A Workflow Story: 12 New Video Tutorials on the Lightroom Location Workflow & Lightroom Catalog Management

Photograph © George A. Jardine

Why “A Workflow Story”?

This new video series is wrapped up in a bit of a story, because that’s the best way to structure the information. Sure, I could have followed the herd and created a couple of dozen 5-minute videos showing you various techniques for fixing a pile of disconnected problems. But then… that’s just what it would have been. A pile of fast-food videos with no context, no theme, and no thread to help you develop the tools you need to trouble-shoot Lightroom catalog problems on your own.

Besides, I don’t think anyone has yet tackled this pervasive problem at this level. This “workflow story” wraps up a complete analysis of Lightroom Location Workflows and Catalog Management for the professional photographer and the serious amateur. If you have a growing library, or if you shoot on location, you need this video series!

This new video series has two sections. The first 5 videos step you through the default Lightroom Import behaviors, and show you how and where your digital library probably first went off the tracks. Then, I lead you step-by-step through getting it all consolidated onto one hard drive or RAID, how to move folders around, how to relink missing folders… everything. All with an eye firmly focused on creating a perfectly organized photo library.

Then, in the second half of the series, we go shooting on location to Northern Italy. There are three major ways that a photographer might approach an extended location shoot such as this, and we step through all three, from start-to-finish. This process not only gives you a solid understanding of how Lightroom works, but also gives you the tools to design the workflow that works best for you, rather than relying on the confusing mess of advice that is out there in the forums.

Watch these videos, and you will gain a complete understanding of effective Lightroom Catalog Management.

The complete online series is only $29.95. Most mobile devices are supported with special formats.

The new video titles for this series are:

1: Lightroom Import Defaults – 19:35
2: Lightroom Folder Basics – 20:37
3: Fixing Broken Links – 10:39
4: Getting Your Catalog Organized – 18:01
5: Moving The Lightroom Catalog To An External Hard Drive – 14:42
6: Three Possible Location Workflows – 18:05
7: A Basic Import Workflow For The “Temporary Catalog” Workflow – 37:33
8: Import For The “Offline Master Catalog” Workflow – 15:13
9: Resolving The XMP Workflow – 7:50
10: Merging Catalogs – 7:00
11: Resolving The “Offline Master Catalog” Workflow – 8:55
12: Bonus Video – Updating Folder Locations – 5:23 (Check out the free sample movie, here.)

A full list of the chapter markers for these videos can be found here.

If you’d like to hear more about the general style of the videos, check out what customers from all over the world have said about my Library series, by clicking here. If you’d like to read an impartial review, check out what the Imaging Resource Newsletter says, here.

(Please note that this series does not cover the entire Lightroom Library Module, the Develop Module, or any of the output modules. It is dedicated to catalog management and location workflows. Click here to see our Library module tutorials.)

Online access to this entire series is only $29.95. Please read the instructions below, and then click the Buy Now button to purchase. (You can use credit cards on Paypal, too… having a Paypal account is NOT required.)

IMPORTANT! In order to receive your login instructions, you must find and click the “Return to Merchant” link on the Paypal confirmation page! If you somehow do not get to the confirmation page, e-mail me (georgej@gmail.com), and I’ll be happy to send you the link.

(Note that if you purchase using Paypal, you are not purchasing a DVD! This is online access + downloads if you want them. Click the Amazon link below, if you want the DVD.)

The Flash plug-in or an HTML5-compatible browser is required to view the online version of these tutorials on a desktop or laptop computer. The videos will probably play fine in your browser just as it is, but if you need a Flash plug-in update, you can download the latest version for free, here.

If you would like to purchase the new DVD from Amazon.com, click here.

Thanks! And I hope you enjoy the tutorials!

{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }

Ed Velez October 6, 2012 at 7:59 PM: Nice work George. Since I already have your library and develop modules, this was the next obvious move for me and good timing since I am in the process of reorganizing my entire catalog. My original hierarchy was just names and by organizations I deal with. Add to that all the jpgs that I had produced over the years that I placed on smugmug…

As with the library and develop modules, will there be a link to the offline files for viewing on the ipad?

thanks again for producing such excellent and very easy to understand videos.
Jim Ascher October 8, 2012 at 1:49 PM: George: By choice, I’ve not upgraded to Lightroom 4, but am sticking with Lightroom 3+. Are the Lightroom Library (Catalog) workflows depicted in this new video equally applicable to Lightroom 3+. Thanks and regards, Jim
George October 8, 2012 at 1:53 PM: Yes! Nothing on the Catalog Management side has changed, Jim. And, the same is true of my new LR4 Library videos. They are a huge improvement over the original LR3 Library videos, and are 100% applicable to the LR3 Library.

