amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I set up my folders using my desktop computer's operating system, on a separate internal 3TB disk drive devoted to photos only (there's a 100GB partition set aside for a Photoshop scratch disk). I have that drive backed up to a 3TB external drive. (I also have a laptop with a 500GB primary drive and a 1TB "photo" drive, which I sometimes use on location or trips and later transfer the images via network to my desktop).

I use a YYYY_MM_DD_keyword folder system. While I can create a folder of every day, if needed, I never find that necessary. For example, I might shoot for a week or two and then do a download, creating a single folder using the date I downloaded the images. Other times when I shoot a major event I will usually create a folder just for that. Within each of these "daily" folders there can be any number of sub-folders. There's almost always a YYYY_MM_DD_RAW for my original, unprocessed RAW files (I mostly shoot RAW... occasionally RAW+JPEG if images are needed immediately for some reason). Sometimes when I'm working with multiple photographers, there may be a RAW folder for each of us. When there are model & property releases and/or contracts involved, or later image usage licenses, I will have a sub-folder for those too. I also usually have a sub-folder for proof files, perhaps several of them organized by individual participants at an event or in some other way. One event I shot solo a couple years ago lasted four days and ended up with 17,000 images, all within one main folder, then four different RAW folders, plus over 100 participant folders for the proof files. There's also a DOC folder for model/property releases and other stuff. I just checked my Photos disk and see I have 29 folders from the last year, a mix of both events I shot and personal stuff... All quickly and easily located either in the computer browser or in in Lightroom.

I don't use Lightroom or anything else to download images from my memory cards. I like to keep it simple and just use the computer OS, drag, drop and copy images from the card into the folder I've set up. One reason I do this is I often use multiple memory cards and usually shoot with two or more cameras. Once all the images have been copied from the cards into the folder on the computer, I import them from the folder into Lightroom (It find it too easy to make mistakes using LR or anything else to handle the downloads). Actually, often I get impatient and do an import before all the images have downloaded, so have to later update the folder in LR to capture any images added since the last import.

Once all the images have been copied from my memory cards and imported into LR, I sort them in LR by time shot (I sync my cameras' clocks the day before a shoot). Then I use LR to rename them, add some copyright info and keywords, and apply lens correction profiles. My file naming convention is YYYY_MM_DD_xxxx, where the latter is the sequence they were shot. Once these things are done, I usually save a copy of the entire folder to my external backup drive, for safety purposes. I never delete images from my memory cards or format the cards until I've confirmed the images were correctly copied to my computer and have been safely backed up in this manner.

Next I work through the images in Lightroom (I may have already started doing this while more were downloading in the background).... selecting my "keepers", straightening, cropping, tweaking color and exposure if needed, and using the star and color code system to sort them. Some people use those to evaluate their images... I don't. I only use the flags in LR and end up with three categories: a white flag for a keeper I will be proofing out, no flag for an okay shot that's a dupe or has some flaw so won't be proofed out but also won't be deleted, and a black flag for a shot that's unusable for various reasons. I don't delete anything now, but later - if I remember - I'll remove all the black flagged shots. One reason I'm not quick to delete is because I've often found parts of unflagged or even black flagged images to be helpful later when finishing other white flagged images more fully. For example, maybe one person's eyes are closed in a shot that's otherwise great. But I've got a similar image that's flawed in some other way where I can get a replacement for their face and use Photoshop to "correct" the image. Other times it's been a change to a background made possible thanks to a "donor" image... such as removing a car that was driving past.

Usually it's between 25% and 33% of my images end up white flagged in LR.... Often only two to five percent are black flagged (out of focus, poorly composed, missed the timing, etc.)... and the rest are simply left unflagged. Ultimately I use the filter features in LR to select only the white flagged for immediate RAW conversion and produce smaller, watermarked, proof-quality JPEGs from those, which get uploaded to online galleries for clients to see. For personal work, I skip this step unless I want to share some of the images on Flickr. I've got plug-ins installed in LR to streamline the process of uploading to either destination.

Later when a client or I choose to more fully finish an image for printing or other purposes, I go back to LR to locate the image, do any additional tweaks to it that I can there (such as changing the crop), then pass the image off to Photoshop for finishing. That's where I apply any noise reduction (choosing among various methods including two plug-ins or the NR in PS), do any necessary retouching, size the image and set the color space for the intended purpose, and finally apply any sharpening (also choosing among several methods) that's needed. In Photoshop I can apply selective adjustments... such as only sharpening the subject and not the background. Or even further blurring down the background if I wish. This sort of highly selective work simply isn't possible in Lightroom. It's tools are too global and too crude. Don't get me wrong... Lightroom is very valuable for it's speed and organizational abilities. But it's not able to finish photos to the level I want.

