How do you organise your JPEGs and raw files?

[Steve F]

Hi all,

So I'm pretty sure I'm organising my photos in totally the wrong way and I'm hoping someone can correct me!

 

I've got one folder with sub folders for raw files, on my C drive. And one folder with sub folders for JPEGs. The number of sub folders is starting to multiply - I have e.g. plants and gardens, technology, miscellaneous, wildlife, England, Austria, Italy... I back up everything from time to time on two SSDs.

 

It feels like it's all starting to become a bit unwieldy. I'm aware that you can group photos in Lightroom into collections, but I use this rarely. It's also annoying when I'm importing into Lightroom as I'm trying to do multiple imports of raw files off the same camera card and sticking them in the 'right' raw file sub folder.

 

One change that I've made in the last couple of years is that I only have one Lightroom catalogue that I add to now. I used to have multiple catalogues that matched my themed sub folders (pretty inefficient I guess).

 

I'd appreciate any tips and suggestions 🙂

Stephen

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by Steve F

[meanderingemu]

Suggestion: don't follow my way.  Your organisation sounds organised to me.  😀.  I tried but i have now accepted, organisation was never my strong suit.  Bunch of Portable memory with labels on them (that was a big step up for me) all containing various C1 Sessions. 

[NYCat]

My raw files are on an external drive that is backed up regularly. I do let the jpegs from my submissions stay on my computer hard drive in Pictures but I wouldn't feel bad about deleting some if I needed the room. They can always be recreated. But I suspect I have fewer images than you do. I only use one Lightroom catalog.

 

Paulette

[spacecadet]

I just sub-folder by year/month/excursion or subject. Then rename as required in LR. I keep the rendered jpegs on external with the backups.

My system does require me to keep rather too much in my head though. I can only really search by folder name as I don't keyword much in LR. Only about 70k images.

[Vincent Lowe]

This is the reason I've used IMatch for years.  I keep my raw files in folders and sub folders by year/month/day.  Finished jpegs for Alamy are saved on a separate drive.

 

IMatch uses the concept of 'categories'.  Similar to keywords but they are held in IMatch, not written to the file.  They are displayed just like a folder tree.  You can assign as many categories as you need to each photo and have as many folders and sub-folders as you like.  Once you have assigned your categories just click on one and it will display all the photos in that category regardless of where they are stored.  Could be on internal drives, external drives, DVDs, NAS box, memory stick, whatever - as long as they've been index by IMatch they will all be displayed in the selected category.

 

One feature I find really useful is the 'category builder'. If you are searching for a particular image you can temporarily combine categories in the builder - for example, if you are looking for an image of Dave which you took by a lake in Scotland at sunset but can't remember when or where you took it, drag down the categories 'Dave','sunset','lake','Scotland'... hit the button and, hey presto, you have displayed all the images you took of Dave by a lake...etc. - you get the picture (literally).

 

As always though there is a trade off - the more categories you assign the easier it is to drill down to a particular image but you have to take the time to assign the categories in the first place, which can get a bit tedious (there is an option to copy the categories into keywords which can save some time later).

 

There are also many automatically generated categories available, derived from EXIF data - camera, lens, date, aperture, shutter speed, GPS, etc, etc.  So if you needed to display all the images you took at 1/250 sec at f8 with your Nikon D300 in the month of June, regardless of year, then it's all there with a few clicks of the mouse.

 

There are many other ways to sort images in Imatch - Timeline, Events, Collections (bookmarks, labels, ratings, flags, dots etc) and many ways to filter when searching.  Not to mention 'versioning', 'buddy files' etc. - the possibilities are endless.   All without having to physically move any files from where they are stored.

 

Disclaimer - I have no affiliation with Imatch, just a very satisfied customer...😀

Edited October 15, 2022 by Vincent Lowe
Spelling error

[Betty LaRue]

I do not use LR for organization.  When I develop my RAWs, I save a jpeg next to the raw, and save the same jpeg to an upload folder. The jpeg next to the raw is labeled ####-AL.jpeg. That way, if I go to that folder, I always know by the AL designation that image has been developed and uploaded. Both folders, the RAW/jpeg folder and the upload folder is saved to my external 2 hard drives.

