Catalogs New LR6 user start again

[LostSoul]

Operating System:Win 10 Pro
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info):LR 6.14 (post painful update)

Hi LR people,

I have been learning LR slowly and after picking up a bit of experience of imports and developing I feel that I need to start afresh. These are the reasons why;

1. I originally imported images from folders on the PC before switching to import from the camera SD card via a usb card reader.

This has resulted in a mess of the catalogue which has general folders (shown in the folders panel of the library) from the original PC folder imports. The SD card imports into LR seemingly auto created Year folder with sub folders by the image date.

I would like to try and create a new clean catalogue that is structured as the SD import style described above. Is there a method to do this given that the images are now in folders which didn't create that format on import. I suppose I could copy the original RAW files onto formatted SD card as have these backed up but hope there may be batter way.

2. I have managed to erase the Develop edit history for all the images to set these to fresh start again ( I was originally asking how to do this). I am looking at ideas to setup a default import profile that adjusts by camera the settings for images to Camera Standard profile and applies lens corrections. Is there a simple way to apply these settings across all my images and save that as a profile for import?

Like others on this forum I have found the Adobe forums and support anything but support. I hope somebody can help.

Thanks Phil.

 

[LRList001]

Operating System:Win 10 Pro
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info):LR 6.14 (post painful update)

Hi LR people,

I have been learning LR slowly and after picking up a bit of experience of imports and developing I feel that I need to start afresh. These are the reasons why;

1. I originally imported images from folders on the PC before switching to import from the camera SD card via a usb card reader.

This has resulted in a mess of the catalogue which has general folders from the original PC folder imports. The SD imports LR seemingly auto created Year folder with sub folders by the image date.

I would like to try and create a new clean catalogue that is structured as the SD import style described above. Is there a method to do this given that the images are now in folders which didn't create that format on import. I suppose I could copy the original RAW files onto formatted SD card as have these backed up but hope there may be batter way.

2. I have been using the Develop facility to learn. It records a 'history' of edits for each image. I want to reset ALL edits on ALL images and Erase the develop histories for all edited images.

Is there a simple way to do this please?

Like others on this forum I have found the Adobe forums and support anything but support. I hope somebody can help.

Thanks Phil.

The second step is really easy, start a new catalogue, followed by the first step, which is to import the existing files into that new catalogue. While you can import directly from the camera (and thus the SD card), I find it much more convenient to put the card in a card reader and copy the files using the OS. The discipline is that I have to remember to rename the source folder on the SD card, it set it to the date I imported the files. The camera will create a new folder automatically. Once the card is approaching full and everything is backed up, I erase the card using the camera (format command). If you don't want to do this, you will need to put the existing files in a directory structure that matches the one you get when you import from the camera and import into the new LR catalogue from there. Using the existing catalogue, you could go to Develop, select all the images and click 'reset', this would keep your existing edit steps and add a new one, resetting all settings. To import the existing files, display LR in Library mode and with the Explorer view of the files, drag in the top level directory (or directories) into LR's window. LR will find all the files and import them (you get the option to deselect ones you don't want to import if you like). If you already have images displayed in the Library view it doesn't matter, just drag over them, LR 'knows' what to do.

 

[LostSoul]

Hi and thanks for your reply.

I maybe not interpreting your suggestion properly. That may be caused by how I explained the two issues and I should have gone with one only first.

The catalogue has about 4000 images in total so far. If I expand the 'Folders sub panel) below the catalogue in the left panel it shows a General folder that contains several images from 2015 to 16 but after I put the SD card in the card reader and imported from that, LR created a 2016, 2017 and now a 2018 folders ( presumably the import process did this by reading the embedded Exif image dates) and below these there are date folders with numbers of images infor each date.

I want to resolve the General mixed up folder to math the later ones, but don't know how to do this without deleting all the images in the general folder and reimporting them all again (possibly by copying then first to a Camera formatted SD card) and hoping that the re-import replicates the folder structure of the later images. It could be an OCD thing but I want to get a neatly structured catalog and folder system.

Phil

 

[prbimages]

I want to resolve the General mixed up folder to math the later ones, but don't know how to do this without deleting all the images in the general folder and reimporting them all again ...

You certainly DO NOT have to delete and re-import, you can create folders and sub-folders as you like in the Lightroom "Folders" panel, and simply drag photos into their proper place. Whether this is worthwhile will depend, perhaps, on how many different folders you will require.

 

[LostSoul]

Ok, and thank you. That is good to know.

To make a match for the early imports to the later ones, I would need to create folders with the date the images were taken ( not terrible ) but I do have 665 images that I would have to separate by date into these folder by drag and drop (if done manually in LR 6).

I could also do this in the basic Windows file manager(explorer) application I can see the dates and could move the files in that environment which may be easier but I think that would corrupt the LR catalogue as LR would not have been able to update its info.

