Living In Layers | By RC | July 14, 2009 | 7 Comments
Happy Tuesday everyone! I got a couple of comments concerning yesterdays Lightroom video on having your images on an external folder vs having a catalog on an external folder. I figured it’s a good a time as any to talk about what the difference betweens catalog, data, and images in Adobe Lightroom, and why I set myself up the way I do.
(Click here to get a trial of Lightroom 2 - you know you want to 
)
The Lightroom lrcat and lrdata Files
(agreed that this may be an oversimplification of the process here.. but it’s enough for you to understand what Im doing… )
When you work with Lightroom, the program works like a giant hall monitor - keeping track of where your images are located (on a hard drive, on an external drive, what the folder structure is) as well as keeping track of any changes that you make to them such as keywording, ranking, flagging, collections and -processing-.
To do these two things, Lightroom creates a couple of files - the lrCat file and the lrData file. The lrcat file is the file that holds all of this and is a type of a database that keeps all of these records in order. The lrdata file for the most part holds the previews of the images - but not the original images. In that, the lrcat file remembers the “location” of where you put the file.
Why all of this Rocks
Now, this is really what I think makes Lightroom ROCK in terms of use, and why everyone needs to use it. When you are working with images in Lightroom, you’ll notice that your processing of them is FAST. Making exposure changes, adjustments, changes in tone - all of it runs very very quickly, and completely editable. You can go back SO MANY steps in the process because all of this information ISNT being saved to the file itself. All of these changes that you’re doing (Even brush based /crop adjustments in the develop module) are a type of metadata thats being stored in the catalog. All of these changes arent applied to the image until you export out or edit to in Photoshop, which I think is sweet!
My Recommendation
Because the lrcat and the lrdata files are files that are in constant use from Lightroom, it is why I always keep those files locally on the hard drive. The images are the only thing that I remove from the computer and store on an external drive - and sometimes even move them around in drives. That part doesn’t really matter.
If by some chance I move the file to a new hard drive, and Lightroom cant find it, Lightroom will say “Hey.. I cant find this file.. tell me where it is.” You then have an option to go and point to where you moved the file to. Lightroom is additionally smart in that it will then go and make sure that all of the other references to those files are updated in Lightroom (specifically the lrcat file).
Without those two files, Lightroom wont start, so its essential it can always find them.. the images.. not all that important - comparatively speaking.
Backup, man, Backup!
This also brings up the point of backup. You can set Lightroom to backup at specific points.. and what it does is take copies of your lrcat and lrdata file and store them for safekeeping. The problem here is that if you have a large database.. these things can get pretty big. I my example above, 2 days of backups equal almost 1/2GB. That can get big pretty fast..
As a strategy, I say backup as often as you need to in your case.. but after a few backups (Lets say 5) delete all of the other ones. You wont need them. If you’re incredibly paranoid, you can take one of them and place them in an external drive.
(Click here to get a trial of Lightroom 2 - you know you want to )
This should give you a good idea on how to use Lightroom 2 on a machine and not have your shoots take over all of your space. Obviously if you have any questions, feel free to comment or ping me on Twitter! See you guys back here tomorrow!
Living In Layers | By RC | July 13, 2009 | No Comments
Happy Monday everyone. Today I was met with a really cool article on how Google has since changed their Image searching… for the WAY Better. Check this blurb out Terry Stone at Creative Pro):
“…In a July 9 blog post, Google software engineers Lance Huang and George Ruban quietly and calmly unveiled a change to Google’s Image Search that could save countless designers from violating image copyrights.
By checking a few boxes in the “Usage rights” section of the advanced image search page, you can now filter every image Google has ever indexed so that you see only files tagged with a license that allows re-use of the image.”
This is going to be a HUGE thing for the creative professional, so I suggest you guys hit this article up and check it out. Much thanks to Terri and Creative Pro for the info. Click on the link below for more info:
Safely Find and Use Images Via Google by Terri Stone - Creative Pro
Lightroom Galleries with External Drives
If you use Lightroom, youre a Photographer that is doing a bit of shooting (even though I think ANYONE shooting pictures should get Lightroom). If you are doing a lot of shooting.. you are invariably going to run out of space. This means that you will need to get a bigger hard drive. OR!!! You can setup your Lightroom catalog to stay on your machine and have all the IMAGES on a removable hard drive. Check out the video below to see what I mean:
Lightroom Galleries with External Drives - by RC!
Contest Time
Go to the Contact page, select the Layers Blog drop-down, then fill in your name, email address and answer to this week’s following question. Remember, the contest will end Thursday 5PM,. and the winner will be announced Friday morning.
