lightroom 3

[justjan]

i've just finished all lr lessons, been out on shoots, and imported my photo's. i've succeeded in assigning colour labels for the 100 photo's, but don't know what to do next.

also, in that batch of photo's are some that i'd like to separate and put into their own folders.

apart from that, i see my photo's duplicated at least once in grid view into rw2 which i know are very large, jpg, and a few tiff. i'm very familiar with jpg but don't know what to do with the others.

any advise welcomed.

from jan

 

[Chappers]

If you are just starting with Lightroom you need to top and think exactly what you want to do. It's a real pain to find in a couple of months time that the structure you are working with really doesn't work.

OK so you've imported the Photo's . As you only have 100 it's no big deal if you decide to change things.

Now you want to put some into a separate folder. You've got 2 options.
1/ right click on the parent folder, and from the options choose "create folder inside xxxx". You'll be prompted for a name, and hey presto a new folder appears. You can now drag those images you want into that folder.

2/ Highlight the images you want to move. now repeat the above, but tick "include selected photo" Lightroom will now make a folder as you requested and transfer those highlighted images to that folder.

The files you are seeing as RW2 are in fact RAW files. These files contain all of the data that the chip collected, and not the smaller JPEG files. You have a lot more control when editing these RAW files. Tiff files are similar to JPEG but are not compressed, hence they can be very large.

Lightroom was designed to work with RAW files so if you can use those. The downside of RAW is that the files themselves are much bigger than JPEG's so use up more card space, plus you may need to convert them to JPEG's for some viewers to open them. However the scope RAW gives you is dramatic and in my opinion worth the extra storage space.

Remember that Lightroom is non destructive. This means it never alters the original file. All the changes you see are simply instruction to Lightroom to render the output file. It never touches the original, so you can change your edits as many times as you lke without affecting the integrity of the original, be it a RAW file JPEG or TIFF

 

[GLP]

Jan,

I have a series of folders set up inside a 'photographs' folder - one for each year (2009, 2010, 2011 etc), and within each, a folder for each month (01, 02, 03 etc.) (use 2 digit numbers to keep chronological order - not Jan Feb etc)

When I import photos, I set the destination to organise by date (eg 2011-03-28), then make sure the appropriate month is selected (2011, 03). Leaving it set like this, Lightroom creates a new date folder whenever necessary - I only need to remember to create and select the new month folder at the start of the month. If I shoot two or more events on a day, I will rename the day folder to append a description (eg 2011-03-28 Seaside) but don't lose the date! Multiple dated shoots on a card will have multiple date folders created for import!

Once the photos are imported, I will keyword (tag) them to help me find them later; this can be done on import too. Some of the stock photo sites have good articles on setting up a keyword hierarchy. Start setting up a good keyword hierarchy now - it'll save time later. Alternatively, you may wish to set up collections; some LR users prefer using collections to keywords - personal preference.

There are many free LR tutorials on the net; try googling 'learn Lightroom', just keep learning!

Geoff

 

[justjan]

thank you very much for your help, and i've moved 2 sets successfully exactly as you described. i couldn't find them after in lr, but they are safe and sound in my pictures. i also wanted the 2 sets in their own separate folders but couldn't rename them to rectify this.

jpg's i know are smaller and easier to deal with. i'd like to change the tiff photo back to raw. i don't know if that's possible tho, and i edited it in photoshop. i know how to re-size raw into smaller sizes suitable for posting as attachments etc.

this is marvelous that i just write questions and someone sensible gives me easy to follow answers. well done t.p.

from jan

If you are just starting with Lightroom you need to top and think exactly what you want to do. It's a real pain to find in a couple of months time that the structure you are working with really doesn't work.

OK so you've imported the Photo's . As you only have 100 it's no big deal if you decide to change things.

Now you want to put some into a separate folder. You've got 2 options.
1/ right click on the parent folder, and from the options choose "create folder inside xxxx". You'll be prompted for a name, and hey presto a new folder appears. You can now drag those images you want into that folder.

2/ Highlight the images you want to move. now repeat the above, but tick "include selected photo" Lightroom will now make a folder as you requested and transfer those highlighted images to that folder.

The files you are seeing as RW2 are in fact RAW files. These files contain all of the data that the chip collected, and not the smaller JPEG files. You have a lot more control when editing these RAW files. Tiff files are similar to JPEG but are not compressed, hence they can be very large.

