:: Photography Tips + Tricks: editing in Adobe Lightroom, part 2 ::

Happy Tips + Tricks Tuesday!!! Last week, I talked about the benefits of using Lightroom to edit your digital images. This week, I'd like to show you how I import my images into LR from my memory card. Of course, these suggestions are part of my workflow; others may do things differently according to their workflow preferences.

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Importing your images from the camera/memory card into your computer is the one single most important step of the LR editing process. How you organize your files on your hard drive will determine the success of your overall workflow. Be rigorous. Be consistent. Most people organize their images by the date, one folder for each month of the year (April 2014, for instance).

*IMPORTANT: Once you've imported the files into your computer using LR, changing the names of your files, changing file structure or moving the folders around on your hard drive could be potentially disastrous, since LR won't be able to find the original files. You'll end up spending hours on remapping and relocating the files in LR.*

1) To maximize the capabilities of LR, try shooting in the RAW format, instead of JPEG. Most DSLRs and some Point-N-Shoots offer RAW. The RAW format takes up more room on your hard drive, but you will have more editing options in LR.

2) Once you've opened up LR, you will be in the "Library" module by default if this is the first time you're using LR. If not, click on the "Library" tab at the upper right of your screen. Your latest edits will be on the screen by default.

3) Click on the "Import..." button at the bottom left of your screen. The import window will pop up.

4) To import files that are already on your hard drive, set the import mode at the top of the window to "Add" so you could add a file to the LR catalog, without creating another copy of it on your hard drive.

5) To import files from your camera or memory card, set the import mode to "Copy" so the files are copied onto your hard drive and added to the LR catalog. The original files stay on the camera or memory card.

6) I do not suggest using the "Move" mode because your files are moved, not copied, from one location (camera, memory card or hard drive) to another. Essentially, the file is deleted from its original location and relocated to the new location in one step. It always makes me nervous to have just one copy of anything. It's always safer to make sure that the copy has arrived at its new location before deleting the original.

7) Choose the source FROM which to import in the source panel on the left (camera, memory card or hard drive). Choose the destination TO which the files are imported in the destination panel on the right (usually "My Catalog"/hard drive).

8) Highlight the folder(s) in the source panel which you'd like to import. Check "New Photos" to import only photos that have not been imported previously.

9) Click "Import" in the lower right of the destination panel.

10) Once the import process is done, go to the Folders panel on the left -- navigate to & highlight the folder that you've just imported.

11) The unedited images will appear as a "film-strip" thumbnails at the bottom the screen. Depending on your setting, the center of the screen will either be a grid of previews or a single enlarged preview. If your setting is on grid, prepare for editing by clicking on a specific thumbnail image within the grid to enlarge it to a single preview.

You are now ready for editing! Check back next week for some basics on how to use the Develop Panel.