How to Organize Photos on Computer for Editing in Lightroom

In this video we will be learning how to organize your digital photos on your computer in a professional way. This will also help you in your editing workflow if you are using an image management software like Adobe Lightroom, since Lightroom will mimic the structure of your photo storage organization and create a catalog with the same structure when you import these photos in Lightroom. Here’s the video:

Video Summary

This video explains the importance of organizing your photos on a computer or external hard drive before importing them into Adobe Lightroom. Proper organization ensures that finding specific shots is easy and that the folder structure is seamlessly replicated within the Lightroom interface.

Key Takeaways from the Video:

• The Importance of Folder Structure: Organizing photos on your drive first is critical because Lightroom mimics your computer’s folder layout [00:43]. This makes managing thousands of images across different shoots much more efficient [00:51].
• Categorization Strategy: The instructor recommends a hierarchical system:
  • Main Folder: A single dedicated folder for all photography (e.g., “Photos”) [02:04].
  • Categories: Divide the main folder into broad categories like Events, Landscape, Portraits, and Food [02:24].
  • Subcategories: Within these categories, use subfolders based on year, location, or the specific subject (e.g., “New Zealand 2017” or “Portraits 2023”) [04:49].
• Professional vs. Hobby Organization: While hobby categories like landscapes might be loosely named, professional shoots should be highly organized by year and person/event to ensure quick retrieval for clients [03:59].
• Using External Hard Drives: The video highlights that an external hard drive is often the best place to store photos to save internal computer space and maintain portability [01:50].
• Practical Application: The tutorial sets the stage for a practical exercise where users will take “raw” files and practice transferring and organizing them into this structured system [06:42].

Important Links

This video is from our Lightroom Classic Workflow and Organization course, which has 24 videos, which 27 videos and 3 hours of content. You can access the full course via Udemy.com, using the link below:

Lightroom Classic Workflow and Organization course