Digital Scrapbooking 101

Lightroom Photo Keywords

An insightful student recently asked me for my photo keyword list.  I thought for sure I had already shared it in the Lightroom class.  Not so.

So, thanks to Kimberly, I'm sharing the inside scoop to my keywords list for you all here today. You can find more about Lightroom photo workflow in this post.

Now first things first - go here to download the text file of keywords (take note of where you save it to on your computer).  To import this keyword list to your catalog, open your Lightroom catalog and choose Metadata > Import Keywords then navigate to where you saved the downloaded keyword list and import it.

Once imported, you can begin to refine it and make it your own.  To change the name of an existing keyword, double click on it and then type the new name and click Edit.

Now to answer a few questions about the keyword list.  I've stripped it of a lot of names and given generic names to help you form your own keyword list.  For example, under Friends.

Now in my personal catalog things look like this:

When it comes to Family Friends - where our family is friends with their entire family, I create a keyword for the entire family with sub-keywords - last name underscore and first name.

When it comes to friends that are just friends of one member of the family - I use initials - i.e. KJL are my initials then create subkeywords under those initials for each of my personal friends - last name underscore first name.

Hopefully this information is helpful to you as you work on your photos.   As you all know, I am still organizing my photos.  I'll be sharing another post soon on why I believe your photo library is more important than your scrapbooks.

In the meantime, please feel free to comment with questions - hope you all have a wonderful day!

Do Over: Combining Two Separate Lightroom Catalogs Into One

Several students in the first group of Lightroom students chose to create two catalogs - one for supplies and one for their digital scrapbooking supplies.  Now they are wishing they could have everything in one catalog instead of going back and forth.

The good news is that this is a simple thing to do, provided you just want to combine the catalogs, not move all your asset (photo and digital supply) files around.

First things first - you need to find where your current catalog files are for both of your catalogs.  When I say catalog files, I mean the actual LR catalog file - not the actual photos or supplies.  The file icon looks something like this...

Choose File > New Catalog - then choose the location for your CATALOG file (not your photos or digital supplies).  Personally I keep my Lightroom Catalog under my user name in my computer folder structure - pretty high up on the folder list.  I keep my catalog files separate from my photo/supply files because it just makes things easier for me.  

Once you are in the new catalog, choose File > Import from Catalog.  Navigate to where your first catalog file is and choose the catalog file.  

 Make sure the boxes in Catalog Contents are checked and the File handling is set to “Add new photos to catalog without moving” from the drop down menu.  (If you want to see the photos that will import, make sure the “Show Preview” box in the bottom left is checked.

Wait a few minutes or a many minutes (if you have lots of files in your catalog) for Lightroom to complete the import.  Repeat the import process - this time importing from your digital supplies catalog.  

After all imports are done, check the files in your new catalog - make sure they came through ok - i.e. test a few TIF files to make sure they retained transparency, etc.  Once you are sure everything is ok you can delete your previous catalogs.

Hope that is helpful to those of you wanting to combine both catalogs.     Now I have a question for you - Where do you keep your master catalog file?

 

Want To Be More Creative? Just Organize!

I was listening to the Work Awesome podcast the other day and heard this gem from guest David Allen:

"I've always been fascinated by how to make things easier...my stuff is about 'how do you get stuff done between here and there,' for which organizing is a key component, but it's very easy to over organize and to lose productivity and freedom by having too much structure." 

"In other words, too controlled is out of control because you don't have flexibility or spontanaeity, which are critical elements for being able to stay in control in the larger game.  I'm into tips and tricks and what are the tricks that allow us to get things done with as little as effort as possible."

Since I am in the middle of teaching a Lightroom class which has a lot to do with organizing, the "it's very easy to over organize and to lose productivity and freedom by having too much structure" really stood out to me.

With my supplies, I know there are more things I could refine with organizing but I let it go because what I have is more organized than I've ever been and it is working to produce the desired result of allowing me to scrapbook with as little effort as possible.  It's made me faster which has also increased my desire to create.

This Lightroom Class is all about sharing the tips and tricks of how to do things easier and faster in Lightroom so you have time for far more important things.  The blessings of technology allow you to organize and find things with much less effort than ever before - it's my job to teach you the how-to's.

I realize that for every student feeling "organized" will happen at different levels.  So as you look at the tips and tricks shared, you are encouraged to pick and choose what tools will help you get to your vision of "organized" in the fastest and easiest way possible.  Make it your own.  Do what works for you and adapt it as needed. 

I also can tell you from experience that as you work on organizing anything - be it your computer files, digital supplies, closets, drawers, etc.  you will have several creative ideas come to you. 

