Lightroom 2 workflow question
Ann McRae
Registered Users Posts: 4,584 Major grins
Thank you all to the info in the lightroom release thread. I am using the free trial and really like it so will be buying. The time I've saved on my last two paid game shoots will more than pay for the software!!
So now I'd love to learn how best to use/organize things.
1. Right now, all my photos are organized by date or by team on my hard drive. I am importing, game by game, those that need editing into lightroom. I believe that I am actually copying, and therefore now have the RAW files in two places on my hard drive. Don't want that so can/should I delete the ones in Lightroom, or am I wrong and they only exist in the original location on my hard drive?
2. For future photos, will I still copy from card to hard drive, or will I copy them from card into a lightroom folder?
3. Thus far, I've exported the edits back to the hard drive (using the same heirarchy I was previously using, put them into a folder called "post" or "edit"). Again is this the most sensical going forward?
Would love to hear answers and advice. Hope this makes some sense.
ann
So now I'd love to learn how best to use/organize things.
1. Right now, all my photos are organized by date or by team on my hard drive. I am importing, game by game, those that need editing into lightroom. I believe that I am actually copying, and therefore now have the RAW files in two places on my hard drive. Don't want that so can/should I delete the ones in Lightroom, or am I wrong and they only exist in the original location on my hard drive?
2. For future photos, will I still copy from card to hard drive, or will I copy them from card into a lightroom folder?
3. Thus far, I've exported the edits back to the hard drive (using the same heirarchy I was previously using, put them into a folder called "post" or "edit"). Again is this the most sensical going forward?
Would love to hear answers and advice. Hope this makes some sense.
ann
0
Comments
If you selected copy to a new location and add to catalog.. then yes, you have them in two places. ..but the changes are pointed to the new copy not the original location. .that can be fixed though.
In the library, you will see the imported folders and find them pretty handy, but I like to go ahead and create collections as I can further break down the folders into more logical units. ..and the cool thing about collections is you can have the same photo (still with all the changes) in more than one collection. So like if you are doing ball games, you can also make a catagory for a particular player if needed.
To cull out any bad shots, I use the pic flag. Ctrl A (select all) everything in the library and add the pic flag in the thumbnail view. As I am working through a catagory, I have the pic flag filter on. If I happen on a bad shot, I remove the flag and that falls out so to speak. Later you can filter on non pics and choose to delete perm or remove them from Lightroom.
I only add stars for expectional shots where due rather than starting them all out at 1 star. That way you gain an extra filter. The color labeler is also handy to use for example picking a certain player out. You can easily filter on that color, select all and make another catagory adding those pics to it. ...they are still in the folders as expected as well as the other catagories you may have them in.
Maybe it isn't as big of a deal with this version, but create a new catalog for each event rather than stuff one catalog with everything. I keep those catalogs and backups in a seperate Lightroom directory similar to how I do the originals. ..though I have thought of putting the catalog in the root of the event folder... hmmm
whew.. that got kinda long so I will stop for now!
Thanks for your replies.
It will be interesting to see the flow when I am working with a new set of photos, sounds great.
For now, I don't know (and can't seem to figure out) if I copied them or not. The files are 'folders' with the address: macintosh HD, then folder name as it exists on my hard drive.
I am trying to recreate my steps and think that I used 'file: new catalogue' for each set I brought over. Actually it may be that I used 'import file from disk'.
Hmmm, wish I had a nice simple book to refer to right now. Is there a Scott Kelby LR2 yet???
Well, there is nothing to do but learn by trial and error for the time being.
ann
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
When I wonder about duplicates, I hit the Spotlight shortcut and start typing the filename. If I see two copies listed...it's duplicated.
There are supposed to be some out there.
Most welcome! ..happy to help!
From what you describe, it sounds like you selected Add to Catalog from current location.
..one thing you can do to check... On a pic (either filmstrip, on in library, or even in the develop module) do a right click and select Show in in Explorer. That will show you exactly where it is pointing to for it's source pic. Though not sure what that option would be called on a mac. If it opens the file somewhere besides where you though it was... you did the copy to new location.
..as to the Scott Kelby ver 2.0 book. (yes.. get it when it comes out!)
I am sure there is one coming soon if it isn't out yet.. I've seen a new section in NAPP devoted to version 2.0 which tells me the wheels are in motion.
