[eddie1960]

I'm in the LR camp as well. In general unless it's going someplace for a project all my files are stored by date and in LR they are tagged with metadata that makes finding them easy. If someone contacts me for a shot of Glen Matlock say I just put Matlock in the filter and everything I've shot of him(good and bad) shows up, I can then filter by the start system use to narrow what i want to use. Before LR I had a more complex filing system. to make finding shots easier. when I access the drive that stuff is inI still use the tag search since most of it was tagged in PS or Bridge
The other thing LR changed is whether or nor i convert files to jpeg or TIFF. Anyhting going to the web goes straight from lightroom for the most part and I output it right to the web not my hard drive.
the only exception is when i want to do more sophisticated post than LR can do and those I save in a folder with a relevant name

[Anvh]

theonly processing I do, upon importing the files is to modify the file name, based upon the odometer reading, adding a leading 1, 2 etc. so the filenames are sequential for my camera, and on my *istD and K10D, adding an istD or K10D prefix to replace the IMGP prefix. the K5 and K7 permit custom file names so I have them programmed already with the model as the prefix. this way I can avoid duplicate file names when shooting with more than one camera at a time

Lightroom also reads the camera serial number so you can simply sort on that, no custom names are anything needed.

[Anvh]

the only exception is when i want to do more sophisticated post than LR can do and those I save in a folder with a relevant name

I simply say edit in photoshop and if the file is in DNG and the ACR are the same then it open it directly there without creating a new file.
When i save i save as PSD or TIFF in the same folder, Lightroom sees it's the same photo and they stack the original and the edit.
Brilliant if you ask me.
If lightroom needs to convert the photo to PSD or TIFF first then it also creates a stack images in the same folder.

[Lowell Goudge]

Lightroom also reads the camera serial number so you can simply sort on that, no custom names are anything needed.

it is not a question of reading the meta data, it is a question that with multtiple cameras, and with each camera rolling over on the 9999 photo counter limit, the possibility for duplicate file names is very real.

how does lightroom ensure that files with duplicate names are NOT over-written.

My concern, real or not, is that you are placing too much faith in lightroom as an organizer. if you then go to use any other platform, how do you sort things out. I prefer that my storage is controlled and known. While I have used PSP since version 8 for example, it was not my first photo editor and scanning program, and it may not be the last. I find logical orginization of the files in directories a good way to ensure that potential problems do not arise.

Maybe I am just a control freek, but I don't trust it when computers have too much control over where files are stored, aside from anything else it makes back up a PITA

[Nuff]

The files are in directories on filesystem. In my case a NAS that's shared of NFS/SMB/AFP. Aka, it's available anywhere to everything on my network. Lightroom doesn't do anything special to the files. Except it can add Exif info to DNGs and Jpegs of the edits/keywords/etc you have done in lightroom, if you choose so. If you migrate to a different program, all of this would be lost anyway, since lightoom is non-destructive, which is it's biggest selling point.

And yes, it sounds to me like you are a control freak. Since there's nothing special done to files, if you have two files which are named the same, LR will rename the 2nd file. You can't store 2 files with the same name in the same directory anyway. If they are in different directory (aka, they were taken on different day), it will not be renamed. It's not that complicated, I could write that code to do it in under a minute. A shell script (I've unix background) in less than 5 sec and it will work on my Mac.

The issues you have mentioned in my opinion are all non-issues, my backups run perfectly, I do full backup weekly and incremental daily. I keep 4 weeks of full backups. It's also none issue to backup the lightroom database as well, since it's one single file and LR will backup several copies of it as needed and as frequently as you specify.

[richard balonglong]

I can see that one have different style on sorting their files/images.
For me, I go by multiple sub-folders starting from Year/ Month/ Day with descriptions/ camera used(if multiple cam was used)/ another folder for video if any. hehe.

Example:
>2012
.....>01 January
...........>January 1, 2012 - First Day of New Year
...........>January 2, 2012 - Flower Festival Day 1
.................>K-7
.................>ist DS
.....>02 February
...........>February 1, 2012 - Valentine Preparations
.................>K-7
......................>Videos
.................>ist DS
.................>K110D
.
.
.
.so on and so forth... hehe... =)

[JenniferLeigh]

I'm also a Lightroom user, it has made a HUGE difference in keeping my photographs organized.

Upon import my photos are sorted by date, depending on the amount of photos they will also be added to descriptive sub folder.

Example:
2011
- 01 January
- 02 February
-- Trip to Victoria
- 03 March

Within LR, in addition to keywords (which I'm fairly bad at) I add into collections:
- Places
-- Vancouver
-- Calgary
-- Amsterdam
-- Paris

-Subject:
-- Ghost Towns
-- Landscapes
-- Wildlife
-- Cityscapes
-- Portraits
--- J. Smiths Engagement Photos
--- M's Park Portraits

- Projects
--- Calendar 2012
--- For Website
--- Screensaver 2011

[Lowell Goudge]

Key word sorters and collections are functions within exif data and the software itself, and not related to directory structure

PSP also allows to sort by keyword and collections but that is not the same as how your files are physically loaded on your disk.

