Category: Lightroom

Organizing for Projects with Lightroom

On December 28, 2018

Creating artsy digital pages with photos and Anna Aspnes’ designs requires organization, especially for book projects. I use Lightroom to organize and edit my photos before exporting them to Photoshop for use on my digital scrapbook pages or the pages I create for books. I share below how I organize for my projects within Lightroom, but keep in mind that there are lots of ways to organize in Lightroom. Below are a few highlights of my system.

Import Photos into Lightroom

Select Copy photos from camera to external hard drive at the top of the import screen. Select move photos for scans or photos located on your hard drive.
Check the boxes for building Smart Previews and don’t import suspected duplicates in File Handling panel.
Rename files using the File Name Editor based on date.

Note: My photos are currently stored on an external 4TB LaCie Rugged Mini. Renaming photos to their capture date and putting them in folders by year is the system that I started with in 2010 when I began using Lightroom. See the sample at the bottom of the File Renaming panel. Save the steps you use for importing your photos as a preset in the drop down menu at the bottom of the screen to speed up the process.

Add Smart Previews to Photos Stored on an External Drive

Build Smart Preview upon import.
Or build after by going to the Library drop down menu, selecting Previews and then “Build Smart Previews”.
The small rectangle on the top right side of each photo grid indicates that a smart preview was build.

Note: When I stored my photos on my internal SSD drive, I didn’t need to build smart previews. Although it will take extra time to build smart previews when importing photos, those previews make it possible to tag, label and edit photos when the external drive is not connected. The information added to the catalog will write to the photos when the external drive is reconnected. All edits are non-destructive, meaning the original copy is not changed.

Develop a System for Adding Keywords to Photos

Add keywords to photos after importing them. Use the shift key to select those needing the same keyword.
Choose from a Keyword Set; sets are created with keywords most frequently used, i.e. immediate family.
Or choose from Keyword List, a list in the panel on the left that might include for example, bokeh, lights, tree, etc. under Christmas.

Note: Adding keywords is a quick task now because I began using them in 2010, long before my photo collection was so large. Keywords are written to both jpeg and raw photo files. With time, I’ve refined my list, grouping them for ease of use. Lightroom rewrites keywords to your photos when you rearrange their hierarchy and saves any edits made in the Develop Module.

Use Filters to Find Photos for Pages

Access filters by pressing the slash key in the Library module. Create filter presets with the most used criteria, i.e. date, keyword, flag, camera
Search for photos to use on layouts by keyword and whether flagged.

Note: I searched for the photos that I used on the Christmas page for my anniversary book project by choosing specific dates and Christmas keywords. Once I located them, I flagged the ones I thought I would use by pressing P for pick. Those are the ones that I edited before exporting to Photoshop.

Add Digital Pages to Lightroom Catalog

Save pages created in Photoshop to folders on an external drive.
Import, (choose Add on the Import screen), pages and check the box for “Build Smart Previews, but do not rename the layouts.
Add keywords to imported pages.

Note: My catalog also includes the pages that I am creating for my anniversary book project as well as the pages that I’ve created for other book projects. Each project is saved to a different folder.

Lightroom is a catalog of my collection of more than 100,000 photos and the layouts that I’ve created. It includes not only photos from several cameras but also scans of old negatives and photos. Having a database system like Lightroom for naming and storing photos, adding keywords and searching my photo collection allows me to focus on my creative process, combining my photos with Anna’s designs on artsy pages. Once a system is set up, maintenance is easy. Think of it as a habit that becomes easier with practice.

Note: If you have a photographer’s subscription through Adobe, you have access to Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge. A number of free training videos are available through Adobe.

Summer 1970

By Linda

On November 19, 2018

In Lightroom, Scrapbooking

We hadn’t been married two years when we volunteered to serve as leaders for a group of college students on a summer long trip to promote a singing group from our church, Van Nuys Baptist. We spent most of our time in the Philippines. I kept a journal in summer, 1970, handwritten pages tied together with yarn, filled with details about the Philippines: waking up to the sound of jeepneys, shopping for meat in open air markets, cooking in a pressure cooker, listening to the daily rain on a tin roof collected for cold showers, riding a bus out of the city, walking to a small village into a corn field to find a bathroom, laughing at our caribou ride, hearing Bill preach on David and Goliath in a little dirt floor church.The words tell a story not seen in these photos, my thoughts and feelings. Now that I think about it, summers before we had children, a detail about which Philippinos questioned us, are some of our best memories.

