Help Requested: Need to Select Photos from Multiple Folders for Project

[sm4him]

I know you probably have already checked out several videos. Try these if you haven't already. Lightroom Tutorials by Julieanne Kost

Thanks, Jaca. Yeah, I actually have a very good instructional video on using LR, I think it's from Scott Kelby, I don't remember. I got all gungho back at the first of the year about learning it (I've had the program for very nearly two years now...), started the videos...and then got distracted by other things to do.

That's really the problem; I need to sit down and experiment and LEARN it when I'm not NEEDING it to get something done. But that just never seems to happen, so then when I need it and know it could be really useful--I also know it's not really setup yet and I don't have time then to learn how to do it. Going to have to be one of those things I just finally decide to make the time to learn. But I'm not used to finding software that I can't just learn intuitively.

I know the feeling. Every time I watch and learn something in PS, I don't use it enough (mostly because I don't have to having LR) so I lose it.

If you dive in now, you will wonder why you did not dive in earlier. In my very best opinion, LR is fantastic; probably more for file management than it is for processing. Many if not most will use it for 90% or more of what they need regularly before needing to open PS.

File management is definitely what I need, and that's the ONLY reason I persist in trying to learn LR. I have GOT to get some organization to this ridiculous digital pile of photos. Especially for work, where we are constantly needing "that picture of the trolley in front of the TN Theatre; you know, the one you took a few years ago" and then I've got to start hunting through folders, year by year, month by month, trying to find THAT photo. And wishing I knew how to use LR. And wishing I'd already entered keywords for the giant digital mountain of photos.

 

[astroNikon]

I'm sure there's better ways of doing it ...
but I broke things down into
- Categories
- the folder were dates + event

Then as time went on and my collection list grew
I then had
- Category (example: Planets)
- year + Sub Category ( 2015_Moon)
- then the event which was Date + Subject (not shown)

 

[astroNikon]

When I started learning about Collections
I simply searched YouTube and regular tutorials specifically about Collections

such as:
8 Important Things to know about Lightroom Collections - Digital Photography School

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Help Work with photo collections

Lightroom 5 - Creating Custom Collections of Images Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Adobe TV

 

[Dave442]

Put some time into it and it will pay off.

Try doing some tests on a small catalog that you can mess up and play around with before doing things with your main catalog.

I just have all folders by date and then use collections.
Will often use the Library Filter to find something if I don't know the date.

Also in the right hand pane while in Library mode you can search for many of the items just by clicking on the small right arrow. Also in this pane you can find the list of all the keywords you have used and search by any of those (by clicking on the arrow that will appear when you hover over the keyword).

 

[Raj_55555]

Why import all these pictures, just to export them again?

You import either Raw or Jpeg (or any other format), and then export them after retouching them to your desired settings. For example, if you export your office images to Jpg, and prefer to keep the size shorter than 1 MB, with a specific naming format and specific image resolution and a specific watermark etc, all you need to do is go to Export, create a user preset with the above settings, save it and use it the next time you need to edit any of your office images.
Do the same for your non-office works, and now you have two presets and will save you a couple of minutes everytime you retouch an image. On top of that you can directly send emails, or burn them to disc from LR. I simply can't live without this feature, in fact I have one for every type of signature I can think of!

Summary: Import unprocessed files, and export (or save) the finished product.

And when do I use Develop and when do I "export"?

Library mode will only give you the basic editing options. When you move to Develop mode, you can crop, apply graduated filters or use adjustment brushes on your image. You will notice sliders in place of buttons that were there in library mode. You can adjust just about anything here, including individual colours, their hue, saturation and luminance. You don't need to touch Photoshop in most of the cases unless you're adding or removing something from the image, in which case you just right click the image and do "Edit in Photoshop". Remember that LR is non-destructive in it's approach, so any photograph that you edit here is actually never touched (unlike in photoshop) but the software remembers your edits and stores that info in a separate place. That way you can always fall back to your original image in case of any problems.

And how in the blue blazes do I find the stupid photos that I keyworded already?

Go to Library mode -> and press ctrl+F or Library in the menu and press Find. Set the text field to Keywords, and then enter the keyword. You can also search by date, title, folder name and so on.

TBH, I can live without Photoshop, but it'll be a nightmare without LR. I hope this helped, I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually!

 

[sm4him]

Thanks very much, @Raj_55555, @astroNikon @JacaRanda and @Dave442. I do need to spend more time with it, I just never seem to have that time to experiment with it.

I did finally get it to at least bring up the photos I'd selected previously, so maybe if I get some down time after this project, I'll try to starting really learning it again.

 

[astroNikon]

FWIW, I had to spend some time with youtube videos, etc just to understand the basics. After the basics then everything else just kinda fell into place. So give yourself some "bootcamp" time to learn LR. It will make it a lot easier.