Anytime in the future that should I want to look in the RAW folder, I can easily tell what I’ve developed and uploaded, and any RAWs that are undeveloped.

It works for me. My folders with the RAWs are dated, with a loose naming, such as VARIOUS, FOOD, PLANTS, Etc.  Some may be: Pie/ tomatoes/storefronts, for example. Seldom do I have a folder made up of only one subject.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Betty LaRue

[DG13]

I am addicted to LR, it is very powerful to sort all pics and videos. I have two catalogs; one for Photos and one for videos

I would recommend keeping only RAW files as JPEG are compressed files with less details and have lossy quality! So it can't be edited or re-processed.

You have more Dynamic Range with RAW files and you will have more options to address the overexposed or underexposed in the final image when needed.

 

You can create smart collections on LR according keywords, ratings, date and many other rules. i.e you create a smart collection "Landscape evenings" with "landscape" and "sunrise" as "rules" and all pics matching it will go to this collection automatically. I don't bother with the folder names on the HDD, I set up by date when importing my files.

You can have smart previews and no need to have your HDD connected to your computer to review your files and some settings! You can create a virtual copy of the file and try different setting/adjustments.

 

I have lost more than 3000 pics after a trip in Jordan due to an HDD failure (I managed to recover them)! Since, I have a frequent copy of my HDD "original raw files", and I am doing the same for video files. You can use "Tri-Backup" or write a small code with RSYNC function if you are using a Mac (I can share mine) and this is using less resources and very efficient!

 

 

[MDM]

6 hours ago, DG13 said:

I am addicted to LR, it is very powerful to sort all pics and videos. I have two catalogs; one for Photos and one for videos

I would recommend keeping only RAW files as JPEG are compressed files with less details and have lossy quality! So it can't be edited or re-processed.

You have more Dynamic Range with RAW files and you will have more options to address the overexposed or underexposed in the final image when needed.

 

You can create smart collections on LR according keywords, ratings, date and many other rules. i.e you create a smart collection "Landscape evenings" with "landscape" and "sunrise" as "rules" and all pics matching it will go to this collection automatically. I don't bother with the folder names on the HDD, I set up by date when importing my files.

You can have smart previews and no need to have your HDD connected to your computer to review your files and some settings! You can create a virtual copy of the file and try different setting/adjustments.

 

 

 

I agree pretty much with what you say about stills. Lightroom has incredibly powerful metadata and database features with very rapid search that nobody else who has posted about Lightroom seems to be using. This is quite amazing really although it is a very small sample of posters. Like you I predominantly use the metadata rather than have a complex folder structure. The convenience of having the raw converter within the same program sets Lightroom apart from other data management systems, such as what Vincent discusses, not to mention the integration with Photoshop. 

 

However, I don't use Lightroom for video management, as it is very limited, particularly in terms of the file types it can import and how it displays imported video. Either DaVinci Resolve or FinalCut Pro (Mac only) are infinitely better with advanced data management tools among other things. There is a free version of DaVinci Resolve which has very advanced capabilities. If you have not tried it maybe check it out ...?

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by MDM

[DG13]

Editing video in LR is impossible and yes I am using DaVinci Resolve to edit them whenever it is needed(the free version is enough for me). LR will be only to sort the medias, for keywording, to know which one is online (color flag) and to remember in which agency I uploaded them (I am using smart collection with name of the agency in "user comments").

I search something better for video that suits me but in vain!

 

Example of my smart collection for video ( I started recently)

 

[Rebecca Ore]

27 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

I agree pretty much with what you say about stills. Lightroom has incredibly powerful metadata and database features with very rapid search that nobody else who has posted about Lightroom seems to be using. This is quite amazing really although it is a very small sample of posters. Like you I predominantly use the metadata rather than have a complex folder structure. The convenience of having the raw converter within the same program sets Lightroom apart from other data management systems, such as what Vincent discusses, not to mention the integration with Photoshop. 

 

However, I don't use Lightroom for video management, as it is very limited, particularly in terms of the file types it can import and how it displays imported video. Either DaVinci Resolve or FinalCut Pro (Mac only) are infinitely better with advanced data management tools among other things. There is a free version of DaVinci Resolve which has very advanced capabilities. If you have not tried it maybe check it out ...?

