Help with non-sequenced file rename

[Rick_R]

This is a help a newbe post. I’ve just joined this group; and I am really happy to find it. Just started to really use LR for processing photos and have come up against a wall about renaming a large batch of photos, but not in sequence order.

My question is that I need to quickly assign individual non-sequenced numbers to the front of a photo file name and would really like to use Lightroom for this task. All the Google references lead to sequenced file renames (that's how I found this forum).

Is there a way to quickly manually rename files in LR with non-sequenced numbers while still retaining the file name in the new name ???

Any help is appreciated

Regards
Rick

Long-winded version:
I shoot Downhill Mountain Bike Races and will rename each file with the rider’s plate (registration) number in the file name. This helps find a specific rider photo’s quickly. An example would be HP2M1234.CRW would be renamed 789HP2M1234.CRW for the photo for rider #789. The riders do not come down the course by plate number and I will take two to five photos of each rider. Currently, I will load the photos onto my hard disk and use Breeze Browser (Raw Conversion Program) to see the photo (check for focus) and include the plate number in the file name. I need to be able to see the plate number in the photo to assign the number into the file name. I would like to perform this rename function in Lightroom.

Once the files have been renamed, I will import them into a new Lightroom folder and then edit as needed (usually a lot). This is where Lightroom totally rocks. I can edit exposure, white balance, crop and straighten so much faster in Lightroom than Photoshop that I can process a whole race in four hours. The same in Photoshop would take a day and a half.

As before, Thanks for any assistance

 

[Brad Snyder]

Rick,

If I understand you correctly, you will still have to look at each photo individually, to ascertain the competitor number, to apply, correct?

Try this:
We'll first create the naming template.

In Library Grid View, select a single photograph.

Press F2 to bring up the rename dialog.

Click the check mark beside the top drop down box.

Select Custom Name

Click the check mark again, drop the list down again, this time Custom Name is checked.

Click Edit at the bottom of the list

The Filename Template Editor dialog pops up. By default, it should display {Custom Text} in the text entry box. Position the cursor after the {Custom Text} token. In the second drop down list under Image Name, you should see "Original Filename", select it, and click the insert button to the right.

The template text box should now say
{Custom Text}{Original filename}

** This is very important, at the very top, click the drop down box, and almost at the bottom of the drop down, click "Save current Settings as New Preset". Give it a name like Ricks Custom Sequence. Click Create.
Back at the Template dialog click Done.

We should be back to the "Rename 1 Photo" dialog. It should be displaying your custom sequence name in the drop down list, if not, select it.

Now enter your custom number in the "Custom Text:" box and click OK.

That should do it.

Now that template will be available every time you hit F2. My testing shows that it will stay as the default template, at least until you restart LR.

This won't automate the renaming process, but it should make inserting a custom number much easier.

If I've misunderstood and answered the wrong question, please clarify and ask again.

 

[jimburgess]

Here's a different approach that would also work for your requirements.

Import the photos into LR, keeping the original filename. Do a first pass through the photos, assigning the bib number to a metadata field--Job ID or Headline or Caption could be used, for example. During this pass you could also flag the Rejects (OOF's and other junk) to throw away later. You'll have to develop a mouse/keyboard process since there aren't any shortcut keys that easily let you switch between the metadata panel and other areas on the LR workspace, but I've found this becomes easy with practice. You could also do your editing during this pass, or do another pass if that's easier.

Once you have all the bib numbers assigned to metadata, you would then do a batch rename of all the select images. You'll need to develop a filename template using the method described above by Brad, but you will use the token corresponding to the metadata field you have used for the bib numbers. It will look something like {Job Identifier}{OriginalFilename} or {Headline}{OriginalFilename}, etc. This only needs to be done once, or edited later if you decide to use a different metadata field.

