Tag Archives: workflow

Software and Post-Processing, Tips and Tricks

Pro Tip: Rename Your Image Files

Leave a comment

Use Lightroom Classic to create meaningful photo file names automatically during import

Your camera automatically names image files using the convention: DSC_1234 (or similar). The problem with this naming format is that when your frame counter hits 9999, it rolls over and begins again at 0001. This means that over time, you’ll end up with many images on your computer all sharing the same filename. That can create headaches over time, especially if you’re trying to locate specific images on your computer outside of Lightroom.

In this video, I’ll show you how to rename your images upon import using Adobe Lightroom Classic. The convention I use combines my initials (JPO) with a sortable date (YYYMMDD) and then the frame number from the original image. This technique only works if you’ve set the date correctly in your camera. The advantage of this technique is that if you’re looking for images on your computer, each file will have a unique name that includes date information to help you locate it. Once you’ve set up a file renaming template in Lightroom, you can use it to rename images that are already in your Lightroom catalog.

Tips and Tricks, Videos

Showcase Your Best Photos with a Lightroom Smart Collection

Leave a comment

Hope you all had a great new year, and welcome to 2016!

I use Smart Collections in Adobe Lightroom to create a dynamically updated virtual folder of my favorite shots from the past year, which I can then triage down to my best ones. The trick is to use Attribute tags in Lightroom (Flags, Stars, and Labels) and then set up a Smart Collection. Here’s how I do it:

[youtube_sc url=”https://youtu.be/wLKN–x035o” title=”Lightroom%20Smart%20Collections” autohide=”1″]

Master Lightroom with Jason’s Comprehensive Guides

Books, News

Complete Guide to Lightroom Workflow & Image Processing

9 Comments

Moving to Lightroom: Image processing and workflow is mandatory reading for anyone wanting to learn how to manage and process their images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Moving to Lightroom: Image processing and workflow is mandatory reading for anyone wanting to learn how to manage and process their images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

I’m pleased to announce the release of Moving to Lightroom: Image processing and workflow. While this book will be useful for any Lightroom user, I cover all the things I wish I had known before I migrated to Lightroom. This guide represents a view of Lightroom from someone who was starting out with thousands of previously edited images, and had to learn how to re-process them. I’ve taken my lessons learned and written a complete guide to image management and processing with Lightroom.

I’ve spent the last several years learning how to leverage Lightroom’s underlying database for managing my images, and how it beats a traditional browser/editor workflow system. I also learned a completely new set of image adjustment tools and a whole new image adjustment paradigm. I’m happy to say that I use Lightroom to adjust all my raw image files and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I’m happy to share my knowledge of Lightroom’s tools with you in this new guide.

So if you’re new to Lightroom, or getting ready to migrate over from another workflow application, check out Moving to Lightroom. It’s sure to lower your learning curve and get you up and running quickly!

News, Reviews

RIP Capture NX: 2006-2014

5 Comments

cnx-grave
Capture NX is no longer supported by Nikon. It’s time to move on. Tombstone image used under creative commons license from Jo Naylor.

It was a good run, while it lasted.

Yesterday, Nikon released the final version of Capture NX-D, a free program that is essentially an OEM version of Silkypix. Although Capture NX2 still appears for sale on Nikon USA’s site, it’s unclear as to the way forward.

In case you missed my earlier review of the Capture NX-D beta, here are the salient points you need to know:  Continue reading RIP Capture NX: 2006-2014 →

Tips and Tricks

How Photo Mechanic saved me from hours of image review in Lightroom

Green honeycreeper, Trinidad, West Indies. When photographing birds, judging sharpness of the eye is the first step in deciding whether to keep or reject an image.
Green honeycreeper, Trinidad, West Indies. When photographing birds, judging sharpness of the eye is the first step in deciding whether to keep or reject an image.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has a lot of image management strengths, not the least of which is its catalog database. However, there are some things that Lightroom doesn’t do quickly, and one of those things is previewing images at 100%. To view images at 100% in Lightroom, you need to render 1:1 previews from the RAW files, and that takes serious time. When you’re trying to judge images for critical sharpness, you need to view them quickly, make a yes or no decision, and move on. That’s exactly where a browser like Photo Mechanic can help out and save you serious time.

I had to review over 2500 images from a recent birding trip to Trinidad.
I had to review over 2500 images from a recent birding trip to Trinidad.

I came back from a bird photography trip to Trinidad with over 2500 captures. That’s a lot of shots to review, especially when you have to judge sharpness at 100% quickly.

Continue reading How Photo Mechanic saved me from hours of image review in Lightroom →