Photography Workflow

Organize and search your photo library using EXIF metadata

Intermediate 30 minutes
1
Setup
2
EXIF
3
Find
4
RAW
5
Backup
6
Dupes

Step 1: Initial Setup and First Scan

Set up FileFortress and scan your photo storage

# Initialize FileFortress

filefortress init


# Add your photo storage

filefortress remotes add gdrive

# Name it: "Photos - Google Drive"


# Scan to index all photos

filefortress remotes scan "Photos - Google Drive"

Step 2: Organize by EXIF Metadata

Use EXIF data to organize and find photos

# Find all Canon photos

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.cameraMake=Canon"


# Find photos from specific camera

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.cameraModel=EOS R5"


# Find photos with specific lens

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.lens~=70-200"

Step 3: Find Photos by Criteria

Search by camera settings and dates

# Wide aperture photos (portraits)

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.aperture<=2.8"


# Photos from 2024

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.takenAt>=2024-01-01"


# High ISO photos

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.iso>=3200"


# Photos with GPS data

filefortress search "" --meta "exif.gpsLatitude exists"

Step 4: Manage RAW + JPEG Pairs

Find and organize RAW and JPEG files

# Find all RAW files

filefortress search "" --extension cr2,cr3,nef,arw,dng


# Find all JPEG files

filefortress search "" --extension jpg,jpeg


# Find specific photo in both formats

filefortress search "IMG_1234"

Step 5: Backup Strategies

Implement multi-cloud backup for photos

# Add backup storage

filefortress remotes add b2

# Name it: "Photos - Backup B2"


# Scan backup storage

filefortress remotes scan "Photos - Backup B2"


# Verify photo exists in both locations

filefortress search "IMG_1234.CR2"

Step 6: Duplicate Detection

Find duplicate photos across all storage

# Enable hash calculation

filefortress remotes enrich --all


# Find duplicates

filefortress find duplicates


# Save duplicate query

filefortress find duplicates --save-query "photo-duplicates"

Example Queries for Photographers

Portfolio quality:

--meta "exif.aperture<=2.8" --meta "image.width>=4000"

Event photos (specific date):

--meta "exif.takenAt>=2024-06-15" --meta "exif.takenAt<=2024-06-15"

Telephoto shots:

--meta "exif.focalLength>=200"

Low light photos:

--meta "exif.iso>=3200"

Learn More

Dive deeper into photo organization:

Full Photography Guide Metadata Filtering