Any Lightroom Expert here

rookies

rookies

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Andrew
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Right I am moving over from Aperture as Aperture dont want to do any movement on upgrades... Lightroom seem to beat it at the moment with the processing.

One thing that I am finding hard is file managements as aperture was easy and good this prob cos I was use to it. What the best way to do it with Lightroom can we name folders smart folders etc like aperture does.

Also is there a setting to auto duplicate a image when I edit so there original and Edited version stacked like aperture does??
 
Lightroom doesn't make "Smart Folders" in the way Aperture does. You have to decide where you want the images to go, which in my opinion is a better way.

There are many ways to organise your images. I start with a folder for the year. Then make one for the particular shoot. Then if needed a sub folder within that. I also ensure the images are renamed from the camera default numbering system to reflect the subject matter, mainly it's the folder name, but it can be different. Should I need to I will then add keywords, but it isn't always necessary. However subjects such as Surfing do get keyworded as I get asked for images of "Surfing". Makes finding them a lot easier.


You simply make a " Virtual Copy" to duplicate the image you want to have a duplicate of
 
Although you can't do smart folders you can do smart collections. Just set them up to find all images that match a certain condition
 
Can someone do a screen shot to give me an idea how it done please.
 
How do we be Lightroom to auto do the virtual copies rather than me doing it every time I edit a image...


Is smart collection people put folders in or do you all do it Under the hard drive foldes?
 
I don't bother. Hitting the backslash key while in edit mode takes you back to the original, unedited version. Hit it again to return to the current edit state.
 
Don't forget Lightroom is Non Destructive. The original image is never altered. What you are doing is adding a set of processing instruction to the database. These are only carried out when you export or print the image, and then only to the re rendered image. To go back to the unaltered image all you need do is reset.

You also have the "History" pane in the Develop module so you can select a previous state from that, rather than go all the way back to the beginning.

You might find it useful to view some videos on the Adobe web site on Lightroom. Alternativly get either Martin Evenings , or Scott Kelbys book on the product.
 
This is a screen shot of mine:

Screen_Shot_2012-09-27_at_09_24_56.png


I have several hard drives linked to LR that are automatically 'active' when they're turned on and plugged in - you can see the 2009-2010 and 1TB back-up drives are greyed out so aren't plugged in. LR saves everything as a catalogue; this is a database of images, metadata and settings applied to images. It's a non-destructive programme but unlike ACR where you create a sidecar .XMP file for every adjustment to a raw, adjustments are just saved in this catalogue database and applied over the top of the image in a sense.

The whole catalogue of images (i.e. everything that you've loaded into LR) can be scrolled through, even when the drives containing the originals aren't plugged in, because the catalogue creates thumbnails as reference. I keep my catalogue on my mac - if the catalogue was on an external drive then that would have to be plugged in.

Anyway; as you can see from the screenshot, I have several drives with several main folders inside that each hold several sub-folders.

This is my working style and others may have more effective ways of working, but I create a folder on the hard drive - mine are geared around magazines I shoot for but for example, let's call this folder 'IMAGES'. What I then do is import a shoot - let's call this shoot 'PAT'S PORTRAITS' and put them in a folder of that name. That folder is then placed inside the 'IMAGES' folder. I go to the IMPORT button in LR, find the 'IMAGES' folder and import that. What happens is it will create 'IMAGES' in the side menu AND it will also import that 'PAT'S PORTRAITS' folder and the images within that.

Now you have established a link to your images folder. These folders can all be renamed at will (alt+click on the folder name in LR).

Every shoot from now on is put into a named folder relevant to that job, and dragged manually into 'IMAGES' and then imported through LR and that list will start growing down the side. That's your image database and the archive.

Some people use the import dialogue that imports directly from the card but it creates folders that are date coded; I prefer to name folders after specific jobs or places, as it's easier to refer back to. Of course, images will be keyworded, so that's another way of searching for images, but this means that even when you're not in LR, you can go onto your drive and search for an image much quicker.

I've probably made it sound very complicated :lol:

I used Aperture for a bit but didn't get on with it; I moved to LR and it just fell into place very quickly. There's a website called thelightroomlab.com that carries good tutorials (plus there are loads if you google 'lightroom tutorials') and the Scott Kelby books are supposed to be good also.
 
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Thanks guys now it made it easier to understand and the way to do the folders easy thank you suppose it a better way really.

Now the editing side of things I am find LR better in most ways but the brush in aperture is better argh.

What I am still trying to find out is when I edit a image I like the image to duplicate so I have 2 images showing original and the alteration viewable when browsing
 
Rookies - hold CTRL plus click on the image in the lower filmstrip and you get the option to create a virtual copy so you can have the original next to unlimited edits of the same shot :)
 
specialman said:
Rookies - hold CTRL plus click on the image in the lower filmstrip and you get the option to create a virtual copy so you can have the original next to unlimited edits of the same shot :)
Click to expand...

Thanks is the for Mac? As I am a Mac user also is there not a option of it doing it automatically
 
Command-Apostrophe (') creates a Virtual Copy on the Mac.

You can do it on multiple selections, too, so all you have to do is select all the photos (Cmd-A) in Gallery Mode and execute the command and it will create virtual copies of all of them.

Must admit I would find that a lot of clutter, but if that's how you like to work it only takes a second or two.
 
rookies said:
Thanks guys now it made it easier to understand and the way to do the folders easy thank you suppose it a better way really.

Now the editing side of things I am find LR better in most ways but the brush in aperture is better argh.

What I am still trying to find out is when I edit a image I like the image to duplicate so I have 2 images showing original and the alteration viewable when browsing
Click to expand...
Using / when viewing an edited image will show you the original, but not side by side. C puts you in compare mode so I guess you may be able to use that there (I can't check as my macs died).

Heres a good list of shortcuts....

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS18e2013dd74eab5fe275e2711d1b186fe9-8000.html

I switched from Aperture and not looked back, I just found the raw processing much better in LR4 and it wasn't as "Sluggish" as it were.
 
Thank guys I am quite liking Lightroom but trying to decide whether to move over from aperture as the editing in lightroom is much better than aperture i have found.. I like the noise reduction in lightroom..

One thing I like about aperture is photo stream as i have iphone and ipad...

Is anyone using Nik Software with Lightroom??

If I were to stick with aperture I would get nik complete but £200 but if I were to move to LR I can get it for £79 and dont think ill bother with Nik Complete for it as LR seem to do everything nicely..
 
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