super ...

as you upload them from the camera to the computer.. take the time to name them ... i use my database and copy/paste the manes into the photo list ...

and then make alpha folders ... and sort them all into them ...

i add the date so that the name ends up something like:

Pinky 031511 001

so that as new pix of the same hosta are added .. they end up in date order ...

its a little upfront time.. but trust me.. by the time you have 1000 pix... it will be one huge job ...

we look forward to your work ...

ken

No one would ever say no to more hosta photos, especially from a collection of 1800 hostas!

Good advice, Ken. I find myself having to go through my folders and sort out and name things. I also need to build some sort of database to keep track of my hostas. My collection is still pretty small, so it shouldn't be too tough, but as it grows organizing that information could become a real chore.

Denny, 'bout time - lol. Look forward to adding to my wish list.

Ken, unless you scan in a picture, most digital pics will have date and time as part of file data from the camera.

I use Picasa to view, organize and find pics. Many ways to skin a ..... Then a spread sheet with hosta data ....year purchased, cost, supplier, size(eyes) at planting, location, etc...

Paul

Great suggestion...would be nice to see a diverse group of pictures.

Paul, Do you use Picaso for ease, it is the best or it's what you know? Are upgrades available? There are many options out there, what do you recomend? I will be starting from scratch in a few months w/ brand new up-to-date stuff. I can do whatever I want for software. I would love to see the computer automatically downsize one set of photos and put another set in a folder of regular size. It would be nice if it would also take a whole group of pictures to a file instead of individually. I would like to take the time to name them in the winter. I didn't expect this many questions; should have maybe put up a different topic. I guess it is all relevant.
Thanks,
Rick

Rick- My Canon camera came with Zoombrowser which allows me to to everything you ask, i.e resize, move groups of photos and change things w/o messing with the originals, etc. Plus, all the photos remain on my computer (I make periodic back up copies on a cd, so I have a 'hard copy' outside my computer. I only use Photobucket, similar to Picassa, for posting a pic on forums. Guess I'm distrustful of storing irreplaceable photos on somebody else' server somewhere. Just a few years ago, one widely used photo website shut down and folks lost their stuff forever.

There is photo software available that will allow you to do what you want and keep your priceless pics safe and sound too.

-Babka

Paul,

Could you post a sample of a spreadsheet entry. I'm beginning one and would like a sense of how to organize the data. Do you use one sheet for each letter of the alphabet?

Steve

Picasa doesn't ONLY store your photos online, just to clarify in case anyone misunderstands how it works. In fact, if anything I find it can save too many copies--it files and stores any image on your computer. If I save an image temporarily to my desktop or create a folder of duplicate images to upload somewhere, Picasa "sees" those images the moment I fire it up and makes sure the program recognizes them and makes them accessible to me...whether I want it to or not. ;)

So, I guess what I'm saying is that you're not storing your photos on anyone else's server, you're just keeping a copy there. I doubt Picaso is going away any time soon (it's a Google product), but if it did I would still have all my photos on my hard drive and backup drive.

I use Memory Manager software from Creative Memories (I used to be a consultant) and I do like the way I can organize stuff. I can have pics in multiple folders without having multiple copies of that pic.... so if I edit one, I edit them all.

I do like Ken's naming methodology and may give that a shot. By default, my software organizes by date, but I don't know if I were to do an alpha sort if they'd be sub-sorted by date or not.

Rick, I started a response last night and quick fingers deleted it before I could send - so will try again.

As has been mentioned there is Picasa (V3.8) and Picasa Web Albums both are free. I don't use the web albums, instead using Photobucket (also free) - so all comments will be about the Picasa program. There are other programs or ways to go, I can only share what works for me. To me Picasa is simple - I like simple.

When I started using Picasa I believe they were on version 2.x and current version is 3.8, so Google is continuing to support and improve. Picasa finds all your pictures and videos so that you can access pics to edit, rename, move, export. If you want to create a heart shaped cutout with a hosta in it - you may need something else - although there is a recent addition in Picasa called Picnic that may do some of that. If you want to crop, make basic adjustments to color or contrast, remove red-eye, straighten, add-text, make a collage, or retouch areas - Picasa will work. Think of Picasa it as an indexed photo album that can edit pictures.

