Dargle Digital

Basic editing in Lightroom

Go through previous job(s) if completed and remove unwanted subfolders (rejects, Lo Res JPEGs etc) if no longer required >>
Library / subfolder to be deleted / edit / select none / select all / photo / delete selected photos / delete from disk.

Right click on the folder name (folder now empty) / delete. Now might be a good time clean your cache, cookies etc and defrag. This can be running in the background while working on the next stage.

LIBRARY MODULE

Start work on the new job by grading your photos.
All the images should now be in your library (downloading, importing and backing up a job)
Go to the first one in grid view (g)/ open in Loupe view (e) / cycle through the images with the right arrow. This is the easy bit .. the obvious rejects just hit “x”, the obvious winners hit “p” for picks or give them some stars. These will have further magic done on them in PS.

Copy the rejects into the rejects subfolder inside the main job folder >>
(This process changes them to hi res jpegs for emergency use later if needed)
Library / edit / select all / select none / select by flag / select rejected / file / export / navigate to main job folder / tick “put in subfolder” / name the subfolder “rejects” / filenaming “filename” / format JPEG / quality 100% / colour space adobeRGB(1998) / don’t resize / click “export”.

Now get rid of the rejects from the main job folder >>
(Although they have been exported to the rejects folder, they are still in the catalogue and still occupy disc space in the main folder)
Those for export to the rejects folder should still be selected. Right click on one of them / delete photo / delete from disk.
Here’s another way >>
Library / select all / select none / select by flag / select rejected / photo / delete photo / delete from disk.

At this point the rejected photos are no longer in main job folder. They have been removed from the disk and LR but they have been kept in a separate folder if needed or asked for. Repeat this another couple of times until all the lemons are gone. Bad photos won’t improve your image. Get rid of them. While you are doing this process you are adding “picks” and possibly even grading the photos with stars.

Count the keepers and count the rejects. Assess.

DEVELOP MODULE
Remember that the editing is done non destructively on the original RAWs. Lightroom doesn’t touch the files, it remembers the edits you make and applies them on export.

Do colour, density, white balance, exposure correction. Usually work from the top down in the edit panel. Work quickly. Do your cropping and rotating (r), spotting (n). You can do further marking of rejects and keepers because you haven’t renamed yet. This can take a lot hours when doing nearly 1000 images but when finished export and delete any new rejects, as above.

If you run LR presets at this stage (before renumbering / renaming) you will end with with the same image but LR will give it a consecutive number when it renames.

Renumber / rename
After ALL the rejects are gone, renumber / rename the keepers. I usually have a custom name followed by a 3 digit filename, beginning 001 with no gap in the file name, for example “bridesname-001.cr2″, all lower case. The advantage of this is that you have unique filenames for your keepers and you don’t have to rename when putting them on the web.
Back into LIBRARY mode / be in the main folder / edit / select none / select all /  library / rename photos / custom name add bridesname- or jobname- /file naming drop down menu / custom / edit / remove all existing filenaming inclusions / sequence and date drop down menu / select custom name+sequence # (001) / done / OK.
You should end up with the file name described above.

If running Lightroom presets, and you want a duplicate image (with the preset run on it) sitting beside the original of the same file name, make a virtual copy and run the preset on the copy. These will export as “filename-2″.

Export edited images
All Lightroom edited images are now exported to a “completed” subfolder as DNGs (or whatever format you want) >>
LIBRARY mode / edit / select none / select all / file (or right click on a photo) / export / choose main job folder / tick “put in subfolder” and name it “completed” / filenaming / filename (don’t rename) / file settings / select your format / quality 100% / don’t resize / resolution 300 / after export “do nothing” / click “export”.

Time for a coffee while it exports hundreds of photos and applies your edits to them.

When complete you can do the same for your images you intend to run photoshop actions on. Select by whatever method of marking them you used (colour, stars or picks) and then export them to a subfolder “photoshop these” as TIFFs. This is what you’ll pick up from photoshop to do the magic on them.

Revisions to this workflow

• Incorporate the new features of LR2.
• Possibly incorporate Kevin Kubotas 8-16-8 bit workflow (with acknowledgment).
• I’m open to constructive comments, suggestions and improvements.

See also Lightroom - download, import and back up a job which precedes this article.