Sloppy file naming creates several problems. Machine generated file names like WE7M1417.CR2 mean little to humans. Naming files with descriptions like Portrait of CEO in black 5.psd works well for a hundred of images, but produces an incredible mess out of larger collections. Files with identical names add to the confusion and risk overwriting each other in the same folder.
File naming conventions using unique identification numbers solve all those problems. Unique identification number schemes code information about the file, reference it to the actual image, design or text, order and classify files, ease search and retrieval and facilitate communication.
Absolutely all photographs and designs I created professionally since the beginning of 1997 bear a unique identification number. My digital retouching projects and writings also benefit from unique identification numbers.
I name all legal and accounting pieces, such as estimates, delivery memos and invoices, with a unique identification number as well. And to avoid ambiguity about which photographs I license, I reference licensed photographs by their unique identification numbers in every invoice.
If you like an image on my web site, instead of trying to describe it in words like “a guy with beard and green tie”, you can always look up its unique identification number in the page title and then send me this number by e-mail. You can also drag and drop the image into your e-mail editor and send it as an attachment for my reference. I will deliver the high-resolution version of the image for your use soon afterwards.
All files start with the same syntax:
AI.1. = [Initials].[Project type]
Initials serve to distinguish my files from other files on your computer. Most likely, anything starting with “AI.”, for Anatoly IVANOV, will be an estimate, a photograph or an invoice from me.
Exceptions: in the case of portraits of myself created by fellow photographers or digital retouching photographs shot by other photographers and supplied to me for retouching, the initials reflect the authors’ first and family names.
1 = Photography
3 = Digital retouching
4 = Painting and drawing
5 = Design
7 = Prose
DC = Estimate
BL = Delivery memo
FC = Invoice
AI.1.00001.0001 = [Initials].[Project type].[Project number].[Picture number]
I incrementally attribute a number to every new project.
A project can last for years. For example, project number 5 contains my self-portraits, with photographs dating from 1997 to present times. I keep adding to this project.
Starting with picture number 1, each new picture inside of a project receives an incremental number.
ZZ.3.0001.00001.0001 = [Initials].[Project type].[Client number].[Project number].[Picture number]
I first classify digital retouching projects by client. Every new client receives an incremental number.
Every project for the particular client receives an incremental number.
Starting with picture number 1, each new picture inside of a project receives an incremental number.
AI.4.00001.0001 = [Initials].[Project type].[Project number].[Picture number]
Paintings and drawings subdivide into 4 projects: original paintings, replicas of paintings, original drawings and replicas of drawings.
Painting and drawings that had survived in my archives received an incremental number in chronological order.
Note: I have completely switched from painting to photography in early 1997.
AI.1.0001.0001 = [Initials].[Project type].[Client number].[Project number]
I first classify design projects by client. Every new client receives an incremental number.
Every project for the particular client receives an incremental number.
AI.7.00001 = [Initials].[Project type].[Post number]
Each new post (story, article) receives an incremental number.
AI.1.00045.0028 = a photograph 28 in project 45
ZZ.3.0003.00005.0015 = a digital retouching file 15 in project 5 for a client 3
AI.4.00001.0001 = a painting 1 in original paintings
AI.5.0007.0002 = a design project 2 for a client 7
AI.7.00048 = a prose post 48
AI.DC000036 = an estimate 36
AI.BL000010 = a delivery memo 10
AI.FC000018 = an invoice 18
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