Lightroom exporting... Add to catalogue option ?

[NStocks]

I'm sorting through my Photo's and I would like to adjust my workflow so that when I import into Lightroom and edit the pictures I can look at the final edits but keep the original file.

Heres what I intend to do :

copy from a memory card to a new folder on Macintosh HD. Import this folder edit it in lightroom then export to a new folder in Macintosh HD as final photos aka exports. Then I want to take these exports back into lightroom so that I can view them rather then use the finder to view them all...

I have discovered upon export the option to ' add to catalogue' which means that I can take a RAW image, exports it to any folder and then lightroom will automatically add that folder to lightroom catalogue.

Is this a good way of doing it, and if that;s confusing here's what I want to be able to do

Take all RAW images and import them into Lighroom. Edit them then export to a different folder to the original file. Re-import them into Lightroom so I can see the RAW image and final edited version.

Thanks

NStocks

 

[Edge100]

I'm sorting through my Photo's and I would like to adjust my workflow so that when I import into Lightroom and edit the pictures I can look at the final edits but keep the original file.

Heres what I intend to do :

copy from a memory card to a new folder on Macintosh HD. Import this folder edit it in lightroom then export to a new folder in Macintosh HD as final photos aka exports. Then I want to take these exports back into lightroom so that I can view them rather then use the finder to view them all...

I have discovered upon export the option to ' add to catalogue' which means that I can take a RAW image, exports it to any folder and then lightroom will automatically add that folder to lightroom catalogue.

Is this a good way of doing it, and if that;s confusing here's what I want to be able to do

Take all RAW images and import them into Lighroom. Edit them then export to a different folder to the original file. Re-import them into Lightroom so I can see the RAW image and final edited version.

Thanks

NStocks

1. Import to LR as you would normally (I import directly via LR rather than copying to Finder first, but either way is fine).

2. Edit as usual

3. Export in your desired output format, with "Add to catalog" selected, as you mentioned. LR will add the files back into the catalog. Be aware that if you are editing from collections rather than from folders, LR will not automatically add the reimported files into the collections that contained the originals; the automatically reimported files will only be added to the original folder. This confused me at first.

This should do what you want to do, and will allow you to manage all of your files in one place.

 

[NStocks]

1. Import to LR as you would normally (I import directly via LR rather than copying to Finder first, but either way is fine).

2. Edit as usual

3. Export in your desired output format, with "Add to catalog" selected, as you mentioned. LR will add the files back into the catalog. Be aware that if you are editing from collections rather than from folders, LR will not automatically add the reimported files into the collections that contained the originals; the automatically reimported files will only be added to the original folder. This confused me at first.

This should do what you want to do, and will allow you to manage all of your files in one place.

But I wanted to manage 2 seperate folders; one with the RAW files and one with the edited TIFF images, can it still be done ? I will probablly copy memory card files to a folder in the finder then back this up before importing to lightroom though.

How do you back up your libary, rely on Time machine or use Lightroom own back up feature

NStocks

 

[jaseone]

First question would have to be why? What are you trying to achieve? I know you have told us the specifics of what you are trying to do but there may well be a better way based upon what you want out of it.

Like in the Develop module you can just hit Reset to revert to the original and then Undo that reset to re-apply your changes so you can quickly see the differences. I'm just not sure why you would want to do what you're trying to do unless you exported to another Catalog so that one with just Tiff's was faster or something.

 

[Edge100]

But I wanted to manage 2 seperate folders; one with the RAW files and one with the edited TIFF images, can it still be done ? I will probablly copy memory card files to a folder in the finder then back this up before importing to lightroom though.

How do you back up your libary, rely on Time machine or use Lightroom own back up feature

NStocks

The exported files (TIFFs) can be sent to any folder on your Mac, so you'll have them in a separate folder from the original RAW files. But the TIFFs will be referenced to the LR catalog from that folder, which will allow you to view them side-by-sdie with the originals in LR. Remember, what you are seeing in LR is just a reference to the original file, which can be anywhere on your drive (or even offline!!!).

As for backup, I use Time Machine for general backups and I backup each shoot to DVDs (with 3x redundancy).

 

[Edge100]

First question would have to be why? What are you trying to achieve? I know you have told us the specifics of what you are trying to do but there may well be a better way based upon what you want out of it.

Like in the Develop module you can just hit Reset to revert to the original and then Undo that reset to re-apply your changes so you can quickly see the differences. I'm just not sure why you would want to do what you're trying to do unless you exported to another Catalog so that one with just Tiff's was faster or something.

Doing things this way allows you to have all versions of your originals in one place, so if you ever need to find them, it's really easy. Remember, LR is an excellent digital asset management program (acutally, it's a better DAM program than a photo editor); keeping all versions together (RAW, TIFF, web jpegs, high-quality jpegs, etc) means never having to search.

 

[jaseone]

Doing things this way allows you to have all versions of your originals in one place, so if you ever need to find them, it's really easy. Remember, LR is an excellent digital asset management program (acutally, it's a better DAM program than a photo editor); keeping all versions together (RAW, TIFF, web jpegs, high-quality jpegs, etc) means never having to search.

I know storage is cheap and all these days but why would you want to keep processed copies of images when it is simplistic to regenerate those? Maybe to keep a vendor neutral format of the image outside of Lightroom itself in case Lightroom ceases to function all together or something like that?

Note: I am not questioning the practice itself in case someone tries to come in here to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, as I clearly don't know and hence why am trying to get a better understanding.

 

[NStocks]

I think I'll just stick to my initial idea which seems to be sued by professionals. I've watched the lightroom tutorials directly from a adobe ' rep. ' and they also use this feature...

NStocks

 

[jaseone]

I can see how this could be helpful when using the LR web galleries as you can embed your watermark in the export and then use that copy in the web gallery, just to me it seems a little redundant but everyone has their own opinion and their own way of doing something.