The cultural lifecycle of an image file Images migrate: from camera card to editing workstation, from portfolio to social feed, from backup to stock repository. Each step can change filename, strip metadata, or re-contextualize the image. A single JPEG can generate multiple variants—cropped, color-graded, watermarked—each with its own identity. The simple filename that started as "connie_model.jpg" may evolve into dozens of derivatives circulating under different names.