how do you mean organized? I import my photos directly into folders, and then tag the shit out of them with metadata for organization purposes. I only use a few smart collections.
Too much of a cluster fuck for me. I don't want all the files transfered. I cut/paste into the proper folders, then I import the folder into LR. That way, only the originals are in LR and I can export the jpegs out without having them clog my folders. I'll post a screenshot tonight when I get home. Clean and simple.
Probably a stupid question. Does it hurt the quality of the pics when you cut/paste a bunch of pics from one folder to another?
I have all my photos organized with YEAR>>MONTH>>DAY, and my edited stuff is in another folder. I knew when I started this that it would get overwhelming if I didn't come up with a system. Lately I've been naming them as well as giving them a date but I can usually remember around what time of the month I shot what.
lightroom won't recognize RAW files on my camera, so i have to manually copy them off the card onto my HD, and then it sees them so i can import
Use the Canon Utility, it will import your photos to folders named for the date it was taken when you hook the camera up, then have Lightroom monitoring a folder, then every time you open LR, you will have new pictures already categorized by date taken.
Does it put them in folders according to the photo's taken date, not just the import date? When I try to import from device, it doesn't ever do anything for me, so I just use the Canon Utility.
Yes, it puts them in folders according to picture date. When you open the import dialog box <<File - Import Photos From Disk>>, there is an arrow on the right of the very top ((File Handling)). Choose what ever you want (I choose 'copy files to new location and add to catelog'). It will then scan the exif data from the pictures and sort them according to capture date. Basically, you set up the directory you want to store in, and it copes them to that directory per EXIF gleaned capture date, and stores them in a folder (my format is 2008-12-03). I am pretty sure Adobe would burn if people could not do that with software that costs as much as a small car.