Discover THE SECRET Behind My PERFECT Lightroom Catalog

[@frankhaugwitz8178]

Your level of organization is the result of 15 years! I wonder how it was in the beginning? At my end, LR is rather new to me and to date I rather focused on the various tools, etc. Admittedly my catalogue is a mess, i.e. I have a catalogue for single shootings like this year one for Brunei and another one for Bhutan. I like the „sentimental“ labelling, because given my limited understanding of LR, I always wonder whether once I know more how to use LR, how much better my images could be, hence, I am reluctant to keep deleting them. Now I target a keeper rate at around 5%, because my external hard discs too are piling up! Thanks for the video, it certainly shows me a much better way how to organise my photos!

[@boatman222345]

Fourteen years ago when I switched to digital cameras a friend gave me some advice I now wished I'd followed: "Go easy on deleting photos until your processing skills get up to speed." When I go back and reedit older photos these days I can not believe how many images I almost deleted turn out to be great images simply because I now know hoe to edit them properly.

[@THansenite]

I have been waiting for this video for a few years. As an enthusiastic novice to intermediate hobby photographer, I have a bloated drive of photos and several different methods of classifying them. I've looked for Lightroom workflow videos but none have been anywhere close to as complete yet concise as this video. I honestly want to go shoot just so I can implement this into my workflow. Thank you for this video. You have a new fan.

[@MarkDumbleton]

I really appreciate the message and I’m glad I was able to fill the gap on Lightroom workflows. Please ask if you have any questions, and I agree, go take some photos 😊

[@CassidyHansen]

This is incredible. Thank you for sharing

[@MarkDumbleton]

My pleasure, hope you managed to find some useful tips in the video. Thanks for watching.

[@teadish1448]

Excellent video! I took notes and can't wait to implement. Thank you!

[@MarkDumbleton]

I appreciate that, thanks for the comment. Hope you manage to implement some good changes 😊

[@teadish1448]

@@MarkDumbleton I have been trying to make room for the monumental task of getting my LR housekeeping in order. Now, I'm on my way. Thanks again!

[@dbv11]

Insanely helpful! Which file sync software are you using? Thanks so much

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks so much for watching. I use Chronosync, and have done for a very long time! Very much recommend it.

[@TheChiveve]

Thanks Mark, very useful and informative video.

[@MarkDumbleton]

My pleasure, glad you found it useful. Thanks so much for watching and for the comment.

[@johnalmberg7512]

I am just to the stage where this is a REALLY helpful video. Thanks.

[@MarkDumbleton]

I am super glad to hear that, thank you so much for watching and for the comment!

[@boatman222345]

Very detailed and well thought out editing strategy! Managing photo files is my weak spot and sometimes wish I'd skipped the photo classes and taken secretarial courses concentrating on filing techniques. One technique I have found useful avoid duplicate files when using 2 cameras on the same shoot is to add a camera designation to the file name such as D700, D500, etc

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks for the recommendation on the camera filing convention. Exactly how I do it too.

[@KobusTollig1]

Great video man. So helpful.

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks so much for the continued support Kobus!

[@kenstav1]

Your organisation is insane, I only recently started using Lightroom to organise my photos. I found that using canon’s dpp as the fist step to eradicate the worst photos was quicker because I did not have to wait for the import and 1:1 builds to happen. How do you back up your catalog to the other drives?

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks for watching and for the comment. I back up my catalog to my main hard drive, which then gets copied over to 3 other hard drives using file sync software.

[@leezbtv]

This is incredibly insightful and helpful, Mark! I'll admit that while your process may go a level or two too deep for my needs, I've already got a ton of ideas based on what you've laid out here that I'm hopeful to implement. One quick question--your process seems excellent if I was starting from scratch, but with a ~9 year catalog going right now, would you recommend beginning with new imports, or is it easy enough to go backwards and apply to old imports? Namely I'm thinking of, say, the filename convention.

