My Lightroom 4 Work Flow | Import
Posted by Katrina Kennedy on Apr 11, 2012 in Blog, Lightroom, Photography | 22 comments
I did it.
I upgraded to Lightroom 4.
I’ve been a Lightroom user since the beginning so I always have a mixed feeling of excitement and hesitance with a new version. So far, I’m excited about the changes in LR4.
Over the next few weeks I’ll walk you through my work flow using Lightroom 4. I’ll share how I use the modules from Import to Web. I’ll share the shortcuts I use most often and link you to several of my go to resources.
Will I cover everything about Lightroom? Nope.
Will I cover everything I use in Lightroom? That is my goal!
Along the way I’ll share what I learn in LR4 compared to LR3.
Follow along. Ask questions. Share with me how your workflow differs! I always love learning tricks and tidbits to improve my own process.
I’m a mac user but will show the windows shortcuts too. Mac shortcuts will be listed first, Windows separate.
So let’s get started. Are you ready?
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CREATING A CATALOG
- Open Lightroom.
- When you open Lightroom the first time it will prompt you to update your catalogs or create a new catalog if this is your first time using Lightroom.
- I have an existing catalog for my 2012 photos named 2012Katrina. I select upgrade. I create a new catalog each year. There are many different ways to go about cataloging. This works for me.
- LR upgrades my catalog, creating a new catalog named 2012Katrina-2.
- Once the catalog is updated or created we can begin the real fun!
IMPORT
- I attach my card reader to my computer. This is the fastest, easiest way for me to do my imports. I love that it doesn’t drain my camera battery.
- If Lightroom is open the Import Menu will automatically open. Nice, slick, easy.
- If you need to open the import menu, select File/Import (Cmd Shift I / Cntrl Shift I)
Click on the image to see a larger view of my selections. I’ll walk you through the important ones.
Now we’ll move to the particulars I’ve selected.
I find working left to right, top to bottom gives me the easiest work flow. That’s the path I’ll share.
In the middle of the window I select what I want LR to do with my photos. Select Copy. This is what I do, you might want to select Copy as DNG. This creates a nonproprietary version of your RAW files that can be read in any program, unlike the camera specific RAW file types. I don’t. I’ll share my flawed reasoning another post.
At the right hand top I select my photo destination. Files aren’t kept “in” Lightroom. They are kept wherever I select. Mine go to my external hard drive named 3TB External Drive (Yes, I know, original!) If you want to change the destination, click on the right hand destination and your other options will show up.
File Handling
Check Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates.
This is also the spot you can create a back up copy on import. I don’t. Again, I’ll explain my reasons in that other post.
File Renaming
I don’t check Rename Files, but this is a personal preference as well. You might want to rename them. I find the image name is the easiest way to search, be consistent, and keep things clean. If you are taking part in 365, you may want to consider renaming with the date. I name my selected 365 by date in another step that I’ll cover in another post.
Apply During Import
Time to begin my keywords. For this import all of my photos will be key worded “garden.” This step applies my keyword to every photo on this import. I’ll do more selective key wording after import.
Destination
I consider Destination a double check.
Date Format I select Organize By Date. I select the 2012/2012-04-10 format. This creates a folder for each day of the year inside a folder for the year. I like that I can quickly find any day of my project 365 year.
I scroll down to double check that I see a check next to the year folder and further down to find a check next to the day folder. A new folder is created for each day of photos on my card.
I then select Import.
After selecting Import the Library module opens and I see a progress bar in the left hand corner of the window. I typically walk away as photos are imported. It’s a big treat to return to my computer and see everything in the Library.
Now I’m ready to keyword my photos in the Library Module and edit them in the Develop Module. We’ll cover the Library in next week’s post.
Share your process or questions about mine in the comments below.
Helpful Resources:
Keyboard Shortcuts | Lightroom Queen
I am just beginning to use LR. I had thought I would put all images in a single catalog. You say that you set up a new catalog each year. When you search for things based on tags, do you get the choice of multiple catalogs or is it one catalog at a time?
Thanks.
Elaine, you are in for a lot of fun! When I use my keywords to search I am only able to search one catalog at a time. It may work for you to keep multiple years in one catalog. I take approximately 20,000 photos per year and have found that LR works much faster when I limit my catalogs this way.
I love LR4, too Katrina! Nice improvements. I am pretty comfortable in the new version, but I look forward to following along with your tips. I always gain a new idea or two from you! : )
Looking forward to your Lightroom posts, thank you for sharing.
I am really looking forward to learning Lightroom. Thanks for this post.
Would you save a jpeg photo as a DNG?
