How long did it take you to get comfortable with Lightroom?

jdang307 wrote in post #11572978
Question about Scott Kelby's book. I know it'll be great for the nuts and bolts of lightroom. I.e, workflow, how to store it, tips and tricks about that.

But is it good for improving one's post processing? After messing with LR for a year, I still think my PP is a little lacking. I know, get the great exposure in camera first. And I try. But I also think good PP can elevate a good/great exposure.

The Kelby books are good for processing "tips" -- they tend to be pretty full of tutorials (although I don't have the one for LR3 so can't give specifics for that). They are definitely worth going through.

But, processing, even with Lightroom, is a "big" field and I'd check out a variety of resources. Kelby hosts a cool Lightroom Web site: LightroomKillerTips.co​m. Martin Evening and Victoria Bampton also offer good books that are available through Amazon. Bampton also offers a good resource site: LightroomQueen.com.

The way I see it is that you can pick up valuable help and info from many various sources!

And, if you haven't already, check out our Raw Conversion thread for some great stuff:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=684360

Beachcomber Joe wrote in post #11571197
Perhaps that is true on the Mac version but the windows version Library module is happy to rename your files one at a time or as a batch as many times as you want.

Yeah, but LR still won't do a search and replace.
Say you discover a bit late you have made a typo, and have these images in the catalog:

rhd_20101226_Xmas0004.​cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas0006.​cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas0011.​cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas0016.​cr2

easy to rename them to:

Whatever_rhd_20101226_​Xmas0004.cr2
Whatever_rhd_20101226_​Xmas0006.cr2
Whatever_rhd_20101226_​Xmas0011.cr2
Whatever_rhd_20101226_​Xmas0016.cr2

or:

rhd_20101226_Xmas_0001​.cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas_0002​.cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas_0003​.cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas_0004​.cr2

But if you just want to rename them to:

rhd_20101226_Xmas_0004​.cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas_0006​.cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas_0011​.cr2
rhd_20101226_Xmas_0016​.cr2

you will need to do it by hand.

But what I

meant to say was that, IMO, it's bad practice to rename an image after importing the CR2 file. Makes it harder to keep track.
If I get a mail asking for a bigger version of "Christmas2011_0025.jp​g", since I renamed upon export, I need to search for the 25th image. If I kept the filename the same as the Raw (say: rhd_20101226_Xmas_0034​.cr2), I can just export again.

kompressor wrote in post #11571792
Culling images. I've tried this with LR. I'm aware of the little comparison mode, survey thing. It just doesn't work as good. Pick flags, unpicked, P, U, X, left, right, left, the friggin keys are all over! With Bridge, its up, down, left, right.

Hit capslock.

P or ` for pick, X for reject, U for unflagged (won't need that one often)
No need for arrows, since LR will jump to the next image when you hit ` or X...

kompressor wrote in post #11571792
I like the edit capabilities of LR becuase I do 90% of mine in ACR. But, I absolutely hate the way crop tool works. (Except for the lights-out part). I hate moving the photo behind the frame. I've always moved the frame around the photo and I'm too old now to learn new tricks.

Funnny, that's one of the things I like best
No more tilting the head to try and see an image "straight up".

kompressor wrote in post #11571792
If I could sell my version of LR3, I probably would, but I got the teacher version. I don't print my own images, never do slideshows, and never post web galleries where I have to make the template.

What do you do with the images then? (serious question)

kompressor wrote in post #11571792
It seems ironic to me that I heard a lot of bad reviews and dismissals of Bridge before I even knew what the program was, and then I used it, and absolutely love it.

Bridge is nice. But not really comparable to LR. And it does allow things that LR doesn't (image processor or Dr. Browns scripts make it very useful for instance)

I'll try the capslock method. Hope it works with color ratings too, I actually like to use those.

What do I do with the images? I send quite a bit to the printers. I sell as much as I can, either personally on SkyDrive or just recently, starting using SmugMug. (Yeah, the LR3 to smugMug thing works pretty good) The rest just end up archived. I'll go back through them years from now and wish my kids weren't growing up so fast and then I'll laugh at what I thought were good photos at the time.

LR3 lacks tangibility for me. If I want to share just one image from a set, I resent having to export it first, then email it. I'm perfectly happy clicking the original and just letting Mail scale the image down.

I did find some more educational resources last night and there's some new stuff that I do like. Maybe a year from now I'll be a die-hard Lightroomer and laugh at myself for ever considering abandoning it.

Back to the original question, it took me about 1 hour to become comfortable with LR. I don't mean I mastered it in 1 hour, I still bought Martin Evening's and Kelby's books, I'm still learning. But after about an hour LR made sense and felt comfortable.

Contrast that to PS which I got at the same time. I've bought books, I've done tutorials and Linda.com, I've spent more time working on PS than I have on LR but I can't say I'm comfortable with it even now.

Starting to get the hang of this. I just have to let go the notion of setting up all my own folders and doing my own organization.

