Are the RAW altered or are copies made etc?
If someone could explain in simple terms how lightroom 'works' and how to best setup my new install so from now on I have a catalogue etc I'd really appreciate it
Lightroom does, in simple terms 2 things
1. Image Catalog
2. RAW Editor
1. Image Catalog.
Allows you to organise, tag and sort your images, making it easier to find the images you want. You achieve this by using....
Catalog
Folders
Keywords
Collections
Catalog
Er, this is the catalog, you can have multiple catalogs, but only open one at a time. You cna move images between catalogs and maintain changes etc if you wish to. Depending on how many images you manage, you may want ot use more than one catalog, although 100,000 images per catalog is achievable, and Adobe don't state an upper limit.
Folders - These are where you put / import your files. When you import into Lightroom it will ask where to put the files. It works based on the files creation date, and gives you a lot of options as to how to store them. My folders look like this
Lightroom/2009/May/16
So, all shots from 16 May 2009 are in that folder, and so on...
Keywords
These are tags you associate to the images to help identify what's in the image. e.g. red, shoes, bouncy, melons
Collections.
These are groupings of images based on criteria you define. You can create standard collections around particular shoots or clients e.g. Smith Wedding, or you can create smart collections based around keywords, metadata etc. e.g. I have smart collections for Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Phase One (not mine, but I retouch files from P1 backs...)
Using the above tools you can create a workflow around your images that suits you. Mine runs a little like this
- Import, Convert to DNG, apply global IPTC copyright info, shoot specific keywords and camera specific presets (all happens on import)
- View in Grid in the library and reject unwanted images (OOF, just garbage etc) by hitting X
- Delete unwanted images from disk
- Create shoot specific collection and add the images
- Repeat the review images and rate images 4* and above for delivery to client.
- Filter view to 4* and above, then rename files as desired e.g. Smith Wedding 1,2,3 etc
- Subfolder in collection for Deliverables (4* files go here)
- The into Develop module for global colour etc.
At no point have we duplicated any files, and they're all untouched RAW's so far.
2. Raw Editor - Develop Module
In here we can make all sorts of changes to the appearance of the image. What goes on in here is Non Destructive, so all changes can be erased and reverted to the original file from the camera.
How?
RAW files get something called a sidecar file created ( .xmp) in which all the changes are recorded, leaving the original RAW untouched.
DNG files are designed so that the information in the .xmp file is contained inside the DNG, this way you only have one file to worry about, but you can still very easily revert back to the original out of camera image.
Lightroom also has the ability to create Virtual Copies, which essentially creates a second sidecar file for the image so you can have different variations of the RAW adjustments available on the same file visible inside lightroom at the same time (It's a great feature)
Lightroom never overwrites or replaces your original RAW, it just creates, reads and updates the xmp data which is easily wiped out if desired.
There are other modules too
Print ( A bit rubbish in V2 as it's too restrictive)
Web (Very useful, and lots of other templates available online too)
lol
