I’m one of those Type A kind of people who needs to do certain things the same way, every time, and my photograph organization is a perfect example of that! I name my folders the same way every time, which makes locating from my archives a lot more simple. And when it comes to how I deliver galleries, those have a system as well!

I blogged about file naming a while back (you can read that post HERE), and today, it’s all about folder naming! Once a wedding is edited and ready for delivery, I sort all of the photographs into folders in (roughly) chronological order, using PhotoMechanic to do the sorting. This makes it easy for my couples to locate their favorites within their gallery, and makes it less overwhelming when you first deliver the final set of photographs!

Here’s how a typical wedding breaks down within a gallery (we use PASS):

1. Highlights
2. Getting ready
3. Bridal portraits
4. First look
5. Bridal party
6. Ceremony
7. Family formals
8. Cocktail hour
9. Reception details
10. Sunset portraits
11. Dinner
12. Dancing

Because I sort the photos BEFORE uploading to PASS, I simply drag all the folders in at once, and PASS creates the folders in the gallery, too. No need for additional sorting once the photos are uploading- it’s literally drag and drop (and then waiting for a couple of hours while the photos finish uploading).

Then, once we’re ready to start on the album, I’ll add one more folder entitled “Album Design.” This folder is typically the Highlights + a few more photographs I’ve chosen to furnish the album layouts. Because I’m choosing the Highlights at the very beginning of the editing process, I’m making sure to choose ones that tell the story of the day, but that would also work really well for a blog post and their album spreads!

I send that last folder over to my designer Andrea (she’s amazing!) at Align Album Design, and it requires very little additional work to curate that collection of images. It ends up meaning my clients get their albums that much sooner after the wedding day!

To read more about our office organization, go here and here!

To read more Photog Friday posts, go here!