Import – Where It All Begins

Jun 082010

Lightroom 3 is finally here! It’s been a long ride full of adventure and discovery from Lightroom 3 Beta through Lightroom 3 Beta 2 to Lightroom 3. Along the way we all made suggestions and requests. Adobe listened. If one of your suggestions didn’t make it into this version don’t worry. This won’t be the last version of Lightroom. I am confident that we have a lot of new and exciting things in the future. For now, let’s get comfortable with Lightroom 3!

As with any version of Lightroom it all begins with Import. And this time around we have an entirely new and improved import feature. While this has been the source of some consternation and controversy, once you dig in and look at what’s new here I think you’ll be on board.

The first time you click the Import… button you will see a very different, and very small, import dialog.

The top section in this dialog is a representation of the workflow; from (source) -> what to do -> to (destination). The section below that goes into a little more detail. What should we apply to the images on the way in, metadata preset & keywords (#1). Next, how do we handle duplicates and previews, file renaming, backup copies (#2). Lastly, where do we put the images at the destination (#3).

After that we have a button with a triangle in it (more on that shortly), the number of images and the size of the import, the Import Preset section, and the Cancel and Import buttons.

If everything is the way you want it then press Import and your images will come into your catalog. Simple. What? you want more? OK. Then press that little button with the triangle in it.

Wow! Now that’s a dialog! The top and bottom sections remain the same but the middle expands to reveal tons of functionality. There’s a lot going on here so let’s take this piece by piece.

The top of the from and to section are just big buttons. If you click anywhere in that area you can choose quick locations or previously used paths.

As soon as you navigate to a folder you can choose to include it’s subfolders. Just check the box next to Include Subfolders.

If your list is long you can tidy up the display a bit by right clicking on the folder and choosing Dock Folder.

That gets everything else out of the way and let’s you see what you are doing.

Moving to the middle section of the dialog we can decide how to import our images. At the top of the window are the usual selections.

The choices available will depend upon what your source medium is. For example, if you are importing from a camera or a flash card the only Copy as DNG and Copy will be valid choices. Just below these familiar choices are three new view options:

All Photos
New Photos
Destination Folders

All Photos is self explanatory. Choose this and the grid view will display all photos from the source. New Photos will display the images Lightroom interprets to be new for this catalog. The last choice, Destination Folders, will groups your source images to match the destination folders that will be created.

These groups can be collapsed and expanded using the disclosure triangle to the right of the group name. Also, notice that in addition to the usual selection checkboxes on each image, the groups also have selection checkboxes. This allows you to select and deselect entire groups of images at a time.

Do you want to see more detail before importing an image but you can’t make the thumbnails large enough? Lightroom 3 now has a loupe view available during import. Just select the loupe icon at the bottom left of the main view window or just double click the image you want to examine.

Once you enter loupe view you can zoom in to examine the details in the embedded preview. You can return to the grid view by clicking the grid icon in the lower left of the window (or, again, double clicking the image).

Finally we look to the destination panels. The choices here look very familiar from Lightroom 2.

One enhancement has been added to the Make a Second Copy To: option which provides a backup of your imported files. Now, the second copy will have the same custom filename you’ve set up for your catalog. This makes it far easier to locate the backup file if you ever need it.

Like the folders in the source panel, the folders in the destinations panel are dockable. You will also see the folders that will be created by the import. They will show in italics with the number of images that will be placed there.

At the bottom of both the small and large import dialogs you will find the Import Preset menu.

Once you’ve set up your import the way you like it you can click on the dropdown menu and choose Save Current Setting as New Preset… Give the preset a name. Then when you need those settings on another import you can simply pick it from the menu and they will all be restored. That’s a real workflow time saver!

One more feature has been added to the Folders section of the Library module. If you want to import new images into an existing folders right click on the folder name and choose Import into this Folder… and the import dialog will open with that folder as the destination. Another workflow timesaver.

There is a lot going on in the new Import dialogs. Spend a little time and get comfortable with all the new functionality. Once you get used to it I think you’ll agree that the new import workflow is a big improvement.

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About the Author: Gene McCullagh
Contact Gene

Gene is an Adobe Community Professional and and Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop, and InDesign, and an avid Lightroom fan. He belongs to the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Gene also the Co-Founder, Manager and a frequent blogger for the Dallas Fort Worth Adobe User Group (DFWAUG).

In addition to running Lightroom Secrets, Gene also contributes to O'Reilly's media blog, moderates on the Adobe forums, and helps out on lightroomforums.net.

