Integrating Lightroom and Bridge

Just a thought from a user of Lightroom from Beta in 2006, initial release in 2007, through to Version 5 in 2014 to the transition to LrC, users of Bridge/ACR have displayed the most problems in a transition to Lightroom.

Trying to get Lightroom to function like Bridge/ Camera raw will only cause frustration. To wit they do not "talk" to each other, Lightroom communicates with the info in the Catalog file, as far as Lightroom is concerned that is where the info resides.

Bridge/Camera raw requires the info to be stored with the file, they cannot read from or write to the Lightroom Catalog. That is why you have use an option "automatically write metadata to xmp" or manually use the write / read from the file option to communicate.

Make a choice depending on your workflow requirements use one option or the other, either one will allow you to get where you need to be, trying to use both will only lead to frustration.

It would seem you could get *some integration between the two, using startup scripts, if you could figure out the scripting for lightroom.  Since I've seen no devkit for it myself (though I know there is one since people script plugins for it all the time--though mostly for exports), I couldn't be certain how to actually code the darn thing.

The process (from what you are describing) would go like this:

Browse for image(s) in BRIDGE, select image(s), get file locations of selected image(s) [this would be a list for a looping section to work each file], put up a text box for naming the new collection Lightroom will use, check if Lightroom Desktop open (Open it if not), check if collection exists (create new if not), import file(s) to collection.

If anybody knows how to code this in a script, you could probably use it in bridge to send data to a holding collection in Lightroom where you can then handle the camera-raw develop processes directly.

Again, I do not code, but I have begun some study in that direction.

In the meanwhile, those who wish to work this way can do the following:

-----Put in a memory chip and partition the disk in sizes that match DVDs with one called Canon, then other called LIGHTROOM, and any excess space called CACHE.

-----Inside the CANON partition Create a folder named with a number (eg 100)

                This is important, as each numbered folder will represent something different in the camera, usually a lens change, so you can separate images this way as well, just remember to keep their folder structure when you import them

-------On the Lightroom partition create a folder called LIGHTROOM (this will make it easier to see in lightroom later.

Bridge can copy or move images to the CANON folder without losing anything, and you can separate them into numbered folders to differentiate them for processing

--------In Bridge, you should mark the files with keywords before you send them to the numbered folder on the CANON partition, usually something descriptive but short so it's easier to remember, no caps, and something easy to search; now just copy them over

--------Remember to have Lightroom save the xmp and metadata into the file, not into sidecar files

--------When you open lightroom, you can create a new catalog and save it to the LIGHTROOM folder on the disk

--------Import your files, do your work save the catalog

--------You can now copy your files back to their original location however you want; if they are in different folders, you will have to do them one at a time... ...total pain... ...Best to move things to a single folder then move them around later based on keywording in bridge.  Keywords are a very big timesaver.

Partitions sized at about 3gb are good for DVD (single layer), 7gb for double layer, 18-23gb for standard bluray, 48 for double layer, and 98-120 for tripple layer bdxl.

I think that Adobe has done a disservice by including Bridge as part of Creative Cloud without warning Lightroom Classic users to avoid using it to move or rename Lightroom images. What is sorely needed is an upgrade to the Library module in Lightroom Classic to include all the functionality of Bridge.

Guys,

Is totally clear  what each  application serve for. For me, the most interesting thing is using a powerful search of Bridge, after finding the photo is know in what LightRoom catalogs the photo is.

So if I understand well, you would be adding a step to your workflow, pre-lightroom. The aim being to keep your Lightroom catalog lean by only importing what you need.

So you just need a way to send files from Br to Lr. Drag and drop works, as pointed out elsewhere.

Br can also be extended through "Launchers" (and in other ways) so it might be possible to write a script to add the functionality you require.

cpgilles wrote: Why not just have an open or import into Lightroom menu.  Yes I know you can open them in Photoshop using Camera Raw but for most of my images I prefer to use Lightroom when I don't have to make any "creative" edit with Photoshop.

If I'm understanding correctly, you want a command in Bridge to send selected files to Lightroom? That's a reasonable request, it sounds somewhat like the existing File > Place command in Bridge that sends files directly into After Effects, InDesign, Photoshop ,and Illustrator, or the bottom of the Tools menu that can send files to specific features in Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

Bridge may not have that right now, but there are still things you can do. I use Lightroom and Bridge together a lot, and what really helps is that both programs support drag-and-drop very well. If you're looking at some images in Bridge that you want to see in Lightroom, select and drag them from Bridge, and drop them on the Lightroom window or program icon. Any time you drop images on Lightroom it will pop up the Import dialog box. The Import dialog box defaults to Add, so if you just want to add them where they're stored, click Import. The short version of that is, drag from Bridge, drop on Lightroom, click the Import button in the dialog box that pops up.

I could very well be wrong, but I don't believe you have fully grasped the concept of Lightroom. Lightroom is not a simple file browser like you have in Bridge. With Lightroom, you select the images that you want to work on in Lightroom and then import them. They become part of your Lightroom catalog, and that catalog is what stores all of the adjustments you make using Lightroom. After you import images then Lightroom "remembers" where they are located on your computer. So, with Lightroom, you can control what images are part of your Lightroom catalog. The catalog is the central file in Lightroom.

The idea of having Lightroom act as a file browser has been brought up in this forum and other forums many times before, and so far Adobe hasn't done it, and I doubt they will. This runs against the entire underlying concept of Lightroom.

Nevertheless, you should file a formal feature suggestion, or add your voice to those that exist already.