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Destructive edits

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ColMac9090

Active Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Messages
247
Location
Edinburgh, Scotland
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
LR Classic 11.1
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
Unusually, I want LR to do some destructive editing for me. I've scanned in several thousand old old black and white images for use in family history software. All images are in LR Classic and I want them to stay there. My FH software uses these images in charts etc.

As they are scanned, 100% of them need cropping (and other edits since many are damaged). The problem is that If I do the cropping in LR, then the edits stay in LR and are not visible to my Fam Hist software.

I have been switching them to Photoshop and editing there before returning to LR as normal, but that it quite cumbersome, and I was wondering if there was a better way to achieve this in LR.

My first thoughts were to export all at 100% to a new location, and telling LR to "Add to this catalog", then delete the originals. I am aware that where I have undertaken other edits (than cropping) I do risk losing the original unedited picture, but I think that risk is worth taking as I have not done that many. I might however isolate them and find a way to keep and stack the originals.

Any comments or better suggestions would be welcome.
 
Solution
I'm trying out the option of a Published Service although I am a bit nervous about keeping a duplicate set of images as I'm sure at some stage, I'll find a way to work with the exported version in error. I'm wondering about making the folder a hidden one after I've finished set-up. So far, I've done a subset of my images of approx 3,500 and it seems to work well.

A couple of questions

a) is there any way (Smart Collection as source perhaps, if so, how?) to re-create the folder structure of the originals (which of course will vary in the future). At the moment, the Publish service has simply dumped 3.,500 files into a single directory. The originals were spread across a logical set-up based on family history criteria (birth, death...
Your suggested approach (or a variation on it) is what I would reccomend.
 
If the originals are lossless TIFF files and you export as Lossless TIFF files then Exporting and saving back to the catalog would be the way to proceed.

If your FH software wants a JPEG, the a JPEG of the exported TIFF would work for the FH software.

Under no circumstances would I recommend using lossy JPEG for the original capture or the file saved in the catalog.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
My first thoughts were to export all at 100% to a new location ...
I would suggest setting up a Publish service for this - you can automate the exports to a location on your hard drive where your other software can pick them up. The Publish service will keep track, so that if you make any subsequent edits, it knows that a new export is required.

... and telling LR to "Add to this catalog", then delete the originals.
I don't understand why you would want to do this? Your originals and edits are safe in your Lightroom catalog. If you want a new export for some reason, you can do this at any time. Why do you want/need to have the exports back in your catalog, and why delete the originals?
 
Thanks for the three replies. Interesting (but not surprising) to see what is almost three different approaches.
 
The Publish Service approach is potentially the most automated and seamless. If you edit an original, it automatically gets marked in the Publish Service as updated, so after editing a few you can just hit the Publish button and any updated pictures get exported to the same folder, replacing the older versions. You don’t have to personally keep track of which ones got changed and need re-exporting; there is just that one button to hit.

If your family history software links using file paths like Lightroom Classic does, it should just pick up the new ones.

And using this method there is no need to use Add to Catalog, and no need to dump the originals. You keep those, and can continue to work from those full quality originals.
 
I'm trying out the option of a Published Service although I am a bit nervous about keeping a duplicate set of images as I'm sure at some stage, I'll find a way to work with the exported version in error. I'm wondering about making the folder a hidden one after I've finished set-up. So far, I've done a subset of my images of approx 3,500 and it seems to work well.

A couple of questions

a) is there any way (Smart Collection as source perhaps, if so, how?) to re-create the folder structure of the originals (which of course will vary in the future). At the moment, the Publish service has simply dumped 3.,500 files into a single directory. The originals were spread across a logical set-up based on family history criteria (birth, death etc) of 158 directories. I could end up with many thousands more in this single directory. I know that Windows can cope with this, but it may make finding files more tricky - although I'm not sure when I would ever need to do so - I'm just thinking of possible problems.

b) a related issue. How can I ensure that new folders I create are included?, or is this just a manual refresh?
 
I'm trying out the option of a Published Service although I am a bit nervous about keeping a duplicate set of images as I'm sure at some stage, I'll find a way to work with the exported version in error. I'm wondering about making the folder a hidden one after I've finished set-up. So far, I've done a subset of my images of approx 3,500 and it seems to work well.

A couple of questions

a) is there any way (Smart Collection as source perhaps, if so, how?) to re-create the folder structure of the originals (which of course will vary in the future). At the moment, the Publish service has simply dumped 3.,500 files into a single directory. The originals were spread across a logical set-up based on family history criteria (birth, death etc) of 158 directories. I could end up with many thousands more in this single directory. I know that Windows can cope with this, but it may make finding files more tricky - although I'm not sure when I would ever need to do so - I'm just thinking of possible problems.

b) a related issue. How can I ensure that new folders I create are included?, or is this just a manual refresh?
Have a look here: Jeffrey’s “Collection Publisher” Lightroom Plugin.
 
Solution
I've actually used Jeffrey's "Folder Publisher" Plugin, as it saves a step or two in creating the Collection Structure. But otherwise as you suggested, it seems to work perfectly. I'll give it a few days to settle, then see how its doing in practice..

Thanks to all for the help.
 
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