Quick question. When I import to LR, it gives the option to back up, which I want to do. But, if I back up 750 shots from a game, then delete 650 of them on my computer, how do I sync the backup so that it only stores my keepers???

Idon't use the backup when importing option -- not just for that reason but because I hear about naming issues and such. I Import into an internal drive "parent" folder, naming my shoot folders and files as I import, do short-term processing/culling, then I move the folders onto an external drive and back them up at the same time.

tonylong wrote in post #11612443
Idon't use the backup when importing option -- not just for that reason but because I hear about naming issues and such. I Import into an internal drive "parent" folder, naming my shoot folders and files as I import, do short-term processing/culling, then I move the folders onto an external drive and back them up at the same time.

I need to try working this way next time I have a larger shoot...

Just curious Tony but where to you keep your Catalog files? On the same drive with the catalog itself or do you leave them on your internal drive? Any noticeable speed advantage one way or the other?

tonylong wrote in post #11612443
Idon't use the backup when importing option -- not just for that reason but because I hear about naming issues and such. I Import into an internal drive "parent" folder, naming my shoot folders and files as I import, do short-term processing/culling, then I move the folders onto an external drive and back them up at the same time.

If you set up LR to backup every time you close it, would this accomplish the same thing?

I don't want to have to manually back up my keepers to external drive because I know the one time I forget to do this, something will crash.

kompressor wrote in post #11612555
If you set up LR to backup every time you close it, would this accomplish the same thing?

I don't want to have to manually back up my keepers to external drive because I know the one time I forget to do this, something will crash.

As I understand it, if you do it as you describe, you eventually get a drive full of old backups as LR does not overwrite previous backups.

I also simply "mirror" my external drives (about every three to five days) which only adds new content instead of creating an entirely new chunk of data.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #11612462
I need to try working this way next time I have a larger shoot...

Just curious Tony but where to you keep your Catalog files? On the same drive with the catalog itself or do you leave them on your internal drive? Any noticeable speed advantage one way or the other?

I keep my catalog folder as well as my Lightroom/Camera Raw Cache on my internal "data drive" -- it's beg enough for that, non-critical apps, and for current shoots and then to have plenty of space for "scratch disk" use. And, using the internal drive is faster for such stuff.

kompressor wrote in post #11612555
If you set up LR to backup every time you close it, would this accomplish the same thing?

I don't want to have to manually back up my keepers to external drive because I know the one time I forget to do this, something will crash.

The LR regular backup is just for the catalog -- previews and metadata (edits, keywords and such). It does not back up your images. I prefer to do that myself, as I mentioned above, but you can use external software to do that automatically on a regular basis.

I'll let you know when it finally happens. I keep learning more everytime I use it.

Like Jay said...

I do the same thing. The DLink box is connected to the wireless router and I use SyncToy to literally copy the changes from my work drive to the two raid drives in the DLink box.

andrew748 wrote in post #11561790
still using LR2.7.0.2 (is it me or is that also a stardate?)

Not actually relevant, but hilarious!

tkbslc wrote in post #11562267
That's why I demo everything before I buy. Lightroom has a 30 day demo. After 2 weeks I never wanted to look at it again. It may be the industry standard, but I would only use it if forced by an employer. It jut doesn't work the way I think.

I think you summed it up at the end there, it's a matter of what's comfortable for you. Personally, I tried for ages to like Bridge, but I find it to be cumbersome and ridiculously useless as a tool. I immediately took to LR cataloging and have loved it ever since.

2000Z28M6 wrote in post #11562407
Hi there..I gave lightroom about 3 days before I started to see the potential. I didnt like it at first because it was different, different from the workflow I had become accustomed. It took me a little over a day of reading and tinkering until I started getting really comfy with adjustments.

Also accurate, sometimes new stuff just takes time.

tonylong wrote in post #11562086
It's important that you wade through that reading! Lightroom is a whole different workflow from Photoshop and the Kelby book helps walk you through it.

I've only thumbed through the Kelby book, but Martin Evening has a GREAT book on Lightroom that I recommend wholeheartedly.

I agree with the Evening book as well, and let's also throw in the "Missing Manual" book by Victoria Bampton! Each of these is worth having and reading. Lightroom is so straightforward it seems "simple", but there is a lot packed in there and different authors can show different insights.

In fact, Lightroom Help is the official User Guide, and I get the idea that it's the most neglected LR resource out there. But I have copies on both of my computers with desktop icons and I find myself opening it frequently in the context of these forum discussions, and then reading through a section and learning something new.

For me just starting out and really no real exp with photo editing software. I have fell in love with LR.Have only used it about 3 weeks. Everything i have learned about it has came from here and links. First week i really had doubts about it. I just really struggled getting my head around it but the last few days i am starting to see some light up ahead . Here is one from this site that really helped me.https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=929170 There is a bunch of really good info out there just got to force yourself to read it and try what they show you how to do or come up with your own little system..