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<\/a><\/p>\nImport<\/h1>\n
I try to keep up with importing the photographs from the day\u2019s shoots into the copy of Lightroom running on my laptop.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to go into the specifics of the import process but you can read about it here.<\/p>\n
Lightroom Tutorial – Importing Photographs<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019ve set up Lightroom to apply certain adjustments to the files as they are imported.\u00a0 For example, Lightroom applies adjustments in the following Developer areas \u2013 Basic, Tone Curve, Detail (capture sharpening), Lens Correction (lens make and model) and Camera Calibration (Process and Profile).\u00a0 The details are spelled out in this post.<\/p>\n Lightroom Tutorial – Camera Specific Presets<\/a><\/p>\n I like to apply keywords to the files when they are imported.\u00a0 But often I import the files when I return to my hotel room at night.\u00a0 So I have files from the various locations we photographed during the entire day.\u00a0 So the keywords need to be fairly generic.\u00a0 For example, the keywords I applied during the workshop were<\/p>\n California, Eastern Sierra, summer<\/p>\n Not a lot of help there.\u00a0 But now that all the files are imported I\u2019m going back through each day and adding more specific keywords for each shooting location.\u00a0 In Library mode, I select all of the files from that location and add keywords like\u2026<\/p>\n Lone Pine, Alabama Hills, Mobius Arch, Lone Pine Peak, Mt Whitney, morning, sunrise, dawn, alpenglow<\/p>\n I like to use keywords that cover the location, time of day, season of the year, the light and any special weather conditions.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a simple matter of repeating the process for each shoot until the keywords have been expanded for all of the photographs.<\/p>\n I shoot a lot of HDR.\u00a0 There are times during sunrise and sunset where the dynamic range cannot be captured with a single exposure.\u00a0 So I slip into HDR mode.\u00a0 It\u2019s virtually automatic.<\/p>\n People shoot their thumb to mark the beginning and end of an HDR sequence.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never done that.\u00a0 There is enough information in the EXIF data to tell you which images go together.\u00a0 The most visible clue come from the images themselves.\u00a0 If you’re shooting sequences of 3 HDR images there will be three in a row where the first is a \u2018normal\u2019 exposure, the second is underexposed and the third is overexposed.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty obvious.<\/p>\n Another clue is the capture time in the EXIF data.\u00a0 The sequence of HDR images will be within a second or two of each other.<\/p>\n I like to stack all of the HDR images so that when I go through the selection process I don\u2019t have to look at the underexposed and overexposed images.\u00a0 The images can be stacked manually.\u00a0 Or, you can use a nifty feature built into Lightroom.<\/p>\n In Library mode, select a folder.\u00a0 Press Ctrl-A (Command-A) to select all of the files in the folder.\u00a0 From the menu click Photo | Stacking > | Auto-Stack by Capture Time\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the dialog box that comes up, adjust the slider for one or two seconds if you\u2019re capturing your files in burst mode (a little longer if you\u2019re capturing them manually).\u00a0 The dialog tells you how many stacks it will create.\u00a0 Click Stack<\/strong>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one more step.\u00a0 Click Photo | Stacking > | Collapse All Stacks<\/strong>.\u00a0 Repeat this for all of your folders and your ready to move on to the selection process.<\/p>\n Oh, and this can also be used for panoramas too.<\/p>\n The next step is to create a single collection that contains all of your files from the workshop.\u00a0 It\u2019s most convenient to create a Smart Collection.\u00a0 These are collections based on filters you specify.\u00a0 There are a host of options.<\/p>\n When Importing the files I rename them to include the shoot name, the capture date and the original file name.\u00a0 For example, I use the same shoot name for the entire workshop, in this case, \u2018eastern_sierra\u2019.\u00a0 So the file names look like this:<\/p>\n eastern_sierra_120601__SM31292.dng.<\/p>\n In creating the smart collection I can specify that the file names all begin with \u2018eastern_sierra\u2019.\u00a0 Or I can specify a capture date range between 6\/1\/2012 and 6\/7\/2012.\u00a0 Both work equally well.<\/p>\n In Library mode, expand Collections on the left side and click the +<\/strong>.\u00a0 From the context menu that pops up, click Create Smart Collection\u2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the dialog box give the smart collection a name.\u00a0 Specify if you want to place it in a collection set.\u00a0 In this case I put it in the Workshops <\/strong>collection set.\u00a0 Then select one or more filter criteria and specify the values to match.\u00a0 In this case I specified the Capture date must be in the range between 6\/1\/2012 and 6\/7\/2012.\u00a0 Click Create <\/strong>and you\u2019re done.<\/p>\n By the way, this can be done at any time, during the workshop or after.\u00a0 If you do it during the workshop new files will automatically be added as you import them.\u00a0 That\u2019s the beauty of a smart collection.<\/p>\n Now comes the fun part.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to start going through your photographs to\u00a0 select the \u2018keepers\u2019 or at least potential \u2018keepers.\u2019\u00a0 With the smart collection just created this becomes a lot easier.<\/p>\n In Library mode, select the smart collection you just created and launch into the selection process.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a post that spells out the details.<\/p>\n Lightroom Tutorial – Diamonds in the Haystack<\/a><\/p>\n One thing I may not have mentioned in the above post is when I get the images narrowed down to a dozen or fewer I\u2019ll often give them a quick treatment in Lightroom or even process the HDRs in PhotoMatix Pro.\u00a0 That gives me a better idea of the potential in the image.\u00a0 If I like the processed image I\u2019ll give it the next star.<\/p>\n During the selection process you can also identify the rejects.\u00a0 Tap \u2018X\u2019 to flag them.\u00a0 You can delete them from your hard drive but you need to go back to the folder to do that.\u00a0 You can\u2019t delete them from the collection.\u00a0 In Library <\/strong>mode click Photo <\/strong>on the menu and select Delete Rejected Photos\u2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To recap, here are the steps\u2026<\/p>\n Now you\u2019re ready to focus on the best photographs from the workshop.\u00a0 This can be very important for anyone who is short of time (and who among us isn\u2019t).\u00a0 I\u2019m very happy if I come away with a handful of keepers from a week of shooting and with this process they can be quickly identified.\u00a0\u00a0 Now I can focus my attention on them.<\/p>\n I hope you find this as useful as I do.<\/p>\n Join me on an upcoming workshop.\u00a0 Click here for more details.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nKeywords<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nStacking<\/h1>\n
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Collections<\/h1>\n
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Selection<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nIn Summary<\/h1>\n
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