mgipe
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 p.1 #1 · Two Lightroom questions | |
I've only been using Lightroom now for a few months, so I'm still way back on the learning curve. There are two things that I can't figure out how to do the way I want, and it's driving me crazy.
First:
I organize my photos using monthly folders on disk. I put photo-taking sessions into subdirectories within the monthly directory. I also put some miscellaneous shots directly into the monthly folder. So each month I'll have a folder with a bunch of random photos in it and a bunch of subfolders, each of which contain photos from specific shooting sessions.
I can Import the monthly folder in LR, telling it to also import subdirectories. This works OK, and all the photos are imported correctly and the directory structure is correctly reported in the LR Library. The issue with Lightroom is this: After importing, when I want to work on the random shots stored directly in the monthly folder (not a subfolder), LR pulls in ALL the photos from that folder and all subfolders for grid view. I might have twenty random shots I want to work with, but LR insists on showing me the thousands of photos contained within that monthly folder and all its subfolders. I have to painstakingly sort through them to pull out the miscellaneous shots and put them into a collection. If I point LR to one of the subfolders, it correctly pulls in just the photos in that subfolder.
Now obviously, I should change my sloppy ways, and create a "Miscellaneous" subfolder and keep all data files out of the monthly folder. However, being stubborn and unwilling to change -- and curious as to why LR does this with the subfolders -- I would like to figure out how to make LR work with folders the way I want to. So how do I tell LR that, when I select a folder in the left column of the Library Module, that it should only bring up the photos that are in that folder, and exclude anything in subfolders?
Second:
In Photoshop, nearly all of the adjustment tools have a checkbox labeled "preview", that will turn your adjustments on or off. I find this very useful to see the before and after effects of the adjustments I've just made. I can't figure out how to do this in Lightroom for all Develop adjustments. Some of the modules have a little on/off switch in the upper left, but many of the important ones don't -- like color balance. Since LR runs so slowly on my PC, I have trouble evaluating color adjustments because by the time LR has made the change, I've forgotten what the picture color looked like before the change. If I could just toggle back and forth between the original and the adjusted picture, like I could using the "preview" box in Photoshop, it would be a lot easier.
So, any suggestions for this Lightroom novice?
Thanks,
--Mike
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