I continue to work on my heritage project, deciding which photos to include, what to write and simply remembering what it was like 50 years ago. It’s not as easy as I thought to create a page that conveys the essence of an experience in our early marriage. I took some time to think and plan before beginning this two page spread.

I began by reducing the size of templates 7 and 8 from Hipster Plume Album Template No. 2 to about 85% and placing them above solid paper 3 from ArtPlay Palette Sage on the template provided in Heritage Live.

Note: I deleted the masks included with the template for the small photos. To each matte, I added a stroke style to keep the framing consistent through my project.

Next, I clipped a photo to each of the fotoblendz masks and some of the stains. I also extracted us from the photos and created a custom shadow.

Note: The photos on these pages are from old slides and required some work in Lightroom as well as adjustments in Photoshop.

On the left, I placed the layers from transfer 5 of Artsy Transfers Sage between the extraction and the photo copy clipped to the fotoblendz mask. I placed layers from transfer 1 below the cluster of frames on the far left. On the right, layers from transfer 4 of Artsy Transfers Sage are below both the extraction and the fotoblendz mask.

To accommodate one additional photo, I duplicated the square matte and shadow on the right and moved it to the place where the text box was originally. I gave the matte the same stroke style and clipped my photo to it.

Finally, I photographed the handwritten journal I kept that summer, reduced the size and gave it a shadow. I tucked it next to one of the small photos. I gave the gold yarn, a popular color then, it’s own custom shadow.

After rereading my journal, I decided that if my family wants more details about the summer of 1970, they can read my journal too.

I Remember the Music

By Linda

On October 27, 2018

In Lightroom, Scrapbooking

A few weeks ago, a cousin sent me the photo of the house in Dallas that my Grandfather and Grandmother Kennamer moved to in 1939. I have few memories of my grandfather, but I do remember his music. I remember dancing on his porch while he played Mockingbird Hill on his fiddle. Independent of a few photos, music is my strongest memory of my grandfather. The extraction above is from the last photo I have of him, taken in 1964. Below are the steps for creating this page.

Create a new blank document. Place file 1 from Luster FotoBlendz No. 1 on solid paper 2 from ArtPlay Palette Luster.Clip the photo sketch to mask. Add Screen adjustment layers at 100%. Above the adjustment layer, place a duplicate of the original photo. Add an inverted mask and bring back in the roof. At the top of photo layers clipped to the mask, duplicate one more copy of the original photo on Pin Light blend mode at 50%. Place textures 3 and 6 from Paper Textures No. 1.

Note: I used a Lightroom preset by Studio Romy to create the sketch. I recolored the mask white so that I could change the blend mode of the sketch to multiply.Place transfers 1 and 6 from ArtPlay Palette Luster below the mask and photo layers.Above the fotoblendz mask and photo layers, extract subject with the Quick Selection tool from group photo. Give the extraction a custom shadow.Add a black and white adjustment layer to the photo. On the layer mask use a round brush to reveal the red bow tie and face. Above the black and white adjustment layer add an adjustment layer on Soft Light at 100%. Place musical instrument 6 of Instrumental No. 1 below the extraction. Give it a 1 px stroke. Place stitches 3 and 11 from UrbanStitchez No. 12 below the text box and extraction. Add title.On the left side, place the tag from ArtPlay Palette Luster. Add address of house. Add button from ArtPlay Palette Joyeux and a thread 6 from ButtonThreadz No. 3. Add text box and journaling.

I don’t have a photo, but I can see my grandfather standing on the porch and hear him playing his fiddle.

Mother

By Linda

On July 6, 2018

In Lightroom, Scrapbooking

Finding the words to express what I feel now and then about my mother is difficult. I don’t think I ever really knew her. I remember the pain in the few stories she shared from her childhood with me. I know I didn’t understand her un-diagnosed Bipolar. She was complicated, always demanding my best, our relationship never intimate. I know that she gave the best she could. I will always be grateful she did. I imagine that everyone has a few difficult stories to tell about family. It’s not that I wanted this to be one of my first pages for my anniversary book, but the color in Anna’s ArtPlay Palette Rougir was perfect for an early color photo of my mother from 1947.

As I did on my first page, I used primarily fotoblendz masks, artsy transfers, brushes and small frames from templates.