I save fully finished images back to the same folder they originated from, in case they're needed later for any reason.

I have a Lightroom catalog for each year. LR bogs down when catalogs contain more than 100,000 images. It works out that by doing a separate catalog for every year, I usually end up with between 50,000 and 75,000 images in each year's catalog. I've also got an ongoing project of creating a "best of" catalog from all years, to make it easier to locate older images.

Each year I move older folders off my computer and external backup to permanent storage on network attached storage drives (NAS). I have five NAS those right now, each with four 2TB drives (RAID X gives 5.7TB of usable space on each NAS). I think of this as "cold storage"... Folders of images that I don't need to access very frequently. The drive in my computer and it's external backup are "hot storage" containing the most recent work that I need to access most frequently.

User ID

I use Elements also, and do pretty much the
same thing. I use the Windows folder system
to arrange ALL my files, not just photos, and
I can't see treating photo files any differently.

I don't use Windows' default "Photos" folder
cuz I don't store any data at all on the local.
All data is on removable storage devices.

.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

You could do what I do:

Negatives go into a folder by year, pictures go into a shoebox by year.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

How do you back up a shoebox?

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

With another shoebox.


DUH.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

This is exactly what I do......

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I simply use folders/directories on my harddrive and organize by date and subject. Use lots of keywords for easy searches.

bwa

Gilkar

I took a lightroom course recently Hosted by Scott Kelby. He focused quite heavily on workflow and how to organize photos. While I did not agree with his organizational structure, he was spot on as to procedure.
I did not read every comment in this thread but I'm sure everyone has said that organizing your photos is one of the most important aspects in photography. (What good are your photos if you can't find them?). I have used lightroom for years and recommend it. When I recently joined ugly hedgehog I found out about Luminar. I purchased the software and am trying to familiarize myself with it. Both programs are excellent.
My work requires that I organize my photos by date and description so here is my procedure for what it's worth.
I set up a folder on my hard drive with the year designated. I usually name it 1-2019 or A-2019 so it will always be first when I open the drive. Inside the 1-2019 folder I make 12 subfolders, one for each month.
I name the subfolders 01 January, 02 February, 03 March etc. This keeps the months in the proper order as my computer wants to place them in alphabetical order. Within the monthly subfolder I list my jobs by date with a descriptive title so If the job was shot on February 14 and was a school's valentine's day dance it would be labeled "2-14 Schools Valentine dance". I would copy every picture taken on that job into that folder. I would then import the pictures in that folder into lightroom for culling, cropping, color balancing, etc. Using all of the tools lightroom has available. When all was done my picks are exported from lightroom into a sub subfolder labeled "picks" or whatever.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Perhaps you already have photos and a system by which you organize them. If you are happy with it, then no reason to change. The main thing, as OP have said, is for you to be able to find them.

I also use LR Classic CC, am not familiar with what Luminar will do. The Catalog system of LR Classic will let you arrange photos any way you like. It is quite adaptable - I have changed my Catalog system several times, now have one with which I am very happy.

Basically, unless you have reason to split up your images into different Catalogs, not connected to each other, having all images in one major/master Catalog is a good idea. Within the Catalog you can have multiple folders and sub-folders containing different categories of images.

How you designate the categories is up to you. Some like to use dates, such as date shot, date of a photoshoot, etc. Others like to use names, where photos from a certain place or of a certain subject are grouped together in a folder. That folder can then be sub-divided into different sub-topics, which in turn can be subdivided by years. I use the latter system, because it lets me keep all photos of a certain type together. For instance: Master Folder: LR Classic CC Photos; sub-folder: Vermont Pictures; sub-sub-folder: Lake Willoughby. Lake Willoughby is broken up into years.

As for work flow, after importing photos into LR, I then highlight and drag those that belong together to the appropriate folder. If not using LR, you will need to create that folder first. Using LR, I can highlight images, go to the topic, create a sub-folder and indicate that all highlighted images should be put into that folder. At first, I divide them up between images with promise in a folder called "In Progress", and rejects in a folder called "Outtakes". This clearly indicates how I currently view those images. The only ones I will delete initially are ones that are accidental or blurred. The rest I will look at later in case I missed good qualities with possibilities.

