Laptop screen showing Adobe Lightroom folders and underwater coral image with text overlay “Getting Organized in Lightroom — Catalogs, Backups, Folders & Collections Explained.

🌊 Why We're Going Back to Basics

Over the past year, we've delved into Lightroom's most sophisticated and powerful tools, ranging from AI Masking and Point Color to Lens Blur and even specialized underwater video workflows. These features can significantly elevate your underwater photography editing skills, allowing for more precise and creative adjustments.

However, I've been receiving an increasing number of questions from Oceanic Explorers, passionate divers, and underwater photographers alike that sound a lot like this:

'I'm comfortable editing my underwater photos, but I don’t fully understand how Lightroom organizes my files, manages catalogs, or handles backups, and I am having problems finding my photos.'

If that resonates with you, you're not alone. Many divers are skilled at capturing great images and making adjustments. Still, on the organizational side of Lightroom, things can get murky, like a silted wreck dive. Without a clear, reliable system in place, your extensive photo library can become chaotic and hard to navigate, which hampers your ability to find that perfect shot or revisit your best work.

That's why we're returning to the fundamentals, rebuilding your workflow from the ground up. Before you dive into advanced editing techniques like color grading, masking, or removing backscatter, it's essential to establish a solid organizational foundation. Knowing exactly where your photos are, how they're stored, and how Lightroom manages them is key to efficient editing and a satisfying workflow.

This post marks the beginning of an exciting new four-part Back-to-Basics Series designed for Oceanic Explorers eager to master Lightroom. Whether you're a beginner or looking to tighten up your existing workflow, these lessons will help you develop a comprehensive understanding of Lightroom's core functions, so you can focus more on capturing breathtaking underwater moments and less on managing your files. Together, we'll build a system that's reliable, intuitive, and tailored to the unique needs of underwater photography.

1️⃣ Part 1 — Getting Organized in Lightroom: Catalogs, Backups, Folders & Collections (this post)
2️⃣ Part 2 — Building Your Lightroom System: Hardware Configurations for Smooth Editing
3️⃣ Part 3 — The Ultimate Lightroom Workflow Order for Underwater Photos
4️⃣ Part 4 — White Balance Made Simple: Bringing Back the True Colors of the Reef

🐠 Step 1 — Understanding the Lightroom Catalog

Your Lightroom Catalog functions similarly to a dive logbook for photographers. While it does not actually store your original image files, it records all the essential details about each photo. This includes metadata such as camera settings, exposure information, editing history, keywords, ratings, and collections. By maintaining this comprehensive record, your catalog enables you to efficiently organize, search for, and manage your photos, streamlining and improving your workflow.

Understanding the role of your Lightroom Catalog is crucial for maintaining an organized archive and ensuring your editing process remains smooth and accessible.

where each image lives on your drives
your edits, flags, and ratings
metadata and keywords
preview data for fast browsing

Why Use Just One Catalog

For most underwater photographers, maintaining a comprehensive master catalog is considered the most efficient and practical approach. This centralized catalog serves as an organized repository of all essential images, equipment details, shot locations, and technical settings. By having a single, well-structured master catalog, photographers can streamline their workflow, facilitate quick access to key information, and ensure consistency across projects. This method not only enhances productivity but also supports professional standards by enabling meticulous record-keeping, efficient image retrieval, and seamless integration with editing and publishing processes.

Overall, adopting a master catalog is a foundational best practice that helps underwater photographers elevate their craft by organizing, ensuring accuracy, and systematically managing their valuable work.

It doesn't matter how many or few photos you have. One catalog will work for just a few thousand to over a million images.

Benefits

Easy search; find any subject, dive site, or date instantly.
Simple backups; one file to protect.
Consistent presets & Smart Collections; everything lives together.
No confusion; never wonder which catalog holds that perfect turtle shot.

🪸 Pro Tip: Name your catalog clearly, e.g., RobertHerb_MasterCatalog_2025.lrcat.

💾 Step 2 — Best Practices for Backing Up Lightroom and Your Photos

A proficient diver understands the importance of planning for redundancy to ensure safety and success in every dive. Similarly, your Lightroom workflow should incorporate backup strategies and redundant processes to protect your precious images and workflow integrity. Implementing such strategies helps prevent data loss, facilitates smoother editing, and safeguards your creative work against unexpected issues.

By adopting a comprehensive approach with multiple backups, version control, and redundant storage, you can maintain a professional, reliable photographic workflow and focus on your craft with confidence.

The 3–2–1 Backup Rule

Always keep 3 copies of your data: 2 local, 1 off-site.

