The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Logistical Lightroom/Aperture Question....

Terry

New member
Let me start by saying, I may be missing something obvious

Current set-up:
Desktop + 1tb external drive for all photos (photos organized in folders by shoot but not at all well keyworded)

Laptop + 100gb external drive generally do a shoot use it in Lightroom on laptop but don't do serious editing and when I get home I move the original files to my desktop setup and trash what was done on the laptop.

Also have a spare 320gb drive

Going away for a couple of weeks with my Laptop and want to spend time and organize and key word my files and test out Aperture.

Trying to figure out the best way to do this.

If I simply make a copy of all of the files from the 1tb drive on the 320gb, and work on all of it while away, what is the best way to get all of the information back into Lightroom on the desktop....won't all of the references of where the files are stored be screwed up? Do I simply need to take the 1tb drive with me and move a catalogue from the laptop back to the desktop (replacing my current catalogue)?

Would this be much easier in Aperture? I'm still debating my final solution.
 
Last edited:

woodyspedden

New member
Terry

While there are small differences between Aperture and Lightroom importing they are not significant enough )IMO) to dictate the choice of software.

I think all you need to do when returning is to import the images back into lightroom as a "CATALOG". This is separate from your main Lightroom catalog and helps to keep things separate. Once you are totally done editing (assuming you may be doing more when you return,) you can selectively move your final images from the working catalog to your main catalog.

As you know, I was leaning towards Aperture due to the fact that it recognizes the Hasselblad 3FR files and Llightroom does not. Now I find that is simply run the files through Phocus and apply only the DAC corrections then export as DNG files. Lightroom opens the DNG's just fine. Since I find the retouch brush in Lightroom far more useful and powerful than the one in Aperture I am now back to favoring Lightroom.

Hope this is somewhat useful for you.

Woody
 

LJL

New member
Terry,
Not sure how many files you are talking about (volume), but there are several options with Aperture. The one I would recommend for what you may be trying to do is to copy the Aperture Library that you may be already working on from your laptop to the external HD you mentioned. You could then also copy all the folders (complete file structure) to that same drive. You would then have Aperture, running on you laptop, attach to the external drive copy of the Library. That way, both the Library and files are off your laptop, so working with them will be a lot faster also. (The application will run on the laptop, while the files will be accessed on the external HD.) Only import references to the files, not the image files themselves into the Aperture Library. Then you can do all your keywording work on the external drive, and have immediate access to all he image files also. Once you have finished, you can then move the image files back to your desktop storage. You can also replace the Aperture Library on your laptop with the newly updated version from the external storage HD, as well as copy that same library to your desktop unit or its external storage HD. Once you access the Aperture Library again from your laptop or desktop (or both, but not at the same time), you can then go back and re-establish the links to the referenced files (Manage Referenced Files under the File options). Aperture will rebuild the link to those image files wherever you place them, such as back onto your 1TB external HD. That way, you do not lose any of the new/old data you create in the Aperture Library, you still have preserved your original image storage file structure, and you will be able to work on things faster by having the files (library and originals) running separately from the application.

I do not know how you would do the same with LR, as I do not use that application.

LJ
 

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Terry

I can't speak for Aperture; but in Lightroom you can Export. Either just the details as a catalogue - but then you need the pix on the laptop to be able to view them -- or the pix as well as the keywords etc.

I'd suggest that you copy the pix into the same file structure on the laptop. The easiest way, for you, would be to copy them to the external HDD. Then export the catalogue settings only from the main to the laptop. You will have to import the pix into LR on the laptop. - You can choose to keep them on the external drive, or to copy them to the HDD on the laptop.

Work -- in the hols !:) - on the laptop, then export the catalogue from there and import this catalogue into the main computer. This ought to update your keywords on the main with the work you have done on the laptop.

PS You should, AFAIK, select all the pix in your library -- or all the pix you want to work on -- before exporting the catalog.

Hope this is correct! and helps.
 
Last edited:

Terry

New member
Thanks All,
Woody my post wasn't overly clear. The import function isn't the deciding factor. I planned to look at the DAM and editing aspects of the two and was trying just to figure out given my setup if one vs the other handled the files better. So far, Lightroom and my brain go well together.

LJ - Thanks. I guess the part I didn't really think through very well is to not only have the picture files on the external drive but to also keep the "library" or "catalogue" on the external as well. It is probably about 8,000 - 10,000 files that need to be dealt with.

Robert, I am going to get this sorted during the week and I will post what I found helpful. My 1tb drive isn't exactly large but not the one I really want to travel with either.

Two weeks at the beach without a lot of nightlife leaves plenty of time for doing keywords.
 

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Terry

A couple more thoughts:

1. You don't need to transfer all your pix to the HDD - only the ones you intend to work on. LR will mark the folders which it can't find.

2. LR2 has a smart folder for untagged images. If you go to it and then enter keywords you'll find you can only enter one - after which the pic is keyworded and disappears from the smart collection. If you want to add more than one keyword, do it from the folders, not the smart collection.
 

David K

Workshop Member
Terry,

Good luck with your key-wording project. I just spent a fair amount of time on the same task. Can't tell you how to handle this in LR but would suggest that you try doing whatever it is you're planning on doing with a small group of files, then import them to your regular library and see if the changes "stick". Batch changing exif data in Aperture is a piece of cake but there are workflow pitfalls that you need to watch out for. For example, let's say I've entered my caption and keywords for a shoot (and that they aren't all the same for all the images). If I then modify an image, say for WB, I will typically "copy and paste... or sync" those images with like images. If you're not careful with the checkboxes before hitting Sync you may inadvertently Sync the exif data with the image adjustments. Stupid mistake but i've done it on more than one occasion.
 
Top