Best Method to Export and Store Photos?

[trooper5010]

Hi DPS, I use Lightroom and Photoshop a lot and other applications.. but after I export my RAW file to these programs, what is the best file type to organize and save my photos for "anything".. i.e. printing, re-editing, going back and cropping, etc?

Right now I have a folder for my JPGs/PNGs for uploading to my websites/facebook, and another folder for the RAW files (should I keep them in CR2, TIF, or PSD with ProPhotoRGB?) and then another folder for rough draft pictures that I haven't gotten to yet.

Am I missing something important to do with my photos, or is there an even better way to organize your pictures and how do you guys end up organizing your photos for everything?

Thanks!

[Walkere]

Originally Posted by trooper5010

Right now I have a folder for my JPGs/PNGs for uploading to my websites/facebook, and another folder for the RAW files (should I keep them in CR2, TIF, or PSD with ProPhotoRGB?) and then another folder for rough draft pictures that I haven't gotten to yet.

I convert RAW images to DNG when I import them into Lightroom. I like standards, and I figure this is a better format in the long run than proprietary file formats like Canons CR2 or Nikons NEF. If I edit something in Photoshop, I usually save it as a TIFF and import it into my Lightroom library.

Am I missing something important to do with my photos, or is there an even better way to organize your pictures and how do you guys end up organizing your photos for everything

My theory is less is more. I keep everything sorted through my Lightroom catalog - import DNGs into folders and tag/rate as necessary to help with sorting. When I want to "do" something with the pictures, I export them from Lightroom with the appropriate settings. But these output files are always temporary, and I trash them when I'm done.

For example, I photographed a high school girl's basketball game last week. The life of those pictures would be something like this...

1. Take pictures.
2. Import in Lightroom as DNG. Tag photos.
3. Rate good photos. Keep ok. Delete bad. Do quick editing / cropping.
4. Pick two dozen photos for Facebook.
5. Export at low resolution. Upload. Delete JPEGs.
6. Pick 10 photos to print.
7. Export at 4x6in. size. Print at Costco. Delete JPEGs.
8. Eventually... Choose pictures for yearbook.
9. Export in high resolution. Store JPEG with InDesign layout.
10. Go back to Lightroom any time I need to view / use pictures.

This keeps everything nice and organized in my Lightroom catalog. Any time I need to do something with a photo, I find it in Lightroom, export it to the desired output and use it. No need to keep any extra files or folders lying around.

[dakwegmo]

My workflow is similar to Walkere's, though the only time I export as JPG directly is when I'm sending them somewhere else for print. Most places that I would normally export to, Facebook, Blog, Google+, Zenfolio, etc. all have WordPress plugins that allow me to export directly to the site, so the intermediate JPG is automatically deleted once it's been uploaded.

[OsmosisStudios]

I just keep my RAW files (as .nef) and the xmp sidecars in one folder, then export to JPG for general use. If Im printing, I'll use whatever the printer asks for: be it TIFF, JPG, PSD or PDF.

[lerabu]

Pretty much what the first reply says.

I keep the occasioanl PSD for really show off shots that I want to come back to later etc... But mostly I keep the RAW files and the Lightroom catalogue. It keeps it nice and neat and uses relatively low amounts of memory compared to the number of images and changes while keeping the initial quality.