Copy	Location	Purpose
1 – Primary	Keep originals on the memory card until all backups verify	Safeguards raw originals
2 – Working	Store images on your primary external SSD (Lightroom references this)	Daily editing access
3 – Backup	Clone to a second external drive and/or sync to the cloud (Backblaze, Dropbox, Adobe Cloud)	Disaster recovery

🪸 Pro Tip: Label drives (e.g., Lr_Photos_Main, Lr_Backup_1). Keep backup drives unplugged when not in use to avoid surges or accidental deletion.

Backing Up the Lightroom Catalog

Your file contains a comprehensive record of all your edits, including every adjustment, mask, and keyword used throughout your editing process. This detailed history serves as an essential resource for understanding the modifications made, enabling you to review, revise, and optimize your workflow efficiently.

Maintaining such a detailed history not only supports transparency and accountability in your editing practices but also enhances your ability to replicate successful techniques or troubleshoot issues.

Familiarity with this information empowers you to make informed decisions, ensures consistency across projects, and facilitates a more effective and organized editing process.

Recommended settings

Set Back Up Catalog → Every Time Lightroom Exits
Keep the last three backups (older ones can go)
Store backups on two drives (one internal, one external)
Optionally sync the latest to the cloud

🧭 Why on Exit? You'll never forget to save your latest edits.
⌨️ Shortcut: Ctrl/Cmd + Q to quit and trigger backup.

Monthly verification: Open a backup catalog and confirm it links to your photos correctly. A backup that can't restore is just wishful thinking.

📁 Step 3 — Folder Structure Best Practices

This step is crucial for effectively managing your digital photos. Once you have established reliable backups to protect your images from loss or damage, the next important task is to create a well-organized and logical storage structure.

Building a dedicated, consistent home for your photos not only simplifies finding and retrieving images later but also enhances your overall digital organization. Implementing an organized system for your photos, including clear folder hierarchies and naming conventions, ensures efficiency and peace of mind, knowing that your memories are safely stored and easily accessible whenever needed.

Recommended Structure: Year > Month > Day

Lightroom can create this automatically on import.

Import dialog → Destination → Organize → By Date → YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD

Result


Lightroom_Photos/
└── 2025/
    ├── 01/
    │   ├── 2025-01-14/
    │   └── 2025-01-15/
    ├── 02/
    │   └── 2025-02-10/
    └── 03/
        └── 2025-03-22/

Why it works

Chronological and predictable
Perfect for Lightroom's automation
Syncs cleanly with backups and cloud storage
Keeps folder trees lean and quick

🪸 Tip: Keep your main library on an external SSD (e.g., Lr_Photos_Main) and back it up weekly.

🌊 Adding Trip or Project Names—Four Safe Options

1️⃣ Parent Folder by Project (Multi-Day Trips)
Use "Into Subfolder" and type the trip name. Lightroom still organizes by date inside.


Lightroom_Photos/
└── 2025/
    └── Roatan_Expedition_2025/
        ├── 2025-01-14/
        ├── 2025-01-15/
        └── 2025-01-16/

✅ Ideal for liveaboards or week-long dives.

2️⃣ Rename a Day Folder After Import (Single-Day Shoots)
Right-click folder → Rename → 2025-03-22_Roatan_WreckDive.
✅ Lightroom updates paths automatically.

3️⃣ Tag Project in Metadata (Best for Search/Automation)
In Import → Apply During Import → Keywords: Roatan_Expedition_2025, Honduras, Reef, Turtle
Later, Smart Collection rule: Keyword contains Roatan_Expedition_2025.

4️⃣ Use Collections (Most Flexible)


Collections/
└── Roatan_Expedition_2025/
    ├── Best Reef Shots
    ├── Diver Portraits
    └── To Edit

✅ Files stay in date folders; Collections act like digital albums.

Recommendation

Use Option 1 for multi-day projects.
Use Option 3 or 4 for flexibility and sync.
Keep base folders date-based for speed and backup integrity.

🪸 Pro Tip: I prefer and use Collections (Option 4).

🪞 Step 4 — Importing Your Underwater Photos

Lightroom is a powerful photo management and editing software that works by referencing your image files rather than storing them directly within its catalog. This means that Lightroom keeps track of where your photos are stored on your hard drive or on external storage devices, enabling a more flexible, efficient workflow.

Understanding this distinction is crucial because it helps you manage your files more effectively, especially when performing backups or moving your photos to different locations. By referencing files rather than storing them internally, Lightroom offers a non-destructive editing environment, ensuring your original images remain unchanged while you experiment and enhance your photos.

This approach also makes it easier to organize and locate your images, as the catalog acts as a database that points to your stored files. If you're new to Lightroom, understanding how it interacts with your files can help you avoid common issues, such as missing files or broken links, when relocating or renaming photos.

Import Checklist

Choose Copy (from card to date folders).
Add keywords (e.g., "Roatan 2025," "Turtle," "20 m").
Build Standard Previews.
Enable Backup to Second Drive.
Rename files 2025-03-22_Roatan_Turtle_####.

