Editing Software Starting with Lightroom Classic

[Mickeyess]

I am finally starting to explore Lightroom Classic as part of my work flow. I have used Photoshop for several years. I have a question about setting up Lightroom Catalogs.
Currently I store my photos in folders with the date and a topic. I have a top-level folder for all my work called Images. Within the Images folder I create a folder for each year and then I add new sub-folders for my activity through that year. For example, the structure below shows the folder structure.
Images
2024
2024_04_18 Freehold Street
This has worked well for me but I am uncertain if this is a proper structure to use going forward as I integrate Lightroom Classic into my workflow.
Any pearls of wisdom regarding this initial move into Lightroom Classic? I have folders starting in 1960 going through 2024.
Thanks!
Mick

 

[Mark Keefer]

Tips for staying organized in Lightroom.

Well, I am shooting either Canon of Sony, each has their software program for downloading (I don't use the LR Import), the Canon EOS program and the Sony Play Memories. I have both set up to download files to my drive D:\ which on my system is a very fast m.2 SSD chip 2 TB drive on my Alienware. I created a folder D:\Photos Downloaded from Camera\ and two sub folders \Canon\ and \Sony\ I have the software configured to download images into subfolders year_month_day (YYYY_MM_DD).

Once the files are on my hard drive I open Lightroom and Import the files from the respective folder. Once Lightroom has imported the files and rendered the thumbnails, I go into the Library Tab in Lightroom an I will right click on the folder just named and select rename, I keep the date but I may add a little info like folder name \2019_9_1\ will become \2019_9_1 Drive in LA Day 5\ . This really helps me stay organized. Especially since I have been shooting almost daily for two decades. You can put a lot of folders into a catalog, but there is a point you catalog and hard drive gets full or too big.

You can export and move catalogs and folders. The day will come you need to make room and move your Jpegs and RAW to another drive through LR. And then create a new catalog and start over with clean Hard drive space. I suggest watch some YouTube Videos on how to do this. Also I am using a PC with Windows, if you are a MAC guy it is similar but there may be differences with the MAC drive filing system.

What I can say is stay organized from the start. If you don't and open one giant folder with thousands of files your computer will bog down. On very big photo shoots I have broken the shoots across several sub folders, as an example; \2024_06_8 Vacation 1\ and \2024_06_8 Vacation 2\ and \2024_06_8 Vacation 3\. I do this outside of lightroom on the computer, then in lightroom I import each folder. Small number of files in each sub folder makes Lightroom run smoother and faster .

Hope you find these tips useful. You don't have to do it my way. Everyone has their own way to organize.