May 30, 2011
As I am sure that many of you have found out, Smart Collections can be used as a way to double check if “tasks” in a workflow have been completed. For example, creating a Smart Collection displays all images that are missing keywords or copyright information will let you quickly see if you’re neglected to apply that important information to your photographs. There are plenty of additional Smart Collection search parameters that you can choose from as well, including (but not limited to) date range, folder, treatment, aspect ratio, has adjustments etc.. Be sure to take a minute and check out all of the possibilities!
May 5, 2011
Lightroom has several different ways to tag images including flags, star ratings and color labels. Both the star ratings and color labels are global settings. If for example, you apply a star rating to an image in a folder, that star will travel with the image if you add the image to a Collection or Publish Services. The Flag tag (or attribute), on the other hand is specific to the folder/collection/publish services in which it is assigned. This “localized flagging” feature was designed so that you could flag images within a folder/collection/publish services independently of the other image’s other locations and so that you could then use that flag to further filter the images – to play for example, only a subcollection of images in a slideshow at any given time. The feature can, however cause unexpected results if you didn’t know that was the way that flags were designed to work.
March 25, 2011
Control (Mac) / Right Mouse (Win) -click a regular collection to “Set as Target Collection”. Then, using the shortcut “B” will add selected images(s) into the targeted collection instead of the default Quick Collection. Caps Lock (or add the Shift key) will auto advance to the next image while adding to the Quick/Target Collection.
March 24, 2011
Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + B to promote (or save) a quick Collection into a regular Collection.
March 23, 2011
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Shift + B will delete the contents of Quick Collection.
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Z will undo just in case you accidentally tap these keys!
March 22, 2011
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + B will display the contents of a Quick Collection.
March 21, 2011
With all of the parameters available to determine the filters for Smart Collections, I often use them to check my work. For example, adding a Smart Collection with the rules set to Copyright / Is / Unknown, helps me to make sure that I have applied my copyright to all of my images. Likewise, setting the rule to Keywords / Are Empty, helps to show any missing keywords. And this is just the beginning, setting multiple rules will allow you to filter on a Date Range (Edit Date / In the Last / 60 Days) AND Rating / Is / 2 Star or Greater AND Folder / Contains /xx and so on!
To get even more sophisticated refining your Smart Collection filters, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) + -click the plus icon within the New Smart Collection dialog ( the icon will change to a hash/pound sign) for additional rules (Any/All/None of the following are true).
March 18, 2011
Control (Mac), Right mouse (Win) -click a smart collection to import and export smart collection Rules. Smart Collections can also be found in the Lightroom > Smart Collections Folders.
March 17, 2011
Control (Mac), Right mouse (Win) -click a collection to Export the Collection as a Catalog.
Click here for more information about working with Multiple Catalogs.
March 16, 2011
Click the + (plus) icon on the Collection Panel header to choose to sort Collections by Name or Kind.
March 15, 2011
Control (Mac), Right mouse (Win) -click the collection set to create a collection directly within that set.
March 14, 2011
Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + N creates a new Collection while in the Library Module.
March 2, 2011
Tapping the Delete/Backspace key when in a Collection will remove the image from the Collection but the image will not be removed from the Lightroom catalog.
To quickly navigate to the image in the Folder and delete it, (as oppose to deleting the image from the Collection), Control (Mac) / Right Mouse (Win) -click on the image, choose “Go To Folder in Library “ and delete the image from the Folder.
Tapping the Delete/Backspace key when in a Smart Collection will display a dialog instructing you to change the parameters of the file so that it no longer matches that of the Smart Collection’s “rules” or delete it from the Catalog.
June 7, 2010
Watch this video tutorial (Select, Rate And Prioritize Your Images in Lightroom 3), to find out which method of tagging images works best for the photography you do, and simplify the creation of collections of images.
Note: This tutorial is part of the Lightroom 3 Getting Started Series.
In this tutorial (What’s New in Lightroom 3), Digital Imaging Evangelist Julieanne Kost walks you through new features, workflows and enhancements in the latest release of Lightroom 3.
