Library module Folder based smart collections, bad idea ?

[Helton]

Operating System: Win10
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): Classic 7.2

Hi,

I´m reevaluating my catalog organization and I´m thinking if folder based smart collections are a good or bad idea.

That´s the situation: I have a collection set called Natal (Christmas). Inside it there are smart collections for each year as can be seen below:

What do you think of this approach having in mind that folder renaming is very unlikely (but not impossible) ?

Bad idea ? Why ?

Thanks,

Helton

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Nothing wrong with that. I use a similar system so that I can keep my folder panel collapsed at all times. I find it much easier to have a single organisation hierarchy (based on collections and smart collections) than to have two (another hierarchy based on folders).

 

[Helton]

Nothing wrong with that. I use a similar system so that I can keep my folder panel collapsed at all times. I find it much easier to have a single organisation hierarchy (based on collections and smart collections) than to have two (another hierarchy based on folders).

Wow, that´s a fast response!!

Thank you,

Helton

 

[Ian.B]

Just remember that Lr collections can not (as I understand it) be used by other programs. May not to be drama while you continue to use Lr; however we do need to consider what might happen later on.
I feel collections are more of a temporary holding pen than a filing system

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Just remember that Lr collections can not (as I understand it) be used by other programs. May not to be drama while you continue to use Lr; however we do need to consider what might happen later on.
I feel collections are more of a temporary holding pen than a filing system

Collections are virtual, so they cannot be a filing system. Your folders are your filing system and remain that. Collections are a way of organising your images for faster access. Compare it to having playlists on your favorite music player.

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

I´m reevaluating my catalog organization and I´m thinking if folder based smart collections are a good or bad idea.

Like Johan i don't like to swithch between the collections and folders panel also. So i find it opportune to display folders as (smart)collections. In the Classic CC 7.2 update there is an automatic way to do that (rightclick on a toplevel folder and you see) with static collections. Did you look at it?

 

[Helton]

Now I´m a bit concerned. My organization system is heavily based on collections which completely substitute folders.

Because of this I prefer to lose my job than my catalog. I´m very carefull about my catalog but nobody knows when a disaster can happen.

I have dozens of collection sets and a lot of smart and dumb collections inside them.

I´m thinking if it´s better to substitute folder based to keyword based collections in order to be more secury in case of a catalog´s loss or software substitution.

I just not sure how to do this.

What do you think?

Helton

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

When you do substitue folder info to keywords it's very easy to generate smart collections based on that or an Keyword Hierachy.

The advantage of keywords (not the hierachy) is that they are compatible with other applications (in the future perhaps).
I think there are even automated ways to generate keywords from the folderinformation.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Catalog loss is something you prevent by making lots of catalog backups, not by changing your collection hierarchy.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I use keywords a lot. They are much more important in my workflow than folders. And Roelof is right that keywords can be read by many other applications (providing you write metadata to files first, because otherwise your keywords are only in tje Lightroom catalog). But if there is one thing that any software package understands it's folders!

 

[Helton]

Catalog loss is something you prevent by making lots of catalog backups, not by changing your collection hierarchy.

I know, I do several backups of it.

 

[Helton]

I´m aware that I can create smart collections based on keywords stored on photos. But what is the best way to substitute the folder based example that I posted above?

The pictures already have a keyword called Natal in them, but I´d like collections separated by year.

Should I create a single keyword for every year like natal_2006 ? Or should I create a separate keyword for years and add two keywords to the photo Like "natal,2006" ?

If I create a single keyword like natal_2006 I think I wont be able to search for all my Natal photos regardless of year, am I right ?

I think I´m need guidelines about keywording best pratices...

 

[Hal P Anderson]

Lightroom already keeps the date. It isn't in a keyword, but it can easily be added to smart collection criteria. No need to add the date to the keywords.

 

[Helton]

Lightroom already keeps the date. It isn't in a keyword, but it can easily be added to smart collection criteria. No need to add the date to the keywords.

Nice! Is it possible to filter only by year or it is necessary create a date range to gather the photos of some year ?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Nice! Is it possible to filter only by year or it is necessary create a date range to gather the photos of some year ?

Have a look at the filter bar at the top if the grid. You can filter on anything, including dates. When you filter on dates, you can filter on a single day, a month, a year. In smart collections you can do the same, but remember that you can combine both. So you could have a smart collection for Natal, and then filter on 2006 if you want to only see the Natal images of that year.

 

[Helton]

Have a look at the filter bar at the top if the grid. You can filter on anything, including dates. When you filter on dates, you can filter on a single day, a month, a year. In smart collections you can do the same, but remember that you can combine both. So you could have a smart collection for Natal, and then filter on 2006 if you want to only see the Natal images of that year.

I think this solves the problem, thanks!

But this approach also presents another problem.

For example, I have a collection set called "BarsRestaurants", which has photos of bars and restaurants I have been. The photos are grouped by dumb collections inside the collection set named by the establishment name.

What happens if I decide to convert the dumb collections to smart ones ? Should I create a keyword for every bar and restaurant ?

Assuming I have many other collections sets I will end up with lots of keywords...

 

[Johan Elzenga]

What happens if I decide to convert the dumb collections to smart ones ? Should I create a keyword for every bar and restaurant ?

You can only 'convert' a normal collection to a smart collection if you have something to use as the criteria for that smart collection. So yes, you would have to add the keyword 'restaurant' or 'bar' to all the images in the current collection. That is easy to do. There is no reason to have a different keyword for each restaurant (like its name), because in order to be able to create a smart collection, you need a common keyword.

 

[Helton]

Ok, but I´d like to separate the collection set by establishment, in this case the only way is to create a keyword for each one, right ? Or there is another way ?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If you want to make a 'Restaurants' collection set, with smart collections inside that set for each restaurant, then yes. You can use the same hierarchy in your keywords list to stay organised, so create a parent keyword 'restaurant' and add the restaurant names as sub-keywords.

 

[Helton]

Ok, I foresee a lot of work ahead.

Years ago I made the error of focus my efforts in develop the photos instead of focus in organization first.

Now I have to pay for my mistake.

Thank you all guys,

Helton