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I have only just looked at using Lightroom and after installing it I found advice to have all my photographs put in one folder which I duly did.I included the Lightroom Catalogue.Following this it seems that the Lightroom software did not find the path to the catalogue/photographs.Consequently I copied the catalogue back to its original position(which took ages).Despite doing that it seems that the software and arrangements are not going to work smoothly in the future when I want to move things.
Since I have done only minor changes to a couple of photographs so far,I intend uninstalling Lightroom then deleting unnecessary copies of images.
Following that I will put all my photographs into the one folder and ask Lightroom to keep the names of the folders whilst adding the metadata(as it seems to be called).
I think that this should be feasible since the photographs are kept in their original location, and it is better to do this now before I do a lot of work with photographs;however I would value others experience in doing this sort of uninstallation.
So please comment on the situation.
(On top of ,that my current version of Lightroom is 4 and I intend upgrading to Lightroom 5 and also seeing if I can get hold of Silver Effect Pro.I also see that I may need to get Photoshop itself and do not know what version(and cost) of that software I would need.So several levels of sorting to be done)
Rob
Post edited at 11:50
In reply to veteye:
The most important thing to remember about Lightroom, is that you have to move any files within Lightroom itself.
If you move them using Windows Explorer, then Lightroom will lose it's ability to open them.
It takes a bit of getting used to and you definitely need to have some sort of regimen to keep on top of it.
One thing to note though, when you do move them using Lightroom, they will be automatically moved within your Windows folder structure.
The most important thing to remember about Lightroom, is that you have to move any files within Lightroom itself.
If you move them using Windows Explorer, then Lightroom will lose it's ability to open them.
It takes a bit of getting used to and you definitely need to have some sort of regimen to keep on top of it.
One thing to note though, when you do move them using Lightroom, they will be automatically moved within your Windows folder structure.
In reply to veteye:
>I found advice to have all my photographs put in one folder
That was really really really crap advice.
>I found advice to have all my photographs put in one folder
That was really really really crap advice.
In reply to ChrisJD:
It maybe that you misunderstand.I am saying that I kept all of my existing folders which I then put all in one folder.This means that in the future if I want to move my photographs to another computer or hard drive I only need to move that one all enclosing folder rather than moving many folders.
In the meantime do you have any experience of uninstalling the software and then re-installing it?
It maybe that you misunderstand.I am saying that I kept all of my existing folders which I then put all in one folder.This means that in the future if I want to move my photographs to another computer or hard drive I only need to move that one all enclosing folder rather than moving many folders.
In the meantime do you have any experience of uninstalling the software and then re-installing it?
In reply to ChrisJD:
That was really really really crap advice.
I think that rather depends how you interpret 'one folder'. All my photo's are in one global folder named 'Photos'. However, there are then many layers of folders within that folder.
It would obviously be ridiculous to have all your photos in one folder and one folder alone!
I assume the advice is for the former folder structure, because it would be a nightmare if you had folders and individual photos scattered around your computer without any semblance of order.
That was really really really crap advice.
I think that rather depends how you interpret 'one folder'. All my photo's are in one global folder named 'Photos'. However, there are then many layers of folders within that folder.
It would obviously be ridiculous to have all your photos in one folder and one folder alone!
I assume the advice is for the former folder structure, because it would be a nightmare if you had folders and individual photos scattered around your computer without any semblance of order.
In reply to FactorXXX:
I have realised that the way Lightroom works is not in the same type of logic that I initially would expect.I wish that I had made the overriding photograph folder at the beginning,so I am trying to go back to the beginning by uninstalling the software.
Anything that you would be wary of in doing the uninstallation?
Rob
I have realised that the way Lightroom works is not in the same type of logic that I initially would expect.I wish that I had made the overriding photograph folder at the beginning,so I am trying to go back to the beginning by uninstalling the software.
Anything that you would be wary of in doing the uninstallation?
Rob
In reply to veteye:
i don't know anything about lightroom but i know a bit about computers
before you uninstall and re-install... is this any use?
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WSBED0E080-63AF-4ba4-ACCF-EC48C...
i don't know anything about lightroom but i know a bit about computers
before you uninstall and re-install... is this any use?
