Perfect Workflow For Getting Your Negatives Organized

[@jorbin7417]

A chronological spreadsheet on my phone with load & unload etc data has been a godsend whenever I get around to archiving

[@hankroarkphoto]

I met a photographer that numbered every negative he ever shot in sequential order. Every negative was contact printed, and the negative and contact print (with some notes sometime) were stored together, in sequential order. He had boxes and boxes of negatives and contact prints. But it was the unique identifier, the sequential number, that gave him the key to find anything he wanted. I’m _trying_ to do the same.

[@Distphoto]

That is admirable! Same thing I am doing just by the roll... and sleeved 4x5 will get assigned sleeves, but same idea. A lot of work but worth it when you shoot a lot!

[@TomNorthenscold]

I have a modified approach. When I scan the negs in SilverFast, I have the file name set to the following format: YYYY_MM_DD_Camera_Frame#. The date is the date I processed the film, not the day I scanned it. If I processed more than one roll from the same camera on that date I add the roll number after Camera. The frame # is auto generated by SF. I write the date, camera, roll number if applicable, and the developer used on the top of the negative sleeve. With this method I can get back to the exact roll and frame just from the file name. I also keyword the camera, film, and developer used in LR.

[@Distphoto]

That is a great workflow!

[@lucasleonardo2111]

Great vid! I follow a simple approach, that I've used since the beginning of my film photo journey: . ( ~ ) It looks like: 124. Fomapan 200 +1 (Nov 2022 ~ Jan 2024) If film is fresh, hasn't been pushed, or I shot and scanned it within the same month, I omit those. I then use tags to group the images by project or theme inside darktable. I group the folders in sets of 100 to make it easier to navigate. I replicate the same system on the physical sleeves, so it's always easy to find what I'm looking for.

[@Distphoto]

Nice… cool that you’ve been doing this since you started. Wish I had had. Better system from the beginning 👍

[@alvarosuareztrabanco5400]

I only do digital 'contact prints' and that's the file I care about, not the specific scans in LR. I have these files in a folder that is in the cloud so I can access it from my phone. I only differentiate 35mm and medium format, but then I just number the negative sleeves sequentially. So I don't do '0001' just '1'. I do have an excel file with some data from each negative sleeve (date it was developed, dates where they were taken if I remember, chemicals used...). in case it's ever needed.

[@Distphoto]

Nice system... It is nice accessing this stuff anywhere!

[@michael195b]

It took me a while to try find a system that works for me. I've a folder on the cloud for every film I scan which is named the Film no, camera, film, iso shot and developer used eg "Film98 - Canon FD1 - HP5 400 - ID11" then each shot has a sequence no in that folder. I import them into a folder with the same name in LR and mark them blue category until I rate them. Delete crap ones, red keep but not used, green to print / publish etc., yellow already published / printed. I then have a folder in LR for each location/shoot I put the scans into etc. Bit complicated but works for me.

[@Distphoto]

Sounds pretty efficient. Love it. thanks for sharing!

[@andrewb8234]

What do you like for binders for archiving negatives? Trying to find a decent box binder with D rings instead of O rings.

[@liveinaweorg]

1000% more organised than I am. I try! Honest, I try!! 😂

[@Distphoto]

I am trying... that's all we can do. The struggle is real.

[@AK88Photography]

Hi! If you want I can send to you my method of archiving negatives, what I used for more than 10 years (and upgraded all of the time)

[@Distphoto]

That would be awesome. Always looking to improve 👍 you on Insta?

[@AK88Photography]

@@Distphoto ak88photo there