Organising my photographs... the itch that I can't scratch!

[SMckPhoto]

Okay, so maybe the title was a bit of an over reaction but as 2012 draws to an end and I tidy up this years images in order to "start afresh" in 2013, an area I'm looking to improve upon is my image organisation. As it stands, here's how I go about it.

Step 1: Copy RAW images from memory card to computer and place in a new folder in "My Pictures -> 2012 -> Out of Camera -> Weddings/Portraits/Random" and then back them up in the same way on an external hard drive.

Step 2: Import that folder into Lightroom 4.

Step 3: Process the images as desired and Export from Lightroom in JPEG into a new folder in "My Pictures -> 2012 -> Edits -> Weddings/Portraits/Random"

Step 4: Sit and wonder if there is a better way to do it!

How do you organise your photographs? Any tips?

 

[TheDrift-]

Why not import the photos directly into Lightroom and let it do the hard work organising, and just export as needed?

 

[arad85]

Import straight into LR and then tag and manage inside LR. I only ever write JPEGs if I need to display pics outside LR. IMHO, JPEGs are the exception, not the norm.

 

[Jayst84]

Why do you need a folder for edits? Just store everything in Lightroom and export as and when you need to for the specific purpose. No need to waste space saving a whole new folder of JPEGs.

 

[SMckPhoto]

Thanks guys, that makes much more sense. My scatter brain was worried Lightroom would lose all my RAW's... so I guess I'll back them up on external drive first and instead of storing them on computer folders as well, I'll just import them straight into Lightroom... and export JPEGS as needed.

Thanks!