How To Organise Your Photos in Lightroom: 7 Simple Steps

This article is all about helping you organise your photos so you can always find them and know they’re safe – no more frustration over lost images or folders full of duplicates!

If you’ve ever had that moment of panic trying to find a specific photo but can’t remember where you saved it, or worse, you’ve got several copies and can’t figure out which one is the final version, then this guide is for you. 

I’m going to walk you through a simple and practical approach to get your photos organised in Lightroom. 

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a system in place that makes it easy to find any photo, no matter how many you’ve got stored. 

You’ll spend less time searching and more time enjoying the fun part – actually taking and editing your photos. 

Before we get started, I wanted to share my freebie with you if you’re also new to photography. 

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Let’s get started and take the frustration out of photo organisation, once and for all.

What is Lightroom and how does it work?

Lightroom is a program designed to help you organise and edit your photos. 

But here’s the key thing — it doesn’t actually change your original images. 

Instead, Lightroom acts as an organiser and editor, working with previews of your photos instead of the actual files stored on your computer.

So, let’s say you’ve got a landscape photo that’s a bit too dark, and you want to brighten it up. 

When you make those adjustments in Lightroom, the original photo remains untouched. Lightroom doesn’t move, rename, or edit the original file. 

Instead, it shows you a preview of what your edited version will look like. Once you’re happy with the changes, you can export a new version of the photo to share or print, while your original stays safely as it was.

Think of Lightroom like a library where your photos are like the books on the shelves, stored safely and untouched. 

Now, when you want to ‘edit’ or change something about your photo, Lightroom doesn’t pull the book off the shelf and start scribbling in it. Instead, Lightroom has its own catalogue system, like a library catalogue that keeps track of all the edits you’d like to make. 

These changes are only noted in the catalogue — not on the original book itself.

So, imagine you want to brighten up a photo, like you’d want to change a chapter in a book. 

Lightroom writes down that change in its catalogue, but your original book stays exactly the same on the shelf. 

When you’re happy with your edits, it’s as if Lightroom lets you create a copy of that book with the new chapter changes. 

You can share this edited version without ever changing the original book. 

Your original photo is always there, untouched, while the edited version can be shown or printed however you like.

This way, Lightroom gives you the flexibility to experiment with your edits, knowing your original photo is always safe.”

Now onto creating a folder structure – the first step to organise your photos …

1. Set Up A Folder System And Create Your Catalog

Seeing as Lightroom doesn’t actually ‘store’ your photos, you need to figure out what your folder structure will be for your images before creating your catalog.

Hopefully you are reading this before you’ve already created a mess in Lightroom, or you already have at least some kind of structure when you download your images from your camera.

If not, this is your chance for a fresh start – it’s not too late.

The goal of this article is to give you a simple organisation system to help you organise your images and establish a smooth workflow.

Folder System

So, first up is to create your folder structure. 

Here’s my suggestion:

1 – Choose a location where you will store all your photos and create your main folder. Mine is creatively called ‘Photos’.

2 – Within this folder you then need to create a folder for each year ‘2024’ and so on.

3 – Inside each yearly folder you will create a folder for each outing/project. For example I will have ‘Sydney Opera House – 23 May 2024’. It just needs to be something that makes sense to you and be consistent.

4 – Inside of each of these ‘outing’ folders will contain your RAW images and your edits. When you have finished your editing, you can then export them to the folder inside that you will create, called ‘edited’.

Now, onto Lightroom …

Create Your Catalog

Once you’ve got your folder structure sorted, it’s time to create your Lightroom Catalog.

Start a new Catalog by going to  Lightroom (File for Windows) -> New Catalog.

I recommend just having a single catalog for all your images rather than multiple. One will easily manage all of your photos. It’s easier to find your photos with just a single catalog and easier to back up.

It’s also easiest if your catalog (not your photos) are stored on your main drive. This way using Time Machine for Mac or a similar Windows program will be safely backed up with your regular schedule.

