Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies. Rob Sylvan

only the work you do in the catalog. However, you might also want Lightroom Classic to write that information into each photo’s own metadata as a form of redundancy. Leave this box checked if you want to include the Develop settings with all other metadata when you tell Lightroom Classic to write to each of these non-raw file type’s metadata. If unchecked, the Develop settings reside only in the catalog file for non-raw photos even if you enable the automatic writing changes into XMP. One benefit of writing Develop settings to the file itself is that if that file is imported into another Lightroom Classic catalog, the settings carry over. The next setting in this list is for automating the process of writing from the catalog to each photo’s metadata, but you can also do it manually by selecting photos in Grid view of the Library and going to Metadata ⇒ Save Metadata to File.

       Automatically Write Changes into XMP: When this box is checked, Lightroom Classic writes to each photo’s XMP metadata space automatically and keeps it in sync with the catalog file. (XMP is short for Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform, which simply defines how the data is stored in the file.) However, certain things cannot be written to XMP, such as collection memberships, virtual copies, and stacking (all of these are covered in Chapter 5), and develop histories (see Chapter 9). The benefit of writing to XMP is that you not only keep key metadata and settings embedded in the original photo’s metadata space, but the information is accessible to programs outside of Lightroom Classic (Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw, for example). The downside is that the automatic process can include a performance hit (on slower systems) because Lightroom Classic works behind the scenes to write to each file.

       Write Date or Time Changes into Proprietary Raw Files: This setting comes into play only if you make a change to the capture date/time of a raw file (see Chapter 3 for more on file types). If the box is checked, Lightroom Classic will change the capture date/time inside the actual raw file. Some people prefer to keep their raw files completely unaltered, so if the box is unchecked (the default state), Lightroom Classic will write the change only to the associated XMP file, leaving the source raw file unchanged.

      

If you’re noticing a drag on performance with the Automatically Write Changes into XMP option enabled, you can disable it and then manually tell Lightroom Classic to write to each file’s XMP metadata by selecting the file(s) in Grid view and going to Metadata ⇒ Save Metadata to File or pressing ⌘ +S (Ctrl+S for Windows). The result is the same, but you get to control when it occurs. The downside is that it’s up to you to remember.

Although Lightroom Classic doesn’t change the pixels in your source photos, these options do present an opportunity to have it change each photo’s metadata (think of it as text stored within or alongside the original photo). Aside from performance issues related to using the Automatically Write Changes into XMP option, you might not want Lightroom Classic writing to each photo’s metadata at all, in which case, leave those options unchecked.

      Chapter 7 covers the Face Detection option.

Working with Multiple Catalogs

      I often am asked about the circumstances under which it makes sense to employ a multiple catalog approach to working with Lightroom Classic. There’s no absolute right answer, but if you understand the limitations of catalogs, you can make the best decision for your circumstances (however, for most people, just having a single catalog works best).

      

The single most important factor when considering the use of multiple catalogs is that Lightroom Classic cannot search across multiple catalogs. From a management perspective, if you want to access all your photos, it’s far simpler to have them in a single catalog, which allows you to leverage all the power of Lightroom Classic’s database to find, gather, and work with your photos. It’s terribly inefficient to develop a manual (human) system for managing your catalogs just so you know which catalog is responsible for which photos. Yikes!

      That said, if you have unique circumstances where groups of photos are so discrete that you might want or need to keep them separate from each other (for example, having a separate catalog for each client or job), a multi-catalog approach might make more sense. You still need a system for managing all these catalogs so that you can get your hands on the right image when you need it, though.

      Some people are concerned about the size of a single catalog as a limiting factor, seeing that as a reason to have many smaller catalogs, but Lightroom Classic imposes no limit on the number of photos that you can import into a catalog. Your system components are a bigger limiting effect on performance when working with large catalogs. Generally, maximizing your RAM, maintaining ample free space on your startup disk (an SSD drive here is also a good idea), and using fast multicore processors all improve the performance of working with very large catalogs. I do know of many people working happily with catalogs in excess of 500,000 photos.

I can imagine one scenario, though, where multiple catalogs might make sense: when you’re working with a laptop on the road and away from your desktop (and master catalog). Because this set of circumstances is probably common, I think it makes sense to look at what’s involved in transferring information between two catalogs.

      Transferring data between catalogs

      Okay, in this scenario you have a desktop computer and it contains your master catalog. You do most of your image processing and printing from this workstation. The catalog on this computer is the hub through which all your work passes through. However, as the saying goes, you can’t take it with you, so you also have a laptop for working offsite (or while watching TV).

      Pretend you’re leaving for a week of shooting at some exotic location (hey, you’re imagining, so you may as well enjoy it). You need to be able to import and process the photos on your laptop while on location and then get all that work into your master catalog upon your return. In this circumstance, you must do the following:

       Import and process new photos into the laptop while on the road.

       Get all the work from the laptop to the desktop (and master catalog) upon returning.

      Is this possible? Yes, by using Lightroom Classic’s catalog Export and Import functions. The next two sections give you the blow-by-blow.

      Exporting a catalog

      Okay, you’ve returned from the trip with a laptop full of photos and the laptop’s catalog full of data. The first part of your (imaginary) process is to get these photos and the catalog data from the laptop to the desktop computer. Here are the steps for one way to do it:

      1 Open Lightroom Classic on the laptop.This opens your temporary working catalog from the trip.

      2 Expand the Catalog panel in the Library module and click All Photographs.For this example, you’ll want to export all the photos in the laptop catalog, and this is the easiest way to gather them up. You’ll see the thumbnails of all imported photos appear in the content area.

      3 Choose File ⇒ Export as Catalog from the main menu.Doing so launches the dialog shown in Figure 2-9.

      4 Choose the location where you want the exported catalog and photos to be saved.The goal is to get the data from the laptop to the desktop. High-speed external drives are great for data transfers of this size. You can export across a network, but a high-speed external drive may be faster if you’re moving a lot of data. I like using external drives so I can do the export before I get home and then simply connect the external drive to the desktop for transfer. The choice is yours.

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