 

 

I think those of us who use Lightroom Classic for metadata and such don't tend to post about it since we learned it 10 to 15 years ago and it's kinda just life.  Searching by metadata is useful.  Smart collections are useful.  Exporting by catalogue is useful.

[MDM]

48 minutes ago, DG13 said:

Editing video in LR is impossible and yes I am using DaVinci Resolve to edit them whenever it is needed(the free version is enough for me). LR will be only to sort the medias, for keywording, to know which one is online (color flag) and to remember in which agency I uploaded them (I am using smart collection with name of the agency in "user comments").

I search something better for video that suits me but in vain!

 

Example of my smart collection for video ( I started recently)

 

 

 

I have a few thousand video clips shot mostly in ProRes Raw (needs Final Cut Pro to read) or BRAW (needs Resolve to read) and I need to find a good system before it gets out of hand. I've tried Lightroom with clips transcoded into a format it can import, as that would be easiest given that I am very familiar with the LR database, but it displays horribly unless I use H.264. That might work but the other problem is getting my keywords out of Final Cut Pro (and maybe Resolve) in a format readable by LR. I got bogged down in it when I tried to devise a coherent system a few weeks back and gave up for the time being. I must have another go soon.

Edited October 17, 2022 by MDM

[Michael Ventura]

Since most of what I shoot is for publications, they are all filed with publication name, the issue (month and year) it was shot for and then the subject.  They all get taken off my internal hard drive, after the issue comes out, and then they go to dedicated external drives for each publication.  All the shoots also get put on Smugmug (minus the RAW files)...I pay $38/month for unlimited storage.  All other subjects I shoot for myself, just get folders with the subject name and date.

[Harry Harrison]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

Lightroom has incredibly powerful metadata and database features with very rapid search that nobody else who has posted about Lightroom seems to be using.

Well I use it, and I've posted about it in the past, but preaching to the unconverted isn't going to be very fruitful. Adobe seem to have completely failed in any attempt to explain the power of the database side of things recently, I can't see anything about it on their website. If you click on 'Lightroom' you just get taken to the cloud-based version (with its associated hosting options, fancy that), you can only find Lightroom Classic if you know what you're looking for and even then there's scant mention of what it does, the defining difference is just that it's optimised for the desktop. It's like trying to see if Alamy sell editorial pictures.

[Harry Harrison]

On 15/10/2022 at 12:42, Steve F said:

It's also annoying when I'm importing into Lightroom as I'm trying to do multiple imports of raw files off the same camera card and sticking them in the 'right' raw file sub folder.

 

There has always been a debate about whether to create your own folders in Lightroom but I would say that doing so is, literally, a waste of time as you are finding. I used to teach Lightroom to photographers who hosted their own picture libraries and that was the most difficult thing to get across because they were used to their actual images being in one place only, in their slide sleeves in the appropriate labelled filing cabinet, much like your hard drive folders for technology, plants & gardens, technology etc. etc. The power of a database means that they can, and normally should, be in more than one place at a time. I use a single Lightroom catalogue with all images just brought in to date folders that Lightroom creates. Everything else is achieved through collections, collection sets and of course keywording (though that is normally very basic unless they are going up on Alamy).

[geogphotos]

I group RAWs in folders by month and year, and JPEGS by year. I have two external HDs for RAWS and a copy on Photoshelter.

 

My JPEGS are in numerical order for each year. Next year will start 23IDM0001 ( IDM being my initials). 

 

My JPEGS are on Photoshelter and periodically I download them all with metadata for computer HD copy. I haven't as yet saved JPEGs to the external HDs

 

I am satisfied that I can download JPEGs very speedily so unless Photoshelter disappears overnight I am not worried about losing them. 

 

I don't use Lightroom, just don't have any interest in it. 

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Harry Harrison said:

Well I use it, and I've posted about it in the past, but preaching to the unconverted isn't going to be very fruitful. Adobe seem to have completely failed in any attempt to explain the power of the database side of things recently, I can't see anything about it on their website. 

