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11-30-2015, 08:14 AM - 1 Like   #1
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Organising your Lightroom workflow

Although I've been using LR for a few months, I haven't - until now - organised my workflow particularly well. I imported images into the default date folders, worked on them in situ, exported to a general export folder set up in Pictures, and that was that. It was getting pretty messy.

After searching online for something else related to Lightroom, I came across this excellent tutorial video that proposes a standard way of organising captured, edited and exported images. At first, it seems like quite a bit of trouble to go to, but it's actually very straightforward and logical. I've started working through my existing folders and images to re-organise them using this method. Combined with key-wording and ratings, I think it's a really good approach to digital asset management...

11-30-2015, 09:46 AM   #2
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Good video. Thanks for posting.
11-30-2015, 12:17 PM   #3
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Good video, not all ideas are worth daily usage, but some tricks are interesting.
11-30-2015, 12:36 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Belcik Quote
Good video, not all ideas are worth daily usage, but some tricks are interesting.
I guess it's down to personal preference, of course - but the discipline of sorting images in each folder into Capture, Selects, Master and Output is really useful - to me, at least

11-30-2015, 01:56 PM - 1 Like   #5
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Keywords. Use keywords. They will help you find that photo that you took 10 years ago.
11-30-2015, 01:59 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by johnmflores Quote
Keywords. Use keywords. They will help you find that photo that you took 10 years ago.
Yes, for sure... I use keywords *and* ratings. I'm still working through my back catalogue and adding them to my photos... Sadly, reviewing the shots I've taken in the past, many aren't good enough to do anything with just yet - but too good to bin. It can be difficult to motivate myself to add keywords and ratings to those!!

But, what I like about this guy's folder organisation isn't the ease of locating images (though it does help) - in fact, it's more to do with segregating original captures, candidates for further work, master edits and exports. Keeping them grouped, but in a consistent structure of separate folders, is proving valuable to me...
11-30-2015, 02:03 PM   #7
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I had to rethink my storage strategy (or lack thereof) and the video gave me pointers enough to start. Thanks for the tip.

11-30-2015, 02:13 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bengan Quote
I had to rethink my storage strategy (or lack thereof) and the video gave me pointers enough to start. Thanks for the tip.
I'm glad it helped, and I think you hit the nail on the head - it's a good starting point, but not necessarily the end game depending on what matters to you and exactly what you want to achieve...
12-01-2015, 01:55 AM   #9
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The way stuff was organised is due to workflow that includes photoshop. These folders inside are not that important if all workflow is within LR. Then correct keywording is the main concern.
12-01-2015, 02:18 AM   #10
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Use of well thought-through keywords is always way up there. But for the likes of me that use Photoshop, PSElements or some other editor, the use of subfolders is really helpful.
12-01-2015, 02:39 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Belcik Quote
The way stuff was organised is due to workflow that includes photoshop. These folders inside are not that important if all workflow is within LR. Then correct keywording is the main concern.
Again, that's personal preference, I think. Up until recently, all I was using was LR - but even so, with many DNG images in a single folder, plus numerous virtual copies where I wanted to try different edits on images (colour + B&W, for instance), and then exports of different sizes and quality, I was finding that a single folder for an individual date was getting out of hand. Stacking, while useful for grouping image versions together, isn't a visually tidy way to organise things for my purposes. Then, after a recent promotional price drop, I bought Photoshop Elements 14... And that made things even more complicated with the need to manage TIF files alongside my DNG originals and JPG exports. So, this folder structure works well for me... I've gone one small stage further and added "Web" and "Print" subfolders to my Output folders, so that I can segregate JPG exports for different uses...
12-01-2015, 09:32 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by BigMackCam Quote
Again, that's personal preference, I think. Up until recently, all I was using was LR - but even so, with many DNG images in a single folder, plus numerous virtual copies where I wanted to try different edits on images (colour + B&W, for instance), and then exports of different sizes and quality, I was finding that a single folder for an individual date was getting out of hand. Stacking, while useful for grouping image versions together, isn't a visually tidy way to organise things for my purposes. Then, after a recent promotional price drop, I bought Photoshop Elements 14... And that made things even more complicated with the need to manage TIF files alongside my DNG originals and JPG exports. So, this folder structure works well for me... I've gone one small stage further and added "Web" and "Print" subfolders to my Output folders, so that I can segregate JPG exports for different uses...
I agree. I haven't found keywords to be sufficient, primarily because the subjects of my shoots are very similar.

You've inspired me to get in there and clean things up, @BigMackCam.
12-01-2015, 09:53 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Kath Quote
I agree. I haven't found keywords to be sufficient, primarily because the subjects of my shoots are very similar.

You've inspired me to get in there and clean things up, @BigMackCam.
Very glad to hear it, Kath... It has really made a big difference for me, and if just one more person gets some value from it then it was worth posting!

The hardest part for me was (... actually, still is) working through my existing folders of images and applying the new strategy... but I'm attacking it bit by bit and gradually getting there. The nice thing is, I'm rediscovering some images I'd forgotten about, or had processed when I was just getting started with LR. Now I'm a little more confident with the fundamental techniques, I'm revisiting those images and coming up with more pleasing results...
12-01-2015, 10:14 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by BigMackCam Quote
Very glad to hear it, Kath... It has really made a big difference for me, and if just one more person gets some value from it then it was worth posting!

The hardest part for me was (... actually, still is) working through my existing folders of images and applying the new strategy... but I'm attacking it bit by bit and gradually getting there. The nice thing is, I'm rediscovering some images I'd forgotten about, or had processed when I was just getting started with LR. Now I'm a little more confident with the fundamental techniques, I'm revisiting those images and coming up with more pleasing results...
Persistence is an underrated personality trait, Mike . Once I get knee deep into this, I may need to get in touch for some helpful hints.

I definitely relate to going in and finding good shots you forgot about. I call it "couch photography." When I'm too comfortable sitting by the fire to go out and shoot, I click through Lightroom and find new stuff to process.
12-02-2015, 01:51 PM   #15
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After a couple of days work I've rebuilt my storage structure using Lightroom as the file explorer (OK, thats a new for me, but it worked even though it's slow). Your post gave me the incentive to do this, thanks.
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