Easiest Workflow for Leica Digital

[harleybob]

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I have been a Canon EOS digital user for 15 years and have an easy workflow for images using Photomechanic and Canon Raw Image processing through Photoshop.

Of course none of that works with my new Leica M-D images. I have been trying LIghtroom, but I find it not intuitive and not at all easy to use. 

 

Here is how I typically worked before:

Import and rename all RAW images into a folder on my hard drive.

Then use an editing program to preview and select which images to process into Tiff or Jpeg.

Then I would move on to Photoshop for final work.

 

What is frustrating for me with Lightroom is the method that it stores, renames, builds folders for this initial image 

copy from card to folders. 

 

1. Is there a good online training system for Lightroom?

2. Is there a good alternative to Lightroom for image editing/ initial corrections?

 

Anyone who is familiar with Photomechanic will know what a wonderful editing program and

front end for managing the first step of digital image processing...unfortunately it

does not work will with DNG from Leica...the image previews are too low res to interpret at all.

 

Thank you,

Harleybob

[Peter Kilmister]

YouTube has loads of stuff on Lightroom (LR). The best trick with LR is to keep it simple. Import your DNG files, adjust whatever you wish mainly using the first set of adjustments, then export to a simple folder on your hard drive.

 

I use YouTube for just about everything these days, whether it is how to fix a plumbing problem or how to reset my TV. I even used it to find out how to reset the time on my car's clock. 

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[Exodies]

YouTube - Lightroom Classic CC coffee break - some handy, very quick tutorials.

There is no need to get frustrated with Lightroom’s import procedure. You can set it to work however you want - leave DNGs where they are, copy or move them to a folder of your choice, also copy them to a second location. Rename or not, use date subfolders or not. Work out exactly what you want it to do on import then carefully go through the menus to achieve it, your way.

I import into year/month-day folders and use collections to group thematically. (Folders contain the DNGs; collections are lists of DNGs, not separate copies of them).

[Jean-Michel]

Hi, once you learn Lightroom, you will find that it really works well and is an excellent program to use for printing. Unless I need to take a file into Photoshop (which means a tiff or psd copy being made) I leave my images as dng. I print all images from LR.

 

I highly recommend the LR tutorial from the Luminous-landscape site. They have a whole set detailed tutorials on LR going back to the early versions. It is a paid site, for a meagre $12.00 per year you get to view a whole pile of really good tutorial, reviews and such, and can participate in their forum.

 

 

 

I have been a Canon EOS digital user for 15 years and have an easy workflow for images using Photomechanic and Canon Raw Image processing through Photoshop.

Of course none of that works with my new Leica M-D images. I have been trying LIghtroom, but I find it not intuitive and not at all easy to use. 

 

Here is how I typically worked before:

Import and rename all RAW images into a folder on my hard drive.

Then use an editing program to preview and select which images to process into Tiff or Jpeg.

Then I would move on to Photoshop for final work.

 

What is frustrating for me with Lightroom is the method that it stores, renames, builds folders for this initial image 

copy from card to folders. 

 

1. Is there a good online training system for Lightroom?

2. Is there a good alternative to Lightroom for image editing/ initial corrections?

 

Anyone who is familiar with Photomechanic will know what a wonderful editing program and

front end for managing the first step of digital image processing...unfortunately it

does not work will with DNG from Leica...the image previews are too low res to interpret at all.

 

Thank you,

Harleybob

[poli]

Or use Capture One and choose for sessions. So not put the pictures in the Catalogue. Then your pics will stay on the spot on your HD you like and keep organized in a normal matter. Maybe that’s also possible with LR.

 

Cheers,

Paul

[marchyman]

https://www.lightroomqueen.com

 

Start with the free eBooks.   As others said, YouTube is a great resource, too.

[jmahto]

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Any new workflow can be a challenge since you need to relearn how you do it. But I assure you that LR can be very simple. Go through videos first as suggested above.

 

Just to give you an idea, my workflow is very simple. This is what I do.

- insert SD card in USB card reader.

- LR automatically brings up import menu and shows all new pics on the card (it compares with what it has). I have default file renaming template that I like and pics get copied to my computer with entries in LR catalog.

- in library module I select/reject pics using flags and star rating. I never delete rejected pics right away. It is once in a year cleaning activity.

- add keywords to pics so that I can find it easily later. Something like “sunset”, “instagram” etc.

- for selected pics I go to develop module and use sliders to develop pics the way I want. Most of the times I simply apply my predefined development template to a set of pics. I am all done!

- in rare cases I need to go to photoshop. In that case LR creates a copy and copies all metadata so that it can be found easily later.

- once in a while I create collections of selected pics. For example all pics in photo book for summer trip.

- for sharing, I simply export the selected pics to my temp export location with reduced size and copyright watermark. The originals are safely in LR catalog.

 

Try it. You will like it.

[marchyman]

Some users (me) don't like the image organization used by Lightroom with a default set up.   My solution is to NOT use Lightroom to import images directly off of memory cards.   I manually move the images from memory card to my hard disk in my preferred folder layout and using my preferred names.   I created a script to simplify that process.  Once the images are on my hard disk I use the Add function of the Lightroom import screen.   That places the images in the Lightroom catalog without making extra copies.  No images are moved during import, either.

 

It took me several iterations of playing with imports before I found the method that worked for me.

