Today’s Question: You commented that when you send photos to others you rename them. I do that also. But I’m wondering how you then keep track of which photo a shared copy relates to.
Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend either including the original filename as part of the renamed derivative image, or using a keyword to tag the images based on how they were shared so you can locate them later if needed.
More Detail: Today’s question is another follow-up to an earlier question about renaming, and in one of my previous answers I mentioned that I don’t generally rename my photos in my normal workflow. I also mentioned that when I send a derivative image to someone else, I do rename that copy so it has a more meaningful name.
In some cases, I don’t really need to keep track of the source file for a derivative copy being shared with someone else. For example, when I speak at events the organizers often want to have a handful of sample photos that illustrate my work as a photographer. In this type of situation, I don’t generally need to keep track of which photos I shared for a particular event. It is a just a showcase of images I consider to be favorites at that time, or that relate to the theme of the event.
When I do want to be able to keep track of which photos were used for sharing through a particular outlet, there are two approaches I might use.
The first, and most convenient and dependable, is to retain the original filename as part of the filename for the derivative copy that is shared with someone else. For example, if an original image has the filename of IMG_1234.cr3 I might rename the derivative copy to something like “Tim Grey – Lightroom Virtual Summit 2026 – IMG_1234.jpg”. With this approach I can use the original filename in the name of the derivative image to track down the original.
Another technique I use is something I refer to as “fake keywords”. There’s not actually anything fake about these keywords, they’re just used in a way that is a little different from the typical approach. With the example above, I might add “Lightroom Virtual Summit 2026” as a keyword for the image, so that I can use that keyword to track down the original image as needed.
In Lightroom Classic you could also use a collection to group together the images you’re sharing for a particular purpose. However, this approach could quickly get a bit unwieldly if you share a large number of photos through a variety of different outlets. A hybrid approach could be to assign a meaningful keyword as noted above, and then create a smart collection based on that keyword for situations where you want quick access to specific photos via a collection that automatically populates based on specific metadata criteria.