Again I just call it something simple, like ‘Sams LR Catalog, September2024’. I find the date handy if you ever have to change this due to a software update.

Let’s get your photos into Lightroom!

2. Importing Photos into Lightroom

Head over to File -> Import Photos and it you will see this:

On the left is where you will be copying your files from, the middle section will show you the images that will be imported once you select your files from the left, and the right side is where you will tell Lightroom what to do with your imported images.

From the left, select your images, then choose ‘Add’ at the top of the screen. 

This will keep them where you have saved them and Lightroom will just access them from there.

If you are importing from a memory card and are going to use Lightroom to add them to your folder structure, then you will select ‘copy’ and tell Lightroom where to copy them to based on the system you have set up.

Now we will look at the sections on the right:

File Handling

To keep it simple, choose ‘Minimal’ for quicker previews of your files and select ‘Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates’.

File Renaming

I don’t do anything here, so the file names remain original as saved by my camera. I only rename the edited files at the end to something meaningful.

Apply During Import

This is an important section as it’s where you can choose an import preset, include your Metadata and add Keywords to each image as they are imported.

We will talk more about import presets and keywords later, so now just focus on Metadata.

The only fields you really need to complete here are the IPTC Copyright and IPTC Creator fields, where you put your name and contact information.

You only need to do this once and this will be applied to every import from now on.

Destination

Now it’s time to choose where your images will be saved.

If you’ve already got them in your folder system and chose add, just ignore this section.

If you’re uploading directly from your camera or memory card, you will need to select the destination of where your images will be saved.

In my example, I already have a folder for each year, I will select Organise -> ‘Organise Into One Folder’ and then create the folder for the photo shoot I’m uploading.

Now you’ve selected your destination, just click the ‘Import’ button and your images will start showing in your Lightroom Catalog.

3. Culling: Rating and Flagging Photos

Culling is all about quickly sorting through your images to find the ones worth keeping and getting rid of the rest. 

Lightroom offers a few great tools to help with this, using flags, stars, and colour labels.

Using Flags

The simplest way to cull is by using flags. 

You can mark a photo as ‘Pick’ (P key) for those you want to keep, or ‘Reject’ (X key) for those you want to discard. 

It’s a quick yes/no system that’s perfect for your first pass through a large batch of images.

Star Ratings

Once you’ve done the initial sort, you can use star ratings to prioritise your photos. 

Use 1 to 5 stars (1 being ‘needs work,’ and 5 being ‘best shots’). 

This way, you can easily filter by rating later when you’re ready to edit your best images. 

For example, I often use 3 stars for photos I want to come back to, and 5 stars for the ones I’m definitely editing.

Colour Labels

For even more flexibility, you can apply colour labels. 

These work well for categorising images into groups, like those that need heavy editing or ones you plan to share. 

You could use red for images that require more retouching and green for those ready to export. Colours give you a visual system to keep track of your progress.

Tips for Efficient Culling

• Start with flags to quickly eliminate the no-go images, then work your way through star ratings.
• Don’t overthink your first pass — it’s easy to get caught up in details, but focus on the overall quality first.
• Using a consistent system will save time. Once you’ve set your method, it becomes second nature.

It really doesn’t matter which method you choose, I personally use the star system and find this an effective way – whatever works for you.

Efficient culling means you can spend less time sorting and more time focusing on your favourite images!

Don’t worry, Lightroom culling isn’t ruthless — it’s just a photo’s way of saying, ‘It’s not you, it’s me!’

4. Using Keywords for Efficient Organisation

Keywords are a word or phrase that you add to a photo to help you search for them later.

Let’s say you take a lot of photos of a particular location, we’ll go with Sydney. If you add the word ‘Sydney’ to every photo you’ve taken there, you can easily search for all photos of this location.

We’ll keep it simple, but you can add loads or search criterias to really fine tune your system. In this example you can break Sydney down further into say suburbs, The Opera House or Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can then look for all photos of Sydney, or just look for the bridge.