[Jean-Michel]

Some users (me) don't like the image organization used by Lightroom with a default set up.   My solution is to NOT use Lightroom to import images directly off of memory cards.   I manually move the images from memory card to my hard disk in my preferred folder layout and using my preferred names.   I created a script to simplify that process.  Once the images are on my hard disk I use the Add function of the Lightroom import screen.   That places the images in the Lightroom catalog without making extra copies.  No images are moved during import, either.

 

It took me several iterations of playing with imports before I found the method that worked for me.

 

Your  method works, of course, but you can achieve the same very easily in LR. In my case, I have different import presets for specific cameras (Leica, Canon, Lumix…) and for various clients. All the images go to their intended drives and folders, but all reside in a single catalog. Having all the images in a single catalog makes sense to my method of managing files. On rare occasions I may have images on a card that need to go into a client's folder and others that do not belong there; in those instances I simply deselect the images that to not go the a client's folder, import the selected images, and then import the remaining images to my other location.  Where possible, I try to add keywords on import. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Jean-Michel

[Frase]

Just use the same method as the canon except only use photomechanic for thumb nails but then use camera raw before opening up your edits in photoshop.

[zeitz]

I think you mean "copy" your photos to your hard drive.  Lightroom does its "import" thing even if your photos are already are on a hard drive.  If you are using Photoshop already, why don't you just use Bridge?

[marchyman]

Your  method works, of course, but you can achieve the same very easily in LR.

 

 

Quite true.  However, as an old coder it was easy for me to create a script that does it even easier.  Easier for me.  Others might not think so.  To each their own.

 

Part of the problem for new users is that they are given several options and don't know which one is best.  And there's the rub.  Best is subjective.  My best may not be your best.   This can lead new users to use program defaults because they are easiest.   Easiest may not be what they'd otherwise consider best.  It can be what they don't like.

[jmahto]

Another thing I want to add is that organizing photos in specific folder on hard disk is old way of doing things. It is not flexible. Alternatively, one can use keywords and metadata in search to find whatever you are looking for. If one wants to group some pics together then collections can be used. It is flexible compared to physical folders since one picture can reside in multiple collections.

 

It takes an effort to get out of the method of physical folder based organization. I still copy photos on year and date based folder via template but finding it less and less useful as picture volume increases. My catalog has pics from all my cameras including phone pictures. The only way to handle the volume is not to worry about physical location.

[Exodies]

A feature of date based folder organisation is that you are not going to change your mind about which folder a picture belongs in. As jmahto says, keywords, metadata and collections are the most sensible way of providing thematic organisation.

[jaapv]

I have been a Canon EOS digital user for 15 years and have an easy workflow for images using Photomechanic and Canon Raw Image processing through Photoshop.

Of course none of that works with my new Leica M-D images. I have been trying LIghtroom, but I find it not intuitive and not at all easy to use. 

 

Here is how I typically worked before:

Import and rename all RAW images into a folder on my hard drive.

Then use an editing program to preview and select which images to process into Tiff or Jpeg.

Then I would move on to Photoshop for final work.

 

What is frustrating for me with Lightroom is the method that it stores, renames, builds folders for this initial image 

copy from card to folders. 

 

1. Is there a good online training system for Lightroom?

2. Is there a good alternative to Lightroom for image editing/ initial corrections?

 

Anyone who is familiar with Photomechanic will know what a wonderful editing program and

front end for managing the first step of digital image processing...unfortunately it

does not work will with DNG from Leica...the image previews are too low res to interpret at all.

 

Thank you,

Harleybob

If you are used to  Photoshop I am puzzled why you would want to use Lightroom.

Use Adobe Bridge (included in your PS) to import and organize by date and keyword (it can rename and store in folders as well), use ACR (included in PS) for your basic editing (it has most of Lightroom's controls) and Photoshop for the rest. 

It all integrates beautifully.

[250swb]

I have been trying LIghtroom, but I find it not intuitive and not at all easy to use. 

 

 

Lightroom is horrible and you don't need it. As you already use Photoshop download and import via Bridge and leave it at that. And even if you do go with Lightroom it's as with Photoshop, you don't have to learn even half of it, you only need to know about the bits that interest you and allow you to do the job, so look these up independently as you go along.

Edited September 29, 2018 by 250swb

[ECohen]

1. Is there a good online training system for Lightroom?

 

Look at "The Lightroom System"  by Matt Kloskowski

https://mattk.com/product/lightroom-system/

 

Being visual I like learning from videos, this one is great.

Start to finish it explains everything....really everything!

And there is personal customer support to get questions answered by the author, quickly.

No kidding try it you wont be sorry.

 

Yep there are plenty of free ways to get information.

Spend the money for this one its worth it!

 

Hope this helps

[jaapv]

Lightroom is horrible and you don't need it.

Amen to that!  If you want a good LR-like programs there are ON1, Luminar and Affinity.

[Jeff S]

Julieanne Kost videos for LR (and Photoshop) are free and easy to follow, on virtually all workflow aspects.

 

A couple that might help....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYKzz2a5Mts

 

http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2015/02/how-and-when-to-rename-files-in-lightroom-2.html

 

Jeff

Edited September 29, 2018 by Jeff S

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[marchyman]

If you are used to  Photoshop I am puzzled why you would want to use Lightroom.

 

 

Given a library of 100,000 keyworded images how do you find all images with keywords "rain" and "tree" in Photoshop?   Are you pictures geotagged?  If so how do you find all the images taken in or around Yosemite in Photoshop?

 

Edit: On 1 couldn't import all my images last time I tried (about 6 months ago).  Does Affinity have DAM functions?

Edited September 29, 2018 by marchyman