RAW Workflow Nuances: Folder Structure for PM --> LR

[Kyle]

For the past few weeks I've been attempting to nail down an efficient workflow that has me ingesting, editing, captioning, and rating photos in Photo Mechanic then importing the photos into my Lightroom catalog. I have it pretty much locked in except for one facet: Converting to DNG. I'm aware that it is possible to convert your Raw files to DNG after they have been imported into Lightroom, however, this does add an extra (rather lengthy) step in the workflow that I'd like to avoid. When converting to DNG at Lightroom's Import stage, images must be copied to a new folder location, which is where I run into my speed bump.

Current folder hierarchy: _Photos > 2010 > YYYYMMDD_ShootName > ORG/DNG/JPG/TIFF

Current folder system workflow: PM (Create new folders [YYYYMMDD_ShootName > ORG / DNG] and import NEF's into the ORG sub-folder) ---> LR (Import Dialog: Copy as DNG, put DNG's into the [YYYYMMDD_ShootName>DNG] folder.) ---> Finder (Delete ORG folder and NEF's from [YYYYMMDD_ShootName] folder.

It's the last step, deleting the ORG folder and files that gets me. If I forget, I end up with tons of wasted hard drive space not to mention the extra workflow step.

If any of you workflow gurus have any ideas I'm ready.

[Kirk Baker]

For the past few weeks I've been attempting to nail down an efficient workflow that has me ingesting, editing, captioning, and rating photos in Photo Mechanic then importing the photos into my Lightroom catalog. I have it pretty much locked in except for one facet: Converting to DNG. I'm aware that it is possible to convert your Raw files to DNG after they have been imported into Lightroom, however, this does add an extra (rather lengthy) step in the workflow that I'd like to avoid. When converting to DNG at Lightroom's Import stage, images must be copied to a new folder location, which is where I run into my speed bump.

Current folder hierarchy: _Photos > 2010 > YYYYMMDD_ShootName > ORG/DNG/JPG/TIFF

Current folder system workflow: PM (Create new folders [YYYYMMDD_ShootName > ORG / DNG] and import NEF's into the ORG sub-folder) ---> LR (Import Dialog: Copy as DNG, put DNG's into the [YYYYMMDD_ShootName>DNG] folder.) ---> Finder (Delete ORG folder and NEF's from [YYYYMMDD_ShootName] folder.

It's the last step, deleting the ORG folder and files that gets me. If I forget, I end up with tons of wasted hard drive space not to mention the extra workflow step.

If any of you workflow gurus have any ideas I'm ready.

Is there a reason you can't use the same folder for both sets of images?  If you could, then when you browse with PM, you'd see your NEFs and DNGs sitting side-by-side and you'd instantly realize that the NEFs needed to be deleted.  You could then create a custom sort (by {type}) which would group the two file types together.  Click on the first NEF.  Scroll to the last NEF.  Hold down the Shift key and click on the last NEF.  Delete.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Kyle]

Thanks. Interesting approach... Could work.

Anyone else?