Joyce James Loc: California

Have a mess on my Mac computer with lots of photos and not in good folders/subject organized. Want to eliminate I - photo and Aperture and go with Light Room, get myself organized. Should I just go for it!!! or put my i-photos in some order before I start to add and move everything into the new program. Whet to U-Tube and getting more confused as to what I should do.Everything looks better when it is advertized but need to really get this in place so I can enjoy what photos I have and will be storing them.
JJ

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

JJ, everyone on here is going to have a different opinion. The only thing I'll put out there is that it is a lot of work, and needs to be done diligently to take advantage of any database for keeping track of your photos. That is one of LR's strong points. I'd certainly use it, if for nothing more than the cataloging (database) aspect of the application. I spent quite a bit of time designing and programming my own a few years before LR was initially released. After all that work, I don't wish to abandon what I did. Otherwise, I'd be keeping track of my photos in LR, but working on them in PS.

My file structure is based on several things. First off, film or digital, next, if film, format. If digital, which camera. Then the directories are date based, year month day. In the case of film roll number. In the case of digital session number(if more than one in one day) Then cataloging is a bit easier as I can list by what I shot on a roll, sheet, or session.
--Bob

Mundj Loc: Richmond TX

I would suggest that you first seek some training either in a class setting at a local camera club or with a community college. I did this and have reinforced the classes with Laura Shoes training videos (laurashoe.com). My other suggestion is to start small. Don't try to organize all of you photos at one sitting. Once you have used LR to catalog your photos do not do not use Windows Explorer or Mac Finder to change the organization or LR will loose the locations. This can all be done in LR, you just need to learn how.

I am still learning and think it is great.

Good luck

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Decide where you want your photographs to be stored. Not organized, but where you want them located. Open Lightroom and have it build the catalog from scratch. Then, start organizing and moving around your photos. As Mundj said, once you've drunk the Lightroom koolaid, resist the temptation to move, reorginize, etc outside of Lightroom.

Joyce James Loc: California

Thanks for everyone advice. I really want to do it right, take my timeso that for once- (Ha Ha- until someone comes up with a better solution)- it will be set up so that I can get back to working on my photos and not "search and rescue".

jims203 Loc: Connecticut

LR program must be on your internal drive. Keep all photos on an external drive so you don t slow down your system and fill up your internal hard drive.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This sounds like a good idea. Streamline with one good program organized properly. First, of course, make sure everything is backed up and leave all your images there until you are satisfied with your new LR setup.

Look online for tips about organizing LR. Tv.adobe has very good free videos.

http://tv.adobe.com/videos/lightroom/

Martino Loc: Northwest Florida

I've used various iterations of LR on a number of Macs over the years and was frustrated by how images were stored. I eventually moved to Aperture until Apple dropped thatvin favor of Photos, which just didn't work for me. I moved back to LR and got in an even bigger mess. I then signed up with The Lightroom Queen and got her book - 'the missing FAQs'.
All my problems had been of my own making, and largely due to the way I had images scattered all over my drives in no semblance of order. Using LR, I have moved all those images to an external drive and although not perfect my system now works pretty well. Ideally I should have started with a plan and built my image storage in the way that LR was set up, but I've been taking photos for forty odd years, and digital images for more than 16, so that wasn't an option.
I'd recommend the Lightroom Queen's book and website as she gives you a great insight into how LR works and how to make the best use of the program to get yourself in order!
I recently did a clean install of MacOS Sierra on my iMac and, having kept all my images on an external drive, made the transition relatively simply, with only a small amount of (excellent) help from Adobe support (again to solve problems of my own making!).
LR on a Mac does work well, but I'd recommend Lightroom Queen - no connection with me, other than being a satisfied subscriber.

Gort55 Loc: Northern Colorado

Thanks for the Lightroom Queen tip. I'm a PC guy having a time with the way a Mac and Lightroom handle pictures.

Martino Loc: Northwest Florida

'LR program must be on your internal drive. Keep all photos on an external drive so you don t slow down your system and fill up your internal hard drive.'

...I thought that too, but according to Adobe you can put the LR program where you like! Of course you absolutely correct in saying it works better having the images on an external drive (for many reasons, but particularly if your boot drive is limited in space) and the program on your boot drive, as that drive is likely to be faster than an external drive. However you can put the program where you like and, indeed, the images. - according to Adobe.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

This is VERY good advice. I made the decision to switch to Lr in December and am a very happy camper. Purchasing Laura Shoe's DVDs (2 in total @ $50 each) was the best money I spent on training and I highly recommend them. I would suggest learning some things about Lr BEFORE beginning the switch over so that you oly have to do it once. It may take a short while, but it will CLICK! Best of luck.

Chief Rob

Joyce James, I highly recommend purchasing the reference book, Adobe Photoshop LIGHTROOM CC/6 The Missing FAQ. At Amazon the current (Sept 29, 2016) cost of the book, paperback version, is $46.95. A kindle version is also available for $31.95. HOWEVER I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING THE PAPERBACK VERSION as the author, Victoria Bampton, gives free downloads of the reference in PDF, ePub, and Mobi/Kindle formats IF YOU REGISTER YOUR PURCHASE. Directions are provided on page 576 where some of the registration benefits are listed. The book is much more than FAQ resource. In fact it is a comprehensive tutorial, INCLUDING ORGANIZING YOUR PHOTOS, a desktop reference manual, as well as an excellent FAQ resource. Have fun, learn bunches! Chief Rob

Chief Rob

Joyce James, I highly recommend purchasing the reference book, Adobe Photoshop LIGHTROOM CC/6 The Missing FAQ. At Amazon the current (Sept 29, 2016) cost of the book, paperback version, is $46.95. A kindle version is also available for $31.95. HOWEVER I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING THE PAPERBACK VERSION as the author, Victoria Bampton, gives free downloads of the reference in PDF, ePub, and Mobi/Kindle formats IF YOU REGISTER YOUR PURCHASE. Directions are provided on page 576 where some of the registration benefits are listed. The book is much more than FAQ resource. In fact it is a comprehensive tutorial, INCLUDING ORGANIZING YOUR PHOTOS, a desktop reference manual, as well as an excellent FAQ resource. Have fun, learn bunches! Chief Rob

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

Since your photos are already on your computer and not on an array of camera cards and lightroom is new and unaware as of yet of these photos, I'd suggest first organizing your folder structure so that all photographs are in a single folder with as many sub folders as you need to organize them. Organization can be by subject, (who, what, where, when), or by date or any other way that makes sense to you. Once you are satisfied you can import all your photos from the high level folder and include all the subfolders.. This will build a lightroom catalog which will contain references to the location of all your photos and also build previews of these images. You should then make sure you are backing up the lightroom catalog regularly and on a different disk drive then the main catalog. You should also regularly back up your photos folder(s)..