When editing photos, I go to the "In Progress" folder and proceed with editing. When I am satisfied, that image gets moved into the primary folder in which the sub-folders are found. Such as Lake Willoughby sub-folder 2017. No special title required. The original RAW and any intermediate stages for editing go into "Support Photos" and are stacked with the best on top. I sometimes do re-edits and if they are better than the first edit, the older edit will go into the "Support Photos" folder. If a new edit is using a different style or technique, for instance B&W, it can stay in the 2016 folder. In LR the images can be given color coded borders, and different colors can be used for "best" and "next best".

Organizing and workflow are strictly an individual choice. As you can see from the responses here, everyone has their own way that suits them. Professionals are more likely to use dates, and some non-professionals like that as well. Others of us like a mixture of names and dates. Some will either completely re-name images or add a prefix or suffix to the number out of the camera. I leave the numbers alone, because they can be useful in determining when taken if the metadata gets changed. I do add a pre-fix to indicate which camera, and a suffix if the image is something I want to indicate, such as HDR, Panorama, B&W.

Hope this helps.

Johanna Loc: Albuquerque, NM

[quote=Linda From Maine]Folders in Windows "Photos":
by Year
by Month within a year
by Date shot within a given month - with descriptive title for the folder, such as "canyon eagles."

My work flow and picture storage stem works for me. Perhaps it will work for others as well. I have not used Lightroom as I want my own storage system and I have not had the patience to tackle Lightroom!

I have picture storage directories on a mirrored drive for all pictures from a shoot on my desktop. In this layout.

YYYY_MM_DD_event name (all raw files)
YYYY_MM_DD_event name, picked files (Picked files worth further editing)
YYYY_MM_DD_event name, jpeg (finale edited files)
YYYY_MM_DD_event name, reduced & watermarked (for distribution)

I started using ACDsee editor when it was free with one of my early cameras. The current Photo Studio 2019 is great for me and quick! I back up to two different protable hard drives.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

From looking at the table of contents, I’d say the book is probably worth $10. I’m pretty happy with my workflow, but I’m always open to new ideas.

As a lot of hoggers have mentioned, I also use Lightroom, so I don’t know if the same technique can be used in Luminar.

As I import my photos, they are copied into Lightroom from my camera card and I let Lightroom put them in a dated folder, rename them (date_time_event), add keywords that apply to all photos, and add a basic preset. I then add the event to the folder name.

I review the photos full-size and they get marked 1 to keep and x to discard. The x pictures are usually the blurry ones. Then I decide which 1’s deserve a 2. If there are several very similar pictures, I’ll pick the best one or two and mark the rest x. All the x’s get removed from the computer. Then I pick my favorites and give them a 3. All the 2’s get some basic edits and cropping. The 3’s get finishing touches and may even go to PS, then saved as a PSD. Occasionally, I’ll upgrade a photo to a 4 or 5. Everything 2 and higher are exported as JPEG’s and are uploaded into Shutterfly.

Now that I have my photos culled, I do facial recognition and add additional keywords as desired.

I utilize smart collections to capture 3 or better per year. I use p to pick the ones I want to scrapbook and I use colors to further identify pictures (ie:optimize, vacation, make book, etc).

Hope this helps.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Well, here's what I do, but I'm on a Mac, so you'll have to replace forward slashes with backslashes and add some DOS punctuation:

Directory Setup is:

Drive Name/Users/User Name/Pictures/Event Year/Event Name and Date/Raw
Drive Name/Users/User Name/Pictures/Event Year/Event Name and Date/Processed JPEGs/...

For instance,

Macintosh SSD/Users/Bill 1/Pictures/2018/Shenandoah Caverns 04.2018/Raw (and)
Macintosh SSD/Users/Bill 1/Pictures/2018/Shenandoah Caverns 04.2018/SOOC JPEGs
Macintosh SSD/Users/Bill 1/Pictures/2018/Shenandoah Caverns 04.2018/JPEGs for print
Macintosh SSD/Users/Bill 1/Pictures/2018/Shenandoah Caverns 04.2018/JPEGs for HDTV/4K
Macintosh SSD/Users/Bill 1/Pictures/2018/Shenandoah Caverns 04.2018/JPEGs for web

(SOOC = Straight Out Of Camera)

The last four folders may be considered temporary. I'll seldom keep more than one of them. I do back them up to CD or DVD.

I use a USB 3 card reader to copy my files to a directory like the ones just demonstrated. Then I copy them to an outboard backup drive and to an optical disc.

