Working with Two Catalogues

[WeDontByte]

Just upgraded to Elements 2022 running on Windows 11. Upgraded because Organiser Menu wouldn't work in 2021 version, then discovered it was because I was "hiding the taskbar" in Windows. Never mind!

Something I've been thinking about for a while in Organiser. I shoot all my images in Nikon RAW (NEF) and convert to jpg, etc. for family viewing! Organiser shows both images in it's grid and I have to be careful, when deciding to try enhancing an image, that I'm starting from the RAW and not an already processed image. 

So, I know I can go down "My Folders" and find the RAW images, but I wonder if having two catalogues - one for RAW and one for processed - would help or just confuse matters totally. Can't decide! Does anybody have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[MichelBParis]

You have two levels of organization:

- your own one, which is to manage the raws and the edited (rendered) versions in jpeg or psd/tiff.

- the second one which is to supply your family with a way to access and browse your selected and ready to browse versions.

I don't think your family is using the organizer to browse and select the images. So, it's not really a problem of a different catalog. There are many totally different ways to 'publish' your images such as exporting your images to dedicated photo sharing sites or creating 'version sets' in shared folders in the Cloud (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Photos, Amazon...)

So, let's start with your own management. Managing different catalogs for the same library seems irrealistic. The most important idea is to consider your raws as your digital negatives and your processed jpeg or psd/tiff rendered copies as 'version sets'. With those version sets, the catalog only shows the 'top of version set' if the sets are 'collapsed' by default. That makes organizing much easier and faster, especially to create albums and album hierarchies. If you need to re-edit from the raw and its parametric edits, it's less frequent and quite easy. You can export albums to share with your family, whetever sharing solution you have chosen (Cloud, network...)

Side note:

One question for your organization with raw files and Elements is if you are happy with only the parametric raw edits which save the 'recipe' in sidecar files and need or don't need to open in the pixel editor to use detailed or layered editing. In my case, more thatn 90% of my files don't need pixel editing. However, I have chosen to always create a jpeg version set as a kind of full res 'preview'. Reediting raws has become very rare. It's your choice. 

[Greg_S.]

My own personal preference is to shoot jpeg+raw.  When I import the files from a memory card, I use the APD with the option to automatically stack raw and jpeg files. So, only one image is viewed in the grid (unless I choose to expand the stacks). 

If I just want to quickly share a jpeg file, I can grab the jpeg file that has been stacked with the raw file. 

If I want to edit the file before sharing as a jpeg, I will take it to the editor and do a Save As in a version set.  The edited jpeg will now appear on top of a version set (which includes the raw+jpeg stack).

If I want to quickly share several files as jpegs, I use the Organizer's Instant Fix tool to open the files and make any changes.  Saving the files, then saves them as jpegs.  You only need to make the smallest change for this to work. This has become one of my go-to workflows because my raw files are generally better than the camera-processed jpegs and saving the files, using Instant Fix, gives a quick jpeg.

There are many ways to skin this cat.

[MichelBParis]

If I want to quickly share several files as jpegs, I use the Organizer's Instant Fix tool to open the files and make any changes.  Saving the files, then saves them as jpegs.  You only need to make the smallest change for this to work. This has become one of my go-to workflows because my raw files are generally better than the camera-processed jpegs and saving the files, using Instant Fix, gives a quick jpeg.

By @Greg_S.

Many thanks for the Instant Fix tip, Greg. The other usual methods to batch edit raw files into jpegs (organizer export or editing with process multiple files) don't save in version sets.

There are many ways to skin this cat.

By @Greg_S.

Indeed.