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How to organise RAW+JPG on disk for reference catalogs

jdmuys
Hi,

In which folder hierarchy structure do you people store your RAW and JPG files?

I am shooting RAW+JPG and I started not too long ago to use Capture One Pro 11.
Understanding that C1 doesn't handle RAW and JPEG pairs in any specific way, I decided to only import my RAW images into my C1 reference catalogs.

I store my photos on disk by year and then by date-event. IE, I have a two-level folder hierarchy:

2017
<date1>-event1
<date2>-event2
…
2018
<date3>-event3
…

Inside the individual event folders, until now, I have been storing the RAW images and the JPG image together, with no separation. To import only the RAW files, I sort by kind, and select half the files to import.

But this is not ideal. And some events have many photos (over 1000), making Finder navigation in those folders a bit cumbersome.

So I think I now want to store the RAW and the JPG files in their own folders.

The most obvious way is to add a third level to the structure:

2018
<date>-event
RAW files
<all raw files here>
JPG files
<all jpg files here>

But perhaps storing only the JPGs (least frequently accessed) in their own directory would be better? Thus:

2018
<date>-event
<all raw files here>
JPG files directory
<all jpg files here>

Any reason why to choose one scheme over another? What do you people do?

Thanks

JD
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Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • cdc
    Perhaps the question you should be asking is do you need to be shooting both RAW & JPG? If you have the RAW files and the JPGs are not frequently accessed then what is their purpose?

    I don't shoot RAW + JPG. I shoot only RAW and JPGs are created after post processing for clients and such. If I'm using a Session JPG's live in the Output folder, if I'm using a Catalog (LR) they live in a sub folder of the RAW image folder with an appropriate name, describing they're output size for example. JPGs are not imported into my catalogs at any time unless there is a specific reason.

    If I were shooting both RAW + JPG I'd probably Make the Event folder and put the RAW images in there with a subfolder for JPGs, then only import the RAW images. RAW files would be accessible by clicking on the event folder in your catalog and JPGs only accessible through finder/explorer.
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  • jdmuys
    The question was not whether or not to shoot RAW+JPG. I know there are few reasons to do so. So here are mine, so that we can return to the actual question I ask:

    1- For immediate consumption right after shooting
    2- As a baseline for processing my RAWs: I should at least achieve that level of goodness

    I am not far advanced in my learning curve as a photographer, so this reassures me. I don't rule out stopping shooting JPEG at some point.

    So there. Now any suggestion on how to organise those files?
    It sounds like the possible/probable future move towards RAW only suggests storing the RAW files right in the event folder, and the JPG in a subfolder therein.

    Opinions?
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  • Ian Leslie
    jdmuys wrote:
    So there. Now any suggestion on how to organise those files?
    It sounds like the possible/probable future move towards RAW only suggests storing the RAW files right in the event folder, and the JPG in a subfolder therein.


    That sounds reasonable. If you are set on continuing to shoot RAW and JPEG.

    I agree with @cdc - just shoot RAW.
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  • FirstName LastName
    Excellent point about why to shoot jpeg too - in my early days the jpegs were indeed better.

    I don't think you have discovered the "Global Filters" yet in the view menu. They allow you to view just RAW, just jpeg, both, etc. So do keep RAW and jpeg in the same folder and use those in line with your purpose.
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  • cdc
    jdmuys wrote:
    The question was not whether or not to shoot RAW+JPG. I know there are few reasons to do so. So here are mine, so that we can return to the actual question I ask:

    1- For immediate consumption right after shooting
    2- As a baseline for processing my RAWs: I should at least achieve that level of goodness

    I am not far advanced in my learning curve as a photographer, so this reassures me. I don't rule out stopping shooting JPEG at some point.

    So there. Now any suggestion on how to organise those files?
    It sounds like the possible/probable future move towards RAW only suggests storing the RAW files right in the event folder, and the JPG in a subfolder therein.

    Opinions?


    I did address organizing RAW & JPG, and added a question to the conversation. Apologies if that bothered you. I think David Edge's suggestion of using the Global Filter 'Always Hide Jpg' is a better option than my suggestion for your uses anyway.

    For what its worth after several years of post processing images I still sometimes prefer the depth of color or B&W rendition of the camera produced JPGs over Capture One or Lightroom's interpretations. Using the manufacture software that comes with the camera should always be able to replicate an out of camera JPG from the RAW image, and you can try many of the camera settings afterwards this way as well, as opposed to having the adjustments "baked" into the jpg. Of course this might make for an extra step in the workflow and manufacture software is often lacking in options, unintuitive, and cumbersome. Sometimes it worth the trip though.
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  • jdmuys
    cdc,

    Indeed you addressed my question, and I thank your for that, and I apologise for not acknowledging it.

    I am going ahead with your suggestion. Thanks again.

    JD
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