Damonroad

I have used what is now Corel Photo Album, (now v. 6.3.3) for years for photo management. I have added thousands of what they call “keywords” over the years to help me find and sort photos. I want to switch from Corel to an Adobe product (Lightroom?) but I do not want to lose the connection of all of those keywords to the photos. Would conversion to Adobe allow me to import my keyword structure and the keywords relating to each of those photos? Thank you for your help.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Damonroad!

I’m not familiar with Corel Photo Album but if it can write the keywords back to the image files (or XMP files in the case of raw) then LR will be able to read those on import.

Another alternative is to check if Corel can export the keywords to a text file. LR can then import those. They won’t be attached to the images so the first option is better. But this will get the keywords into LR.
Geo

Gene:

Good Lightroom 3 tutorial. Perhaps you (or your readers) can help with a system configuration suggestion.

Iâ€™m updating to Lightroom 3 and moving my Lightroom library (image files and catalog) from an internal drive to a new, external drive for occasional travel/MacBook Pro use. I’ll also have two additional, 2TB internal drives (for a scratch disk and video editing). Could you offer thoughts about the type of external drive(s) that are appropriate for a Lightroom 3 Library, especially as this question relates to the new feature that backs up image files? Specifically, I have a choice of where I move my library (catalog and image files):

1. To a single, 2TB (terabyte) external Firewire drive in an OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro case, or alternativelyâ€¦

2. To a new, 8TB external drive in an OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 RAID case (configured as hardware RAID 5 with three 2TB drives and a hot spare, which provides 3.64TB of actual storage space), which gives me room to grow as I shoot with a Nikon D3s.

Of course, this Qx2 enclosure could be set up in other RAID configurations or even as a simple JBOD drive, but from what Iâ€™ve read, I think a RAID 5 makes sense for me. This RAID is connected to an eSATA PCI card that has two ports, so I even could add a second QX2 enclosure down the road to expand the storage or provide a second backup. In addition to the hot spare, I also have a cold, 2TB spare on the shelf. I have about 500GB of image files

My basic question is this: would you store working Lightroom catalog and image directories on a RAID 5 system like this, or would you keep the catalog and image files on a standard FireWire 800 drive and only backup to the RAID 5 enclosure? I assume an integrated RAID 5 workflow would introduce a performance hit when saving and writing files, but provide immediate redundancy, which would offset at least some of the time lost.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Thanks Geo!

As you already appreciate, your image files are valuable and irreplaceable. Having a sound backup strategy is good practice and will avoid frustration down the road.

The configurations you propose do introduce different levels of performance hits and how much you can tolerate will help determine which configuration you adopt. Take a look at http://www.dpbestflow.org/node/307 for some backup configuration guidance.

I recommend that the catalog remain on your internal drive with the images on an external drive. Much of the work in LR can utilize the preview of an image (keywording, metadata, ratings, etc.) with the full image file only needed on fewer occasions. That will help mitigate some of the performance hit.

The built in redundancy of the RAID system is a good measure. You may want to explore the offerings from drobo (http://www.drobo.com/) which are more flexible than RAID and may be a less pricey option.

You don’t mention another important part of a configuration and that is offsite storage. While multiple copies are good, having them all at the same location is not. You should build into your plan a way to duplicate your image files offsite. That could be cloud storage or a physical drive you swap out regularly and keep somewhere else (at the office, at Mom’s house, etc.).

Keep us informed as to what configuration you settle on and how it’s working out.
Whitberg

HI Gene
I have just purchased a new iMac, previously I was using LR2 on my MBP. I have now upgrade to LR3 on the new iMac and am not sure of the import sequence for getting my LR2 catalogue and photos imported to LR3. The LR2 catalogue and photos are all saved on my EHD. Do I import the photos first into LR3 and then update with the catalogue or import the catalogue which I did but then they all have missing folders. I want to start off by doing my massive import correctly. Thanks for your help.
Damonroad

Thanks for your prompt reply. I don’t know how to determine if the Corel program “can write the keywords back to the image files.” I believe that the keywords are kept in an Access document and I suspect that in one way or another I can figure out how to export the keywords to a txt file, but I would certainly prefer to have them attached to the images themselves. Thanks again for your help.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Whitberg!