Just this week I cleaned out our master bathroom cabinets and drawers, it took me the better part of two hours - but when I was done it felt great! Even better - in the process of organizing, I had several creative ideas come to me.  It never ceases to amaze me how organizing things gives me creative energy.  I don't know how it works - it just does.

So I have one idea for you all - think about one undone task that isn't terribly pressing - that is causing you subliminal stress - i.e. a junk drawer or closet that needs to be cleaned, a car that needs to be washed, getting your hair done or eyebrows waxed or backing up your hard drive.  Seriously - just one thing - and do it.  Or mark time on your schedule this week to do it - get it off your list.

You could even write the first ten things that come to your mind today and write those down.  Then schedule time out to get them taken care of in the next week or month.

It might sound crazy, but I promise you from personal experience, crossing those items off your list will free your mind up to be a better scrapbooker.  Your creativity will flourish and quite frankly you will just be happier.

What do you think?  Care to share in the comments?  I'd also love to know how things are going for you in the Lightroom class.  Progress reports anyone? :)

P.S. - The title from this post was inspired by a dear friend who once told me in an ABC scrapbok (circa 2000) that my middle name stands for Just Organize...  At the time I had recently come home to be with my kids after years of living a crazy 60 hour plus work week as a mortgage lender.  This was also the year my mom came and helped me organize my kitchen.  Getting my life and house organized seemed to take forever that year but it was good preparation for the twin girls who would join our home in 2001.

Just in case you were wondering - another blast from the past in this layout - stamps from CTMH.  It's hard for me to believe that in my past creative life I was an avid stamper and even taught others.  Crazy how things change - I don't have one stamp outside my collection and ten years ago I had drawers and drawers of them!

Life is Too Important To Be Overwhelmed with Photos

I was reading this blog the other day and came across this quote  by David Bruno:

“We’re so distracted, we’re missing our own lives. The parent who records his kid’s dance recital or first steps or graduation is so busy trying to capture the moment – to create a thing that proves they were there – they miss out on actually living and enjoying the moment.” 

Courtney goes on in her post to assign a mini-mission:

Make Moments instead of memories. Leave your camera at home on your next vacation or outing. See what happens when you are fully engaged in the moment, instead of catching the shot. Since mobile phones have become a better camera than calling device, you might need to leave that behind too.

I’m not suggesting that you never take another picture, but consider why you are behind the camera. If you are already thinking about the comments your picture might get on facebook, you might be missing the point. Of course photography is for sharing, but sometimes we shoot to share instead of preserving a memory. Not to mention, your actions may be interfering with the experience of others. We’ve all sat next to the parent at the school play narrating their own video or using their flash during the ballet. Not fun!

How can you be present when you are framing a shot, or adjusting the shutter speed on your camera? To really enjoy an event, to make the moment something unforgettable, you need to really be there.

Remember that less is not nothing, so please don’t abandon your cameras all together, just use them with purpose and see what it’s like to leave them at home.

 

This mini mission hit a chord with me because I have been purposefully leaving my camera behind a lot lately.  For example, on a recent weekend trip to meetup with my sisters and mom I only broke out my camera once - the morning we left:

This completely suprised me - I thought I would have spent the whole weekend capturing as many memories as I could - this was the first time I had been together with with my sisters in four years!

I do confess I captured a few cell phone photos of us in our PJ's late at night as we visited and laughed together - but the rest of the weekend there is nothing... and I call myself a scrapbooker?

Well yes I do!  I don't know if it's getting older or what has changed for me but this past year I have found myself setting the camera to the side and just fully immersing myself in the moment.  When we gathered together I also saw Aunts and Uncles I haven't seen in 20+ years and I may never see again.   You think I would have wanted my camera. 

In hindsight my camera would have been an obstacle to the moments I enjoyed.   There were hugs, laughter, tears, memories shared - things I don't think would have flowed so freely were a camera present. 

The irony is that because I left my camera behind - I enjoyed several priceless moments - very few photos to mark the occasion - but deep memories in my heart that are priceless.

I've been organizing my photos and I just keep thinking, "Life is too important to be overwhelmed with stuff."  I have hundreds of photos dating back some 6 generations in my family and they are priceless to look at - I am so grateful for them.   The photos document life and moments - nothing like the number of photos we take today.

However, what I find myself drawn to even more than the photos are the memories written by my great grandmother in her little pocket notebook she carried.  I doubt she thought it would survive her - but it did and through it I have seen a side to her I would have never seen in photos.  In fact, there is not one single photo to mark anything in that book but I feel I can see a picture of her days more clearly through her words than I ever would a photo.

So I guess I'm publicly declaring it's ok to consciously leave the camera behind, to live more in the moments and write memories in our hearts.  The reality is we only pass through this life once and it's too important to be overwhelmed with photos.

