File handlilng after importing photos

[shadowshebasadie]

I have Lightroom CC & have been watching tutorials for beginning tutorials.  After importing images, the tutorial shows File Handling on the right side with several selections to choose from.  However, when I import pictures, I don't see file handling, I see Histogram, Quick Develop, Key Wording, Keyword list, and Metadata.  Where is the File Handling selection?

[Just Shoot Me]

It is on the left hand side. If it isn't exposed hit the Tab key twice. Or there is a little triangle all the way on the left hand side of the screen. Clicking that will show/hide the panels. If hidden just moving the cursor over that area will make it Jump Out. But when hidden and it jumps out it will cover a part of the image viewing area or the grid view area. Same goes for all the panels, right/left, up/down.

[JoeKostoss · Accepted solution]

The "File Handling" is what you should see during Import, not after.  If you don't see "file Handling" you should see "Apply During Import"  Right click on the blank spot in front of the words and from the pop up menu, make sure "File Handling" is checked.

The Histogram, etc. are the panels in the Library Module after importing.  There is no File Handling on the right in this Module.

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi Joe,

Ok. I got it now. I am new to Lightroom.

Thanks,

Suzanne Smith

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi Joe,

Now I have another issue. I save my pictures by date in "My Documents" in

a folder "Pictures." I have sub folders--one for each year, another sub

folder under that for the month, then subfolders under that for each shoot

(eg. 2016-12-04 Snow). I selected this folder when importing my pictures

in Lightroom. However, they went into Pictures, 2016 under Quick Access,

and I had to click that folder six times to get to the pictures. So I had

six windows open to view the photos. Who would that happen.

Suzanne Smith

[dj_paige]

Obviously, there are better places to put your photos and better ways to use Lightroom.

I store my photos in a top level folder, and not under Pictures; and I don't have folders for year then month then day. My folder hierarchy looks like this:

D:\Nikon Photos

       2016-12-01

       2016-12-02

       2016-12-03

Naturally, this is a lot easier to access than what you described. Furthermore, I don't use the Folder panel to access my photos at all! I have over 30,000 photos, and there's no way I can remember the capture date of 30,000+ photos. The folder names are chosen like that because it takes no effort on my part (it's the Lightroom default) and it makes eeverything nice and neat. All of my organizing and searching for photos is done via keywords and other metadata, which I apply to the photos immediately after I import the photos, and so (for example) if I want to see all of my pohtos of steam locomotives, I simply have to select photos that have the keyword "steam locomotives", I don't have to remember what day(s) I took those photos (and in fact, it is simply an impossible task for me or anyone else to remember what dates the photos were taken). So by using keywords and other metadata to search and organize, the entire issue of finding photos in your folder hierarchy, and the problems you are having, all become moot.

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi DJ,

I have used Picassa for years. That is where I search for my photos. I

have names on the folders that I can search for in Picassa, so, no, I don't

remember the dates at all. For example, I want to see butterflies; I

search Picassa, and it will list all the locations/dates that I have

butterflies named in the folders. However, when I got my new camera,

Picassa will not open RAW files correctly (they are all discolored and have

a dark pink color cast). I guess I will have to start in January with the

Lightroom method. So if I use Lightroom and have several Collections of

photos of butterflies and do a search, will it show all the butterflies

that I have in the Metadata?

Thanks,

Suzanne

[JP Hess]

That will all depend on how you decide to manage your photos in Lightroom. If you create a keyword, "Butterflies" and apply that keyword to all of your butterfly photos then you can quickly Choose that keyword in the library module and all of your butterfly photos will appear. Or, you can create a butterfly collection and manually add all of your butterfly photos to that collection. Then when you want to see your butterfly photos you just click on the butterfly collection. Lightroom isn't going to automatically do this for you.

[dj_paige]

So if I use Lightroom and have several Collections of

photos of butterflies and do a search, will it show all the butterflies

that I have in the Metadata?

Keywords, not collections. Then you can do the search and find all photos with the butterfly keyword. In my opinion, keywords are superior to collections for many reasons. And as Joe said, you need to move away from a folder mindset to a keyword mindset.

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi DJ,

Okay, so I access all my pictures from Lightroom. But when I want to post

one to Facebook, I normally go to my folders. How do I post a photo to

Facebook without knowing what folder it is located in? Do I have to open

Lightroom to access the picture?

