Confused on LR3 Processing.

[jwbryson1]

I have a question on the processing of LR3. I am able to connect my SD card reader to my USB port and import photos to LR3, but I am confused on where to "save" the imported images. I thought I was supposed to create a new "catalog" of photos, pick out the ones I liked, create a new "collection" of photos and then drag and drop from the catalog to the collection.

This worked fine until just recently. The other day I got an error message that LR3 could not find the photos. This only happened when the SD card reader was no longer plugged into the USB port.

I thought when I saved the photos in a "collection" that I could unplug the SD card reader and still have access to the photos, but that's not what's happening now.

Can somebody tell me what I am missing?

Thanks.

 

[KmH]

You don't yet understand the basics of how Lightroom works. Since Lightroom is a database manager and not a browser, it doesn't work like most computer users are used to.

No photos get stored in Lightroom. Lightroom only knows the path to the folder on your computer where the photos are. If that folder is on the SD card, and the SD card isn't attached to the computer, Lightroom isn't going to be able to find them.

All your photos should be in a single catalog, that is then divided into 'collections'. One of Lightroom's big limitations is it can only open 1 catalog at a time.

Any folder renaming, or file moving has to be done in Lightroom's Library module so that Lightroom knows the path has been changed.

With the Lighroom Develope module open, press the F1 key. That will take you to Photoshop Lightroom Help and Support

There you will find a link to a plethora of help topics and resources including this video: George Jardine on Lightroom - The Lightroom Catalog | Adobe TV

 

[jwbryson1]

You don't yet understand the basics of how Lightroom works.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/george-jardine-on-lightroom/the-lightroom-catalog/

Yes, and no. I have read a lot about it and I do understand that images are not actually stored in LR3. I have just spent more time learning how to revise images than I have learning about the process of importing and storing images.

Thanks for the links.

 

[Big Mike]

You still need to (should have) have a file structure in place for your image files. For example, most of my photos go into one of three folders; personal, photos shoots or weddings. Inside either of those folders, there are folders to sort the images by date and/or job. When I upload a new set of photos, they go into a new folder in the appropriate section.

My preference is to upload them first, then import into LR. You can use LR to upload, just be aware of where you are copying the files to.

A key thing to take note of...if you are going to move your image files, after they have been imported into LR, you must move them from within LR. If you just move the files, outside of LR, it will break the link (where LR things the files are)....and that's when you will get the error message that LR can't find the photos.