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Lightroom Not Exporting Library Properly

Community Beginner ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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My wife and I are a photog team that has traditionally just used Photoshop and Bridge for our photo editing, sorting, etc.  We are currently considering LR for some of this process, but I have thus far steered clear of LR for the simple reason that it uses the catalog paradigm for managing non-destructive edits.  This makes pipeline workflow between two or more editors/machines a challenge that can only be accomplished by some less-than attractive workarounds (sharing libraries in Dropbox, etc.).  To my knowledge, LR is the only application in Adobe's toolkit that is tailored for the individual (which is odd for a professional application), whereas pretty much all the other applications are easily used in a multi-user workflow.  It would have been preferable to me if LR simply used a project file like After Effects or Premiere for cataloging image location and non-destructive edits rather than an internal catalog like the consumer iPhoto (now Photos) product that Apple gives away with its OS.

Having said that, I'm now trying to export a catalog we started working on recently in LR when we were on site using my wife's laptop.  Ultimately, we want to get our workflow down so that we don't experience these setbacks, but I am still skeptical of LR and the efficiency of using such an internal catalog with multiple users and machines.  We shoot architecture primarily when we are sent on assignment, and so we often do a fair amount of image stacking with the Enfuse plugin.  We tend to blend these images as soon as possible on site so we're certain we've got the shot we need... in addition to reviewing everything else.  Something everyone does, I imagine.  But because LR makes development so fast and easy we also end up doing a fair bit of development tweaks while on site, as well.  I would love to keep all this work we end up doing while on a shoot when I move it to a NAS drive, or external drive for final dev and edits on our 5k monitor once we get back to the studio. 

I tried to do this today with our largest collection of images from our latest trip (1500 images) by exporting the catalog from my wife's internal HD to an external HD.  We had other folders, one with 59 images, one with 300+, etc. that all exported perfectly fine with edits intact.  It's the folder with 1500 images that did not transfer so well.  It seems that LR copied them all down to the external drive, complete with catalog into a self contained folder, just like the others, but I am getting error messages.  Every single image has the message "The File Cannot Be Opened by Lightroom", and some of them have exclamation points by them. I take great care in using only LR to move stuff around.

My question is this... as with Bridge (despite being a very old application with tons of versions) there are still some very well known bugs when batch processing filename changes, moving a big bunch files from one place to another, etc.  Bridge always seems to choke when it's a bunch of something it has to do in a batch.  Is this sort of thing a known issue with LR, as well?  I ask because it's the folder with 1500 images it can't seem to export cleanly.  This same catalog and folder of images performs flawlessly on our laptop's internal HD, where it was originally created. 

In the future, we plan to create folders and work from an external drive right from the get go.  Still, though, I do eventually have to get any images and corresponding catalogs backed up to a NAS drive for archiving... and for stuff that no longer needs to be on the NAS, I will have to back up projects onto externals for longer term storage.  Anyone having issues with doing any of that?

I'm still new to LR, but this is a pivotal point for us as to whether or not we can comfortably use it.  I love the speed and power, but hate the catalog paradigm.  It seems prosumer, at best, and doesn't support a good multi-user workflow.  Great for single photogs, but not so great for teams who need to tag team projects to get them done.  I own most of the competing products, but I prefer LR's UI and speed. DXO may be the way forward for us, though.

Any tips on keeping catalogs siloed by project, instead of having everything you've ever shot in one giant database? Not interested in my niece's portrait pics cataloged with pro shoots I go on, for example.  I'd like to try to use LR like After Effects, where you open a project file (on ANY machine) when you want to work with it (provided that machine also has access to the same media in the same places), then close it (remove it) when you're not.  Can this be done reliably in LR?

Thanks for any tips and info!  Sorry to be so negative about LR, but I truly do not understand the reasons that Adobe went with the internal cat vs. the project file paradigm other than for search.  I'd give that up in heartbeat for simpler workflow.  Another idea would be to make the catalog "subscribable" by invitation... so, via the cloud, any user could be invited to your catalog, or certain portions of it, making a professional workflow between multiple users possible. With gigabytes of space available on most cloud accounts, keeping your catalog there should be well within the realm of possibility (people back them up to the cloud all the time).

RR

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LEGEND ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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This is just too much for me to read, and I would prefer that you boil this down to one or two clear concise questions (and you can ask other questions later).

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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Yep.

So, can you effectively use LR by organizing photos in neat folders on your drive, and then just keep the individual catalogs within those folders, per project, instead of trying to keep everything in one, grand catalog all the time? 

i need to create a multi-user, multi-machine workflow in my studio so my wife and I can tag team projects using more than one computer.  It would be nice if she could open any LR project we have going on and get my edits, add her own and so forth.  Just like we can do with PSDs in Photoshop.  We work from a common NAS drive on our network... she has a Macbook Pro and I use a 5K iMac.

Thanks,

RR

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LEGEND ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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ryansrhea  wrote

Yep.

