Friday, July 15, 2011

Lightroom 3 Photo Workflow: New Photos

I am so excited to have finally received my Lightroom 3 software in the mail. I was using a trial version on this laptop until it expired and then I used a trial version on the old desktop until my software arrived in the mail today!! Yay! Now I am back upstairs with my laptop and my external hard drives in tow to work on getting my photos and scrapbooking supplies in order!!

I finally think I have nailed a good workflow for purging, rating, and keywording my photos. Here are the steps as I have them worked out today!!

FOR PHOTOS THAT ARE NOT IN LIGHTROOM ALREADY:

Step 1: Import from camera card to Lightroom to the annual folder.

  • Use "Everyday Photos (jpegs)" or "Everyday Photos (NEF)" import preset which will add my copyright info to the metadata as well as create a separate subfolder by date for each set of photos in the current year folder.
Step 2: By date, work through each set of photos, rejecting, rating, keywording, and captioning the entire contents of the daily folder. Delete from disk any rejected photos.
  • Rating System: 0-Stars: Nothing Special, but don't want it gone. 1-Star: Scrapworthy, supporting photos to the story; 2-Star: Focal-Point photos, Personality, or Relationship photos; 3-Star: Stunning, breathtaking, won't every get tired of looking at this one, SPECIAL
Step 3: When I have completed Step 2 for a daily folder (or if I am out of time do this with only the ones I have finished with), I will move them to the Monthly folder.

As I started to complete this process, I realized that not all my photos in my June folder were properly keyworded. I searched for empty keywords using the Text search tool and created daily subfolders inside my annual folder to remind me to process those photos. As of today, July 15th, I have 247 photos in June that need keyword checks. I guess I have should get started.

(PS I am going to track my progress on my iTouch with the "My Stats" app.)

UPDATE: Remember to keyword for "Relationships" when the photo shows that. For example, I have pics of us at the dinner table that should be keyworded with "Family Dinners" from "Everyday Life" and "My Family" from "Relationships."

Questions still lingering:
What's the best way to deal with photos already in the system?
What's the best way to check that my photos have the correct keywords?
What are the criteria I use to determine what photos to keep and what to purge? I have too many photos and want to pare down my collection.
What's the best sharing workflow?
When should I edit my pics? What pics should get edited?



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