I worked with the photo of my mother in Lightroom first to improve the color. After importing it into Photoshop CC, I used the Camera Raw filter to improve it further. The background was dark so I extracted my mother and added a custom shadow. I clipped transfer 2 and solid paper 2 from ArtPlay Palette Rougir to overlay 1 from FotoBlendz Overlays No. 12. Below that I placed the layers of psd file 5 from Artsy Transfers Rougir.

To build depth and interest, I added the notebook from ArtPlay Palette Rougir and pasted photos on it to create the look of a photo album. I added addition transfers, leaves and lace from ArtPlay Palette Rougir as well as the layers of file 1 from MultiMedia Roses No. 1.

On the right side, I began by clipping the original photo to mask 5 from Hipster Plume FotoBlendz No. 7. To the left of the masked photo, I placed transfers 1 and 2 from ArtPlay Palette Rougir and masked out parts as needed with blending brushes.

Note: I used the basic design of template 15 from WaterColor Template Album No. 5 for this page.

I continued to build the background by placing the layers of transfers 1 and 4 from Artsy Transfers Rougir, masking as needed.

Note: My jumpsuit was actually yellow. I recolored it by masking out just my clothing and adding a color overlay to that layer.

Finally, I clipped photos to the small frame masks of template 15 of WaterColor Template Album No. 5 before adding elements from ArtPlay Palette Rougir.

I’m looking forward to hearing how Anna handled her difficult stories in her upcoming class, Heritage Live. Maybe its a good thing that I’ve finished one of the difficult stories early in my project.

Lightroom Mobile

By Linda

On December 30, 2017

In Lightroom, Photography

Have you ever tried to capture a photo of a group of kids with a great expression in one moment of time? I am bound to have someone with closed eyes or a bad expression. To solve that problem, I use a technique that I learned from Jana Morton. In this case, I opened one Christmas photo in Photoshop and then layered three more photos above in order to replace heads, i.e. Logan’s on the left, and Corbin’s, the one sitting on the floor. After positioning the photo layers, I added inverted layer masks and used a soft round brush to reveal just the part I needed. I then created a composite of the layers and saved it back to Lightroom as a psd edit.

With my time during the Christmas break, rather than creating pages, I am working on learning how the new Lightroom CC and the mobile app integrate with Lightroom Classic, the new name for the original program. I have been viewing videos from two courses available at Creative Live. They were on sale for 60% off sale the day after Christmas.

As an example of how the sync works, I added my modified photo to my favorites collection under the Lr Mobile collection set within Lightroom Classic.

That photo synced to the same folder in the mobile app on my iPhone. All these photos and pages aren’t really on my 68g iPhone. My phone accesses smart previews of the photos stored in the 20gig of cloud storage available with my Adobe photography plan. So the disk space used on my phone is minimal. The originals are all on my computer.

After viewing the videos, I have begun to add other collections to Lightroom Classic. I began by adding my December photos as a collection for syncing to the mobile app as well as the new Lightroom CC which I installed on my computer.

I am going to continue working backwards by date until I have several years worth of photo smart previews in both the mobile app and Lightroom CC on my computer. The photos don’t take much cloud space because I chose to use smart previews in the cloud as well as on my iPhone. I can edit the smart previews in a mobile app and any changes that I make will sync back to Lightroom Classic. Adobe has definitely improved the mobile editing features, enough so that I think I am going to save for an iPad just so that I have a larger screen for editing and reading.

From my perspective, this is also a wonderful solution for keeping my daughter-in-law’s computer up to date so that she can have access to all the photos I capture. I’ve been manually uploading my photos to her computer in Lightroom 5 as a backup, something I don’t do as often as I should because it is so time consuming. Although I am allowed to install Lightroom Classic on two computers, I don’t think I need to install it on her computer in order to give her access to all the family photos that I capture. Syncing will be so much faster and easier.

SaveSave

A Colorful Sketch

By Linda

On November 19, 2017

In Lightroom, Scrapbooking

This evening, I played with a mini palette, ArtPlay MiniPalette Jocund, that Anna will release free with a $20 purchase on Black Friday as part of Oscraps’ sales. I thought the gold and white would create a beautiful contrast for a colorful photo.

In Lightroom, I chose the sketch version of a Christmas tree photo. I altered the original photo on the right using a technique that Ulla-May shared. On my layout below, I had simplified the technique.

Unfortunately, I didn’t write down my exact steps at that time, so I hope viewing the video helps you create the effect on a photo of your own. Remember, you don’t have to use smart objects to get this effect so this technique works in Photoshop and Elements.

