I need help with a file management system

[vanderloo]

I’ve always been very weak on incorporating a photo file management system and I’m hoping some of the experts will share their knowledge. I start my edits in Lightroom Classic and usually open in photoshop to fine tune my edits before exporting or saving for further tweaking. So, in my mind, I would want to save edits - for the web, in .psd for further editing, and print ready. So how much do the experts break up their storage and how do you format storage for .dng saves, .psd,  flattened, and jpeg for web? I’d like to keep all of my images relatively together and easily accessible without getting crazy breaking up folders for each image in different formats etc.
So would anyone be willing to share their file structure for a comprehensive system that makes for easy access to images in different stages.
Thank You

[aaronleitz]

Here's what I do:

All raw images from shoot go into a folder titled with the date, client, subject, and maybe a keyword or something if I think it's important.

Example - 20260108_Client_Subject_Location_Keyword

I shoot tethered directly into Lightroom 80% of the time or images are copied from camera to folder and then imported into Lightroom. Edit images in Lightroom and export as 16bit psd files into photoshop. When I start editing a project I create another folder in the shoot folder called "worked." This is where the edited psd files go.

That's it. The raw files and final psd files are all that I save/backup/archive. My most important images are also archived as 16bit tiffs.

Then when I have to deliver tiffs or specific sized jpegs I have a bunch of resizing/export action in photoshop that have been saved as Droplets on my desktop. I select the psd files that I need and drag and drop them on the appropriate Droplet. The Droplet converts the images and puts them in a specific folder on the desktop. See attached photo.

So when someone asks for a set of proofs from a project I photographed 2 years ago - I look up the shoot folder, select the psd files, drag and drop them onto the "1200watermark" Droplet and photoshop adds a watermark to the images, resizes them to 1200 pixels, coverts them to mid quality jpeg and saves them in the "1200" folder on the desktop.

[vanderloo]

Thank You Aaron

[digitaldog]

Short answer: Buy The DAM Book 3.0 [Paperback] by Peter Krogh. It will give you the necessary conceptions of how YOU should do this kind of work.

[langier]

I ditto what the Digital Dog says--Get the DAM book by Peter Krough. It was relevant 20 years ago and remaines so today.

[degrub]

hard to find a copy online for less than 100 $

[digitaldog]

hard to find a copy online for less than 100 $

https://www.damuseful.com/products/the-dam-book-3-0

[JoeKitchen]

For my architectural photography business, I separate all projects in folders first by client and then by project name/address.  With in each project folder, I have all RAW files for each image captured in their own folders with all raw adjustments.  Each project folder contains a folder title "Edited" in which all of the working files are stored followed by "Finished" with the flattened Photoshop files.  "Client" folder is also within the project folder with the deliverable files, usually full res JPEGs and web-sized JPEG. 

Now for this business, only I would ever go into my database.  However, for my backdrop business I have partners that may need to find an image in our fairly extensive stock catalog if say I am on vacation. 

So, here all images are broken into six overall genres (with six corresponding folders), Urban, Suburban, Rural, Landscape, Coastal and Clip Art.  Next, the images get broken down by state or country, then by city/town, then by neighborhood (for large cities).  For an image titled U-NY-NYC-ES14-25 would be found by going to the folder Urban, then New York, then New York City, then East Side.  The 25 at the end is a quick reference for us to know when the image was captured.  These are always the working master files anywhere from 2 GB to 95 GB (our largest backdrop file), and the RAWs are stored in the end folder as well. 

[BobShaw]

For a start, google " Chase Jarvis complete workflow ". it is an old video but the basics remain.

Rename every file in reverse date YYYY-MM-DD_FileNumber. The editing programme should be able to do that automatically using the Shooting Date.
(Don't use YYYY-DD-MM because that would be stupid. They would not be in date order when you sort them alphabetically.)
Basically you have an Image Library and in that you have Original (straight from camera), Live (being worked on) and Final folders.
In each of those you have the year 2026 folder and in that you can divide folders as required. I just use the folder name which is YYYY-MM-DD_First imageNumber

Cheers.