So, can you effectively use LR by organizing photos in neat folders on your drive, and then just keep the individual catalogs within those folders, per project, instead of trying to keep everything in one, grand catalog all the time? 

The whole idea of Lightroom, in my opinion, is NOT to organize in folders; if you wanted to do that, you don't need Lightroom, you can use your operating system, and you have a nicer interface in your operating system to do this. The idea of Lightroom is to organize using metadata such as keywords, captions, titles, GPS locations and any other metadata to achieve organization, while keeping your folder structure as simple as possible, which I would recommend folders by capture date. If you are going to use Lightroom to organize, then multiple catalogs defeats the purpose, and destroys any organization you might create.

i need to create a multi-user, multi-machine workflow in my studio so my wife and I can tag team projects using more than one computer.  It would be nice if she could open any LR project we have going on and get my edits, add her own and so forth.  Just like we can do with PSDs in Photoshop.  We work from a common NAS drive on our network... she has a Macbook Pro and I use a 5K iMac.

Lightroom simply is not multiuser software. Any workarounds would be cumbersome and tedious, although if you really wanted to, you could transfer (part of) your catalog to your wife (and vice versa), back and forth, but it takes discipline and attention to detail, and a single slip-up and suddenly you've got two different edits of the same photo. If you are looking for multi-user software, you are looking at the wrong software.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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Apart from looking into how to create a multi-user workflow, I am also having issues with a catalog I just exported from my laptop's internal drive.  The catalog and images perform perfectly on the laptop where they were originally placed. 

Upon attempting to export the catalog to an external drive, I'm consistently getting error messages when trying to work with the exported images and catalog on my second machine, a 5k iMac. Just a side note, I am fanatical about using LR to move things around, as I am aware of how fragile the internal cataloging system can be. See error message below:

Screen Shot 2017-06-30 at 4.30.14 PM.png


I'm new to LR, but I have used Bridge extensively over the years.  It's got some nasty, persistent bugs that cause it to occasionally fail at some large batch tasks, like renaming and moving huge amounts of files from one folder to another.

Does LR suffer from similar bugs when trying to do too much, like exporting a folder and catalog with 1500 images in it?  I'm trying to find where it's limits are. 

Thanks,


RR

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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Yeah, that's what I thought.  I have no need for searchable images based on tags (it's nice, I admit, but I don't need it).  I'm meticulous about folder structure on my machine, and can lay hands on just about anything I need without a search. Search is the only reason I can see for having a catalog paradigm in this software.

The workflow pipeline is way more crucial for us.  I can't believe we're the only photographers who work this way.  It's just weird to have a huge photo dump and use software tied to ONE machine like this to manage the mess. 

Having said that, I just realized my personal copy of LR CC wasn't the same as my wife's on her laptop (she had the most recent).  That was causing the issues I was having with the export I mentioned above. 

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but exporting this way (catalogs and images to folders on an external drive organized PER PROJECT) does create a possible workflow between more than one computer, right?  She would simply double click to open the cat file associated with that folder and images on the NAS, make edits, close and then I could open that same cat file and see her changes, make my own, etc.  Correct?

The main thing you'd have to worry about there is if the local catalog got corrupted and there was no back up. 

Am I thinking that through correctly?

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LEGEND ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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The catalog file has to be on the computer that is using it. It can't be on a network drive. It can be on an external drive, along with all your images, and that drive can be moved from computer to computer.

You can also have all the images on a networked drive, NAS or whatever.

Also if you check the option to Auto Write Changes to XMP in the Catalog Settings dialog then you can share the images with 2 different installs of LR and has all your Edits show up on both computers.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 30, 2017 Jun 30, 2017

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I think it is absolutely ridiculous to consider a catalog for each folder. But ... It's your operation ... If you think that will work, and you don't care about what I think are the disadvantages, then maybe you should go for it ... Although there are probably better software choices.

There is no need to export photos in this workflow.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 12, 2017 Dec 12, 2017

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So, revisiting this post.... I finally realized that LR would never function properly with separate catalogs like I wanted to do.  I think it could, but Adobe would have to actually try to have it handle different cats elegantly, which it simply cannot do in it's current state.

So I have been adding images to the main cat for a while now, and I finally got the slowdown bug.  Everyone assured me that this was a thing of the past, but sure enough I finally added a few too many images and the slowdown has happened.

Nothing do about it, as Abode has not been able to rectify this for years (apparently). 

I thought the new cloud version of LR might be a good option, but then I realized I live the USA and not South Korea (where they actually have real internet connectivity).  How would I get my RAWs to upload on a lousy hotel WiFi (where I do most of my work).    Not sure how anyone in the US could ever use this version of LR unless they're shooting jpgs. 

Now that net neutrality is about to be destroyed, plus the data caps already in place for most people here in the US, who will even be able to use this version of LR?  It was a great idea, but not for cloud storage of images... we need cloud storage and cross computer accessibility of the CATALOG!  It would be great to have images on a single server, then have more than one computer be able to access the catalog for multi-user editing.

RR

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