How to Manage and Back Up Lightroom Photos (8 Simple Tips)

Introduction

In the fast-paced world of photography, ensuring that your image catalog is organized and your image files are stored securely in multiple locations is the key to running a successful photography business. An efficient workflow not only helps you save time but also protects your valuable work from unforeseen events like hardware failures or accidental deletions.

This article teaches you how to back up your images in Lightroom, organize your folders and hard drives, and manage your collections efficiently. You’ll also learn what to avoid, such as editing your photos in the folder structure or unnecessarily keywording your images, which can consume precious time.

By implementing these eight Lightroom tips and tricks, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a pro at organizing and backing up your images!

1. Store Your Images in Two Different Places

Don’t save your photos on your computer or laptop. Instead, copy them from your memory card directly to external hard drives. This practice not only ensures that your images are not at risk of being lost due to a computer failure but also allows for greater organization.

A recommended external drive is the WD MyPassport, known for its reliability and speed.

You’ll need at least two hard drives; that way, you can back up your Lightroom images to one drive that you keep nearby and one drive that you keep at a different location (e.g., your workplace). This is crucial in case one of your external drives stops working or a disaster strikes at home.

2. Sync Your Hard Drives

You should regularly sync your devices so that all your photos are updated on both drives. Depending on how many pictures you take, you should do this once a week, once a month, or after every major photoshoot. That way, you’ll always have an ongoing backup of your Lightroom images.

Syncing your drives is easy and can even be automated. If you’re a Mac user, you can use a software called Carbon Copy Cloner, which allows you to create bootable backups and clone your drives easily.

Windows users can opt for Backupper by AOMEI, a robust alternative for automatic backups that is user-friendly and efficient.

For those using Backblaze and other cloud-based solutions, your subscription should provide you with the software to do automatic updates and backups. These tools allow you to set it and forget it, ensuring that your images are consistently backed up without requiring ongoing attention.

The sync software only checks for new photos on each drive, making the process fast and efficient. Regular syncing will give you peace of mind that your images are safe and accessible.

3. Create a Cloud Backup

Don’t be afraid of the cloud! It is a modern solution for data storage, offering accessibility and security. As long as you’re not a celebrity or politician, nobody actually cares about your photos. Therefore, it’s better to have a secure cloud backup of all your Lightroom photos than to risk losing files due to privacy concerns.

Plus, it’s straightforward, secure, and cost-effective to back up your entire computer and unlimited external hard drives (with all your photos on them) to the cloud. We recommend Backblaze, a full backup service that runs quietly in the background and typically costs only a few dollars a month.

4. Make a Folder Structure

On your external hard drives, start with just one folder. Call it “Lightroom Photos,” “LR Photos,” or something similar to keep it straightforward.

Then, within that one folder, create a main folder structure focused on image categories. You can choose topics like:

• Vacation
• Family events
• Weddings
• Flowers
• Portraits

Of course, the structure will differ for each photographer. Professionals may want to create categories that clearly reflect the work they do (e.g., product photography, senior portraits, etc.).

In each category folder, add a single folder for each new photoshoot. For example, in the Vacation folder, you might add “Venice Trip with Jack 2014,” or “Manhattan 2019.” In the Family Events folder, you might add “Samantha’s Wedding in Hawaii” or “Daughter’s First Birthday.”

Name these photoshoot folders so they are easy to find and identify in the future. For instance, if you’ve traveled to Venice multiple times, avoid generic names like “Venice Photo Spots.” Instead, include additional details such as the specific location you traveled to, the year, etc.

Pro tip: Don’t categorize your folders based solely on a date (month/year). While Lightroom allows you to sort images by date (go to Library Filter > Date > Year > Month), it can be helpful to add a year to your folder, but make sure you also include other identifying information.

5. Only Work with Collections and Collection Sets

Next, create Collection Sets in Lightroom that correspond directly to the main category folders on your hard drives. This creates a seamless connection between your physical and digital organization.

Import your folders into Lightroom one at a time. In the Folders section of Lightroom, you’ll see your main folder name, and under that, your single photoshoot folders will appear. Select the photoshoot folders and drag them down onto the corresponding Collection Sets.

Once done, all your single photoshoot folders will be displayed as Collections categorized by Collection Sets in the Collections sidebar, making them easy to access.

This is important: Once you’ve imported your folders into Lightroom, don’t touch your hard drive or move photos around outside of Lightroom (except to add new images, of course). This prevents possible discrepancies between your Lightroom catalog and your actual file structure.

In Lightroom, collapse the “Folders” section to minimize distractions. You only want to return to this section after you’ve imported new photos and need to drag them into your Collection Sets. Otherwise, avoid altering your folder structure!

Feel free to add main categories to your primary hard drive folder as required (e.g., if you start shooting wedding pictures, you might want to add a “Wedding Photography” folder). Just ensure you update your Collections Set in Lightroom so your folder structure always corresponds perfectly.

6. Don’t Use Keywords

Once you’ve imported your photos into Lightroom, don’t waste your time keywording your images. Keywording can consume a lot of time and it’s generally unnecessary unless you are a stock photographer or managing a vast archive of images.

Instead of spending hours keywording your shots, focus on creating a solid folder structure. This way, if you need to find a particular image later, you can locate it quickly and efficiently based on your well-organized system.

7. Rename Your Photos

Once you have imported your photos into Lightroom, you should rename them for clarity and easy identification.

Note: Lightroom never copies your photos (unless you specifically instruct the program to create an additional copy). Instead, Lightroom adds photos as thumbnails within the software. This means any changes you make, including renaming, will reflect on your external hard drive.

To rename a Collection of images, select all the photos (you can use Ctrl+A or Cmd+A), then click Library > Rename Images.

Give your poorly named images (which typically have names like “DSC0020987.ARW”) a more descriptive custom name (e.g., “Colorado Trip with John”) and add a sequence number. This will enhance your ability to search for them later and maintain organization within your files.

8. Create Three Collections for Each Shoot

Once you start working on individual photoshoots, create three new Collections for each shoot (within your Collection Sets):

• Full Shoot
• Picks
• Selects

The “Full Shoot” should contain all of your images from a photoshoot. You can then go through and flag your decent shots by hitting “P” on your keyboard, placing all these flagged shots in the “Picks” folder.

Finally, go through the “Picks” folder and give your images star ratings. The best images—those with four or five stars—should go in the “Selects” folder. These images require editing and will eventually be shared, posted, sold, etc.

This three-part structure is only meant for Lightroom and will not be saved on your hard drive. However, it will be part of your Lightroom catalog file, streamlining your workflow and ensuring that you have a clear path from import to edit to final output.

Get Your Photos Organized!

We hope you found these Lightroom backup and workflow tips valuable. Taking the time to implement them will significantly improve your efficiency and make your life much easier! With an organized system in place, you can focus more on your creative process and less on the logistics of managing your image files.