vacation workflow

[alaios]

Hello all,
I would like to take some photos with me (raw files) to do basic editing.
Basic editing for me includes

-marking photos for deletion (without deleting them)
-rating pictures with stars
-cropping
-basic brushes.

After my vacation I would like to import those settings to my pc so to
1. continue processing from where I have left it
2. remove from my library the photos I have noted that are from deletion


My photos are now in my main pc under three different collections and couple more that are not inside collections. What are the suggestions for
A. Exporting properly for vacation laptop
B. Importing back the photos from laptop to the main pc.

I would like to thank you in advance for your reply
Regards
Alex

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Select the images you want to take with you and choose 'Export as catalog'. Check all the options in the dialog. Copy this folder to your laptop and start Lightroom by double clicking the catalog file inside that folder. Make your edits during your vacation. When you get back home, use 'Import from Another Catalog' on your main machine and import the laptop catalog.

 

[alaios]

so the collections is not something that should bother me at this time.. right? HowI can select pictures from different collection to export all those as one?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

so the collections is not something that should bother me at this time.. right? HowI can select pictures from different collection to export all those as one?

Lightroom has many methods to mark images for selection. Use the 'Pick' flag for example, or use a color label. Or drag them into a new 'Vacation' collection that you can then export as catalog. Or use a temporary keyword and make a smart collection based on that keyword. Or use the Quick Collection.

I trust that's enough ideas...

 

[thommy]

There is another method worth mentioning.
If you have Lightroom CC (it says 5.0 in your profile - maybe not updated?), you can use the Lightroom mobile feature to do basic editing, flag and rating.
Brushes are unfortunately not available yet, but there are selective adjustment tools in the mobile apps.
All you have to do is:
-Copy your images to a collection - e.g "Vacation Edits"
-Right-click to enable that collection to Sync with Lightroom mobile
-Log in to lightroom.adobe.com with your Adobe id on your vacation and do the edits, rankings etc..

You don't even have to have Lightroom installed on your computer.
And if you like you can use a smartphone and/or tablet with Lightroom app, instead of a computer.

I personally think Lightroom Mobile is a nice and useful feature that can be used in many situations.

Thommy

 

[Jim Wilde]

Brushes are unfortunately not available yet, but there are selective adjustment tools in the mobile apps.

That's true for LRmobile on Android, but on iOS the adjustment brushes are now available in the selective edit tools.

 

[thommy]

That's true for LRmobile on Android, but on iOS the adjustment brushes are now available in the selective edit tools.

Great news! Then it's hopefully on it's way to LRmobile on Android as well.

Thommy

 

[alaios]

Lightroom has many methods to mark images for selection. Use the 'Pick' flag for example, or use a color label. Or drag them into a new 'Vacation' collection that you can then export as catalog. Or use a temporary keyword and make a smart collection based on that keyword. Or use the Quick Collection.

I trust that's enough ideas...

any ideas how to pick photos spanning on so different collections and places in my lightroom? An idea I had was to pick all those photos first and add a unique keyword... The problem I see though is that after importing in my lightroom all these pictures will be a mess and not split into some collections. Will indeed lightroom be able to import all those back to my main pc and only apply the basic edit changes?

Thanks
Alex

 

[Johan Elzenga]

any ideas how to pick photos spanning on so different collections and places in my lightroom? An idea I had was to pick all those photos first and add a unique keyword... The problem I see though is that after importing in my lightroom all these pictures will be a mess and not split into some collections. Will indeed lightroom be able to import all those back to my main pc and only apply the basic edit changes?

All the methods I mentioned would work for that. You can add images to multiple collections, so you can drag & drop them into a special collection from any other source. Same for the Quick Collection, that was designed for this very purpose. You can flag or color label images no matter where you are, so again this works.

Don't worry about importing them back to the main pc. When you export the images as catalog, all your collections will export as well (not just the collection your as exporting as catalog). So there won't be a mess. The exported catalog will have the same collection structure as your main catalog. So when you import that catalog again, they will still be in those collections.

