Table of Contents

File Naming

Quick Example

Name the scan file like this: 2018-07-04_Fireworks-1_4x6print_48bpp_1200dpi_raw.tif

Date Description Media Bits Per Pixel Dots Per Inch “Raw” Extension
2018-07-04 Fireworks-1 4x6print 48bpp 1200dpi raw .tif

Full Explanation

When naming the file, the following pieces of information should be included:

  1. The date the photo was taken in the format YYYY-MM-DD for easy sorting1). If the day or month is not known, these can be omitted, or use the format YYYY-xx-xx with x in place of the unknown numbers. If the exact year is not known, use the format YYYYca meaning “circa YYYY”.
  2. A one to three word description of the photo2), perhaps a place name or a person's name. If you have multiple photos with the same description, add a number that indicates the chronological order of the photo in the series, if known, starting with the number 1.
  3. A keyword that describes the source media such as neg (negative) or 4x6print (4×6 print). It is better to scan a larger photograph than a smaller one, so this field provides a quick indication of the quality of the scan, similar to bpp and dpi. See below for more keywords to use here.
  4. The number of bits per pixel, probably 24 or 48, to indicate the color depth of the scan.
  5. The dots per inch such as 1200dpi to indicate the pixel density of the scan.
  6. Add the word “raw” to the filename to indicate that it is a raw scan.
  7. The filename should end in .tif or .tiff because you scanned directly to TIFF, right?

Other source media keywords you might use include:

Keyword Description
2×3print Wallet-size print
4×6print 4×6 print
5×7print 5×7 print
6×6cmprint 6×6cm print (old style)
8×10print 8×10 print
neg Film negative
slide Slide

When you need to, feel free to make up your own keywords.

Tip: avoid spaces in the filename, putting an underscore “_” where a space would go. When documenting the file, this makes it easy to determine where the filename ends.

If you are saving all the scans into the same directory, you may need longer descriptions in the filenames to help distinguish photos from each other.

1) https://www.scanyourentirelife.com/what-everybody-ought-know-when-naming-your-scanned-photos-part-1/
2) https://www.scanyourentirelife.com/what-everybody-ought-know-when-naming-your-scanned-photos-part-2/