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#1 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 28 May 2015 - 10:11 PM

Help! I bit the bullet and subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud today. I haven't looked at any tutorials as of yet, but thought I would ask the group for your advice on getting started with LR. Do you have any recommendations for links to tutorials or general information. I've only imported one of my existing folders into the application at this time.

I will be using LR in conjunction with Photoshop (several years with Photoshop).

Thanks in advance!
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#2 dorocks

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 04:07 AM

Adobe's videos are very good. I have looked at many. They run from basic to advanced techniques.

Pause and rewind while having the Lightroom open and try the steps.

 

http://tv.adobe.com/product/lightroom/

 

http://keithbarnes.smugmug.com/

 


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#3 Lighthawk

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 05:41 AM

I migrated from PS to LR about five years ago.  You will be fine and, if you are like me, lazy.  I hardly ever go back to PS anymore, other than for layers.  The LR develop module [ctrl-R] has wonderful non-destructive edit tools that control everything: white balance, highlight/shadow, sharpening, etc.   Once you apply a series of edits in the Develop module, it's very quick to sync those settings in the Library module [Ctrl-G] across other images in the folder.   Use the metadata sort to group photos by ISO or other attributes and apply your adjustments.

 

The trick to LR is thinking through your catalog strategy.  You can only open one catalog at a time.  Very large catalogs can become cumbersome.  I've defaulted to one catalog per year.  I could probably get more mileage if I used Collections more.  I believe Collections can span Catalogs.

 

When in doubt, hit Cntrl-E and you can edit in PS!  The cool thing, is when you save from PS, it will auto import back into LR!

 

My favorite attribute of LR is the ability to keyword images.  Again, you can select individual or group select images, and apply keywords across the files.  

 

Export functions are very nice also, with ability to drag and drop to social media or Smugmug or whatever plugin.  Export offers control over resolution, watermarking, file naming, etc.  

 

I'm a hacker, but I use LR at least several times a week.  There's a lot of tutorials out there, but if you get stuck, send me a PM.

 

Andy


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#4 Stalking Light

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 11:10 AM

I switched to LR when it first came out. Search the web for tutorials, there are lots out there. Get the Nik/Google bundle too if you don't already have it. The new HDR and pano functions are pretty good as well.
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#5 pvstoy

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 02:35 PM

Just remember you have to tell Lightroom where you have the images located and after that move them around inside Lightroom . Lightroom only knows what is inside its program. If you move image files outside of Lightroom it is lost as to where they are and you just need to right click on the directory and go find them for Lightroom.

We use one catalog and size is over 650,000 images and is ok. We do us the collection feature and really like that, it allows you to have collections of different subjects and the slick thing is you can have the same image in different collections, but not having different images to keep track of. Create a copy is a real advantage so you can try different edits on the same raw image.

The raw image is a raw image, you can't mess it up. Lightroom just holds the edits you want until you export, it is non destructive and is the same raw prossesor as Adobe camera raw for PS.

As Andy has mentioned the ability to keyword images is powerful when you want to do a search. Looking for ibis images then if you key worded all your ibis then you can show all of them and pict your top images. You can search on multiple topics.

By default Lightroom has something turned off that you should turn on. Light can save a sidecar file along side your raw file that contains all your edits, stars and colors along with keywords. You need to turn this feature on! If your catalog fails you still have everything you need to rebuild the catalog. I have deleted a image from catalog by accicedent and was able to go to a back up drive and grab both files and re import them into Lightroom without starting over with the edits.

Grab a drink and sit back with the free help movies on Adobe web site. The gal lura? Will show you some things. There is always buy help movies from people but start with free, then decide if you need more help. I'm on a first leg of a trip and may not be much help after a while. Good luck, have fun, just remember Lightroom only knows what is going on in its own little box, work inside the box. Cheers.
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#6 ski3pin

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 03:17 PM

I'm just starting with exploring lightroom so all this info is quite helpful. I appreciate the topic, thanks!


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#7 MarkBC

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 03:21 PM

I've used LR exclusively for 6 or 8 years or so and several version upgrades (though still on 5.7).  I like it a lot.

 

However, I've only been using it for raw image edits (Developing) and have barely touched the image organization features.

I need to get organized!  :rolleyes:

 

Typically I transfer photo-files from a card to my computer with the Transfer function inside Nikon ViewNX.  Then I casually scan the recent transfer, still in ViewNX.  If I see a few images that I want to process and share soon I select those images and then use an option to open in Lightroom where I Develop.  If it's something I want to share on the Internet I then Export as jpegs, etc.


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#8 MarkBC

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 03:33 PM

I've benefited by online LR tutorials, especially when I really got into it a few years ago.
When I got LR version 5 I also bought 2 -- yes TWO -- books (Kindle versions) of tutorials/guides for LR 5:  one by Scott Kelby and one by Martin Evening.  Which do I recommend? Ummm....I'll let you know when I read them.  :P

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#9 Stalking Light

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 06:28 PM

Excellent advice about saving sidecar files, I lost a catalog or two when I still ran windoze, no problems yet since I switch to mac some years back but that doesn't mean I'm bulletbroof. ;-)


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#10 pvstoy

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Posted 29 May 2015 - 07:01 PM

When I import and I do import all our images, I'll have lightroom rename, add copyright and custom edit selections. We have directories by year. Subdirectory by month like, 06 Africa. I have lightroom set to create sub directorys by date. You need to get a plan and be organized to find images later. All this is done on the import process.
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