Lightroom was designed to work with RAW files so if you can use those. The downside of RAW is that the files themselves are much bigger than JPEG's so use up more card space, plus you may need to convert them to JPEG's for some viewers to open them. However the scope RAW gives you is dramatic and in my opinion worth the extra storage space.

Remember that Lightroom is non destructive. This means it never alters the original file. All the changes you see are simply instruction to Lightroom to render the output file. It never touches the original, so you can change your edits as many times as you lke without affecting the integrity of the original, be it a RAW file JPEG or TIFF

 

[Chappers]

Jan

You could think about using "Collections" to have the same image in more than one location. The images in collections are not duplicates, but simply pointers to the originals.

If however you need for some reason to have copies of the originals, renamed and put into another folder, you'll need to copy these images outside of Lightroom and then rename the copies with a different name and then reimport. A bit messy, collections are a lot neater.

With regards to converting TIFF files back to RAW. You can sort of do it. You can convert files to .dng files which is Adobe's proprietary RAW format. To do this go to "GRID" view. Select the images(s) you want to convert. Go to Library> Convert images to DNG. A dialogue box will pop up. un tick the top option "only convert RAW files". Press OK and off you go.

I don't know if you know that you can open images direct into Photoshop from Lightroom for editing. Press cntl/cmd +E and the image is exported to Photoshop, plus it is also saved in Lightroom next to the original. Any changes you make to the Photoshop version are saved back when you use the Save command in Photoshop.

Just a suggestion. As you are new to Lightroom, may I suggest you make copies of your images for the time being. Place these copies into a separate folder, and use this to gain experience with the application. One you are happy ( and don't have too many images), delete the old images and reimport the originals.

John C

 

[justjan]

dear geoff

thank you very much, your set up seems a very good one and i would like to use it too. however, i find it difficult and complicated to establish without help.

if i go to "pictures" on my hard drive i find my Lrcib folder. the pictures i've been saving in this folder starts with "2011 feb imported from camera". inside that i locate photographic walks, inside that is 2010 and 2011, inside that is mar (which i didn't name and it won't let me rename) inside that are all my pictures both raw and jpg. raw show up as white with the corner turned down, and i can't get access to them from there.

its very complicated but would you have the patience to help me get mine similar to yours. otherwise i'm going to get hopelessly confused and loose things, as well as take all the pleasure out of it.

from jan

p.s. Lrcib = lr classroom in a book.

Jan,

I have a series of folders set up inside a 'photographs' folder - one for each year (2009, 2010, 2011 etc), and within each, a folder for each month (01, 02, 03 etc.) (use 2 digit numbers to keep chronological order - not Jan Feb etc)

When I import photos, I set the destination to organise by date (eg 2011-03-28), then make sure the appropriate month is selected (2011, 03). Leaving it set like this, Lightroom creates a new date folder whenever necessary - I only need to remember to create and select the new month folder at the start of the month. If I shoot two or more events on a day, I will rename the day folder to append a description (eg 2011-03-28 Seaside) but don't lose the date! Multiple dated shoots on a card will have multiple date folders created for import!

Once the photos are imported, I will keyword (tag) them to help me find them later; this can be done on import too. Some of the stock photo sites have good articles on setting up a keyword hierarchy. Start setting up a good keyword hierarchy now - it'll save time later. Alternatively, you may wish to set up collections; some LR users prefer using collections to keywords - personal preference.

There are many free LR tutorials on the net; try googling 'learn Lightroom', just keep learning!

Geoff

 

[Craikeybaby]

I think a key thing that you need to take into account with Lightroom is that once you have an image in your Lightroom catalog any changes you do to that images, especially with egards to where it is stored on the hard drive, including renaming folders, needs to be done from within Lightroom.

As Chappers says, collections are probably the easiest way to arrange images.

A good tip for Lightroom is to figure out how you want to sort your images before your catalog gets too big.

