Lightroom Forums - Workflow Discussion

Lost megapixels

Markh — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:15:38 GMT

Editing a photo looses megapixels. Does deleting editing bring me back the original number of megapixels?

Help With Workflow

W Thorne — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:59:37 GMT

I'm new to Lightroom and need some help with the best way to load and work on images. I shoot sports and events and all pretty much in Raw format. I've always shot Nikon so when I went digital I stuck with them and I've always used Capture NX2 to process my images. Up until now I've always preferred the job NX2 did over most other brands. I also have CS5 but rarely use it mainly due to NX2 did a better job faster in Raw processing (only my opinion). Was not crazy about Photoshop going to the cloud so needed a backup to NX2. I've heard a lot about Lightroom so thought I would give it a try. Downloaded the Beta and used it for almost a month. Well in my opinion Adobe has caught up to NX2 in their processing and Lightroom5 has become my main processor. I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with Lightroom5 and it also offers more options then NX2. Purchased Lightrom5 when it became available last Monday. While using the Beta I spent a good amount of time watching Lightroom tutorials and feel I have a pretty good idea on how to use it. However I have run across a problem with my workflow and that is where I need some help.

In the past when I shot a job I would download the images to my laptop and process them there. Lets say I shot a 1000 images and selected 200 to process. One folder would be labeled with the name of job with NEF at the end. I would process the images into a second folder with the same name but with JPEG at the end. A few days after I was finished I would go through the remaining files and delete all the bad ones. Then I would load all these images (with NEF and JPEG folders) onto an external drive and a backup drive then delete off my laptop. Usually my laptop would have the most current 2-3 jobs.

I like the fact that I can process my images in Lightroom5 and really don't need to keep a JPEG folder. However, tonight when transferring my images off my laptop onto the external drive for some reason I was not able to keep the selected NEF images like they were processed. I could not tie them to a folder on my external drive and lost the processed NEF files (probably a rookie mistake). I ended up importing the unprocessed NEF images and the JPEG folder to my external drive like I have done in the past.

How can I process my NEF images and keep the processing? Can this be done like before as I've described above or do I need to first load the NEF images onto the external drive and process them on that drive?

Thanks for your help and sorry for being a little long winded.

Wilf

Does dual monitor support require 2 calibrated monitors?

philmar — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:52:26 GMT

I just upgraded to LR4 last month as I recently upgraded my PC ( I may upgrade to LR5 soon). I used a single NEC WGX2 monitor which is calibrated with a Spyder2Pro. I like the idea of increased screen real estate and am interested in using a 2nd monitor. I have a 6 year old Dell monitor which is also an IPS screen.
Do both screens have to be calibrated? can I just use my main screen (the calibrated NEC) for the adjustments and just use the 2nd monitor for the slider pallet?

I am not sure if I can calibrate both monitors with spyder2pro. I also don't have a video card. I use the onboard graphics of the i7 3770K CPU which is adequate for a single monitor. My mobo has dual monitor outputs.

Will going to dual monitors on my current setup just introduce a slew of processing limitations or colour management issues?

Recommendations for uncertain LR5 installation?

turnstyle — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:39:31 GMT

Hi all,

I recently installed the LR5 trial, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready to make the switch -- there are several pesky little annoyances that make it hard for me to decide.

When I installed LR5, it copied my LR4 catalog. It also deleted all the LR4 previews, which seemed a bit odd.

Anyhow, my question -- if I want to import some new photos, is this right:

1) insert SD card

2) launch LR4, import them

3) quit LR4, launch LR5, import them again

See what I mean? What is the "right" way to continue working?

Thanks kindly for any suggestions!

Renaming Images

jwajwa — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:01:05 GMT

Hi

I now use two cameras set to the same time on a shoot. I can get the images in the right order when using Lightroom but I also want the images to have the corresponding (time order in other words) images names (so when I save in Photoshop later I can simply save without needing to rename at this stage and the images will save in the order taken).

I thought the solution to this would be rename all the images once they are loaded into Lightroom but for some reason it keeps the image name corresponding to the original file names (if that makes any sense) so when I save the order reverts to the original file name and leaves me with a file of wrong time order images. Any help appreciated. Thank you...

John

Applying lens correction upon import for all images

camner — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:41:39 GMT

If I understand the purpose of lens correction correctly, it has to do with the fact that all lenses inherently distort to some degree or another and that the nature of the distortion is a characteristic of a given lens. So, it seems to me to make sense to apply a profile correction to all images upon import or at least before doing any other processing.

However, I'm certain that I don't know enough about this to know if I'm right with this conclusion.

So, two questions:

Are there circumstances when one would NOT want a lens profile correction applied?
What about chromatic aberration? Is that, too, inherent in a given lens and so that should also be applied to all images upon import or before further processing?

render out flat?

russellsnr — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:30:01 GMT

Hi, I think I no what render out flat means in lightroom, put everything to zero in a RAW image, can someone just confirm this for me please also if I straighten out the curve on a RAW image will I have the same result as going zero?
Many Thanks
Russ

Capture time sort incorrect

someothername — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 15:02:16 GMT

I sorted by capture time and discovered that an image with a capture time date/time of 12:03:51 PM is listed before one with same date 12:06:15 AM. This is not correct and is causing me a lot of problems organizing shoots that include images and video captured after midnight. Particularly when the event continues the next day and there are few enough images that I want them all in one project.
Also, though I can display the capture time in the loupe info area, I couldn't find it in the metadata panel; I went through all the choices in the drop down. Perhaps I'm simply not seeing it?