There's some advantages to this approach...
-You can easily edit the bib number before you rename if you discover you have mislabeled a rider during editing.
-You can probably do selections/rejects, assign bib numbers, and edit the images all in one pass. Or not. Your choice.
-You can eliminate BreezeBrowser and updates, saving money (I did).
-The bib numbers are saved in the image's metadata for potential future use.
-There's probably more advantages I'm leaving out.

 

[Mark Sirota]

Jim's process would be fairly easy to do using the Painter tool to assign the metadata.

 

[jimburgess]

Jim's process would be fairly easy to do using the Painter tool to assign the metadata.

Mark...good suggestion for another way to apply the metadata. But you would still have to change the bib number over in the metadata panel before applying the painter, so I wonder if it doesn't end up a "six-of-one, half-dozen of another" situation. You could likely make multiple selections of the same rider and assign the bib number to all the selected images, then make another selection of another rider, assign the bib number, etc. Guess we would have to see a typical shoot to decide.

 

[Mark Sirota]

If you put the bib number in a keyword you could change the bib number right in the toolbar, which would allow you to keep the right panel hidden, and therefore have more grid area, and therefore work faster.

 

[Denis Pagé]

First, welcome to the forums Rick! So many nice peoples to help here...

Brad's method do fill your need very nicely and is level with your question. Altough not exactly what you asked for, the other suggestions are fine too, some offering advantages over file naming searches.

But I wonder which number you will use for that shot of the three winners on their podium for example? :roll:

I myself do a thousand shots of numbered sportsmen per week. More exactly football players. I have an advantage tough as they don't change numbers at each event! Many of them buy the printed photos where they appear. Needless to say that in many (if not most) cases, there is more than one numbered player in a given image.

So here is how I proceed: In the Library module, I have a keyword category named "Numbers" set to not being exported. Underneat it I have the player's numbers as this
>Numbers
3
7
11
28
...

Then, I hide the right panel to see more thumbnails and drag them to the proper numbers at times or select all pictures of a given number and drag the number keyword to one of them to assign to all selected at other times.

For example, #28 is very popular (and promised to a succesfull professional carreer) and he is coming home for pics only at the end of the season. At that time, in Lightroom, I just have to choose a date range and click 28 in the keywords. PRESTO! In much less than half a second, only the photos showing him in action appear ready to put in a collection (Named #28 perhaps). I then let him make his picks and rejects at the keyboard.

After that, I am ready to print, export or make a slide show or web site like CD for him. I do have 5 years of shoots of that guy and they can all show up filtered in much less than a second with Lightroom alone! No more file names searches.

What about #28 from TeamXYZ and #28 from TeamABC you will ask? As you may guess, I also have a keyword category named Teams with team's names under it...

 

[jimburgess]

If you put the bib number in a keyword you could change the bib number right in the toolbar, which would allow you to keep the right panel hidden, and therefore have more grid area, and therefore work faster.

True enough, but how would you include the keyword as part of the filename, which was the original question.

However, this thread does point out that there are other solutions available for the OP if the file naming scheme isn't a rigid requirement.

 

[Rick_R]

Thanks so much

Thank You All for your help.

I’ve just tried using a metadata field (Job Title) for the plate number and then included the field in the Custom Rename Function and it works perfectly. Absolutely Brilliant; I then saved off that template for later use (as long as I remember to use Job Title for the plate Number) and I’m ready to go. This will be as fast as my current rename keyboard exercises and will allow me to process all in a single program. I can select, check focus, composure and insert the plate number in a single pass through the files.

Now for proving a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, there was mention of using the Painter tool (I assume the little spray can in the Library mode) to assign the metadata. I am confused as to this function. I would assume that I still would need to put the plate number in the metadata field, but then get lost on how to use the Painter Tool to rename the files (Confused look on face). How would this function ?

The idea of using the Keywords is also interesting as the Keyword Box is also available for use. I do not see an option in the Rename option to insert a Keyword into the file name. How would this take place ?

