Lightroom handling of camera folders: My 'folders' usually start and end with a pic of my hand, or a look at the similar time stamps. But if I did start in camera folders, how does...

bleirer

My 'folders' usually start and end with a pic of my hand, or a look at the similar time stamps. But if I did start in camera folders, how does Lightroom handle them? I'm thinking maybe it ignores camera folders, but what do the experts say?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

What are you talking about?

LR doesn't analyze image content. When importing images directly from a camera card, LR "sees" all the image files on the card, without regard to folders. How you the human specify your import parameters, that is how the software operates when copying the files from the card onto your computer storage. LR doesn't care about images of your hand.

bleirer

CHG_CANON wrote:

What are you talking about?

LR doesn't analyze image content. When importing images directly from a camera card, LR "sees" all the image files on the card, without regard to folders. How you the human specify your import parameters, that is how the software operates when copying the files from the card onto your computer storage. LR doesn't care about images of your hand.

If i use a camera folder to store 50 shots of one focus stack to make it easy to find the start and stop of the stack, also to make it easy to delete once the 50 images are turned into one composite.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

bleirer wrote:

If i use a camera folder to store 50 shots of one focus stack to make it easy to find the start and stop of the stack, also to make it easy to delete once the 50 images are turned into one composite.

OK. When you start your stack processing, pick the 48 relevant images.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

bleirer wrote:

If i use a camera folder to store 50 shots of one focus stack to make it easy to find the start and stop of the stack, also to make it easy to delete once the 50 images are turned into one composite.

I'm glad you added this, had no idea what you were asking in the initial question. Just import them into some
directory. I use the same technique for HDR, Pano, stacking etc. It tells you where the sequence starts and ends - very handy. Select the set less your hand and off to whatever you use to put it together. By the way, once your done you cab use LR stack command so you only see a single image to represent the group. There is a marker to show it is a stack of photos. This way you don't have to stare at the entire set on the filmstrip and can have many of these in the same place if you like.

bleirer

pithydoug wrote:

I'm glad you added this, had no idea what you were... (show quote)

So I get photos off my camera directly from Lightroom. If some of the photos are in a subfolder on the camera but most aren't, can Lightroom preserve that folder so I can find the start and end of my folder in the library?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Even if you're importing directly from the camera through Lightroom you can specify which folder on the computer will receive the files. You can sort by computer folder in Lightroom so by doing that you see only the photos you want.

I guess the next question would be if you are taking a specific sequence of shots for stacking, why are some of the files going to be in subfolders in the camera? (I'm a Nikon guy and my cameras put the images in folders and if the image number rolls over 9999 it starts a new folder, but it doesn't do subfolders).

I import from the card through another program and it ignores the folder structure on the card.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

bleirer wrote:

So I get photos off my camera directly from Lightroom. If some of the photos are in a subfolder on the camera but most aren't, can Lightroom preserve that folder so I can find the start and end of my folder in the library?

During import you can choose whether to include sub folders or not. If you want to preserve some kind of folder structure then you need to import each sub folder separately.

bleirer

DirtFarmer wrote:

Even if you're importing directly from the camera ... (show quote)

The thing is the camera has a mix of regular pictures and those I've put into a subfolder in camera. When I use 'import' from Lightroom I'd like to know I can import all, but see where the camera folders started and stopped.

The reason is that a focus stack might be hundreds of pictures for one image, though I usually limit to 20-40. To do my usual take a shot of my hand trick I have to go into the menu to turn off focus stacking so i dont t get the 40 pics of my hand, then go back to turn it back on, etc.

bleirer

SuperflyTNT wrote:

During import you can choose whether to include sub folders or not. If you want to preserve some kind of folder structure then you need to import each sub folder separately.

Can you be more specific on how in-camera folders would be handled?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

bleirer wrote:

Can you be more specific on how in-camera folders would be handled?

LR assumes you want to import all the images on the card, with no concern about folders on the card. If you want LR to do something different, de-select all the images and navigate into a subfolder and select / configure, as the human, which images you want the software to process and where to place them.

bleirer

CHG_CANON wrote:

LR assumes you want to import all the images on the card, with no concern about folders on the card. If you want LR to do something different, de-select all the images and navigate into a subfolder and select / configure, as the human, which images you want the software to process and where to place them.

That seems to be how it is. I was hoping for an easy 'check this checkbox' sort of thing. The problem is in identifying where the stacked images start and stop because nothing really identifies them as part of a stack other than the fact that the time stamp will be within a few seconds of each other. If I do several stacks in a row of the same subject they look very similar to each other.

Experimenting a little, explorer will recognize the subfolder on the camera directly and allow a copy of the subfolder with a right-click. I can then paste that folder into a folder on my pc reserved just for camera subfolders. Then do the stack compositing and just output the result into my lightroom folder. I don't feel the need to preserve the 40 or whatever shots once the stack is composited, so the whole subfolder could then be trashed.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

bleirer wrote:

That seems to be how it is. I was hoping for an ea... (show quote)

There's different ways to 'import'. Personally, I handle the placement of images onto my permanent storage external to LR, naming the folders, etc. Particularly after culling to images, only then do I drag the images or the folder onto the LR session to initiate the import dialog. It would seem this approach would work better for your needs too, rather than importing directly from the camera card.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

bleirer wrote:

Can you be more specific on how in-camera folders would be handled?

Unclick the “show subfolders” box in the source pane and the select each sub folder to import it. Select the destination for each sub folder in the destination pane.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

CHG_CANON wrote:

There's different ways to 'import'. Personally, I handle the placement of images onto my permanent storage external to LR, naming the folders, etc. Particularly after culling to images, only then do I drag the images or the folder onto the LR session to initiate the import dialog. It would seem this approach would work better for your needs too, rather than importing directly from the camera card.

That’s the other option, just copy the folders from the card to where you want them and when you import into Lightroom choose “Add” instead of “Copy”.