40 Day Trip and Overwhelmed: Just finished an amazing 40 day trip which included Rocky Mtn, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite , Crater Lake National Parks in the U.S. and Banff, Yoho, Lake...

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

Just finished an amazing 40 day trip which included Rocky Mtn, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite , Crater Lake National Parks in the U.S. and Banff, Yoho, Lake Louise, and Jasper National Parks in Canada. Not complaining as it was a marvelous time to get some great shots with my D7000 with a Tamron 10-24, and Nikon 28-300 lens. Those were all I took with me. Now, with about 1,200 RAW photos waiting for me I am not sure how to tackle the task ahead with Lightroom. Just a beginner with the program. Got Kelbys book. The work flow boggles me though. Should I download through LR and Chang ethen to DNG files, eliminate the so so's then start key wording? I would like to hear from the Hoggers what do you do when you have a huge batch of shots to deal with. I have already copied the raw files on another drive for backup. Thanks in advance for your input. You guys are great I enjoy this site everyday.

Daisy61 Loc: New Hampshire

Hi, sounds great, I'm going out west to five national parks in the fall, I have a nikon 18-300 and a 10-24 do you think this is enough or do I need something more ?

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

Daisy61 wrote:

Hi, sounds great, I'm going out west to five national parks in the fall, I have a nikon 18-300 and a 10-24 do you think this is enough or do I need something more ?

Just a tripod. I set the camera on scene setting and macro for some beautiful flower close ups. Have fun!

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Baysitter11 wrote:

Just finished an amazing 40 day trip which include... (show quote)

I don't use LR to download, but then, I'm not changing them to DNG's on import either.

I use Nikon Transfer [free] to download my pics. You can set it up to automatically create new folders for each download, named the way you want. AND, it can do an auto backup of the download to a second drive.

Then, I'll import them into a new catalog in LR.
I don't let LR index my entire collection, I'd never be able to find anything without keywording each image. And I'd have to do that going back 6 or 7 years.

Next, I start by selecting 'ALL' and setting a 2 star rating.
Then I unselect all, and go about my culling. For those I definitely don't want, I don't delete them, I change the rating to 1 star [single keystroke]. When I'm finished with my first pass, I change the view filter to 2 stars or above. Then I get serious about what looks good, or not, or the best of multiple shots, and change to 3 star rating for those. Then change the view filter again to show only those.
THEN I've got something manageable for developing.

If I have multiple venues, I may do them as separate catalogs.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The rating system is the way to go. I've only just started using LR5, but applying their stars isn't easy so I too would look at a simplier software to get rid of everything that doesn't justify additional concentration.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

CHG_CANON wrote:

The rating system is the way to go. I've only just started using LR5, but applying their stars isn't easy so I too would look at a simplier software to get rid of everything that doesn't justify additional concentration.

Adding a star is a simple keystroke.
Hitting the numeral 1 gives a 1 star rating, hitting the numeral 2 gives a 2 star rating, and so on.
How easy can it get?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Wall-E wrote:

How easy can it get?

Thanks Wall-E, I'll have to agree ... I'm used to having to use an [ALT] key with the number to assign the rating ala other software. I tried the same in LR5 with no success. Pulled down the menu and there were no key stroke hints ... muttered 'well whatever' and moved on thinking maybe it's only mouse-driven even though I was sure it wasn't ...

Baysitter11 - there you have a simple way to cull within the LR library. Once the ratings are applied, you can select by those stars and delete from the library and for those that have no further purpose, delete the physical file too.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Quote:

Now, with about 1,200 RAW photos waiting for me I am not sure how to tackle the task ahead with Lightroom.

Bay, what a trip. First let me congratulate you on your tremendous willpower.
I would have shot 1200 at Yosemite, alone, in one day!
Like Wall-E, I download to my Canon software first.
I then go through and trash anything that is OOF, to dark, to blown out or otherwise undesirable.
Then I make small thumbnails so I can see many at a time and very quickly go in and add a quick crop to anything that I might want to work on. That takes about ten seconds each and it's probably ten percent of the 1200. Now I go through and rate only those I think have a lot of potential, that's another ten percent. Those are the only ones I take into light room. Of 1200, I will wind up with maybe a dozen. Those I will work on till I'm satisfied with them.
I spend as little time in LR as possible since its so slow. I store very little in Lightroom. Good luck. SS

MtnMan Loc: ID

Baysitter11 wrote:

Just finished an amazing 40 day trip which include... (show quote)

I have about the same problem. I did the Alberta parks and then headed to Alaska. About 1,000 shots.

I loaded them into Lightroom as I went and backed up many of them. I have a preset that changes them to DNGs as they load. I added at least the keyword Alaska to them all and some of the animal keywords.

We've been back a couple weeks and I'm nowhere near done.

I took most of them in jpeg large fine so managed to have them all fit on one 32MB card without overflowing. I'm going to archive that card so if I ever want to go back and retrieve originals I can. I did shoot some of what I thought might be my best keepers in RAW and I'm not sure that doing the DNG conversion and preset didn't lose some sharpness for me.

Here's a couple.

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

Wall-E wrote:

I don't use LR to download, but then, I'm not chan... (show quote)

Thanks. That sounds very organized. I have set up LR on a new desktop and thought I might go that way starting with this trip. I like the star and filter method. I appreciate your helping me to unscramble the process.

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

Wall-E wrote:

I don't use LR to download, but then, I'm not chan... (show quote)

Thanks. That sounds very organized. I have set up LR on a new desktop and thought I might go that way starting with this trip. I like the star and filter method. I appreciate your helping me to unscramble the process.

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

SharpShooter wrote:

Bay, what a trip. First let me congratulate you on... (show quote)

Thanks. I would have shot more but let me just say it was a Family vacation and my attention had to be divided. I agree with you 100%. Could have taken so many more. And taken more time to set up for shots I wanted. The family was pretty patient overall but, well, you know.

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

MtnMan wrote:

I have about the same problem. I did the Alberta p... (show quote)

Oh my gosh! These are wonderful. We saw several bear. I am just getting into them. Hope I have a couple near keepers.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Baysitter11 wrote:

well, you know.

Bay, I know all to well. My wife is pretty patient.
We have been on many vacations, and have worked out a system so we can both be satisfied with how we spend our time.
But even then, I would still have shot 1200 at Yosemite, in ONE day !! SS

MtnMan Loc: ID

One 32 GB card. One D800 RAW image is almost 32MB.

:oops: