pelha Loc: middlle of nowhere NY

This I fully understand. But it brings up another question: when I begin loading my images into a website (such as smugmug or 500px -- haven't decided which, yet), I would guess I would, in the public arena, just load the 'finished product', such as jpg or tiff. But if I'm using a private section on one of those to archive my raw files, how do I archive the metadata that I might want to store along with the NEF?

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Great, that makes life easier. Give up on LR 4, the catalogue is not backwards compatible from 6 to 4 and cause difficulties. I assume the netbook is running XP and you use this when travelling? If the images are not showing up in LR 4, it sounds as though it has given up on you.

I urge you to use LR on the Laptop as the core of your Photo processing. Other software on the laptop can be accessed from within LR, (when LR is set up to access other programs) and the xmp files, even though they exist, will not be a bother to you.

There are loads of LR tutorials available, quite a few on UHH, any many proficient users will answer any questions and offer guidance.

The links to the UHH Post Processing section and its tutorials:

Click here to come in and look around
Click here for the Tutorials and Tips index page
Click here for the Free software index
Click here to subscribe to the Post-Processing Digital Images section, click on "All Sections" and scroll to the fourth-to-last item:
Post-Processing Digital Images and click to subscribe in the appropriate box.

pelha Loc: middlle of nowhere NY

thanks, Searcher! I was afraid I was looking at a hardware replacement issue, and now it does seem to be a combined hardware software one. I do need a travel computer. My Asus N550 is not going on airplanes. ;-) So I guess I'm stuck with either replacing the hardware, or playing with the jpg versions of my shots until I get home (I'm shooting with a D7100 so I save NEFs to one chip & jpgs to the other.) groan!

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Generally, JPG is fine for a web site for viewing/sharing images.

To keep an "archive " of your originals yes, you would need to upload the originals and the accompanying XMP files if your originals are in a proprietary format (.NEF, .ARW, .CR2, etc.)

Make sure that the site will accept raw files first - some do not. Flickr for example wants JPG, or will convert to JPG after you upload. I archive my originals off site using Amazon Prime Photos - free unlimited storage that accepts raw files. I also have two backups that I maintain at home, one on a Time Machine external disk that runs a backup every hour, and another external where I keep a monthly mirror copy of my image library then place in a fire proof/water proof box.

The way I work is I shoot all my images as Nikon 14 bit raw files. I import the raw files into Lightroom, then go thru them and delete any that are not good enough for any editing, the remaining nef files get converted into Adobe DNG files, Lightroom can write edits directly to DNG, and DNG is a raw format. I then edit the DNG files and export finished images as JPG. The JPG files are then distributed as needed or uploaded directly from within Lightroom to my Flickr account for web posting.

I end up with a set or original files at full resolution that end up heavily keyworded and edited in Lightroom that are added to my database of images easily searched or grouped as need based on pretty much any criteria I can think of.

At any time, I can go back to a shot from years past and see it as edited, or as it came out of the camera to be re-edited and made to look completely different.

pelha Loc: middlle of nowhere NY

didn't realize that DNG are raw. Converting to that removed the xmp necessity, yes? Do you save both the DNG & the raw images on your backup drives?

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Yes, DNG is considered a raw format, but it is a raw format that Adobe products can write to.

Yes, once I went with DNG, no more XMP's to deal with and worry about.

Lightroom will give you the options of:

1. Import your NEFs as DNG
2. Import your NEFS as DNG & save a backup of the original NEF in a separate directory
3. Import your NEFs as NEFs and then later convert them to DNG, with options to delete or keep the originals after conversion.

I delete my originals (NEF's) and rely on DNG as my original. I have not found any reason not to yet. Only the DNG's go to my backups, including Amazon Prime.

Of course there are differing opinions on DNG conversion.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

I think you have been lucky to have a computer last seven years.

LR 4 does require a 64 bit Windows 7 or better computer.

If your netbook doesn't comply, you could consider installing Photoshop Elements 12 (you may need to search for a copy) + the Adobe DNG converter. The ACR in Elements is not up to LR6 standards but is pretty good nonetheless.

The processed files could then be moved from the Netbook to the laptop as dng files which don't need an xmp sidecar file.

pelha Loc: middlle of nowhere NY

Actually, I've just owned the netbook for 18 months. I bought it really cheap at Fry's Palo Alto, for my travel toy. (the original os files are dated 7 years ago.) That was before the D7100, before getting into raw, before I cared about the fine details of the photos I posted, which were all just for facebook family & friends, back then. At lot has changed in my outlook in the past 6 months!

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

This is correct!. I always store my edits in the XMP file. Just my choice. That way if the LR catalog gets corrupted, all I have to do is "Add" one folder (including all of it's subfolders) and I have a new catalog. The XMP files provide all edits, search terms, etc. Just another way to skin the cat.

georgevedwards Loc: Essex, Maryland.

XMP files? I never heard of them...I have been editing for many years now, I use Photoshop full edition and have been working with RAW but I don't think I have ever seen the .xmp in a processed image I made or stored. Where does it appear? Is Lightroom that has a separate system that shows .xmp? I have Lightroom with the new CC but it so alien to anything I have ever used it has been useless for me, I don't have hours to relearn and so far do perfectly well with just keeping folders.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

XMP are in the folder that contains the pictures

Dr.db Loc: Central Point, OR

it is entirely possible that georgevedwards really has no XMP files at all for his raw images, just like I usually don't...
If you're using Photoshop, Camera Raw has the option in Preferences to store XMP data elsewhere (which I always use), so I'd guess that George has simply been operating with the non-xmp-generating option.

I know of one great advantage to using XMPs, though - if you really gotta undo some complicated edits, it is easy to just throw away the XMP file and start over - or you could even save different XMP file versions with different edits for the same image if you wanted to...

(Download)

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

When working on a raw file using the camera mfg's software, edits are saved directly into the raw files, just like when working on a JPG.

However, when using software that is NOT from the camera mfg, any edits to a proprietary raw file are saved within a sidecar file, an XMP file.

The XMP file is named the same as the raw file that is being edited, except for the .XMP extension and it is placed in the same folder as the raw file.

As long as these two files remain together then software that can deal with raw & XMP will display the file with all the edits that were done, for example cropping.

Remove the XMP file, or decode the raw in a viewer that does not understand the XMP file and the original raw file is displayed uncropped.

The strength of Lightroom is in it's Asset Management functions - its a database for your images. It will organize and manage the folders where your images reside, but also allow you to search, group, find, organize by pretty much any metadata embedded in your images.

It is also a great parametric editor that compliments Photoshop as a pixel editor.

I moved from Aperture a few years back - it is a catalog based management system, so moving to Lightroom was fairly easy for me, they both use the same basic principles, but Lightroom is much much better in my opinion.

smith934 Loc: Huntsville, Alabama

Just to clarify, I think you meant to type LR 6. There's no way I can think of that he will get LR 6 to run on a netbook.