⌨️ Shortcut: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I

🧺 Step 5 — Collections vs Folders

Purpose	Folders	Collections
Represents	Physical location on the drive	Virtual group in Lightroom
Move photo	Moves file	Non-destructive reference
Typical Use	`2025 > 03_March > ReefDive`	"Best Reef Shots 2025"
Multiplicity	One folder per photo	One photo in many collections

🌟 Smart Collections

Automate rules like: Rating ≥ 4 Stars, Keyword contains "Nudibranch," Edited in 2025.

I will discuss my import, culling, rating, and keywording in a later post.

🌐 Step 6 — Published Services

Published Services automate sharing to Flickr, SmugMug, Adobe Portfolio, or local export folders for social media. Lightroom tracks updates and re-publishes automatically.

🪸 Oceanic Explorer Tip: Create a "Top 10 Dive Shots of the Month" Published Collection. Lightroom will update it as you add favorites.

🧭 Keyboard Shortcuts to Remember

Action	Shortcut
Import Photos	Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I
Export Photos	Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + E
Create New Collection	Ctrl/Cmd + N
Add to Quick Collection	B
Show Folder in Finder/Explorer	Ctrl/Cmd + R
Quit & Trigger Backup	Ctrl/Cmd + Q

🧭 Already Using Lightroom? Here's How to Transition to the Oceanic Explorer Folder System

If you're already familiar with Lightroom and your photos are organized in folders named DiveTrip_2023 or GoPro Dump, there's no need to start over or reorganize everything from scratch. Instead, you can confidently migrate your existing photo organization to a more structured system organized by year, month, and day.

This approach helps keep your workflow efficient and your photos easy to locate, without risking the loss of any edits or adjustments you've already made. Transitioning to this systematic folder structure is straightforward and designed to enhance your overall editing and management experience, ensuring your photo library remains organized, accessible, and secure throughout the process.

🪸 Step 1 – Keep All Moves Inside Lightroom

Never move or rename folders in Finder/Explorer.
Do it inside Lightroom's Library panel so the catalog keeps track and your edits stay linked.

🪸 Step 2 – Audit and Plan

Open the Folders panel and expand everything.
Sort by Capture Date to see accurate shoot dates before creating the new structure.

🪸 Step 3 – Create Your New Framework

Right-click your main drive → Create Folder Inside… Build a top-level Lightroom_Photos and subfolders for each year and month.

🪸 Step 4 – Move Gradually

Drag old folders into the new structure within Lightroom. For large batches, filter by date, create a new day folder (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD), and move selected images into it. Back up your catalog before each significant move.

🪸 Step 5 – Rebuild and Verify

Choose Library > Previews > Build Standard Previews. Confirm no "?" icons appear. If they do, right-click → Find Missing Folder.

🪸 Step 6 – Update Backups and Sync

Adjust your backup utilities (Time Machine, SyncBack, Backblaze) to include the new folder path. Re-enable Lightroom Cloud sync on favorite Collections.

✅ Oceanic Explorer Tip: Work slowly and methodically, one trip or month at a time. Soon you'll have a clean, predictable structure that mirrors your diving history and keeps every reef and wreck shot easy to find.

🪸 Why This Matters

Lightroom organization isn't busywork; it's life support for your photo library. Once your catalog, backups, and folders are solid, Lightroom becomes smooth, predictable, and fun. You'll spend time enhancing your underwater shots, not chasing missing files.

📆 Coming Up Next

Next week in the Back-to-Basics series:

Part 2 — Building Your Lightroom System: Hardware Configurations for Smooth Editing.
We'll make sure your computer, drives, and backups are optimized for fast, reliable edits before diving into the step-by-step workflow in Part 3.

Until then, dive smart, stay backed up, and remember, organization is your first line of defense both underwater and in Lightroom.

🟦 Have you tried any of these techniques yet?
🟦 Want to see these workflows in action? Sign up for my upcoming training course at RobertHerb.com or reach out at bob@robertherb.com
🟦 And don't forget, new blogs drop weekly at Robert Herb Photography Blog

Written by Robert Herb – Empowering underwater photographers to capture and enhance the beauty of our oceans since 1978

Stay tuned for more in-depth insights into underwater photography. Let's dive deeper into the art and craft of capturing the marine world! If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Get ready for an exciting underwater photography adventure! For more details on my upcoming online training course, check out my "Training" page at RobertHerb.com or email me at bob@robertherb.com.

I am eagerly anticipating your valuable feedback and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Bob Herb

Robert Herb
Robert Herb Photography

+1 (714) 594-9262‬ | +504 9784-0024 | www.RobertHerb.com

Bob@robertherb.com | Roatán, HN or Aliso Viejo, CA (USA)

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Getting Organized in Lightroom: Catalogs, Backups, Folders & Collections Explained (2025 Edition)