In Lightroom for example, unless you synchronize a folder with your catalog, the changes you make outside of Lightroom will not be visible inside Lightroom. If you are using database image processing software like Adobe Lightroom (or Picasa), you have to remember that if you change the folder structure outside of the software, then it will take a while for the software to read the changes and update its database. To setup a backup strategy read my tutorial on creating an efficient backup strategy for your digital photos. I would want to say that since I have started deleting my memory cards after each transfer, I have never ran into duplicate images on my computer. You will get at least one more copy when the backup kicks in. I agree in principle, but if you have a regular backup setup every day, then there’s nothing to worry about. What happens if your computer crashes? You have only one copy of your pictures and that’s very risky. I know that to some photographers this is really bad advice. This way you will never transfer the same pictures to your computer. Talking about a stand alone camera now, the next thing to do is to empty your memory card after you transfer your pictures to the computer. This way I can’t transfer the same photos twice. This is where duplicate photos can enter our computer.Īfter transferring photos from your phone to your computer, I always empty my phone photo storage.

Next step in order to eliminate duplicate photos is to address the process for transferring photos from our camera (or phone) to our computer. Delete Your Digital Photos After Each Transfer If you choose Auto Reset, then your file numbering will start with 1 every time you put in a memory card in your camera.Ģ. This is the first good measure to guard against duplicate files. This means that you get 10,000 pictures (yeah it’s actually 9999) with unique image numbers. The Continuous file naming scheme will continually number your images from 0001 to 9999 and then reset back to 0001. The most common two schemes are Continuous and Auto Reset. Modern standalone digital cameras (those devices that are only cameras…not your phone) have different file naming schemes available. Fortunately however, most modern phones have the continuous file naming scheme already in use, so you can pretty much skip this step if your phone is the only camera you use.

Unfortunately for your phone, there is nothing you can do as the file numbering scheme is already set for your phone.

In order to eliminate duplicate photos we have to start at the source, with your camera.

Iphoto cleanup duplicates