The RIGHT Way to Organize in Lightroom Classic

[@eleven24]

I still organize my photos in folders - clients, travel, family, other - with dated subfolders under each. I'll import from my camera card to one of these folders, and then go into LRC and add that folder. After that, I organize everything in the LRC catalog using collections. I find the folder structure in the OS to be a good way to find files without having to open LRC. It also doesn't leave me completely tied to Lightroom should I decide to move on to something else in the future.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

That works too as long as you stay super organized!

[@donaldnewton4947]

This was most helpful! Now comes the task of fixing things you've been doing wrong for over 20+ years.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

It’s a huge pain, but the earlier you start, the easier it’ll be. Good luck!

[@HannahKutner]

This is the BEST video I’ve seen on LR organization and I’ve watched probably 100. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks so much!

[@DocBaldwin]

Great tutorial, If I might suggest? Select ALL Photos, hold the Ctrl key and tap the Backspace key, (Ctrl + Backspace) this will delete all rejected photos, without the need to go to menus and select all etc etc. Saves a bit of time. Thank you again.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for the tip!

[@mediamannaman]

Great job, Austin. You have removed some of the mystery and explained it in a way that is easy to understand. Thanks for making this video!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

My pleasure!

[@jasoncrosby4052]

Amazing! The best Lightroom organization video I have seen. My disk space and folders were a disaster. This really helped. Thanks for the knowledge.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it helps!

[@ghislaya235]

I just got a new computer and thanks to your helpful tips, I may finally be able to organize my photos in a way that makes sense! No more ripping my hair out while looking for that lost photo. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Awesome! Good luck with it!

[@LarkspurKaren]

Thank you Austin! You explain things well and in a calm voice.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

My pleasure!

[@craigpiferphotography]

When I first started using LR, I setup it up based on an article that I found which recommended importing them into folders by date, such as you have them. I've used this ever since. I've seen Scott Kelby and others saying to setup a file structure according to subject matter and such. This just doesn't make sense to me as it's easy to have several subjects on the card before I get it back to my computer. I've sparingly used collections through the years, but I'm getting to the point that I'm better understanding the power of collections, especially smart collections. I still have a ways to go to be as organized as I would like, but overall I'm content with what I have.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience. Everyone will find what works best for them!

[@typhoon-7]

I'm sort of the same. I sort by year, month and day folders but then sort to collections later by subject. So if I've been out on a day trip that's involves forest, waterfall and wildlife, the original RAW files all go in a folder with that day under a folder of that month under a folder of that year. Then when I've rejected (and deleted) all the ones I'll never use, I'll process the best ones into a separate drive of finalised images and separate folders for jpeg exports etc.. I then make collections of the finalised images which in this case would be a collection of waterfalls, collection of woodland and collection of wildlife etc.... Then ALL that is backed up on an external drive. Every time I see other people's filing methods I see great ideas and logic but I've been doing it this way for years and it's just part of my workflow now.

[@carlawill]

Thank you! This is the BEST explanation of organizing Lightroom I've seen thus far.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@keithpinn152]

Hi Austin James: I liked this video. With respects to deleting images, I use a Smart Collection where the Pick Flag indicator is set to "Rejected". Then I simply highlight all and delete as per our steps. Cheers, Keith

[@AustinJamesJackson]

That is such a great idea, and so obvious to me now that you mention it! Can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this. Thank you!!

[@FMK-mo6ul]

Austin’s approach is dependent on moving photos from collection to collection. Curious why he doesn’t use Smart collections.

[@eleven24]

I do the same. It's often tempting to uncheck certain photos when importing, but I'll just import them all and then go through and reject+delete rejected from disk as I'm culling.

[@jyunacchan9600]

Your tutorial are pretty easy to understand and the informations are well organized on the timeline. Thanks!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jtblasterboy624]

Hi Austin! I avoided Lightroom for years because it overwhelmed me. I recently got a new camera, so I felt like I had to bite the bullet and learn LrC. Thankfully, your video was very helpful and I'm so excited to use LrC for my photos from here on out. Thank you so much!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I'm glad it helped! It can be a lot to take in.

[@alandargie9358]

Thanks for this excellent video, concise and to the point. Very useful.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@zackthefreeman]

I have a photography resources folder that contains things like logos, overlays, specific formats, backup fonts etc. In that folder is a master template folder containing categories such as "people, places, things, client photos, events, videography, memes" etc. Every 3 months I duplicate the master folder and rename it to the current quarter (2024 q1, 2024 q2, etc.). I used to do it annually, but I have been finding quarterly easier to work with. I then add the entire folder to a new catalogue in lightroom corresponding to the current quarter. I drop my photos into the corresponding folder and re-add the parent folder to lightroom to keep the folder structure. I can understand how most people unfamiliar with maintaining meticulous file management would not want to work this way, but it works well for me.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Whatever works for you!