If the LR2 catalog and the images are already on your external drive and that’s where you want to keep them just start LR3 and open the LR2 catalog. You should be greeted by a dialog asking if you want to upgrade that catalog to LR3. The original LR2 catalog will still be there and LR3 will copy and upgrade it. Once upgraded everything should be connected and OK in the new LR3 version of the catalog.
gwoodard

Thanks! I just finished importing a batch of photos and have documented the import problem in step-by-step detail with screen captures. I just sent you my e-mail.
Whitberg

Thank you for your reply. I had done what you suggested but the only thing is that I had originally had stored my photos on my internal hard drive of my MBP with my back being my EHD. I am now wanting to use that EHD as the source for my photos on my new iMac and have a secondary EHD as a backup. Lightroom was never directed to the EHD when I was using LR2.
Thanks
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Ah! Hopefully your images are in a folder structure that all fall under one parent folder at some point. Open the catalog on your iMac with the EHD attached. Right click on the topmost folder in the folder panel and choose “Find missing folder…” Now navigate to the EHD and choose that same top level folder. LR should reconnect the catalog images in this folder and cascade it down through the catalog.
Whitberg

HI Gene
I must have originally in LR2 set up my import wrong as I have the Mac internal hard drive listed and then all the individual photo folders. They are all located within one Photo folder on my EHD but the parent folder is not shown in lightroom. Should I add a parent folder to all of the files but noticed I can’t do this unless the missing folder is found. Can I use shift and select more than one folder to find missing folders. I really want to have this set up correctly from now on and do not want to start a whole new catalogue.
Thanks for your help.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

You’ve got me a little stumped on this one.

First, make sure you have a backup before trying this. Select the EHD in the folders panel and click the + next to FOLDERS Choose Add Folder. The next dialog will let you navigate and add or create a folder. Add the missing parent folder on the EHD. Try synchronizing that after it appears in the folders panel. Perhaps that will work.

Let me know how this turns out.
http://www.fotosidan.se/forum/showthread.php?t=124478 Arlemo

Hi,
When I import new photos by using the “Add” option, a new folder which is identical to an already existing folder is created. What am I doing wrong? In LR2 the photos (within LR) just ended up in the same folder structure as on the hard drive.

I don’t see how I can attach a screenshot here, but I have attached a screenshot in this forum, please have a look far down on this page: http://www.fotosidan.se/forum/showthread.php?t=124478

The folder “Ej brÃ¤nda 1″ with 11 photos was created when I imported 11 photos using the “Add” option. Before importing those 11 photos there was already a folder “Ej brÃ¤nda 1″ in LR3.

On the harddrive there’s still only one “Ej brÃ¤nda 1″ just as it should be, and that’s where those 11 photos are as well.

Can you see what I am doing wrong? I would very much appreciate a your help to solve this.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Arlemo!

I suspect that the older version of “Ej brÃ¤nda 1″ came into your LR3 catalog via a conversion from LR2. If that’s the case then you aren’t doing anything wrong. This seems to be a common issue with converted catalogs.

Try right-clicking on the newer version of the folder in the Folders panel and choose “Update folder location” then point at the folder on the drive. This should consolidate them in LR.
http://www.fotosidan.se/forum/showthread.php?t=124478 Arlemo

Thanks for your quick response! I’ve now tried all possible combinations of updating the folder location, but it is still the same.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Try this… Right click on the folder and choose Add Parent. Do the same for the other folder. When they share a common parent in the folder panel they should merge together.
Art Klimko

Gene-

I’ve made several LR2catalogues (new on import), and recently lost one. Others are still in “pictures” folder (but scattered between other files). Is there any way to open a directory of all LR catalogues that exist on a computer, and any way to neatly place them in some kind of order?

Many thanks, Art
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Art!Here is another argument for working with a single catalog. All your catalogs will end with the extension .lrcat so do a search to find all of them. You could move them into a folder structure that makes sense to you. The previews live in a database file of the same name as the catalog and end with Previews.lrdata. You could move those along with your .lrcat files. However, if you don’t LR will just rebuild the previews for you.
Brian

Hi – I’m trying LR3 under the 30-day trial & liking it so far. I’ve got what may be 2 simple questions about importing from CF cards & cameras, but cannot figure it out:

1) I use a Ricoh GX200 camera shooting in raw (DNG), but it also creates JPGs, which I do not want to import (no way to turn this off in-camera). When importing with LR3, is there a way to easily deselect only a certain file type (JPG in this case) rather than clicking one-by-one? It’s pretty tedious if the CF card contains hundreds of photos.

2) iPhone imports: I have been using Bridge for my importing up until now, and a nice feature is the ability to have it automatically delete photos from the source device after import. Can this be done in LR3′s import? I find it’s not easy to delete already imported photos from the iPhone afterward & would like it done during the import workflow.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Brian!

There are two approaches to the raw+jpeg issue. In the import grid you can sort by filetype which would make deselecting the jpeg images easy since they would all be together. Click the first to deselect and shift-click the last to deselect the rest.

