Image Cataloging and Lightroom

A few months ago I picked up Adobe Lightroom for the first time. I decided I wanted something a little more advanced for cataloging my images. I'm beginning to love it. I've been using it as a master editing program in my workflow process depending on the project. You can add keywords and ITPC data on import. I'm still using Capture One for the initial edit and image processing. Lightroom is great for organizing, keywording, and building custom contact sheets. You can even integrate your own branding.

My workflow process as follows: Import in to Capture One > Initial edit, contrast, WB, and Exposure adjustements > Process to Jpegs in C1 > Open processed Jpegs in Bridge > Make a more refined edit by starring selected images(these become my "Story" images) > Import Processed Jpegs into master Lightroom catalog

Depending on different jobs, determines what I do with them in Lightroom. I've set up one main catalog with all my select images, and my entire collection of photographs I've taken over the last few years. If the shoot has images I want to use in my portfolio I will add them to the master catalog. Now I can search by keywords if I'm building a promo piece, or creating a new edit for my portfolio.

Sometimes I will create a "job" catalog which allows me to create web contact sheets for the client. For example, this last Nike job, the client will have 3200 images to look through to make their selections. Lightroom made it easy to keyword, select images by keyword, and create a custom contact sheet out of those selected images. I now have a master catalog for the whole job.

Here's a couple screen shots:

Sample Catalog: Click here to see the actual gallery.

Comments

[LaRae Lobdell]

Welcome to Lightroom! We've been using this killer program since the beta version a couple years ago and keep upgrading with every new version Adobe releases. It makes cataloging a breeze and works great with CS3!

[Dennis]

So you use Lightroom strictly for cataloging and not for any processing?