On any platform, what do you use to organize your photos, and why?

If I scan them in , I use PS and organize them where I want.
Although.. I have been using iPhoto lately, on pics from my digital camera ( it’s just so easy).

I love iPhoto because, like burreyeann said, it’s so easy to use.

But that’s not all. You should have included an “iPhoto and Aperture” option. Here’s why.

I transfer every shoot into iPhoto. Jobs with a professional purpose/objective are consequently imported into Aperture.

My iPhoto library is backed up to one external hard drive (a Maxtor 320GB USB) and the Aperture vault is assigned to another external drive (a La Cie Firewire 800 250GB drive) - which means my workflow begins with a quick ‘sort and sift’ in iPhoto, is refined where necessary in Aperture, and both libraries are backed up, with pro shoots backed up twice for good measure, with next to no extra effort. When the external drives fill up, (only the La Cie has, so far) I know it’s time to archive old jobs to optical media to free up drive space.

The new iPhoto will make this workflow even more attractive.

I have looked at PC-based management solutions and the only one that appeals is Lightroom, which I could use on my Mac anyway, so why bother?

iPhoto. It’s easy, it’s there, and I get at least a low-res backup to my iPod every time I sync it.

Ol-Fashioned

I voted files & folders, but it’s really in combination with Adobe Bridge CS3. Bridge has what I need for most of my “work” stuff, but I use iPhoto for the family/leisure shots.

I go the old traditional way: files and folders. Although i use iPhoto when i synchronise my Ipod for low resolution backup.

I won a (non-upgradable) copy of Aperture and I have been playing with it. I do like it a lot and I prefer its design to Lightroom, but currently Lightroom has features Aperture cannot touch, like local editing of RAW images with Adjustment Brushes, which means that I could do 90+% of my adjustments in Lightroom and not have to go into Photoshop.

I am a big fan of using the old folders method but also using aperture to compliment my personal file structure. I do this by not having the files copied into to Aperture but instead having simply link to the original files in their current structure. I also turn on a secondary editor using either pixelmator of photoshop depending how I am feeling.

I am currently using this model to organize over 10,000 photos for my school news paper to create an archive that is effective but easy to use, especially by using keywords.