Worth waiting for LR5 before starting with large Develop project?

camner — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 04:26:29 GMT

I put this question in the Workflow area because it has more to do with process than the feature set or questions about LR5 functionality.

As I am a relative newcomer to LR, I have been limiting myself to (partially?) mastering the Library before going on to Develop, and I have a collection of about 1000 RAW images that will need to be processed by Develop.

My camera is a Canon G15, and there is no lens profile available in LR4, but ACR 8.1beta DOES contain a lens profile for the camera, so presumably LR5 will also.

My question is this: It seems to me that I have three possible approaches...

Start processing the images in LR4 and not worry about LR5 being somewhat different and also having a G15 lens profile.
Use LR5 beta to start the develop processing, and then get LR5 when it finally is released
Wait until the official release of LR5 before starting my Develop module work.

Any words to the wise out there?

second monitor and tagging

ovca — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:20:36 GMT

Hi

I'm new to lightroom (as in using it for a day to day workflow), i have two monitors one as my primary (in front of me, calibrated) and another one at an angle to my right (not calibrated). I like using the right one in grid view and the one in front of me in lupe view.
I have noticed however that tagging or keywording multiple selected images in grid mode on my secondary window does not work (the same as on my primary window). It will only apply keyword or flag to first selected photo. And it gets even weirder, if i try to flag a photo with a shortcut it works on the first selected only, however if i click on little flag (in the grid) next to any of the thumbnail it will automatically flag all of them. It's the same with rating and color. Keywording works with drag and drop.
So i do a lot of klicking.

My question is, is this a bug or am i doing something wrong, it really bugs me not being able to use shortcuts the same way on both monitors.

Thanks

Oh yes i have imac, 10.8.4

I can undo the last action, but not the top history step of an image!, Why ?

lancelot59 — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:50:01 GMT

I do appreciate the workflow Lightroom has, but not when it's preventing me to "edit" the actions I performed on a specific image.
If it's possible to delete all of the history items of a specific image, why is it not possible to specifically delete the top step, or
the top steps one by one, even if I edited this in the past ?
All recorded steps can be selected, as being the "active" image, so a simple delete of the last action and selecting/displaying the
previous step's image should be possible as well.
While undoing actions (using Ctrl-Z) we are able to remove the last action on an image, but only by first undoing ALL actions we
might have done on other images inbetween...

Can anyone explain to me why that isn't possible, supply me with a workaround, or feel free to complain about this with me...

Thanks.

RAW + jpg...

Resoman — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 19:16:59 GMT

I normally shoot only RAW but I'm awaiting a new camera which might induce me to start shooting jpg (so that I can view and shoot different aspect ratios). I wanted to familiarize myself with the different Develop options in LR4 when using jpg, so I just shot a test using RAW + jpg. I've imported it but only see the RAW file, and I can't remember what I need to do to access the jpg. Could someone please remind me?
Thanks,

Gary,
Iowa City

ProPhoto to sRGB clipping problem.

LightKhan — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 12:11:56 GMT

I've been having this problem for quite a long time, only having been procrastinating finding a solution because my usage of sRGB is a subsidiary one. My workflow is mainly targeted at printing/archiving and, as such, 16-bit, ProPhoto is usually all I care for.

...but now I've decided to enter an online contest, one that requires 8-bit, sRGB Jpegs as the submission format, and it is critical I get these from my Tiiff "masters" as technically good as possible.

The problem: When converting from 16-bit, ProPhoto Tiffs into 8-bit sRGB Tiffs or Jpegs (for export, for instance) the original unclipped histogram gets clipped at both ends, be it single or multichannel clipping.

How can I avoid this (...or, at least, control it by reducing clipping to a minimum)?

For instance, the working color space in LR is ProPhoto RGB. Is there a way to natively work within LR with sRGB?

(I searched for a reply to this problem but all I could find was a proposed solution for the same problem but as applied to Camera Raw in PS, not LR)

Thanks.

LK

help with editing different sessions as in going back and forth

Jane — Thu, 30 May 2013 00:51:51 GMT

Hi everyone,
Hoping I can get some help with a matter that is doing my head in :mad:

When I import a session (I usually import from card reader into a folder on my desktop first for a quick viewing of the images)
I them import into LR
I go through and reject, rate etc
I might start on a few edits when I have what I think I want to keep
My problem starts here as at this point, I might have shot another session entirely and I want to then start the same process again but with a new session
The current images I have in LR are only half edited so what is the best way to 'save' what I've done so far so that when I finish with this new session, and want to GO BACK to that first session and finish what started? I struggle with this as I've had missing photos, or I find them but without my initial editing 'saved' or they've moved to an area I wasn't expecting - all sorts of things!
Do I:
save as a collection and go back and forth this way THEN export a completed session as a catalog?
export an imcomplete session as a catalog and go back and forth
none of the above and you guys will tell me how??!! :nod:
Thank you
Jane

After auto import I want to have an auto export.

hans_de_kort — Tue, 28 May 2013 18:58:13 GMT

How to do this?