Beginning in LR... Help!

[revdhd]

Hey, Everyone,

Please help a newbie! Boy, I thought that getting started in LR would make my file structure more clear, backups easier and quicker, etc. What I've discovered is that I've waded into a swamp of unfamiliar concepts and terms. I have the Getting Started Guide that came with LR and I have Scott Kelby's book The Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers, but I'm not really finding enough info in either place to get an answer or opinion I understand about some of the basic uses of LR. Some of the forum questions I've read here seem to be useful, but I quickly get lost in the unfamiliar. For example...

DNG... why would I use DNG instead of saving my NEF raw files to my hard drive? If this is Adobe's proprietary file type, do I want to be hooked up with a file type that can't be manipulated by other than Adobe-based programs?

Naming and importing files to LR... I've read lots of suggestions in this forum about file-naming protocols as files are imported, but most sound unduly complex for the size of catalog I have. If I import my photo files directly from my CF card into a single large LR catalog using a shoot location name, can't I just then create collections by using metadata keyword searches? Then I'd have a sub-directory of each shoot that I can move around as I like. Or is it best to import files from the CF card using a date identifier? Can I just use keywords to identify/sort and create collections that way? Is there a reason why I'd want to have lots of small catalogs instead on one large, metadata/keyword-searchable catalog?

Backups... I have always used a double backup system; i.e., I have ingested my CF card files into two directories on my internal hard drive: (1) Working Files and (2) Original NEF Files. I then make a second backup of the Original NEF Files to an external Hard drive, periodically backing up the Working Files as they are altered. That way, I always have an untouched NEF I can copy and work on, as well as a remote backup of both Working files and Original NEF's. When I ingest the files, I place them in sub-directories named for the location of shoots (seldom do more than one per CF card). Shoot location has been an easy way for me to remember where I can locate a particular image (I have about 5k images from 2''7). I'd like to convert my 2''6-2''7 files (about 8k total) to the same system I settle on for 2''8.

With LR, I'd like to set up a similar backup plan, but I'm unclear what to copy where, how to segregate the raw files and how to deal with DNG files (if I should use them).

I haven't had time yet this year to do any shooting, so I'd like to begin 2''8 by setting up a file system that is flexible and makes use of LR's capabilities... as well as makes it easy to migrate my ''6-''7 files.

I'm befuddled, as you can probably tell. If You can help point me in a positive direction, I'd sure appreciate it.

 

[theturninggate]

Welcome, Doug. Let's see how much of this I can tackle ...

Re: DNG
There's no reason not to use DNG, and lots of reasons to take the plunge. I shoot Canon, and, in my experience, DNG files are quite a bit smaller than my camera's RAW CR2 files. Also, with NEF and CR2 files, your XMP data - settings, data and changes to apply to files in LR - will be written out to sidecar files. Some people are okay with that, but personally, I hate the clutter. I like that DNG files hold the XMP data within. Finally, looking ahead, I think it's far more likely that DNG will continue to be supported into the future, over each camera's proprietary RAW format. If you consider the fact that CR2 files from Canon's 2'D, 3'D and 4'D are so different from each other that each new model's files cannot be opened by any application without an update (aside from the usually crummy apps that come packaged with the camera), I think it's not a stretch to wonder how long each model's RAW format will be supported into the future. Relatively speaking, DNG is more promising in regards to consistency. Especially if you ever find yourself organizing photos from a number of different camera models. Much nicer to have all your images in uniform DNG format, than in three different CR2 or NEF formats.

Re: Naming and Importing
There are as many takes on this as there are photographers in this forum. Here's my say.

Consider the ways that LR handles filenames. In your Library, you can use spaces, special characters, etc. When you output those same files to a web gallery, LR will replace all spaces and special characters with underscores. For various reasons, ranging from consistency to more practical reasons of responding to clients' selections, I like to ensure an image's name will be consistent in all places. This dictates either eliminating spaces and special characters from your filenames (i.e. 2''7'1'7Name''1.jpg), or using underscores in place of all (i.e. 2''7'1'7_Name_''1.jpg).

Insofar as organization, I typically name my images using Date-Identifier-SequenceNumber. Identifier is typically the name of the location, individual, band, whatever that is my subject. I organize my images by Folders (also named by date and identifier) and tend not to use Collections much, unless I need to compile images from across multiple folders, the best images of one subject from several sessions, for example.

Re: Backups
Because LR edits nondestructively, there's little or no reason to backup your original, unmodified images. I only keep backups of my "working" files, and I keep them on two external hard drives. I periodically back files up to DVD (usually two copies) to make room for new files, and keep only my current projects (images I'm working with at present) on my local drive. Your backup schedule - whether daily, weekly, monthly, whathaveyou - is a matter of personal preference.

It's also good to keep a backup of your LR catalog files. So long as you backup your catalog and your RAW images, you should be fine.

I only backup my catalog and DNG files. I don't backup my CR2 files at all; I used to, but gave it up as pointless.

I hope that helps. Drop more questions if you need to.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[revdhd]

Hey, Matt,

Outstanding! Thanks for this great info. It clears up lots of questions for me... but no doubt, I'll have more. I sure appreciate the time you spent to help me out.

 

[theturninggate]

One more important thing for a new user to know:

Cmd-S, or Ctrl-S on Windows, will write XMP data to your file or into sidecars, as appropriate.

When you make changes to a file in LR, the changes are stored in the LR database. If you open that file using Camera RAW / Photoshop, you'd find that your LR changes are no where to be found.

Now, if you make changes, then write them to XMP, the changes will be honored in Photoshop and other applications that honor XMP.

So, it's a very good habit to get into to highlight your edited photos after each LR session, and hit Cmd-S (Ctrl-S) to write out your changes to the file.

 

[revdhd]

Matthew,

Excellent tip. I usually want my XMP data to accompany the images. Is there any way to set that up as a default, or is the Ctrl-S plan the only way?

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Matthew,

Excellent tip. I usually want my XMP data to accompany the images. Is there any way to set that up as a default, or is the Ctrl-S plan the only way?

Welcome to the forum and yes it can be automatically done under:
Library/file/catalog settings/metadata/autowrite to xmp

 

[theturninggate]

It should be noted, however, that many users report LR sucking up a great deal of system resources when the Auto Write to XMP function is enabled. Adobe has worked to improve this with every update, but I believe the problem still exists. I prefer simply to do it manually with Cmd-S, but I usually have a zillion applications running at once and need all the system resources I can muster at any given time.

I don't say this to dissuade you from trying it. Try the Auto Write function, and if you notice a sudden decrease in system performance, you'll know the cause and can correct it.

 

[revdhd]

Thanks, again, Matt, and thanks Geoff, too!
I'm beginning to get it!
It's great when the "pros" will stop to help a newbie. This is a pretty cool forum :mrgreen: