Culling photos: choosing -among hundreds- which to process

[Tony M]

Scott,

Thanks for the great tips. When you rename a folder (e.g., 2012-12-31 NYC), how do you tell LR to use this folder instead of the original one? My understanding is LR is in essence a database with editting capabilities. It contains links to files, so we need to be careful about changing folder names, yes?

Thanks again, Bruce

Bruce,

I think no-one has answered this question. I rename the folder from within LR: right-click on the folder name and select "Rename" from the local pop-up menu. I don't do any manipulation of files and folders outside LR. You can also move a folder by clicking on it and dragging it. The designers of LR have really tried hard to build a complete self-contained workflow tool and I think they've done a great job.

(Changing the subject) When I import, I have LR automatically rename the files using the template TMYYYYMMDD_filenum. (TM are my initials). I don't use the camera's file name because it is not guaranteed to be unique (the counter can be reset, or it can wrap around). Keeping the original file number helps to locate the original if you also backup the photos from the camera or use LR's backup feature ("Make a second copy to..."). I also do the same as some others who have posted here, importing into a folder hierarchy of the type 2013/2013-01-04. I later rename the folder, adding a descriptive suffix, e.g. "2013-01-04 Four Towers". (There appears to be no way to set up LR to prompt for the suffix at the import stage.)

What book did you order? I'm interested in getting your feedback after reading it.

I started learning LR by watching Julieanne Kost's videos, which are excellent. Then after using LR for nearly a year, I bought the book "The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book, The Complete Guide for Photographers" by Martin Evening. Even after using LR for so long, I learned a lot from the book. Its emphasis is on its functionality; it doesn't prescribe one way of working, but simply explains how the program works (although it does teach a little on the best approach to using the Develop module). I now use it more quickly, after learning many keyboard shortcuts from the book. LR is a very deep program and you really benefit from reading a book about it.

Evening's book is great for learning LR's functionality, and I'd like to complement it by buying another that teaches creative techniques using LR. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Tony

[herbert]

How do you "metadata search"?

It is very easy in Lightroom to search for photos using keywords or other metadata like star ratings or focal length. I have not used other tools but I believe that newer operating systems are starting to support more than just searching for file name.

However for the best functionality for searching images you will probably require an up-to-date version of photo management software. Note that management of photos is different from editing but, as in the case of Lightroom, a lot of software provides both functions.

Alex

[brucehughw]

Hi, Tony.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on LR. The book I ordered is, Lightroom 4: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process (Adobe Photoshop) , it should arrive today. I plan to devote a lot of time to learning the program. I see it's not one of those point-and-click-and-experiment programs, which is fine by me. I spent an hour reading the manual (.pdf version), and picked up lots from that (e.g., renaming folders in library module). There's still the task of culling photos, but I should not see it as a burden. Much better to have gone to new place and found fascinating things to photograph than to have not taken many photos.

Once I spend some time with the book, I'll let you know what I think of it.

Hasta luego, Bruce

(PS my trip was to Ecuador and it was great to use my Spanish)

[brucehughw]

Thanks a lot, Scott. Great tips. I'll probably adopt your approach for my next big import.

Bruce