Tell me about your Workflow & Organization!

[CT Disney]

Hi There!
I am a new Lightroom user. (I was using an older version of iPhoto...but we just got a new computer and had to migrate to the newer Apple Photos...and I really hated it). So, Lightroom it is! So far, so good with learning what I need to know in LR. It seems pretty easy to navigate around and is very user friendly thus far.

The only thing tripping me up is workflow and organization. (I shoot in RAW) So a few questions for you all:

The first thing I've been doing is importing the RAW images from my memory card and putting them in a folder on my computer's hard drive. Then, I import them into LR.

After I import my RAW photo into LR and make my edits, I'm not quite sure what to do. Should I export the edited photo back onto my computer's hard drive with a jpeg or tiff format? If I do this, it seems that I'd have 2 versions of the photo on my hard drive (the original RAW and the edited image).

Or, should I just keep the RAW image on my hard drive, and only export the images that I want to put online (i.e. Facebook, etc). But, then what about backing up the images? Seems I'd have to export them all in order to back them up to an external hard drive anyway.

I think I'm just confusing myself! So, tell me about your workflow and how you organize your thousand of images

 

[kbnovak]

You only need to export the images that you want to post, email, print, etc. All the rest reside on your drive, in a non-destructive format.
As long as you are backing up your photos folder and your lightroom catalog your images are safe. Just make sure you have a good backup strategy.

 

[Boski]

My workflow is basically import from camera to folder, edit in lightroom, export, move RAW file to external HD. My raw files don't live on my computer after I edit, I move them all to the external HD. I typically export to Flickr (using the plugin) as my back-up/dumping ground for my images. But the best thing to do when trying to come up with a workflow is find out what is best for you. You'll tend to see that different people have different methods.

 

[godders]

I import my RAW photos directly from Camera to Lightroom and then work my way through them with edits. Once I'm finished - because my laptop screen isn't massive so I have difficulty seeing which ones truly work for social media I tend to export all of them to JPEG (it takes forever but you gotta do what you gotta do). Then I back up both RAW and JPEGs onto 2 external hard drives (so each hard drive has a copy). Then I go through all my JPEGs and literally note down the files I don't want now I can see them bigger. I don't start deleting JPEGs until I've been through the whole album. Once I've done that I upload to FB. From FB I then download onto my phone any pics I'm going to want to share on Instagram. Then I delete my RAW files from my laptop to free up the space for my next lot.

To back up your RAW photos just drag and drop the folder they are in over to the external HD. I would also import straight from your camera because then you only have to do it once and you won't then end up with 2 sets of the same photos in different places

 

[bob100]

My workflow is basically import from camera to folder, edit in lightroom, export, move RAW file to external HD. My raw files don't live on my computer after I edit, I move them all to the external HD. I typically export to Flickr (using the plugin) as my back-up/dumping ground for my images. But the best thing to do when trying to come up with a workflow is find out what is best for you. You'll tend to see that different people have different methods.

that's basically what I do except for some raw files I have to convert to DNG for further processing (I'm too cheap to upgrade Photoshop!)

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

 

[TheBigE]

For me, I download my photos from my SD Card to the Hard Drive on my Laptop via LR. I know some copy to HD first and then ADD to LR Catalog, but I believe time wise it is about the same. Once in LR, I then use collections for the photos. I basically do not change the file naming when importing, and use Collections in LR. I make a collection set with the title of the group of photos - i.e. Day 2 - Magic Kingdom. I then make two collections right away - Full Shoot and _Picks. I add all the photos that I just imported into the Full Shoot Collection. I then do a quick cull of the photos, flagging or starring the ones I like....eventually I will come back a couple days later with a bit clearer mind and reanalyze my selections and commit to the photos that will be added to _Picks. These are the ones I will work in PP. After I am done with PP, posted on SmugMug, Facebook, etc. I move the photos from my computer HD to an external HD (along with my LR Catalog). I then back up the external HD to another drive and then finally erase my SD Cards by reformatting in my camera.

I try to do as much in LR to keep the links together and use Collections as my main organizational tool for the photos, editing and so forth. Hope this helps.

 

[CT Disney]

Thanks so much to everyone who chimed in!

Before I posted here initially, I ran a few thoughts by my husband...who really isn't into photography. After explaining a few of my workflow ideas to him, he looked at me with a glazed-over expression and said, "I wish the old shoebox was still an option." That's why I came here!

I really appreciate all of the options you've detailed for me. It's amazing how many different workflows are possible. Honestly, I'm just taking it all in and letting the options marinate for a bit before I settle on what will work for me. It's a little intimidating.

