I have so many folders and sub folders of images, and I 'm trying to sort them out and get them into some sort of order.
1. What format do people use and a common format to store the final images? - bmp, jpg, png?
2. What is a good all-round size for a final image? 640x480? seems too small.
2. What data/information (if any) do you put on your images? Telescope/camera type, exposure, your name, date and time? Or do you leave the image void of text?
For each image from the dslr I keep the original autosave from DSS, in case I want to do a repro, and the full res version and the smaller .jpeg for posting.
All necessary info is incorporated into the file name.
Each object has it's own folder. For example in the "Jupiter" folder, each image is in a date sub-folder, then in each dat sub-folder, I have 4 more sub-folders:
- master files - avi files, DSLR RAW files
- processed - processed images
- final - final images in BMP format
- web - JPG/PNG versons of anything in the final folder for posting on websites
If you store them as Fits you can embed all that data in the header.
Barry
Thanks Barry I appreciate the information. I didn't know FITS existed and have read up on, albeit only briefly. I don't know if I need to extend my hack images into this sort of level just yet, but well worth considering in the future.
I'd like some opinions on which format type everyone uses, particularly for your final image. I ditched JPG long ago. My final images are either in BMP or PNG. Does anyone else use either BMP or PNG?
Date always reverse order ie 20090725. When you sort by name, it then also list things in chronology.
I store all my stacked finals, work in progress and final images in this directory naming is NAMEDATEVERSION
Then I have RAW and DARK directories underneath, that obviously store RAW and DARK images.
I have another master directory that stores my FLATS and FLAT DARKs by ISO rating.
As I have a Canon, all raw is in Canon Raw CR2 format. DSS output in 32bit Rational TIFF, PS output in 16bit TIFF, then resave as JPEG only for shipping around.
I have a main folder in the format YYYYMMDD then in it subfolders for each objects such as M42, M16, etc... I also have a flats and a darks folders. In each DSO folder I have sub directories raws, calibrated, red, green, blue, ha, oiii, sii depending on what I do. Now for the files: I save everything in the raws directory as 16bits FITS file and I name them like so: M16_b1_ha_g1o60_600s_<UTC>.fits
That means M16 , bin1x1, Ha filter, gain 1 - offset 60, 600s exposure <UTC timestamp>.
This way each file has a unique name and I know what's inside the file by just looking at its name. Don't have to open it when shuffling large amounts around. Because of the UTC the filename is unique it garantees you won't overwrite any data by mistake (as in incremental numbering _01,_02, etc...) - even bias frames won't get overwritten when copying/pasting around. HTH.
Bloody hell Marc that seems like a lot work, but very orderly I expect.
Leon
It looks complicated but once you get used to it it's second nature. The UTC suffix is the cool thing. I used to name sequentialy and I did on occasions overwrite hours of new subs with stupid mistakes with different files having the same number. This new system is idiot proof. Just for me
Mark, I like that system. Very organised (like I should be).
I think most people have a similar date system YYYYMMDD
Under the "1 - master" folder goes the original avi or RAW images.
Under the "2 - processed" folder goes all the worked-on files, testing, experimenting etc.
Under the "3- final" folder goes the completed BMP version.
Under the "4 - web" folder goes any reduced or converted file I would post on the web.
That's abour as organised as I can get.
Because I don't have much in the way of DSO imagers, it is interesting to hear how others arranges their data. Apart from FITS, is BMP or PNG an accepted format for the average punter?
I used to keep all the subs but lately I figured that it's not worth it as I never "restack" them. So once I have done the calibration and saved the RGB masters (as FITS) I delete all the subs, flats, darks and only keep the master fits and the PSD files (that's where all my time goes into). I very often re-open old PSD files. They're all un-collapsed and I keep all the processing steps and name each layer with its blending, % , opacity etc... I finally export a "big" 1:1 version as full quality JPEG then crop and one under 200KB for IIS.
When I backup the data, then I have a list of DSO as main directories and I dump all the masters & PSDs in there as you do but I don't bother keeping track of dates.
that seems like a lot work, but very orderly I expect. 