[@anathomaz.photography]

Thank you! Very easy to understand and it makes a lot of sense to organize this way

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jordanking7711]

The biggest lesson to learn in terms of organizing your photos in Lightroom is NEVER delete your photos from within the Explorer app on your particular OS. Always do it from within Lightroom. Otherwise you're going to run into that missing photos dialog box that Austin showed in this video. In terms of how I personally organize my photos, I am a big fan of collections myself. It's much better than going down the folder route myself, because then you can rename it whatever you want to, so you know what happened on a particular day on a particular shoot.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Very well said!

[@Secondcropcreative]

You can rename folders all day within Lightroom as well. Anything done within Lightroom will translate to the finder/explorer level as well. I operate my folders this way yyyymmdd-shoot-name that way I can go back 20 years and find any photo within a few minutes

[@dooginator2008tx]

Very well presented and helped me immensely. Thank you!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ralphbuckley4379]

Great video to get me started with organizing several collections of photos

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@charlesbarrack3223]

This young man understands database management.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Haha! Thanks!

[@dustydewey]

Awesome video with easy to follow instructions I now have a lot of hours ahead to clean it up. lol

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good luck! Haha

[@1pirate721]

To delete rejects you can select the top folder, then click Photos and select delete rejected photos.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good to know! Thanks.

[@CarShowzUS]

Thank you, Austin, very helpful! We shoot auto events, and I have our RAW photos stored on a NAS. Going back to previously edited photosets was a nightmare to find, especially over time. I think the collections organization will help solve this!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Awesome! Good luck!

[@oneactplaywright]

Great Tutorial, very helpful.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@JohnCornellier]

Great video! Since you're so geography-based I'm surprised you didn't mention using GPS coordinates more for filtering and smart collections. This wasn't such a thing back in the day because not all cameras had GPS. But they do now, and since a few years ago LR auto-populates fields like City based on the GPS coords. You can then use that data for sorting.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yeah, I’ll have to give that a try at some point!

[@dsrjohnstone]

Brilliant. Has made my life so much easier. 🙂

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it helped!

[@MarciMartinez]

Great video! Thank you!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad you liked it!

[@davidkazancev2216]

Thanks for the video! Helped me a lot.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it helped!

[@gloriatibavisco1760]

Great video thank you!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad you liked it!

[@belmontania]

Loved it! Ya the best! Hugs from (currently) Rio de Janeiro =)

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@saigonanle123]

Righteous bro thanks for the knowledge

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You bet!

[@rgestrella5078]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you. I do have a question though, I'm not a professional photographer so all my pics are for myself. I cannot remember what photos I took more than a couple of years ago, so wouldn't it make more sense for someone like myself to create folders by years and name each sub-folder under the year by subject, such as 5th Anniversary or Turkey vacation, etc.? Thanks and looking forward to more of your videos. :)

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You could, but if you shoot landscapes I prefer to organize by location!

[@NINETYFIVE_TC]

Ahh, thanks mah dude. You are a real life-saver. TBH, I am not really good at organizing stuff and I want to make this a good essential habit :)

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad I could help!

[@RonBerendsen65]

Thanks a lot !!🤗

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Hope it helps!

[@bmessenger1022]

Great video! Very informative! Question... If my lrcat file is on my laptop hardrive with nothing in it (fresh install), can I simply copy that lrcat file to my external SSD, and then just delete the file on my laptop hardrive, or should I just create a new catalog on my ssd and delete the old catalog on my laptop hardrive? Thanks!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You should be able to just copy it over. But since there is nothing on it, you may as well just create a new catalog.

[@bmessenger1022]

@@AustinJamesJackson Thank you!

[@celya8483]

Do you have a video of how to use smart previews? To edit the files and then do they automatically Apple to the raw file after.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I don't, but I may make one in the future.

[@Jalvesphoto]

This is such a great workflow, Thank you! Do you work from unsorted>review>working files>finished files?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yes I do!! Thanks for checking it out.

[@nathanyao3525]

thank you! I just came from your other Lightroom organization tutorial, and this video came just in time to clarify things! Also, which portable hard drive did you use (I can't find the link you mentioned)?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Here it is: amzn.to/48sn80K Thanks for watching!

