LR import question: I use Windows 7 and have always stored my pictures in "My Pictures" I have used PSE for years and currently use 10. I recently bought LR3 and instead of reading...

jtipps Loc: Dallas

I use Windows 7 and have always stored my pictures in "My Pictures" I have used PSE for years and currently use 10. I recently bought LR3 and instead of reading everything about importing I just dove right in and started using it. Now I have over 1,000 photos in LR that are in my opinion not in good order.
1. Should I have imported my complete My Pictures folder right at first so the LR cataloge matched My Pictures contents? Or is that important that it match?
2. Should I try to correct the catalog in LR to match My Pictures or should I delete it and do #1? Or just clean up what I have already done and work smartre in the future?

I think what confused me was editing in LR and not exporting as jpg or what ever as soon as I did it or maybe just so old and dumb I didn't realize what I was doing. Thanks for your help.

snowbear

You can have multiple catalogs in LR so I wouldn't bother unless you really wanted them in there.

My workflow is such that I have a "working-storage" folder that I import from, but I archive & delete from W-S the originals when I'm finished editing/cataloging. I rarely need to put an older photo back into LR so my catalog usually only has the most recent imports.

jtipps Loc: Dallas

Good idea, thank you. I am glad I caught this before it got to far along. What your saying is if I understand it, you import into this folder, do your weeding out, edit, then expot into a folder on your hard drive, make a collection of the ones you want to keep in LR, and then delete what is left in the W and S folder?

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

jtipps wrote:

I use Windows 7 and have always stored my pictures... (show quote)

jtipps:

I am appending two links that will help you understand a bit about how lightroom works especially the import functions.

You can keep all your photos in your "My Pictures" folder and simply "Add" them to Lightroom. It will only add the ones that you haven't already imported if you check off the "Don't import suspected duplicates" box. All of your pictures do not need to be in the same folder, the LR catalogue will keep track of them no matter where they are. Be careful of external hard drives as they can be a little tricky but not a major problem.

The most important aspect of organizing in LR is the assignment of keywords. They allow you to retrieve your photos with a simple search using those keywords.

Take a look at these posts I've done here on UHH and get back to us if you need any more help.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-48027-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-47032-1.html

snowbear

Almost. In basic steps:
1. Archive (.ZIP file) originals from SD card and copy shots to W-S.
2. Import W-S to LR for weeding, basic editing, key words.
3. If additional editing needed go to Photoshop (back into LR when done).
4. Export final edited shots for web, printing, etc. (I shoot raw so I convert to JPEG at this point.)
5. Archive (another .ZIP file) final shots and move to final folders (landscapes, critters, people, etc.) W-S is now empty, ready for the next round.

jtipps Loc: Dallas

Polar Bear, I understand now. Even though you basically use just this folder for that purpose do you have all your folders imorted into LR so you can access them?

jtipps Loc: Dallas

Birdpix, This is great information. To make sure, you are suggesting that I go ahead and import my "My Pictures" folder into LR which would be all the pictures on my computer. I can see that needing to be done because there have been several times that I wanted to use LR to edit a photo that I originally used PSE to do it and have to import just one photo. Seems it would be better to have my whole library on my hard drive available in the library of LR.

Flash Falasca Loc: Beverly Hills, Florida

Just hit import in LR and import My pictures,it will import your whloe my pics ,it won't reimport the files already imported

jonnyd Loc: Kent, England.

Great info thanks, just bought LR4 and that's one question I had answered. Doncha just love this Website. :

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Do you use PSE10 Organizer to organize and catalog your images already? Do you use the organizer to create keywords, ratings etc.? If so, LR4 will copy them from PSE10 so that you don't have to do the work over again. In any case, you need to choose which one you're going to use, PSE10 Organizer or LR4, to catalog and keep track of your images. If you delete and image in LR4, or move an image from LR4, then PSE10 Organizer will loose track of the image and the thumbnail will indicate the image is missing or the link is missing. I find that it is way too difficult to try and keep two different catalogs from different programs up to date. Choose one or the other now. I would choose LR4 since it is arguably the best cataloging program on the retail software shelves today.

jdventer Loc: Wallingford, CT, USA

Since you are new to LR I recommend George Jardine's courses on Lightroom. He offers one tutorial series on the Library Module
(http://mulita.com/blog/?page_id=2) and another on the Develop Module
(http://mulita.com/blog/?page_id=724), each $25. Excellent!

I would recommend starting with the LR Library Module video. The Library video will give you the information you need to decide how to organize your photos and import them into LR.

jtipps Loc: Dallas

Thank you.

Flash Falasca wrote:

Just hit import in LR and import My pictures,it will import your whloe my pics ,it won't reimport the files already imported

jtipps Loc: Dallas

I stopped using Organizer so I currently only have my folder system in Windows library. I will import the whole library, I think I should have done that first thing instead of only importing new photos.

jeep_daddy wrote:

Do you use PSE10 Organizer to organize and catalog... (show quote)

jtipps Loc: Dallas

Thank you, I iwll have a look.

jdventer wrote:

Since you are new to LR I recommend George Jardine's courses on Lightroom. He offers one tutorial series on the Library Module
(http://mulita.com/blog/?page_id=2) and another on the Develop Module
(http://mulita.com/blog/?page_id=724), each $25. Excellent!

I would recommend starting with the LR Library Module video. The Library video will give you the information you need to decide how to organize your photos and import them into LR.

jtipps Loc: Dallas

Thank you all for the help.