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Author Topic: Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?  (Read 3103 times)

Marshallarts

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« on: November 16, 2009, 06:13:36 pm »

Organization has always been my weakness.  I really desperately need to find a solution to organize my photos am would very much appreciate advice.

I like lightroom and know it's library is a powerful tool. But how do you organize the folders as you import?

Do you use Lightroom to organize all your photos (including family or casual stuff)?  If so do you use a different library?

I have about 100,000 photos. Would this be too much for one library?

Also, I don't just use LR bt also use Photoshop, DPP, and am trying to learn Capture1.  I've been reluctant to commit to LR's library because I don't want to be tied down to it.  

Is there a better library program than LR that is easier to work with other programs?
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Farkled

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2009, 08:29:13 pm »

I assume by library you mean catalog.  If so, then 100K images may stretch performance on weak machines.  I base that statement on LR 2.5 not 3.0 which is currently in beta.

The short answer to your question is that no one method is best for all circumstances or all people.  In general there tend to be two camps:  the clumpers and the splitters.  Some folks (like me) put everything in one catalog and other folks use multiple catalogs for reasons that are good and sufficient for them.  Since LR can only use one catalog at a time, it can only search through one catalog at a time.  No matter whether you clump or split you will need to make heavy use of keywords and collections

Many folks find that creating one main folder for each year with a folder under that for each shoot named [date] works well for them.
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wolfnowl

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2009, 08:39:22 pm »

As I shoot new images I add them to my laptop and do a lot of sorting/ editing there, but with some regularity I move everything over to my desktop as it's faster and has more storage capacity.  In that sense I have two catalogues - the 'current' one, so to speak, and the archive of everything.  In a different sense, only one catalogue.

"A generalist is one who knows less and less about more and more until finally he knows nothing about everything.  A specialist knows more and more about less and less until finally he knows everything about nothing."

Mikr.
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howardm

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2009, 08:48:35 pm »

temporal/time based organization is, I think by far, the most common method.  Yes, I think 100K images will tax LR so you might want to think about
that many in 1 catalog.

You're not really 'locked in' to LR database.  The images maintain the folder structure you gave them (or you let LR do for you) and all data is held in the
database file, not the images, so it's not really 'importing' as you would often define it, it's more like 'letting LR know about the image and let it catalog it' instead of absorbing it into some permanent black hole.

Sheldon N

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2009, 12:28:09 am »

I divide mine into a couple of large topics. I have a primary family catalog, a portrait/wedding/event catalog, a landscape catalog, and a miscellaneous catalog which is mainly archives of test images and product/gear for sale shots. I break stuff out into subfolders either topically or time based, depending on which catalog it is.
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john beardsworth

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2009, 05:17:00 am »

Quote from: howardm
Yes, I think 100K images will tax LR so you might want to think about
that many in 1 catalog.
Cross that bridge when you come to it. I regularly work with a 200k+ catalogue (not my own) that isn't on the latest machine. The catalogue is optimised regularly, but runs just fine and is growing by 1k per week.

What it comes down to is what makes sense - controlling all your pictures in a single place, or fragmenting that control over a number of catalogues. It can  make sense to run temporary catalogues for specific purposes, such as Wolfnowl's current or WIP catalogue, or for a client demo. And there can be times when you really need a separate long term catalogue - eg you shoot something you wouldn't want the kids to see. So whack everything into one catalogue, make sure it is covered by your backup procedures, import into simple date-based folders, and use keywords and collections to categorise and organise your pictures.

John
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Jim Pascoe

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2009, 06:17:23 am »

To start with I had three catalogues.  Weddings (a big one),  Portraits and Commercial, and Personal/Family.  I reasoned that there was no real cross-over in the three and that I would only need one open at a time.  The problem came when say I wanted to say print a lot of pictures from the wedding catalogue, but get on editing a portrait shoot.  So after two years I have just merged (painlessly) the Wedding and Portrait catalogues.  The new catalogue has over 90,000 pictures in and runs well.

My own method is to download new pictures to specific locations on hard drives, so that I know where the little so and so's are kept for back-up purposes.  Then I import them into Lightroom without moving them.  The Lightroom catalogue is regularly backed up, and Time Machine (Mac) backs up the back ups!  The image files are backed up separately.

I am tempted to combine the Personal catalogue with the other as well.  The problem is that when doing viewings with clients it is very easy to flick the cursor across other sets of pictures, which then pop up in the viewer briefly.  Whilst there is nothing dodgy in my catalogue, it is just not good to have ones personal family pictures popping up unexpectedly!  Granny in the bath..... (only joking).

Jim
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dchew

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2009, 07:05:21 am »

If you use a database management program like LR, the folder structure then primarily depends on how you back up files.  This is why many people have brought up their back up strategy in their answers.  As Peter Krogh argues in his great book on Digital Asset Management (The DAM Book), file structure is determined only by your backup procedure, not by concerns regarding searching or finding.

As Mike pointed out, I use only two catalogs:  One for WIP and one for all finished images.  There's no solid reason to even use two, however.  John B has some great tools for handling WIP images in an all-inclusive catalog.

I think the most important aspect is to design a catalog / file / backup structure that fits your style.  If you are meticulous, then one catalog with a chrono file structure is fine; your collections and keywords will handle all the search/find/sort/filter issues.  If you are sloppy, then a more meaningful file structure might help you find things without religious keywording.

Dave Chew
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Marshallarts

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2009, 12:44:43 pm »

Thanks to everyone who offered their helpful advice to me in this!  I really appreciate the input.  I have the day off and am spending some time getting used to LR and how the catalog works (yes, I meant catalog not library as I used in my subject).  

I will begin adding my files and see how large my catalog gets.  If I find an appropriate place to begin another catalog I will (if the original gets too large).  It seems simple enough, I just think I was a little intimidated by it.
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john beardsworth

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2009, 12:50:34 pm »

There's a lot of voodoo about what "large" is - one recent podcast put the number at a few hundred and makes you wonder if its author had any concept of what a database is. If your system does slow down, there's a fair chance something other than the number of items is to blame - LR stresses the parts other programs don't. So let it grow, and remember the Optimise command (Catalog Settings).
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neil snape

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Do you have/use mulitple libraries?---if so for what?
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2009, 05:21:35 pm »

On my main editing computer, I have only one Catalogue. I just looked an it has 46000 images.

On my portable I have the main catalogue that I export as a catalogue often to the edit computer, but a second catalogue for the images and demo purposes at the school I teach.

I certainly do this for reasons of having only the test images available for the students to see and play with, not for speed reasons.

I can't see any speed difference once the images are rendered after import with large or small number of catalogued images.
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