This was a quick layout because I had already given my photo an artsy sketch effect based on the video. I placed the layers of my altered photo below the frame on solid paper 2. I changed the blend mode of the grouped layers to multiply at 100%.

I placed lace 1 and 2, gold paint 2 and two copies of transfer 3 below the photo and frame.

I created a cluster with elements from the artplay palette and a piece of pine from ArtPlay Palette Pinery. However, my layout appeared unfinished to me.

So I placed a copy of tree sketch composite between the gold paint and two copies of transfer 3. I changed the blend mode to linear burn at 50% and used a brush on a mask to conceal parts.

I hope you will play with Ulla-May’s technique to create a colorful sketch of your own. It really is easy.

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

Less Is Enough

By Linda

On December 29, 2016

In Lightroom, Photography, Scrapbooking

With Christmas in the recent past, I am again focused on finishing a book for 2016. As you can see in this screen shot from the book module in Lightroom that I posted below, I have about sixty pages already completed. Having taken over 14,000 photos this year, there is no way that I’ll be able to include them all in a book. I’ve also accepted the fact that I will finish a smaller book this year rather than thinking that a book for 2016 isn’t worth the effort to finish if I don’t create as many pages as I did in 2015.

After looking at the collections of photos for possible 2016 layouts, I have decided to complete just five more double page spreads. I’ve placed the photos for each layout on new 24×12 inch blank documents. Next, I will begin selecting templates from either Travel Template Album No. 2 or Project Template Album No. 2 to finish the pages.

As I finish up these pages, I am thinking about what I want to do next year, what I want to create with the photos that I make. I am considering focusing more on making the photos and displaying them on simpler pages with journaling. I have some thoughts about my priorities and direction based on my experiences creating books over the last few years that I will share in January.

Organizing with Lightroom

By Linda

On June 22, 2016

In Lightroom, Photography

In the future, my family will look at these photos from our trip and want to know the what, when, where and why of their pictures. My grandchildren are young; they will forget much about the memories we made together.

2016-06-14 094400

One morning we bought containers of corn and seeds to feed the deer as we walked along paths with open fences allowing deer to freely roam among people walking the paths.

2016-06-14 081544

Owen and Logan shook their closed containers of seeds to attract the deer and fed them just a few seeds at a time. Owen, almost twelve, placed seeds on the backs of the deer trying to get them to eat off one another. He and Logan weren’t afraid they would lose a finger by feeding the deer one piece at a time.

2016-06-14 094419

However, Corbin and Kate had a little more trouble keeping a secure grasp on their containers. We had some tears as the deer gobbled up the corn spilled on the ground.

2016-06-14 083249

2016-06-14 091803 Kate wanted to feed the deer, but she wasn’t sure that she really liked them licking seeds off her hand. Kate smiled when her mom put some in Kate’s lap. Yet, she did not like that her dress got wet when the deer lapped up the corn and seeds!

Helping my grandchildren remember our time together is the reason why I make photos and take the time to create scrapbook pages as well as add metadata to my photos with Lightroom. With five years experience using Lightroom, I have found which options work for me and are worth my time.

One of the most important options in Lightroom is the ability to add keywords and captions to the metadata of my photos. My keyword list includes words clarifying who, what and where. I have categories for family and friends, foods, garden words, holidays, indoor activities, outdoor activities, places, weather and technology.

Screen Shot 2016-06-22 at 7.50.36 PM

As I went through my vacation photos, I first deleted those photos that I knew I wouldn’t use, photos with blurry faces and sharp backgrounds, photos obscured when someone walked into the view just as I was snapping the shot, photos that were poorly cropped. At the same time, I picked my favorites by pressing the “p” key which attaches a white flag. That indicates the photo is a keeper, a photo that speaks to me, a photo that I want to use on a page. I have given up attaching a numeric rating to photos. I found it wasn’t worth my time since I don’t choose photos based on a rating.

As I shared in a previous post, I also add captions to photos so that my thoughts about the photos become part of the metadata. Once I had those “picked” photos, I created a collection for them so that they are easily available for creating scrapbook pages.

Taking the time to organize photos by adding keywords and a few thoughts about the morning together before creating a collection of my favorites in Lightroom makes it much easier when I begin to create scrapbook pages for this year’s book.

2016-06-14 094923

SaveSave