On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 11:12 AM, steve harley <[email protected]> wrote: > on 2012-07-12 11:29 Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote >> It's up to the user to manage their original files.
"Original files" means the masters used in the editing system, not what's on the camera storage card. What's on the camera storage card is irrelevant in the context of the editing system except as a source for importing. The sensible way to manage your original files for use with Lightroom, Aperture or any other image processing system is: - Create an image repository rooted in a single directory on a per-volume basis. - Inside that repository, create subfolders structured by whatever mnemonic is most sensible to you ... dates, categories, jobs, clients ... whatever works. - Define a system of subfolders in the image repository germain to your editing tools through which to migrate your work. For a Photoshop/Bridge workflow, this is often a series of subfolders based on a project or job such as "picks", "work in progress", "editing completed", "output for use A", "output for use B", etc. For applications like Aperture and Lightroom that include image management functionality, you normally do not do this in the file system directly, you use tools internal to the app for this, that is, a defined progression using "collections", "albums", labeling, rating stars, etc. - Backup and archive the original files by replicating the entire image repository to an another storage location, preferably twice (good data security policy is one working copy and two backup copies). Keep it up to date, do it regularly ... automated backup/synchronization tools are best for this. For apps like Aperture and Lightroom, also include in the backup schema the .aplibrary file (Aperture) and .LRDAT file (Lightroom). This preserves all the editing and annotation work, and the history and state of all your files. It's the same four points to managing your original files, no matter what image processing system and tools are used to do the work. Whether a particular tool has automated part of the tasks for you or not is a convenience. The underlying need is to learn the tools you want to use well, design a configuration and a set of policies to achieve what you want, and then use them consistently. Godfrey - godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com Announcing "Ways Together" .. my new photo book! See it on Blurb at http://www.blurb.com/user/GDGPhoto Come to the reception and book-signing: ModernBook Gallery 49 Geary Ave, San Francisco, CA August 2nd, 5:30-7:30 pm -- 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.