 

[Chappers]

Just another thought. If you want duplicates so that you can apply different processing to separate images, you have the facility to make a "Virtual Copy" . This uses the same image but the data is treated separately. So one image may be in full colour, the virtual copy may be B&W, another may be Sepia. Each image is treated separately although the same original is used for all. It's just the database entries that are changed

 

[IanT74]

I have just ordered a copy of lightroom so I will be sure to come back and follow the very helpful advice in this thread! Looking forward to getting more out of my pictures

 

[justjan]

hi geoff

i've printed out your letter and perhaps over easter when i expect to be at home alone and looking for a way of passing the time interestingly, i will do as you suggest and am already looking forward to it.

i have already begun to tidy up a bit by deleting a few folders of photos that came with the lessons, while keeping the lessons themselves separate. however, i did mistake some i'm working on but got them back by importing them again. i also see now that you can choose not to have raw and jpg side by side or tiff, as the latter two are the ones that are blank white pages with the corners turned down.

i don't really understand what all the blank white pages are with the corners turned down. it was mainly those i was deleting. it won't let me open them anyway.

many thanx for helping me learn in an easy down to earth manner.

from jan

i so love my new hobby - photography, including the heavy software. i'll get there in the end.

Jan,

I have a series of folders set up inside a 'photographs' folder - one for each year (2009, 2010, 2011 etc), and within each, a folder for each month (01, 02, 03 etc.) (use 2 digit numbers to keep chronological order - not Jan Feb etc)

When I import photos, I set the destination to organise by date (eg 2011-03-28), then make sure the appropriate month is selected (2011, 03). Leaving it set like this, Lightroom creates a new date folder whenever necessary - I only need to remember to create and select the new month folder at the start of the month. If I shoot two or more events on a day, I will rename the day folder to append a description (eg 2011-03-28 Seaside) but don't lose the date! Multiple dated shoots on a card will have multiple date folders created for import!

Once the photos are imported, I will keyword (tag) them to help me find them later; this can be done on import too. Some of the stock photo sites have good articles on setting up a keyword hierarchy. Start setting up a good keyword hierarchy now - it'll save time later. Alternatively, you may wish to set up collections; some LR users prefer using collections to keywords - personal preference.

There are many free LR tutorials on the net; try googling 'learn Lightroom', just keep learning!

Geoff

 

[awp]

but they are safe and sound in my pictures.

NO they're not. Probably the least safe place to store your pictures is in 'My Pictures'. You should store your pictures on a second HD - e.g. a 'D' drive and not in 'My Pictures' which is part of the windows operating system.

 

[justjan]

dear john

i'm so amazed and grateful for all the help i'm getting on this site. i can't thank you enough. i have printed out your letter and will put it into practice very soon.

i would like to have original photos in "my pictures", but am also afraid as i take them in raw that my memory will become too full. once i'm truly familiar with lightroom i may change my mind.

i'm using lr for everything at the moment in order to learn it, but i'm very familiar with photoshop and that it does some things you can't do in lr.

from jan

Jan

You could think about using "Collections" to have the same image in more than one location. The images in collections are not duplicates, but simply pointers to the originals.

If however you need for some reason to have copies of the originals, renamed and put into another folder, you'll need to copy these images outside of Lightroom and then rename the copies with a different name and then reimport. A bit messy, collections are a lot neater.

With regards to converting TIFF files back to RAW. You can sort of do it. You can convert files to .dng files which is Adobe's proprietary RAW format. To do this go to "GRID" view. Select the images(s) you want to convert. Go to Library> Convert images to DNG. A dialogue box will pop up. un tick the top option "only convert RAW files". Press OK and off you go.

I don't know if you know that you can open images direct into Photoshop from Lightroom for editing. Press cntl/cmd +E and the image is exported to Photoshop, plus it is also saved in Lightroom next to the original. Any changes you make to the Photoshop version are saved back when you use the Save command in Photoshop.

Just a suggestion. As you are new to Lightroom, may I suggest you make copies of your images for the time being. Place these copies into a separate folder, and use this to gain experience with the application. One you are happy ( and don't have too many images), delete the old images and reimport the originals.

John C

 

[justjan]

hi

would a virtual copy take up the same memory space as photos in raw?

from jan

Just another thought. If you want duplicates so that you can apply different processing to separate images, you have the facility to make a "Virtual Copy" . This uses the same image but the data is treated separately. So one image may be in full colour, the virtual copy may be B&W, another may be Sepia. Each image is treated separately although the same original is used for all. It's just the database entries that are changed

 

[awp]

hi

would a virtual copy take up the same memory space as photos in raw?

from jan

NO - a virtual copy is just an entry in the database - taking very very little space.