Again to all, THANK YOU for your time and thoughts. I wish I could offer some assistance back, but my current level of knowledge is quite modest (but increasing slowly).

Regards
Rick

 

[Mark Sirota]

Now for proving a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, there was mention of using the Painter tool (I assume the little spray can in the Library mode) to assign the metadata. I am confused as to this function. I would assume that I still would need to put the plate number in the metadata field, but then get lost on how to use the Painter Tool to rename the files (Confused look on face). How would this function ?

The idea of using the Keywords is also interesting as the Keyword Box is also available for use. I do not see an option in the Rename option to insert a Keyword into the file name. How would this take place ?

Fascinating. My mistake -- as you and Jim have both pointed out, apparently you can't use keywords in the name template. Sorry!

But if we were to ignore that (or if we follow Denis' advice, since sometimes you may have more than one), here's how you use the Painter tool:

Click on the Painter tool in the toolbar. Select "Keywords" from the drop-down list. Here, you could enter the rider's number, and then just paint it onto the relevant photos in the grid (by clicking on each, or clicking and dragging across the set). No need to use the Keywords panel on the right.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Well, crap, I've put a detailed explanation of keyword painting here, and I see Mark has also, simultaneous typing.
Unfortunately, I just noticed you actually asked how to paint metadata, and not kewyords. Unfortunately, if there's a way to paint metadata fields beyond "Basic Copyright" I don't know how. I assume that's where your confusion is coming from?


+++++++++
Unasked for keyword painting instructions follow:
I'll leave the filename vs. keyword debate to your call. It's your workflow, although the other responders are correct in that keywords are principally how LR was designed to handle that type of workflow.

No, I don't believe keywords are available as a renaming token. Think about the stock photographer with dozens (or more) of keywords for each image, in almost every instance, that would be a horrible renaming method.

To paint:

In Library Grid View, you can paint to any individual pic or to selections of pictures.

First, click the the spray can on the tool bar, which enables a drop down box nextdoor. Use the dropdown to select keywords, (or whatever). In this instance, pick keywords, and then enter comma separated keywords in the text box, hit enter to commit them to the tool.

Here's the goofy (ahem.... slightly less than intuitive) part. There are different functions available depending on where you hover/click the cursor. To paint on a keyword,(or other chosen tag) click the spray can cursor on the actual picture of the thumbnail. The keyword will be applied to any individual picture you click on, or to an entire selection, if one exists. If you hover over a previously painted thumbnail/selection, the cursor turns into an eraser, and a click will remove the previous application. ** You can create new selections by using the traditional Windows selection tools of (click, shift-click, and control-click) but **only by clicking on the gray frame surrounding the candidate thumbnails. [insert Mac selection criteria here].

Then you page your way thru the thumbnails, selecting, painting, and intermittently dropping down to change the keyword to be applied in the text box.(Don't forget to hit enter to commit the text box change)

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Put it in Tips & Tricks and your time won't be wasted! You can practise your new mod post copying skills!

 

[Mark Sirota]

Unfortunately, if there's a way to paint metadata fields beyond "Basic Copyright" I don't know how.

You can paint Metadata Presets. So you'd create a preset with whatever metadata you want first, and then paint it on.

For example, since I take a lot of my photos at home, I have a metadata preset called "Location: Home". It contains only the location/city/state/country fields. I have another with my IPTC Creator information (which I usually apply at import, but it could be done later), and will create others for shoot-specific purposes as needed.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Aha, now it makes sense.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Clever workaround Mark! I like it!

 

[Denis Pagé]

Put it in Tips & Tricks and your time won't be wasted! You can practise your new mod post copying skills!

Yes! good idea!
I never used the "spray can" yet.
I think I will become a "Graffiti Freak" quite soon! :mrgreen:

Seem that there are some features we are still learning and...
we find a way to ask for more?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Okay, here it is:

Using the Painter Tool / Spray Can in Grid View