Importing in Lightroom - need help

[d2creative]

My biggest pet peeve of lightroom is their importing.
What I want to do is choose a folder on my hardisk that I have Labeled as "2007".
Then when I import a new shoot, I want to be able to create a new folder in "2007" with a custom name of my choosing, and import all the photos directly into that folder without lightroom creating any kind of subfolders.
That's the first part I can't figure out.

THEN, I want to be able to go shoot some more and come back and import the new photos into that same custom named shoot folder. And then tomorrow, I want to be able to shoot some more and import AGAIN into that SAME shoot folder.

Does this make sense? I don't understand why it's so complicated in Lightroom when Aperture makes it so easy to save any way I want to. What am I missing???

[barP]

in the import dialogue box you have a section that tells it where to import to. does that solve your problem?

wp.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by barP

in the import dialogue box you have a section that tells it where to import to. does that solve your problem?

wp.

No.
Because here's what lightroom does. I already have have a folder on my hard drive labeled "2007". So when I'm in that import dialog box and I choose that folder for lightroom to import to, it ends up making a new 2007 folder inside the one I chose. AND THEN, it makes ANOTHER folder inside that one with the date. Then if i shoot some more tomorrow but want to import to the same folder as today, it won't. It will make a new folder with the new date inside it's own "2007" folder. If I try to point it to the first dated folder, it makes ANOTHER "2007" folder inside it, and ANOTHER date folder.

It blows.
It blows so bad there HAS to be something I'm missing.
It can't really blow that bad. Can it?

[barP]

just realized you said "import" and i was thinking "export."

i haven't experienced your issue, but i have an odd way of using lightroom. the only time i import is when i have a specific batch of images to work on. when i'm done, i purge them from my catalog. might not be efficient but it keeps it clean.

lr doesn't blow, it just may be figuring out some preferences or something. good luck!

wp.

[Gordon]

On the import dialog, there's an option to leave the images where they are. Can't remember the precise wording, but that's what I use all the time. Lightroom never creates new directories or moves images around for me.

Mind you, I put each day's shooting in a unique directory,

e.g.,

2007/
20070925_yesterdays_shoot
20070926_todays_shoot

So I don't usually try to shoot stuff on multiple days and munge it all together. I just don't think that way about my shoots, so maybe I haven't had the problem you are seeing.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by Gordon

On the import dialog, there's an option to leave the images where they are. Can't remember the precise wording, but that's what I use all the time. Lightroom never creates new directories or moves images around for me.

Mind you, I put each day's shooting in a unique directory,

e.g.,

2007/
20070925_yesterdays_shoot
20070926_todays_shoot

So I don't usually try to shoot stuff on multiple days and munge it all together. I just don't think that way about my shoots, so maybe I haven't had the problem you are seeing.

ohhhh... wait a minute here...
What you are saying is that you copy your images from your cf card to your hard drive BEFORE importing? I was letting Lightroom copy them for me straight from the cf card since the import dialog box comes up automatically every time I stick the card in the reader. So if I turn that feature off, copy my raw files into self-made folders first, then import from those folders, nothing will change?

[jblaze5779]

The easiest way I've found to do it is to put them into your folders yourself and then let lightroom import them while keeping them in their current location.

[wjmphoto]

Exactly, don't let lightroom be the software that moves your files. Either use explorer or something like Downloader Pro from Breeze systems. I like downloader pro because I can set up the directory and do the file renaming on the download at the same time in that software and it is lightning fast compared to LR. Lightroom does let you do the importing from a flash card to your system but it is slower than death and I have better things to do than wait for LR to do something that a better designed piece of software can do. After I have the images in their final location I let Lightroom import the catalog where they are and go from there.

[d2creative]

Ok, thanks! Sounds like this will solve my problems.

One other question.... why use a "downloader" rather than just dragging/dropping from the cf card?

[Gordon]

Yeah, I use 'Photo mechanic' from Camera bits to copy images from cards.

The images get renamed, tagged and copied to two machines (my local machine and a network backup) before I load anything in to lightroom

[d2creative]

It's a shame that Lightroom can't get this importing thing down like Aperture.
Aperture lets you do exactly what I was trying to do, as well as rename and tag with keywords straight from the cf card. And aperture lets you make new folders on your hard drive from within Aperture. It's as easy as making a new playlist in itunes.

[wjmphoto]

Originally Posted by d2creative

Ok, thanks! Sounds like this will solve my problems.

One other question.... why use a "downloader" rather than just dragging/dropping from the cf card?

There are several reasons to use a downloader program:

Speed - you save time by being able to do multiple operations at one time - renaming of files, putting into sub folders according to date, reordering files, etc.

convenience - agood downloader program will recognize files that you have already downloaded and save disk space. If you are not sure whether or not you already downloaded the files and you do a lot of shooting, you do not have to search directories and check if the files are already on your system because the program already knows.

Basically, I like to use Downloader pro because it daves me time and steps in workflow. I can have a couple of thousand files from an event that need to be imported to my maching at one time from different cameras and shooters and the downloader streamlines the process for me. It's $29 well spent. It also integrates directly into Breezebrowser so I can go directly there to sort and delte files and then rename them before going into lightroom and and photoshop and workin gon them. Anything that saves you time is worth the $$$ spent.

[wjmphoto]

Originally Posted by d2creative

It's a shame that Lightroom can't get this importing thing down like Aperture.
Aperture lets you do exactly what I was trying to do, as well as rename and tag with keywords straight from the cf card. And aperture lets you make new folders on your hard drive from within Aperture. It's as easy as making a new playlist in itunes.

Lightroom does let you do all that, it's just slow doing it. Lightroom is good at what it does and for other things like downloading files and renaming them there are better applications for the job.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by wjmphoto

Lightroom does let you do all that, it's just slow doing it. Lightroom is good at what it does and for other things like downloading files and renaming them there are better applications for the job.

I thought it doesn't do what i wanted?
I know that it renames and tags but not together with the easy custom folder structure I'm looking for. Or am I misunderstanding?

[Dokk]

On the import dialog:
I select "copy photos to a new location and import" in the first drop down menu
under "copy to" choose the directory that you want the photos copied to
in the next drop down menu labled "organize" select "into one folder" and the next control will change and allow you to name a new sub folder that will be created on import of you can unchek the box and all you files will go directly into the folder that you selected.