birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Let’s continue our discussion about the Import Dialogue in LR4

Our last edition spoke about when to use the Copy, Move and Add features in the import dialogue, That post can be found at: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-47032-1.html Now we will move on to the last panel on the right the Destination Panel.

At the very top of the column you will see the word “TO” and next to it will show the drive that you are going to copy, move or add your photos to. If you only use one drive, this is “set once and forget it.” If you happen to use more than one drive, pay attention to this and change it if needed with the little drop down menu.

We need to sidetrack briefly here to talk about “rendering” as it is one of our first choices in this column. Whenever we click on a photo in “Loupe” view in the “Library Module”, our computer must “Render” the file to the screen so we can see it. The more resolution we ask our computer to give to the photo the longer it takes to “Render” the photo. At the lowest Resolution, it can be pretty quick but, at 1:1, it may take 5 to 20 seconds for the photo to resolve. This is dependent on both the size of the file and the speed of your hardware. LR gives you the ability to “Pre-Render” your photos to decrease this lag time by creating a “Preview” file inside the “Catalogue” file to do this. You have the choice to pre-render either before or after you import your photos. That is one of our first choices in the “File Handling” dialogue. Do you want to render now? Or later?

If you want to download and view your photos quickly in a low resolution format then “Minimal” is your choice. If you regularly zoom in to check critical focus then “1:1” would be your choice but, remember, the time to download and render can be substantial if you are importing hundreds of photos. So, start the download and go eat lunch! “Embedded & Sidecar” would be appropriate if you were importing files that had already been edited and had either display data embedded in them or had associated XMP files. Standard is the same resolution as “Fill” in the Loupe view.

My usual work flow is to render minimal on import. I then go through my day’s shoot quickly and choose the ones I want to look at closely and pre-render them at 1:1 while I go do something else productive. If you don’t pre-render, then your computer will have to render each photo as you click on it. I just don’t like sitting there waiting 10-15 seconds while the next photo renders.

The next check box is “Don’t import suspected duplicates” and I think that is self explanatory.

Under that is a check box that I use all the time: “Make a second copy to:”. I have an external hard drive that I use for this. It is like making an immediate back up of what is being added to your main drive. My feeling is that one should always have at least two copies of your work. If you download and then format your memory card before you have done any kind of a back up, you only have the one copy on your main drive. Hard Drives always fail….eventually. This is just a temporary back up and is not done in lieu of my regular weekly back up. I periodically purge the “Second Copy” as my main file is backed up so I always have at least two copies.

Dropping down to the file renaming section you now have numerous options if you want or need to rename your photos. This can be very handy for the professional who wants to have the customer name, venue name, date or a sequence number as part of the file name. When a customer refers to a specific file there is less chance for confusion. There are several “templates” available or you can create your own and save it for future use.

The “Apply During Import” section is where LR can save you a lot of time later on in your processing. The first box “Develop Settings” allows you to choose from numerous templates or create saved presets. Since RAW files always need some adjusting, I have created a custom preset that applies certain levels of Contrast, Clarity, Vibrance, Sharpening and Noise Reduction that my experience has shown to be close to what I prefer. It is sort of like what your camera does for you when you shoot JPEGs. I only have to change these later in the Develop Module if they are off for that particular photo. I’m not constantly making the same adjustments to picture after picture one at a time. With the pull down menu you will see many LR presets available. They are the same as the ones you have in the Develop Module and that is where you create a custom preset. Adjust a photo with the develop settings you want and save them in the user preset folder by clicking on the + sign next to the Presets on the left hand panel. A dialogue box appears that allows you to choose which develop settings to include in the preset. You might not want to include the “Crop” setting, for example, to all your imported photos.

The next box “Metadata” allows you to add such things as your copyright information to each file as it is imported. To create a preset, click on the drop down menu and click on “New”. A comprehensive metadata form is available for you to fill in as much of as you need. At minimum, you should be entering your copyright information.

