On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 08:43:10AM +0100, Bob W wrote: > Larry, --snip--
> As far as merging catalogues goes, and not wanting to change your existing > organisation on the disk/s, I would recommend the following: I actually would like to fine tune my existing organization. But it seems that that may be best done in lightroom, rather than with simple commands like mkdir _0905 mv 0905* _0905 mv _0905 0905 > > 1. create a new catalogue Easily done. > > 2. using the new catalogue, import your photos from each of the old > catalogues in turn (in the Library Module, on the File menu, choose Import > >From Catalog). This is similar to Concept Three on p.310 of the Resnick & > Spritzer book, which I believe you have. Yes I do have it. Started reading it, then life caught up with me. > > 3. When that's done, delete all of the old catalogues. This does not delete > your photos. If I don't delete the old catalogs, I expect that if I open a picture using them, I just lose any changes made in the new catalog. > > For the future, > > 1. RTFM > 1b. Read the Resnick & Spritzer book from end to end, thinking all the time > about how you can apply their workflow in your situation As I said, I started to, shortly after buying the book. > 2. understand the options on the Import dialog - this will go a long way to > giving you a structure you understand OK, I'll take a look at that. > 3. learn about keywords and how useful they can be for fast search and > retrieval I've been using them. > 4. understand what Collections are They seem to be just a set of pointers to files in multiple directories. > 5. Learn about Smart Collections Will do. I have an innate distrust of anything labeled "Smart" as part of a computer system. > 6. create a new folder and always import straight into that, using LR to > manage the organisation. Don't move any files around unless you use LR to do > the moving. Do you mean just have one directory for importing into? My normal workflow is to copy, or move, the files from my SD card onto a named file on my linux desktop. For example 091015_foo_bar, then to scp that directory over to my Mac: scp -pr 091015_foo_bar [email protected]:pictures_2009 This way by typing in a command, I offload the files, and instantly make a backup on a separate machine. Since, by convention, I name all the directories by date, it makes it easy to find the originals in case anything goes worng. Even simpler, I have a couple of scripts to do it. So if I want to copy the files off the card (snarf them) then send them over the the iMac, I just type snarf_n_send 091015_foo_bar the script looks like: cat bin/snarf_n_send #!/bin/bash mkdir $1 date ls /media/disk/dcim/*/* |wc mv /media/disk/dcim/*/* $1 date scp -pr $1 10.0.1.249:pictures_2009 I suppose, if you think I should just copy them all into the same directory every time, I could change the last line to: scp -pr $1/* 10.0.1.249:lr_import > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of Larry Colen > > Sent: 15 October 2009 05:42 > > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > Subject: Re: The collection went away > > > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 06:01:43PM -0500, Stan Halpin wrote: > > > > > > On Oct 14, 2009, at 4:24 PM, Larry Colen wrote: > > > > > > > However their methodology of file handling seems a bit weird at > > > >times. > > > > > > > Lightroom is built around SQL. Like any database program, the > > > organizational structure is designed to facilitate storage and > > > retrieval, not necessarily user comprehension. Good news about this > > > approach is that it allows very fast processing of search/sort/ > > > retrieval requests from among tens of thousands records (images). As > > > > OK, this sounds promising. > > > > > others havwe suggested, file it and forget it. Lightroom > > can find it, > > > you don't need to fret about an organizational structure > > that you can > > > make sense of. If you have problems with Lightroom, you can try to > > > "learn Lightroom" or you can find a general simple discussion of > > > database systems and work from there. > > > > > > Another good thing about Lightroom is that they have nicely layered > > > the image processing functions onto the database functions without > > > compromising either too badly. > > > > Let's say that I want to create an ubercatalog, as suggested. > > And lets assume that I don't want to lose the work that I've > > already done on my 20 or so catalogs of about 570 directories > > with about 62,000 photos. > > > > Godfrey said that I should merge catalogs. But, when I look > > in the indexes of my lightroom books, neither said anything > > about merging catalogs. > > When I look at the menu there is > > new catalog > > open catalog > > and open recent (which seems to be recent catalog) > > > > There are also a bunch of library functions, which seem to > > operate on the catalog, but they may only look at a > > particular directory tree at a time. > > > > The list of directories over on the left very quickly gets > > unweildy. However, since I name all of my download > > directories with yymmdd_subject i.e. 091014_cormorants_1 > > > > It'll be very easy for me to set up a structure > > > > raw_photos > > 2007 > > 2008 > > 2009 > > 0901 > > 0902 > > 0903 > > 0904 > > ... > > 0910 > > 091001_ebay_makeup > > 091001_product_sample > > 091001_product_shoot > > 091002_dangoughs > > 091003_pdml > > 091003_pdml_dinner > > 091003_rentparty > > 091005_aikido_test > > 091007_floor > > 091007_probuild > > 091009_fnb_gwebster > > 091009_gwenplay > > 091010_headon > > 091010_rentparty > > 091013_metaformers > > > > and if I want all of my best shots, I frob the item in the > > library menu to include subdirectories, go to raw_photos and > > have it only show the ones rated five stars. > > > > If I'm willing to set aside all of my work, I could move > > everything into the directory tree that I want, open a new > > catalog, and tell lightroom to import all 61824 files. > > Can I then just "import from catalog" to recover all the work > > I've done on those files without duplicating them? > > > > What if I've moved them from where they were when I made that catalog? > > I've seen lightroom recover from files being moved, I've also > > seen it get terribly confused. > > > > > > -- > > The first step is learning to take great photos, the second > > step is learning to throw away ones that are merely good. > > Larry Colen [email protected] > > http://www.red4est.com/lrc > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly > > above and follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- The first step is learning to take great photos, the second step is learning to throw away ones that are merely good. Larry Colen [email protected] http://www.red4est.com/lrc -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
