Catalog workflow
What Catalog workflow do you use? Do you create a new catalog for each client? For each month? For each shoot?
When I first started using LR (1-3), I only created one catalog for all. Now with a few more photoshoots on my plate, I am creating a new catalog for each shoot. I found it quite easy to find the specific photos for each type shoot this way. I still use the keywords for coding as well.
I also create a catalog per client so that I can go back to it in the future and know exactly where is what.
I just started doing a combination of both. For the longest time all my photos were in one catalog. I still use that catalog for my general shots and practicing. But for actual projects (personal or client) I have started creating a new catalog per project. I'm using a variation of the Kevin Kubota catalog template. I created a folder that has a blank catalog and folders in it where I put the original files, exports for proofs, exports for the web and then exports for printing.
I make a catalog for each shoot or client. It allows LR and PS to run quicker and much more efficient.
This was a trick learned from the Kubota Bootcamp, which was an invaluable workshop to learn an effective system as I start a photography business.
Is it really faster? I have one catalog and noticed editing is getting slower, but not sure if it is because of just having one catalog.
I tend to keep everything in the same catalog and sort via keywords/tags. Some clients who need privacy (due to NDA for example) get their own catalog and some personal projects do as well as they need to be able to be picked up and dumped on the laptop quicky for example.
can I put the catalog with my raw files on an external harddrive