One feature of Picasa I think is important is the ability to undo my changes - so if I crop and edit a photo to show a closeup, then export and I still am able to go back to my original photo.

So after Picasa finds all your photos (it leaves them where you put them), here is the screen that comes up. On left is a scrolling directory of folders that contain pictures. It shows 12,000+ pictures and images on my computer. The highlighted/selected folder is displayed to the right.

If I double click on a pic at right I get this editing page- the three edits I use the most are - crop, I'm Feeling Lucky (automatic contrast/color adjustment), and Text

If you need to find a file, type in letters into search field - it instantly narrows list as you type each letter. Search uses filename, description and any tags you have entered. So if I type 'abba' the search finds 30 pictures-

When I want to add a picture into Photobucket - I export to the desktop - this way any changes are incorporated into the new file , I can find picture file easily when I import and can easily delete the exported file/folder from desktop when I am through.

Saving to a certain resolution is problematic in Picasa as controls are simple. Though I only need to save to a certain resolution for a couple of business purposes, I never worry about resolution otherwise. If you need to save to a certain dpi or resolution Photoshop Elements(PE) may be nice to have as well - I plan to purchase PE this year (abt $70) - not so much for resolution issue but for other photo editing tools.

A bit rambling, but hopefully some of this was useful.

Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: for more info on Picasa

yes.. i have the box checked to add both the date.. and a unique sequential number ... and out of my cannon i get a file name something like

DCS 20110316 001

the 001 increasing per picture ...

i go to my database.. copy the hosta name .. then go back to the file name and paste it over the DCS so it ends up like this ...

Great Expectation 03162011 001

the last 3 numbers are irrelevant ... unless you take multiple pix of the same plant ... then it is just a variable

after the name ... the year is first.. so all of one years pix are together.. and over the years... kept in order ...

the copy paste from the dB is to avoid multiple spellings ... or bad typing.. lol ..

and one or twice a year.. i burn them all to a CD ...

here are the folder within HOSTA ALPHA:

01 AB
01 CD
01 EF ... etc ..

the 01 keeps all the files on top of the file .. since i have some alpha files in there ...

and then.. within the 01 AB file i have the pix:

Babbling Brook_20080523_0500
Babbling Brook_20080523_0501
Blue Mystery 20090524_2532
Bottom Line_20080612_0856

etc...

so i can find a given hosta pic .. by name.. and date.. within seconds ....

ken

you know.. this is turning into a great post on pic storage protocol..

too bad the title of the OP is unsearchable ...

whats that all about

ken

steve_mass- below is spreadsheet I use (Created in Excel). It is ever-changing especially in the idle non-hosta days of winter.

Each of the drop down boxes along top row allow to sort table and some sorts if applied in certain order will nest - so here I sorted Hosta a-z, then seller a-z, and finally year largest to smallest--- so I have 2011 purchases on top by vendor by hosta name sorted, followed by 2010......

To get these sorts added, select the array of cells with data, and select format as table above - confirm array and press enter.

The colored underlined fields are internet links to supplier and HL pictures - see I told you about the idle winter days.

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I had started something similar, but you have given me some great ideas for how to organize it. I especially like the HL links. I'm thinking about using a similar set up for the wish list and then transferring over to the plant list.

Thankyou all for your responses!

I am not sure if this was answered:

Can you load all the pictures at once to two files. One file would be for forum/internet posting. Some forums only allow a certain number of k.b.'s. I thought it would save alot of time when it came to posting as the entire group of photos from your camera would be done at once and ready to go. You would not have to resize individual photos.

The second file would be original pictures.

I imagine this might be much quicker w/ the new computer. This thing is around 18 years old and operating on windows x.p.

Babka, Thankyou Can you do that? How do you handle internet/forum posting?

Paul, Thanks for going through all that you did; quite impressive! How do you handle the above? Do you import one picture at a time to photobucket? Where along the line do you resize to get the correct k.b.'s to post on the internet/forums? Can you only resize one picture at a time?