 

Yes same here, probably several times. You really mean unconvertible I think, there may still be hope for the as yet unconverted and there is little point in preachig to the converted for sure.  I wasn't going to bother posting in this thread until I saw the post from DG13 about using Lightroom for video. 

 

Adobe presumably want to get as many people using Lightroom on the cloud rather than Classic. I don't think it is failure, more the direction of their marketing. The database facility remains as the major distinguishing feature from most of the other quality raw converters (that and Photoshop of course). 

[Rebecca Ore]

4 hours ago, MDM said:

Adobe presumably want to get as many people using Lightroom on the cloud rather than Classic.

 

More billing opportunities.  If Classic goes away, I switch to something else. 

[Marianne]

I use Lightroom. 

I have my files in Lightroom mostly organized by place and year since I take (took) a lot of travel images.

Other folders are by publication with sub folders by story. 

 

For example, I'll have a main State folder, with each year under that, then subfolders of various towns. If it's a town I shoot in often, I'll break those up by seasons as subfolders or by places of interest.  It doesn't get as unwieldy as it sounds, since I move processed files and folders to two large 12GB backup disks,  exporting by catalog and/or backing it up to a huge archival catalog on the 12TB drive, but making sure when I do that I go back into the LR catalog on my laptop and relocate those "LOST" - i.e. moved - files so I can also find them from my laptop even though they are on a different drive. 

 

An example would be:

Connecticut

>Connecticut 2016

>Connecticut 2017

>Connecticut 2018

...

>Connecticut 2022

>>Niantic

>>>Spring

>>>Summer

>>>Fall

>>Stonington

 

The older folders would show up under the 12TB backup drive Parent folder, so they don't clutter the current catalog ,but can be easily located if I want them.

 

I find it's important for me to keep the Processed RAW, Tiff and jpeg files together and not split them up. Sometimes, as I go through a large shoot, I'll add subfolders for processed and uploaded images until I've worked my way through them and then I'll reorganize them back into fewer folders. With Lightroom I can easily sort a large folder by type of file If I need to, and with versions in Lightroom I can try different processing, especially for prints.  

 

The reason this works is that even though, along with RAW files I shoot small jpegs so I can see pix on the back of my Sonys faster, I don't keep those from the camera jpegs, only uploading the RAW files onto my computer. When I kept both original RAW and original (from the camera) jpegs I'd have to sort the processed jpegs from the original ones and this was a waste of time and hard drive space and was very confusing. 

 

I wish I'd started collections for different stock and POD sites years ago. My collections are very helpful but incomplete. I add to them as I have time.

 

I've been selling prints through an agent - mid-high $$$ net so far this month - and set up a Parent folder in the cloud just for them with the same kind of breakdown to keep track of images I send them for review (<400 so far). I realized long ago that separate parent folders are easier than separate catalogs so I can search huge numbers of files at once. Being in the cloud, the photos aren't in my Pictures Parent folder so they don't confuse me when I'm scanning through my catalog and looking for stock photos to upload. This is the one parent folder where jpeg files are separate from RAW files but a second copy of each jpeg file is also on either my computer or hard drive so again, they are still in one place somewhere. 

 

The benefit of having everything in one huge catalog is that I can search 100,000+ files simply with keywords and find whatever I need, and then figure out where it's backed up to if it's not on my computer.  

 

My naming convention is simple: State abbreviation two digit year_last four digits from camera file e.g. NY22_0123 and for my second Sony it's 2NY22_0123 and for my OLY NY2022_0123 - I'll then add codes to the end for an agent, a fine art style, a show the work has been in, etc. This works very well so that if I've got a fine art photo named NY22_0123s or a jpeg named NY22_0123 and I want to find the original RAW file I know its name. I also know if it's a shrunken jpeg (e.g. 2NY22_0123_17MB) rather than full size which will just have the file name. I have a client that wants me to name my files xxxxx_MC_xxxx  So I'll name it NY22_MC_0123. If I want to find that RAW file again and I search for 0123 I'll maybe get 6-10 different photos and easily be able to go to the folder I need to find that file. 

