So, I am going through these photos today, and I figure there HAS to be a faster way. Of course, I am using lightroom 1.1 (it really does go much faster on the mac ... though, if I take a 3 minute break, it takes a good 20 seconds to come up to speed when I press anything again)

So, here is my workflow specifically in lightroom, I'd love to know what you do:

(caps lock is down)
#1: Go through all the images and star them 1-5 (this usually takes the longest amount of time)
#2: Look at only 3 star & above, look at one specific camera only (using multiple cameras and we're usually, execpt for the ceremony, in completely different places - such as outdoors & indoors.)
#3: Batch edit as much as possible per location etc
#4: Look at other camera's images, again batch edit as much as possible
#5: One quick last look through in the library, roughly 4-8 images in a screen, so somewhat close. Make any minor adjustments if any are needed.
#6: Arrange by capture time again, both camreas: Export in 3 rounds of pre-ceremony, ceremony, post-ceremony

So, what is your workflow? Is there a faster way for me to get through giving them ratings? Before I used caps lock, I was starring and marking them a color - yellow = needs lots of fill, green = needs some fill, blue = slightly overexposed, needs some recovery. Now with caps lock, I can't seem to quickly both give a star rating & a color. So, I am sticking with star rating and then batch editing by location & camera.

I'd love to hear a faster way if you know of one.

Thanks!!!

how long would you say going from 2000 images to 700 and editing those 700 would take you?

To star through the 2000, takes me 2-3 hours. To edit 700, eh, 30-45 minutes max (I can edit rather quickly. I use mostly presets that I have made and then just tweak any presets that didn't quite work - I also batch as much as possible / auto sync the same location/camera). So, around 4 hours, roughly. If I have to edit each one of the 700 individually, it goes up a bit ... more like 5 hours then.

Thanks Matt!

P.S. Maybe there is a way to tell lightroom to automatically apply x preset to y label? That would definitely speed things up.

I don't sort or star at all. Merge all cameras images in bridge, sort by catpure date, visually sort a bit to keep obvious sets together, batch re-name in one sequential order serries so they stay sorted...

1. Delete Lightroom Database.
Yup. You heard it. I delete the database after every develop session and when opening LR, it'll prompt to recreate it. I found this majorly sped things up. Even if I'd delete all the images from a DB, but leave the file, it seemed to get framented or something - it was like LR was always trying to do something in the background. Delete it every time = problem solved. Much faster now.

2. Import into Lightroom with large previews.

3. For longer sets (+1000 images) I break them into categories then goto develop on each - makes the slider at the bottom less twichy that way.

4. Go straight to Develop and tab through every image.


I do a tweak on every single image. Copy and paste down the line for like sets, then still go to each one and tweak if needed.

When I see a reject, I "x" it and keep going. That's the only sorting - "keep" or "reject".

Once I hit the end of the line, I delete (not remove but actually delete) all the rejects, then batch process out the jpegs. Go export XMP sidecar files, then drag the raw directory (with the CR2's and XMP's) and the Export directory (with my fresh set of Jpegs) to 2 backup drives, then delete the Raw folder.

5. Open Jpeg folder in Bridge and design the album along with InDesign - I open favorites I'm going to use in the album in Photoshop along the way for the super artsy stuff.


It takes about 5 or 6 hours total sitting here to go from starting the tweaks to exporting the jpegs. Sometimes as long as 8 with larger sets if I'm really picky. That was also on the MBP though - LR is MUCH faster on the Mac Pro now - I expect it'll cut the time way down as it'll be much more responsive when making all the individual tweaks.

Hmmmm, maybe not auto but can't you just view 'y' label and then apply 'x' to all?

Mine goes by pretty quickly.

#1 - Quick pass to reject all obvious bad images, pick ones that pop out as being really good.
#2 - 'Develop' picked images and export for blog

-- usually at this point I go to bed and finish up later

#3 - filter by picked/unflagged, using the grid view find groups of similar shots (family, etc.) and reject the ones i don't want.

Depending on the client / package...

#3a - go through and 'quick develop' all images
#3b - go through and hand develop all images
#4 - move rejected images to a deleted folder
#5 - order picked/unflagged images by date, rename
#6 - export for CD + online proofing