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WSBED0E080-63AF-4ba4-ACCF-EC48C...
In reply to veteye:
I didn't misunderstand - you didn't explain what you actually did. I've learnt to never underestimate what people 'actually' do with computers
Been using LR since V1 Beta, so yes lots of experience with it.
I run a master catalogue with 63,000 images spread across many folders, 5 separate internal/network drives: so I wouldn't worry about them being in one 'Master' folder location, but it is easier from a management/structured approach.
The recommend approach is to have your catalogue on a separate drive to your images and to your OS (mine resides on its own SSD), and don't put images on your OS drive: these approaches help to make LR work faster (supposedly).
If you want to physically save the image changes you made within LR (LR is non-destructive), then you'll need export the images you changed to new files as the originals will remain unchanged; the metadata may change - if you set up LR that way (most people don't as it slows down LR), but the changes will only be manifest when the images opened within programmes that read the metadata image adjustments (e.b Adobe Bridge).
And have installed and reinstalled quite a few times (!) over the years. You shouldn't have any issues.
Installing/reinstalling won't alter/delete your LR catalogue, but it may create a new one.
If you have not set up LR to save changes to the image metadata, then when you create a new LR catalogue and re-import all your images, then the LR changes you made in your original catalogue wont show up in your new Catalogue.
But you shouldn't have to reinstall to change your folder structure, but it 'could' be a pain-in-the-**** if you have to re-point your LR catalogue to lots of new locations (it usually does a good job once you point LR to the top level folder location).
Drag and drop does work within LR, but I'd be very cautious about moving lots of folders around within LR - be careful.
To add: If LR can't find the folder location, then the folder still shows up, but with a ? next to it. Thumbnails will also show up in Grid Mode - LR stores image previews.
I didn't misunderstand - you didn't explain what you actually did. I've learnt to never underestimate what people 'actually' do with computers
Been using LR since V1 Beta, so yes lots of experience with it.
I run a master catalogue with 63,000 images spread across many folders, 5 separate internal/network drives: so I wouldn't worry about them being in one 'Master' folder location, but it is easier from a management/structured approach.
The recommend approach is to have your catalogue on a separate drive to your images and to your OS (mine resides on its own SSD), and don't put images on your OS drive: these approaches help to make LR work faster (supposedly).
If you want to physically save the image changes you made within LR (LR is non-destructive), then you'll need export the images you changed to new files as the originals will remain unchanged; the metadata may change - if you set up LR that way (most people don't as it slows down LR), but the changes will only be manifest when the images opened within programmes that read the metadata image adjustments (e.b Adobe Bridge).
And have installed and reinstalled quite a few times (!) over the years. You shouldn't have any issues.
Installing/reinstalling won't alter/delete your LR catalogue, but it may create a new one.
If you have not set up LR to save changes to the image metadata, then when you create a new LR catalogue and re-import all your images, then the LR changes you made in your original catalogue wont show up in your new Catalogue.
But you shouldn't have to reinstall to change your folder structure, but it 'could' be a pain-in-the-**** if you have to re-point your LR catalogue to lots of new locations (it usually does a good job once you point LR to the top level folder location).
Drag and drop does work within LR, but I'd be very cautious about moving lots of folders around within LR - be careful.
To add: If LR can't find the folder location, then the folder still shows up, but with a ? next to it. Thumbnails will also show up in Grid Mode - LR stores image previews.
Post edited at 14:58
In reply to ChrisJD:
Thank you for giving the advice.It seems that from reading your reply and also the link from rallymania(Thank you too) that to get rid of the catalogue I will need to drag and drop it to the recycling bin.So that is what I intend to do as I have no real amount of work to worry about so far.
My aim is to have no sign of Lightroom on my computer and then start totally from the beginning again.
I suppose that I have been too long in moving over to digital post shutter processing.I have had a digital camera for about twelve years,but always went with the old idea of trying to get the very best picture by using the light in the right way, composing the image and cropping by using the zoom lens to some extent.So I have in the most part been happy with my images.
