Flagging RAW and JPEG simultaneously, how to?

[The Unmasked Professor]

Hi, I know that I can load JPEGs into the catalogue either as sidecars or as separate files. My question is somewhat different.

I like to load them as separate files; sometimes I like to do a JPG slideshow or to compare the JPG to the RAW. Anyway, my concern is flagging, rating, and tagging photos. With two versions of each image (RAW + JPEG) in the catalogue, it seems like I have to flag, tag, etc. each file separately. 

Is there a way to jointly tag the two versions of an image (RAW and JPEG) at once? Thanks for any suggestions.

[dj_paige]

Maybe I'm missing something in your description, but you just have to select both photos (and if there are more than two, select as many as you need), and then tag/flag/add metadata, your tag/flag/metadata will be applied to both. If it is not applied to both, set the option shown below

[The Unmasked Professor]

You are right but that requires manually selecting two at a time, right? But when I have 1000 photos to tag and flag, that is not much fun. What I'd like to do is use auto-advance to flag photos as I go through them, and each flag/reject, etc. captures two at a time (JPEG and RAW) without having to select two at a time.

[JohanElzenga]

You are right but that requires manually selecting two at a time, right? But when I have 1000 photos to tag and flag, that is not much fun. What I'd like to do is use auto-advance to flag photos as I go through them, and each flag/reject, etc. captures two at a time (JPEG and RAW) without having to select two at a time.

By @The Unmasked Professor

That is currently not possible, so file a feature request in the 'Ideas' section. Do search first to see if somebody else already requested it, and if so add your vote an do not start a new thread.

[john beardsworth]

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@The Unmasked Professor wrote:

What I'd like to do is use auto-advance to flag photos as I go through them, and each flag/reject, etc. captures two at a time (JPEG and RAW) without having to select two at a time.

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You can't do that.

The sidecar method is more efficient, and choosing Embedded + Sidecar in the Import dialog means that you initially see the camera-rendered JPEG, if that is behind your desire to import both.

But if you do import both, my Syncomatic plugin syncs flags and other metadata between the corresponding pairs of files.

[richardplondon]

IMO this proposal if implemented would rather undercut the Catalog paradigm, and be an ill fit with its logic. If the separate Raw and JPG are meant to be regarded as independent and not one,  then they should not act as if they were one. How is LrC to distinguish between actions that are meant to differentiate them (like adding a keyword which makes one or the other show up in a Smart Collection) from actions that are meant to apply in common to both (like adding a keyword which relates to the original photo's capture). 

Once you include the possibility than one or the other may exist (virtually) as several alternative treatments represented by different thumbnails in the Catalog - the question complicates further. Again, virtual copies share the use of one underlying file but are specifically made in order to be independently editable and independently manageable. 

[The Unmasked Professor · Accepted solution]

Thank you everyone for their replies and suggestions. I'll check out John's Syncomatic plugin. In response to Richard, I think I need to better understand how to work with Embedded Sidecar files (not sure that'll help me with JPEG and RAWs that I catalogued as separate files already). I get Richard's point but can't entirely agree: sometimes I would prefer to work with the JPEGs alone (such as viewing, slideshows, etc.), and sometimes I even prefer editing the JPEGs rather than the RAWs. Also, sometimes I prefer using my SOOC JPEGs (especially those taken with my Fuji rather than Sony) and keep the RAWs for those occasions when I want to re-interpret the image. But in all such cases, I see organizational advantages to being able to "in one shot" simultaneously tag (including rating, keywording, etc.) multiple files with the same root name, whether JPEG, RAW, or both, and in other cases, treat them as fully separate files.

Any other thoughts or suggestions, including how I might accomplish this goal using embedded sidecars (with which I am still not all that familar) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all!

[richardplondon]

To be clear, I see absolutely no issue with working on JPGs and on Raws appearing separately and being edited and managed separately. For each one, that is no different, than if this had been the only format captured.

My only hesitation is with having changes that you may apply onto (say) an imported JPG IMG12345.JPG, then automatically go and look for an imported Raw that had a matching filename (IMG12345.NEF) and then repeat the same change onto that one also.

This may indeed sometimes be the desired behaviour, but will equally very often not be - complicated as I say by the possibility that Virtual Copies may also exist relating to these two files. I doubt that there is any reliable way to specify and then implement the difference between these cases.

Either these two are to be independent, or they are not - there is no comfortable midpoint between.