Author Topic: How do I do this workflow with PM?  (Read 5471 times)

Offline switters

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How do I do this workflow with PM?
« on: September 17, 2016, 11:38:45 AM »
I'm a hobbyist, but I shoot a fair amount each week. For years, after each shoot my workflow has been the following:
  • Insert card and import photos into Lightroom
  • Delete rejects and then choose selects
  • Process selects

The result of this workflow has been that I have a few hundred selects in my portfolio stored on my hard drive, but also many thousands of pictures that weren't selects, but weren't rejects either, that I will never do anything with.

On a Fuji forum I participate in someone there mentioned that he uses PM to choose selects (or really any photo that might be one), and then copies those to his hard drive. He doesn't even bother importing average images that he'll never work on. This appeals to me.

In my case, I'd like to do the following:
  • Insert card and choose selects with PM from contact sheet
  • Copy selects to hard drive
  • Import selects into Lightroom
  • Process in Lightroom, Photoshop, plugins, etc.

I'm looking for the fastest/most automated way of doing #2 & #3 in the list above. Once I have the selects chosen via color rating, I sort the images by color, then select all of the ones with the pink color. From there I choose "Copy/Move to..." (I think there's a keyboard shortcut, but not remembering it now) and copy only those photos to a folder on my hard drive. I then import those into LR, and delete the files from the folder.

Is that the most efficient way to do it?

Offline Mike Miller

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2016, 09:33:21 AM »
I would like to bump this question. I'm trying out Photo Mechanic and I too am trying to find out if it is possible to use PM to take a look at the photos on my card, select the ones I want, and then ingest/import the selected (and only the selected) photos to my hard drive for later editing.

I'm a hobbyist sports photographer and I don't want all my photos on my hard drive. I take multiple frames and only need the one I want. I understand that I could ingest all of the photos into a temporary drive, then select the ones I want with PM, and then copy the selected photos to a permanent file, but I want to avoid the time it takes to copy files that I will ultimately delete.

Many thanks.

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2016, 09:51:10 AM »
I figured out a workflow that is going pretty well:
  • Insert SD card into iMac
  • Open Photo Mechanic
  • Sort files by "type" (I shoot RAW + JPEG on my Fujifilm X-T2, and I only want to review the RAW files
  • Go through and mark selects (adds a pink color label to them; command-1 is the shortcut
  • Re-sort by color label and shift-click on all of the selects to highlight them
  • Go to File > Move/Copy... and copy the selects to a folder on my computer called "Ingest"
  • Open Lightroom and use "Move" to import the RAW photos from the "Ingest" folder
  • Put SD card back in camera and format it
What I like about this workflow is that I'm not importing a bunch of photos into LR that I will never process or use. I only bring in the selects—which are the photos that I am either certain that I want to process, or may process.

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2016, 09:51:44 AM »
I'm trying out Photo Mechanic and I too am trying to find out if it is possible to use PM to take a look at the photos on my card, select the ones I want, and then ingest/import the selected (and only the selected) photos to my hard drive for later editing.

In my case, I'd like to do the following:
  • Insert card and choose selects with PM from contact sheet
  • Copy selects to hard drive
  • Import selects into Lightroom
  • Process in Lightroom, Photoshop, plugins, etc.

I'm looking for the fastest/most automated way of doing #2 & #3 in the list above. Once I have the selects chosen via color rating, I sort the images by color, then select all of the ones with the pink color. From there I choose "Copy/Move to..." (I think there's a keyboard shortcut, but not remembering it now) and copy only those photos to a folder on my hard drive. I then import those into LR, and delete the files from the folder.

Is that the most efficient way to do it?

