This will help you get familiar with most of the features of Lightroom so you can start using its amazing features. I know that’s been a LOT of information but trust me. You can see how I organize my files in this video here. Once I do this, I download the raw files off the memory card into the appropriate folders. Within this new dated folder, I create another folder that is labeled “ Footage.” Sometimes I will add further folders by specifying if it’s photo or video raw footage.

On my external hard drive, within an already present 2022 folder, I create a new folder labeled by the year – month – date and brief description of the shoot. Within that year, say, year 2022, create a new folder for whatever new work you’re going to import.įor example, I just did some blue hour shots in my local home of SA-town. This will optimize your work flow for the future.īriefly, my suggestion is to group your work by years. My suggestion is to create a system for organizing your photography work. I’ll do a review on that in a future blog post. Currently, I’m using the LaCie 2big Dock RAID 16TB and find it to be absolutely amazing. I no longer use the Passport due to the volume of work I am blessed to now have. At least 2 terabytes or 4 would be a good start.

I have used the WD My Passport without any issues. Several affordable external drives are the WD My Passport, Seagate Portable Hard Drive, LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive and the SanDisk Portable SSD. Saving to an external hard drive will allow you to save space on your desktop or laptop computer and not run into the risk of running out of space to work. Whether you’re in the beginner stages or not. What I mean by storing is getting an external hard drive specifically for your photography business. I wish I had known this when I first started out because it would have saved me a lot of heartache later on. The best way to get started with Lightroom is to start the storing and importing process the correct way.

Best lightroom tutorials for beginners