How can you organize digital assets for underwater or marine photography?

1 Choose a naming system

One of the first steps to organize your digital assets is to choose a consistent and meaningful naming system for your files and folders. This will help you to identify, sort, and find your images easily, as well as to avoid duplication or overwriting. You can use a combination of date, location, subject, camera settings, or any other criteria that make sense for your workflow. For example, you can name your files as YYYYMMDD_Location_Subject_CameraSettings_001.RAW, and your folders as YYYYMMDD_Location. Whatever system you choose, make sure to stick to it and apply it to all your devices and storage media.

2 Transfer and backup your files

As soon as possible after your dive, you should transfer and backup your files to at least two different locations, such as your laptop, an external hard drive, a cloud service, or a memory card. This will reduce the risk of losing your files due to card failure, theft, or damage. You can use a card reader or a cable to connect your camera to your laptop, and then use a software like Lightroom, Bridge, or Photo Mechanic to import your files. You can also use these programs to apply your naming system, add metadata, and apply basic adjustments to your images.

3 Cull and rate your images

Once you have transferred and backed up your files, you can start the process of culling and rating your images. This means selecting the best images from your shoot and deleting or rejecting the ones that are blurry, underexposed, overexposed, or have unwanted elements. You can use a star rating system or a color label system to mark your images according to their quality, potential, or category. For example, you can use five stars for your best images, four stars for the ones that need some editing, three stars for the ones that are good but not great, two stars for the ones that are average, and one star for the ones that are poor. You can also use colors to group your images by subject, mood, or style.

4 Edit and export your images

After you have culled and rated your images, you can proceed to edit and export them. Editing is the process of enhancing your images by adjusting the exposure, contrast, color, sharpness, noise, and other parameters. You can use a software like Lightroom, Photoshop, or Affinity Photo to edit your images in a non-destructive way, meaning that you can always revert to the original file if you make a mistake or change your mind. You can also use presets, filters, or plugins to apply a certain look or style to your images. Exporting is the process of saving your images in a different format, size, or resolution, depending on your intended use. For example, you can export your images as JPEG, PNG, or TIFF files, and adjust the quality, compression, and dimensions according to the platform or medium you want to share or print them on.

5 Organize and archive your images

The final step to organize your digital assets is to organize and archive them. This means arranging your images in a logical and accessible way, and storing them in a safe and reliable place. You can use a software like Lightroom, Bridge, or Photo Mechanic to create collections, albums, or keywords for your images, and to filter, search, or sort them by various criteria. You can also use these programs to sync your images with a cloud service or a web gallery, and to share them with your clients, friends, or followers. Archiving is the process of moving your images from your active storage to your long-term storage, and making sure that they are backed up and protected from any possible loss or damage. You can use a software like ChronoSync, Carbon Copy Cloner, or Backblaze to automate your backup and archiving process, and to monitor the health and performance of your storage devices.