Ken, Thanks for your organization tips. Feel free to add more. You have to remember when you explain, it has to be thorough and detailed to lackers like me. Actually, you are getting better.

Rick - You can batch import from camera/memory card to Picasa; you can batch export from Picasa; you can batch import to Photobucket. As far as two resolutions - I send full size pics to photobucket (most .5 to 2meg). Photobucket links display them at a lower resolution. The couple of sites where I have seen a resolution limit -- it's for pics downloaded to their server I believe, not pics hosted on another site like photobucket -- at least that's what it seems to me. You just need to use the correct type of link for these sites. Try it using the preview most of the sites offer - if you see pic in preview.......it's good.

Not sure if this answers all your questions - or perhaps just stirred the waters for you.

Paul

Paul, I think I got it. No sizing issue, cause photobucket does it automatically.
Thanks, Rick

Rick - a little more....here is options screen you can pull up during upload to Photobucket. I use the default, which takes my full size photos and saves them using 1024 x 768 resolution, but you could choose another for special situation.

My first computer was a Commodore 64 - programs had to to fit in 64K.... now we're worried about saving pic files of similar size and much larger. Imagine tomorrow......

Paul

Country Garden-
The difference in capacity for computers since the days of XP will, no doubt, blow your mind. All my photos are as large as my bitty camera can take (4320x3240)some are 5MB, so I can zoom in for details, etc. I save all those original biggies on my computer. There are hundreds of hosta pics and they are in folders by year.

I can edit multiple photos at once and select any size before I export them anywhere...to a photo hosting site or for e-mailing.

I only use Photobucket for posting on forums, not for making/storing albums, which is possible.

Paul- A Commodore 64!! Our first one was the Apple II+, in 1981. Did you have a Trash 80?

-Babka

Hi,

Thanks again! Comprehension is so much easier here w/ pictures, as stated it helps w/ simplicity. The pictures give a person direction. I don't feel like I am traveling into a vast, unknown wasteland where I could spend all day w/o results. My computer also shouldn't blow.

Thanks, Rick

ok believe it or not i've forgoten how to do anything related to photos. IS it html ( which i've total forgoten all the tags) or is it the optional url link thing at the bottom of this message box. i have web space to store photos, if i even remember how to get to it.

If you've got your photos stored somewhere online, here's what you need to do to post a photo here:

- View your photo online, right click it and select "copy image location" (or similar, depending on your browser)

- Start a new post here, and right in the body of the post include the HTML (don't add the spaces after and before the Substitute your photo's URL (the one you copied) for the dummy URL between the " " above and you should have an image showing in your post when you preview it.

For GW use the html code. In photobucket if you click on the words "HTML code" you should briefly see word "copied", then go to your GW message you're editing and paste your picture code into message.

Paul

What a fun thread!

Now, as in my most recent 'former life' I was a professional in the computer arena, I find I must comment that y'all who are using 'spreadsheets' should seriously consider overcoming the somewhat steep learning curve and convert that data into relational databases. The reasons are too numerous and complex to discuss in a mere posting, but those who do it will come to full understanding of why it is worth it.

Email was optimized for fast, efficient communication.

Spreadsheets were designed for complex numerical data manipulation and presentation.

Databases are for robust reliable and cross-referencing of data.

I wish I could easily and succinctly write why you should store your data in a database. Again, those who have misused spreadsheets for data storage and have been burnt, or had their data munged will strongly agree with me. Been there, done that, not going back.

Even a 'flat-file' database will beat any spreadsheet, hands-down, for data manipulation, data safety, and even speed.

Yes, I alluded to the fact that learning database vs. spreadsheet is steep, but the rewards are sooo many.

hh

hh, I think your hillbilly moniker belies your serious nature. Databases are wonderful - used and created them for my 900 classmate database over many reunions and some other personal uses. But I think a simpler life for me on this subject - a table with sorted fields and a pivot table or two will likely get me through. It ain't perfect, but a listing of my hosta and a fact or three will work.

Paul