I wouldn’t save jpegs as DNG Jeannie. They are readable in all programs, so need for the extra step of security.
To make my catalogs easier to manage, I create a new one based on folders (for each month) or project/month. I have lots of photos that don’t get included in my 365, and those are in separate folder locations on my hard drive, and get their own catalogs.
I don’t take enough advantage of import options. I’m intrigued by what you do, but can’t see the images. Is it me, or are they really “broken” on this page?
Many ways to go about it! I think it is important to do what works best for each of us. I LOVE smart collections for my 365 and I’ll explain those in one of my next posts.
I’m showing the images and I’ve checked on a few different computers.
Anyone else unable to see the images?
I can’t see them. I’m using firefox … I thought it might be my browser? I was going to check on my desktop (which has google chrome on it) when I got a chance but haven’t yet.
I swapped them all out Kim so they should be viewable now!
Thanks Katrina!. I can see the images.
I haven’t gone through this post step by step yet, but I am thrilled!! I have LR 3 and I am so new to it. Hopefully I will learn how to use it!! Thank you for sharing!!!!!
I may be jumping ahead. My import process is the same. In the catalog, my photos are divided into two subsets: the group of images that are tagged and rated and the group awaiting tagging and rating.
Tagging and rating are important to me as is doing these tasks correctly. My photos are imported by date into the non-tagged group. Despite tagging on import, my tags are very specific and can not be done when having the photos grouped as a whole.
I try to complete the tagging process on uploading but I usually don’t have time for this. By having the two separate groups, there is no question for me which ones still need work.
We’re covering tagging next week
You are eager!
You can also create a smart collection for everything untagged to make it even easier Kathleen. I’ll cover Smart Collections in a future post.
Backing up one step….did you need to do anything special BEFORE you loaded LR4? I have LR3 and haven’t upgraded yet as I heard there were some glitches in LR4 – the LR4 box is sitting on my table. They may have completed some fixes in the LR4.1 beta release. Before I actually stick the LR4 disk in the compy do I need to do anything with my LR3 catalogs? I do have Time Machine running and it is current. I’m new to LR3 as well so will be following along. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Joan, that’s a great point!
I back up with Time Machine so I knew everything was safe before I installed LR4. Always a good idea to know that.
There was an update that I installed after uploading LR4, but otherwise, it all worked smoothly.
I love the way it updated my existing catalog. You are also given a choice with existing photos to update them with the LR4 or use the LR3 edits. I’ll cover that more in next week’s post.
I have LR3, it’s great.I am hesitant to upgrade. Will my presets work n LR4? Will my photos with presets applied in 3 show up the same in 4? My workflow is different. I download to my external and date & folder & file number them in monthly sequential order. Then I add to my LR catalogue with keywords like 365, iphone, ©2012 etc. I look forward to your posts on LR4. Thanks!
Hi Anita,
Your presets will work but may look slightly different since the develop module has changed a bit in LR4.
The great thing about updating is that you are given a choice with existing photos. You can keep their LR3 edits or update photos individually or as a catalog.
I am terrible at always wanting to have the latest updates, newest phone, etc. :0) My debate is whether or not the LR4 upgrade is worth it.
LR is my “go to” program. I use it the most out of all the software I own – which justifies the upgrade … but then, I think why change it when it works for you.
Thoughts?
Im glad to be following along with this. I’ve been hesitant about upgrading from 3.
Hi Katrina,
I am so thrilled to have come across this series of posts about LR! I did a search on your name after hearing you on some scrapbooking podcasts.
I just started using LR4 (my free trial period ends tomorrow, I think! and my full version arrived in the mail today, yippee!!) after hearing glowing reviews of it on the Digi Show and other scrapbook/photo blogs.
I have sort of a long and specific question. I hope that it is okay to ask it here in the comments!
I was previously using the PSE7 organizer for keeping track of my photos, and when I installed the LR4 trial, it asked if I wanted to upgrade/convert (can’t remember the exact terminology) the PSE catalog. I selected yes, which has been great in some respects (all of my albums from PSE were converted to collections). But I am super-confused about how it imported the folders. After watching some videos on the Adobe site, I was under the impression that the Folders section reflected the folder structure on my hard drive, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for me… Do you think I have done something wrong? I am wondering if I should have started from scratch, rather than basing my LR catalog on the PSE catalog.
I hope that this question makes sense (as a brand spankin’ new user to LR, I might not be properly phrasing things…). Any advice you can give me is *greatly* appreciated, or if you can direct me to another source to find an answer, that would be fantastic!
Thank you so much!! I am looking forward to working through the rest of your series of posts about Lightroom!