Using Lightroom as a showcase for my LR Classic Raw cataloque

[Ben Jenss]

Hi. I've been a Lightroom (Classic) user for over a decade. Never used Lightroom CC. I have a big catalogue with mostly RAW files, because that's my preffered workflow; shoot raw and post process in LR Classic on iMac. I have a iPhone and recently got myself an iPad. And I have the Adobe Photo subscription.

I've been using the "publishing folder" feature in LRC to drop files onto which are then automatically converted to jpegs and saved to a folder on the mac. This folder is then being watched by Apple Photos which imports them automatically, and share them on iCloud. This lets me pick up my iPhone anywhere and see and show off my images with Photos app. Pretty neat.

Now, on my new iPad I thought I'd try the LR CC app, and I thought maybe it would take over the job, and I would be able to utilize the 20GB of storage I have with Adobe. It seems it won't be able to.

First, only collections can be sync'ed. I can't find a way to, say, sync all photos from the last 12 months. And it's very manual.

Secondly, with 50MB raw files, bandwidth and storage would be wery limited.

I'm not looking to do any editing or anything with LR CC (I do that on calibrated monitor at home), just have my pictures with me and maybe show them off on screens with Airplay now and then.

So, it looks like I'll just stay with my Photos method then, and that I don't really have any use for Lightroom on my iPad.

Any thoughts?

[Curt Wrigley]

For your requirements, I think you already have the best workflow.

To Migrate folders from classic to cc; you can rightclick any folder and choose make folder into collection.  Then you can make a catalog out of that collection.

But your issue is you want to have all your pics available at anytime on any device.  That will work well with cc; but you will have to pay for enough storage to put them all in the cloud.  Calulate how much storage you will need by totalling your raw files and see if it is within your 20G.   My guess you will need to up to 1Tb or more.  That gets a little expensive 

[Rob_Cullen]

I don't really have any use for Lightroom on my iPad.

I disagree! (iPhone user)

This is my workflow-

1) In Lr-Classic: Create Collections of any photos I want to see on my iPhone in Lr-Mobile.

eg. A Collection might contain ALL my photos from 2019, or a recent holiday.

yes, you can only sync photos in Collections it's very manual. But not difficult to create Collections!

2) Set Lr-Classic to Sync, Set the Collections to Sync.

Secondly, with 50MB raw files.  Lr-Classic will only sync 'Proxy' files to the Cloud. These are sometimes called 'Smart Previews', and they will only be 2-3 megaBytes in size, so bandwidth is rarely a problem. The proxy files are 2560px 'long edge'.

I would be able to utilize the 20GB of storage I have with Adobe. It seems it won't be able to.

Photos synced to the Cloud from a Lr-Classic Collection do NOT occupy any space of your 20Gb Cloud space. Read again-  NO space whatsoever!

I have 1466 photos synced from Lr-Classic and no space used! except for-

The exception- If you Import photos or take photos with the iPad/iPhone Lr camera- these DO occupy their full-size in the Cloud 20Gb storage. (I do not use my iPhone greatly)

3) Then Share albums (Collections) from Lr-Web with friends and family and create a Portfolio site. And I can edit all the synced photos on my iPhone (or iPad).

Really it all sounds hard/complicated, but once you have started you will enjoy the photos on your iPad.

Here is one of my shared links to photos from a synced collection. https://adobe.ly/2WUGvhp

[Ben Jenss]

WobertC, Thanks alot!

That's very much good info, especially on the smart previews and the cloud storage.

I'll be exploring this some more, and I don't see why I can't use both my automatated sync with Photos method and sharing collections in Classic. After all, my images in iCloud/Photos also show up in LR CC.

Thanks again.

[Ben Jenss]

I must add that when I said that Photos "watched" the folder, that's not entirly correct; I set a "folder action" , in Finder, a Automator script on the folder that "sends" the files to Photos library when they are put there.

Photos can't be set to watch a folder. Which is a lacking, in my opinion.

[Rob_Cullen]

I don't see why I can't use both my automatated sync with Photos

a Automator script on the folder that "sends" the files to Photos library

Reading your posts with these comments suggests you are also trying to use the Apple 'Photos' App as part of your system.

Using the Apple Photos App and Lightroom together will lead to complications as Lightroom Cloud and iCloud are separate systems.

An Apple user (not me!) may be able to explain better.

[Ben Jenss]

And I would have liked to have a histogram in LR CC.

[Jim Wilde]

Can I just clarify a common misconception about "only collections can be synced to the cloud". Yes, that was initially the case, but that changed a few years ago. Now you do NOT have to setup collections for the images you want to sync, you can instead simply add images to the All Synced Photographs special collection (in Classic's Catalog Panel) and they will automatically sync (smart previews) to the cloud. I have 20k images in the cloud, 8k of which are not in any collection/album.

Using the Adobe Cloud is a far easier method of carrying your photos around with you on your idevices, and one of the best features is that you are always looking at the currently edited state of them, not the point-in-time version from the last time you ran the publish/export action. I stopped publishing/exporting images for my iPhone/iPads quite a few years ago. 

[Ben Jenss]

Hi, Jim Wilde.

That's great info! So I'll simply manage what's in the cloud right there in the "All synced..."-folder. Whether it's on my mac or ipad/iphone? Imagine, simple as that.

I did find my first method handy because I could sync a smartfolder, but your tip sounds as clever as it is simple. And I'll drop Photos app alltogether.

Thank you very much.

(I'm not getting a grip on this forum quite yet. How do you quote a post you reply to? And there is a "follow" on very post, how do you follow a thread? I guess that's why I'm not getting email notifications.)

[Ben Jenss]

Another thing, Jim; I now have Lightroom CC on all my devices, I guess this is where I manage the "All synced photos", including sorting stuff in albums, which I can't do in Classic. Am I right?

[Ben Jenss]

I must say, after trying out things just a little, this seems to work just great!

I can drop photos on All Synced in Classic and use LR CC, running simultanesly on the mac, edit the smartpreviews, and it updates on raws in Classic. Thru smart previews, I can actually edit the RAWs on my mac from my ipad.

I would have liked to be able to set LR as default camera on the ipad/iphone, but it seems that's not possible.

[Ben Jenss]

And I would have liked to have a histogram in LR CC.

[Curt Wrigley]

For histogram in cloudy, press Ctrl 0 while in edit screen to toggle it on/off

[Ben Jenss]

Thanks.

I found it also in "view options".

[Rob_Cullen]

"I would have liked to be able to set LR as default camera on the ipad/iphone, but it seems that's not possible."

On my iPhone - I moved the Apple Camera icon to another screen so that [Lr] is all that appears on the main screen of the phone. It makes it an extra screen 'swipe' (or two, or three...) to get to the Apple camera.

[Michael Boreham]

"I would have liked to be able to set LR as default camera on the ipad/iphone, but it seems that's not possible."

You can have the Lightroom camera as a widget on an iPhone. That's the quickest way to access it.