Want to Collaborate Using LR CC or LR with a Team

[SCOTTeVESTceo]

I have a very large library of images and videos, ranging from hi-res DSLR images to very low res images/videos taken on my Treo 15 years ago and everything in between.

I have NEVER properly reviewed them, much less organized, tagged, etc.  But now I am starting a new business based upon the inspiration of my blind and deaf poodle Margaux, see www.facebook.com/yaymargaux/ and www.yaymargaux.com.

Thus, we need to cull out the poodle pictures and images, tag, edit, crop, and ultimately share them digitally and some in print too.

I have a team of people ready to do this, but am struggling with the best way.  Initially, we started by using Lightroom Classic with Dropbox, but the sync'ing and saving metadata and dealing with some very large files became unwieldy, so I am thinking that perhaps LR CC is the best solution.

I have some concerns, however, namely:

• Can multiple people tag/rate etc. from a single Album? It seems that you can only do this when signed into your account, and there are limitations on how many instances can be signed in simultaneously on a Desktop, but I believe there are no such limitation for mobile/tablet devices though. So, if true, I could have 2 instances of desktop computers in different locations but many iPhones/Androids/Tablets working in same catalog simultaneously, right? Ideally, we could be doing this on multiple Desktops, but not sure if that is possible.
• Can videos be used in LR CC. I am almost certain they can, but not sure if the resolution is compromised/compressed.
• Can you overlay graphics/logos using LR CC, like www.canva.com allows, for simple edits and templates?
• I know LR CC doesn't have video editing built in, but would love to know your recommendations to for online videos editing that is connected to Adobe suite.
• If I am using my iPhone to take images, and my iCloud settings are configured to optimize disk space, seems that I will need to sync my Desktop full resolution images from iPhone with LR CC. Not a question but rather a statement.
• Are there any safeguards for accidental deletions by someone?
• What is the best workflow for this? Flagging/Approving/Separate Albums?  Wondering if others have figured out something that works for them that I can copy.
• Should I initiate the workflow in LR Classic or start directly in LR CC?  Up until now, I have been using LR Classic, but seems that doesn't make sense.
• Which Tutorial Videos do you recommend my team watch.

I am sure there are other questions I may have but for now this is it, unless you think of something I haven't thought of.

I wish Adobe would design something that contemplates this workflow collaboration as I can't images I am the only one with this desire.

Sincerely,

Scott

[Jao vdL · Accepted solution]

There is no good way to collaborate the way you want to in Lightroom CC or Classic. The program is simply not designed to do this. It is meant for a single photographer to organize their work, not for groups of people. For what you want I would suggest you look into Apple's iCloud photos or Google photos or a web service like smugmug, zenfolio, etc.. The iCloud and google things will allow the team to do simple edits to the pictures and work collaboratively. Lightroom might work if you hack it and you have only one or two other persons on the team and you are able to strictly coordinate but it does not scale. There are professional photo asset management systems that do scale to larger groups of people but they are very costly and need some serious infrastructure.

Some answers to your specific questions:

>Can multiple people tag/rate etc. from a single Album?

Yes, you can do this by using the web gallery feature. Ratings and comments will sync back. The people will not use Lightroom, they will open a website and do that there. If you want to do it in a app, you can in principle give everybody the password to the same CC account but that is contrary to Adobe's software license and is fraught with problems such as accidental deletion that is unrecoverable so I would strongly recommend against that.

>Can videos be used in LR CC

Yes but only limited formats. I don't think it gets lowered in resolution.

>Can you overlay graphics/logos using LR CC

No. You can do simple watermarks in some places but not generally.

>recommendations to for online videos editing that is connected to Adobe suite.

Nothing like that exists. Adobe has a new CC video app that syncs across devices called premiere Rush which is great but won't cross over between adobe accounts.

>If I am using my iPhone to take images, and my iCloud settings are configured to optimize disk space, seems that I will need to sync my Desktop full resolution images from iPhone with LR CC. Not a question but rather a statement.

The iCloud settings have nothing to do with Lightroom CC. They do impact iCloud photo library (see top answer). To get images in Lightroom on your phone, you import them into Lightroom CC or you simply shoot using the Lightroom camera inside the app. Lightroom on your phone automatically manages space and offloads images you haven't looked at in a while.

> Are there any safeguards for accidental deletions by someone?

Not sure what you mean but if you for example give everybody the password to a single account (the only way to currently do what you want using Lightroom) anybody can delete images and they will disappear everywhere. Lightroom CC does not have a trash bin feature to undo deletions. They are gone if that happens.

> What is the best workflow for this? Flagging/Approving/Separate Albums?  Wondering if others have figured out something that works for them that I can copy.

Only thing that sort of works is a Lightroom CC web gallery. Otherwise use a non-adobe tool that is web/cloud based.

>Should I initiate the workflow in LR Classic or start directly in LR CC?

Both will work for CC web galleries. Classic has many features that CC does not (yet) have such as printing, virtual copies, hierarchical keywords, panorama stitching, easy gps tagging, etc. etc. etc.

> Which Tutorial Videos do you recommend my team watch.

Before going through training, make sure you have the right tool for what you want to do. For the collaborative photo work you describe, you might be far better off with another product than Lightroom and a web based tool might be best. iCloud photo library and Google photos for example have easy sharing features and most people already have this.

If you go with Lightroom, Adobe makes very good training videos available for free:

Lightroom Training Videos « Julieanne Kost's Blog​

Lightroom Classic tutorials | Learn how to use Lightroom Classic CC

Lightroom tutorials | Learn how to use Adobe Lightroom CC