4 Replies Latest reply: Nov 28, 2011 12:05 PM by john beardsworth RSS

    Smart Collections

    Heirloom Bob Community Member

      I have followed a couple of tutorials from Terry White, about using collections and Publish Services for posting photos to the various services. I have created a smart collection called Recent Work. When I want to add a shot to Recent Work, I currently have to drag and drop the photo from it's "working" folder, to Recent Work. Can I automate this process with creating a preset or is there another more efficient way to copy the shot to Recent Work?

       

      Bob

        • 1. Re: Smart Collections
          Hal P Anderson Community Member

          Bob,

           

          If you can drag an image to it and drop it in, it is not a Smart Collection. That would be an ordinary collection.

           

          A Smart Collection is merely a filter that looks like a collection, where you define the characteristics of the images that will belong to that collection. If you have an image with those characteristics, it will automatically appear in that collection. If you change the image so it doesn't have all the necessary characteristics, it will automatically disappear from the collection. That is the only way to get photos in or out of Smart Collections.

           

          What you need to do is define what "recent work" means and create a Smart Collection that is looking for those characteristics.

           

          Perhaps something like this would work for you:

           

          Lightroom Database-3 - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Library_2011-11-28_14-52-48.jpg

           

          Hal

          • 2. Re: Smart Collections
            Heirloom Bob Community Member

            My Recent Works folder appears in my Library module, Under the Collections  and then Smart Collections. I can't see how I would edit the collection.

            • 3. Re: Smart Collections
              Hal P Anderson Community Member

              Bob,

               

              It may be under Smart Collections, but that doesn't mean it is one.

               

              Lightroom Database-3 - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Library_2011-11-28_15-42-26.jpg

              Notice the collection "Next Print" (arrow). It is an ordinary collection, as is proven by the icon that lacks the gear on it. It is in a collection set that is named and mostly contains smart collections.

               

              To edit a smart collection, you have to create one first. Click on the "+" sign on the Collections header and choose Creat Smart Collection... from the menu. When you create it, you have a chance to set the characteristics for the images that will be in the collection.

               

              If you need to edit it later, right click on the name of the Smart Collection and choose the appropriate menu item:

               

              Lightroom Database-3 - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Library_2011-11-28_15-43-17.jpg

               

              Hal

              • 4. Re: Smart Collections
                john beardsworth Community Member

                Take a look at my Workflow Smart Collections - perhaps a bit of a leap from where you now are, but it'll give you plenty of ideas.