I'm just starting I have unused LR4 or should I just start with LR6?

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

I've been taking digital photo's for years but never editing them. So I'm trying to wade into it but it's all a little overwhelming to me. I bought LR4 some years ago but never used it, I was honestly worried I'd screw something up and lose my pics. But I need to jump in and just start. So my question is, as a beginner should I just get familiar with LR4 and once I'm used to it upgrade to LR CC, or just go to CC? I'm still using iPhoto 11, as I haven't upgraded my mac in awhile. So having said that, would you recommend I upgrade to Sierra OS before I start with LR? I have about 23,000 photos in all.

Thank you in advance for any help. I truly appreciate it.

[JP Hess]

A lot has changed since Lightroom 4. But it's difficult to advise you on what to do because  I don't know what kind of pictures you take, whether or not you shoot raw, what you expect from your photo software, etc. If you do shoot raw, a lot of new cameras have been released since Lightroom 4, and the raw files from these newer cameras will not be supported. You can't ruin your pictures using Lightroom because Lightroom never changes  the actual image file. You can always reset the image back to its default settings and start over. But for the level of questions you are asking  it seems that you don't have a clue as to what you want to accomplish.  If you could provide some more information then we might able to make some useful suggestions.

[Guest]

Jim,

Thanks for the quick reply and sorry I didn't include enough info, but I do have a "clue" actually as to what I want to accomplish. I would like to make my photos look better.  As I'm trying to be a better photographer and not just a point and shoot guy, I have plenty of photo's that need a little adjusting. There's either something in the background I want removed or some skin issues I'd like to correct.I have a Canon 70d and primarily shoot with my 70-200 f2.8 lens. Most of my photos are of my sons sporting events and of my wife on the beach. I just started shooting in both raw and jpeg. I hope this helps. Again, I truly do appreciate any advice or help.

[JP Hess]

Well, now we have some relative information that might be helpful. First of all, your Canon camera will not be supported in Lightroom 4 as far as  raw files are concerned. You could use the DNG converter (free) to create  DNG copies that could used with Lightroom 4. If you are like  many users and are afraid of the creative cloud subscription plan, then I would recommend that you purchase an upgrade to Lightroom 6. It has many features that Lightroom 4 doesn't have. And I think it's a better program. If you want to use Lightroom Mobile and be able to work on images on your mobile devices then you should consider the creative cloud photography plan which includes Lightroom and Photoshop and also gives you access to Lightroom Mobile for your android or Apple IOS devices. Personally I think the creative photography plan is an excellent value at $9.95/month.

[dj_paige]

In additon to what JimHess said, your operating system may not be capable of running LR 6 / LR CC. It sure would have been helpful for you to state what your operating system is, instead of saying you haven't updated it in a while.

Whatever you do, please take the time to read or watch introductory material about Lightroom. I think it's foolish to try to figure Lightroom out yourself. I think it is a wise investment in time to watch/read the ntroductory material.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/quickstart/

Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 | Adobe TV

[Guest]

dj,

Thank you for the quick response. I obviously should of mentioned what I'm using. Im running OS X 10.9.5 I have 3.5 GHz Intel i7 with 24MB ram. I haven't obviously updated it in awhile because, honestly, it takes awhile for me to get used to something and if I like it, I don't want to change. But I realize change is inevitable and change is good. So I probably should upgrade to Sierra before I start using LR. I actually have bought and been reading books on LR4 from Scott Kelby and been reading more online. I guess one of my fears was starting with LR4 then switching later on to LR CC. It probably makes sense just to start the LR CC subscription like Jim suggested and dive in.

Thanks again.

[dj_paige]

Gosh, I have to say that I can't stand Kelby's books. If you must read his book, ignore everything he says about organizing. In my opinion, his advice about organizing is just plain bad.

[Guest]

dj,

lol, so who do you suggest, I just want to start off on the right track track.

Thanks

[JP Hess]

Paige Gave you a couple of links previously in this thread. Both of those are good. There are a ton of good video tutorials on YouTube. And if you want to subscribe to Lynda.com for a month or so there are some excellent tutorials there as well.

[Guest]

Jim,

I will definitely look into those links. I have scoured YouTube and watched plenty of videos and honestly, it confuses me more. There's obviously plenty of ways of organizing and everyone has there own system. So I guess I just need to find a source that feels comfortable to me and stick to it. I've watched a lot of videos from Terry White and Julianne Kost and found them very helpful. I really think my main hesitance is I want to find the right photo organization system from the start.

Thanks again for your advice and help.

[dj_paige]

I really think my main hesitance is I want to find the right photo organization system from the start.

Keep it simple. Import using "Add", this keeps the photos where they are. (New photos can go into folders that fit your existing folder scheme, or even simpler, put them in folders that have default names that Lightroom gives them, which are the capture date of your photos, this is the Lightroom default, it takes zero effort on your part.)

Use keywords and other metadata to organize and search. Apply keywords and optionally other metadata religiously to your photos.

Do not use your operating system to manage photos that have been imported. Do not create a system where you rely on folders as your organization, and have to move photos from one folder to another (or move folders from one place to another) to achieve "organization". Do not create a system where renaming photos or folders is part of the way you achieve "organization". Particularly for beginners, this seems to cause problems.

To your point about finding the right organization system from the start, if it turns out you don't like this system, it is entirely "undo-able", you haven't moved photos or folders, so you can start over from scratch if you so desire. And if it turns out after a month you discover you have left out an important keyword(s), these are easily added to what you have done already.

By the way, what I have described is the way I do it, I have been using Lightroom for over 6 years now, and it works beautifully for me, and I see no real need to ever do it differently..

[dj_paige]

If you want to read a book about organizing, please read

The Dam Book

[Guest]

Jim, dj, Joe, thank you all for the suggestions. I think it would be wise for me to upgrade my mac to the current OS before I start my LR CC subscription.

dj_   I actually ordered The Dam Book earlier this week. I'll get the new version when it comes out.

I take it when you said "Import using Add" that's for any new imports? If that's correct, would I add photo's from my current

iPhoto 11 collection the same way?

I realize I'm probably asking a lot of "bonehead" questions, but I'm very appreciative of everyone's advice and patience.

[dj_paige]

I take it when you said "Import using Add" that's for any new imports? If that's correct, would I add photo's from my current

iPhoto 11 collection the same way?

When you import, you select ADD when photos are already on one of your hard disks. This leaves the photos in their existing location.

You select COPY when photos are on a camera card. You must specify where on your hard disks the photos are supposed to be copied to (you can choose the default, or any other folder you'd like).

[ManiacJoe]

dj_paige wrote:

Gosh, I have to say that I can't stand Kelby's books. If you must read his book, ignore everything he says about organizing. In my opinion, his advice about organizing is just plain bad.

For file organization, anyone's suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt.

As for Kelby, I like his writing style.

The trick to finding the correct photo organization is understanding that "correct" means "correct for you". The mistake most people make is placing too much detail into the names of the directories. Details about who, what, when, where should be in the keywords and other categorizing that takes place in the catalog.

My file organization for my personal pictures is based on broad topics and dates.

/topic/yyyymmdd_event_name/

An example might be /fireworks/20160704_RichardsPark/

Other topics might be travel, family, landscapes, fora, sky, ...

Under that I have two folders: "originals" and "exports".

For my "professional" photography, the file organization looks like /topic/year/yyyymmdd_event_name/ .

Here "topic" is either "sports" or "events" and the "year" is used for easy archiving purposes.

These are in a separate catalog from my personal images.