LR5 - Jennifer's question - Synchronization

The following is copied verbatim from Tim Grey's newsletter. The
subject is "Catalog Synchronization" (in LR 5). It addressees the
question brought up by Jennifer.

You can sign up for Tim's newsletter at http://www.timgrey.com/

The following is copyrighted by Tim, and I am in violation of
copyrighting law by quoting it in its entirety. Don't turn me in,
please.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Question: I use a MacBook Pro with Lightroom 5 for travel
photography and a Windows desktop at home. I store my photos on
external hard drives. I would like to install Lightroom 5 on the
Windows computer for use in final editing of photos. Once I download
the Macintosh Lightroom 5 travel catalog photos to my external hard
drive at home, please explain how I can update the Windows desktop to
include any edits previously done on the Macintosh. Also, please
include an explanation going in the opposite direction for syncing the
desktop and laptop Lightroom 5 catalogs so I may use the laptop for
further editing during travel or perhaps for presenting a slideshow.
Tim's Answer: There are a few possibilities here, depending on your
specific needs.

My personal preference, which closely matches the approach I take,
would be to maintain your “master” catalog on the computer at home,
and a “traveling” catalog on the laptop during travels. You could also
keep both the catalog and the images on an external hard drive,
connecting that external hard drive to whichever computer you are
currently using. And finally, you could (though I don’t recommend it)
copy the catalog from one computer to another whenever you make
changes, so you have a duplicate of your catalog on each computer.
This last option is fraught with potential problems if you lose track
of which catalog is really the most recently updated version.

To me, the simplest and least problematic approach is to maintain a
“master” catalog at home and then a “traveling” catalog when you’re
away from home. You can them import new captures into the traveling
catalog, updating metadata, Develop settings, and more along the way.
Then, when you get home, simply use the Import from Another Catalog
command on the File menu to import images from your traveling catalog
into your master catalog.

If you keep your catalog and photos on an external hard drive, this
process is even simpler, because you would just connect the external
hard drive to whatever computer you’re using, and then import or
update images as needed. Of course, this also means performance will
suffer a bit (in most cases) with the catalog on an external hard
drive. It also means you need to travel with that external hard drive
if you plan to work with your catalog, which can be a bit of a hassle
depending on the size of that drive.

I strongly recommend against the notion of trying to maintain a
complete catalog across two computers. There is simply too much risk
(in my mind at least) of updating the catalog on two different
computers and creating a situation where you lose information due to
such confusion.

As for the subject of where to store your Lightroom catalog, I covered
this subject in a little more detail in the article "Location,
Location, Location" in the August 2013 issue of my Pixology digital
magazine (http://pixologymag.com/).

 

key phrase is:

they're also the same as what i suggested already.

he also neglected to mention smart previews, which is the ideal
solution for the question asked.

 

Yeah, but Tim is an established expert. You're just a guy who
nitpicks and contributes negative comments and generalities like
"that's beside the point" and "incorrect".

So email him and give him the benefit of your unproven skills. I'm
sure he'll appreciate your input.

 

logical fallacy.

knock off the insults and try to learn something for a change.

and how do you know whether i did or not?

 