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hi, thanks so much for watching and for the comment. I would apply what I’ve shown to older images in your catalog if you’re prepared to spend the time. Don’t make a new catalog, just work on the catalog you already have. When I was finally happy with this system, I had about 8 years worth of stuff that I went back on and changed into the new system. Hope that helps.

[@jakob9435]

Great Video! You're level of organization is insane and i will definitely take some tips from this. Unfortunately I'm too much of a data hoarder to ever actually delete a picture that would probably drive me crazy 😂

[@MarkDumbleton]

Haha thanks for the message 😊 and thanks for watching. Even as a hoarder, if your system works for you then that’s great.

[@dougstead1956]

Well done. Thanks. Is there any chance you will have a PDF download outlining of your workflow/chart available?

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hi Doug, that’s an excellent idea. I’ll try get that done soon and post it here. I’ll reply to this message when it’s available.

[@danh543]

This video is great and I plan to adopt the process as soon as I clean up the Lightroom Classic mess I have created over a number of years! Do you have any suggestions, for example, on how to restructure the folders and filenames with as little impact as possible to any edits that have already been done to the originals? Thanks Mark!

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hi Dan, thanks for the comment. Moving files within Lightroom will have no impact on any edits at all. The edits will stay with the files. But make sure to ONLY use Lightroom to do the moves. If you do the moving outside of Lightroom, Lightroom will lose the files and show the files as missing. Hope that helps :) If not, drop a reply 👍🏻

[@danh543]

@@MarkDumbleton Hi again Mark - Something I meant to ask you before, in Lightroom I have created separate catalogs in previous versions (ie shrink-wrap days LR5, no subscription) and I had one that was only for scanned images. Any suggestions on how to proceed? I think I would rather consolidate these and then make sure that the structure is extensible and the metadata allows for accurate search results :) I have been struggling with taking action on this because it's been several years now and I don't want to do something wrong. Thanks!

[@flemmingmorgan1929]

Thanks Mark for this excellent video. I have learned so much from your editing videos and this one is really useful and practical. Is it a big mistake to keep the catalog and the photos on the same external hard drive? I do this because I sometimes edit on a desktop and sometimes on my laptop so having them together I can move from one computer to another

[@MarkDumbleton]

I appreciate the support and thanks for the comment 😊 it’s not necessarily bad to have the catalog on an external drive, it will just slow down Lightroom considerably compared to if it’s on your local drive. Hard drive speed and cables / port speed will also play a part in the speed. Photos on external drives are perfectly fine. If Lightroom isn’t slow for you working from an external drive, I would say continue how you are, especially that it suits the way you work on 2 separate machines.

[@NedSkyler]

Terrific video, Mark, with lots of utility even for non Lightroom users. One question: what are the inclusion criteria for your two different portfolios?

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks so much! A lot of what determines a 4 or 5 star is just by gut feeling, but I think it boils down to this - 4 stars are great moments but something isn’t quite perfect (maybe it’s the light, or a distraction or a head angle that’s not perfect) and then a 5 star is when everything is perfect (amazing light, good head angles, a solid composition - something that feels right). A lot of what determines a 4 or 5 star is very subjective, and I always rate my photos on what I like, and not what I think people will like.

[@peterebel7899]

Not too far from my workflow, but - Backup starts instantly, so deleting in LR will not affect this backup (I call it downloads) This is basically a mirror of all memory card downloads in folders Camera and subfolders date - the active file is on my computer, a mirrored on the backup computer in the office. - two backup drives (one with me and the other at a save place) complete the backup stategy. Those get the LR catalogue as well - different models of drives for different backups! I don't rename my files Prior to curating all my files are auto stack to shrink down the number of files on the desktop. Stack are easy to be reorganized, after curation the relevant file is always onto of a stack (one click process) All files get a geolocation which is a quick process to be done in batches in the Maps module. The trips are edited in keywords. I do add a "flow of the year" keyword on every file (date without year) to have a nice option in filtering. Sure: species name, ... for all files (more than one if needed) My percentage of deleted files is not as good as yours 😞

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks so much for watching and for the comment, and I really appreciate you sharing your workflow. It’s always interesting to hear how others do it.