So how does this translate to the photo portion of class?  Expect simple.  Expect streamlined and expect your memories to be more with less - you don't have to follow my lead exactly - but hopefully it will give you some food for thought so you can organize your photos and find the photos you want to tell your story without being overwhelmed by a complex system.  Technology should be easy and simple.

Back to work on the curriculum.  I'd love to know your thoughts on this - what do you think?  Are you leaving your camera behind more or less lately and for what reasons?

 

 

Why Lightroom for Supplies Instead of Bridge?

After several comments and emails from readers asking, "Why not Bridge?"  I thought a post would be appropriate.

As you may know, I really pushed Bridge for my supplies last year.  It was the only program on a Mac that I liked and trusted to write metadata to the files.  However, there were a few problems I  ran into on my organizing journey in Bridge that I thought I would share.

Bridge was painfully slow.  When it comes to digital supplies we all have lots of folders.  Because Bridge is a browser instead of a catalog, I had to have everything attached to my computer to do anything or find anything. 
Without my external drive with all my supplies attached to my computer, Bridge would literally forget the stuff I had organized was there.  When I plugged it in, Bridge would have to re-build all the criteria and it was taking forever to just find everything again so I could start tagging.  On top of this, Bridge pretended to tag my PNG files when in reality there was no way those tags would stay with the files.

The main difference with Lightroom is that it works as a catalog.  Meaning it records where everything is and creates a thumbnail of the file so even after you unplug your external hard drive (EHD), you can still see what is on it and even add tags...  the only thing that is different is a question mark next to the folders and thumbnails to let you know the item isn't attached. 

There are things that Bridge does amazingly well, such as batch renaming files, image processing with Photoshop, etc.  However, when it comes to organizing quickly with ease, Bridge falls short.

 

 

 

iPhoto and DAM

Those of you who know I was in iPhoto before Lightroom might be interested in what changed for me...  this video was created to show you a few of the limitations of the software.  That said, I still think iPhoto is a great product - if you plan on staying with it forever and everyone you want to share photos with (and metadata is on a Mac).  Oh and if you also have an ongoing backup of your catalog. :)

If you want to watch the video in a larger format, click on the video, click SHARE and then choose visit URL. Also, if you like what you see, feel free to embed it elsewhere. :)

Video Tutorial: Scrapbooking in Lightroom

Finally as promised on this show, a tutorial to give you a sneak peek of how my workflow is working to do scrapbooking inside Lightroom.  I'm looking forward to your comments. :) You can download the Lightroom template here - I'll leave it up until the end of December 2010.  So if you are reading this post after that date, my apologies - stay tuned for my class. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benefits of Organizing Your $upplies...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  I spent the past week and a half entertaining out of state family guests - it has been wonderful and so enjoyable to have time with family - but that is all stuff for my personal blog.

I love weeks that things slow down and we have the time to just be - to think - to plan and organize.  This happened for me the past ten days and there were quite a few things that came from all that downtime... one of which I thought you all would find helpful and especially relevant to your scrapbooking.

I have so many people ask me, "WHY would you take "all that time" to organize your supplies?  It sounds crazy to spend hours tagging and organizing... I can't see how it would be worth it..."

For those who read this blog in that same school of thought, I am going to share with you the WHY.  The reality is my WHY probably won't be that popular with designers, store owners, and others - but it is a win for you and I.

The fact is you SAVE MONEY when you organize your supplies.  Quite frankly, with the economic times we live in, I think that is a very GOOD thing. :)

If you, like me, have several favorite designers who email you kit previews of their latest and greatest so you get an email from a designer you love just about every day... and then you can't resist clicking on the link to buy that kit quickly to get it at the early bird discounted price because you don't want to miss it....  Well, this benefit is for you...

The other day I got this in my email...

If you haven't seen kits by Cinzia Designs, you can find them here - really amazing designs that are gorgeous and some of my favorites...ok yes I am enabling... but there is a point...  I surprised myself by not buying this kit!  Why?  Because these days I open Lightroom to check out what I already have by the designer before purchasing anything...and I saw that I already had these...

Not exactly the same, but the colors are very similar and the designs are different but close....  So I passed on buying it!  It was hard, and my "OCD collect it all" side of my personality has me a little stressed that I missed it, but seriously, if I want to scrapbook, the kit I already have with similar designs and colors will be just fine!

With the holidays upon us, there are some amazing and gorgeous holiday kits coming out - like this Yuletide Memories Collection at Two Peas:

Simply beautiful kit.  Before organizing my supplies I would have hit the "add to cart" button faster than you could say, "Ala Peanut Butter Sandwiches!"  However, after organizing, I simply click on the keyword for "Christmas" and find all my existing beautiful Christmas kits and items...

