Photo archiving sistem for hobby photographers

[Primoz]

Anyone who takes photos sooner or later has to come up with a good system of achiving these large amounts of files efficiently. For a beginner this is a difficult task, because you can't foresee every possible aspect and issue and mainly - once you have established a system it is very hard to change anything because of the amount of data.

Therefore I have decided to post the workflow and foldering system I personally use to give some ideas and insights for a novice in photography. This system is meant for a hobby photographer who takes family & travel photos, but at the same time creates artistic images (landscapes, portraits, studio shots, macro etc.) and maybe from time to time does something for a client.

The problems that come to everyone's mind:

• How to manage multiple cameras (DSLR, compact, phone)
• How to keep all your photos in one convenient system, but at the same time separate your family photos from work for clients?
• How to include in the system photos you got from your friends or family?

Here's a diagram:



"RAW DATA" folder is where all RAW untouched files are stored
"PHOTO LIBRARY" is a library of photos that are important to you personally and are saved as jpegs. (for example Family photos, travel photos, old scanned analog images etc.)
"PORTFOLIO" is where you keep your best artistic work saved as jpeg files to show it to someone.

Why a "PHOTO LIBRARY"? Why not just keep them as RAW files in Lightroom?

• photo library is where you mix up ALL images important to you to make a giant photo album of your entire lifetime in one conveniet place (this includes photos taken by you, your friends, on your mobile phone, videos, photos a professional took at your prom...)
• I wouldn't want to mix all these photos with my original files I took - therefore I save them in another location (like the negatives you had stored somewhere separated and safe back in the film days)
• I like to have important photos already exported in jpegs so I can view them also on a device that doesn't have the required software on (all photos in "PHOTO LIBRARY" are finished products that are already edited - you use a software of your preference only for VIEWING these files)

Let me explain the diagramm briefly:

• YOU take images with your DSLR or compact camera
• if you want to edit the files, you copy them into "RAW DATA" directory and it is further divided into:
  • DSLR
  • Other cameras (compact cameras etc.)
  • Recieved files (if you get files from a friend and you want to edit them)
  • Analog photos (if you shoot film)
  • Scanned photos (if you have scanned images and want to edit them)
  • Timelapse
  • Video
• you import the files from "RAW DATA" to your preffered software (for example Lightroom) in separated Catalogs:
  • Personal photos (family events etc.)
  • Artistic photos (landscapes, portrait sessions for portfolio, macro...)
  • Travels
  • Costumer (photos that are strictly bussines nature and are probably not close to your heart)
  • Timelapse...
• after you have edited the photos you either:
  • export the files and store them in your "PHOTO LIBRARY" if it's a personal event. "PHOTO LIBRARY" has further subfolders:
    • DSLR (your DSLR photos)
    • Other Cameras
    • Recieved Photos
    • Analog photos (including your old film family images)
    • Scanned photos (for example if you scannen a printed photo from your trip to Disneyland)
    • Phone photos
    • Video
  • export the files and store them in your "PORTFOLIO" if it's an exceptionally good artistic image that belongs there
  • export the files and give them to your client (you don't keep these as .jpegs - these images exist only as RAW files with their information in Lightroom)

• if you recieve photos from someone you have to decide - do you want to edit them?
  • NO - copy them straight to the "PHOTO LIBRARY"
  • YES - copy them in "RAW DATA \ Recieved photos" to get images into Lightroom

It's probably not a perfect system, but it'll probably give you some ideas what issues you may come across if you're a novice to this.
Hope that helps! =)

 

[Mully]

I see you have thought about this a lot but it is way more complicated than it has to be...... in fact the drawing made my head spin.... not meant to be mean but very hard to follow.

 

[Primoz]

I really put a lot of thought in this, because I am bit of a maniac when it comes to organisation... =P
I would also like to get some feedback from you guys if you have any ideas to simplify this.

It's really hard to come up with a system that enables you to separate private albums from the artistic & client ones but allows you to keep it in the same place...
And to be able to include your friend's images in the workflow without mixing them up with your own photos.

The basic idea is to separate your editing workflow & RAW data from the photos you actually view and show around...

It's true that this means a lot of double files (RAW and .jpeg), but these days hard drives are cheap and they're getting bigger and bigger, so that's not really an issue in my opinion...

Oh and I forgot to meniton this - all photos in the "RAW DATA" and "PHOTO LIBRARY" should be saved in folders "yyyy_mm_dd_Event"

Like this:

 

[cwcaesar]

Thanks for this post! I will see if I can implement this tonight before I become swamped with the few thousands of photos I have taken in the past 6 weeks and the several thousand I will take in the future. I have been looking for something just like this so that I can use Lightroom to my advantage. Thanks!