The “Keyword” box is another time saver. Keywords can be added to photos at any time during post processing and are the real heart of the organizing ability of LR. They are words that describe the Who, What, When, Where and Why of each photo, separated by a comma. Keywords applied during import should be the generic ones that apply to all the photos in an import. For example, when I import a day’s worth of bird photos from “Brigantine NWR”, I will include that as a keyword as well as “NJ” and “Atlantic County” because they apply to all the photos. I don’t add the species name keywords until I have sorted out the photos, and deleted the ones I don’t want.

The last section is “Destination” where we set up our file structure. While I don’t recommend it, it is possible to put all of our photos in one folder and, using the keywords and metadata, find any photo we need in seconds. The reality is that we usually need to keep our photos in discrete folders for convenience in doing our sorting and editing. I have a relatively simple system where all of my photos are in sub-folders of one parent folder called “Photo Library”. Yours may already be called “My Photos” or just “Photos”. My sub-folders are named with the date taken and venue name such as “YYYYMMDD Brigantine NWR.” That date format ensures that the sub-folders will appear in date order. If I am in two different locations or did two shoots in a day, I can do two separate folders starting with the same date and the new location or shoot name. Yes, that would require two separate imports. (Remember, you can choose which pictures to import in the center panel by checking or unchecking them.) You could have sub-folders by client’s names and even have sub-sub-folders for individual shoots. The one thing I do recommend, if at all possible, it to have all your photos under one, top level, parent folder. If your catalogue file ever looses contact with your pictures, it is much easier to reconnect them to one single parent folder than it is to search several different drives and/or folders and reconnect them individually. If your file structure is already scattered in several different places, leave them there, LR can deal with it. Just be aware of the potential problems. If you decide to move things around, do it inside LR, NOT in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.

At the bottom of the column, under the active drive name you will see your file structure. If you are putting your photos into an already existing folder, click on it to highlight it, then, click the import button at the bottom of the page. LR will begin to bring your pictures into the computer. You will see them appear in the center panel.

If you want to create a sub-folder, click on the parent folder to highlight it, and check the box that says “Into Subfolder” and give it a name. LR will then add a folder under that parent folder. Just below that check box is a drop down named “Organize” and your choices are “Into One folder” or “By Date”. The later will create sub-sub folders using the shooting date as the name. Click on the “Import” button and LR catalogues and copies your photos into the selected folder.

If you have suggestions for future Tips, Tricks and Techniques in LR get in touch by PM and I will include them and give you credit for submitting them. Previous posts in the series are at:
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-45586-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-45714-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-45979-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-47032-1.html

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Thank you for the best and the clearest explanations I have seen, better even than Adobe's. Keep them coming............please

BRENT Loc: Idaho

Great series and a lot of help. Thanks

bedgmon Loc: Burleson, Texas

Your info is easy to follow. Thank you! I am relying on your info and do believe setup to be a major consideration.
Are you open to questions about LR in this thread or should questions be asked in the open forum?

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Either way is fine. I'm not the only one on UHH that has LR knowledge.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Thanks to all of you who have taken time to comment about my LR posts. While it is nice to get glowing reports I am more concerned when people are looking at my posts and not commenting because the comments are what keeps these on the first two pages. If they get burried on page 3 or 4, people who would benefit would never notice them. So, drop a comment, good or bad or make a suggestion, you'll be helping other UHH'ers see these posts.

Thanks again!

bedgmon Loc: Burleson, Texas

Could this be placed in a learning category?
I will try to post to this knowing about the way things are elevated in the forum. I had no idea. When I have no words, I simply don 't write a response. This thread is terrific. Many on the forum may have expertise, but a lot don't, and some think they do. I'll stick with the one I know has the good info. Keep posting.

saycheese Loc: By the Big Lake in West Michigan

I am receiving LR4 this afternoon.I intend to use your excellent series as
a major part of the learning process. Thank you so much for all the effort you have put in.
Annie

wingincamera Loc: Spanaway, Washington

Excellent post. I look forward to the next installment.

jtipps Loc: Dallas

This is really great Birdpix, thanks for the time it has taken you to do this.

Santa Fe Rose

Thank you for sharing all of this wonderful information. I've downloaded it and it's going in my binder. Please continue to share your expertise with UHH.