How-to Lightroom

[conamor]

Hi,

Im a beginner with Lightroom.
I still have my Aperture library.

I imported my last SD card into Lightroom to try and play with it.

- It is using RAW as default. In Aperture in why my JPEG first and under it was the RAW and I had an easy option to switch between them. Anyway to have this in LR?

- They don't show up in images when I want to change my desktop background (OS X) ... because of RAW?

Thank you!

 

[robgendreau]

If you are shooting RAW+JPEG, then go into Lr's preferences and you'll see an option to "treat RAW and JPEG as separate files." Now you may see a little "RAW/JPEG" up in the corner of photos in the grid view, which means the JPEG's are in folders in probably Pictures or wherever you imported them to, along with the corresponding RAW.

If you want to use something as a desktop picture then open the System preference pane and use the "+" to add the folder where the pictures are, then select one. If the OS can show the RAW I think it can use it for a background.

 

[acearchie]

- They don't show up in images when I want to change my desktop background (OS X) ... because of RAW?

Thank you!

You'll want to edit a shot then export it as a JPEG. Off the bat a raw image won't look great and by nature it will need a little retouching.

 

[conamor]

Thanks everyone

 

[flynz4]

This is one area where IMHO, LR is quite inferior to Aperture.

I always shot RAW+JPEG and imported into Aperture using the "RAW+JPEG Pairs (JPEG as original)" setting. Doing so let you see the processed JPEG files (which out of camera generally look better than RAW)... during the organization phase... and then later just switch the pair to RAW originals before doing any editing.

If you want both in LR, you end up with dual pictures for each image. About the only viable thing to do is switch to RAW only.

When I bring my photos over to LR... I'll be importing just the RAW version for my RAW/JPEG pairs.

/Jim

 

[acearchie]

When I bring my photos over to LR... I'll be importing just the RAW version for my RAW/JPEG pairs.

/Jim

It may be inferior but I see no reason to even bother importing the JPEGs in the first place?

I've never shot JPEG+raw and outside of a wedding situation I'm wondering if I ever would?

 

[Apple fanboy]

It may be inferior but I see no reason to even bother importing the JPEGs in the first place?

I've never shot JPEG+raw and outside of a wedding situation I'm wondering if I ever would?

Agree. That's just filling up your SD card and hard drive.

I shoot RAW (as Fro would say).

 

[robgendreau]

This is one area where IMHO, LR is quite inferior to Aperture.

I always shot RAW+JPEG and imported into Aperture using the "RAW+JPEG Pairs (JPEG as original)" setting. Doing so let you see the processed JPEG files (which out of camera generally look better than RAW)... during the organization phase... and then later just switch the pair to RAW originals before doing any editing.

If you want both in LR, you end up with dual pictures for each image. About the only viable thing to do is switch to RAW only.

When I bring my photos over to LR... I'll be importing just the RAW version for my RAW/JPEG pairs.

/Jim

Seems weird that JPEG would be the "original."

But there are a variety of ways to view camera-generated JPEGs. Treat them as separate files, and then sort into a collection. Or even a folder.

If you want them together, then autostack (sometimes bracketed shots, HDR groups, etc can get lumped in here, but it works for most pairs). By filtering by filetype, selecting, then unfiltering, then moving to the bottom or top of the stack you can change what you see when all are collapsed. Just be aware that stacking in Lr behaves differently than Aperture. I would have thought one would want the stacks expanded so the Lr rendering could be compared with the camera's rendering, but it sounds like you're doing something different, so maybe just a collection would work.

 

[flynz4]

Let me explain:

With Aperture, you could import RAW+JPEG as a bound pair. During import, you can choose if you want the JPEG or the RAW to be the original.

One tip that I got early on (I think from Robert Boyer)... is to import RAW+JPEG (JPEG original). The result is that what you see after your import, actually looks better than if you were using RAW as the original. The reason, is that JPEG processing generally adds value to the picture... and hence, JPEG generally looks better than RAW unprocessed out of the camera.

At this point, your initial culling/rating/etc can be done with a picture that looks as good as possible without any processing.

Once your rating is complete... you select the entire project (CMD-A) and right click and select (use RAW as original).

Now you go through whatever process you want for image editing... and from this point forward, you only ever use RAW originals.

Alternatively... you could just convert those photos that you want to edit to use the RAW originals.

In any case, the way Aperture handled RAW+JPEG facilitated such an approach. You do not have two pictures (one RAW, one JPEG). Instead you have one picture that you can switch at will.

Storage is "free". The overhead of having RAW+JPEG vs just RAW is insignificant.

/Jim