A couple of 365-ers have recently reported on the trauma of moving to Lightroom as a file utility/processing programme. I have used LR since my first 365 project a few years back - and am a fan - but never really paid much attention to the file storage and sorting facilities and felt that I ought to remedy that (before I start a new job shortly).
Today I spent sorting out my directory structures and file locations; a strangely satisfying process. It took hours, but I found I have in total over 70,000 images on my computer! I'm still in shock...
I should do that in fact my photos are all over the place. Some at work some in the desktop at home some in the laptop. I promise next month I will Start reorganizing things!
i can tell you, that screenshot sends shivers down my spine after my recent tussles with lightroom! and i haven't even imported my old stuff - i've just been dealing with new stuff from the last month. sigh. yours looks quite delightfully 'sorted' now, and it sounds as though you spent the day calmly and methodically creating order. can you come over here and do mine please? i would ply you with cake/alcohol/bouquets of dahlias/whatever floats your boat. out of interest, i'm assuming you created the ordered structure on your hard/external drive before importing to lightroom?
@pistache Clare, wine and cake will do it! Well, maybe not even cake! I think it was one of your posts that prompted me to have a cold, hard look at my own files and realise what a mess they were in. Panic ensued, followed by days/weeks of dithering, then the realisation that you touched on in your last sentence. Lightroom can be made to synchronise with your hard drive. Previously I had not bothered that much with how LR had dealt with the files I was processing. As a result, LR had filed them in its library system any which way. So, I spent an hour tidying up my hard drive (technically quite simple, you just need to be clear how your directories and sub-directories are mapped), then in LR right click on the "c" drive icon, and select "synchronise folder". It might take a while (depends on how many files you have). The other trick in LR is to make sure you have all your imported images tagged appropriately, as you can then search and retrieve images simply by selecting by tag. And just in case anyone mentions/asks, I do have the entire hard disk on a permanent up-dated back up. Happy file managing! (Happy to answer any more LR issues, can't guarantee to know all the answers but I'll probably know where to look as I've been using it for the past 5 years).
I have been thinking about LR for awhile, but most people I know have all said not to bother because it is a nightmare to work with and only one said it is the best thing since sliced bread. So Peter what is your honest opinion is it as bad as I have been told, I bow to your superior knowledge on this matter.
@hobgoblin I find it very good. I shoot all my images in RAW format, so need a processor to publish/export/print them. If I had to start over all again, I would probably go for the free Canon software that comes with all Canon cameras (same for Nikon). For processing, I find LR brilliant, and nowhere near as complicated as Photoshop. On the file utility/storage and organisation side, I haven't really got to grips with the way LR works, so do tend to blunder around a bit. Depends what you want. If it is good looking prints for your own purposes, sharing with friends and use on social networking sites (like 365, Instagram etc) I would investigate the free utility and processing software that you can get from Nikon (I see you use a Nikon). If you want to get serious about entering competitions and having work published, you probably want LR or even Photoshop. Note that if you are shooting images in JPEG format, then the amount of processing difference you can make in LR is limited and you might as well use one of the free picture editors (e.g. Picmonkey available through 365). I hope this is helpful. Happy to answer any specific questions.
@pistache Clare - update for you. There's something about the way LR catalogues images that is eluding me for the minute. Whilst my files are now all synchronised, where I have moved files on my hard drive that had already been catalogued by LR, LR appears not to have tracked the movement and is saying the file is missing (in spite of synchronisation). Mmmm... I'll report again if I get to the bottom of this.
@peadar ah yes, i have encountered this. it seems that if you move files on the hard drive (or in my case external drive) lr can no longer recognise them, even if they were previously imported. so if you want to move files, you have to do it within lr. they will then also be moved on the hard drive, and lr will still recognise them. does that make sense?! meanwhile, if you right click on the 'missing' photo and select 'show in finder', you should be able to find them on your hard drive and re-import them ...
oh, and when you talk about 'tagging' images, do you mean keywording them? i'm quite liking doing this, and creating smart collections into which they automatically zoom if keyworded ...
@pistache Yes, keywords. Very powerful. Thanks for the tip on files, I suppose the thing that surprised me was that synchronisation didn't sort it out. Onwards and upwards... 😎
I should do that in fact my photos are all over the place. Some at work some in the desktop at home some in the laptop. I promise next month I will Start reorganizing things!