Organize Your Lightroom Library–Convert to DNG and Delete Duplicates

I just upgraded to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 and the program’s new polished look gave me the nudge I needed to take on a library clean-up project. Namely, I wanted to convert all of my photos stored in various raw formats to DNG (if you haven’t jumped on the DNG bandwagon yet, it might be time to reconsider as Adobe has added some impressive new features) and I wanted to forever rid my library of duplicate images.

Convert to DNG

It’s easy to convert images to DNG in Lightroom 4. Start in Library mode and click on your main storage folder (I keep all of my year folders in my main “Shoots” folder). Then initiate Lightroom’s “find” function or Library Filter by hitting “Cmd + f” (I’m using a mac — hit “Ctrl + f” for PC). When the find bar opens filter by Text and choose the options “Filename” and “Contains.” I wanted to convert my Olympus ORF files and my leftover NEF files, so I conducted two separate searches with those terms in the search bar. Continue reading →

How To Create Password Protected Client Galleries

A Client’s Photo

My users guide to the Minimatica WordPress theme is taking longer than expected–winter reared its not so ugly head here in Colorado and I quickly changed from website designer to wood cutter. But I wanted to address a couple of questions that have come up in the comments of a tutorial on setting up the Minimatica WordPress theme.

As you may already know, I use the Minimatica theme for my photography portfolio website, GregAitkenheadPhotography.com. It acts as a virtual business card for the most part, but I also use it as a portal for proofing client shoots. I wanted to have a place where clients could view a gallery of photos and give me feedback on their preferences for different styles or developing techniques before I sent them the final batch of processed digital images. However, I only wanted that client to have access, so the link to the gallery had to be password protected. Luckily, WordPress makes setting up a password protected link easy.

I use Lightroom 4, so this tutorial begins with the creation of a gallery using the “Web” module. If you haven’t done this before, its a simple process. Adobe TV has a couple great tutorials (Julieanne Kost’s tutorial on sharing images online, and Tim Grey’s “Posting a Web Photo Gallery to Your Website”). There’s more information at the Adobe help site’s Creating web galleries: Basic workflow.

I then use Cyberduck, a free Mac FTP client, to create a new folder called “client_photos” under my website’s main folder, and a folder within that for the gallery. So, the last step in the gallery creation process involves pointing Lightroom to this new location in my website’s home folder and using the LR export function to store the gallery files there. The http address for the gallery will mirror your folder path: “http://your_domain_name.com/client_photos/client’s_name.”

Back in Minimatica–when a client clicks on “Clients” and then their submenu entry they are taken to a page with information and a link to their web gallery. To set this up first create a new page called “Clients.” One of the drawbacks of this system is that you’ll have a clickable item in your menu called clients, so leave a short message here directing your clients to their individual links back at the main menu. (Nevermind! I just found this article on the WordPress.com support site–instead of creating a page and adding the page to the menu as a home for the client sub-menu items, just create a custom link with # for the URL and “Clients” for the label. Then arrange your client pages as sub-menu items underneath this custom link.)

Then, create a new page with the client’s name for a title. Add a quick note and a link to your newly created web gallery, then scroll down to “Publish,” go to “Visibility” and click “Edit.” Now set a password for access to the page. That’s it.

If you’re not using Lightroom, you might try creating a client gallery using an online option like jAlbum, Flash Slideshow Maker, or Flash Gallery. I haven’t tried any of these, but you should be able to get a linkable web address for your gallery, I’m just not sure about keeping your gallery private.

You might also want to check out these articles over at Lifehacker: this one covers Fotopedia, this one covers the set-up for Gallery2, and this one provides a link to a tutorial on creating an online photo gallery with thumbnails and rollovers using one HTML page and CSS (no database or multiple files required.)

As you can see–options abound for creating web galleries, and WordPress makes it easy to create a password protected link.

Adobe Lightroom 3–Work Within The System When Making File And Folder Changes

Folder and File Storage and Organization

Finding Your Photos in Lightroom 3

One of the hardest adjustments I’ve had to make in my recent move from Adobe Photoshop CS3 Bridge as a image browsing and organizational tool to Adobe Lightroom 3 has been getting used to the Lightroom’s file and folder management system. I have to admit that Lightroom, after a month of use, has already become an indispensable part of my image processing routine. Now I get what all the hype was about. If you don’t already own a copy, head over to Adobe’s product page, or B&H and get set up. Lightroom allows you to copy your new photo files to a backup drive while you import, so head over to OWC and through another hard drive into your mix.

I’ve been backing up my files incessantly for years, and I liked how Adobe Bridge didn’t care if I moved my image files around with impunity–on my Mac I could go into the hard drive and arrange, delete, or create files and folders without having to worry about the consequences. Bridge would recognize the changes I’d made to my photo storage file structure instantly. Lightroom 3 has a “proprietary” way of handling my photo file organization and adjustments, and has forced me to completely reassess my photo file storage workflow.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, its best to decide on a file storage strategy, or clean up your existing image storage folders, before changing over from Adobe Bridge to Lightroom 3. If you’re at that stage in the process, I recommend a small app called A Better Finder Rename (which just came out with a new version) for batch management of your files and folders. Starting with a clean slate before building your initial Lightroom catalog will make your life much easier. Continue reading →

Lightroom 3 Tutorial–A RAW File Conversion Workflow

I’m a new convert to Lightroom, and I’ve been putting off the move for years. In the past I used a SD card reader to import raw NEF files from my Nikon DSLR to a folder on my main photo hard drive, then I used Adobe’s DNG Converter for Macintosh to create image files for use in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. I worked with Bridge and Photoshop CS3, I referred often to Scott Kelby’s timeless instructional book, The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers, and I had my workflow wired. Who needed Lightroom?

I won’t say that I’m blown away yet by Lightroom because I’m still learning the basics, but I see the potential to speed up the workflow that I established with CS3 and to improve my photography. Finding good information about Lightroom 3 workflows for importing images and storing files as backups was more difficult than I imagined, so I thought I’d but together another tutorial (you can find my tutorial explaining how I set up the Minimatica theme for WordPress here). Continue reading →

Tutorials–3 Must Use Resources For Anyone Converting To Lightroom

Learning curves. There’s something exciting about picking up a new skill, and its always nice to find online resources that point you in the right direction. I’m just switching to Lightroom 3 after years of using Photoshop Bridge CS3. I used a file browser system that made sense, but the actions required to move my images from card to computer, to convert the raw NEFs to DNGs, and then back up all of the newly created files were starting to feel too complicated.

As a long time nerd I believed that the changeover from Bridge to Lightroom would go smoothly, but I kept running into mental obstacles. I’ve been playing with Lightroom, creating catalogs and the like, with the expectation that I would learn to use the program through experimentation, but after a few weeks I was feeling more lost than ever, I was developing a backlog of shots, and I started worrying about creating a collection of developed images only to figure out later that my original setup was bunk.

So I decided to delve into the world of Adobe tutorial videos and found a few I’d like to share. Continue reading →