 

[Primoz]

Thanks for this post! I will see if I can implement this tonight before I become swamped with the few thousands of photos I have taken in the past 6 weeks and the several thousand I will take in the future. I have been looking for something just like this so that I can use Lightroom to my advantage. Thanks!

I'm glad you find it useful! =)
Of course everyone has to modify the system to her/his particular needs, but I know that there are things I didn't predict in my first year of archiving photos and wish I knew them then, because once you have 200+ folders full of photos it's really hard to change the workflow...

 

[Mully]

This what I do .... I use a 1T HD for photography all raw files go here with a name e.g. Shore Birds 11/12. I then import the those raw files into LightRoom which has its own dedicated HD with 2 file folders one called Photo Library into which are 2 other folders ( LightRoom Catalog and Photos Go Here) This way all catalog info goes into one catalog and ALL imported photos go into the Photos Go Here folder. Every few days Carbon Copy Cloner backs up the Photo Library folder and the Photography Hrd Dr to a 3T external Hard Dr. This is easy not confusing and so workable. Any questions just ask me. It is so easy to get off on the wrong foot with LR ....so think about your work flow.

 

[Primoz]

So basically you have one folder for your Catalogs and one folder with photos?
That is simple, but then you have all the photos you have ever taken in one huge LR Catalog, if I understand this right?

 

[Mully]

Yes one catalog for over 35,000 images. If the catalog ever got corrupt I would only have one catalog to replace. The other folder "Photos Go Here" there is never any question where your LR images are.... inside of this folder is 2010, 2011, 2012 folders and each of these has work from that year all in sub folders e.g. Nature, Travel, etc as many as I have subjects for. Hope this helps. Laura Shoe who teaches LR taught me have only one catalog.

 

[Primoz]

Ok, so if I decide to merge all my current catalogs in one huge - do you know how this can be done? Can you copy a folder with all it's properties (ratings, edits) to another catalog?

 

[ceejtank]

I just name my folders by whats in the pictures when theyre uploaded. So if it's from a weekend in NY - that'sss what I call it. Or if it's an event I'm paid to do.. the event date, plus the persons name, so if they ever need something with it - easy to find.

 

[Mully]

Sorry I do not but you probably can find out here ...http://www.lightroomforums.net/forum.php...These people are very sharp....back up whatever you try in case something bad happens. Also LR will not know where your LR images are if you move them ...you will get ?? next to the images and have to show LR where they are so ask the LR forum how to proceed. Go slooooowly let me know how you make out.

 

[Rocketman1978]

I am considering a storage method and organization myself, I am a Mac user and utilize iPhoto and Aperture. Right now I have everything in one library and have smart folders based upon the description of each photo. When I upload from my SD I do batch updates to the description to route the photos to the correct folders. All of this is stored on my SSD HDD but I've got a portable Thunderbolt 1TB HDD sitting in my office for when I return after the holidays. Still considering the best way to handle all of the data to include redundancy. The above looks a little complicated but it seems solid. I like iPhoto/Aperture because they utilize the same library, flagged photos, albums, etc., carry over from one program to the other. Once I learn more about PP I will gradually use other programs like LR.

 

[table1349]

Excellent Resource for Digital Asset Management.
The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers

 

[dbvirago]

Don't have a flowchart, but this is my method.
Import all RAW files via LR to a folder on my hard drive and a folder on one of my external backup drives.
The external is in a month-year folder. These are never touched and contain everything I shot, good/bad/indifferent. This is also synched to two other external drives.
The ones on the hard drive go through selection and editing and then are stored by subject for stock work, job for commercial, or event for personal. These jpgs also get synced to my external drives.
I only have 18K jpgs and 4-5 that many RAW files, but I've never had a problem finding something quickly.

 

[JClishe]

I agree with other comments, this system seems overly complex.

I have a single Lightroom catalog and store everything in a top level folder for each year, and subfolders for each month. For example:

2011
2011-01
2011-02
etc
2012
2012-01
2012-02
etc

So for example, every single photo I've taken this month is in the Images\2012\2012-12 folder.

The photo library sits on a Windows Home Server which is backed up every night to a local eSATA disk array connected to it, as well as Windows Azure cloud storage. And on import I use Lightroom's Create Secondary Copy feature (or whatever it's called) to create a second copy of every pre-edited image to a local eSATA disk connected to my PC that I import from.

Considering Lightroom's excellent keyword and search features and smart collections, I've never found it necessary to create complex folder structures, separate RAW's and jpg's, or multiple LR catalogs. Just learn how to use Lightroom an your life will be much easier.