Lightroom import problem

[irelanst]

I'm not sure if this is in the correct section as it's not strictly PP so if it is wrong then can the mods please move it.

I’m pretty sure I’m being dense here, but I can’t seem to get it to work how I want.

Basically I have a folder structure for my pictures like this; S:\...\Year\Month\Description\Image.CR2

It works well for me and as the pictures are accessed from other PC’s that don’t have LR installed then the catalogue features aren’t always accessible hence the need for a more ‘catalogued’ folder structure.

If I try to import from the camera using the Lightroom import I can’t stop Lightroom creating extra folders that I don’t want, it wants to do this;
S:\...\Year\Month\Description\2011\Date\Image.CR2

The easy workaround is to copy the card contents into the right folder outside Lightroom then sync the folders but surely there must be a way to put the files where I want without LR creating new folders.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Chappers]

Not sure why Lightroom is adding year and month.I've checked preferences and can't find anything that would make Lightroom produce additional folders. There may be something I'm missing.

You might want to tick "Ignore camera generating folder names when importing" in the GENERAL preferences tab. I have this un ticked but don't have the problem you have.


Are you importing direct from the camera or via a card reader. I use a card reader. My File are arranged very similar to yours but I don't have any problems with additional folders being created. . At import I simply select the folder group I want ( i.e. the month) then right click to "Add an additional folder" , such as Description in your case. create the folder and Lightroom automatically selects it for the import

 

[irelanst]

Thanks for taking the time to reply John,

I import straight from camera. I have "Ignore camera generating..." unticked (I think).

I'll do a bit of messing tonight and get some screen grabs which might show the problem.

 

[DuncanDisorderly]

Here's what how I import; works well for me...
A typical image is located at
- C:\Duncan\Images\2011\2011-08-27 TP Southerndown\IMG_1094.CR2
The year folder is very useful for quickly drilling down into my images.
The reverse year-month-day means they always get sorted into the order I took them.

Settings are:
To - C: Duncan\Images
Into Subfolder - not checked
Organize - by date
Date format 2011/2011-08-29

This is a fast disk and I do my grading, adjustments, keywording, etc in this location.
Then I rename the folder to add a memorable name to the date. Right click on the folder and Rename.
e.g. 2011-08-27 TP Southerndown
If there is more than one day for the event, then I create a new folder and drag the day folders into it. For consistency I always use the date of the first subfolder.
e.g. U:\Photography\Images\Wales\2010\2010-02-20 TP Pen y Fan

Once I'm happy I've finished with my initial edits, I'll leave them to mature for a month or so in case I come back and do more edits.
Then I remove the rejected images and move the whole folder (drag and drop in lightroom) to my RAID 5 NAS drive. This drive has an extra folder to organise them into categories (mostly geographic).
e.g. U:\Photography\Images\Wales\2008\2008-11-15 Cwm Idwall
The biggest category folders typically end up with around 30 sub folders, which is very easy to drill into and locate stuff.
The only extra step is to archive any special images to DVD and put them somewhere safe.

Hope that made sense!
Duncan

 

[irelanst]

I found the answer - there is an Organize box under the Destination tab that gives the option, 'By Date' which gives the result above or 'Into one folder' which lets you chose a folder. I knew it would be something simple!

I quite like Duncan's method for 'archiving' folders over onto a NAS, at the moment my whole local drive is just backed up to the NAS which I think is a waste of space.

Thanks for the replies