 

All of these different versions should be in the main Archival folder, with end codes to differentiate them. This way I know if I just need the full size processed RGB jpeg I can find it, but if I want to upload an srgb file to FAA, then I want the jpeg that ends with "s." This only works because I've invested in ever larger backup drives, this past year moving my Archival catalog from 2 mirrored 6TB drives to newer and larger 12TB GTech Pro Drives with the old drives retired but kept for redundancy.

 

I used to have America ___ State ___ Town but realized the "America" parent was unnecessary. If Sweden comes after South Carolina, so be it. It keeps things alphabetical. And with LIghtroom I can always hide the Parent "Connecticut" for example and just have Connecticut 2020, Connecticut 2021 and Connecticut 2022 showing with my current files since it's a state I visit multiple times each year.

 

I just find that using places or concepts like "snow" for parent folders with years as subfolder makes more sense as your catalog grows than organizing simply by date- I know where I shot those great images of the Hudson River, but I may not remember when, so this organization makes more sense to me. 

 

And if I'm not sure if I shot those gorgeous waterlilies near home or while on vacation, or if they are large enough to make into a mural, a search for "waterlily" in LR Classic will show me everything - and I can scan the photos quickly - or search for a particular camera or cameras in the metadata. 

 

I used to have lots of different catalogs and items organized by year, and sometimes I'd export a trip as a catalog, then work on files and export a new one somewhere else figuring if 2 backups was a good idea , 5 was a better one. I was so wrong. It was a mess as I discovered when my iMac and laptop crashed within days of each other 10 years ago. Figuring out what was backed up and what wasn't or where it was, was a nightmare. So, I organized my catalog this way and it's worked well for me since then, refining it a bit along the way. With nesting folders I can go right to what I want easily and with a quick keyword search I can find the waterlilies I shot  at Rockefeller State Park near my home in NY in 2019 and the ones I shot in Delaware in 2016 too.  

 

@Steve F - hope this helps. 

 

 

 

 

 

[M.Chapman]

For me the key thing is to ensure every image has a unique filename, so I rename the Raws on import to YYYY-MM-DD_image ref.EXT using LR or Downloader Pro. YYYY-MM-DD is the image taken date.

Files are automatically imported in monthly folders to give a full path like this example
Pictures/2020s/2022/10 Oct/2022-10-18_137654.RW2

The monthly folder names are prefixed with 01 Jan, 02 Feb so they appear in chronological order in Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder. The use of filenames starting with YYYY-MM-DD ensures the files also appear in chronological order within the folders too

This is all handled by my LR or Downloader Pro import presets.

I store RAWs, Sidecars and derived JPGs in the same folder using the same root filename and (like Marianne) with a suffix on the JPG if I produce multiple versions from the same RAW.

 

Mark

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by M.Chapman

[Marianne]

Mark, I agree. Naming on import in a way that makes sense to you and ensures you don't end up with duplicate file names is key, as is keeping the various versions organized and together.

 

Somehow having files named IMG_999999 wouldn't work for me. And Flower_8000 wouldn't either. But if I'm looking for fall color, looking in my NY, Connecticut and Ohio files makes sense to me, especially since they're usually broken down by season. But when I shoot indoors, using place names doesn't make sense to me, so it's Tacos22_1234 or Gumbo20_011. 

 

Lots of people use the date convention. Not me, since I remember my favorite photos based more on where I shot them rather than when, which is why it's such an individual choice. It's also why I hate how Photos are organized on my iPhone - I'll scroll to June of 2018 to try to find a photo only to discover it was actually taken in April of 2016. It's how my brain is wired I guess. But the basic concept, finding a regular organized way to keep what will surely grow frighteningly huge number number of photographs organized so you can find them is key. 

 

 

[Steve F]

Hi everyone,

Many thanks for all the replies and in particular for the very detailed responses. I particularly appreciate the information on Lightroom imports and organisation. I've always concentrated more on learning the editing aspects of LR, but as my collection gets bigger I'm feeling I need to get more organised. Your information is really useful for that.

 

I was also interested to see the diversity of methods 🙃

 

Have a great weekend all.

Stephen

[Steve F]

On 18/10/2022 at 01:19, Marianne said:

 

@Steve F - hope this helps. 