Hope that helps! George
Richard Arnold October 9, 2012 at 9:16 AM: Hi George. As a self-taught Lightroom user of about four years I have somewhat of a file mess on my hands. I saw your tutorial on Adobe and as a s person who has to understand something like LR from a total systems standpoint this led me to you. Lynda did nothing for me. I am, already, learning things about LR that I simply did not know. For the first time I am beginning to understand how this system works in the background. What I have, quoting you, is a “pile of disconnected problems”. I have viewed the first two videos just a couple of moments ago. You lit a flicker of understanding. I am curious to go on and see the flame grow. In spite of my ignorance I do use LR effectively but not certainly elegantly nor with efficiency. .
Chris Bishop October 11, 2012 at 12:02 PM: Another great dea. Thank you. Is it possible to download them, to view off-line? I like to read them over lunch at places of work where I cannot access the internet – even reduced size? Chris Bishop
George October 11, 2012 at 12:07 PM: Absolutely, Chris! Thanks for purchasing.

Download links are “in the mail”. :-)

George
Paul Beiser October 17, 2012 at 11:51 AM: Another outstanding series, thanks George. I really like the way you set a foundation and a model for how ‘the system’ works and then show great examples of how to put it to work (in this case, the 3 example workflows for shooting on location – their pros and cons). Watching this series I have also learned some very important but subtle things – for example, renaming on important does NOT keep the original filename! I also really liked your very clear and detailed Mapping example. Finally, after watching just the first 5 videos, I was easily able to clean up and organize my messy laptop photos – and I wasn’t scared of causing massive damage :-). Thanks again!! Paul Beiser
Mike Welborn October 17, 2012 at 9:28 PM: I have purchased your library and develop series and view them on my I Pad.Is this new series compatible with the IPad? Thanks
George October 17, 2012 at 9:31 PM: Yes, of course!

All my videos are set up to stream specially formatted video to iPhones, iPads or regular computer browsers. And if you require downloads for your iPad, I’ll gladly supply you with the link upon request.

George
Enrico Curschellas October 18, 2012 at 8:49 AM: Hi George The new video tutorials on Catalog Management are great. As in your other tutorials you explain every step very careful and repeat the most important things, so that one can get it by heart. This is very valuable. In the “offline catalog” tutorial, you explain how to do a second (backup) copy of the photos to another folder on your desktop, which you name as the original folder. Until now I did it this way too. But what disturbs me is, that LR creates in this “backup folder” a new folder called “imported 2012 …..”. Is there a way to tell LR not do so and only put these photos in the folder, which was created before by you or me? Enrico
George October 18, 2012 at 9:03 AM: Hi Enrico, Glad you’re enjoying the tutorials!

When you make second copy of your photos as a backup during import from a camera card, yes, Lightroom does indeed name it “Imported 2012….”. I do not know of a way to change that. This is only one of many reasons why I recommend the “basic” import workflow in tutorial number 6. As I mention in the videos numerous times, I only show the “one-man-band” import workflow in tutorial number 8 to illustrate its drawbacks (i.e. can’t change timestamps before renaming, loss of the original filename, etc., etc.). So let’s add inadequate support for backup folder organization to the long list of reasons why I recommend the basic workflow, where each of the steps is broken out for maximum control.

George
Peter October 18, 2012 at 7:05 PM: I have both Library and Develop tutorials and I’m wondering how much of the material that you cover in this new video is different – how much is similar or the same? Your tutorials are excellent, by the way!
George October 18, 2012 at 7:35 PM: Peter, the Catalog Management series is focused specifically on mastering the catalog. For location shooting, library management, etc. All the bits are there in the Library series, but not presented in a coherent way as to present the story of catalog management. The Library videos are more general, while the Catalog Management videos are specific to problematic workflows.

George
Lawrence Baboid October 30, 2012 at 6:17 PM: Hello, George:

I would appreciate the download links for offline viewing of the Workflow & Catalog Management tutorials.

I have enjoyed viewing your other two Lightroom 4 videos on the Library and Develop Modules and look forward to this new one. There is a great deal of useful information which is well organized and presented. One of those bits of information corrected a long-held erroneous view of mine of how Lightroom’s Catalog and Library worked … which is why I immediately bought your latest video.

I bought the first video after viewing a free sample on Lightroom’s Help site.

FYI: Everyone mentions that double-clicking a slider causes it to reset. Almost no one mentions that double-clicking the label (bigger target) to the left of the slider does the same thing. Further, double-clicking the label for a group of sliders will reset the values for the entire group. E.g., double-click the Presence label in the Basic panel of the Develop Module and it will cause Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation to reset but leave all other Basic values unaltered.

Regards, Lawrence
George October 31, 2012 at 8:30 AM: Hi Lawrence,

I’ve send your download links for the offline files.

I’m glad you’re enjoying the tutorials. Very true that there are several hidden tips and tricks that can help you in Lightroom. I try to cover as many as I can, but double-clicking the label is one I missed!

