How to use Lightroom both on a laptop and a home desktop

[MikeMyers]

I suspect many people have this same need, and I'm hoping for a good answer, but I'm not sure it's even possible.

I've got a Toshiba laptop, and I've been using it with my Nikon cameras up until recently. Seeing that my new M8.2 needed either Camera One or Lightroom, and having gotten quite lost in the former, I started out with a trial version of Lightroom. This led to going through video after video, trying to learn the functions. By now, I know how to do some things, but I have to keep looking things up to be sure. Anyway, I've successfully gathered up all the images on my laptop into a Lightroom gallery, and both the folder with images, and the gallery, get backed up to a USB hard drive.

But, here's the question. At home, I've got a PC with several USB drives, and photos and back-up photos stored all over the place. I need to get them all into one place, then work on editing and arranging them. Lightroom seems like as good an answer as anything I've yet seen.


So, for those of you who've already done it, when you get home with a few weeks (or month's) worth of photos on your laptop, all inside a catalog on the laptop, how do you integrate all this into your "home system"? Is there a way for a folder and a catalog on the large home system to "swallow up" all the new stuff you've done on the laptop?



There are still several things that Lightroom doesn't do, but overall it seems like a wonderful tool.

[hoppyman]

Yes you can. Keep in mind that Lightroom uses a catalog which remembers the location of the files. It does not copy the actual files. If you have your master files in one location, for example one physical drive that is accessible from your network, then you can have a copy of the catalog on your laptop as well as your main machine. The function you want is catalog export and import. You might like to search help for the actions needed. You can also export only a subset of the catalog. Say you had a particular project you were travelling with, for example. If you are working with that copy of the catalog but have not put copies of the master files on the same machine then you can do less with them, obviously. You can edit metadata though. Whatever you changed on your laptop catalog can be re-exported to the main machine later to synchronise the info. You can make a merged catalog from different versions.

If you have not looked at it already, I highly recommend the excellent LR2 book by Martin Evening as a resource.

By the way, I think you said that you were just using a trial version of LR currently? If you acquire a full version either by purchase or along with a new Leica (!), the licence allows you to have a second copy on your laptop. The only restriction is that you can only use one of the machines at any one time in order to comply to the licence.

[Photon42]

Originally Posted by MikeMyers

[...]

But, here's the question. At home, I've got a PC with several USB drives, and photos and back-up photos stored all over the place. I need to get them all into one place, then work on editing and arranging them. Lightroom seems like as good an answer as anything I've yet seen.


So, for those of you who've already done it, when you get home with a few weeks (or month's) worth of photos on your laptop, all inside a catalog on the laptop, how do you integrate all this into your "home system"? Is there a way for a folder and a catalog on the large home system to "swallow up" all the new stuff you've done on the laptop?



There are still several things that Lightroom doesn't do, but overall it seems like a wonderful tool.

Mike

you might find reading this article useful: Working with Database Catalogs

Regards
Ivo

[Shootist]

The problem with LR is the catalog system. If you want to have access to all your images from either your notebook or your desktop you need to have the images in one place/hard drive and then access those images from either the NB or DT.

This sounds fine except when you are away from your central image storage place.

The best thing to do is to do all your real editing on one PC/Mac only and if you use the other, like the notebook when away from home, just have a catalog for the images you are taking at that time.

You can have a catalog to use on the notebook that points to the network drive where all your images are stored but only use that catalog when you are at home (where the main computer is) and when you are networked together. Otherwise that catalog will show all images missing.

I have given up on LR and have removed it from all but one computer, my main home workstation. I use PS CS4 with Bridge on my notebook to view and do minor editing when I'm traveling. Once I get back home I copy all the travel images over to my main workstation and then add them to the LR catalog for that year.
I still do use LR to search for a image or images so I can then find them easier in Bridge and edit them with ACR & PS.