 

That's my line 😉

It does indeed, many thanks!

 

[Steve F]

On 18/10/2022 at 17:00, M.Chapman said:

For me the key thing is to ensure every image has a unique filename, so I rename the Raws on import to YYYY-MM-DD_image ref.EXT using LR or Downloader Pro. YYYY-MM-DD is the image taken date.

Files are automatically imported in monthly folders to give a full path like this example

 

Mark, thanks for this. Automating on importing sounds good. Sounds like I need to do some YouTubing....

[M.Chapman]

One thing that I found useful is there's a small "hack" to get LR to import  into exactly the file structure you want. In my case I have always used a monthly subfolders names with both the month number and name (e.g. 05 May) which is a format LR doesn't offer. The "hack" involves creating an import preset with the closest settings available and then making a small edit to the preset template file to change the destination folder naming convention. The only edit I had to make is shown in bold.

 

Click Lightroom Import

Set File Renaming close to what is needed

Set File Destination close to what is needed

Save as a new Import Preset using bottom centre menu and name as "My Import Preset" for example

In Finder go to User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Import Presets

Open the file My Import Preset.lrtemlate with a text editor or even better Komodo Edit

Edit the "import folder destination path =" string to match the FIXED part of the "root" folder name to import to

Edit the "shoot name format =" string to match the DYNAMIC sub-folder name to import to using any of the following abbreviations
    %a    Abbreviated weekday name *    Thu
    %A    Full weekday name *    Thursday
    %b    Abbreviated month name *    Aug
    %B    Full month name *    August
    %c    Date and time representation *    Thu Aug 23 14:55:02 2001
    %d    Day of the month (01-31)    23
    %H    Hour in 24h format (00-23)    14
    %I    Hour in 12h format (01-12)    02
    %j    Day of the year (001-366)    235
    %m    Month as a decimal number (01-12)    08
    %M    Minute (00-59)    55
    %p    AM or PM designation    PM
    %S    Second (00-61)    02
    %U    Week number with the first Sunday as the first day of week one (00-53)    33
    %w    Weekday as a decimal number with Sunday as 0 (0-6)    4
    %W    Week number with the first Monday as the first day of week one (00-53)    34
    %x    Date representation *    08/23/01
    %X    Time representation *    14:55:02
    %y    Year, last two digits (00-99)    01
    %Y    Year    2001
    %Z    Timezone name or abbreviation    CDT
    %%    A % sign    %
    Note that anything not preceded by a % will be included "as is" in the sub-folder name.
    /    Subfolder
    -    Hyphen seperator
    _    Underscore seperator
    Text    Miscellaneous text

 

Edit the "tokens =" string to match the file renaming needed (shouldn't be necessary as LR allows extensive customisation of this already)

Save the import preset (make sure the original filename and extension are kept) My preset looked like this.

 

s = {
    id = "3AFA2DFA-91A9-47FA-9431-058BB1D5FD8A",
    internalName = "My Import Preset",
    title = "My Import Preset",
    type = "Import",
    value = {
        Import_add_photos_to_collection = false,
        autoSegmentMethod = "autoSegment_Date",
        backupDownloadFolder = "/Users/Mark/Pictures/Lightroom/Download Backups",
        crSettingsID = "<none>",
        doCopyToBackupFolder = false,
        extensionCase = "unchanged",
        generateDNGProxies = false,
        generateDNGProxiesLater = false,
        ignoreSuspectedDuplicates = true,
        importBehavior = "copyToLibrary",
        importDestinationFolderPath = "/Users/mark/Pictures/2020s",
        importDestinationUseSubfolder = true,
        importServiceProvider = "com.adobe.ag.import.file",
        importServiceProviderTitle = "Files on Disk",
        initialSequenceNumber = 1,
        keywords = "",
        metadataPresetID = "<none>",
        previewBuildQuality = "prev",
        previewJPEGQuality = 0.75,
        renamingTokensOn = true,
        shootNameFormat = "%Y/%m %b",
        standardPreviewSize = 1440,
        tokenCustomString = "",
        tokenShootName = "",
        tokens = "{{date_YYYY}}-{{date_MM}}-{{date_DD}}_{{image_filename_number_suffix}}",
    },
    version = 0,
}

 

Mark

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by M.Chapman

[NYCat]

3 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

One thing that I found useful is there's a small "hack" to get LR to import  into exactly the file structure you want. In my case I have always used a monthly subfolders names with both the month number and name (e.g. 05 May) which is a format LR doesn't offer. The "hack" involves creating an import preset with the closest settings available and then making a small edit to the preset template file to change the destination folder naming convention. The only edit I had to make is shown in bold.