And then the beautiful kit is a LOT less tempting...

Add to that a Smart Collection that automatically brings in all the supplies in my library that are keyworded Red, Green or Christmas -

and I get not only my Christmas kits, but also everything red and green in my digital collection that could possibly be used for Christmas cards, layouts, etc...

So yes, organizing your $upplies does $ave you money.  Just in the past two weeks I have come across FOUR kits (at around $5 each that is $20) that I didn't buy because I found things in my collection that are similar enough I don't really need them.

And true confession: I only have about 10% of my current supplies catalogued and organized by all these variables right now.  Imagine what happens when I get ALL of them done?

All I can say is my husband is loving my purchase of Lightroom  and all the time spent on organizing what I already have! 

I can't say enough good things about Lightroom - I really believe this is the last organizing software I will ever buy (excepting upgrades of course).  Why?  Because in the past two weeks I literally dumped everything out of my digital supply catalog, made major changes to the files in another software and then re-imported them - and guess what?  All that work to keyword kits, designers, colors, etc. wasn't lost - it stayed with my files!!!  

So all of you who have spent hours and hours organizing your stuff only to lose the tags, keywords, categories etc. with the next upgrade or change of software - your solution is Lightroom.

And now for the calmer part of this post - I think I have used way too many exclamation marks - which must be a result of 1) too much hazelnut hot chocolate, 2) 4 inches of beautiful snow blanketing my yard, or 3) more than my fill of pumpkin pie this past weekend...maybe all of the above. :)

Seriously - what's not exciting about saving money, finding software that works for you - not against you, all the while making your digital scrapbooking life so much easier?

Yes, you would be dotting this post with exclamation marks too!

Ok - back to tagging and organizing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Workflow: Choir Concert Recap

Monday evening our family headed out to the local high school choir concert to support Jessica, our Chinese foreign exchange student.  I found a space in the upstairs stage area to take photos and in the 45 minutes of the concert, I took about 820 images.  Keep in mind that I was doing action shots so sometimes there were 5-6 shots per second of a particular thing.

 

A few other difficulties - the low light in the auditorium, rules against flash photography and forgetting to turn off the image stabilization on my zoom lens because I was using a tripod....that and the high ISO required made things just a tad bit fuzzy...

However, the most interesting thing was that out of 820 images take for the event, I only kept 80 of them.  Even more interesting is that only 8 of those images made it into the 2 star "I should probably scrapbook this" range.   

I love that digital photography gives me the ability to literally take hundreds of images for an event quickly.  I also love that the X key in Lightroom allows me to quickly flag images that are duplicates or don't seem scrap worthy - literally in seconds.  I love that I no longer fear the delete key in my photo editing - all in all it took me an hour to process those images - I love that my workflow is working!

How about you - what percentage of your images are you keep these days? 

Lightroom Import Shortcuts - Clarified

This post is in answer to a few emails I received about my process shared in the latest Lightroom video.

Question:  It looks like you put all your photos in one folder regardless of date or year. Is that correct? I still have my photos organized by date, much like they were in iPhoto. It means that I can search a folder since I don't have them all labeled yet, but that means I can't use that preset for importing photos from a camera like you did, right?

Answer:  First of all - great question!  One thing I should say up front is that things may change now and in the future with my organization process as I learn ways to do it smarter and better.  :)  This is especially true if you followed me in Library of Memories - a LOT has changed for me organizationally with my photos since then.  One standout item is importing ALL my photos into one Main Photo Folder.

This took me awhile to do - and it was scary - but it is the BEST way I found to truly get rid of duplicates in Lightroom.    If you know you don't have duplicates, you could choose to import them in the date folder structure just fine.  However, I chose to keep everything in one folder to simplify my library and file folder structure on my computer.

Another reason I chose to keep everything in one folder is that Lightroom automatically has a filter to keep things organized by date - you can bring up the Library Filter by typing \.

Then when I look for a certain date or month, I just click on my main photo folder on the left, then click on the date I want on the filter bar above the photo grid and voila - I am only looking at images from that date.

If you still want to keep your photos organized by date/month/year - you definitely can!  The great news is also that you can still use a preset - you just need to setup your folder destination a little differently than what I show on the video:

Lightroom gives you the option to save things in subfolder by date as you import them in.  If you have pre-imported them into folders by date, you could also choose to Organize by Original Folders instead.  This would import them as they are in your folder structure.

The best part?  Once you get that preset of where you want them to be, just go down to presets and scroll down to "Save Current Settings as New Preset..." and you can save it as a preset saving yourself oodles of time the next go around.

I hope that is helpful.  I look forward to your questions and comments - hope you all have a great week!

:)