Light Room File organization/work flow

[RyanLilly]

I Decided to try lightroom 2 a few weeks ago, and so far I think I am an convert. The layout is intuitive, its faster than Aperture, and I can use droplets to run NoiseWare and other photoshop actions without actually having to manually put everything through photoshop.
Now my question to all of the light room user out there is about where you keep your files. How do you organize Raw files, then jpg files scaled for web use, and also full size jpgs for printing. I like to keep the file numbers just as they are from the camera, but how do you organize everthing so when I go to find a specific shot a year from now, I can find the Raw and both jpegs easily?

Also, I have external storage for my photos, is there any good way to keep a project on my laptop as well as my external drive, so I am not locked to one location?

 

[IgsEMT]

I'm not an EXPERT on LR, far from it but this is my thing:
Once my shooting is done, files are copied onto computer in to the folder with this format: yyyy-mm-dd. Then I important that folder.
Once I get to the images, 1) adjust WB (if needs be) 2)exposure, brightness/contrast 3) use Nik Software for filters 4) PS if needs but but more often isn't needed. 5) export to the same folder under yyyy-mm-dd-###. The folder (with both original names and new names are backed up in two different external hard drives.

 

[Buckster]

What works for me on file organization:

My typical folder structure:

Drive K contains folder: "All Buck's Photos"

"All Buck's Photos" contains sub-folders by year:
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Each year folder contains sub-folders labeled with specific dates and descriptions, like:
01-18-09 - Jessica Lovett
01-20-09 - Cheboygan Lighthouse
01-26-09 - Jake Johnson
01-29-09 - Linda Talbot

Each date/description folder contains the RAW files, and sub-folders with additional types of files in them (as needed):
TIF
JPG
PSD
HDR
MURAL-SIZED

Also, use the tags feature of Lightroom to easily locate files later by keywords.

Drive K is kept synchronized and backed up with an exact duplicate on another drive. They (and 8 other external drives) are connected via E-SATA, so they're just as fast as if they were in my machine, rather than sitting next to it.

 

[craig]

CF cards are downloaded through LightRoom. I create a Folder ie "MonaChavezHermosaBeach" LR creates the folder 2009-10-6 containing all images. After many flags and colors I create a folder "MonaChavezPost" I export the raw images for the client to see. After we decide on the keepers I edit the images and export to a folder called "MonaChavezFin". Usually a jpg folder is required called "MonaChavezFinJPG". Additional folders may be required, but I think you get the point.

After years of working in LR this is what works for me. Probably not the most logical, but I can say from experience that it is working. You will have to develop your own style and fast. LR is a monster. Without the connivence of the "save as" function in PS I found I had to pay paticular close attention to my workflo.

Love & Bass

 

[Garbz]

I keep my RAW files only until I am finished with them. Then I export the entire folder out of Lightroom into JPEG format.

I see no sense in keeping scaled down copies since I can make these in about 30 seconds from the larger copies whenever I want. I see no sense in keeping RAW files, TIFF files, or anything else beyond top quality JPEG files since I don't have the time nor will to re-edit old pictures.

Removing a folder from the Lightroom DB doesn't delete it so I remove it and then physically go into the local drive where I store the RAWs and delete the folder out of there.

Final JPEGs get sorted into a folder \Event if relevant - Shooting location [Month year]\

 

[musicaleCA]

I stick with dates, for everything, and just make good use of keywords (or so I tell myself) for organization.

 

[Big Mike]

I keep my files in a folder structure by type of shoot; wedding, portraits (& misc) and personal. Then by year and date of shoot.

After the work is done in LR, I only output other files as needed. If I need Jpeg files for uploading for web viewing, I use my preset for that and put them into a sub folder 'web'. If I need Jpeg files for printing, same procedure.

I could delete the Jpegs after using them, because I still have the RAW files & adjustments in LR. I try not to do anything to them past LR, so that the images in LR are the 'finished' ones. For images that need Photoshop work, I take them directly from LR, via the 'Edit in....' command, which brings them back into LR when done in PS.

To make things easier while in LR, I first go through and mark the obvious duds for deletion (x key) and the obvious keepers get a flag (p key). I might take a longer look at the 'maybe' images but eventually I'll have all the keepers marked or selected. I then take those files and create a collection in LR. This makes them easy to find/work on.
I also add key words to most images, which makes them easy to find later.

 

[Plato]

Removing a folder from the Lightroom DB doesn't delete it so I remove it and then physically go into the local drive where I store the RAWs and delete the folder out of there.[Month year]\

My version of LR-2 (2.5 for the Mac) gives a popup with the option of merely deleting from the DB or trashing the files completely.

 

[boomer]

I'm really close to using Bucksters organization methods. Seems to work well for me.

 

[Turnerea]

Removing a folder from the Lightroom DB doesn't delete it so I remove it and then physically go into the local drive where I store the RAWs and delete the folder out of there.[Month year]\

My version of LR-2 (2.5 for the Mac) gives a popup with the option of merely deleting from the DB or trashing the files completely.

If you are asking what the difference is here, then the "remove" button simply removes the photos from the catalog, so they are not in the LR interface anymore. "delete" actually deletes the files from their location on your drive.

I usually import from camera to my labtop through LR. Due any work in LR and PS. Then export to an external harddrive, and delete all the files from LR (which deletes them on my labtop). If I go back and look again, I need to import from the external, but when I'm done make sure to REMOVE not DELETE, as these are the only files I have at that point. If I were shooting weddings, or anything else professional-esque, a backup of my external would be necessary.

 

[Plato]

Removing a folder from the Lightroom DB doesn't delete it so I remove it and then physically go into the local drive where I store the RAWs and delete the folder out of there.[Month year]\

My version of LR-2 (2.5 for the Mac) gives a popup with the option of merely deleting from the DB or trashing the files completely.

...the "remove" button simply removes the photos from the catalog, so they are not in the LR interface anymore. "delete" actually deletes the files from their location on your drive.

That's what I thought that I had said!

 

[Garbz]

Yep but how do you delete the folder?

When I click on the folder, right click, then the only option is "remove" after which I get a confirmation that the files will remain on disk.

If I do this on the file in the grid view then I get the same result as you, but that only works for files in the folder and won't remove the folder.

Lightroom 2.4 on Windows, not sure if the update has changed something there.