I know how to make folders and import pictures into them, and I know how to choose pictures from several folders and make them into a collection. I also know how to make and use presets for exporting. I have what seems to me to be a complex series of tasks and I am not sure how to go about it in LR4.
1) I went on a trip and did about 12 days of shooting, and imported them into 12 folders, named by the date of the shoot and the subject. There are 5 people for whom I printed pictures, each getting a combination of images from various of the folders. Each person will get a unique set of prints, and some of the people will get a few prints that some of the others get, as well.
This was easy. After processing the images and softproofing them, I then made a collection for each person, containing virtual copies of the print-ready files, and was able quite easily to print from each collection using Qimage.
I named the collections for the purpose: JohnPrints, JanePrints, etc.
2) Now I want to make Jpegs of those images plus many more which I did not print. Again, each person will get a group of Jpegs, tailored to that person, which will include some images that they alone get, as well as some images that 2 or more of them will get. These will be burned to CD's or DVD's depending on the number of the files.
My first inclination was to make empty collections named JohnJpegs, JaneJpegs, etc. I would then select the files for each and add them to the 5 Jpeg collections, then export each collection to the size of Jpeg I want. I had wanted then to go to each folder of jpegs and burn each folder to a CD or DVD. I would also like to retain the folders of jpegs in case I need to burn further CD's, so exporting and burning the CD's without producing a folder of jpegs is out of the question.
Am I best off making actual folders of jpegs for each person rather than making collections for each person when it comes to the jpeg files?
I hope I have been clear enough in stating my goals.