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Managing Your Projects
If you take a few minutes to organize folders and files before embarking upon a project, you’ll be more organized, be able to find the image files you want to work on, and reduce the possibility of deleting files that may be important.When I start on a project, I create a master folder that contains all the folders and files for that project. Usually, I give this folder a name that refers to the project and helps me find it quickly (especially when I arrive at the computer in the morning bleary-eyed because my little son has kept me up all night!).Inside this master folder are more folders that divide the project into parts. For instance, if I’m working on a new series of images that I’ve scanned, I create one Scans folder that contains the original scanned images, another Working folder that contains all the files I’m working on, and a third Finished folder that contains only completed image files. I never save over any of the original scanned images in the Scan folder; instead I save a copy in the Working folder. That way, if I make a huge, tremendous mistake, I always have the original available.This is only one way to go about it. You can have folders within a Working folder that are dated so that you know what you were working on when; you can also divide up a project by its pieces — if you’re working on a brochure, for example, you could have Front Flap, Panel 1, and Back Flap folders. What I’m suggesting is to take the time to think about your project before you start working on it. Take a good old-fashioned piece of paper and a pen or some 3 x 5 cards and block out the process of your project. If you take the time now to think about what you’re creating and how you’re going to create it, you save a huge amount of time in the long run.
Another workflow issue is what I call housekeeping — deciding which files are valuable and need to be kept, and which images can head toward the virtual circular file.Because my computer has a large hard drive, I tend to keep more than I probably should. I always have that lingering thought in the back of my mind, “What if I need that layer mask, or need this technique again?”My best advice for deciding which images to delete is to carefully consider where your project is heading. Is a particular image file one that you used to test a specific technique that didn’t work? Then, fine, delete it. Be careful, though, because after an image file is gone, it’s gone. Take a look at Technique 7 for tips about creating backups and snapshots.Also, if you have a CD-R or CD-RW, you can archive your files on a CD-ROM disc. This saves you precious hard drive space and still saves any files you might want to keep “just in case.”