[vikasmg]

My solution to this problem was simple, expedient but not necessarily tidy. I use an external WD 500GB portable drive with a Firewire cable (it also works with USB). It's compact, light and I just take it along with whichever computer I'm using. I use it at my dek at home (where I also back up to a Drobo disk set) and when I'm travelling I just unplug it and take it along with me. My catalogue and image files are all on this drive with only Lightroom on the computers' internal drives.

[chris_tribble]

Hi - I've been using LR since it came out, running it on a PC in our London base, a second PC in Cheshire and on a laptop for field work.

1/ there's no problem with the license - LR doesn't seem to mind the same copy being installed on 3 machines

2/ Shootist's strategy of using the laptop as a temporary repository makes sense. My approach is to have a Catalog called TEMP_RAW on my laptop. Whenever I'm doing a field shoot I transfer to this at the end of the day - remembering to keyword on each dump from the SD card so that you have maximum information available for images when you return to base. I will often do some quick edits on this systems (rating / colour code / crop). As I'm not worried about keeping a history of these edits when I'm ready to transfer to the main system I select all, hit control + S to update the metadata, and then IMPORT all the images to my main PC where I also have a TEMP_RAW folder. I simply stick to the file names generated by the camera and import to eg /2009/10-19.

3/ Once images are transferred and backed up I delete them from the laptop and from the SD cards..

4/ On my main machine I do final edits / corrections etc and generate JPEGS / web shows etc for the client.

5/ I run an automatic daily backup to a mirror drive so that all data is protected, and once I've got 100 GB or so of images on the drive I transfer the images to DVD AND to an external hard drive for archive (I've been using stacked 250 GB firewire HDs but will be upgrading to stacked 1 TB drives). I'll eventually transfer to a new write-only media when the replacement for DVD is stable.

6/ I create a NEW catalog for each Hard Drive, with all the images stored chronologically. If I now need to find a photo for the period 2007 I fire up the archive HD and open the appropriate LR catalog (hold down the ctrl key on a windows machine while starting the program). I then search on keywords / dates.

7/ I have a portable 1TB drive and on a regular basis make copies to this so that I keep a parallel archive in both homes. This is important so that I can give clients access to images where ever I'm based + it gives me belt and braces backup!

This works really well for me - and I've found LR 2.5 stable and reliable.

Hope it helps....

[Robert67]

Quick and dirty

Here an easy way too go.

Put your Katalog on the notebook in a shared Folder.

From desktop via Network "import from katalog" at LR

Option with data.

Thats all

Robert

sorry for my bad english

[chris_tribble]

Ihr Englisch ist viel besser als mein Deutsch!!

Robert - you're right about the quick and dirty... I suppose the problem many face is what to do about long term archiving - and accessing/searching these archives.

[Robert67]

Originally Posted by chris_tribble

Robert - you're right about the quick and dirty... I suppose the problem many face is what to do about long term archiving - and accessing/searching these archives.

This is my way.
Always import pics from my camera to the notebook.
At home then sync with the PC
Extra partition only for LR index and pics
Monthly full backup on external drive

Robert

[tobey bilek]

When putting the photos into the notebook, place them in folders titled according to date of capture and short description.

2009 09 06 London
indent original raw
indent photoshop
indent finished JPEG
2009 09 12 Paris
2009 09 20 Madrid

Keeep the exact same format and the folders will always stay in dare order.

Use a sub folder system of originals, photoshop, and final JPEGS. Set it one time and duplicate the main folder Then move the copy to the photofolder and make a new copy. of course you can always make them up by hand each time a drive yourself crazy.

Final JPEGS have size and resolution as part of the file name, img xyz 300 8x10.JPEG
I know it is 300 ppi and 8x10 inches without opening it.

I worked this out around a year into digital and it has worked for me.

I would not do any serious editing on a trip with a laptop. Make two back up CD before erasing the card. I don`t reformat a card until I get home and all backups are made.
I never erase an image. Reformat the card.

Program will not leave spaces. I had to put indents in as place holders.

[ho_co]

Tobey--
By "indent" do you mean what I would call "tab" (key just above the "caps lock" key on US keyboards)?

Thanks!