Lightroom Tutorial Series, Collections

Welcome to my blog, today I want to talk about organization inside Lightroom. As you might already know working with huge quantities of images inside Lightroom can be quite a daunting task. When you import images you can keyword them and find them via a search, but this can leave you searching through thousands of images trying to find that single image. Here is an example, lets say you are searching for a specific image and you type “Sky” in the library filter. If you are anything like me, you will have to sift through thousands of images to find that single file. With that said, I want to talk about Collections, and Collection Sets.

Lightroom has a feature built in to help you organize your images, this feature is called collections and collection sets. The difference of collection and a collection set is simple. A collection set doesn’t hold images, it holds sets of collections, whereas a collection actually holds images.

I promise if you commit to a workflow that involves collections and collection sets, your life inside Lightroom will be a much happier one. The use of collections will greatly help if you find yourself working with an assistant, art directors and editors. Some form of organization is necessary if you plan to work as a professional photographer. Embrace collections and you will have a much better experience when working with Lightroom.