How to edit Lightroom files sent from someone else?

[Brand000n]

I've been looking around for photo editing jobs and one company finally offered to give me a sample test to see how I edit. However, I have no idea how to get the files the guy sent me from the folder to Lightroom.

Last week I actually figured out how to get the files (or just the previews, I dunno for sure) into Lightroom. I edited all 35 of these images, and tried to send them back to the guy. Afterwards I had the images selected and went to 'file' > 'new catalog' to try to put them into a new catalog send them. When I did this though, it closed Lightroom and opened up a completely new (and empty!) catalog. I'm not sure exactly what I did and if that means I lost the edits I did on those photos, but that appears to be the case.

Now I'm trying to get back to the point where I can open up those same files but I can't even figure that out. Help please - I'm so frustrated with this!

 

[The_Traveler]

They are where you put them before.
File>new catalkog opens up a new, empty catalog.
Just open up your original catalog, select all the edited filed and then export as catalog and follow screen prompts.

 

[Dave442]

I would suggest spending some more time with LR before taking on an order. Do a dry run by sending yourself some photos, import them and then export and send them back to yourself.

You want to make all of this as automatic as possible. Set up an Export Preset if you want to send the edited files. Or do an Export as Catalog as noted above if you want to send the customer your Catalog with adjustments you made to their photos so they can work on them in LR. I don't think they would want to continue working on the photos in LR or they wouldn't have hired you. So they would probably want Exported photos in JPG or Tiff format. If JPG then need to know if they just want sJPG for web or one of the wider color-space JPG options.

Did you make up a contract that lays out what they want and you are providing?

To get back to the photos you need to reopen the Catalog that you imported these into originally. Or make a new Catalog and Import and edit the photos all over again (I don't think you want to do this). Usually you can just go to File, Open Recent and LR will show the most recent Catalogs you have used and you can pick the one you first Imported these photos into. LR will always close and then restart when you change the Catalog.

 

[Brand000n]

They are where you put them before.
File>new catalkog opens up a new, empty catalog.
Just open up your original catalog, select all the edited filed and then export as catalog and follow screen prompts.

View attachment 124847

Thank you! This helped haha. I was trying this before but was getting confused in the process because you have to name the export catalog when you're saving it.

 

[Brand000n]

Did you make up a contract that lays out what they want and you are providing?

No contract yet at least. It's an established wedding retouching service, so I would just be going by their contract or hourly rate. Just waiting to hear back about this test I just sent.

I'm pretty experienced in the technical side of editing photos in Lightroom, just not the "computery"-type stuff. I know I should be better at it but it annoys me and I don't have the patience to learn about all the file types and what not :/. I kind of just learn the bare minimum and then forget most of it.