Now I realise that I can gain so much more by using the software that is available.I have up to now been put off by the unfamiliar nature of that software,but now intend to press on with the learning.My main obstacle will be work and lack of free time.
Thank you for giving the advice.It seems that from reading your reply and also the link from rallymania(Thank you too) that to get rid of the catalogue I will need to drag and drop it to the recycling bin.So that is what I intend to do as I have no real amount of work to worry about so far.
My aim is to have no sign of Lightroom on my computer and then start totally from the beginning again.
I suppose that I have been too long in moving over to digital post shutter processing.I have had a digital camera for about twelve years,but always went with the old idea of trying to get the very best picture by using the light in the right way, composing the image and cropping by using the zoom lens to some extent.So I have in the most part been happy with my images.
Now I realise that I can gain so much more by using the software that is available.I have up to now been put off by the unfamiliar nature of that software,but now intend to press on with the learning.My main obstacle will be work and lack of free time.
In reply to veteye:
Do this - no problem.
There really is no need to do this.
Just reorganise your folders as you want using Windows file exloprer (or MAc equivalent).
When you are happy with general structure, just open LR and create a new catalogue and them import. Point to the highest level Folder with Images in it and let LR do its thing.
> to get rid of the catalogue I will need to drag and drop it to the recycling bin.So that is what I intend to do as I have no real amount of work to worry about so far.
Do this - no problem.
> My aim is to have no sign of Lightroom on my computer and then start totally from the beginning again.
There really is no need to do this.
Just reorganise your folders as you want using Windows file exloprer (or MAc equivalent).
When you are happy with general structure, just open LR and create a new catalogue and them import. Point to the highest level Folder with Images in it and let LR do its thing.
In reply to ChrisJD:
I have just reread the above.It would appear that I ought to have my photographs on one drive, my OS on a separate drive and the catalogue on a third drive.Maybe it is my time to misunderstand.Are you saying that I should have two external hard drives connected to my computer?
I have another Mac computer which I intend having as a backup machine for photographs perhaps I could link that with my PC laptop physically.I have considered having the LR software on that computer,but it currently does not have all of my photographs on it(although that is the intent).
I do not hark back to the old days,but it certainly was more straight forward sending a film off and waiting for the slides to come back.(and by the way I have not even started to consider scanning all those slides!)
> The recommend approach is to have your catalogue on a separate drive to your images and to your OS (mine resides on its own SSD), and don't put images on your OS drive: these approaches help to make LR work faster (supposedly)
I have just reread the above.It would appear that I ought to have my photographs on one drive, my OS on a separate drive and the catalogue on a third drive.Maybe it is my time to misunderstand.Are you saying that I should have two external hard drives connected to my computer?
I have another Mac computer which I intend having as a backup machine for photographs perhaps I could link that with my PC laptop physically.I have considered having the LR software on that computer,but it currently does not have all of my photographs on it(although that is the intent).
I do not hark back to the old days,but it certainly was more straight forward sending a film off and waiting for the slides to come back.(and by the way I have not even started to consider scanning all those slides!)
In reply to veteye:
These are optimum settings for getting the best out of LR based on using fast drives - you don't have to follow this, most people don't.
But if you are building a machine from scratch or have a desktop pc/mac with spare drive bays, it's a way to go if you have time/money/inclination/can-be-bothered....
These are optimum settings for getting the best out of LR based on using fast drives - you don't have to follow this, most people don't.
But if you are building a machine from scratch or have a desktop pc/mac with spare drive bays, it's a way to go if you have time/money/inclination/can-be-bothered....
In reply to veteye:
Don't get hung up on which drives things are on. As ChrisJD has pointed out, this is largely to do with optimising performance. It can make life easier to partition your drive so that your files and your OS are separate, but unless that already makes sense to you I wouldn't worry about it.
The key thing is to move your files around so that they are in a structure you like. Having all your photos under one master folder is a great idea. That way, if you move your photos (ie use a sync program or similar to back up or archive your entire collection, without involving LR in that process), Lightroom will raise a query saying it can't find your files. You then just point it at the new master folder and it should then work its way through the whole thing and reconnect everything without you having to deal with each photo or folder individually.
