How do I sort out my mess in Lightroom

[SueBasler]

I have had lightroom for a few years now and when I started I just fumbled around and did it my way, which works for me but I suddenly feel the need to do it correctly and have been watching videos and bought Scott Kelbys book but I still have a few questions.

The way I have always done it is to import the pics into My Pictures folder on my laptop (I am a windows user), then I would import my pictures from there onto Lightroom, process them, edit them in Photoshop and then save TIFF and JPEG in 2 separate folders.  Now I have been studying how to do it properly and it seems the best way is to import directly from your camera or sd card.  This morning I tried this and in My Pictures I get a folder in a folder in a folder - folder 1 being 2017, folder 2 being 3 (for March) and folder 3 being 15.  I know that if I continue to do this it will all work out fine and is pretty compact.  Should I now rearrange and rename all my folders into the format that Lightroom does it?  The way I have been doing it is to have a folder for each day, which at the end of the month I put into a month folder and then when my laptop hard drive is too full I transfer it all onto my external hard drive.  It is pretty long winded but goes quick.

(I hope you are not laughing )

Phew!!!

I have found that it is way faster to import pictures I have downloaded onto my computer - taking them off my camera into Lightroom takes ages.  Why is this?

One last question....

When folders have been taken off my hard drive and put onto the external hard drive I do know how to retrieve them on Lightroom but the folders on my hard drive show that the folder is missing and if I click on the ? it asks to find the folder, which I can do and then it asks if I want to merge, but then I don't see even the missing folder reflected on my hard drive (in lightroom).  Is there any way to link these?

Oh, another thing.  When you want to delet a picture and it asks Delete from Disk?, does it delete from my hard drive and external hard drive?

Thank you

[Just Shoot Me]

Your old way is fine and I would continue to do it the way you always have.

If you choose to start uysing LR to do all your Copying from camera or card then there are options in the import dialog wiindow.

You "Don't" have to place them in Dated folder.

If you do want to put them in dated folders there are many choices for the date format in LR or you can create your own using this article and an Import Preset.

Create a Lightroom 5 custom import preset to organize photos into year-month (YYYY-MM)

Yes anytime you use the File Manager to move images around to different drives connected to your computer those original folders and the images inside those folder will show as missing in LR. LR is a Database program, Folder and images are only Referenced into the LR Database file, IE the Catalog file. If you move folder/file outside of LR the database file looses track of them. You can reconnect them by using the LR Find missing files/photos and Change Folder Location system inside LR.

[SueBasler]

Thank you for your help.  It would certainly make things a lot easier for me to continue the way I have been doing, but when I have told others about the way I do it they seem to think it is wrong and that is part of the reason why I started looking at how to do it correctly.

[Just Shoot Me]

Skoek  wrote

Thank you for your help.  It would certainly make things a lot easier for me to continue the way I have been doing, but when I have told others about the way I do it they seem to think it is wrong and that is part of the reason why I started looking at how to do it correctly.

It might be wrong for them, Not you.

With LR you can store images anyway you like. I personally have always stored images in dated folder by years, Pictures 2004 to Pictures 2017, and then by the month-day they were shot as subfolders under the years folders. That way is right for ME. I started that long before I started using LR. I used Bridge, ACR and PS.

If you place all your images in one folder that is fine. There is NO right and wrong way.

Its all about what works for you. Not someone else.

[dj_paige]

I wouldn't place all of your images in a single huge folder with no subfolders ... it is okay to have a single folder with many many subfolders ... why? Becuase some operating system operations become very slow when all the photos are in one HUGE folder with no subfolder, and since Lightroom uses operating system calls, this can slow down some operations in Lightroom too when it has to read an entire HUGE folder.

[dj_paige]

have been watching videos and bought Scott Kelbys book but I still have a few questions.

In my opinion, not a good thing to do. Kelby's advice on organizing is weak and off the mark, in my opinion.

Should I now rearrange and rename all my folders into the format that Lightroom does it?

NO!

Ignore the folders. Use Lightroom's strengths, which is to apply metadata (keywords, captions, etc.) to your photos, and then use these metadata to search for photos when you need to find things. Not only is this a more powerful organization, but it doesn't require the messy and often error prone steps of moving photos from one folder to another.

[SueBasler]

Thank you for your response.

I sure was not looking forward to moving my folders around - have done it once before and spent hours at the computer trying to find everything.