The issue of how and where your files are located and directory structure are much more important in terms of backing up your drives, and restoring data after a disk crash, as well as when and if you use multiple applications to work on photos.

For those reasons it is important for you to know and manage the directory structure, regardless of the program you use to sort your collections.

[Nuff]

I find it kind of amusing that you are finding issues with LR and backups. I've been doing backups for 15 years in big Enterprise companies and LR backups are as simple and uncomplicated as they come. Try backing up Oracle DB, now that's a headache and half...

LR and backups are a non-issue, give me one good example of how it is a problem instead of just saying directory structures etc... in backups directories are not a problem, they are just part of a filesystem. Also LR stores all the files under one root, so it's one of the simplest backups around.

[Lowell Goudge]

I find it kind of amusing that you are finding issues with LR and backups. I've been doing backups for 15 years in big Enterprise companies and LR backups are as simple and uncomplicated as they come. Try backing up Oracle DB, now that's a headache and half...

LR and backups are a non-issue, give me one good example of how it is a problem instead of just saying directory structures etc... in backups directories are not a problem, they are just part of a filesystem. Also LR stores all the files under one root, so it's one of the simplest backups around.

I am not questioning how Lightroom stores files but how little understanding people have about the e difference between file structure and collections, and a root directory and sub directories.

Regardless of program you use, not understanding differences like this can be fatal when you have an issue with a disk.

Your post is the first one that a least shows how the program stores data butnitnis not really clear how files are separated. As i said, at the onset, one of the issues is the need to keep files generated from different cameras with the same file name because the defaults are the same for all cameras and until the K7 ( at least of my 4 cameras ) you couldn't change it, and you still have to deal with the odometer rollover.

[Nuff]

I think I've already tried to explain the last one, all of the files are not in a big directory. LR checks the camera serial number and uses it for various names.
If by odd chance you manage to to take photos with both cameras on the same day and you manage to roll over the counter on the same day (I think it would be impossible to do the last one unless you take 6 photos per second whole day) LR will rename that photo. It can even store multiple copies of the same photo edited by multiple editors and collapse them.

The folder structure looks like this:
Phots
-> Year (YYYY)
-> -> Year-Month-Day (YYYY-MM-DD)
The last folder has photos only taken on that day. So even if the camera rolls over 1 year later, or you take photo with the same model camera day later, it's none issue. They will be stored in different directories, but if they are stored in the same one. One of them will be renamed. By the way, this is default behaviour and you can alter it to your liking.

I think everyone knows that keyworkding and collections are not file structure and it's only mechanism for sorting photos in the lightroom database. It's what makes LR so great, the ease of finding photos in my collection of 20,000 pics. I already had finding stuff in my filesystem with 2000 photos.

I think it would take a lot less time for you to get a trial version and give it a spin then me trying to answer the same question over and over in multitude of different ways. After all the 30 day trial is free.

[Northern Soul]

I think all these arguments about Lightroom would just fade away if Pentax released a FF sensor. Does anyone know when that will happen?

(I don't use Adobe products as I use Linux, so I'm well out of it!)

[Lowell Goudge]

Nuff

what you have outlined is essentally the same structure that I use, although mine is manually imposed,

As for roll over on the same day, I have 3 of my 4 bodies right now between 3000 and 4000 on the odometer, 2 have rolled over one has not , and It is quite possible I could be shooting on the same day with at least 2 of the bodies, therefore the issue with file names is a big one and a real one.

As to getting a trial version, I should not have to get a trial version, people should be able to explain how it is set up, which you have done, without me spending time and energy to look how someone elses setup is working.

As for the differences between collections and file structure, in looking at the comments I am not so sure people really understand the difference. claiming they don't use file structures, when, if they are using lightroom (as you have explained) it does.

Northern SOul

I don't get your comment, Full Frame has nothing to do with image storage and directory structure.

[Northern Soul]

Northern SOul

I don't get your comment, Full Frame has nothing to do with image storage and directory structure.

It was an attempt at humour.

All threads on here eventually end up as a discussion about FF. Usually at the point when there is nothing else left to be said. As we had got to the point where there seemed to be a genuine argument about whether or not LR makes backups easy (compared to other things that may or may not be easy to back up) I guessed we were at the point where there was nothing left to do but discuss FF.

As will all jokes, once you explain it, it isn't funny.

[Lowell Goudge]

It was an attempt at humour.

All threads on here eventually end up as a discussion about FF. Usually at the point when there is nothing else left to be said. As we had got to the point where there seemed to be a genuine argument about whether or not LR makes backups easy (compared to other things that may or may not be easy to back up) I guessed we were at the point where there was nothing left to do but discuss FF.

As will all jokes, once you explain it, it isn't funny.

actually I think it is pretty good, now that it is explained.

Mind if I use it from time to time