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1. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
Hal P Anderson Jan 8, 2012 10:42 AM (in response to Jack)John,
The message you're getting is saying that the version of Camera Raw in your PS CS4 won't understand everything that Lightroom has done to the images. Yes, you're right that you can't update CR to a high-enough version unless you have PS CS5.
If you say render a copy with Lightroom changes (or whatever the exact wording is), LR will create a TIFF file with all the modifications you made baked in and pass that to Photoshop. It's probably what you want to have happen.
Hal
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2. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
Jack Jan 8, 2012 12:08 PM (in response to Hal P Anderson)Looked again at my content. Realize I need to commit to the LR process, but have been accustomed to Bridge for quite a while. I actually found a copy of LR-edited image that looks identical in Bridge, located in the folder where originally imported from camera. The permanent, end location differs. I used the Export function in LR to place the image in the desired, permanent location. But as you just advised another forum member, Export does not physically move the original file. But that is what I would like to have happen. I store many of my images in a folder structure according to their content as defined in metadata.
Now I'm thinking I need to alter my workflow. Have been accustomed to importing all into one holding area, then assigning metadata and moving images to the final destination folder. But LR does not do that. So I believe that what I need to start doing is to assign metadata and destination folders on initial import from the camera.
The images stay in the catalog and I can open them, no matter where the physical files have been placed
Am I getting this right?
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3. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
Jack Jan 8, 2012 12:28 PM (in response to Jack)Now the next step. When I go into the field and take hundreds of photos, I believe that I should have LR import them all in one folder on my target drive (laptop and/or USB drive), assigning metadata prior to import as above. Then on return to home base, I again use LR on my home system to import each into its proper location in the permanent folder sturcture.
Is this the accepted way ot getting this done? Can the process be simplified?
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4. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
dj_paige Jan 8, 2012 12:32 PM (in response to Jack)Lightroom causes many people to adjust their workflow, and in this case (and in most cases), I think that's the right thing for you to do.
My workflow is pretty darn simple, and sounds very much like what you are headed towards. Photos are placed in a folder upon import and never moved again (exception: when I need to move the photos to a new hard drive). Keywords and other metadata are assigned either in the Import dialog box, or immediately thereafter using the Lightroom Library Module. I never search my folders for photos, I used keywords and other metadata for searching. In fact, I have no clue what folder a particular photos lives in, because I let Lightroom do the hard work of remembering.
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5. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
Hal P Anderson Jan 8, 2012 12:32 PM (in response to Jack)John,
You're pretty darn close.
If you keep your masters in Lightroom, you can always find them using keywords or other search criteria, no matter what folders they are in. In my case, I just import into date-based folders and rely on keywording to find what I need. Using folders as a means to categorize your images tends to get unwieldy pretty quickly. What happens when a picture falls into more than one category? If you always go through LR to find the images you're interested in, you'll have no trouble.
There's no need to export from Lightroom until you actually have a use for an image. Export it to where it needs to be for your purpose, use it for that purpose (email, print, burn to dvd), and then delete the exported copy, secure in the ability to re-create it if you have another use for it.
Hal
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6. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
Jack Jan 8, 2012 1:16 PM (in response to Hal P Anderson)My topic is orchids. The folder structure is taxonomic, like a family tree. The individuals will never belong to more than one category, I think it's safe to say. Alternative would be a hierarchical list of categories: (sub)famly, (sub)tribe, genus,species, etc., perhaps in the description. Making changes would certainly be possible. I'm still thinking about that. In any case the LR catalog would become pretty big over time. But it is always searchable...I realize. But, having grown up with folder structures, I'm scared to death of having thousands of images in just one folder.
Then there is the naming process. Errors need correcting. Again, as I write this, it could conceivably be neater to do it only in metadata (which I do anyway) rather than physically moving the image files. I'm still thinking about that. I could easily conclude that the LR catalog just gets in the way of my moving, evolving folder structure. It's a new way of thinking about content, for sure.
There will be 1 or more books of photos. My custom has been to create collections in Bridge, and make copies of selected images to go into chapter folders for use in inDesign. Realize that those could be exports from LR. And yes, I could do metadata searches to make a collection of candidate images for a chapter.
You can see, I'm going back and forth about this.
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7. Re: Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw and inDesign
dj_paige Jan 8, 2012 1:26 PM (in response to Jack)But, having grown up with folder structures, I'm scared to death of having thousands of images in just one folder.
No one is recommending putting all photos in one folder.
Then there is the naming process. Errors need correcting. Again, as I write this, it could conceivably be neater to do it only in metadata (which I do anyway) rather than physically moving the image files. I'm still thinking about that. I could easily conclude that the LR catalog just gets in the way of my moving, evolving folder structure. It's a new way of thinking about content, for sure.
In my opinion, the LR catalog doesn't get in the way of any organizing that you do, it facilitates and improves organizing. There is nothing that happens in LR that can't be changed at a later date. But, as both Hal and I have implied, your ever evolving folder structure is irrelevant; your organizing is done via keywords and other metadata. Folder structure should evolve only in the sense that you add new date-based folders when you take new pictures; and have your keywords evolve to represent the ever-evolving content of your photos.