 

[alaios]

.......'Vacation' collection that you can then export as catalog. Or use a temporary keyword and make a smart collection based on that keyword.....I trust that's enough ideas...

that looks the better idea. So I am going to send all my pictures to that collection and then export those. After my vacation lightroom will not have problem sorting this out. Can I still during vacations make collections to make the process more smooth when processing.
Regards
Alex

 

[alaios]

I imported all photos to my laptop catalogue and my first comment is that lightroom saw that this is an external hard disk and "suggested" me to add the photos to collection without moving them, which I think is very smart.

The photos though not have any keywords, or stars .... I wonder if I can import those as that edit those and then put them back to the main computer.. Will the lightroom need consistency in keywords to make sure on the right photos are merging?

Thanks a lot in advance
Alex

 

[Johan Elzenga]

You should not import the photos, you should export (and import when you get back) a catalog. Read my first reply to your initial question.

 

[alaios]

omg!!! you saved me.. how fool I am. I forgot to import a catalog ...... I had to do again the process but now my photos were imported with keywords! That is so great! I can also see the same collections I had on my main pc with the only drawback being that no photos belong there.
Thanks again
Alex

 

[alaios]

Select the images you want to take with you and choose 'Export as catalog'. Check all the options in the dialog. Copy this folder to your laptop and start Lightroom by double clicking the catalog file inside that folder. Make your edits during your vacation. When you get back home, use 'Import from Another Catalog' on your main machine and import the laptop catalog.

thanks a lot again. I am back from my vacations and I wanted to know how I should import the catalogue to lightroom. Do I need first to export it or I can my main pc import the files directly from my external disk (where the catalogue was initially exported?)
Regards
Alex

 

[Johan Elzenga]

thanks a lot again. I am back from my vacations and I wanted to know how I should import the catalogue to lightroom. Do I need first to export it or I can my main pc import the files directly from my external disk (where the catalogue was initially exported?)

If the catalog you used on vacation is the one on the external disk, then your PC can import it right away from that disk. No need to export anything first. If the catalog you used was copied to the internal disk of the laptop, then the best solution is to use 'Export as Catalog' and check all the options in the export dialog. Choose the external disk as destination and you're done.

 

[alaios]

If the catalog you used on vacation is the one on the external disk, then your PC can import it right away from that disk. No need to export anything first. If the catalog you used was copied to the internal disk of the laptop, then the best solution is to use 'Export as Catalog' and check all the options in the export dialog. Choose the external disk as destination and you're done.

Thanks a lot for all of your replies.
In my laptop the photos were imported as you described me. The catalogue file looks to be stored in laptops hard disk
Edit->Catalogue Settings and Location shows C:\Users\...\Lightroom Catalog.lcat

All the photos of these catalogue are loaded from the external disk (when I look the photos and do right click->Show In Explorer show correctly at the external hard disk

Now as you said the option is to export all those photos (with their stars, editing) as a catalogue.
File->Export as Catalog
I click at the bottom all the check boxes and the process starts.
After two minutes only I get the message that ALL
the 6914 photos have not been located (including their previews)....

What is wrong here and I Can not export it properly?

Thanks
Alex

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Check the letter of the external drive. Windows has the nasty habit of changing that sometimes. For example: if you had a card reader connected to the laptop that was designated D:, the external drive could have been at E:. Now perhaps it's designated D: because the card reader is not connected. The result is that Lightroom can't find the images anymore, untill you either 'reconnect' them or change the drive letter back to what Lightroom expects.

 

[alaios]

I am currently trying the following.
I closed my lightroom, and then I copied my laptop catalogue tot he external hard disk. I opened that file on my laptops lightroom and closed it back. I did this mostly to confirm that no photos are missing.
Now that catalogue looks like that I am able to import. Lets see how it goes

 

[alaios]

This one worked and saved me ! Thanks a lot again for your help. Regards Alex