Paul, don't let my limited knowledge and bad photo management habits prejudice you against Lightroom :-). Cheers, Christine
On Jul 11, 2012, at 1:19 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote: > This thread has reinforced my confidence in a system that depends on Bridge, > easily searchable file names and dates, and PhotoShop. Every time I've > considered switching to Lightroom, discussions such as this stop me in my > tracks. > > Paul > > > On Jul 11, 2012, at 1:59 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > >> On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Christine Aguila <christ...@caguila.com> >> wrote: >>> I greatly appreciate everyone's help here, but things are a mess with this >>> catalogue. The more I look try to compare the two folder structures on the >>> 2 main drives, the more messy it seems to be. I think I'll ignore this for >>> a few days, and try again when I've stopped weeping :-). >> >> Probably a good idea. You sound a bit overwhelmed, it's best not to >> work through a logical puzzle when you're too emotionally involved. >> >> Here's a workflow: >> >> First look at the the Lightroom catalog's Folders panel. For every >> folder in the Folders panel, right- or control-click on it and choose >> the "Show Parent Folder" if the option presents itself until all the >> folder trees are visible back to the top of the volume. If all folders >> ultimately sit under a single parent, that makes things easier. >> >> Now take a look at the "Lightroom 2" volume in the Finder (or Windows >> Navigator if you're running Windows). If you copied the folder tree to >> your "Lightroom 2" hard drive in the course as it was on "Lightroom >> 1", the solution is simple: in Lightroom, control-click on that >> top-level parent and choose the "Update folder location" command, then >> pilot your way to that same folder on "Lightroom 2", and choose it. >> Lightroom should now recognize where all the files are. >> >> If you didn't copy the folder tree exactly as it was on Lightroom 1 to >> Lightroom 2, now you have the more onerous task of finding files and >> folders, matching them up with the same command as above, to a >> disparately organized file system. It's doable, and for 8000 files in >> the catalog it won't take that long if you work methodically and >> calmly, one group of files at a time. You can usually find groups of >> files by a key filename and capture date, then set the folder location >> in Lightroom for that file and all neighboring files will then be >> recognized. It takes some time, but it's worth it not to lose all your >> metadata annotations (keywords and such) and any processing you've >> already applied. >> >> As an alternative, the fastest and simplest thing to do to get the >> whole file repository organized into a single tree is to create a new >> catalog (don't delete the old catalog folder! and create the catalog >> folder outside of the old one) and do a mass import. Create a "Photos" >> directory at the top level of the external drive, set the import >> destination starting point to that directory, set Lr to "Move" the >> files there, and have it organize the files by capture date on import. >> It will create a complete subdiirectory tree based on date sequence, >> rooted at that single folder. If you don't care about metadata >> annotations and prior processing work (and there are occasions when it >> isn't important!), the job is done ... go forth, annotate and start >> editing your images afresh. >> >> If you do care about your prior work, the reason to keep the original >> catalog folder is that once the files are reorganized like this, you >> can start Lightroom with the old catalog and work through it, hunting >> up the images by file name and capture date more easily and then set >> the location in the old catalog properly. In this case, consider the >> new catalog you used to move the files around into an organized tree >> to be a temporary, you can discard it. The result of doing this all >> the way through is that your original files are now in a singly rooted >> directory tree structure, the catalog has all the appropriate data in >> it, and from this point on it is easy to maintain. >> >> To finish off, drag the entire "Photos" directory to the new volume >> "Lightroom 3" to back up the directory structure and files. That >> copies everything to the new hard drive. Do the same thing with the >> catalog folder. Now you have a complete backup. >> >> To KEEP the system backed up, I recommend using external utility >> software (Lightroom's backup function replicates only the .LRCAT file; >> you want to backup both the catalog and the photo files from their >> source locations to the Lightroom 3 backup drive). I use ChronoSync by >> Econ Technologies (OS X only), but any good file synchronizing >> software utility should work the same. With ChronoSync, I create two >> synchronizer documents: one synchronizes the image directory tree from >> Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3, the other synchronizes the catalog folder >> from internal drive to Lightroom 2. I then create a container >> document, put the two synchronizers in it, and set that to run >> automatically every night or on demand when I need it to. >> >> (You still want to have the Lightroom backup run once a week or so as >> it includes database verification and cleanup in the process. You >> should set Lightroom to put these backups on the "Lightroom 2" volume, >> in a folder separate from the Photos folder.) >> >>> I think it's time to rethink my workflow and photo management system, and I >>> think I need some tutorials on advanced photo management and catalogues >>> skills. It's to the adobe videos for me, and perhaps a purchase of a book. >>> >>> If anyone knows of a good book for Lightroom 4, I'd appreciate the >>> recommendation. I have the Scott Kelby book for the early Lightroom >>> version (1 or 2 ), and thought it ok, but I found him a bit wordy. If >>> there's another book you'd recommend by a different author who gets right >>> to the point, I'd be very grateful. >> >> Of course, I have some bits on this stuff on my articles page: >> http://www.gdgphoto.com/articles >> See #s 06, 07, and 08. The "Lightroom Learning Resources" article is >> old and needs to be updated, but might have some useful info for you. >> >> I bought the latest book by Martin Evening recently and it is an >> exhaustive reference for Lightroom 4: well written and clear. >> <http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Lightroom-Book-Photographers/dp/0321819594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342029392&sr=8-1&keywords=martin+evening+lightroom+4> >> >> For online video tutorials, I find Julianne Kost's set for Lightroom 4 >> to be the best starting point, and free (funded by Adobe). >> http://jkost.com/lightroom.html >> >> Take a deep breath and relax. ;-) >> -- >> Godfrey - godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com >> >> Announcing "Ways Together" .. my new photo book! >> See it on Blurb at http://www.blurb.com/user/GDGPhoto >> >> Come to the reception and book-signing: >> ModernBook Gallery >> 49 Geary Ave, San Francisco, CA >> August 2nd, 5:30-7:30 pm >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> PDML@pdml.net >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
