bob_estremera

I've been using LR for many years and don't really understand the catalog system. I am using LR Classic V12.5. Since I'm about to upgrade my PC to a new drive, I want to understand my catalog system and make it more streamlined. On my main PC drive, I have a folder in my Pictures folder named 'Lightroom Folder' I haven't cleaned out my past catalogs so I know there are a ton of very old LR files I could delete. But which ones? My current LR is using a catalog named Catalog-2-2-V12. Inside the Lightroom folder there are 3 folders and one white icon for 'V12'. Folder 1: Catalog-V12 Helper.lrdata Folder 2: Catalog-V12 Preview.lrdata Folder 3: Catalog-V12.lrdata-data White icon named Catalog V12. See photo. How do these all work together and what do they each do? If I want to clean up my Lightroom folder, how can I delete what I don't need and keep the most recent backups? Maybe the last 3 or 4. Any help on how to maintain a clean and tight Catalog system on my PC will be appreciated. Thanks, Bob

I'm about to replace my failing hard drive (disk) on a Dell desktop with an SSD drive. I have everything backed up. I will put all of my catalog backups in the same place on the new SSD, namely, in my 'Pictures' folder. Even though it is in the Pictures folder on the new drive, will LR still go to the 'Pictures' folder to open from the last backup? Will it have a problem finding/recognizing the new drive and my backup catalogs? Thanks

I hope someone can help me, I just picked up a mint MD 35-70mm 3.5 macro, but I’m not sure how to engage the macro. There is a little blue button but not sure what to do with it. There also seems to be another black button, more rectangular, that I also don’t know what to do with. Can someone tell me how to engage the macro and what that other button is for? Is there an online users manual for this lens? Thanks!

Thanks everybody. This is helpful.

I'm about to use lifepixel to convert a Fuji X-M1 to infrared but don't quite understand the options. I'm after a pretty classic b&w image with glowy, snowy greens and dark blue skies rendering to dark grays to nearly black (Zones1-4?) I might want to have the option of outputting a b&w image with blue skies, though. Any help or experience will be helpful. Thanks, Bob

Running out of space on my 3TB WD hard drives and need to purchase 2, 6TB units, one to work from and one for a backup. Most all of the images I work with are on a folder named 'Categories' that only takes up 1TB. The rest are photos I almost never use. I was wondering if I could just copy and paste or do a backup from the old external to the new ones with only the Categories folder. That way the unused photos will still reside on the older, 3TB externals and the new drives will be more streamlined with only the active, Categories folder. My worry is that Lightroom might need the established folder hierarchy to 'find' all the images and that are in the LR directories now. Am I making it more complicated? Should I just leave everything as is and move the entire 3TB contents to the new 6TB drives. Will LR find and open the images on the new drive or will I need to import all photos for each folder I work from? Thanks,

Thanks!

At work, I use a 27" imac, the kind that's a computer and monitor in the same unit. I find photographs to be breathtakingly beautiful on the monitor. Absolutely exquisite. What monitor can I get for my PC that yields similar quality? It seems as if the panel itself is made of something completely different than a normal monitor. Thanks,

Thanks guys.

I've noticed a pretty large price disparity for 30X40" prints. I have a nice landscape shot from Monument Valley that I want to print on canvas. I just want it wrapped around a wooden frame, not actually framed. Anybody have suggestions for a printer that delivers a nice product at a good price? Thanks, Bob

I just did a test on a file and closed it Lightroom without clicking 'Done'. When I reopened the file and clicked on the Filters/Masks icon, the previous mask was active and able to be further manipulated. I guess that answered my question.

Just discovering the capabilities of Lightroom filters and masking. Wow. Quick question, can I save the file I'm working on with all the masks and filters in place, sort of like saving a Photoshop file with all the adjustment layers? I would like to go back in and change things around without having to start from scratch from a new file. Thanks, Bob

Thanks all. Bob

Thanks for the help guys. Can I Super Enhance a TIFF file? I find that going into Photo Ninja with my Xtrans Fuji files yields better fine details and holds highlight details noticeable better than Lightroom does. But then I have to work from a TIFF. Bob

Quick question, I need to uprez a 24mp photo through Adobe Super Resolution for the final print. I plan to use Lightroom for all the post processing including using the new masking features, which I have not used before. This photo will be the first. Should I uprez the photo as a first step and make the adjustments to the uprezzed image or should I make all the adjustment first and uprez the finished file for printing? Thanks, Bob