[@andrewmason8691]

Excellent video, Mark. My only question is...if you back up your images as soon as you have created them, how are you backing up the new images created when you go into Photoshop? Many thanks

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hey Andrew thanks for the comment and for watching. Those newly created files will be saved into the same folder as the RAW FILES, then either be backed up when I sync the main hard drive to my other drives, or when I go online to sync to Dropbox.

[@andrewmason8691]

@@MarkDumbleton Perfect. Thanks, Mark

[@shrinivas.a]

This was really insightful ! Would you recommend keeping all the images to be edited on the internal drive on the PC/ Mac or can the RAW files be stored on an external HDD and used for editing ?

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hi, sorry for the delayed reply. I store all my files on an external drive. Keeping them on the internal drive is perfectly fine but won’t really give you much benefit as image files are small in comparison to video. The problem with keeping image files on the computer internal drive is space capacity, and if the drive gets full the computer will slow down and make editing slower. Hope that helps 😊

[@shrinivas.a]

@@MarkDumbleton Thanks ! In the process of re-configuring my workflow and your points def help !

[@BrendanHarington]

Thanks Mark, this helps a lot. Still trying to get my head around this. Previously was on LR, web based. After you import and edit the pics do you keep a saved copy of the edit in Lightroom on your HDD? So all your edits are still in the LrC app? If so how do you save it to LrC after editing? I just did an edit, exported it to my HDD but the pic is not in the app anymore?

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks a lot for the comment Brendan, appreciate the support.

[@richardguijt656]

Hi Mark, Almost the same as my setup. I have a question though. With the increasing FPS we get more of the “same” photos with minor differences. What is your process to determine the best out of the burst / bunch? Thnx Richard

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hey Richard, good to hear from you. Great question… I normally pick only 3-5 images from a quick burst. I like picking the images where let’s say the head of the animal or bird is parallel with me or facing a bit towards me. If it’s a bird which frames show the best wing position. Obviously choose which images are the sharpest, which have a glint in the eye, which show the action the best. It also depends on the composition I captured. I won’t keep an image of the bird or animal doesn’t have space to move into. But it’s subjective, but in conclusion I like to limit the amount of frames I keep from a burst, because I’m not really ever going to need them all. 3-5 of the very best is good for me. Hope that answers the question well enough 😊

[@richardguijt656]

@@MarkDumbleton yes thank you. I normally do a quick pass for obvious deletes. Then I do a pass at 100% to check for sharpness. From what is left I try to pick the best wing / head / paw position etc. Still this sometimes can be very tedious and time consuming

[@ClareCC0902]

My LR is such a mess as I never really knew what to do when I started using LR and now i don't know how to restructure it - it's a bloody nightmare. If you want to edit an already edited photo in LR but want to use the original rather than the already edited image what do you do? Or have you made a copy of the original before making any edits in the first place? Thanks Mark.

[@MarkDumbleton]

Thanks so much for the message. I create a virtual copy of the original file (in my case the original is a RAW file). It’s important to note that Lightroom doesn’t alter a RAW file, it only changes the “virtual appearance” of the RAW, so even if you have edited a file completely, you can just create a virtual copy and change the settings. I hope that answers your question. If not, please reply and I can help 😊

[@betterburnout]

Out of curiosity, what external drive do you use ?.

[@MarkDumbleton]

Hi, I use a LaCie Rugged USB-C external.

[@betterburnout]

@@MarkDumbleton And sorry to insist :) But 5TB is enough to store ALL your photos ? Cause I have everything spread on a disk for every year… :/

[@MarkDumbleton]

No problem 😊 my photos currently since 2007 only take up just over 1tb of space. I’m ruthless with my images and my keeper rate is very low, compared to how many images I take. I keep just the very best.

[@betterburnout]

@@MarkDumbleton Thanks for your time and answer ✨:)

[@photobeast]

I hate to admit it but my Cat is a mess by dates and then a name.

[@MarkDumbleton]

I think if you curate the photos and add the labels and star ratings, the folder structure isn’t absolutely essential, as long as you understand the folder structure then it works.