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Share image and adjustments with another system

New Here ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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I'm working on a collection of 70-year-old archival B&W images (scans from negatives). Adjustments include a bezillion dust fixes and custom curves, some masking. A friend has a setup with big calibrated monitors and an Epson large-format archival printer. I'm hoping to bring some files to his place and print with his system. (Both of us have Adobe Photography subscriptions. And we both have Macs.)

 

My hope is to make additional adjustments with his setup, then print, then bring the adjustments back to my system for use in the future, preferably as a virtual copy, or something that wouldn't overwrite the version I currently have. 

 

I expect this will mean saving an xmp sidecar file, or exporting a dmg. But I'm not clear about how to export. Or how to bring it back into my machine later.

 

Any help anybody can offer would be very much appreciated.

 

Steve 

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Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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Hi Steve,

 

OK, lots to talk about. I've done a lot of this (except the printing part) and I can think of several options for you.

 

First off scanning in B&W has a bunch of mixed issues: on one hand the images have a much smaller storage footprint and that's good, but there are time when you do need that extra RBG data. You don't mention this but IF any of your images have the silver reducing out, you can do a pretty good job of repair of this IF the image was scanned in RBG, but if it's 8 (or 16) bit (grayscale), it's too late. For more info on this see this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEWzCIVoxqY

 

Next question: did you scan into JPG or TIF? I hope it's TIF.

 

Next question: how were you getting the images over to his place? IF you have your whole setup (images and catalog) on an external drive, that's best because then you can just pick up the drive, go over to his place, do whatever, last minute things you want, and then when you come home you just bring your drive with you. BTW, if you need to purchase a new drive, I strongly recommend that you do not use a USB powered drive for this. Those are intended for intermediate use, not the constant use that LRC will do. As such, I suggest you get a "desktop" model, one that plugs into a power outlet. And FWIW, I have a 4 TB drive for my images AND my backup.

 

If everything is on your hard drive, here's an OK snapshot of what you need to do to bring over your images to an external drive:

https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-move-your-lightroom-library-to-an-external-drive/

 

I say "OK" because he makes the point about keeping your catalog on your drive and doesn't explain how to do that, but otherwise, it's good. (FWIW, I've had my catalog ON my external drive since LR 3, I prefer to have everything together all in one folder.) Let me add here that I also have another external drive that I back up everything from the first drive at least once a week. And since you're using a Mac, I STRONGLY encourage you to get Chronosync, it's the best backup software there is, especially for this kind of thing.

 

Here's another article talking about moving images AND the catalog. It's worth reading both of these to see the points they bring up.

 

https://www.colesclassroom.com/how-to-move-lightroom-catalog-to-external-hard-drive/

 

Actually, at this point let me stop here and wait for subsequent questions.

 

Good luck!

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New Here ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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Thanks, Gary. To clarify -- these are raw files that came from a Sony A7II. I have a rig with a negative carrier & macro lens that turns it into a very respectable 24 megapixel scanner. 

 

I'm not eager to move the whole library & catalog and I'm not eager to show my friend how to work with a different catalog and library, on the theory that if I mess anything up for him, I will lose the ability to print with his system.

 

I was thinking of doing this with the sidecar XML file, or via a DMG export. But I also see now that I can create a new catalog with a few images and save that on a drive. I can then bring that catalog back and only import the metadata, and do so as a copy if necessary.

 

Any thoughts about those options?

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Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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@SteveC24 wrote:

I'm not eager to move the whole library & catalog and I'm not eager to show my friend how to work with a different catalog and library…But I also see now that I can create a new catalog with a few images and save that on a drive. I can then bring that catalog back and only import the metadata, and do so as a copy if necessary.

 

To bring just a subset of images to the other site, you can:

  1. In the Library module, select all the images (or folders or collections) that you want to bring. 
  2. Choose File > Export as Catalog, make sure Export Negative Files is selected, and click Export Catalog. You can export directly to portable storage if it’s connected. 
  3. Take the exported catalog and images to the remote location, open it there, and do your editing and printing from that catalog. 

 

Lightroom-Classic-Export-as-Catalog.jpg

The above example says I’m exporting 3110 photos because I selected several collections. You won’t need to generate Smart Previews because for printing you need the original files, so the only required option is Export Negative Files (which means originals). Include Available Previews is not required, but could save time generating previews at the other site.

 

When you come back: 

  1. Open your main Lightroom Classic catalog.
  2. Choose File > Import from Another Catalog (NOT Import Photos and Video). 
  3. Select options that will merge in the edits from your portable catalog. You don’t need to bring in or replace any images, because the images in the catalog you took to the other location came from the main catalog and already exist on your computer. You just need to merge in the edits made at the remote location. 

More information here: Using Import from Another Catalog to Merge

 

The advantage of taking images plus a portable catalog is that it remembers everything: edits, metadata, and especially catalog-level info that is not stored in individual image metadata, such as virtual copies and membership in collections and print jobs.

 

You could bring individual images exported as DNG or with XMP sidecar files, but this will be most practical if they all come from the same folder. If you need to bring images from different folders, then when you come back you will need to manually move each folder’s changed images/sidecars back into each of their folders on the main computer. The more folders they came from, the more work that would be. But a catalog remembers all that for you.

 

If you have a large number of images to take, test this workflow with a few images to make sure you understand how it all works first.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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Steve,

 

I like what Conrad is saying and I agree with your comment in response to mine as well.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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Just want to add that if you bring any Photoshop or other non-raw files (such as TIFF), any of those files that are edited at the other location do need to be merged back into your main computer. Transferring just metadata edits works only for raw files, of course.

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New Here ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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Conrad, that's great. Exactly what I needed, and very helpful to have the screenshot.

 

On my friend's machine, I assume I'm simply opening the catalog and working with it. Making adjustments as needed & printing. Correct?

 

When I come home, I import the catalog, without the images, and choose to have the new edits treated as virtual copies. Also correct?

 

Many thanks to both of you for your thoughtful attention.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2021 Jun 02, 2021

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@SteveC24 wrote:

When I come home, I import the catalog, without the images, and choose to have the new edits treated as virtual copies. Also correct?


 

As I mentioned afterwards, if they are all raw images then it’s fine to merge just the edits into the original files in the main catalog, but if pixel files (PSD, TIFF) were altered then the option to replace those should be selected in the Import from Catalog dialog box shown in the link.

 

The Preserve Old Settings as Virtual Copies option is fine if you want it; I think Import from Catalog normally updates the History of the originals which is usually what I want.

 

It’s because of all these potential complications that it’s a good idea to set up a test main catalog and test portable catalog with a test folder set of images, and go through the whole round trip, to see if everything happens the way you expect, or if you have to work out what settings are going to do what you want. It’s almost too easy to flip a switch the wrong way and mess up a lot of images.

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New Here ,
Jun 03, 2021 Jun 03, 2021

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Okay, great. Many thanks, again. Super helpful.

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