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We take photos of fashion items (shoes, bags, clothing, accessories), hundreds per day. Each product can has a different number of images (from 3 to 10). Right now, the image name is incremental (0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, and so on).

I'm looking to find a way to automatically recognize the first and the last image of each product. So for example:

  • Product 1: 0001_0001.jpg, 0001_0002.jpg, 0001_0003.jpg, 0001_0004.jpg
  • Product 2: 0002_0001.jpg, 0002_0002.jpg, 0002_0003.jpg

Does any option exist that by clicking on a button on the camera, increments the prefix by 1?

Another way could be to differentiate the images in folders. I read a Canon manual and it seems we could set it with 'Manual reset', but I don't understand how to save each product in a different folder.

Another alternative might be if there exists a way to shoot a 'fake' image with different properties (eg. very low/high ISO) and separate the images on pc with any software.

I'm looking for something having a really low impact on photographer productivity.

Thanks

Ps. I'm not a photographer but an operational guy ;)

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  • For panoramas, the common trick it to shoot an image in between the the lens cap on. Without that I often accidentally delete something that is part of a panorama :( – Itai Oct 14 '17 at 14:58
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    @Itai I usually shoot my hand pointing right before the bracket or pano, and my hand pointing left after the bracket or pano. I came to my solution for the same reason (accidentally deleted part of the bracket/pano). =( – scottbb♦ Oct 14 '17 at 16:56
  • Don't know about Canon, but on my Sony it's very easy (though not quite one-click) to create new folders on the card and tell the camera to save new photos there. Why not ask the photographer? He should know his gear. – user29608 Oct 15 '17 at 1:22
  • I'd also recommend some sort of 'dummy' shot between product shots to make it easy to quickly find where one ends. I used to do this when shooting the kid's soccer matches - 4-5 shots of the back of a nice red chair really stand out when you're browsing 100s of thumbnails of green grass & blue sky. – FreeMan Oct 18 '17 at 12:20
  • If you can shoot tethered, perhaps somebody at the computer can arrange images into folders on the fly. – Gnudiff Nov 1 '17 at 19:27
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Changing file numbers in camera for every product would be tedious and take up to much of the photographers valuable time (photographer productivity).

Perhaps the photographer could change media cards between each product and have an assistant label each card with the product name. ??

Typically catalogue/organizing is done in post processing by using a media cataloging program to assign keywords to to group of photos, so when you use the search function of cataloging program your results show all files with the word or words you have searched for. ( which needs to be done even if you do the cards swap trick anyway.)

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  • we shoot more than 150 products per day... we can't switch cards. – Andrea Oct 14 '17 at 18:22
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There are many Canons, but mine (5DmkIII) has the option to change the prefix of the filenames and/or setting a new folder (which automatically increments). Yes, those are a few additional actions a photographer needs to perform, but it shouldn't be that hard?

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Several ideas come to me:

A: Since these are likely for some catalog, preprint a 1 page label with the product ID on it. You start a new sequence with a shot of the product ID sheet. This allow quick separation into folders or stacks or whatever in the initial post.

B: Variant on the above. Include a product ID card IN every photo. If the pic is used in a catalog, the card is cropped out.

C: Depending on the camera there are apps for phones that make it much faster to do operations that would otherwise be painful on a screen without a keyboard. The downside of this: Not all photo import software respect the folder structure of the camera card. Eject card and import manually.

D: Shoot tethered, and change destination folders on the computer.

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