[@mcccccccccc]

Watched all 16 and a half minutes. Thanks for sharing the way you organize photos! I am working to being more organization to my catalog and recently adopted year folders on my hard drive, although I don't import into date folders. I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the utility of keywords? I've recently started using them for genres (portrait, landscape, etc) and certain common subjects, but I'm not convinced yet that it's worth my effort to keep up long-term.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for checking it out, and glad it sounds like it was helpful. I don't personally use keywords, it just seems like a lot of work. Yes, you can use automated software to generate them but I still find this way to be sufficient enough for me.

[@juniatamc]

Hi and thank you for the video. My lightroom is very slow even though my computer‘s specs are not too bad. I have heard that the reason my be that there are too many photos in my catalogue. Is that possible? I store the pictures I work on on the internal hard drive and store the other raws on n external.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

That can definitely be a problem if you have too many images but usually wouldn't effect you unless you have 50k+. You can try making a new catalog tho.

[@Myrdwin]

Thanks for the very clear and efficient video ! Do you prefer to use collections rather than keywords when you import and organize your photos or do you use both ?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yes, I don’t mess with keywords. It seems like a lot of work when I have no problems with organization or finding images by using this method!

[@Myrdwin]

@@AustinJamesJackson Thanks for the answer !

[@waky123]

thanks for perfect informations

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Most welcome

[@andycotton162]

I've never used collections, only folders before, and your process seems much better, but in trying your method, when I import cr2 images and they show in 'previous import' my LRC won't allow me to drag them into my 'editing to do' collection. Any tips or ideas?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Hmm, that’s odd. I’m always able to drag mine out of the previous import area. There could be a variety of different problems and it’s hard for me to say without seeing it. You can try reaching out to Adobe Support!

[@andycotton162]

Thanks, yes I'll do that@@AustinJamesJackson

[@driatros]

Just make sure the photo location is in your metadata, then do a smart collection for that location. Instead of "City" you can also just write the name of the location, if the city isn't relevant. E.g., I know where Muir Woods is, but not the name of its municipality, so I just write "Muir Woods" instead of city.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good idea!

[@ralphbuckley4379]

Thanks!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks so much for that! I appreciate it!

[@KarenKefauver]

Newbie here. On trial LR now. Import question: say I have a 3 mb photo already imported but then I find the same photo (same title) but it is 10 mb. So when I go to import that image, LR blocks the import because it says the image is already there - so how can I override to get the larger file to replace smaller?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Hmm, I’m not sure about that. I know you can uncheck the box that blocks duplicates, but not sure how you can just replace it without doing it manually.

[@jurrydevries4006]

Hi thanks for great video. On the importing part in the beginning: does Lightroom use the date at which image was hot or date you import the photos to create the folder name?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

The date at which is was shot! Which is recorded in the metadata of the image as long as the date is correct on your camera!

[@jurrydevries4006]

thanks

[@oceaniccurrents]

Thank you my Lightroom Catalog is a freaking my mess!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Happy to help!

[@johnclay7644]

informative video

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad you think so!

[@DominikSobieniak]

CTRL+Backspace in Library module (Windows) removes X-flaged photos

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for that info!!

[@RAHanes1]

After I set an image to be deleted, I press Command-Delete (on a Mac), which then opens the "Remove from Lightroom" or "Delete from Disk" dialog box.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Perfect! I usually delete from disk.

[@keyu6215]

Great overview! it was very helpful!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@roboak7916]

You should really invest in a NAS solution. I burried many portable hard drives!, ssds, usb keys, flash cards...

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yeah, I know its the best way to do it!

[@johnmoore7449]

Why on earth do you go to the trouble of auto creating folders by date on import and then admit you you cannot remember the date of a visit and you then create collections of place names? seems a bit mad to me when you can import to folders name with the places you visit. You then avoid the chore of adding the images to a vast array of collections.. I just use collections for specific tasks, like choosing photos for an exhibition or a competition etc

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Running through all the folders to find the import spot would take a ton of time. Since LR automatically creates them, I don’t have to spend any time messing with it. You can put them in to your drive however you want, I just do it the easiest way that takes the least effort.

[@FuxueJin]

I use collection only for a specific task, not for organizing photos, because collection doesn't organize photos but only labels photos. I keep LR folder structure as organized as possible. I name photos starting with year-month-day-location, because I often need to sort the photos on the date take in a folder and upload in that order to certain online site.

[@FuxueJin]

I add location to the file name, and add keywords of location to the photo in LR. So I can filter the photo by location I need, and I can search the photo on my hard drive without LR@@AustinJamesJackson

[@FuxueJin]

I don't import photos directly from card. I copy the whole folder from card to hard drive, rename it and drag the whole folder to LR to import. Going through the folder and use X to mark the photos being rejected, may use 1,2,3 to give stars so I can go back to edit those stared, and ctrl+backspace (windows) to delete all rejected photos.