The Contest Question:To create his newest masterpiece, Photoshop Guru Bert Monroy uses many tools. In his latest column available here, he is using one specific effect to add some depth to some iconic text. What’s the text he’s working on, and what effect is he using?
The Prize:
A copy of Adobe CS4 Real World HDR by Matt Kloskowski
We’ll see you back here tomorrow morning!!
Living In Layers | By RC | July 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
TGIF Everyone! Before we go into anything I first want to congratulate Nicole Huggins for winning the Layers TV contest, and to Beth Knizer for winning the Layers Blog contest! You guys are going to LOVE the prizes. Again, another special thanks to our friends over at Artistic Photo Canvas for the print!
Working with Flash Sound by Tom Green
Tom Green’s got the right idea here - it’s all about the playing around! In this video, he talks about the process of taking code to audio visualization in Flash CS4, and without having to delve too deep into it, making changes to it for some interesting results. Its very interesting listen, and even comes with some cool Jazz. Click on the link below for more information:
Flash Audio Visualization by Tom Green
Shooting a Silhouette by Jean Francois Okane
Jean Francois is back at it again with a new video on shooting Silhouette images. Definitely something cool to check out. Click on the link below to see the video.
Lighting and Shooting a Silhouette
OK.. so i’m off to see if I can do some shooting this weekend. Wish me luck! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Living In Layers | By RC | July 08, 2009 | 1 Comment
Two New Contests Winners from Last Week
So with all of the running around, it totally escaped me that my producer had already picked winners for Episode 93 of Layers TV contest and Last week’s Layers Blog contest. So, congratulations to Bill Bays for winning the blog contest, and to John Knight for winning Episode 93
The Nikon Screening Room
I got this in the email and thought it was very cool. Nikon has released The Nikon Screening Room, a place where you can see videos taken from the D90 and the D5000. The site is also augmented by the addition of videos from Award Winning Director of Photography - Harris Savides:
“Nikon Inc. today announces the official launch of the Nikon D-Movie Screening Room (www.nikondmovie.com), an online collection of creative and inspiring videos captured with Nikon’s D90 and D5000 D-SLR cameras. Award-winning director of photography Harris Savides showcases an artistic compilation of life’s most common, anonymous and beautiful moments. Savides, known for his work on Gus Van Sant’s Milk and Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, will be joined in the screening room by other accomplished professionals, as well as aspiring film makers and D-SLR photographers.”
Click on this link to be taken to the Nikon Screening Room
Review of NIKKOR AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G
Mike McKenzie also goes over the NIKKOR AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G lens for us:
“If you’re a Nikon shooter and you’ve been contemplating buying a reasonably priced, professional prime lens, you should give serious consideration to the new NIKKOR AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G. What makes this lens so special? For less than $200, you get a fast, lightweight, well-made lens that features Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor, so focusing is quick and quiet.”
Click here to read the rest of the review
Living In Layers | By RC | July 07, 2009 | No Comments
You know, with the short weekend last week, and everyone getting ready for the July 4 festivities, it totally slipped my mind to talk to you guys about the most recent episode of Layers TV! This episode was near and dear to me because it talked about one of the most often misunderstood tools in the Adobe Creative Suite - the Pen tool.
The Pen tool is a very polarizing tool - you either really love it, or really really really hate it. More often than not if you hate it, it’s usually because you started clicking and draggin willy nilly (I just love that saying) and didnt really ‘get’ what all of the lines that were coming up were. The Pen tool is one of those tools that you cant really just play with - to learn it and master it you really need to sit down and learn it within a specific context. On this week’s Layers TV I go through an example of how -i- use the pen tool, and if you can grasp the concept, you’d be surprised as to how much easier the Pen can be. Mastering the Pen can not only help you in Photoshop, but will take your Illustrator work to the next level - It’s in almost every Adobe app. You owe it to yourself to check it out!
Click on the player to the right to get to the episode. This is one that I -definitely- recommend watching the bigger version though. Want to keep it and share it with everyone? Well, you can always Subscribe in Itunes!
Corey Talks About The Adobe Exchange
In today’s video you’ll see Corey talking about Adobe Exchange. It still surprises me just how little people actually use the Adobe Exchange. This place has a TON of resources available to you.. and are all FOR FREE. I’d definitely check this out. Click on the link below to get to the tutorial:
Corey Barker - The Adobe Exchange
Photoshop
Illustrator
Indesign
Dreamweaver
Fireworks
Premiere
Flash
After Effects
Lightroom
Acrobat