 

Click Lightroom Import

Set File Renaming close to what is needed

Set File Destination close to what is needed

Save as a new Import Preset using bottom centre menu and name as "My Import Preset" for example

In Finder go to User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Import Presets

Open the file My Import Preset.lrtemlate with a text editor or even better Komodo Edit

Edit the "import folder destination path =" string to match the FIXED part of the "root" folder name to import to

Edit the "shoot name format =" string to match the DYNAMIC sub-folder name to import to using any of the following abbreviations
    %a    Abbreviated weekday name *    Thu
    %A    Full weekday name *    Thursday
    %b    Abbreviated month name *    Aug
    %B    Full month name *    August
    %c    Date and time representation *    Thu Aug 23 14:55:02 2001
    %d    Day of the month (01-31)    23
    %H    Hour in 24h format (00-23)    14
    %I    Hour in 12h format (01-12)    02
    %j    Day of the year (001-366)    235
    %m    Month as a decimal number (01-12)    08
    %M    Minute (00-59)    55
    %p    AM or PM designation    PM
    %S    Second (00-61)    02
    %U    Week number with the first Sunday as the first day of week one (00-53)    33
    %w    Weekday as a decimal number with Sunday as 0 (0-6)    4
    %W    Week number with the first Monday as the first day of week one (00-53)    34
    %x    Date representation *    08/23/01
    %X    Time representation *    14:55:02
    %y    Year, last two digits (00-99)    01
    %Y    Year    2001
    %Z    Timezone name or abbreviation    CDT
    %%    A % sign    %
    Note that anything not preceded by a % will be included "as is" in the sub-folder name.
    /    Subfolder
    -    Hyphen seperator
    _    Underscore seperator
    Text    Miscellaneous text

 

Edit the "tokens =" string to match the file renaming needed (shouldn't be necessary as LR allows extensive customisation of this already)

Save the import preset (make sure the original filename and extension are kept) My preset looked like this.

 

s = {
    id = "3AFA2DFA-91A9-47FA-9431-058BB1D5FD8A",
    internalName = "My Import Preset",
    title = "My Import Preset",
    type = "Import",
    value = {
        Import_add_photos_to_collection = false,
        autoSegmentMethod = "autoSegment_Date",
        backupDownloadFolder = "/Users/Mark/Pictures/Lightroom/Download Backups",
        crSettingsID = "<none>",
        doCopyToBackupFolder = false,
        extensionCase = "unchanged",
        generateDNGProxies = false,
        generateDNGProxiesLater = false,
        ignoreSuspectedDuplicates = true,
        importBehavior = "copyToLibrary",
        importDestinationFolderPath = "/Users/mark/Pictures/2020s",
        importDestinationUseSubfolder = true,
        importServiceProvider = "com.adobe.ag.import.file",
        importServiceProviderTitle = "Files on Disk",
        initialSequenceNumber = 1,
        keywords = "",
        metadataPresetID = "<none>",
        previewBuildQuality = "prev",
        previewJPEGQuality = 0.75,
        renamingTokensOn = true,
        shootNameFormat = "%Y/%m %b",
        standardPreviewSize = 1440,
        tokenCustomString = "",
        tokenShootName = "",
        tokens = "{{date_YYYY}}-{{date_MM}}-{{date_DD}}_{{image_filename_number_suffix}}",
    },
    version = 0,
}

 

Mark

 

 

OMG. So complicated. I am in awe. I just let it all go into a folder with the date and then as I go through them make folders with the name of the subject. So everything remains in the year with the folders being subjects I shot that year. The subjects might be broken down as in Kenya, then lions, topi, etc.

 

Paulette

Edited October 23, 2022 by NYCat