If you've really messed up your file structure and want to sort it out outside LR, you can simply do the file sorting, then create a new catalogue containing your photos in their new homes. You can then just use the new catalogue and delete the old one. You don't need to eradicate LR.
Catalogues are temporary things that you can kill and edit; LR can cope with it. Pros might have dozens of catalogues for different aspects of their work, and they will load them individually so that LR presents a different 'universe' as chosen. Don't think about the catalogue as being LR's single fixed state of being - a catalogue is just an index and LR can switch between them.
Don't get hung up on which drives things are on. As ChrisJD has pointed out, this is largely to do with optimising performance. It can make life easier to partition your drive so that your files and your OS are separate, but unless that already makes sense to you I wouldn't worry about it.
The key thing is to move your files around so that they are in a structure you like. Having all your photos under one master folder is a great idea. That way, if you move your photos (ie use a sync program or similar to back up or archive your entire collection, without involving LR in that process), Lightroom will raise a query saying it can't find your files. You then just point it at the new master folder and it should then work its way through the whole thing and reconnect everything without you having to deal with each photo or folder individually.
If you've really messed up your file structure and want to sort it out outside LR, you can simply do the file sorting, then create a new catalogue containing your photos in their new homes. You can then just use the new catalogue and delete the old one. You don't need to eradicate LR.
Catalogues are temporary things that you can kill and edit; LR can cope with it. Pros might have dozens of catalogues for different aspects of their work, and they will load them individually so that LR presents a different 'universe' as chosen. Don't think about the catalogue as being LR's single fixed state of being - a catalogue is just an index and LR can switch between them.
In reply to hamsforlegs:
These are good point for newcomers to recognise - just bear in mind what I said about metadata options - image adjustments won't be recognised between catalogues unless you tell LR to do so.
> Catalogues are temporary things that you can kill and edit; LR can cope with it. Pros might have dozens of catalogues for different aspects of their work, and they will load them individually so that LR presents a different 'universe' as chosen. Don't think about the catalogue as being LR's single fixed state of being - a catalogue is just an index and LR can switch between them.
These are good point for newcomers to recognise - just bear in mind what I said about metadata options - image adjustments won't be recognised between catalogues unless you tell LR to do so.
In reply to ChrisJD+Hamsforlegs:
Sorry for the gap imbetween,but I went for a run then saw the additions.Since then I have been thinking about these things.
It seems that it would be a good idea to have the photos on an external hard drive and that brings in another thought I have had.I think that the formatting of an external HD may mean that it can be read by PC or by Mac,but possibly not both.Since I was thinking of moving things over to my Mac machine it may be that I need to wait until I have bought a Mac specified external HD as I suspect reformatting is likely to be a difficult process.
I suppose the best of both worlds would be a hard drive that communicates w PC and w Mac.Then I might need a catalogue which was different on each computer,or perhaps I could have an exact copy on each machine.
I haven't quite figured out the metadata idea yet as I thought that that was about keywords and the lens settings and things like copyright.That may not be an issue in the beginning anyway as I may well just have one catalogue.
Thank you all by the way.
Rob
Sorry for the gap imbetween,but I went for a run then saw the additions.Since then I have been thinking about these things.
It seems that it would be a good idea to have the photos on an external hard drive and that brings in another thought I have had.I think that the formatting of an external HD may mean that it can be read by PC or by Mac,but possibly not both.Since I was thinking of moving things over to my Mac machine it may be that I need to wait until I have bought a Mac specified external HD as I suspect reformatting is likely to be a difficult process.
I suppose the best of both worlds would be a hard drive that communicates w PC and w Mac.Then I might need a catalogue which was different on each computer,or perhaps I could have an exact copy on each machine.
I haven't quite figured out the metadata idea yet as I thought that that was about keywords and the lens settings and things like copyright.That may not be an issue in the beginning anyway as I may well just have one catalogue.
Thank you all by the way.
