Lightroom users, how do you manage your photos ?

[woods]

Hello, I'm new to Lightroom (as well as new to DPS) and I really enjoy using it to edit or browse my photos. But I start wondering how to manage all these pictures after editing some of them an leave some others as they are...

After editing your photos, do you export them all and keep both edited and original versions ? Or do you replace the originals directly ?

I usually take pictures of my travels weekends, etc. And when some of them are not masterpieces, I keep them to remember my trips. So I take time to edit pictures that worth it but don't delete all the other ones. I don't want to replace originals since I may come back some time later and work on them again. I guess I'm going to export all folders after I'm done editing or not even if it means increasing the disk space used by my photos...

I would like to know about others experience. Is this a problem for you ?

Thanks !

[fletch]

I keep all of my photos on Lightroom as RAW files in folders by date and named. I keyword all images and then go through and flag images.

Flagged means keeper that will have some editing done to it, whether just a preset to full photoshopping. I flag all images I want to show people, whether its a social snapshot or full on photography type shot.
Unflagged means not sure yet no further work
Rejected means one day it will get deleted as I need the space

I back up my raw files and my lightroom catalogue so I don't loose my pics or my edits (I'm considering switching to DNG and writing the edits to file as well)

I only export from Lightroom to temporary files that I need for a certain application such as uploading to the web or printing. I delete these files when I am done.

I know some people like to back up their final files to 16 bit TIFF as a back up of completed work but this tends to be pros who rely on an image catalogue as their livelyhood. I consider RAW and catalogue back ups sufficent and if I need a file I just output from LR as required.

So to answer your question; Is this a problem for you?

No, infact lightroom makes it much easier as I don't need multiple different versions of my files stored all over the place in multiple different formats (Just the RAWs, list of edit instructions and the ocasional PSD if I have had to go to photoshop)

[acedrew]

This may help you better understand how the Lightroom Library system works. LightroomNews » Blog Archive » Lightroom Tutorial Podcast #45: The Lightroom Catalog – Part 1
I have my files imported into photodirectory/year/yyyy-mm-dd/filename.raw
I then use a similar system to fletch, as far as flagging and unflagging, I've also started working using collections and ratings. to display an edited and unedited version of a photo, simply make a virtual copy before editing the original. (Right click a photo in either the library grid or the Loupe, and select "make virtual copy" Also remember you can use the history in the Develop module to step through previous edits.

Andrew Rodgers
Perfected Perspectives -- Photography by Andrew Rodgers | Andrew Rodgers (acedrew) on Twitter | Login | Facebook

[woods]

Thanks for your replies.

My organization workflow is similar to yours : I import my photos, review them, delete the bad shots and flag / color tag for selection. Then I edit some of the photos and export them to share on the web.

But what I export is usually not staying long on my disk as I usually resize pictures to share on the web. So I have many edited shots that I can only see (edited) in Lightroom. And since I'd like to mix edited / not edited photos to be able to view them from my hd I guess I have some big exports to do.

That's why I was wondering how other users were organizing themselves... Exporting everything or keeping edited photos in Lightroom ? Deleting originals after edition or keeping them ? Sorry if I seem unclear.

I think I'll just export at a lower resolution to keep "final versions" of my photos that I can easily access and i'll keep all Lightroom collections and originals so I can make changes later if I need or export some photos in higher resolution, etc.

[fletch]

By "non edited" do you mean before and after comparisons or just somewhere to store shots you are never going to edit?

You can use Lightroom for either of those scenarios very easily. I just manage everything in Lightroom, if I'm not going to edit the shot I just won't go to the develop module. Makes life much easier and there isn't really any size constraints on a LR catalogue. Everything goes into LR from camera phone shots through to DSLR shots. I never ever use anything but Lightroom to view or search for photos any more.