Actually if you could borrow or find it at the library (you could borrow mine if you live near Indy!), the original version he wrote would work for most of the questions you are having now. True there are new tools, some of the verbiage has been clarified on some of the panels, as well as some tools thankfully moved in the dev section (crop, redeye, spot removal etc), but it still would give you some great insight to establishing a workflow for yourself.
Have fun!
Here's my workflow (for what its worth):
CF into reader
LR opens
Load photos into folders in an 'unfiled' directory
I also enable the option to add my info - you can set up a preset with your copyright, location, etc
Finally, I type in some relevant keywords that apply to all photos (ie city, state)
Then import
I then go through the photos with my fingers on the 'x' key and 1, 2, and 3. If you turn on caps lock, the photos will move as soon as you rate them. I hit x for crap shots (blurry, eyes closed). 1 for panoramics. 2 for 'documentary' (ie remember a time/person/place) and 3 for good shots.
When that is done, I set the filter to only show 3 and higher stars. I then click on the P key for anything I was to process.
Next I click on Photo - Delete all rejected photos.
Next I undo the filter by star/rating and keyword all photos.
I then go to the develop module and turn on the filter to only show the flagged photos.
For the really, really good shots, I move them up to a 4 star rating in the develop module
Finally, I select all the processed shots and export to smugmug via the plugin. That way I don't need to make any JPG files to eat up space.
Hope that helps,
E
My site | Non-MHD Landscapes |Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | Smugmug photos
__________________
www.browngreensports.com
http://browngreensports.smugmug.com
There is a Kelby LR2 training book out. Better still you can learn by video and much better and quicker. Click on the link below.
http://www.kelbytraining.com/
regards rob
Hi Ann,
I've been using Lightroom since it came out. This approach has been working quite well; it seems common that everyone's flow is a bit unique.
My asset management approach is to have one authoritative copy of each image; to enable one good backup copy by making the process easy; and to organize my images to synch with my way of thinking.
For years I have put all my images into dated folders in the Finder. I have an applescript that creates a folder for today: 20080808. And into that I put any shots taken today. It just makes backup with Superduper easy to have them all in one master folder of dated folders. It also makes it easier to track down wayward image files in Lightroom.
After I upload image files into those Finder folders, I then drag everything into Lightroom. I have Lightroom configured to link to the original files and not duplicate them.
In Lightroom, I then create multiple collections that cluster the image content into relevant categories. My higher -level collections are Art, People, Places, Documentation, and everything falls canonically down from there.
Sometimes I'll keyword, but I'm more of a clustering sort. Plus I've been given the gift of being able to recall exactly where I was when taking any photograph.
I manage the images totally from Lightroom. The poor ones I delete permanently.
I used this approach with IView Media Pro prior to Lightroom and it worked quite well.
Hope this helps.
M
I have a photos folder on my macbook pro. When I get back from a shoot I make a folder in there by year-month_shoot ie, 08_08_picnicAtTheBeach Then I copy the photos in with the finder. I also put my geotracks from the gps into there.
Then I open lightroom and hit Cmd-Shift-I (import) and point it at the folder and set my copyright info and change it to whatever camera profile I want to use. It then shows up in the folders view on the left.
When sorting through the images, I'll use the 1-5 buttons to set stars for photos I think are possibilities. I find on different days I'll have different ideas about what is good, so if I have used too many 3's then I'll only export the 4's and if I've gone overboard on 4's then only the 5's get a look in. so each shoot is a continuum on it's own. I am brutal about deleting photos that I'm never going to use. the 'x' key is the reject shortcut and the 'u' key is the unflag shortcut. I go through and hit x for all the out of focus or badly exposed shots. then at the end, hit Cmd-backspace,(delete rejected) that will show you all the rejected ones and ask if you want to delete them. It saves you having to go through and filtering by some other criterior.
When done with a shoot I'll use the volumes tab to move it from my laptops hard drive to one of my 2 portable drives, just drag and drop the folder from one volume to another and lightroom will move it from one drive to the other and update it's library. Awesomely easy.
When exporting (Cmd-shift-E) either I use the smugmug uploader or the export to disk (I quite often tweak my photos on an aeroplane when I don't have internet) and I use the following settings,
Export to: "same folder as original photo"
Put in subfolder "develops"
Then I have the jpegs in a develop folder for each shoot and they will be moved with the original folder when I move it.