The second method is in the preferences. Uncheck the box to treat jpeg images separate from their raw files. Then LR will only show the raw files in the catalog.

On the last question here is a good article on how to do this efficiently. http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras_2010/20100720_iPhone4/index.html

I don’t recommend that you delete until you are sure the images have downloaded properly.
Wojtek

Problem: I download photos from a card into the LR, and create and name a folder for them.
I would expect that the photos, send to an external drive as a second copy, would be put into a folder with an identical name. Instead all photos are put on the drive – unattached to any folder. Am I missing something?

Regards,

Wojtek
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Wojtek!

No. You’re not missing anything. The second copies are for backup purposes only. While LR3 did improve on this by making the names of both copies match if you changed the name on import, it does not reproduce any folder structures. The idea is that if an image gets lost or corrupted you can easily find it in your backup of second copies by name.
Wojtek

Hi Gene,
thank you for your reply. Makes me feel better; although you have to admit that if LR could create an identically named folder on a back-up drive, it would make it easier to find a specific photo – it would actually mirror the main drive. I don’t know if something like this would be possible through LR. Oh well, one cannot have it both ways;).
Thanx again.

Regards,

Wojtek
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Part of the issue is that the backup on import is really meant to be a safety net. You should be backing up on a regular basis. Those backup will include the folder structure. It is progress that LR now matches the filenames on the secondary copies. However, think of the logistics involved if LR had to match the folder structure. Every time you made changes in your catalog LR would have to maintain two sets of folders. Not a good use of resources.

So the moral of the story is backup via other apps.
Wojtek

Hi Gene,
I found the solution to my problem, but not on my own I have to admit: in the Import section in the right panel when you select “Make a second copy” there is a little triangle to the right, pointing down. When you click on it a window opens which allows you to select, or create a new folder, and name it, on the backup drive – you may choose the same name as in the LR, and voila! – you have exactly the same folders, automatically created, in the LR and on the backup drive. I missed that little triangle, and with help of a friend I found it. It makes backing-up less cumbersome.

Regards,

Wojtek
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

HI Wojtek!

Well.. Yes and no. That still won’t give you what you asked for. If you are importing all your images into a single folder (like… /Vacation/Summer2010) then that will give you the ability to create the same folder on the backup drive. However, if you have LR create folders for you, such as date folders (/2010/11 and /2010/12, etc.) that will not create those on the backup drive.
Sflnative

Hello,
Just downloaded a trial version of LR3. Pointed it to a network drive where I store all my original photos. It identified approx. 70K of images to import. Began importing to a fresh catalog, but after 10,500 images, it seems to have stalled…although there are no error messages and LR still indicates it is in the process of importing.
Ed
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Ed!

There have been some reports of this happening. Adobe is working on it. Try going to labs.adobe.com and download and install the release candidate for LR 3.3. That may have a fix in it for this.

If that still doesn’t work import in smaller jobs. Try dividing the import into three or four pieces. Not the ideal answer but it may help.

Lastly, if you can tell which file is stuck try moving that somewhere and redo the import. It could be a problem with a particular file.

Also, report this bug to adobe at http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform The more people who report it the more attention it will get.
Thoselaings

I am about to create a Lightroom3 catalog for the first time.
I will be importing several years worth of images – all located on an external drive (actually 2 drives, one being an exact replica of the first for backup purposes.
The directory structure that that works for me is:
Top directory – “Images Archive” (so I can copy everything in one fell swoop to the backup)
A subdirectory for each year -”2010″
Within each year a subdirectory for the month – “02 – February” (the number merely keeps the months nsorted in order)
Sometimes I have a further special folder within a month – “Vacation”
So what I want to do is -
1. Maintain all my images as at present, under this directory structure, and on an external drive with a second external drive as backup
2. Create the Lightroom catalog on the external drive also – then I can work on 2 different computers without synch issues
3. Continue to download images from my camera(s) directly to the external drive within the directory structure
4. Periodically import the new images into Lightroom from the external drive

Can you prescribe the workflow steps in Lightroom that will accomplish all this?
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Thoselaings!

There is no problem having the catalog on an external drive so long as it is not a network drive. LR catalogs won’t work on network based storage.

As for the existing structure you have you can easily bring it into LR. When you import use the ADD function in the import dialog and that will bring the images into the catalog but leave them where they are on the drive.

Going forward you can either bring the images into your folders and then import into LR or you can use LR to import the images and place them in the appropriate folders. One of the import features is to create/use folders based on year and month as you are doing now.