External Resources

www.dpBestflow.org
A free comprehensive website outlining best practices and workflow in digital imaging, created by ASMP with principle fuinding by the US Library of Congress through NDIIPP.

The Best Practices part of the website outlines the Digital Photography ecosystem, including infromation about color, format, software, storage, computer hardware, data verification and more.

The Workflow section presents end-to-end workflow demonstrations in video form. These include movie-driven demonstrations on a Lightroom-only workflow, as well as integration of Lightroom with Photoshop, and use of Lightroom for Camera Scanning of a film library.

www.Shutha.org
A free comprehensive website providing photographic and multimedia workflow courses, along with business and marketing courses aimed at photographers and multimedia storytellers in the Majority World. Funded by World Press Photo, and administered by Africa Media Online.

Shutha (Zulu slang for photographer) offers movie-based instruction in a course format, starting with a lesson plan, and working through a series of lessons that build on each other. I suggest Lightroom users take the entire Lightroom Workflow course, in order.

Lightroom Before and After
A look at the Hope in South Africa Photos

Lightroom helps in sequencing and storytelling
A look at how collections can be used to assist in story development

Develop Demo
We run through a set of images, showing how the controls let you make great adjustments to your images
For more information on Develop and how each of the tools work, check out the movies on Shutha.org.

Output and Publish demo
Send prints to output
Publish to Facebook or Flickr

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Import
Select Source
Select Copy Method
File Handling
Renaming
Apply
Destination
Shutha Import Demo

Organize
Clean up grouping
Label sets
Rate for Quality
Shutha Organize Demo

Develop
Start with best images and work down
Paste settings where appropriate
Shutha Develop Demo

Export/Publish
Export files for delivery
Publish
Shutha Export/Publish Demo

Archive
Convert to DNG
Transfer to Archive
Shutha Archive Demo

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How does Lightroom work?
A short description of non-destructive image editing, using the keynote flowchart

Catalogs and Files
Explain the separation of Catalogs and Files

This movie from the www.shutha.org website outlines the difference between your Lightroom catlaogs, and the image files themselves.

The Lightroom catalog
Lightroom catalog structure - lrcat file, lrdata file, lock file, backups
What is the ideal number of catalogs?
Spliting and Merging catalogs
Catalog Backups - Set on Exit, How to Use
Backup to different drive, Exclude Previews

Catalog Configurations
Single Master Catalog
Master Catalog and Project or Working Catalogs
Trading changes between Master Catalog Copies

File storage
Create stable storage structure

Date-based Folders
DVD or Blu-ray bucket folders
Create a backup copy on a second drive
Create an offsite/offline backup on a third drive
If you need to, create a works-in progress folder as a temporary home for the images

Trading Changes:
A methodology for keeping Lightrom in sync on several computers:
A Master Catalog liveson Desktop Computer
A Duplicate Copy of this catalog is copied to the Laptop
Changes made on the Laptop can be exported as catalog and imported into the Desktop computer's version of the Master Catalog

Steps
1. Create Smart Collection for the date of the last Sync between catalogs using "Edited after [date]"
2. Copy the Master Catalog to the Laptop
3. Do work to the Laptop version of the Master Catalog
4. Select all images in the "Edited After [date]" Smart Collection and export a temporary "Transfger Catalog"
5. Confirm that none of these images have been edited since last sync on the Desktop's Master Catalog
6. Import Transfer Catalog into the Desktop's Master Catalog

The DNG File Format
Why DNG is useful with for Lightroom image storage
Drawbacks
When to convert to DNG
How to Convert to DNG
DNG Checksum

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Import

Importing Images
Set source and Copy/Move/Add
Set Preview and backups
File Renaming
Apply Metadata and Develop
Destination
Shutha Import Page

Organizing Images

Organizing your images in Library
Navigating the Organizational Tools in Library
Catalog, Folders, Collections
Keywords
Filter Bar

Using Collections and Smart Collections
How do Smart Collections work
Link to Smart Collection download

Collections and Other Modules
Use Collections to group images for output
Collections are visible in all modules
Custom Sort Order is persistent in Collections
Shutha Library Page

Develop Tools
Navigation and Work Order

Develop Tools
What is Process Version and how do I upgrade my old photos?
Lens Correction and lens profiles
Using Camera Profiles
Download the DNG Profile Editor
dpBestflow instructions for camera profiling
What should be done in Lightroom and what should be done in Photoshop?
Shutha Develop Page

Export and Publish

Output
Using Export rather than "edit in"
Creating and using Export Presets

Round Trip to Photoshop
Options for saving
Shutha Movie on integration with Photoshop

Publish
What is the Publishing Services tool?
Creating and updating a published collection

Tethered Shooting
Tethered Shooting Demo
Shutha Export Page

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