Optimum workflow with Bridge and Lightroom

TimHughes

TimHughes

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Tim
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Any suggestions how best to combine Bridge and Lightroom in a fast workflow?

The idea is to do the previews, selection, tagging and metadata in Bridge then either take the jpg as shot or if a bit more editing is needed use Lightroom for that. Should be much quicker than uploading all to LR? Probably I'm being dense but I don't see an easy way to work with the two together.
 
To be quite honest I cannot see why you would want to do that and what benefits there would be, what stumbling blocks are you encountering importing into LR and working from there?
 
PhilH04 said:
To be quite honest I cannot see why you would want to do that and what benefits there would be, what stumbling blocks are you encountering importing into LR and working from there?
Click to expand...

LR is very slow to import and build previews on my machine. It's ok when I can leave it overnight but in this case I need to be as fast as possible so considering Bridge to do the selection etc then only import minimum needed into LR (I expect 5% of shots taken or so) Hope that makes some kind of sense.
 
I don't think there is a way to work that way, LR should not be slow to import, I can import a 16gb card to two locations and build standard previews in no time whatsoever, a bit of a pain as it doesn't give me time for a cup of coffee.

What previews are you generating?
What else are you asking LR to do when you import.

You can do the selection etc in the import dialogue btw., so that you only import what you think suitable, you do not have to import everything.
 
Are you on a Commodore 64? Having to leave it overnight to import tells me there is something very wrong with your computer or you may want to consider upgrading it.

How do you import to LR? What previews? How many photos generally?
 
PhilH04 said:
I don't think there is a way to work that way, LR should not be slow to import, I can import a 16gb card to two locations and build standard previews in no time whatsoever, a bit of a pain as it doesn't give me time for a cup of coffee.

What previews are you generating?
What else are you asking LR to do when you import.

You can do the selection etc in the import dialogue btw., so that you only import what you think suitable, you do not have to import everything.
Click to expand...

Craigus said:
Are you on a Commodore 64? Having to leave it overnight to import tells me there is something very wrong with your computer or you may want to consider upgrading it.

How do you import to LR? What previews? How many photos generally?
Click to expand...

Phil, Craig thanks for the quick replies. It's a bit newer than a commodore 64, a late 2009 iMac and for say 1000 pics it takes a long time to upload and build 1:1 previews, I may also have auto tone or somesuch included. Selecting in the dialog box sounds like a good options I'll test that out.
Thanks, Tim
 
No need to build 1:1 previews, they can be built later if you need them, stick with standard previews and everything will go much faster, in the import dialogue one can use Loupe View to go through the images and simply select which to import.

Even a late 2009 iMac should not be that slow to import, make sure nothing else is going on in the background, as I said I import to 2 external drives and build standard previews, sometimes adding extra metadata over and above copyright and never have a problem.
 
just build standard previews, or even minimal, and don't convert to DNG, for fastest import. It's not as good as it should be, even on very high spec computers, but still fast enough really?
 
NeilA1975 said:
Why? I use Bridge with ACR and find it much easier than messing around with LR which I personally find too fiddly.......
Horses for courses.
Click to expand...

Because he is using LR to edit some of the photos after cataloguing and tagging etc with Bridge. Kill two birds with one stone. If the interest is a simpler workflow I can't see how using two programs would ever be any easier when one is perfectly capable.
 
Craigus said:
Because he is using LR to edit some of the photos after cataloguing and tagging etc with Bridge. Kill two birds with one stone. If the interest is a simpler workflow I can't see how using two programs would ever be any easier when one is perfectly capable.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I read it as he uses bridge for his catalogue and LR for editing which seems pointless. Better to ditch LR and open the images directly from Bridge into ACR.
 
Again I don't know why you'd use both LR and Bridge. I always thought that LR was basically bridge combined with ACR all rolled into one with a bit of PS for good measure.

My workflow tends to be:
  • Insert card and choose import settings (folder name) I also set it to add all photos to a temporary collection (which is synced with LRM) I also choose 1:1 previews, however after reading this I may change that
  • Go and make a drink
  • Go through and flag favourites and rejects - I tend to use LRM on my iPad for this as it means I can still spend time with the family rather than locked away, I also like the flick-to-pick etc thats built in to LRM (it kills the time while SWMBO watches her soaps)
  • Rejects are deleted, Picks edited and moved to a permanent collection. the temporary one is now deleted.
  • Final images are exported to a jpegs folder which is in turn imported to Photos.
The final stage allows me to view all my finished pictures quickly in 1 location. It also makes it easier to share with family etc
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
Again I don't know why you'd use both LR and Bridge. I always thought that LR was basically bridge combined with ACR all rolled into one with a bit of PS for good measure.

My workflow tends to be:
  • Insert card and choose import settings (folder name) I also set it to add all photos to a temporary collection (which is synced with LRM) I also choose 1:1 previews, however after reading this I may change that
  • Go and make a drink
  • Go through and flag favourites and rejects - I tend to use LRM on my iPad for this as it means I can still spend time with the family rather than locked away, I also like the flick-to-pick etc thats built in to LRM (it kills the time while SWMBO watches her soaps)
  • Rejects are deleted, Picks edited and moved to a permanent collection. the temporary one is now deleted.
  • Final images are exported to a jpegs folder which is in turn imported to Photos.
The final stage allows me to view all my finished pictures quickly in 1 location. It also makes it easier to share with family etc
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies. This is what I normally do. In this case coming up there is a need to get the pics out as fast as possible with metadata and some key words so my first target is to simply get the pics right straight out of the camera in jpg and looked at Bridge as a way to do the selection, tagging etc. I'll test out just using LR and previewing before import as someone suggested. The venue will have wifi so it may also be possible for someone to connect to the camera over the wifi and be working on the selection and tagging etc as we go in near real time.
 
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PhilH04 said:
No need to build 1:1 previews, they can be built later if you need them, stick with standard previews and everything will go much faster, in the import dialogue one can use Loupe View to go through the images and simply select which to import.

Even a late 2009 iMac should not be that slow to import, make sure nothing else is going on in the background, as I said I import to 2 external drives and build standard previews, sometimes adding extra metadata over and above copyright and never have a problem.
Click to expand...

Standard previews will be fine if he doesn't zoom in in the Library Module. If he does then LR will build a 1:1 anyway.

Also 1:1 previews don't speed up the Develop module.

If his computer is that slow he might look at Smart previews.
 
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