If you didn’t add keywords to your images when you imported, the simplest way to add keywords is to type them into the Keyword Entry Box at the top of the Keywording panel.

Just highlight the image you want to add keywords to, and type away, separating each keyword or phrase with a comma.

5. Creating Collections

Collections in Lightroom are like virtual photo albums, helping you organise your images without moving them from their original location. 

They’re perfect for grouping photos from specific projects, trips, or events, keeping everything in one easy-to-access place.

The Purpose of Collections

Collections allow you to gather related images without altering your folder structure. For example, you can create a collection for all the images from your “Sydney Trip 2024” and quickly access them for editing or sharing.

How to Create and Use Collections

• Creating a Collection: In the Library Module, right-click in the Collections panel and select “Create Collection.” Name it something meaningful like “Beach Shoot – July 2024.” 

Once you’ve created your collection you can drag photos into the collection, making it a central hub for your work.

Keep It Simple

Collections let you organise your photos efficiently, without cluttering your workspace. Remember, Collections are just a way to group photos virtually — they don’t change where your images are stored.

You may also come across Collection Sets (which group collections together) and Smart Collections (which automatically sort images based on criteria like ratings or metadata), but for now, sticking to simple collections is all you need to stay organised.

6. Import Presets

Once you’ve been editing your photos in Lightroom you will find yourself applying the same changes to every image.

These can include things like straightening your horizon, removing chromatic aberration and lens corrections for example.

Creating an import preset will mean that these changes are automatically applied to every image when you import them – a great time saver!

This is a completely optional step but I do find it saves a ton of time when you do the same things to each and every image.

Here’s how you can do it in 3 simple steps:

With an import preset, you’ll save time by automatically applying your regular adjustments, so you can focus more on editing your photos. 

You can make it as simple or as detailed as you like – the choice is yours!

7. Regular Maintenance and Backup

Backing up your Lightroom catalog and photos is key to making sure you don’t lose any work. But backing up your catalog and backing up your photos are two different things.

Backing Up Your Catalog vs. Backing Up Photos

Your catalog stores things like edits and ratings, but it doesn’t back up the actual photos. To back up the catalog, go to Edit -> Catalog Settings -> Backup and set it to back up regularly. I recommend saving backups on an external drive or cloud storage.

Backing up your photos is just as important, but it needs to be done separately. You’ll want to copy them to another location, like an external hard drive or cloud storage, to make sure they’re safe.

Regular Maintenance

Lightroom runs better when you keep it tidy. I recommend optimising your catalog every few months or if you notice Lightroom slowing down. 

You can do this by going to File -> Optimize Catalog.

It’s also a good idea to purge your cache once or twice a year, or whenever Lightroom feels sluggish. 

Go to Edit -> Preferences -> File Handling -> Purge Cache to clear out old previews and free up space.

By regularly backing up your catalog and photos, and doing a bit of maintenance, you’ll avoid future problems and keep Lightroom working well.

Conclusion

This article was all about setting up a simple system to organise your photos.

I hope this guide has helped you set up a system to keep your photos organised and easy to find. 

With a clear folder structure, collections, and tools like flags and ratings, managing your images in Lightroom doesn’t have to be overwhelming. 

Plus, by backing everything up and doing a bit of regular maintenance, you’ll keep your work safe and Lightroom running smoothly.

Now, you can spend less time hunting for photos and more time doing what you love — taking and editing them!

That’s it for now – Keep Clicking

Read More About Editing and The Basics Of Improving Your Photography

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• Landscape Photo Editing: Beginner Guide For Better Images 
• The Exposure Triangle: Complete Guide For Beginners
• Sharp Landscape Photos: Everything You Need To Know
• Landscape Photography Gear: What You Need To Get Started
• 20 Landscape Photography Accessories You Need In Your Bag
• Easy Lightroom Tips for Beginners: Boost Your Editing Skills