Strategy for tracking TIFs and virtual copies

[marcgoldring]

Lately I've been taking more LR files into PS and into various plug-ins. They come out as TIFFs with *-edit suffixes. I also make virtual copies when I soft proof for 2 different papers, which do the same thing. It's getting to be a bit of a jumble in the library! I can filter so that I see just masters or just virtual copies but that has limitations, it seems.

Are there some conventions to deal with this proliferation? Is there a better way to handle this than using key words?

Thanks

Marco

[Hoggy]

One thing to do would be to make a smart collection, with criteria:
'Filename' contains ".tif .psd .psb"    &
'Copy Name' is not 'empty'

That's what I do, at least..

[john beardsworth]

Lately I've been taking more LR files into PS and into various plug-ins. They come out as TIFFs with *-edit suffixes. I also make virtual copies when I soft proof for 2 different papers, which do the same thing. It's getting to be a bit of a jumble in the library! I can filter so that I see just masters or just virtual copies but that has limitations, it seems.

Are there some conventions to deal with this proliferation? Is there a better way to handle this than using key words?

I don't think there are conventions, just practices that may work for more than just yourself. Some of these are disciplines, others are just learning to exploit the right Lightroom features.

For instance, it's generally a good idea to retain the original filename in the derivative files' name, so you know YYMMDD_1234-panorama.tif was stitched from YYMMDD_1234.cr2 and the following frames. With such a convention in place, you can then sort All Photographs by filename and find the images, or if enter the YYMMDD_1234 in Library Filter's Text panel to find all the related frames.

All other metadata helps, including keywords, but keywords are often too flexible to let you get straight to one group of photos. So I often point out the value of completing the Job field because you can easily use it for non-work projects - eg Christmas 2015 vacation - and also because this field is more searchable than others in Lightroom and can be exploited by the Library Filter's Metadata view and in smart collections.

Other conventions are more like tips. Lightroom's "-edit" doesn't help me find all B&W TIFs, so I replace it with SFX (Silver Efex). But that's just me. My use of colour labels strikes me as helpful too, for example, but it's just my own convention and works for me rather than being a general principle.

So it's about adding as much convention as you can, as consistently as you can manage, while learning to get the most out of Lightroom's built-in features and their quirks.

John

[stingray]

This is an individual thing.

This works for me.

On import I give all my raw files a unique number (6 digits as I have 75,000 images currently in my catelog) as part of the file name.
If I create a master PSD file, I will keep it with the same filename in the same folder as the raw.  All exported versions of either raw or PSD are stored in sub folders (eg Web, Print,Full Jpg, Client ABC) and all retain the unique number.

A long time ago I stopped using virtual images. 

If I need a different version for a different purpose (eg I want both a colour and B&W print), I use the Lightroom feature to "Export as Original" the raw file into the current folder and will add B_W (or similar)  to the filename.  Again I retain the unique sequence number but with the option to create a second copy. 

I use snapshots if I want to explore different processing options, but if I want to use more than one snap shot to export,  I will create another original copy so I always have the base raw settings and ability to re-edit as required.

If I want to use a raw file from an existing project into a new project, I will "Copy As Original" into a new project folder, keeping the unique number but adding some other ref to the filename.  I can now generate as many daughter images from this new original as the project requires and have them all collected to-gether within the same folder structure.

A simple text search of my unique image number will show me all variations of my image within my entire Lr catelog and across multiple projects, if they exist.

I believe the Adobe virtual image concept is good, but currently not complete (another example of Adobe 90%).  The main (and serious, in my opinion) flaw is the virtual settings are only held in the catelog file.  They should be stored either as separate XMP files or the XMP file should hold all virtual settings. 

[MarkH2]

...

I believe the Adobe virtual image concept is good, but currently not complete (another example of Adobe 90%).  The main (and serious, in my opinion) flaw is the virtual settings are only held in the catelog file.  They should be stored either as separate XMP files or the XMP file should hold all virtual settings.

There is a way to store virtual copies in the XMP files: make a snapshot of the virtual copy.  Snapshots are stored in the XMP of the master file.  Granted, not as elegant as automatically storing the virtual copy settings in the XMP file, but it works.