Lets 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 days 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 dont pre-render, then your computer will have to render each photo as you click on it. I just dont like sitting there waiting 10-15 seconds while the next photo renders.
The next check box is Dont 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. Im 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 days 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 dont add the species name keywords until I have sorted out the photos, and deleted the ones I dont want.
The last section is Destination where we set up our file structure. While I dont 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 clients 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.htmlhttp://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-45714-1.htmlhttp://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-45979-1.htmlhttp://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-47032-1.html