How do I organise my photos?

[fullkoll]

Hi all,

I found this site by accident - was browsing a Canon site and read a post where Victoria Bampton recommended this forum - thanks a lot, Victoria!

I have a question regarding the organisation of my photos.

I have roughly 1'''' photos spanning from 1999 to 2''8 and am in the process of transferring my photos into LR.

I have my photos organised in folders on the hard drive depending on which year/month the photo was taken, for example 2''8/'8'4.
I have imported all of the photos into one catalogue and that seems to work fine even with my humble iMac. It is fast and stable.
Is this a problem when the number of photos grows to say 2''''-3'''' or should I split my catalogues into smaller ones right now?

Would appreciate some tips and views on this from you experienced users, thanks!

 

[Replytoken]

With a normal computer set-up, I would not worry about the catalog size that you are anticipating. There are many posts and opinions about multiple catalogs, but I am a very limited believer in multiple catalogs. I think they are fine if you are importing a large project and getting it ready to add to a primary catalog, or if the catalogs are totally separate in nature (i.e. work vs. personal). But too many catalogs can make for a nightmare.

--Ken

 

[Brad Snyder]

Agreed. As Ken says, small 'throwaway' catalogs are OK for intake processing, (many believe there is a speed advantage). In the end, you will want everything in one large catalog for archival/retrieval.

(You can perhaps justify more than one retrieval catalog if your practice has clearly divisible areas, but I'd think hard about it.) If you can't find the picture you want when you need it, you might as well not have it.

 

[fullkoll]

I clearly saw the advantages using one catalogue and your answers tell me I made the right decision ;-)

Many thanks!