How to Organize Photos for Lightroom

Hey photographers! Having trouble figuring out how to organize photos for Lightroom?

You’re in the right place!

As a private photo editor, I always hear “My lightroom is a mess.”
So, if you’ve ever found yourself swamped in a digital hell of photos then it’s time to declutter and get your creative space in order. Here’s your guide on how to organize photos for Lightroom starting from choosing your SD card to exporting.

Organizing Your Photos for Lightroom creates Efficiency and Security

Let’s face it – sometimes we photographers overshoot and are inundated with hundreds or thousands of photos after a shoot. Organizing them effectively is crucial not only for sanity but also for efficiency and safety. Here, we’ll get into how to organize your Lightroom catalog and files for the most streamlined and secure workflow.

Step 1: How to choose the right SD cards to take your photos on!

What specs photographers should look for on an SD card:

1. Performance: Faster SD cards, with high write and read speeds, ensure that your camera saves images swiftly, especially when capturing bursts of shots or high-resolution RAW photos. This reduces the lag time between shots, ensuring you don’t miss crucial moments.
2. Storage Capacity: Depending on the type of photo shoot, you might produce a large number of high-resolution images. A higher-capacity SD card ensures you won’t run out of storage mid-shoot. This is especially crucial for events like weddings, where you can’t afford to miss a moment.
3. Reliability: High-quality SD cards are less prone to data corruption or failures. I only purchase my SD cards from reliable sources like BH Photo or Best Buy. Imagine wrapping up a fantastic shoot only to discover that your SD card has malfunctioned, and all your efforts are lost!
4. Speed Class Compatibility: Different cameras have different minimum speed class requirements for certain shooting modes, especially when capturing high-definition or 4K video. Using an SD card that matches or exceeds your camera’s speed class requirement ensures seamless recording and data capture.
5. Durability: Premium SD cards tend to be more durable, often offering features like waterproofing, shock resistance, and temperature resistance. When shooting in challenging environments, this can make all the difference in preserving your data.
6. Data Retrieval: If, unfortunately, data becomes corrupted, some higher-end SD cards come with data recovery software that can help retrieve lost or corrupted files. This added layer of security can be a lifesaver.

My Favorite SD Cards:

The 128gb Extreme Pro Sandisk: This high-capacity card is a favorite for many photographers. With a write speed of 170 mb/s, it ensures that your camera won’t lag while saving high-resolution images. And, the SD XC Extended Capacity: These are typically 64gb or higher and are perfect if you shoot with a camera that has a dual slot. They minimize the risk of card corruption, ensuring that you don’t lose any of your precious photos during a shoot.

Step 2: Import your photos on your SD to an external SSD (Solid State Drive)

What is an SSD?

An SSD (Solid-State Drive) is a modern data storage device that uses flash memory, distinguishing it from traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) with spinning disks. Unlike HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts, making them more durable and silent. An SSD writes data 10 times faster and reads data 20 times faster than a traditional HDD leading to quicker system boot times and more responsive application performance. Investing in an SSD (Solid State Drive) is a non-negotiable for me.

Pro Tip: Aim to buy 2 SSDs each year. Immediately after shooting, make copies of your data onto both SSDs and keep your SD cards safely stored with the RAW images until your gallery is delivered.

Click for my favorite external SSD: Samsung 1TB SSD

How to import your photos from SD to external SSD:

When you plug your SD card into your computer, create a new folder for each session on your SSD then copy your raw images from the SD card to this folder. This folder will contain everything related to that shoot – the Lightroom catalog file, RAWs, edited images, and so on. A simple naming convention such as the client’s last name followed by the type of shoot (e.g., “Smith_Wedding”) is both straightforward and effective.

Now keep your original SD card in safe keeping until the final gallery is delivered.

Step 3: Create a new catalog in Lightroom for each wedding or each year to help organize photos for Lightroom:

For efficiency and safety, it’s advisable to create a new Lightroom catalog for each wedding or for each year. Here’s why:

• Organization: Everything is neatly categorized by session.
• Safety: If a catalog gets corrupted, you only lose data for a single set of time.
• Performance: Lightroom runs more swiftly with smaller, separate catalogs.

How to create a New Catalog in Lightroom:

• Open your current catalog.
• Go to File > New Catalog.
• Save it with a relevant name, e.g., “Chrzan_Wedding_2023.”
• Choose to save it on your external drive, preferably in the folder containing all relevant RAW images for that shoot.

Now, when you want to edit this catalog you will go to your external drive to the folder you created and click on the Lightroom Catalog in the folder and it will open on the Lightroom App on your computer. Keeping your raws and catalogs on the external SSD is going to save so much space on your computer’s hard drive AND help your Lightroom run much faster.

Step 4: How to Cull, Edit, and Export in Lightroom to stay organized:

With a new catalog in Lightroom and keeping all of your images on an external drive, your culling process will be much faster with the extra space on your hard drive. The flagging system in Lightroom streamlines the process of sifting through and selecting the top shots from a session. For efficient culling, press “x” on your keyboard to reject an image. Then, using the Flag Filter, choose the dotted flag option; this will display only the unflagged images you intend to edit.

After editing, export your images and save them under the same dedicated session folder that has your catalog and raws. This keeps everything from the session, from RAWs to the catalog and final edits, in one easily accessible place.

Organizing Photos for Lightroom doesn’t just save time; it protects your work. From choosing the right storage medium to adopting an organized system within Lightroom, every step ensures your images are safe, easily accessible, and ready for post-processing.

If you’re a wedding photographer and want to learn how to streamline your workflow and breakdown your editing to make it easier to complete then read this post: Efficient Photo Editing Workflow for Wedding Photographers

Happy shooting & editing!
Marissa