Yes.  You can certainly browse the card and select images.  To get the selected images on your hard drive for permanent storage use the Copy/Move Photos command on the File menu.  Ingest won't ingest from a selection.

http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php?title=User_Manual_Flat_View#Copying_and_Moving_Photos

HTH,

-Kirk

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2016, 09:59:06 AM »
I figured out a workflow that is going pretty well:
  • Insert SD card into iMac
  • Open Photo Mechanic
  • Sort files by "type" (I shoot RAW + JPEG on my Fujifilm X-T2, and I only want to review the RAW files
  • Go through and mark selects (adds a pink color label to them; command-1 is the shortcut
  • Re-sort by color label and shift-click on all of the selects to highlight them

You could also change the Color Class filter widget to show only your "pink" ones and then use the "Select all" command on the Edit menu (Command-A).

http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php?title=User_Manual_Flat_View#Color_Class_Widget
http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php?title=User_Manual_Flat_View#Edit_Menu

  • Go to File > Move/Copy... and copy the selects to a folder on my computer called "Ingest"

If you don't want to have to deal with old images being in this Ingest folder when new ones get copied there, you can use Photo Mechanic's variables to create dated folders such that each day you do this process you get a new dated Ingest folder.

http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php?title=User_Manual_Flat_View#Image_Variables
http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php?title=User_Manual_Flat_View#Copying_and_Moving_Photos

  • Open Lightroom and use "Move" to import the RAW photos from the "Ingest" folder
  • Put SD card back in camera and format it

What I like about this workflow is that I'm not importing a bunch of photos into LR that I will never process or use. I only bring in the selects—which are the photos that I am either certain that I want to process, or may process.

Sounds like an effective workflow for sure.

-Kirk

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2016, 10:08:34 AM »
Thanks, Kirk.

Using the "Move" option with Lightroom import removes the photos from the Ingest folder and puts them into my LR folder hierarchy that I've set up. So that works well... they end up in the right place, and I don't need to delete them.

Offline JAS Photo

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2016, 10:37:18 AM »
Here is my work flow - I think it's better for a couple reasons - I'll try to explain on the way.

1. Ingest using PM to 2 hard drives - I don't like letting PC's write to card - used to be an issue.
2. Cull using numbers (1-8 - 8 being delete) on HD 1 - HD2 untouched
3. Delete 8's from HD 1
4. Ad caption info to PICKS only using PM
5. Upload picks & seconds to Online site
6. Drag Picks into Light Room - I try not to clog LR catalogue with seconds - LR is too slow for that!

I keep all the images on HD 2 for a month or more then delete it as I need space - more than once I've accidently deleted an image of voicw file that I had to recover - I've been asked for images that I didn't think were good but it was what was wanted!!! they were still on my backup drive.
Joe Sorrentino
JAS Photo LLC
http://www.JASPhoto.com

Offline Mike Miller

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2016, 11:13:32 AM »
Wonderful. Thanks for the advice. I'm glad to know such a workflow is possible.

I have what I know is a real beginner question. I've looked around in the manual and online, but I can't figure out the answer.

So, here it is. When I insert my card and turn on PM I'm only given the choice to ingest - which in my very limited experience copies all of the pictures on the card to my hard drive. Thanks to the information above I know I can just browse the pictures on the card without ingesting, but I don't see how to make that happen. What do I do?

Many thanks.

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: How do I do this workflow with PM?
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2016, 11:22:17 AM »
Wonderful. Thanks for the advice. I'm glad to know such a workflow is possible.

I have what I know is a real beginner question. I've looked around in the manual and online, but I can't figure out the answer.

So, here it is. When I insert my card and turn on PM I'm only given the choice to ingest - which in my very limited experience copies all of the pictures on the card to my hard drive. Thanks to the information above I know I can just browse the pictures on the card without ingesting, but I don't see how to make that happen. What do I do?

From the manual:

On mount of Camera Disk: This is what action you would like to happen when Photo Mechanic senses that a card has been placed in a card reader. The logical choice here is the second one, ‘Show Ingest Dialog’, but you can also ignore it or cause the card to be browsed as a set of Contact Sheets.

http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php?title=User_Manual_Flat_View#General_Preferences

HTH,

-Kirk