Library module Help needed with organisation idea.

[stevemoorevale]

Lightroom Version Number

14

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I’ve been doing some reorganisation recently. I originally had root year folders and then inside that my photo folders would be named 2024-11-24 London as an example. I do wildlife mostly and so I end up going to the same reserves quite often and so across the year I end up with loads of folders like the above example but for the same place. So I decided to consolidate these and have categories within each year folder so as an example 2024; Wildlife and Landscape; Lackford Lakes. Then throughout the year every subsequent trip to that location would just go into that folder instead of separate ones like I used to do. I do aviation and several event shoots as well.
My question is that rather than do this for each year should I work on doing it for my entire catalogue and so every photo from all years from my Lackford Lakes example would all just go into one place I.e Wildlife and Landscape; Locations; Lackford Lakes. I can then filter by year within that. Blame Scott Kelly for the base of the idea. I know he’d rather I do it in collections. I don’t get on with them.

 

[Paul McFarlane]

We wrote a blog (part of a series) that looked at aspects of this:

Why not organize photos into folders by topic?​

 

[stevemoorevale]

We wrote a blog (part of a series) that looked at aspects of this:

Why not organize photos into folders by topic?​

Thanks. An interesting read. Every photo I have have got has descriptive metadata embedded so in the John and Susan example that example gives I would just do a search. To be honest it works fine as is but I just felt it would perhaps be a little more streamlined working with categories providing I do it in the best way.

 

[clee01l]

I’ve been doing some reorganisation…
My question is that rather than do this for each year should I work on doing it for my entire catalogue and so every photo from all years from my Lackford Lakes example would all just go into one place I.e Wildlife and Landscape; Locations; Lackford Lakes. I can then filter by year within that. Blame Scott Kelly for the base of the idea. I know he’d rather I do it in collections. I don’t get on with them.

Storing files and organizing image are two different processes. You have already the tools to organize using collections. Collections are more flexible for organizing. Smart collections based on keywords and other criteria would automate the process. The article the Paul References is spot on.

FWIW, I keep my folder panel closed most of the time and work entirely in the Collections panel.


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[stevemoorevale]

Storing files and organizing image are two different processes. You have already the tools to organize using collections. Collections are more flexible for organizing. Smart collections based on keywords and other criteria would automate the process. The article the Paul References is spot on.

FWIW, I keep my folder panel closed most of the time and work entirely in the Collections panel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. That does make sense. It just feels a little scary that I don’t one hundred oercent know what’s happenings inside my folders when I work exclusively in collections. A mindset problem I think. So as you say I can do my folders however I like but if I want to consolidate all my Lackford lakes photos into one place then I would have a smart collection that fills based on metadata match to Lackford lakes and populate them that way. That way any future photos would auto populate in there.

 

[clee01l]

It just feels a little scary that I don’t one hundred oercent know what’s happenings inside my folders when I work exclusively in collections. A mindset problem I think. So as you say I can do my folders however I like but if I want to consolidate all my Lackford lakes photos into one place then I would have a smart collection that fills based on metadata match to Lackford lakes and populate them that way. That way any future photos would auto populate in there.

You don’t know what is happening in your filesystem not to mention these artificial and virtual constructs called “folders” Folders don’t exist physically. any more than Collections.

You have a home and it has an address. You could say that you”live” at this address. But in reality, you are in many places at different times. a Collection is a better representation of who you are. If yoy are a member of a collection called a camera club, you can also be a member of. Book club or church etc. None of these diminish where you “live”. But they better describe who you are as a person.

Where you live is not important. But the collections that you are a member of are more important.


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[Jimmsp]

Here is another strong vote for Collections.
Between a standard and a Smart collection, you can organize anyway you choose. One major advantage - a photo can be in two or more collections at the same time. I may have a standard Collection for a talk I am giving and one for a book I am working on, and a photo can be in both collections, as well as be in another Smart Collection that has grabbed it based on a Key Word, such as your location where it was captured.
Moving folders of photos around on your hard drive can take a lot of time. What do you do when you don't get it fully right the first time?
A Smart Collection happens immediately -- and can be easily changed and modified.