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About ShootSort

This ShootSort tool is a powerful organizational utility for photographers and digital asset managers. Its primary utility lies in enforcing a consistent and detailed naming convention for photo shoots. By standardizing folder names with key information like date, medium, location, and subject matter, it becomes significantly easier to browse, search, and locate specific photo sets, even years after they were taken. This systematic approach is invaluable for maintaining a large archive, ensuring that finding backups or specific images is a quick and efficient process rather than a frustrating search through ambiguously named directories.

The tool streamlines the initial, and often tedious, setup for a new photo import. Instead of manually creating a folder and a series of subfolders for different stages of the workflow, this tool automates the entire process with a single click. This not only saves time but also eliminates the potential for human error, such as typos or forgetting a crucial piece of information in the folder name. The result is a clean, professional, and highly functional folder structure that supports a logical post-production workflow.

How to Use the ShootSort Tool

Using the tool is an intuitive process. Follow these steps to generate your customized folder structure:

  1. Open the Tool: Navigate to the tool on the PhotoLab35 website.
  2. Date Selection: The current date is pre-selected. If the photos were taken on a different day, select the correct Year , Month , and Day .
  3. Medium: Choose whether the photos are Digital or from Film .
  4. Country: Enter the country where the photos were taken (e.g., ID or Indonesia).
  5. Category and Subcategory: First, select a broad Category . Based on your choice, the Subcategory menu will populate with more specific options.
  6. Location and Place: Enter the specific venue (Location) and the city/broader region (Place).
  7. Generate & Download: Click the "Generate & Download ZIP" button to create and download your folder structure. You can also click "Reset" to clear all fields and start over.
  8. Extract and Use: Once downloaded, extract the .zip file to get the main folder and all the subfolders, ready for your photos.

Outcome Folders and Their Purpose

After generating and extracting the ZIP file, you will have a single top-level folder. The name of this folder is constructed from the details you entered, resulting in a descriptive title like 20250615 - D - ID - Birds - Kingfishers - Ragunan Zoo - Jakarta .

Inside this main folder, you will find the following six subfolders:

  • 001 - [Medium] - Full Shoot : The complete, untouched set of images from the shoot.
  • 002 - [Medium] - Picks : For images you've "picked" or "flagged" as having potential.
  • 003 - [Medium] - Selections : A more refined selection of your best-of-the-best photos.
  • 004 - [Medium] - Edited : Where final, edited versions of your selections are saved.
  • 005 - [Medium] - iNaturalist Upload : A specialized folder for images intended for upload to iNaturalist.
  • 006 - [Medium] - Website Photo Uploads : For web-ready images that have been resized and optimized.

A Practical Workflow That Saves Cloud Storage

Following this non-destructive workflow ensures you have a copy of your photos at every stage. Crucially, by only uploading your final selections to cloud-based editing suites, you can save gigabytes of cloud storage.

  1. Initial Sort in "Full Shoot": Begin in the 001 - ... - Full Shoot folder. Review all images and COPY any you think are okay to the 002 - ... - Picks folder. Do not move the files; this ensures the original folder is a complete archive.
  2. Refine in "Picks": Review your "Picks" and COPY the best images into the 003 - ... - Selections folder.
  3. Prepare for Editing: Make one final COPY of the images from "Selections" and place them into the 004 - ... - Edited folder. These are the specific files you will import into Adobe Lightroom or other editing software.
  4. Export Your Edits: After editing, export the final versions from your software into the appropriate upload folder ( 005 or 006 ).
  5. Backup Your Work: Once your project is complete, backup the entire top-level folder structure to an external drive. For even greater organization, you may want to zip the main shoot folder before backing it up.

Cloud Storage Savings: A Practical Example

Adopting this selective workflow has a dramatic impact on your cloud storage needs. Assuming an average RAW file size of 40 MB, here is how the math breaks down for a typical shoot of 300 images with 25 final picks.

Metric Scenario 1: Uploading All Files Scenario 2: Smart Workflow (Picks Only)
Files to Upload 300 RAW files 25 RAW files
Space Used per Shoot 12,000 MB (12 GB) 1,000 MB (1 GB)
Space Saved per Shoot - 11,000 MB (11 GB)
Shoots in 50 GB of Cloud Storage 4 50

By being selective, you not only save a massive 11 GB of cloud space for every single shoot, but you can also fit fifty complete projects into your storage, whereas uploading everything would only allow for four.

Ultimately, the combination of a descriptive, consistent naming convention and a disciplined, non-destructive culling workflow is the key to managing a large photo archive efficiently. This approach not only keeps your local and cloud storage costs down but also ensures that finding any photo, from any stage of your process, is a simple and stress-free task.