Assign flags right after an import to filter out the obviously bad shots and ones you'd like to keep. Use your first instinct and leave undecided ones as unflagged.
- Pick (
P): In focus, eyes open, good positioning - Reject (
X): Out of focus, blurry motion, eyes closed - Unflag (
U):
~ can be used to toggle between picked and unflagged.
Upon importing, each photo should be given a star based on the following criteria. Stars 4 and 5 are assigned after editing only.
- ⭐️ (
1): Meh, could delete and wouldn't care (but I don't actually delete cause I'm a data hoarder) - ⭐️⭐️ (
2): Ok, but wouldn't spend too much time editing (or any) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (
3): Good and I should spend some time editing it - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (
4): Publishable and professional - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (
5): Impeccable photo (IMO)
[ and ] to decrease or increase star rating.
Labels are used to track the progress of the editing and publishing processes.
- 🟥 (
6): To-do - 🟨 (
7): In-progress - 🟩 (
8): Ready for export - 🟦 (
9): Published / Printed - 🟪: Source(s) for blending a final product
The folder structure is simple and serves one primary purpose:
If my Lightroom catalog gets unrecoverably nuked, I at least know where each photo belongs in my library.
.
├── 2021/
│ ├── 01-January/
│ │ └── Weekend in Tahoe/
│ │ ├── 1.arw
│ │ └── 2.arw
│ └── 02-February
└── 2022/
└── 01-January
But what if my photos span across the end of a month?
Use the earliest date for that photoshoot. For example, If I went on a trip Jan 31 - Feb 5, 2022 I would use ./2022/01-January/My Awesome Trip.
Ok, but what if there is multiple trips in that range?
I mean, the world is your oyster 🦪. Use keywords with the locations, drop them on the lightroom map, create new folders based on location name, or give the event a recognizable name, like Weekend in Tahoe and California Coast. This is fine because how many times did you really do a Weekend in Tahoe in a month? If it's more than one, venmo me money pls.
How many catalogs should I have?
One.
Where should I store my photos?
NAS, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc.
Where should I keep my Lightroom Catalog
Keep it on your local computer and back it up regularly. I don't recommend storing it on a NAS or in a Cloud-Sync'd folder since they contain all the generated thumbnails and will thrash a lot trying to upload when actively editing in lightroom.