Photo Organization System: How I Organize and Store My Photos

Photo Organization System: How I Organize and Store My Photos | Skyler Maire Photography

Today I’m going to share with you something that may not sound exciting but is absolutely crucial for photographers, and that’s a solid photo organization system. It may not be the most glamorous topic, but having a solid system can save you countless hours of frustration down the line.  While there are many ways to organize your photos, the most important thing is to find a system that works for you! And if you’re struggling, feel free to steal mine! 🙂

I’ve been using the same photo organization system for three years, and it’s been a solid system in my workflow. Before we dive in, let me emphasize one critical point: Backing up your files is non-negotiable! Your images should always be stored in at least two separate locations. If one system fails, you’ll thank yourself for having a backup. 

Alright, let’s dive in!

Primary Storage

I use a 5TB portable hard drive (I personally use this one) that I now label with the current calendar year – both digitally and also with a physical sharpie on the top. This makes organizing and tracking down my images so much easier!

Folder Structure

While I store a variety of files on my hard drives, the two primary photos I want to focus on are:

1. PHOTOS
2. CATALOGUES

I create different catalogues for every single one of my sessions. You don’t necessarily have to do this yourself – I just find that it works better for me. 

Inside the PHOTOS folder, I use a consistent naming convention: month.date.clientnames. For weddings, I’ll add a specific identifier at the end like wedding or CHW (City Hall Wedding). Some examples:

• 01.17.Skyler + Rainbow
• 01.17.Skyler + Rainbow CHW

Since my hard drive is already labeled with the year, I don’t need to include the year in the folder name. If you’re working across multiple years on the same drive, consider either:

• Including the year in the folder title
• Creating parent folders for each year

All the RAW images are stored in the project-specific folders. 

Once I’m finished editing the gallery, I export the images to a folder on my computer titled “GALLERY_clientnames.” Some examples:

• GALLERY_Skyler + Rainbow
• GALLERY_Skyler + Rainbow CHW

 I then upload the gallery folder to the same location as the RAW images.

I like this system for a myriad of reasons. For one, I like having all my photos from a session in one place. Plus, the images in the completed GALLERY folder are all high resolution, so I likely won’t be using those files for my website or Instagram. If I want lower resolution images for social media, I simply head to the catalogue for that project and then re-export the image in the proper format I would like.

As for my catalogues, I organize them the exact same way, but simply in the CATALOGUES parent folder.

And that’s basically it! 

Once again, I want to note that you should be storing your files in multiple locations for backup purposes. I personally just use multiple hard drives because I find that works for me.

I hope this gives you some inspiration to improve your file organization. Don’t be afraid to adapt this system to fit your unique needs. Have suggestions or a different approach? Drop your ideas in the comments below – I’d love to learn from you!

Happy organizing!

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