Workflow Advice

FoXtroT

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I wonder if any of the pros can help me out with a personal conundrum I am having regarding the way I should be working with my photos post import onto my PC.

You see, I shoot RAW, import into Lightroom as DNG and then edit to my hearts content. Now my problem lies in me wanting to keep the best quality file possible while eliminating unnecessary duplication and while I'm the one editing photos, I want my family to be able to see the final edits as well through the use of explorer or some slideshow app.

Now the easiest way to do this would be to export all edited photos to JPEG for viewing but that leads to so much unnecessary duplication and because of my file structure will probably mean that the RAW photos get mixed in with the JPEGs in the case of slideshows.

In short, I want things to be perfect but easy. What do you guys do with your photos, how do you manage them especially for 3rd party viewing?
 
Why do you import as DNG if I may ask?

I am far from a pro but my usual routine is to hook up the SD card, then import as RAW into a folder into my Pictures folder renamed to the import date by Lightroom. I then manually add some info to the folder name to make it easy recognisable (eg "2017 10 16 Dinner with inlaws").

I keep all my pics in RAW (NEF in my case) and those that I hand out to relatives or so on I export into the same folder as JPG with an "-edited" suffix making them easy to identify and copy to a USB drive to hand out. Not the easiest way and I do wish Lightroom had a way of adding a suffix to the import folder but it works well for my simple needs :)

You could also export the JPG's that you hand out to a folder elsewhere if that simplifies it. I prefer keeping the exported JPG's in the same folder and then just copy and pasting as I need to the thumb drive
 
Why do you import as DNG if I may ask?

I am far from a pro but my usual routine is to hook up the SD card, then import as RAW into a folder into my Pictures folder renamed to the import date by Lightroom. I then manually add some info to the folder name to make it easy recognisable (eg "2017 10 16 Dinner with inlaws").

I keep all my pics in RAW (NEF in my case) and those that I hand out to relatives or so on I export into the same folder as JPG with an "-edited" suffix making them easy to identify and copy to a USB drive to hand out. Not the easiest way and I do wish Lightroom had a way of adding a suffix to the import folder but it works well for my simple needs :)

You could also export the JPG's that you hand out to a folder elsewhere if that simplifies it. I prefer keeping the exported JPG's in the same folder and then just copy and pasting as I need to the thumb drive

After much research I decided to import as DNG as it isn't proprietary and Lightroom edits remain 'inside' the file, and don't go into an XMP sidecar file and it hasno loss in quality.
 
I don't use Lightroom... but can't you flag or tag the ones you want to show the family and then do a slideshow via the app?
 
I don't use Lightroom... but can't you flag or tag the ones you want to show the family and then do a slideshow via the app?

If you showing them via lightroom sure, but I want them to not be confused and be able to see the right ones by themselves.

I'm also planning on doing a networked photo frame that I want to pull photos from my server, but if I just point it to the pictures folder it would display everything and not just the final product.

I'm just interested in how everyone manages their photos from import to display, particularly for family photos.
 
Sorry, I figured there would be a way of only displaying specific images in Lightroom.

As a Mac user I can just share photos/albums from within my app but that doesn't help you much. You'll probably have to export images sized to your new frame.
 
You could add the photos you'd want displayed in a Quick Collection but I'm not sure if there's a way to filter them in LR in any way for export or viewing.

Not at my PC this week due to travelling but I'll check once I'm back this weekend and see what I can see my side
 
I normally import RAW, then edit in photoshop from Lightroom (I just prefer photoshop). In lightroom you can right click and click read metadata to show changes. You can setup a smart collection in Lightroom to isolate edited photos.

I tend to keep edited RAW files and just export a web sized version that I can send. This way you save some space.
If I do some retouching afterwards I keep save a Tiff.
 
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