Rob
In reply to veteye:
before you go too far can i make a suggestion?
can i make a suggestion? get yourself a good lightroom tutorial book and work through that before you go too much further...
i use adobe brdige / photoshop which is very similar to lightroom, and i have to admit i didn't have a clue what i was doing untill i read a proper "manual" (i bought a book by scott kelby... others are available) it saved me a massive amount of time and effort and if you are unsure what you are doing then it'll help massively!
before you go too far can i make a suggestion?
can i make a suggestion? get yourself a good lightroom tutorial book and work through that before you go too much further...
i use adobe brdige / photoshop which is very similar to lightroom, and i have to admit i didn't have a clue what i was doing untill i read a proper "manual" (i bought a book by scott kelby... others are available) it saved me a massive amount of time and effort and if you are unsure what you are doing then it'll help massively!
In reply to rallymania:
Actually it was a book by Scott Kelby which said to have a large folder with others inside it for ease of transferring things later.
Actually it was a book by Scott Kelby which said to have a large folder with others inside it for ease of transferring things later.
In reply to veteye:
You could format the disc to FAT32. Your LR license will cover use on both machines in whichever format - LR can read the raw files as well as the catalogue from both versions.
Try to get the fastest possible connection from your HDD to your machines; if you flick between lots of photos for processing, LR will get laggy if it has to pull the raw data through a slow connection. Apparently it's much quicker if you keep your catalogue on your hard disc, so look at syncing this across your various machines and storage.
To be honest, I would think having the catalogue and photos on an external disc would be fine for normal non-pro use, assuming all your kit is of a reasonable spec.
You could format the disc to FAT32. Your LR license will cover use on both machines in whichever format - LR can read the raw files as well as the catalogue from both versions.
Try to get the fastest possible connection from your HDD to your machines; if you flick between lots of photos for processing, LR will get laggy if it has to pull the raw data through a slow connection. Apparently it's much quicker if you keep your catalogue on your hard disc, so look at syncing this across your various machines and storage.
To be honest, I would think having the catalogue and photos on an external disc would be fine for normal non-pro use, assuming all your kit is of a reasonable spec.
In reply to hamsforlegs:
Not being that au fait with the workings of Apple Macs I have been wondering how you format an external hard drive for use with them.Is it just a question of connecting one up with the Apple Mac and it telling you that it needs formatting and that it will do it.
I suppose that I am best getting an SSD external HDD which do not seem to come with that much capacity compared to more conventional HDDs.
"Apparently it's much quicker if you keep your catalogue on your hard disc"
Are you talking about having the catalogue on the external hard drive?(Not the internal hard drive).Sorry for pedantry,but I might as well try to get it right.
Not being that au fait with the workings of Apple Macs I have been wondering how you format an external hard drive for use with them.Is it just a question of connecting one up with the Apple Mac and it telling you that it needs formatting and that it will do it.
I suppose that I am best getting an SSD external HDD which do not seem to come with that much capacity compared to more conventional HDDs.
"Apparently it's much quicker if you keep your catalogue on your hard disc"
Are you talking about having the catalogue on the external hard drive?(Not the internal hard drive).Sorry for pedantry,but I might as well try to get it right.
In reply to veteye:
I'm not experienced with Macs so can't advice on formatting, but on Windows you can use the disc utility to format the drive. I just know that FAT32 can be read by both.
I meant to keep the catalogue on your internal hard drive (ideally the fastest drive possible, and ideally not the one used for general storage). This should speed up processing as LR can look at the catalogue very quickly, but again I think this is a 'nice to have', and would mean that you would have to either back up the catalogue via a sync program to have a copy on the external HDD,or at least do as discussed above by setting LR to record the processing metadata into the raw file.
I'm not experienced with Macs so can't advice on formatting, but on Windows you can use the disc utility to format the drive. I just know that FAT32 can be read by both.
I meant to keep the catalogue on your internal hard drive (ideally the fastest drive possible, and ideally not the one used for general storage). This should speed up processing as LR can look at the catalogue very quickly, but again I think this is a 'nice to have', and would mean that you would have to either back up the catalogue via a sync program to have a copy on the external HDD,or at least do as discussed above by setting LR to record the processing metadata into the raw file.
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