If I try the process in LR then I can't see a way of grouping the images by date that would help, me identify what folders I need to create and then move the images to. Is there a way to do this?

Phil

 

[Philippe Coudé du Foresto]

About your point 2 : If I understand it correctly, there is to points, both are simple to accomplish:

A/ Apply Camera profil and lens correction to all photos laready in the catalog.
In the library module, Tab catalog:
- click on "All the photos" to select all the photos of your catalog
Go to the Develop module:
- select the first photo, apply Camera profil and Lens correction to it.
- Press Ctrl+A (or Cmd+A on Mac) to select all the photo again. The photo you've modified should be whiter than the other, showing it is the "Master" of the selection.
- On the bottom of the right panel, click on the "Synchronize" button.
- In the synchronize box, unselect all but "Lens correction" and "Camera Profil" (or equivalent, I'm translating from french)
- Click on the "Synchronize" button of the synchronize box. You're done !

B/ Have Camera Profil and Lens correction applied by default at import
- In the Develop module, select a photo that you have not developped yet. Be sure that all cursors in all tabs are set to 0 or their neutral value
- Set "Lens correction" and Camera profil for this photo.
- Press the "Alt" key, the "Initialize" button change to "Define as default".
- Click on it and validate in the dialog box. The develop settings you have set will be applied by default at import.

 

[LostSoul]

Hi Philippe,

Your English is very good, and far better than my French would be .

The first idea you present is good to address images already imported and I have experimented with this.

The second idea links to another thread that I started seeking more information on how the different develop panel settings interact and can be put into a an import profile. Your Define as Default suggestion has been suggested in that thread too, however they also suggested that camera profiles for manufacturers were also available. I haven't found those yet.

Merci beaucoup

Phil

 

[LRList001]

Hi and thanks for your reply.

I maybe not interpreting your suggestion properly. That may be caused by how I explained the two issues and I should have gone with one only first.

The catalogue has about 4000 images in total so far. If I expand the 'Folders sub panel) below the catalogue in the left panel it shows a General folder that contains several images from 2015 to 16 but after I put the SD card in the card reader and imported from that, LR created a 2016, 2017 and now a 2018 folders ( presumably the import process did this by reading the embedded Exif image dates) and below these there are date folders with numbers of images infor each date.

I want to resolve the General mixed up folder to math the later ones, but don't know how to do this without deleting all the images in the general folder and reimporting them all again (possibly by copying then first to a Camera formatted SD card) and hoping that the re-import replicates the folder structure of the later images. It could be an OCD thing but I want to get a neatly structured catalog and folder system.

Phil

You might be making this too complex. You can use LR to drag folders and images around (don't use the Explorer to do this or LR will lose track and you will end up having to reconnect the images, which BTW LR makes very easy). It really is as simple as that.

As I don't import directly from the camera, I am unfamiliar with what LR does when used that way. It would not be difficult to start a new (experimental) catalogue and import a small number of images direct from the camera and from (copied) existing folders. What I am suggesting is you experiment for a while and then set up the organisation you want, but I suggest you only use new files, otherwise the old LR Catalogue will lose track of where you have moved things (if you move a file while one Catalogue is open, any other Catalogue pointing to the same files will lose track, you will have to reconnect, which is not difficult). Once you have got the hang of everything, make sure you select the LR catalogue that is going to be your single master catalogue and import everything into it. Or, you could simply reorganise the Catalogue you have got (from within LR). You can reset the edits easily enough. In the end only you can decide. Make sure you know which is your master Catalogue as that is what you need to back up, long term. When you have got it right, remove everything you don't want (old catalogs, copied files), but instead of deleting them, move them into a new folder. That way you can check everything is working before you delete the unwanted files (ie, everything in that new folder).

 

[prbimages]

If I try the process in LR then I can't see a way of grouping the images by date that would help, me identify what folders I need to create and then move the images to. Is there a way to do this?

There sure is! You can filter your images by various criteria, including date.

• Go to the Library view, and make sure all the necessary photos are available by clicking on the topmost folder in your Folder panel.
• At the top of the Grid view there is a Library Filter bar - hit the backslash key, or go to View -> Show Filter Bar if it's not visible.
• In the Filter Bar, select Metadata. This will open up a panel of filter criteria.
• Click on the heading of the first column in the filter criteria panel, and select "Date". This will show you all the dates for all your images. By clicking around in that Date panel, you can view all the photos for any given date.

From there, it should be easy to select all the photos for any given date, so you can create a folder for them and then drag and drop them into the correct folder.

Once again, whether this is worth the effort will depend on how many different dates you have (and how much patience to perform all the moves). The alternative, as you've already surmised, would be to delete and re-import all the poorly-filed images, making sure that the import process puts the images in the proper date-based folders.