Lightroom workflow help
Discussion
I'm now using Lightroom 3 on my iMac, and after making the switch from Windows, I'm trying to get my head around a proper workflow.
Previously in my pictures, I'd create a new folder and open a new catologue which I would then import photos from there. This left me with a catalogue in each file and if I was exporting RAW files as Jpegs, then i would export to same folder hence having everything from that particular shoot stored in one file. I believe the backup would be saved under a file corresponding to date/year.
Is this a good way to do it or is there a better way? Lightroom seems keen just to use the one catalogue to import, putting the CR2 files into an individually named file corresponding to the event.
Previously in my pictures, I'd create a new folder and open a new catologue which I would then import photos from there. This left me with a catalogue in each file and if I was exporting RAW files as Jpegs, then i would export to same folder hence having everything from that particular shoot stored in one file. I believe the backup would be saved under a file corresponding to date/year.
Is this a good way to do it or is there a better way? Lightroom seems keen just to use the one catalogue to import, putting the CR2 files into an individually named file corresponding to the event.
What I do, and this is by no means better or worse...
Card gets copied onto 2 hard drives both identical named folders (example Saturday shoot1). I import from the main drive to LR using file/Import photos and it indexes against the primary drive. Any edits are exported to CS5, and when I save as I create a jpeg folder within the Saturday shoot1 folder and save a hi and lo-res jpeg. LR indexes them again and Synctoy picks up the jpegs and adds them to the slave drive.
Card gets copied onto 2 hard drives both identical named folders (example Saturday shoot1). I import from the main drive to LR using file/Import photos and it indexes against the primary drive. Any edits are exported to CS5, and when I save as I create a jpeg folder within the Saturday shoot1 folder and save a hi and lo-res jpeg. LR indexes them again and Synctoy picks up the jpegs and adds them to the slave drive.
Rob13 said:
I'm now using Lightroom 3 on my iMac, and after making the switch from Windows, I'm trying to get my head around a proper workflow.
Previously in my pictures, I'd create a new folder and open a new catologue which I would then import photos from there. This left me with a catalogue in each file and if I was exporting RAW files as Jpegs, then i would export to same folder hence having everything from that particular shoot stored in one file. I believe the backup would be saved under a file corresponding to date/year.
Is this a good way to do it or is there a better way? Lightroom seems keen just to use the one catalogue to import, putting the CR2 files into an individually named file corresponding to the event.
Catalogues are designed to hold pretty huge quantities of images, don't you find yourself switching between them all the time? Admittedly I'm not a professional, but all of my photos (>15000), the majority of which are RAW, are in one catalog and it runs fine. I have LR import into folders based on the date of capture, and then rename them to something a little more descriptive. So at the end of a year, I have a long list of folders in chronological order within a top level '2010' folder and I find this works best for me. I then also keyword stuff so that I can pick out pictures of trees, specific people etc much more easily. Previously in my pictures, I'd create a new folder and open a new catologue which I would then import photos from there. This left me with a catalogue in each file and if I was exporting RAW files as Jpegs, then i would export to same folder hence having everything from that particular shoot stored in one file. I believe the backup would be saved under a file corresponding to date/year.
Is this a good way to do it or is there a better way? Lightroom seems keen just to use the one catalogue to import, putting the CR2 files into an individually named file corresponding to the event.
I can then backup the one LR catalogue file + all the actual photos and sleep at night!
Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff