Comments on: Lightroom Technique: How I Organize My Catalog and Why

By: Lightroom Technique: How I Organize My Catalog and Why (2012 Edition) | Eric Scouten

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:08:03 +0000

[...] in folders based on location. I’m no longer segregating photos by each location on a trip as I was in 2008, but rather placing all photos from a trip together in one big folder. This has proven much more [...]

By: Pradeep

Pradeep — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:55:16 +0000

Thanks so much for taking time in writing this article. Much helpful!

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:22:24 +0000

I wouldn’t say there’s a better way; just that they serve different purposes. The Folders panel reflects how your photos are organized on disk; Collections reflect any other organization system you wish. Photos can be in only one folder, they may be in as many collections as you wish.

By: NewBe 2 Digital

NewBe 2 Digital — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:49:36 +0000

I’m just starting up with Lightroom and organized my photos in the Collections section, not the Folders section. Is this a problem? Which is better and why?
Thanks.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:05:26 +0000

For some reason, when I make adjustments in the Develop mode of LR 1.4 and return to my library…and try to export these changed images into a folder on my desktop; the original set of images exports rather than the images with changes? What am I doing wrong? I can see the changed (cropped, lightened etc.) images that I’ve selected to export but, they don’t export changed? Thanks for your help. -Steph

By: Leslie Nicole

Leslie Nicole — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:55:16 +0000

I’m getting ready to import 7 years of digital files into Lightroom.

I used to work in a pro photo lab back in the film days and we kept negatives on file for photographers so they could just call us up and place an order. Negatives were filed by roll name and date. We were always taught the files stay chronological. Sort your proof sheets accordingly. I have found this to be prudent for digital files as well.

I’ve worked several jobs over the years where I was involved in image database organization and I’ve found that usually naming images by anything but date / sequence usually breaks down eventually. For this reason I name my negs yymmdd_0001. Folder structure is Year/Month/Day. I have had creation dates get corrupted in the past, so I do like to have the date in the permanent name.

I’ve usually felt like the actual image files should be very strict and static with the keywording taking place in the database software. As I’m new to Lightroom and want to start new, I’m wondering if this is still the best system. For instance, I often do extensive manipulation to images. Where should these collections live in the folder structure? Should final portfolios be in separate folders? I also take a lot of personal photos.

I’m new to Lightroom. I used to use Canto’s Cumulus, which I loved, but wasn’t happy with them after OSX came out. I used to have several databases and I could easily drag an image from one database to the other. For instance, If I imported a day’s photos that had 100 photos of flowers but also a couple of shots of my dog and my husband, I could just drag the personal photos over to the personal database. The actual file stayed in the same place. Will this work in Lightroom? Also, Cumulus had keyword hierarchies, does Lightroom? I’m watching online classes on KelbyTraining right now, so I’ve seen the collections idea, Just not sure yet how it relates to how Cumulus did it.

Thanks for any thoughts.

By: Jessica Smith

Jessica Smith — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:48:51 +0000

Hello,
I have looked everywhere and I can’t seem to figure out how to make my copyright visible on my photos. I’m using Lightroom 2. Can you help?
Thank you for any help you can give.
Jessica

By: Chris Schmauch

Chris Schmauch — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:16:51 +0000

Since I started shooting digital in 1997 and DAM didn’t really exist back then, I started the chronological+description method and has stuck with it ever since.

People criticize this method saying “use the catalog” for descriptions – but what happens if you lose your catalog? What happens if a couple years down the road there’s something better than Lightroom for organizing? You’re probably screwed either way.

It has to be intuitive and searchable and chronological at the folder-structure level. You can still group by category and do all the keywording in LR but relying entirely on catalog-based organization is a mistake IMO.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:57:10 +0000

@Jack, you can use the Keyword List and Keywording panels on the right side of the Library module to add or remove keywords after import.

FWIW, I almost never assign keywords on import because the photos on a single card of mine are rarely of a single subject.

By: jack

jack — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:10:31 +0000

Is there any way to keyword photos that you failed to do on import?
I have many earlier photos that I failed to keyword and also photos in folders that do not have the correct keywords?!