The Best Way To Organize Your Photos With Adobe Lightroom

If you're a professional photographer or serious hobbyist you must organize your photos. It's best to start early. However, if you've been taking photos for a while and don't really have a system in place this article will help you to fix that.

Organize Your Photos

If you don't have Adobe Lightroom I recommend you give it a try. Aside from the editing capabilities, you'll be thankful for the ease with which you can organize your photos. That said, if you don't have Lightroom, and don't want to or can't get it there are other ways to keep your photography catalog organized.

Why Organizing Your Photos Is Important

Have you ever tried to actually find a needle in a haystack? Because, if you've got even just a few years worth of photos it would be easier to finding that one picture that you think you took that one time at that one place.

In other words, organizing your photos ensures that you're able to quickly find and use specific photos when you need them. This is especially important if you're a professional photographer. I can't tell you how often a client will call years later to find one specific picture. Therefore, being able to quickly search and find that picture is the difference between a happy customer and weeks of digging through folders.

In addition to making them faster to find, keeping your photos organized makes it easier to ensure that you're backing them up, keeping enough copies to be safe, and keeping your photo archive safe.

Using Adobe Lightroom To Stay Organized

If you've ever tried to keep your photos organized in your computer's file system you'll quickly run up against the limitations of this process. By using Adobe Lightroom's powerful cataloging features you can make sure your photos stay organized and easy to find.

So, here is how you're going to use Lightroom's organizing tools to do what your computer's file system isn't easily able to do.

The Lightroom Catalog

Organizing your Lightroom catalog starts with importing your photos. First, start at the red circle. This is where you'll find the import button. If you're taking photos off of your camera use this. Also, if you're moving photos from an external drive to your computer use this button. However, if the photos you're trying to import are on your drive already use the plus sign (+). You'll find it next to the Folders list. This will allow you to add specific folders (and sub folders).

Importing Photos

First, let's go over importing from a camera or another drive.

Here is what you'll see when you click on the import button. The red circle is where your card or drives should show up. Here is where you can find any folder you specifically wish to import from.

Note, you don't have to import all of the files. However, if you're importing from your camera, I find it makes sense to grab them all. Then, once you've imported, you can see if there are any you don't wish to keep. For example, you might want to delete out-of-focus photos.

Find Your Photos

Click on the folder (or card) you want. Now, you'll see the photos from that folder begin to load in the center. If the files are large, then it may take some time.

While they're loading, you can choose where you want to put them.

In the photo on the right you can see a red circle around the destination. Here is where you'll select the drive and folder you're placing the photos in. Additionally, you can create a new sub-folder and import the photos into that folder.

Naming Your Subfolder

Your photo organization starts here with naming your folders. First, you need to decide how you're going to store your photos. I recommend using a data and name system. For example, my folders look like this:

Pictures (my computer's photo folder)
>>20240330 - location/company/person's name

First, I keep all the photos under the same main folder (until I need to archive them). Then, I choose a name for each folder that starts with the date. It's important to me that the dates are how the folders are organized in my computer. Therefore, I write the date: year, month, day. After this, I include the location I was photographing at or the name of the company or individual I was photographing.

Select Your Photos

Once the photos have loaded in the center, be sure to select those you wish to import or hit select all. After that, you'll want to decide if it's necessary to rename each photo, apply any development settings, and most importantly add keywords.

Keywording Your Photos

Keywording is a crucial step when it comes to organizing your photos. In fact, this is the best way to ensure that you'll find photos when you're looking for. Or, to make it nearly impossible to do so (if you skip this step).

On the right of the screen, above the destination selection area is the Keywording box. Here you'll want to enter keywords for the photos you're importing. Obviously, doing this right will mean that you'll be able to use Lightroom's search engine later to find these photos should you forget when you took them.

In addition, these keywords will stick with the photos in their meta-data so no matter where the photo ends up you should be able to find it.

Details Matter

When it comes to keywording your photos in Lightroom, details matter. In fact, the more detailed you are the faster you'll be able to find the photos you're searching for. If you forget to add keywords before importing, don't worry, the Library has a similar Keyword section that you can use to add them after importing. Truthfully you may prefer to add the keywords this way in fact.

The level of detail you choose when it comes to organizing your photos is up to you. Is it enough to list the same keywords for an entire day's worth of photos? Or does it make sense to label them each individually? That's up to you.

Personally, while I'd love to keyword them individually the fact is I'm fine with photos from the same day coming up when I search even if they're not of the subject I'm searching for. For example, say I search for heron all the photos from the previous import will show up. After all, they're all tagged with haron, even those which don't have a heron in them. That said, this would really bother some people. If you're one of those folks, then try labeling them individually. Conversely, you can select multiple images and keyword them as a group.

In Conclusion

So, you're now set and can begin to catalog and organize your photos in Adobe Lightroom. If you don't already own Lightroom, click here to sign up for the photographer's bundle. Then, watch this space for future articles that'll help you get the most out of your subscription. If you have any questions, please let a comment below or contact me to ask.