[@JohnnyBroström]

I am organaziing in folders because when the day comes, and it probably will come one day in the future when I stop using Lightroom i will have have nothing but a lot of dates ...

[@AustinJamesJackson]

True! But I would still do dates in the future with another program too.

[@MazMcWilliams_32]

Wait, how do I make sure the LRC file is on my drive? Or how do I get it there?>

[@AustinJamesJackson]

When you import you want to make sure you put it there, it'll be on the right side of the screen on the import box. To see if it's there, right click and press "Show in Finder" and you can see where the file is at.

[@MazMcWilliams_32]

@@AustinJamesJackson ah got it! sorry I made the mistake of looking for it in LR instead of LRC :) getting my bearings

[@MazMcWilliams_32]

I don't see "Destination" as an option on import

[@garybond4459]

I'm a bit confused by some of your comments. First using collections instead of folders. When I import my photos, I rename the folder to the location and date. That takes care of your objection to folders. Next when you "rejected" those photos, all you had to do was select CTRL Backspace to get the option to remove from Lightroom or from the hard drive. You went through three more steps to accomplish the same thing. Otherwise the video was informative.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

That works great if you’re very organized. Problem is, many people start using that structure and can’t keep up with it and then images get lost. When you delete images, you need to be sure to remove from the disk and not only the catalog, and I like being able to delete all my images at once and it’s super easy to just press “x” on each one.

[@tectoramia-sz1lu]

I have never struggled with catalogues, because I have never used them.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

👍

[@janniekidson]

How can I sort it when it is already a mess, I saw this video months too late.....

[@AustinJamesJackson]

It is a huge pain to fix once it’s gone wrong unfortunately.

[@eamonhickey]

Everybody who thinks seriously about how they will find photos efficiently ends up using keywords as their fundamental organizing mechanism. All the professional organizations -- agencies, museums, image archives etc. -- do it with keywords. Let's say you take a picture in Zion of beech trees in fall color with a stream running through the composition. If you put that picture in your "Zion" collection, you have no way to find it when you want to see all your fall color images, or all your beech tree images, or all your images with streams in them. Every photograph has multiple subjects or potential uses, and keywords are by far the easiest way to tag a photo with all of them. When you realize that keywords are necessary and you're going to be doing them anyway, then spending time on other methods of cataloging photos becomes moot. Also, if they adhere to IPTC standards (any decent catalog program will), keywords are transportable, meaning that if you switch to a different cataloging program, you can automatically transfer your keywords and never lose all your cataloging work. Lightroom has powerful keywording features for exactly this reason.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yeah, key wording is excellent in Lightroom, but takes a little more time to set up. If you’re willing to put in the effort, it’s a great way to do it too.

[@FuxueJin]

when you spent that much time to setup collection, it's not that much more time to make those collection as smart collection, then enter keywords to the photos, let LR sort them into your collection. In the future, just enter the key words, don't have to drag new photos into that collection. And using filter is another good way to work with keywords.@@AustinJamesJackson

[@Ed-lz4jv]

nope too time consuming, just do a collection

[@eamonhickey]

@@Ed-lz4jv nope too limiting, just do keywords

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Keywords can be great if you’re willing to spend the time to set up.

[@davelindey8023]

Brutal organization method. Collections are great but the hierarchy method you employ may work for you but extremely unnecessarily complicated. bye forever as this was my first visit to the channel

[@AustinJamesJackson]

No worries, sorry it didn’t work for you.

[@HippyNZ]

you are not fully using the power of lightroom if you are not renaming on import and not setting meta date on import

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You can certainly do that too!

[@godsinbox]

Organising a catalogue depends on number of photos and how much stress you want when the catalogue gets screwed up. 2 things are inevitable in life, death, taxes and your lightroom catalogue will become corrupt, causing death. This video doesnt address what YOU will do, WHEN the catalogue becomes corrupt. Will you have sidecar files or will you just scream into the wind.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

True. This video isn't meant to cover what to do when it goes wrong. There is other videos that cover that but it's outside the scope of this video.

[@photografiq_presents]

Stopped at 13 seconds. You should change the title of this video to "The way I do something and that many other photographers disagree with" .

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for watching 13 seconds!

[@mcccccccccc]

If you had continued watching, you would have heard him say several times that this is his way and that he's open to hearing alternatives in the comments.

[@Schatzie301]

How rude and inaccurate. He makes it very clear that this is his own preference. If you had listened more than 13 seconds you would have found that out.

[@Fred70115]

I would have appreciated a few words that described what is a better way, in your opinion. I’m new to this subject so am looking for various methods.

[@eduukemenam1556]

First time on this channel. Great explanation. Coming from someone that’s watched a ton of Lightroom videos.