Methods to organize images on PC?

[HD Knucklehead]

What is the most effective method to organize images?

How I organize photos:

• Camera used
  • Date taken
    • Subjects

Would it be better to:

• Date taken
  • Camera used
    • Subject

or

• Subject
  • Date taken
    • Camera used

I would like other pespectives.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

This is my photo folder structure.

2020-29 > 2025 > 01-25 Subject/Event

Also maintain meta data in Lightroom Classic

 

[kelpdiver]

this is your rodeo, of course. How you consume it should dictate the structure.

But unless you're a camera viewer, I don't see the benefit from a structure with camera type at the top.

I do Year -> Epic (like Costa Rica-Dec25) -> and then additional subdirs as relevant.

gopro gets a subdir, and then additionally by day

proofs subdir may get created - the processed items go get copied into there as a proof set.

Subject at the top can make sense, though I suspect it makes more sense for the finished output, not the shots taken. metatags on the catalog can provide subject organization while still maintaining the date structure.

For a small enough set, it doesn't matter for LR, but as you get to 10s of thousands, you may need to divy up the catalog, so the directory structure should support this.

 

[Ken Seals]

My image file organization follows a system recommended to me by my daughter-in-law who learned it during her masters internship at the Kennedy Library.

All folders are created in this format under a master photos folder:

"2025-09-23-Korea Trip" for multiday events I use the start date. Even quick/casual shots are considered their own events and get a folder. By using this Year-Month-Date format first, all the folders will sort in date order which is the way I like it.

All files are named like this:

"2025-09-23-Korea Trip-0001" (Sequence Number) and are all located in the folder of that event. For multi day events, I change the date in the file name. I use both Photo Mechanic and Lightroom Classic to create the folders and rename the files upon ingest/import. I never use subfolders of any type.

The advantage of this naming system is the date and keywords (event name) are in the folder and file names. I can search either through the OS file management or Lightroom Classic and locate any event or file quickly. I am fairly good at remembering approximate dates or event names when I'm searching for something specific. I have quite a few folders with the key word "Korea" in the folder name. If I just search for Korea, all those folder will come up and I can choose the one I'm interested in.

All derivative files are saved the the main event folder. I mean .PSD, .TIF, .DNG and .JPG. It's easy enough to organize file lists or previews by file type. Subfolders for these file types make the structure unnecessarily complicated.

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[number_5]

This works for me and YMMV. Also, I reset the camera image file numbers after I copied the files to the PC (there's no image number wrap):

• YYYYMMDD location (camera)
  • JPG
    • JPG files
  • RAW files

For multi-day trip:

• YYYYMMDD (starting date) location
  • directory structure above

Examples:

20250924 Universal Studios Hollywood (OM-5)

20250924 Ecuador

• 20250924 Quito (OM-1)
• 20250925a Santo Domingo (A1)
• 20250925b Santo Domingo (G9 II)

 

[XiaoDeer]

Date - Subject and then sub-folders if appropriate or necessary.

Use YYYY MM DD date formats for sensible sorting.

 

[Dick Dastardly]

I just have folders for every camera, inside the folders the pictures are sorted chronologically by default.

At some point you may want a separate "favorites" folder.

 

[Bill Ferris]

My folder structure is basic an effective.

Year folder (Example: 2025)

• Individual folders for each shoot using this naming convention: YYYY-MM-DD (Short descriptive phrase)
• Example: 2025-10-27 Mormon Lake Overlook Raptors

 

[CBR1100XX]

I'd go by date, if you want to include camera info maybe add a specific prefix to any description.

Like say

2025 28 10 Z7II NYC Street

But be sure to include that last little description. It might not seem like much now but if say you look back in 15-20 years and just see a bunch of dates for this time period it can be a pain, that I recently went through myself.

 

[Ken Seals]

My folder structure is basic an effective.

Year folder (Example: 2025)

• Individual folders for each shoot using this naming convention: YYYY-MM-DD (Short descriptive phrase)
• Example: 2025-10-27 Mormon Lake Overlook Raptors

Since I have folder going back to 1957 when I was in junior high school, I have been considering using year folders, too.

 

[HD Knucklehead]

Bill, thank you for sharing your link.

I am envious.

 

[HD Knucklehead]

Hey Kelpdiver, I don’t have LR. I am organizing with Windows Explorer which is the same format for Bridge (CS5).

I am not familiar with catalog.

 

[HD Knucklehead]

Good Point CBR,

In ten to twenty years chronological may become more important than which camera was used.
I have TBI which doesn’t help the situation.
(TBI, first time was a repelling accident, the second time was motorcycle accident.)

 

[Bill Ferris]

Bill, thank you for sharing your link.

I am envious.

You're welcome. Best of luck to you in finding a method that complements your workflow.