Thanks,

Suzanne

[dj_paige]

Yes, Lightroom becomes the tool for finding all of your photos. That is part of the brilliance of the design of Lightroom. The Lightroom database does the hard work of remembering where thousands of photos are located, so you don't have to. You just have to remember the contents of the photos ("steam locomotive" for example) and then you can find the photo(s) easily. And once you find the photo in Lightroom, it is simple to do many many tasks with this photo, including posting to Facebook, entirely done in Lightroom, without ever knowing what folder it is in.

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi DJ,

When I select Photo/video on Facebook, I get all the drives and folders in

my computer, but I don't see Lightroom. I see Photoshop, but not

Lightroom. I have Windows 10. How will I find Lightroom to find the photo?

Thanks,

Suzanne

[dj_paige]

Lightroom has a Publish to Facebook service, so again, you don't need to know what folder the photo is in. In Lightroom, you find the photo and then tell Lightroom to publish the photo to Facebook. You don't do it through Facebook. you don't ever need to Figure out or remember what folder it is in.

Or, a slightly different method: every photo I want to upload to Facebook is exported from Lightroom to the exact same folder every single time (I use folder D:\temp), I know exactly where to look for it when I tell Facebook to upload the photo, the exported photo is always in the same folder, a folder I can find easily, no searching for the proper folder.

As long as you insist on inserting folders that contain your original photos into your methods, you are doing unnecessary work, and work that is more difficult that simply using the tools in Lightroom. By the way, you don't want to find the original photos in whatever folder they are in, and then upload the originals to Facebook (or anywhere else) because they will appear unedited. You must export the photos (as I said, I always put the exports in the same folder every single time) in order to upload the edited versions of your photos, that's how Lightroom works, the photo portion of your original files are never changed.

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi DJ,

Thanks for all the info. In what case would I not be able to edit photo in

Photoshop? I tried with a photo I had edited, but Photoshop was grayed out.

Suzanne

[dj_paige]

It depends on what you have (or have not) done.

Are you using the Lightroom command Edit In...? If so, can we see a screen capture of the Edit In dialog box? If not, explain the exact steps you are following.

[shadowshebasadie]

Hi DJ,

I edited a photo in Lightroom. I wanted to open the RAW file in PS to use

the B&W Topaz filter, but had to locate it on my hard drive to do that

since the RAW photo was edited in LR. Is there a way to save the edited

photo in LR, then open the same RAW photo from LR to edit in PS? I wanted

to compare the B&W photo edited in LR with the one using Topaz in PS. In

other words, how do I save the original RAW photo and the same edited photo

in Lightroom?

Suzanne Smith

[dj_paige]

I wanted to open the RAW file in PS to use the B&W Topaz filter, but had to locate it on my hard drive to do that since the RAW photo was edited in LR.

No, you don't have to locate the photo on your hard disk. In Lightroom, right-click on the Photo and select Edit In...

Open Lightroom photos in external applications

In other words, how do I save the original RAW photo and the same edited photo in Lightroom?

You don't "save" photos in Lightroom. There is no "Save" command.

Your edits are automatically saved in the Lightroom catalog. The image portion of your RAW photos are never modified. You always can get back to the unedited original in Lightroom by pressing Reset in the Develop Module. There are many ways to compare photos in Lightroom, for example, in the Develop Module, pressing Y or Alt-Y (or use the toolbar at the bottom) once or more times allows you to compare edited to unedited.

[shadowshebasadie]

I think you misunderstood what I am trying to do. I want to compare an

edited photo in Lightroom with an edited photo in Photoshop after using

Topaz. How can I do that?

Suzanne

[dj_paige]

These instructions that I gave allow the Topaz edited photo to be included in Lightroom

No, you don't have to locate the photo on your hard disk. In Lightroom, right-click on the Photo and select Edit In...

Open Lightroom photos in external applications

After that, you can compare the two photos (original or edited with the Topaz edited photo) by selecting two photos in the Lightroom grid and pressing C

[JoeKostoss]

I store all my photos on an external hard drive.  I named that EHD "Photos 1".  I have a top level folder on that EHD named "Joes Photos".  I then have folders for each year.  I put all photos taken in 2016 in the "2016" folder and work as dj_paige does by assigning keywords. 

Occasionally during import, I will add imported photos to a collection, which I would name based in the subject, such as "Niagara Falls" or "IronMan 2016".  I find it easier to use collections and may use them much more starting in 2017. (A New Year's resolution)

If you are going to use Lightroom, you should change from a folder mindset to a Keyword mindset or a collection mindset.  The very power of Lightroom lies in its organization structure. 

If you really do remember that a photo was taken on Friday, January 22, 2016, Lightroom will find it for you in Metadata filter as seen here:

I would avoid going any deeper in the hierarchy structure than about 2 levels