Hey guys! This is Janine from Pangolin and welcome back to my Lightroom course
for wildlife photographers. Today I want to get you set up with your first catalogue.
If you have images already, and you have them filed on a hard drive on your computer,
and you just want to get everything imported into Lightroom and set up for you to get going...
this is the tutorial for you! Let's get started...
Importing images into Lightroom, from a SD card, is pretty easy and straightforward.
If you would like some help with that please check out the link below...
It is a different tutorial. But, if you have a whole folder structure set-up, and you want
to start using Lightroom, and you start with your first catalogue, it is very daunting. You don't want
to lose any images. How do you get them all into Lightroom? I want to guide you through the process...
and show you how it's done. People always say don't fix what ain't broken. So, if you are happy with
your existing folder structure, you find everything you need to find, whenever you need to find it.
Your hierarchy isn't too confusing. Please stick with it. Lightroom has a very easy way to convert
it all into the very same folder structure into Lightroom. Basically to mirror what is on your
computer, or your hard drive. So, let's say this is my folder structure that I would like to import
into Lightroom. I have all my wildlife split up in two different categories...and I like it that way.
When you first open Lightroom for the very first time, it will automatically ask you if you want
to start a new catalogue. If you've already worked with Lightroom before, but you're not too happy
with what you have done, and you just want to start from scratch...what you do is you say 'file' and new catalogue'.
You would save it as your name (usually), Lightroom course...and you would choose a location.
I have my catalogues located under pictures. Under a Lightroom folder, but be aware this is a tricky one...
Having the catalogue on your computer will make your work process a lot faster, but that means you
can only use the catalogue on that specific computer. If you really want to make use of the very same
catalogue on different devices - because sometimes you work of a desktop at home, and sometimes
on a laptop somewhere else - you will have to place your catalogue onto an external hard drive,
and every single time you work with that, you're going to have to plug it in. That will slow down
the process...unless you have a very fast and good solid state hard drive. You also run the risk
losing that hard drive, or you forget to take it with, and then you can simply not work
in that catalogue. There are other ways around it, that I am going to mention later on, so for now I would
suggest to place the catalogue onto the computer that you usually use in order to work in Lightroom.
Then you simply say 'create'. It will immediately ask you how often you wish for that catalogue to
be backed up? So, if you want it on a daily basis - because that's how often you
use Lightroom...once a week, once a month...that's up to you...and you will notice this little black
bar coming up - Lightroom closing. That is because Lightroom can only work in one catalogue at a time,
so it will have to close my private catalogue, and re-open the new one, in order to get a new catalogue
started. There we go. You will see I have my smart collections, that Lightroom automatically
establishes...but I have no folder structure, and my catalogue currently holds 0 images. In order to
import images, you will now have to press 'file'. Go down to 'import photos and videos'.
Similar to when you import images from a memory card. Now you will have to select a source, so
wherever your images might be sitting, whether that is one single hard drive, or multiple hard drives.
If it's a single hard drive, you can add them all in one go. If you have them in
different locations, you will have to add them one by one. If you have them on another desktop,
you will first have to shift the images onto an external hard drive,
in order to get them to your laptop, or to your new desktop. So, you would select the 'source'.
Other source. In my case it would be my old external hard drive. Let's say it means pictures
for Lightroom. Choose...and it will tell me no photos found, because i have several folders underneath.
So, I am going to include my sub folders,and then it will take a while for all those images to load.
The difference from importing your images from a memory card, is that you have an existing folder
structure that you would like to keep...and that you do not need to move the images off the memory card,
and onto the location you would like them to be. You're happy with where your images are sitting,
and you would like to keep that folder structure up.
So, instead of saying copy or move, you say add his time around. So, you're simply adding these images to Lightroom.
You're not moving them from A to B. They're staying on this very same hard drive, as they are now.
Because you're only adding them, you also do not have an option to select to where you want to shift them. All you are simply doing, is you add them to your new catalogue.
You can still choose how to handle your files,
and you can apply certain settings, and metadata, as well as keywording during your import.
However, you cannot choose where you would like these images to end up, or what type of filing
structure you want, because you decided to keep your old filing structure. So therefore you just
press import. Your process will start...and if it's a large amount of data that you're importing into
Lightroom, it might take a few hours. Maybe it's a good idea to do it overnight.
Make sure you have your computer connected to a power source, and make sure it doesn't go on stand-by...
in your settings. So, to summarize the process, in order to keep your existing filing structure
in your existing storage space, you simply add your images to Lightroom, rather than move them
from A to B. But let's say that you have all this data in this existing filing structure,
but you don't want to keep it...because it doesn't make sense to you anymore. It has grown over your
head, and you cannot find the images that you are looking for. Then there's only one way forward...
you will need another hard drive that is empty. A brand new hard drive, or hard drive that you
have formatted. Then, instead of adding the pictures to your Lightroom catalogue,
you are going to have to physically move them from your previous hard drive, onto your new hard drive.
To add them to your Lightroom library, or your Lightroom catalogue, in a new file structure.
If you would like to know how that works...check out my module on how to import photographs. I will explain...
step-by-step, how to add your photographs to your Lightroom catalogue, when you shift it from
A to B. But what you simply would have to do is, you would have to choose your old hard drive.
In my case it's 'Back-up Janine'. You would say, copy images, and you would choose your new hard drive
to copy it to...and then you have the destination drop down menu, through which you can choose which
file format you would like to take up. Either by creating new subfolders, and importing it step-by-step
into the subfolders that you would now like to choose...or by simply going chronological
by date...and if the timestamp on your camera was correct, then Lightroom will automatically file it
chronologically for you, and then you can go afterwards, and go month by month through your
images, and put them in collections, or keyword them. Those are your options. If you want to import a
whole set of data into your new Lightroom catalogue. i hope it gave you a good idea how to start off,
because we are going get started on how we can organize all these masses of files that you have
on your Lightroom..and then we want to get a little bit into editing,
because that's what we're here for...right? I hope to see you for my next module. Stay tuned....