: The following is copied verbatim from Tim Grey's newsletter. The
: subject is "Catalog Synchronization" (in LR 5). It addressees the
: question brought up by Jennifer.
:
: You can sign up for Tim's newsletter at http://www.timgrey.com/
:
: The following is copyrighted by Tim, and I am in violation of
: copyrighting law by quoting it in its entirety. Don't turn me in,
: please.
:
: -----------------------------------------------------------------
: Today's Question: I use a MacBook Pro with Lightroom 5 for travel
: photography and a Windows desktop at home. I store my photos on
: external hard drives. I would like to install Lightroom 5 on the
: Windows computer for use in final editing of photos. Once I download
: the Macintosh Lightroom 5 travel catalog photos to my external hard
: drive at home, please explain how I can update the Windows desktop to
: include any edits previously done on the Macintosh. Also, please
: include an explanation going in the opposite direction for syncing the
: desktop and laptop Lightroom 5 catalogs so I may use the laptop for
: further editing during travel or perhaps for presenting a slideshow.
: Tim's Answer: There are a few possibilities here, depending on your
: specific needs.
:
: My personal preference, which closely matches the approach I take,
: would be to maintain your “master” catalog on the computer at home,
: and a “traveling” catalog on the laptop during travels. You could also
: keep both the catalog and the images on an external hard drive,
: connecting that external hard drive to whichever computer you are
: currently using. And finally, you could (though I don’t recommend it)
: copy the catalog from one computer to another whenever you make
: changes, so you have a duplicate of your catalog on each computer.
: This last option is fraught with potential problems if you lose track
: of which catalog is really the most recently updated version.
:
: To me, the simplest and least problematic approach is to maintain a
: “master” catalog at home and then a “traveling” catalog when you’re
: away from home. You can them import new captures into the traveling
: catalog, updating metadata, Develop settings, and more along the way.
: Then, when you get home, simply use the Import from Another Catalog
: command on the File menu to import images from your traveling catalog
: into your master catalog.
:
: If you keep your catalog and photos on an external hard drive, this
: process is even simpler, because you would just connect the external
: hard drive to whatever computer you’re using, and then import or
: update images as needed. Of course, this also means performance will
: suffer a bit (in most cases) with the catalog on an external hard
: drive. It also means you need to travel with that external hard drive
: if you plan to work with your catalog, which can be a bit of a hassle
: depending on the size of that drive.
:
: I strongly recommend against the notion of trying to maintain a
: complete catalog across two computers. There is simply too much risk
: (in my mind at least) of updating the catalog on two different
: computers and creating a situation where you lose information due to
: such confusion.
:
: As for the subject of where to store your Lightroom catalog, I covered
: this subject in a little more detail in the article "Location,
: Location, Location" in the August 2013 issue of my Pixology digital
: magazine (http://pixologymag.com/).
:
: ----------------------------------------------------------------------

To me, the fact that the question needs to be asked is a compelling argument
against the use of Lightroom. I don't doubt that a less clumsy implementation
of Lightroom's catalog would make for a simpler answer, but the fact that
changes to an image are stored in the catalog instead of in the image file
almost guarantees that there will be issues of the sort that Jennifer raised.
I understand why it's done that way: it's a means of maintaining compatibility
across a variety of proprietary RAW formats. But the price the user pays for
that generality is high. For someone who uses more than one manufacturer's
cameras, the ability to use one photo editor for multiple image formats may be
worth the inconvenience. For me, and I suspect also for Jennifer, it isn't.

Bob

 

nope.

all that needs to be done in her case is either move the library from
computer to computer, just as someone would move the photos.

alternately, sync it (e.g., dropbox) with a guarantee of not having two
people working on the photos at the same time or the database will be
corrupted.

that's not why at all.

lightroom does what it does because it's significantly easier to have
the computer manage all of the photos, including where they are, what
they are, what adjustments were made and how to export them.

that leaves the important parts, making them look good, to the user,
and in a non-destructive manner.

it's not inconvenient at all. it's a helluva lot easier than the
alternatives.

that's why lightroom is so popular.

 

LR is not for everybody. I still haven't decided to integrate LR into my
workflow, but I'm giving it a fair try. With the exception of
cataloging, anything that I can do in LR I can do in ACR.

 

You soon may be able to do a sophisticated cloud sync, as part of a
workgroup.

 

soon?? it's already been happening.

 

I don't know what "Behance" is, but the page loads for this non-user.

 

That's why Adobe recently announced it is coming.

 

This morning I ran into a guy who teaches LR to beginners. He suggested
that I subscribe to Tim Grey's video tutorials. He said that the
freebies Tim has on Youtube are only teasers. However he also
recommended the tutorials on Scott Kelby's and the Adobe website.
I'll wait for a rainy day for that.

 

from adobe, maybe.

you didn't say only adobe.

 

If you do, will you starve, or might you learn.

 

Context is everything. We were discussing LR5. Look at the title of the
thread.

 

I find myself using that ACR filter to the exclusion of many of my third
party filters.
(note to nospam: I am referring to filters produced by companies other
than Adobe.)

 

originally, but it's not the only asset manager available, and other
options were suggested in the original thread.

there are cloud sync options now, that do what you described.

 

third party filters *means* non-adobe.

 

That's my point. Its a no risk thing, with an upside. That's the same
reason I accepted an invitation to enter a portfolio in a competition,
with the prize being an acceptance for display in a gallery in NYC. I
probably will not win anything, but I have nothing to lose.

On a separate issue, involving the same principle, my daughter accepted
an invitation to enter her dog in a Westminster agility competition. The
dog's father won best of breed there, but her dog was spayed, so is not
eligible for conformity.

 

Not worth discussing. You never accept that you made a mistake.