dononelson Loc: Colorado

That's excellent news, Dngallagher! I'm glad we're pushing LR. So, it comes down to a personal preference, which is good. I just don't want to find my olive oil in my bathroom cabinet :D

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

I have just over 100,000 photos in one catalog and when using collections or keywords, there is no discernible slowdown.

When scrolling down the All photographs screen in the Library grid view, there is a slight slowdown because I scroll faster than the screen can refresh.

9500 images is no problem to the speed of the program. I find the majority of users who find large numbers of files intimidating or cumbersome are not using Collection Sets which can speed up locating images ten fold.

For those who do not know about collection sets, they are similar to folders within folders. so they could look like:

Dano Loc: North Carolina

So what's the advantage... or difference in using nested collection sets over hierarchal keywords?

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

I'm having a difficult time understanding why you want multiple catalogues. I have over 30,000 photos in a single catalogue. It's no problem and doesn't seem to slow anything down.

Now, these photos run from scanned photos (taken before I got into more serious digital photography), scanned photos of my relatives for genealogical purposes, actual digital photos taken on our retirement travels, digital photos of things that I an interest to me, photos of several graduations, photos of a wedding, photos of a quincenara (sorry for the spelling, I'm not hispanic), and many other photos that I could characterize in some other way.

All of those photos are in 1 LIGHTROOM CATALOG; however, I can usually find a specific photograph in only a few seconds.

Doing this requires a reasonable understanding of Lightroom, advance planning, and the willingness to use Lightroom as a tool.

If you take the time to learn Lightroom, and get away from using your computer's operating system for you Photo File Management, it is amazing how easy it is to use the capabilities of Lightroom.

Franly, I can see only one reason for having multiple cataloges in Lightroom. That is when you have too many photographs and Lightroom slows down. With over 30,000 images in my Lightroom Catalogue I have yet to see that happen. Maybe it will at 50,000 photos, or 100,000 photos, I don't know. I do know that at 30,000 photos, Lightroom has not slowed down.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Multiple catalogues can me useful. I have a General Catalogue (currently 7700 images) and a Medical catalogue (100,000 images). For confidentiality the medical catalogue and images are kept off premises.

Some Professional photographers may shoot thousands of images at one venue, after half a dozen similar shoots it can be beneficial to separate the images and clients from each other.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

It depends on how you use LR. I do use hierarchal key-wording but find it faster to open a collection than to search by keyword.

For example, I test every lens I buy and like to retain the test shots.



In this example there is one heading Collection set (Lenses), 2 sub collection sets (300mm zoom and 400mm prime) and five normal collections. When collapsed, only "Lenses" shows in the list.

I actually have about 500 collections, but only 23 headings. I find it quick to open the collections than search for keywords.

Also I don't use the folders. Once the images are imported, the images placed into collections, I can forget about opening folders. Every image is in at least one collection, and some images in multi-collections. (If I have a photo of a boat next to a car, the photo will be in the boat collection as well as the car collection.)

I also use Smart Collections but these take longer to set up so these are mainly used for housekeeping. For example, my whole filing system depends on all photos being placed into a collection. Every now and again I activate the Smart Collection "Photos not in Collection" and any images I have missed are instantly on screen and can be filed.

When I started with LR I was leery of Collections and relied on Keywords but as time passed, I realised that a keyword of "Tree" is not the same as "Trees". LR search can work out for itself the difference, but I did not like having hundreds of redundant keywords.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Dano:

I switched to Hierarchal keywording a few months back. It is very handy for me to add a bunch of keywords quickly. All of the keywords of course then are all spelled correctly and the same :)

The hierarchy might be as follows:

_WHAT (Starts with an underscore for placement in the list of keywrods, plus set to NOT be included in actual keywording.)

-----Animals (top level keyword)
---------Mammals (2nd level keyword)
-----------Felines (3rd level keyword
--------------Big Cats (4th level keyword)
-------------------Lion (5th Level Keyword)
-------------------Tiger (5th Level Keyword)
--------------House Cats (4th level keyword
------------------Tortoise Shell (5th level keyword
------------------Tabby (5th level keyword)
------------------Domestic ShortHair (5th level keyword)

When I check off "Domestic ShortHair" in my keyword list, then all the lower level keywords are also added, so the actual keywords added to the EXIF by checking "Domestic ShortHair" is:"Domestic ShortHair","House Cats", Felines, Mammals, Animals

You can make it as simple or as complex as you like and it is easily expandable as you go. It is also changeable on the fly as well by dragging and dropping, and all your image exif data gets updated as well with the keyword heirarchy

Collections are just groupings within Lightroom, nothing is added to the EXIF information, but the collections (SMART) can be based on EXIF information for each image, so I can create a smart collection called CATS, and set the parameters for inclusion to be any image with CATS, Cat, Feline, "Tortoise Shell", or "Domestic Short Hair" in the exif.

As I add the keywords to images, if they meet the criteria of the smart collection then they become part of the collection instantly.

A click on the collection in the navigation panel in Library Mode will show the entire collection instantly.

I can also create a normal collection, and manually add images to the collection. These collections are not updated automatically, and may not have any connection with keywords.

I tend to go nuts keywording images, and the hierarchical keywording works well for me.

I suppose the main point of all this is the keywords become part of the image and collections are good only within Lightroom.

Dano Loc: North Carolina

Dngallagher & Searcher,

This makes perfect sense and I can definitely see applications for both approaches. Personally, I think I'll rely more on keywording as part of my structured workflow (especially since the metadata will save me an extra step after export), and collections more for convenience and regularly accessed sets. But I also think a hierarchal design will be the best approach for both.

I really appreciate this discussion so I can think about this early in my learning curve.

Hey, speaking of structure, as I'm now beginning to work with LR, it's file protocol is taking some getting used to. I know that technically if I use keywords & collections effectively, it really doesn't matter where the images are stored, but it feels very uncomfortable. I have always kept very structured folders with a specific naming convention and it's hard to break old habits. As an example, when I'm importing from several SD cards from the same shoot, I'd prefer to place them in a single folder for that date & event (again, based on my old habits). The first import goes fine, but then subsequent imports or moves end up placing the images in a nested/dated folder within my target folder. I'm still learning & researching this process, but any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

Thank you. Keeping a catalogue and images that or confidential is really the first good reason I have heard for multiple catalogues.

I believe that you can probably separate individual shoots by using "collections." You can also separate clients by collections. Collections are the way I have set up my photos and coupled with key words, it really works well.

I use the collection panel in the same manner I used used folders before I went to Lightroom.

Dano Loc: North Carolina

That makes good sense. Might ease my discomfort with how LR creates/manages dated folders for images. Thanks!!

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Sure, you can also simply add a color code to specify a segmented image, or use a special keyword.

To each his own, what works for one may not work for another, but multiple catalog's and multiple image libraries definitely segment and make sure the images remain separate.

If all your images however are in one library, a file structure on a disk, with catalogs only holding parts of the entire library, not sure what problems could happen.

dononelson Loc: Colorado

One other thought, then I'm done - I do weekly Lightroom backups of my catalogs (on Windows, Edit->Catalog Settings->General->Backup), so I'm wondering how long it takes to backup a catalog with 100K images? Or perhaps no one uses this feature?

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

I have approx. 100,000 unedited images in one catalogue. It takes about 15-20 minutes to back them up. If the catalogue contained more data - edits, mapping etc. it would take a little longer.

I do not have a superfast system, but do use USB3 to connect my external drives. I think USB3 is much faster than USB2.