How Many Lightroom Catalogs Should You Have? Here is the Answer
Welcome to today’s video! If you’ve ever wondered how many Lightroom catalogs you should have, you’re not alone. Many photographers struggle to decide between a single catalog or multiple ones. In this video, we’ll break down the pros and cons of each approach, explore how catalogs impact performance and organization, and help you determine the best setup for your workflow. Stay tuned for practical tips to optimize your Lightroom experience. Let’s get started!
This video is from our Lightroom Workflow and Organization Course.
Video Summary
In this tutorial, the instructor addresses one of the most common questions for Adobe Lightroom Classic users: “How many catalogs do I need?” While some photographers create a new catalog every year or for every shoot, the instructor argues that for most professionals, a single catalog is the best approach.
The video explains that modern computers can easily handle massive catalogs without lagging, and that Lightroom’s Collections feature is a much more efficient way to organize photos by year, theme, or client. The instructor only recommends creating a separate catalog for “rare cases,” such as keeping tutorial sample images separate from a professional portfolio or managing a high-volume printing business for outside clients.
Time Stamps
- 0:15 – The One-Catalog Rule: Why most professional photographers prefer working with a single, unified catalog.
- 1:21 – Catalogs vs. Collections: Explaining why the “Collections” tool is a superior way to theme and partition photos (by year, baby shoots, etc.) compared to making new catalogs.
- 2:28 – Performance Concerns: Debunking the myth that large catalogs cause significant lag on modern machines.
- 3:09 – Advantages of Unity: How a single catalog makes filtering, sorting, and finding any image much faster.
- 3:38 – Exceptions to the Rule: Identifying the rare scenarios where a separate catalog makes sense (e.g., this specific course or a separate printing lab business).
- 5:32 – Final Recommendation: A clear takeaway for students: one catalog is more than enough for your own photography.
- 5:45 – Next Steps: Preparing to create a new catalog specifically for the sample images in the upcoming lesson.