Hope you can help. I'm being assigned to shoot some videos that will be used at a fundraising event. They're going to be torso shots, some inside, some outside. Probably not more than 3-4 minutes each. They will appear on a big screen. Never shot video before. I want this to be the easiest process I can make it. Can someone give me a crash course, camera settings, etc to make this as foolproof as possible? I'm going over the manual now but won't be able to get my hands on the camera for about 4 weeks so I want to have my process down pat as soon as I get it in my hands. From my experience with stills, I think I want to use face detection, shooting in live view, Aperture Priority, Auto Exposure and Auto White balance (for outdoors and inside when I use lighting). I guess I'll decide on a suitable ISO based on the lighting. What resolution should I use? Is Full HD enough? I want to avoid overheating card issues but definitely want the quality to be high. Thanks, Bob

So sorry everybody, I didn't receive notice of these replies. Thanks for the input. Bob

I have been using Synctoy for years but lately it's been unreliable. I used it a couple of times today and it was fine but when I tried to back up a different external drive, it was unresponsive and wouldn't work at all. I like the simplicity of Synctoy in 'Echo' mode. I work on photos with Lightroom and Photoshop from either my PC or a 'working' external Western Digital drive. The working drive has everything backed up on it from the PC also. I also back up to a second WD drive (identical specs) and a smaller WD Passport, just in case. I don't need to schedule backups or backup to the cloud because I unplug the externals until I use them I set up folder pairs in Synctoy and just sit down a few days a month, set the pairs to start Echoing between drives (left to write Echo) while I putter around doing other things. That's all I need. I'm looking for something more robust and reliable but with the same ease of use. Suggestions? Thanks, Bob

They are 3TB now but I'm processing each image now with all 16bit file versioning so I'm going to replace them with 6TB or 8TB shortly. I'm also going to use Backblaze for my cloud backup.

Yes! I found that out too after I posted the question. I have Synctoy back. I just never had to do that before. So intuitive. Thanks!

I need a couple of suggestions for a replacement to Synctoy. I use two Western Digital external hard drives. One is my main working hard drive that I only turn on and use when I process images in Photoshop/LR. The other is a backup in case the first one breaks. They are identical drives. I was very happy with Synctoy using its 'Mirror' process backing up hard drive folder pairs from Left to Right. But Synctoy is not working with my new PC so I need an alternative. I do my backups after I have been working on files so I don't need to schedule backups. I just choose a time when i can start the process and go watch some TV. What is a good, simple and reliable alternative that will accomplish this simple task? Thanks

It might be important to know that my choices are based on configuring a Dell XPS Workstation with the options they offer. RAM will be 32GB. I'm not married to Dell but have had very good luck with them for a very long time. Currently, my main storage/backup are three separate WD externals, two for onsite backup and one off-site backup. They are all 3TB but will be upgrading to 8TB in the near future. I will probably replace one of the three with Backblaze. My plan is to not store a lot image files on the new desktop. I see it as a place where my workflow, for current working files and some others, will exist. My current 'My Picture' folder is 162GB. I expect that to increase significantly in the near future. On the new computer, once PS files are completed and delivered, I will move them to the externals & Backblaze for safe keeping and retrieval if necessary. But I am taking all your suggestions carefully. My options, budget constraints are real, are: either a 512 SSD with 1 or 2TB HDD or a 1TB SSD with no HDD. Given these options with what I hope is a reasonable strategy of file storage and handling, which of the two make the most sense for this initial upgrade?

Thanks everybody. This has been very informative. Thanks for all your input.

Hello again Ed, I'm coming to the realization that it might make more sense to just bite the $150 bullet and get the full 1TB SSD with no HDD at all. I think trying to save that money might be one of those, penny wise and pound foolish decisions. Thanks, Bob

Not sure how computers, partitions, etc work. I going to be doing a lot of Photoshop work with files that might become very large with lots of layers, etc. 300MB files may not be out of the question. I am going to buy a new desktop with 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD boot drive with a 1TB HDD. My workflow plan will be to keep completed files on external hard drives when I am done with them. Only current camera RAW and active Photoshop files will be in the desktop. My question is how to configure my working folders. If Photoshop and Lightroom or other graphics programs are on the SSD and image files are on the HDD, when I work on them in PS, will I be gaining the advantage of the SSD speed because PS is on the SSD? Or, if I have my file folders on the HDD, will I only get the HDD speed when working with the files because they are stored there? I suppose I could also but a 'working' file folder on the SSD so that only files actually being worked are also part of the SSD. Thanks for the help.