 

[justjan]

sorry its me again.

in publishing services it has flickr and facebook which i'd like to publish my photos at the same time as to my hard drive.

when i click setup, i get to publishing manager. i put in the description and settings which then asks me next to log on. then it says lightroom needs authorization, when i apply it says application not found, and i can't make any progress. last time i published, my photos went to all 3 places with no hitches. can you suggest anything? i had to upload my photos to facebook and flickr from those sites and it took forever.

p.s. what's D.O.F?

from jan

NO - a virtual copy is just an entry in the database - taking very very little space.

 

[justjan]

sorry its me again.

in publishing services it has flickr and facebook which i'd like to publish my photos at the same time as to my hard drive.

when i click setup, i get to publishing manager. i put in the description and settings which then asks me next to log on. then it says lightroom needs authorization, when i apply it says application not found, and i can't make any progress. last time i published, my photos went to all 3 places with no hitches. can you suggest anything? i had to upload my photos to facebook and flickr from those sites and it took forever.

p.s. what's D.O.F?

from jan

Just another thought. If you want duplicates so that you can apply different processing to separate images, you have the facility to make a "Virtual Copy" . This uses the same image but the data is treated separately. So one image may be in full colour, the virtual copy may be B&W, another may be Sepia. Each image is treated separately although the same original is used for all. It's just the database entries that are changed

 

[TCR4x4]

hi geoff



i don't really understand what all the blank white pages are with the corners turned down. it was mainly those i was deleting. it won't let me open them anyway.

Those are might be the RAW files, you really shouldnt be deleting them outside of LR. The reason you cant open them from "My Pictures" is you probably dont have a default program set up to open them with.

Ive never got the upload to Flickr thing to work in Lightroom. I just do it directly through Flickr, it takes the same amount of time.

DOF = Depth of Field.

 

[Craikeybaby]

I would advise against using the publish service with Facebook as it is not set up to replace images, so you lose the main benefit of the publish service, which is that any changes in Lightroom are uploaded to the photo online. Flickr (with a Pro account) handles this well.

For Facebook I would stick with the normal export plug in.

 

[justjan]

hi john

i hope you are well.

i'm coming on nicely and with reference to several pieces of advise i have pinned on my shelves, i'm just about able to use lightroom.

i'm waiting for the postman to deliver an external hard drive to backup all my photos. but i'm still not clear how to export and import photos correctly and put them in collections rather than folders. i do not know what a smart collection is. its destination i'm most unclear about. i've tidied up my photos by putting them in years, months, and day's, as well as a brief description. that's a big help. i also deleted the photos that came with my lesson book now, as they were complicating everything and i no longer need them, tho i've kept the lessons themselves. last night i cleaned out everything from lightroom. i wanted to start afresh and i have photos to develop still in my camera.

should i delete lt3cib lrcat and lrdat do you know? i was too scared to do that myself.

and can i publish to disk, backup, flickr, and facebook simultaneously?

regards from jan

 

[Craikeybaby]

Images always have to be in a folder, that is the folder they are in on your computer. Each image can only be in one folder, usually I minimise the folder view, there isn't usually much need to use it.

Collections are groups of images, say you want all of your pictures of birds in one place, you can create a collection and drag all your bird photos into it. Images can be in more than one collection, so say you had another collection for pictures taken in Norfolk, an image of a bird in Norfolk could be in both collections.

Smart collections, are like collections, but smarter, when you set one up it looks through all the images in your catalogue for the ones that meet the criteria, say taken on a certain date, and add them to the smart collection. Also any images added in the future that also meet that criteria are also added automatically.

Collections and smart collections only exist in Lightroom.

If you want to start fresh in Lightroom I would suggest starting a new catalogue (File -> New Catalog), then once you are happy with that you can delete your old one.

It is possible to publish to all of those services in one go, but my advice would be to walk before you can run, as to get it all set up isn't very straightforward.

 

[Reynard]

Jan,

Not sure if you have seen the Adobe TV site that has really good videos on how to use LR. I'm finding them very useful:

Adobe TV

Paul

 

[justjan]

dear paul

thanx for that, i'm looking forward to learning how to use presets and templates. i'm now able to import and organise my pictures where i want them which is a huge step forward. i'm hesitant and timid using catalogues tho. i deleted more than one containing the lessons photos which i no longer need.

there's a lot of l/r videos on youtube, have you checked that out yet?

from jan

Jan,

Not sure if you have seen the Adobe TV site that has really good videos on how to use LR. I'm finding them very useful:

Adobe TV

Paul