Thanks for your comments, George
John Dowell November 11, 2012 at 3:26 PM: Thanks George. Have watched a couple of the videos in group 2. Baled me out of a couple of problems that I had with LR4 catalog. Please send me link to downloads so that I can have them readily available when needed for reference.
Lawrence King November 15, 2012 at 2:13 PM: Super kudo’s George on these awesome new tutorials. I have both the Library and Develop ones (supremely better than Lynda’s) and I also wondered: anything new here? The answer (all readers!) is YES! Those 1st 5 chapters finally got me squared away and I’m grateful for the hours of fine writing and production you’ve delivered here — as usual. (Mine are on my iPad.). Run, don’t walk to snag these, fellow enthusiasts.
David Smiley November 29, 2012 at 4:25 PM: George, I purchased SuperDuper after listening to your back up procedure in the Lightroom 3 tutorials. In the Lightroom 4 tutorial series you used Chronosync for the Archive in stead of Mac’s DiskUtility. Why?
George November 29, 2012 at 8:45 PM: David, I switched to Chronosync because it supports ZFS volumes, and because it does it’s own file copy verification. SuperDuper relies on the Mac OS for its copy verification, which I trust less than Chronosync’s. Also because SuperDuper started trying to update my entire “Photo Library” folder during incremental backups, when it sensed that the parent folder had changed. Which doesn’t wash in my book.

They are both good products, and I still use SuperDuper for whole system disc mirrors and other tasks.

G.
Doug Anderson January 2, 2013 at 9:44 PM: George, I have just finished the watching the Library videos, I cant believe the detailed information you provide. I was looking for quality video tutorials on Lightroom 4 and there is a plethora out there some good, some crap but none with the level of information and quality you provide…… I am just about to embark on the Location Workflow videos and I cant wait to watch them. I am new to Lightroom 4 but after viewing these videos I guarantee I feel like an old hand with it. Cheers and thanks for a great… NO…. fantastic product…..Doug
Chris January 6, 2013 at 3:39 PM: George,

I’ve used LR 3 and now 4 for a couple of years, so I’m generally familiar with how they work, but I haven’t received any “formal” education. My library is a bit messy and my import and cataloging process has been pretty haphazard; I’d like to be better organized. Do you recommend I start with the Workflow tutorial or the Library one?
George January 6, 2013 at 3:52 PM: Chris, if you feel pretty comfortable with how keywords, collections, star-ratings, and how all that stuff works, and you’re looking for a bit more advanced material on managing LR catalogs, then the Catalog Management series is the way to go.

Hope that helps! George
Jason January 6, 2013 at 9:36 PM: THANK YOU!!! After watching all three of your series and going back to practice with the tutorials, I am a lightrooom guru. The tutorials and management cataloging videos you create are second to none!
David Cornwell January 8, 2013 at 3:51 PM: George,

I have your “Develop Tutorials” and have to say that these are some of the best videos on Lightroom that I’ve seen. Plus you sell them for a price that is affordable (imagine that!).

I like your teaching style and the completeness with which you cover the subject. Keep up your good work.

Very soon (tomorrow?) I’ll be adding Lightroom Location Workflow & Catalog Management.

Thanks again, David
Don Jacobsen January 20, 2013 at 8:54 PM: Dear George,

I purchased and watched your develop and catalog management series. Excellent. Now, are you going to a series on the Print Module (would be very beneficial for LR4 users. Also, have you considered doing a Video series on Travel Photography. Your way of presenting and photographic skills are first-rate and there isn’t a good video on travel photography anywhere!
John Dabney January 22, 2013 at 12:50 AM: I am delighted with my first sight of the tutorials and looking forward to getting stuck in properly. One question….I use DXO Optics 8 specifically for its very powerful lens corrections. Can I use DXO Optics first then import into LR without messing up your approach? Or is there a particular way you would suggest for using the two programs?
George January 22, 2013 at 7:20 AM: I am not familiar with the DX0 workflow, but I think if you use it first, you’ll be importing RGB into Lightroom, thus sacrificing all the benefits of the Adobe raw processing.

George
Bill Ross February 2, 2013 at 6:00 PM: Greetings George; It seems that I’ve become a ‘regular’ with your video tutorials having rec’d the Library, Develop and Catalog series one at a time. I would like to know if I can get a copy of the Catalog series for use offline. I travel to a lot of out- of-the-way places and and take your discs with me to use as references with my traveling laptop. I like your style and especially the easy, conversational manner. I refer to your material quite often and am amazed at how often this repetition facilitates a deeper understanding of LR….I’m one of those who really tries to understand the ‘mechanics’ of my tools. Thanks loads and please, keep up your good work!! –Bill
George February 2, 2013 at 6:03 PM: Yes, Bill, as with all of my videos, a simple e-mail request will get you the download links for files that can then be viewed offline.

George
Edmund February 4, 2013 at 8:55 PM: Hi George, great series. I purchased the new catalog management series and now have access to the original library series. Which series should I go thru first? I have a round 300 folders and maybe 5000 photos that I want to rename, tag etc so I can finally find a photo when I need to. Eddie
George February 4, 2013 at 9:00 PM: Hi Edmund,

If you feel that your library is reasonably organized, I would probably watch the Library series first. On the other hand, if you feel you need immediate help re-structuring a fairly chaotic mess, then the Catalog Management series is the place to start.

Hope this helps! George