How to use Lightroom

[hab1966]

I bought Lightroom a while back but due to the demise of my SLR i haven't really used it. Now I have a 6D I'm going to try it again.

Currently i take the card out of my camera and download all the images to a NAS drive - 10 years of pictures and whilst the quality might be dubious i don't delete many so there's a lot! If i needed to tweek anything, i used PS Elements on the individual files on the NAS drive.

Does lightroom need access to all my images on the NAS drive? If so, it will take a while to index through them all.

Should i just download my images to a temp location, run lightroom, process the images and then manually move to the NAS drive for safe storage?

Or, if anybody else would like to suggest a better sequence of steps, id be most grateful.

[Simpo Two]

I hate Lightroom but can't you just drag in a load of RAW files, set destination folder, process files as required and watch them land in that folder?

[Podie]

With a decent PC / Mac the indexing is quite quick - although it may depend on your NAS.

Buy a book on how to use lightroom - understanding how it works and how to organise your photos makes a massive difference.

[MartinP]

If you want to use LR as a catalogue as well as an editing tool then why not import all the images. You can add keywords to images (you can add keywords to all the images in a directory in one go) and then you have a searchable database of your photos. You could just leave LR to run overnight to import all your images, not that would need that long I'm sure.

The only down side of huge catalogues in LR is that it can slow the program down a bit. That said I have one catalogue for all of my personal images (approx 20,000 - I really ought to have a bit of a cull of those) and LR still runs ok. I do create a new catalogue for each wedding that I shoot though as speed is essential to my workflow when editing those.

[MysteryLemon]

I use lightroom by plugging my camera in via USB or sticking the SD card in the reader, going to Library/import and then selecting the camera/card for the device.

It will then load thumbnails of every picture on the card where I can select the ones I wish to import into LR. Easy enough to select the ones I like and can preview them easy by double clicking on the thumb.

After clicking import, it takes you to the library view where it has made a new album (by date) in the library. All of the images I chose to import at now displayed as thumbnails across the bottom of the screen. I then use the Develop view to go through and edit how I want.

When I've finished editing, I go over the the images I want to export (as JPG) by holding CTRL and clicking on the thumbnails at the bottom. Right click on them once selected and select export. I then go through the options for what I want and choose the destination folder. Hit go, and away it goes.

I then just leave it at that. Lightroom stores the originals and adjustments in its databases so if I ever want to go back to the images again, I just go back into lightroom and pick the library from the date I imported them.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Small tip. Use the alt key!! Pressing and holding alt while you move sliders like exposure or sharpness gives you an alternate view of the image where you can see what that slider is really doing. Sharpening mask is a great demo of this, pressing alt gives an image of black and white (not like a b&w photo however) where the white bits show what will get sharpened and the black bits show what won't. Helps you sharpen the bits you want.

[hab1966]

Thanks for all the replies.

I need to check whether my version supports my 6D otherwise it will be an upgrade. Will also purchase a book to help me get to grips with it.

[K12beano]

I think that the best book - most comprehensive, simplifying, or at least demystifying all aspects of LR - is Scott Kelby

Best price probably Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photoshop-Lightroom-Digita... where you can also "Look Inside" and see if you like the style.

[Craikeybaby]

One rule to remember about Lightroom is that once an image is imported into Lightroom you shouldn't change its location outside of Lightroom, as you will break the link.

FWIW My workflow is:

Import images to Lightroom - letting Lightroom organise them into a YYYY/YYYYMMDD folder structure (also adding a copy to my external hard drive)
Use the picks/rejects flags to choose which images I want to process/delete
Delete the rejects
Process the picks
Add metadata to the processed images
Publish using publish collections
Assign colours to published images

Every 6 months delete anything that hasn't been published

I also don't see the need to keep copies of images exported from Lightroom, images are exported as needed, then they can be sized/sharpened correctly and I don't need to manage extra copies of images on my computer.

The advice to check out a book first is a good idea, it will be easier if you have an idea of your workflow before you jump in. I recommend the Martin Evening book.

Edited by Craikeybaby on Friday 10th May 13:56

[sgrimshaw]

+1 for Scott Kelby books.

Also his on-line training courses are good.

[rottie102]

As much as I loveD using Lightroom, I eventually got fed up with having to copy/add to the catalogue ALL the photos to be able to see them and edit.
I know storage is cheap, but I see it as massive waste of time...

Now I just check the images in preview straight on the memory card, open the ones I want with Photoshop, edit them in ACR which is just as good as LR, then do final tweaks and resizing etc in Photoshop itself using automated scripts created by me. Much quicker than LR

[andybuk99]

Simpo Two said:

I hate Lightroom but can't you just drag in a load of RAW files, set destination folder, process files as required and watch them land in that folder?

I'm with you, cant stand it. I just use bridge to choose the images I want and then edit as I see fit in Photoshop.

[JustinMinns]

rottie102 said:

As much as I loveD using Lightroom, I eventually got fed up with having to copy/add to the catalogue ALL the photos to be able to see them and edit.
I know storage is cheap, but I see it as massive waste of time...

Now I just check the images in preview straight on the memory card, open the ones I want with Photoshop, edit them in ACR which is just as good as LR, then do final tweaks and resizing etc in Photoshop itself using automated scripts created by me. Much quicker than LR

You can preview images from the memory card in Lightroom and choose which ones to open, you don't have to copy them all.

[rottie102]

JustinMinns said:

You can preview images from the memory card in Lightroom and choose which ones to open, you don't have to copy them all.

How?

[Craikeybaby]

Using the import dialogue.

TBH, if you aren't going to use the cataloging tools in Lightroom, you are probably best off using ACR in Photoshop Elements.

[rottie102]

Craikeybaby said:

Using the import dialogue.

TBH, if you aren't going to use the cataloging tools in Lightroom, you are probably best off using ACR in Photoshop Elements.

I just downloaded LR5 Beta and as I remembered, all the options you have when importing photos is COPY and COPY AS DNG. There is also MOVE and ADD TO CATALOGUE but for some reason I could never select it

[tog]

rottie102 said:

Craikeybaby said:

Using the import dialogue.

TBH, if you aren't going to use the cataloging tools in Lightroom, you are probably best off using ACR in Photoshop Elements.

I just downloaded LR5 Beta and as I remembered, all the options you have when importing photos is COPY and COPY AS DNG. There is also MOVE and ADD TO CATALOGUE but for some reason I could never select it

you can select which photos to import though, just tick the ones you want. You should be able to Import but leave the images in place where they are, but it may well not let you do that if they are still on a memory card as leaving in place on the card would be pointless.

[rottie102]

tog said:

you can select which photos to import though, just tick the ones you want. You should be able to Import but leave the images in place where they are, but it may well not let you do that if they are still on a memory card as leaving in place on the card would be pointless.

Exactly, so I HAVE TO copy them onto the hard drive

[JustinMinns]

rottie102 said:

Exactly, so I HAVE TO copy them onto the hard drive

Surely you have to copy your images to a hard drive when you upload them from your card to your computer whatever software you use to process them?

[JustinMinns]

JustinMinns said:

Surely you have to copy your images to a hard drive when you upload them from your card to your computer whatever software you use to process them? Where else would you put them?