Just one quick question...for those that move their RAW files off of their hard drive and onto an external drive....that means you can't view the photos in LR unless the external drive is plugged into the computer, right? As I understand it, LR just references the images from a location on your hard drive or external hard drive.

Lots to consider!

 

[TheBigE]

Just one quick question...for those that move their RAW files off of their hard drive and onto an external drive....that means you can't view the photos in LR unless the external drive is plugged into the computer, right? As I understand it, LR just references the images from a location on your hard drive or external hard drive.

That is correct, if I want to work on my images that are on an external drive then I need to connect the drive. For all my imports I build 1:1 Previews so I can "view" my image without the external drive attached. I just cannot make any adjustment to my images. Since I also maintain an external photo account (SmugMug), all my _Picks are uploaded to the site and I can reference them (via link in Forum) or download at anytime with internet connection. I just lake the ability to work on my photos in the RAW format if my external drive is not attached.

There are many good training resources out there for LR, some cost and other are free. My only recommendation is if you choose to go with LR, stick with it for a while and soon it will be intuitive. Good luck

 

[bob100]

Thanks so much to everyone who chimed in!



Just one quick question...for those that move their RAW files off of their hard drive and onto an external drive....that means you can't view the photos in LR unless the external drive is plugged into the computer, right? As I understand it, LR just references the images from a location on your hard drive or external hard drive.
Lots to consider!

yes, move the large RAW files "off-line" and leave the jpgs or file descriptions on your working computer.
Most of workflows are similar, it's just determining what needs backing up and how you want to store the important files.
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

 

[TheBigE]

....For all my imports I build 1:1 Previews so I can "view" my image without the external drive attached. I just cannot make any adjustment to my images....

I just re-read this - to be clear I build 1:1 Previews on import to avoid loading images each time I view them in LR Develop Module. It has a side benefit that I can also see my photos when not connected to external drive, but still cannot work on them in the Develop Module.

 

[katt789]

I'm still new to lightroom, but I've been exporting all the photos after editing and then uploading them/printing/whichever.

 

[nbaresejr]

My current computer was built with photo editing in mind (2 years old and still works like brand new). I researched all the parts and built it myself. With that in mind I have 2 hard drives in it. a 250gb SSD drive for programs and the OS and a 2TB drive for all photography stuff. This includes all RAW files and exported JPEG's and TIFF's. On top of that I have it backed up to Carbonite. This keeps all my RAW and exported files protected.

As for my workflow.
1. Copy all RAW images from my SD card to the 2TB hard drive.
2. Import RAW files into lightroom from my 2tb Hard Drive
3. Work on files in LR and Photoshop as needed.
4. Export finished JPEG's to 2tb hard drive.
5. Upload to my website, flickr, facebook

 

[photo_chick]

I save the RAW files to my hard drive. My file hierarchy is year/date or event and some events are broken down even further if they're large. I only export what I'm sharing/uploading. I generally don't keep those jpegs forever. I do back my RAW files up.

My rule of thumb for backups is have more than one and have at least one off site. You never know what will happen. Fire, flood, burglary... it doesn't take much to loose everything.

 

[Spork3127]

So many different strategies that are still pretty similar, so here's mine.

1 - Create new folder on my external HDD. New folder may be inside another folder depending on the location of the pictures.
2 - Here's where I get OCD. New folder will have the date the pics were taken as the name. Say the pics are of the bald eagles at Berry College (my local 2nd home). Folder path would be External HDD>Digital Pictures>Berry College>Bald Eagles>Year (2016)>New Folder that was created with that date.
3 - Create additional folder called Lightroom Edits inside newly created folder.
4 - Create additional folder called Final Edits inside newly created folder.
5 - Connect my camera to my computer via USB.
6 - COPY all RAW files into the recently created folder.
7 - Open the first RAW file and go through all of the shots while making notes of the file name of the ones I like enough to process
8 - Open Lightroom.
9 - Import just the shots that I noted as wanting to process.
10 - Process the pics.
11 - Export them to Lightroom Edits folder with the name I want them to have.
12 - Open each in Photoshop for any additional tweaks/filters to apply.
13 - Save them into the Final Edits folder.
14 - Format CF card.

 

[CT Disney]

So I noticed that a fair number of you export all your edited photos. For those that go this route, do you also backup your LR catalog? Or, are you content to just have backups of your RAW images as well as your "final product" exported images?

Thanks again for your workflow details. They really help!