/25/2008 Subject: photo sorting on PC
Question QUESTION: hi,I have a question about how to sort photos quickly. My platform is PC and the OS is Windows XP pro. At the moment I am using the standard Windows Picture and Fax Viewer,but it's very ineffective,because:
I have various folders with a very large amount of photos;I only want to keep the ones I like and discard the ones I don't. So when I get new photos,I find it very time consuming to browse through all of them,then right-click,then choose a path on one of my 3 hard drives,then click 'save',then browse again,and so on for a thousand times! It takes ages. I would like to find a program that allows me to do something like the following:
I specify ,once,in what folder I have to save all the selected pictures,then I press a simple key shortcut on the photo that I want to save,and it automatically gets saved in the folder specified.
Viewing a picture once and save it with a single action would be far more time-saving than right-clicking,specifying where to save,etc.
Sorry about the lenght of my message,and thank you for your help. Happy new year too
Luigi
ANSWER: Thanks for your question, Luigi. If I understand correctly, you want to organize your photos and be able to browse a large collection easily.
It is a free photo organizer and basic editing application. Once you install it, you can set it to "watch" certain folders or scour your hard drives. It will then catalog them, and let you separate them by date or other category that you add later. Give it a few to several minutes to go through everything, and it will display all of your images in a scrolling interface.
There are many options for viewing, sorting, culling, grouping and editing your photos. And, it's still free!
I hope this solves your problem. If you have further questions, please feel free to ask!
-Scott
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi,thank you for your help.
No,I don't really need to sort photos by date or catalog them,I only want to watch the photos as I browse them,and save them one by one,but in the quickest possible way.
Say that I have a folder with 300 photos of sunsets. I want to watch each photo and save the ones I like. Let's say that I will only want to save 50 of them,and discard the others. The only way I know how to do that,is:
A. browsing each photos and manually deleting the ones I don't like,as I browse. The ones i would delete,are 250 photos: I need to press delete 250 times.
OR:
B. browsing each photos,but instead of deleting 250 photos,I'd rather save the 50 I like,but without having to go through this tedious sequence:
right-click on the photo,then choose the location on the hard drive,then click on save.
I am sure there is a way to press a single key shortcut on each photo I like,and all the photos are automatically saved in a folder that I have specified from the start,once.
It's just that I don't know which programs does that.
I have already tried a few but none of them have such a function. Thanks
ANSWER: Ok, then Picasa should still work for you. When you are browsing a folder, you can simply "star" the photos you like as you look through them. You can do this from the thumbnail browser or while viewing them as a slideshow, I believe.
Once you have marked all the images you want to keep, you simply sort or filter them so you only see those you like, then select all and copy or move them wherever you like. Then you can turn off the filter and select all again, then delete.
You'll have to read the help files with Picasa to get specific steps, but I have done this in the past (I no longer use Picasa because of Adobe Bridge that ships with Photoshop, but I've installed it on machines for most of my family).
If you need additional help, let me know and I'll give it another shot.
-Scott
**I was given a low score on this answer for Knowledge, but clearly this is not the case; users should be aware that answers given by professionals may not be what they want to hear.**
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: hi,the score that I gave you reflects my opinion ,based on the experience that I've had. You are very polite and helpful,but I asked specific questions,and all you did was to suggest that 'I try Picasa' .
I thought the answer was very generic. With the power that computers have nowadays,I can't sort out a bunch of photos in the manner that I want to? Frankly,I don't believe that.
Picasa does not do what I asked in the first place. At all. I did not ask 'do you know of a good free program for photos?'
That was not my question. Sorry.
Answer Let's try this one more time...
You want to view photos already on your computer, sort them, and copy to a new location or delete them easily. Is this correct?
You can pay a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on digital asset management, or you can find a free application to do exactly what you want. I figured you would appreciate 'free'.
Using ANY image browsing application that supports multiple selections, YOU have to be the one to mark them and take some action. You can either hold the Opt/Ctrl key while clicking to make selections, then either copy or delete them. But Windows Explorer doesn't let you come back to your selections later, and if you click away or click something by mistake you have to start over.
If you want to copy to a new folder, you simply right-click and choose "Move to..." or something similar, but you have to make the choice each time - you may need to navigate to the folder anew with every image.
Pay attention very closely: Picasa has a feature where you can right click and add a rating or other note, which you can then use to sort, delete, copy or edit. This is EXACTLY what you asked. Further, it adds the benefit of not having to do everything all at once - you can make selections and come back later to do more work.
My response was not simply "try Picasa", as is evidenced by the detail I provided in two answers. You seem to want a magic solution that reads your mind. Best of luck finding that application. Whatever application or workflow method you use, you WILL have to do SOME of your own work. In this case, it involves 1-2 clicks per image, then ONE option at the end to delete or copy. How much more simple can it get?
But by now you are convinced that your expectations can not be met. You are probably very sure that I have not answered your question, so it's your loss. The next time you ask a question of a professional, you might want to take time to consider listening - if you don't understand, ask again, but do not mistake your lack of comprehension for a lack of expertise by someone else.
