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Author Topic: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure  (Read 3745 times)

Ellis Vener

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question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« on: September 30, 2011, 09:07:04 am »

Is it possible  to create new smaller subject, client,  or content (including keyword selected)  related catalogs based on selecting searches from a large general lightroom catalog? HAve you done this? How has it worked for you? Is this approach more efficient for your workflow as opposed to creating large collections inside a large general catalog?

The way I foresee this working is that when a shoot is imported  it will go into the general catalog where in addition to normal keywords being assigned  keywords from a limited list will also be added that will allow periodic sweeps through the general catalog which will pick up the new entries to add the new photos to the smaller catalogs. The goal being to speed up my search / preview build times.

"Metadata is a love note to the future" - Jason Scott (http://ascii.textfiles.com/) via David Riecks of http://controlledvocabulary.com
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digitaldog

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2011, 09:38:54 am »

Make a selection (manually select what you want or build a collection), Export as Catalog. Make new Catalog, Import as Catalog. Everything (Keywords, etc) get copied over. In theory you could do this with a single image to ‘clone’ the original catalog’s data to start fresh without additional images.

And no, I think unless you have hundred of thousands of images in a catalog, one big catalog makes far more sense! Separate the images using smart collections, with keywords etc.
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john beardsworth

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2011, 09:45:35 am »

I'd strongly recommend against putting good time into breaking up control of your work - because that's what you are doing. Just imagine these situations:

- A picture fits more than one subject-based catalogue - should it go in both? How can you be sure every picture is catalogued - you'll soon find some that slip through the cracks... in other words, fragmenting control of your picture collection increases the risk of losing work.

- You move a folder in one catalogue forgetting that some pictures are registered in another catalogue - so you're wasting further time moving stuff between folders or sorting out missing files....

- You want to find pictures that meet a criterion that spans these subject catalogues. Unless your search criteria are always very limited, you're inevitably making work for yourself

- You add a keyword and can't recall if it was singular or plural or how you spelled it

- You want to copy an effect you know you used on a picture in one catalogue to a picture in another

There are some valid reasons for maintaining separate catalogues (eg I recently trained someone who shot pictures she didn't want the kids seeing), and you can always create a temporary client catalogue when you need to show someone pictures Lightroom and hide other work. But Lightroom is designed to control your workflow, so why fight against it? You've got metadata - make it sweat for you.

John
« Last Edit: September 30, 2011, 09:47:59 am by johnbeardy »
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digitaldog

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2011, 09:47:54 am »

There are some valid reasons for maintaining separate catalogues (eg I recently trained someone who shot pictures she didn't want the kids seeing)

We just need a Hide command when the keyword is naughty-bits <g>.
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john beardsworth

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2011, 09:49:05 am »

For once Lightroom's badges weren't covering up enough of the pictures!
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Ellis Vener

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2011, 10:01:30 am »

Thanks Andrew and John

@ John, I am not planning on removing anything from my general catalog but am trying to speed up specific search times. I can definitely see where some of images could be in multiple catalogs, and yes I am dealing with well over a hundred thousand existing images in my primary catalog as well as future proofing. But your accumulated points are all sound reasons for not doing it.
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john beardsworth

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2011, 10:16:38 am »

I suspect you'll find routinely peeling off and maintaining these other catalogues to be a royal pain. If you are creating one to meet a very specific need, like going to a client, but I certainly wouldn't use search speed as the justification. I know of q a few people with hundreds of thousands of images in their catalogues, not on ridiculous hardware, and some frequently need to find old images to meet stock requests. Search is pretty quick - not least because in database terms these are still small numbers. The main problem is the size of the backup catalogue and the time taken to optimise the catalogue, but those are tasks best done when you're finished for the day.

John
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Ellis Vener

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2011, 10:24:16 am »

Based on John's input, which greatly helped me clarify my thinking , I am not going to pursue this strategy. Instead I am going to start a short list of frequently used keywords I search for (for stock requests and portfolio pulls) and keep it on my bulletin board next to my display for fast reference.
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digitaldog

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2011, 10:25:21 am »

Based on John's input, which greatly helped me clarify my thinking , I am not going to pursue this strategy. Instead I am going to start a short list of frequently used keywords I search for (for stock requests and portfolio pulls) and keep it on my bulletin board next to my display for fast reference.

Keywords plus Smart Collections! These are your friends.
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Ellis Vener

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2011, 10:27:17 am »

Keywords plus Smart Collections! These are your friends.
Agreed. Thank you for your help as well Andrew.
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john beardsworth

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2011, 10:47:40 am »

I create smart collections whenever I need to look for a set of images (I don't use the filter panel much). At the time I have little idea if I'll ever need the search again, but I have the specific need then - so I'm not creating them speculatively. Some time later I'll move one to a permanent collection set because I've found it's an ongoing need to find those pictures, but just as often I'll delete them.

The great thing about smart collections is they cover your back when there are holes in your metadata - eg I might do one that's Keywords contains Scotland OR Country / contains / Scotland, just in case some images weren't keyworded.

John
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PeterAit

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Re: question about re-organizing Lr library catalog structure
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2011, 05:35:23 pm »

Yes, it's possible, but is it a good idea? I fail to see any advantage except a possible trivial speed gain in processing the smaller catalogs. The effort you would expend in defining and extracting your individual catalogs would be better off spent in organizing everything with keywords and other metadata. This is the whole point of the LR catalog, I think. I had 2 separate catalogs for a while and then realized it was a huge waste of time. I merged them and have never regretted it.
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