Note: Photographers’ Friday is a weekly blog series directed toward professional photographers, and in some instances, serious amateur photographers. All Photographers’ Friday blog posts will assume that readers have a basic working knowledge of digital SLR cameras, but if you’re left with questions or don’t understand any of the information, don’t hesitate to ask. We love e-mails!

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This is our last day in semi-balmy Florida this year. Tomorrow we’re driving up to Virginia for what I really, really hope will be my first white Christmas — and it’s a fingers crossed and eyes scrunched shut kind of hope.

In the meantime, it’s another Friday, which means it’s time for another blog post for photographers. I thought it seemed like a good time to address a problem I’ve heard raised time and again: What to do to keep CF and SD cards organized while you’re out at a shoot. There’s nothing I dread more than the thought of losing a card before I get the chance to upload the images from that card to my computer — but with this simple storage system, that really isn’t something I worry about. Ever. We use the Hakuba Media Storage Case for CF cards (they sell another model for SD cards), which I actually blogged about this summer. Here’s how we use them at a wedding.Danny and I head to every wedding with four cards each. Our cards are numbered, 1-8; I use the odds, Danny uses the evens. I start out with card # 1 in my camera, while Danny has card # 2 in his camera. Inside my media card case, my other three cards are front-side up, ready to be loaded into our cameras as soon as we need them. Once I fill up card # 1, I put it back in the case, back-side up, so we can see at a glance that that card has already been used. I keep the case inside my Shootsac and with me at all times once a filled-up memory card has been returned to the case, or, if I can’t hang onto my Shootsac all night, I hand it over to Danny to keep in his pocket. We don’t ever let used memory cards out of our possession at or after a wedding — because if we were to lose the whole case, having the cards neatly organized wouldn’t do us much good, would it?

Having the cards numbered helps us keep things organized as we import the photos to our computer once we’re home. We know that cards 1 and 2 will have getting ready and detail shots, as well as portraits of the bride and her bridesmaids and the groom and his groomsmen, and possibly the first look and family portraits before the ceremony. Cards 3 and 4 will have ceremony and venue shots, additional family formals, and the reception details. Cards 5 and 6 will have the special events at the reception, like the first dance and cake cutting. If the party last long into the night, cards 7 and 8 will have the grand exit.

It is a really simple way to organize our cards — but it’s proved it’s worthwhile time and again. No worrying that a card might have fallen out of our camera bag. No more wondering if we’ve somehow lost the pictures of ____ because we don’t know which card they’re on. We can rest easy know what is where at all times. And yes, in case you were wondering, I do frequently hold the card cases on my lap during the drive home from a wedding.

Happy weekend!

~ Laura