Finally, I import them from where they are, into Lightroom. The original files stay there. When I fill up a drive, I copy it to an external, and also copy the catalog from lightroom to that drive.

Lightroom Classic CC is essentially a big image database that stores pointers to your files, instructions for processing your files, and proxies of your files. It has all the GLOBAL adjustment tools most people use, plus a few special tools for light, pixel-level editing. It is designed to work with most plug-ins, Photoshop, and other standalone software. Modules include the Library, Develop, Map, Book, Slideshow, Print, and Web.

Library manages the database. It's used to import, arrange, cull, rate, and add metadata and keywords to your files.

Develop is full of sliders that affect the overall look of images, plus cloning/healing/spotting tools, and a few other goodies like cropping and straightening and vignetting.

Map is a geotagging feature that I never use, but that is vital to some people.

Book is a layout tool that creates photo books you can send to printers.

Slideshow is a simple client preview tool.

Print is a full-fledged print layout tool that creates package units and various print layouts. It comes with a few stock layouts to get you started, but you can create anything you want.

Web allows you to upload your finished images to a web gallery.

Mostly, I use the Library, Develop, and Print modules. I create images for use in videos, eLearning tools, and PDF manuals, so I use other tools for those.

With Lightroom, I am able to avoid the black hole time sucker known as Photoshop about 80% of the time...

I capture raw images of events, UNLESS I need JPEGs immediately, or I'm doing something under tightly controlled, consistent lighting that allows me to achieve near-perfect exposure and white balance via manual settings and the use of targets and the histogram.

All copy work and SOME table-top product photography is done in raw mode, perhaps with JPEGs for client review. All outdoor work is generally raw capture.

jwohlhueter

I use my computer's folder system. I create a dated folder for each session shoot. I copy the shots into the folder. Then backup all folders and images to a removable SSD drive. If I post process a photo I will add a one or two letter "post descriptor", a photo description and a file size if saved compressed. Here are examples for post processing the IMG_2348 and IMG_2351 files.

2018-03-17_DeathValley_InTheDunes
IMG_2346.CR
IMG_2346.jpg
IMG_2347.CR
IMG_2347.jpg
IMG_2348.CR original RAW file
IMG_2348.jpg original jpg
IMG_2348xSandDune.jpg x = 1st rev (I use x,y,z instead of 1,2,3 for revs)
IMG_2348xSandDune.tif x = 1st rev saved as a tiff file
IMG_2348ySandDune.jpg y = a unique 2nd rev
IMG_2348bwSandDune.jpg bw = converted to black and white
IMG_2348cSandDune640.jpg. c = cropped and saved compressed at 640px on long side.
IMG_2349.CR
IMG_2349.jpg
IMG_2350.CR
IMG_2350.jpg
2018-03-17_DeathValleyRacingRocks
IMG_2351.CR
IMG_2351.jpg
IMG_2351xBlueRock.jpg
IMG_2352.CR
IMG_2352.jpg
etc.

alaaan

You must have a good reason for not importing them directly into Lightroom. Would you share what it is?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I don't know to whom you are replying but I will answer since I do not import directly into LR.

A long time ago I decided it was necessary to rename the files as I loaded them into my computer from the card. The 8.3 format file names (e.g. P3264923.jpg or IMG_3385.jpg) did not convey any information about the subject of the image. At the time I was not a Lightroom user. I found a program (Downloader Pro) which would rename my files in a consistent way using a template that I could supply. At download time it would place them into a folder with a descriptive name also based on a template that I could supply. It would allow me to select which images to download and rename by displaying thumbnails of the images, and would also provide a list of dates when the images were captured. I could select all the images on a given date just by clicking on the date, or if that date had different shoots I could select individual images to be downloaded using standard selection tools (Windows ctrl-click or shift-click).

The images were downloaded directly to my computer. When I started using Lightroom it was simple to just import the images directly from the hard drive. When I discovered that I could download and rename from the card to LR directly, I tried it out.

I found that Downloader Pro was easier for me to use. Probably partly because I had been using DP for a while and it was an integral part of my workflow, but also because I found DP to be more efficient than using LR for that purpose. With LR I have to specify a template for the new file name. With DP I have to give the program a text string which is inserted into the template I have set up for the new file name. So far, it's all pretty much the same. But with LR I have to tell LR where to place the files that are downloaded and renamed. That's a separate input process. With DP, the same text string I gave it earlier is used for the folder name, so here DP has the advantage.

The difference is small, but I didn't see any point to changing a workflow that worked well and required just a bit less input from me.