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Heirloom Bob
Heirloom Bob
Inspiring
November 27, 2016
Question

Moving to Collection Sets and Collections

  • November 27, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 9775 views

I am working to resolve what was a bad idea and that's my filing by date folder structure in Lightroom CC.

I have a Folder with my original images and a subfolder folder of edited jpg images. In this case, Africa is the folder and Jpg Exports is the subfolder.

I have created in Collections, a Collection Set called Travel. I want a Collection then showing Africa and I want a sub collection of Africa called jpg Exports. What's the process to do this? I know I can drag Africa to the Travel Collection Set and they Africa photos will be there, but how can I get the jpg export subfolder of Africa, to the Collection as well.

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    3 replies

    FCCSBob
    FCCSBob
    Participant
    February 20, 2017

    Bob, here are my ideas/solutions compiled in MS one note. Still re-watching, but my wife struggles with the database, and this system will help. I hope. Once every so often I have to find he images all over our PC'S. Kelby's recommendations for imaging and back-up are based on his MAC OS.

    Simplified LR Catalog Storage-photos only: unedited images

    1. All original photos on one external drive (SSD)
    2. Back-up external drive-exact duplicate- HDD cloned weekly(ViseVersa)
    3. Cloud photo drive Back-up-Backblaze

    MY PHOTOS

    1. Only one photo folder i.e.- Bob Photo
    2. Within photo folder organize Topics by category of what you shoot

    Animals

    Buildings

    Competition

    Events

    Family

    Friends

    Gardens

    Landscapes

    Machines

    Macro

    Nature

    National Parks

    Other

    People

    Sports

    Training

    Travel

    Washington

    Inside Topics-photo shoot (year if you want, but metedata search will already give you the date)

    Ireland, NW Trek , etc.- Then : All,Picks,Select

    • Collection sets mimic my photos folder, add Competition as Smart Collection USING COLORS
    • PSA/TPS/FAIR COULD INCLUDE STAR RATINGS FOR ACCEPTANCES
    • Drag folders into Collections Sets to create the collections for editing
    • Save metadata on all photo's-side car for smaller selection filters(Photo Drive-All Photos-Right Click-Save Metadata
    • Migration Import does not save picks. you can select all picks then keyword as picks, then add. saves any work. Applies only to original import process

    Import new photo shoot

    • Add to collections/create new collections as needed, with much thought. Other works in most cases.
    • Use descriptive names-TPS Lemay 2017
    • NO key wording
    • Add All,Picks,Select to each new folder
    • sort your import for Picks- can be revisited as many times as needed by using All collection-new techniques, software, etc
    • Sort Picks for Select when ready
      • Star or color rating system smart collection
    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    February 20, 2017
    1. All original photos on one external drive (SSD)

    This is fine if they all fit on one external drive. What if they don't fit? Also, there's no need to put photos on an SSD, this is awfully expensive disk space for photos, and you will not benefit from the extra speed of the SSD because Lightroom doesn't work this way.

    Collection sets mimic my photos folder, add Competition as Smart Collection USING COLORS

    I don't see a value in this. If you want a structure that mimics your folders, use your folders. You gain nothing by having a second set of structures that mimic your folders, but it sure takes a lot of work to create this second set of structures.

    Migration Import does not save picks. you can select all picks then keyword as picks, then add. saves any work. Applies only to original import process

    I don't understand this at all.

    • Use descriptive names-TPS Lemay 2017
    • NO key wording

    Keywording is the most powerful organizing tool in Lightroom. This is explained above, I think the idea of not using keywords is a huge mistake. The idea of descriptive names also is the opposite of what I do. All description goes into metadata, not into folder names or file names.

    FCCSBob
    FCCSBob
    Participant
    February 20, 2017

    SSD's also provide the scratch disk, Aren't mandatory, but if you can afford it.... Kelby used WD Ultra. The Samsing T3 weighs practically nothing and you can store a gazillion images on 2TB. Not a good system for a stock photographer, or a couple of other categories. Just a good system for those who have lost track of catalogs, or actual images. You really need to see why he developed a simplified system to understand the audience. When you finish, you just close the folders so you don't movr them anymore, usually done accidently, but not always.

    ManiacJoe
    ManiacJoe
    Inspiring
    November 28, 2016

    An important question here is, do you really want the exported JPGs to be in the catalog? (This is not normal.)

    If yes, then you need to import the JPGs into the catalog, then add them to the desired collection.

    Just Shoot Me
    Just Shoot Me
    Legend
    November 28, 2016

    ManiacJoe wrote:

    An important question here is, do you really want the exported JPGs to be in the catalog? (This is not normal.)

    If yes, then you need to import the JPGs into the catalog, then add them to the desired collection.

    I disagree. When I export images to any file format, JPG, TIFF, I want them in the catalog. I use LR to see All my images. Ones I have exported to send out or post, ones I have sent to PS and saved as TIFFs, ones I have created from screen shots. That is the whole point of LR. Having all images in one place to view and manage them.

    If I didn't put exported images in the catalog how would I know which ones I had exported, converted, to some other format from the RAW file.

    I find the idea of not having exported files in the LR catalog a bit short sighted. JMHO.

    C
    crshlagor
    Known Participant
    March 8, 2021

    It would be really nice if Lightroom just let us drag a collection to another collection, automatically making a collection set and collection.  Just sayin'....

    Just Shoot Me
    Just Shoot Me
    Legend
    November 27, 2016

    Just select all of the images and Click on one of them and Drag it over to that collection name. If you want them in a Sub Collection under Africa use the Plus sign in the Collections title area and select Create collection. you will get this dialog box.

    From there you can type in a name, Place the new collection inside a collection set and a few other options.

    You should also look into using Keywords.

    Heirloom Bob
    Heirloom BobAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 28, 2016

    OK...I have a Collection Set called Travel.

    I have a folder in Lightroom called Africa. If I select all photos with the Africa folder, Lightroom will not allow me to drag them to my Travel Collection Set.

    If I create a Collection under Travel, called Africa, I can now select all images with the Africa Folder in Lightroom, drag and drop them into the Africa Collection.

    Now I have the Jpg Export Lightroom folder from Africa but I can't create a Collection within the Africa Collection for the Jpg Export.

    Manlacjoe. I already have the Jpg Exports in the catalog and want to be able to see those edits from with a Collection.

    Theresa J
    Community Expert
    Theresa JCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 28, 2016

    Bob,

    Do you understand the difference between LR folders, collections, and collection sets? In reading your questions, it's not clear to me that you understand the relationship between each of these. I think you might figure out your answer if you did. I recorded a short tutorial that explains the difference between folders and collections. You might want to watch this if you are even a little unsure about how they work. The Difference Between Lightroom Folders and Collections - YouTube

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