Importing Batch Scanned Photos into Lightroom

[CameraCarl]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic 9.3

Operating System

1. macOS 10.14 Mojave

I have started scanning many old photos in various sizes (3x3, 4x6, 3x5, etc.) on my flat bed scanner. If I put a number of photos on the scanner and scan them all at one time, I can use Photoshop to crop and straighten them. (I use File>Automate>Crop and Straighten.) If I have, say, six individual photos on the master image from the scanner, then I wind up with six "copies" in Photoshop.

Can anyone suggest a fast way to import these images into Lightroom Classic (LrC)? I suppose I can close each one out in PS, Save it when the menu box appears, sending it to a designated folder, then Import the image into Lightroom (I think I can use Watched Folders to do this). But I have hundreds of photos to scan, this seems to be a laborious process. I'm guessing there is a better way and hope someone can suggest it. Thanks.

 

[Califdan]

1. import the full page. lets say it has 6 images on it.
2. Create 6 VC's (Virtual copies) (or 5 if you don't mind editing the original)
3. Crop/straighten each VC to contain only one of the photos

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I would think that only increases the amount of work, because that means you have to manually crop and straighten each VC, while Photoshop can auto-crop the images (which is what the OP is using). It should be possible to automate the saving of the six images by recording it in an action.

 

[Conrad Chavez]

I’ve made and use Photoshop actions that save an image to a specific folder, so that’s definitely possible.
What makes this easier is that Photoshop does give each unsaved Crop and Straighten result a unique default name.
What I’d recommend is:

1. Create a Photoshop action that does a Save As to a specific folder and closes the document. When creating the action do not alter the filename, otherwise it will always use the filename saved with the action and that won’t help.
2. Set up Lightroom Classic Auto-Import from a watched folder which is the same folder where the Photoshop action saves images, so that as Photoshop saves each Crop and Straighten result, Lightroom Classic imports it.
3. Back in Photoshop, after running Crop and Straighten Photos on a scan, choose File > Automate > Batch and run the action created in step 1, using the Source option Opened Files. That will run the action on all open files, which were created by Crop and Straighten Photos.
4. The Crop and Straighten Photos results will be named something like "copy 1" "copy 2" etc, so you’ll probably want to rename them; the most efficient time to do that is probably after Lightroom Classic auto-imports them. Either rename them individually in the Metadata panel, or batch rename them by selecting multiple images and choosing Library > Rename Photos.

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

What I did was scan a batch into some folder, then drag and drop them into LR. I could auto-watch that folder also and skip the drag and drop step, but I found I periodically screwed up and wanted to rescan.

In LR I do an edit-in Photoshop, Edit original (not a copy). I do this before doing any other changes in LR, and during the import did not apply a preset.

In Photoshop I do the straighten/crop, and in some cases a lot of restoration work. I then do a close-all, it prompts if I want to save, check the "apply to all" and say yes.

They all are saved back to disk, and LR sees the new version and uses that as the underlying photo.

Cropping in photoshop vs LR lets those pixels disappear which reduces file size. Also, many of mine were B&W. I scanned as color, did my adjustments in Photoshop to remove fade, improve contrast, etc., then converted to greyscale which also reduces the size.

 

[CameraCarl]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Drawing on your input, I think I have found an efficient way to import my scans, but still have one issue which I can't understand: saving the image from Photoshop does not put it back in my Lightroom LrC catalog. Here is what I am doing:

Scan six photos using Epson Scan as a single TIFF file and save it to a folder on my iMac desktop. (TIFF is the only high quality choice.)

Import the TIFF file into LrC using my normal Lightroom import process.

Highlight the file in the Library module and Photo>Edit in>Edit in Photoshop 2020. Then click Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments in the box that pops up.

In Photoshop: File>Automate> Crop and Straighten Photos. Then I get six individual files.

I make whatever adjustments to the file and click on the small "x" to close it. A pop-up menu box appears asking if I want to "Don't Save" "Cancel" or "Save"

Normally if I am doing other edits in PS, when I click on "Save" the image is saved and reappears in LrC. But when I click on Save now, I get another pop-up dialog box which asks me where to save the image, and in which format, etc. If I click on Save again, the image is saved in the designated folder on my system. But then I need to go import it from that folder to get it into LrC.

What am I doing wrong? Why doesn't clicking on Save in Photoshop send it back into LrC like any "normal" image which I am editing in Photoshop?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Don't import the full page scan in Lightroom. 'Edit in Photoshop' expects one edited image, with the same name as sent. Do the Photoshop work first (can Epson Scan be used as a Photoshop plugin?) and then import the cropped and saved scans in Lightroom, via a watch folder or the normal way.

 

[CameraCarl]

That makes sense. I'll see what I can do about exporting directly into PS. Thank you.

 

[Conrad Chavez]

But when I click on Save now, I get another pop-up dialog box which asks me where to save the image, and in which format, etc. If I click on Save again, the image is saved in the designated folder on my system. But then I need to go import it from that folder to get it into LrC.

It may not have been clear the way I wrote the steps I suggested earlier, but there were specific reasons I sequenced them that way:

• The auto-import to Lightroom is delayed until after Crop and Straighten, so that what Lightroom Classic imports are the separated images, and it only has to do it once.
• The Photoshop action is created to save all open images to the same watched folder every time and then close all of them, so that a large number of scans can be saved consistently and correctly with no manual work.

It should be possible to add Crop and Straighten as the first step in a Photoshop action, so that you can reduce your post-scan workflow to one click. Clicking the action would run Crop and Straighten and then save all the files to the watch folder. All you have to do is sit back and watch the separated images show up in Lightroom Classic automatically.

 

[CameraCarl]

It may not have been clear the way I wrote the steps I suggested earlier, but there were specific reasons I sequenced them that way:

• The auto-import to Lightroom is delayed until after Crop and Straighten, so that what Lightroom Classic imports are the separated images, and it only has to do it once.
• The Photoshop action is created to save all open images to the same watched folder every time and then close all of them, so that a large number of scans can be saved consistently and correctly with no manual work.

It should be possible to add Crop and Straighten as the first step in a Photoshop action, so that you can reduce your post-scan workflow to one click. Clicking the action would run Crop and Straighten and then save all the files to the watch folder. All you have to do is sit back and watch the separated images show up in Lightroom Classic automatically.

Thanks. This seems to make sense; however, I will need to do some research to be able to do what you suggest since I have not created any actions in Photoshop or implemented Auto Import into Lightroom before.

 

[Rob_Cullen]

Conrad has given the answers, but I will add my '2 bits' worth

Import the TIFF file into LrC using my normal Lightroom import process.
No. (my suggestion) Do NOT import the first scan TIFF to Lightroom! Open scans directly in Photoshop.
Unless- Only import if you want to preserve the full-page scans of 6 photos, and don't use Edit-in to send this file to Ps.

In Photoshop: File>Automate> Crop and Straighten Photos. Then I get six individual files.
Then [SAVE] these individual files to a FOLDER that is the 'Watched' folder for Auto-Import.

Now you will only see the individual files in Lightroom.
'Auto-Import' is easy to set up with a 'Watched' folder and a 'Destination' folder. Note: the 'Watched' folder MUST be Empty before you activate 'Auto Import'.
Re: Actions- If you always use the exact same procedure for the 'File>Automate', then it can be easy to record these steps as an Action.