Table of Contents

Introduction
My assumptions about the reader
About the demonstration movies
What about organizing my videos
Sustainability
How this book is organized

Chapter 1: Store, Tag, Create

This chapter lays out basic organization principles for your images.

Creating an organized library
Storing the photos
Organizing with tags
Creating projects
The Lightroom Catalog
Adding intelligence to your image collection
Start big and subdivide
Multiple Files and Multiple Versions
Sample Import workflow

Chapter 2: The Lightroom Catalog

This chapter gives an overview of basic catalog storage and care.

What we'll cover in this chapter
Catalog basics
The elements of a catalog
The ideal number of catalogs is 1
Lightroom catalog storage
Working with offline photos?
Managing catalog size with preview settings
Merging your existing catalogs
Merge, or start over?
Catalog merging workflow
Lightroom catalog backup
Make backup copies of your catalog
Make backup versions of the catalog
Using the Backup .lrcat to rollback a catalog
Metadata Writeback

Chapter 3: Photo Storage

This chapter describes good practices for storage and backup. This includes recommendation for storage media, folder structure, file names, and backup processes.

Our goals for file storage
Hard drive types
Folder structures
Parent, Year, Month, Project
When you outgrow your Photo Library
Size-limited buckets
Collecting legacy photos
File naming
Making a file naming preset
File backup
File and folder handling in Lightroom
Checking for completeness and integrity

Chapter 4: Finding & Filtering with Tags

This chapter describes tagging and organizing your library as well as how to use the Library Filter and Smart Collections.

Creating useful tags
Who, What, When, Where, Why and How (good)?
Choosing a source to filter
Using the Library Filter bar
Using ratings and flags
Making filter presets
Using Smart Collections
Using labels
Stacking

Chapter 5: Keywords

This chapter explains the purpose and usage of keywords.

Using keywords
Building your keyword structure
Getting started
Tag your shoots
Adding keywords while you search
The Keyword List
The Keywording Panel
Finding images without keywords

Chapter 6: Metadata Presets

This chapter discusses the use of Metadata Presets and how they work.

Metadata preset basics
Preset strategy
Creating custom presets
Make location presets
Making a preset to remove all tags

Chapter 7: Location Tags

This chapter presents strategies for making GPS tags as well as use of the Map Module.

Privacy issues
Map tag or location name tag?
Adding place names
Adding location tag names to a large collection
Adding GPS tags with the Map module
Adding GPS tags with a tracklog

Chapter 8: Collections and Projects

This chapter details how Collections work and how best to utilize them.

Shoots and portfolios
Collections are the hub of your projects
Working with Collections
Organizing your Collections
Managing a shoot with Collections
Managing a portfolio project with Collections
Module Creations
Making a Collection "Permanent"

Chapter 9: Using Publish Services

This chapter explains the purpose of and how to use publish services.

What does Publish do?
Basic hard drive publishing
Publish to Sharing Services
Push images out to social media
Deliver shoots
Upload online portfolios
Backup your most valuable photos
Publish Services details

Chapter 10: Managing Derivative Files

This chapter details working with files that are sent to other programs for additional work.

Keep it simple
Why make derivative files?
Storing derivate files
Naming derivative files
Virtual Copies and Snapshots
Store and Stack with Original
Export and Forget
dedicated derivative storage
Export for another application
Export to Derivatives Folder and catalog
Re-catalog Master Files only
What about the derivatives I already have?
Consult The DAM Book