One of the reasons I like Lightroom Classic CC so much is its power of organization. Between the folders, collections, keywords and star ratings, it is very easy to create a catalog that is simple to navigate. Most images can be found in a matter of seconds if you organize them correctly. Part of the secret of the organization is using collections effectively.

It’s important to know the distinctions between the different aspects of Lightroom, which include the catalog, your files, and your collections.

The Catalog
The catalog comprises of all of the images you have imported into Lightroom and their adjustments. Lightroom doesn’t actually import the images, just the information related to the location of the original image and the adjustments. The images and the adjustments are separate until you export that image out of Lightroom either as a DNG or RAW file. When you export as a DNG, the image can be reopened in Photoshop or Lightroom with all of the adjustment information intact. If you export as a Tiff or JPG, that image information is not stored with the image, only in the original Lightroom file.

Folders
Folders consist of the files that you have imported into Lightroom. I use folders as the primary organizational tool in my workflow. It is an exact copy of the files from your hard drive, but it only shows the files that you have told Lightroom to recognize. If you decide you want to move a file that has been imported into Lightroom, it’s best to do it from within the Lightroom program. That way Lightroom won’t get confused and give you an error message that a file is missing. If you do move a file outside of Lightroom, it’s best to go back and right click on the Lightroom image, then navigate to the file to tell Lightroom where it is located. As you can see from the image below, the folders can be set up to reflect the number of images in your folders and exactly where they are located.

Collections
Collections in Lightroom consist of a group of images that you want to keep as a set, like virtual folders. Collections work best when you want a group of images that are located in multiple folders. It basically holds the image information so that you can create a book, or have a set of similar images in one location. You can create subsets of collections as well.

Here are a couple of ways that I use collections.
If I have just returned from a trip and I want a quick way to navigate to those new images, I will create a collection. If a collection is removed from Lightroom, it doesn’t remove the images from the catalog, it just removes the collection or just that set. It’s a good idea to remove the set once you are done working with the images and leave space for new collections.

Collections are most helpful when working on a project that involves photos from multiple folders.

Of course, it is worth keeping in mind that collections only exist within Lightroom, and the metadata for your actual photos won’t reflect membership in collections. If you were to lose your Lightroom catalog, you would lose all the collection information. Other standard metadata (such as keywords and star ratings) can be saved out to the actual photos, beyond the Lightroom catalog. That’s why it’s important to use other metadata fields (such as the Keywords and star ratings) to record information related to the use of collections. That way you will have multiple ways to pull up the collection or set of images.

If you want more information about my Lightroom Quickstart class, please head on over to the class page here.

Holly Higbee-Jansen is photographer, trainer, blogger, and workshop leader who enjoys teaching and the creative process. Her passions include teaching photography workshops in beautiful locations in California, Iceland, Costa Rica and the American West with her husband Mark. Holly also teaches online classes on Lightroom, Photoshop, and photographic technique. Get Holly’s Free E-Book on “Landscape Photography and the Light“ and find out about her newest workshops at Jansen Photo Expeditions.com.

Reach Holly by email at hhjphoto@gmail.com and read her blog at JansenPhotoExpeditions.com/Blog

Holly Teaches:

iPhone Photography

In this class, we will introduce you to the magic of iPhone photography using several shooting and editing apps that will give you the ability to make your pictures sing in a fun and easy way.You will learn how to crop, change saturation, brightness and affect the overall look of your pictures with HDR, drama and grunge filters and other techniques. You will be amazed at the simple and effective methods.

Lightroom Quickstart

Do you want to learn to create images that show the beauty of the scene you saw when you took the photograph? Do you want to learn the other essential side of digital photography, photo editing and get up to speed quickly?

This course is designed to get you up and running FAST in this incredibly powerful program. In this two week information packed class, you will learn how to import, organize and perform simple and effective editing processes that will let you produce beautiful adjustments to your pictures.

For a complete list of Holly’s current workshops go to:

Jansen Photo Expeditions – JansenPhotoExpeditions.com

Holly’s Blog: http://jansenphotoexpeditions.com/blog

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Jansenphotoexpeditions

Instagram – http://instagram.com/photographyexplorations

This is such a simple concept, and yet it’s so often overlooked by many photographers.

I’ve been re-reading Jay Maisel’s “It’s Not About the F-Stop”.  Among so many jewels of wisdom contained there, this one stood out: “Wait for the Trigger”.   How often do we encounter a lovely scene, point our camera at it and press the shutter?  How often is the result a lovely well-composed background without anything significant going on?  I see this often in my classes and workshops, particularly so in travel images.  How may pictures of the Eiffel Tower have you seen that look remarkably alike?

The question to ask yourself is, “Why this image – why right now?”  What makes it unique?  What makes it “my image”?  Jay’s point is that every image needs a “trigger”, a reason to make that image at that exact moment.  Without it he points out, “your picture can become wallpaper”.

The image below is from the Jardin de Marqueyssac, above the Dordogne River in Southern France.   The first is the postcard shot, virtually identical to many you will find on postcard stands throughout the region.  I wasn’t happy with this rendition; it needed something more, something to make it unique.  Fortunately, it had been raining earlier in the afternoon and a little patience soon paid off when a few minutes later a lady walked into my frame holding a red umbrella.  That was the trigger.  Click… got it!

Another trip, a different time.  From the top of the Campanile in Venice’s Piazza San Marco, I was taken by the pattern of tables below at one of the restaurants in the Piazza.  While the pattern was interesting, it also needed something to provide the trigger.  At that time of day, the restaurant was just setting up for the evening rush and not much was going on other than a few waiters milling around the tables.  I watched this for a while shooting the odd exposure with different combinations of waiters and other people.  Nothing was really working, until all but one waiter left the scene leaving the remaining fellow to strike a pose.  That was the trigger.  Click… got it!  Time for dinner.

In Iceland, Skógafoss is a popular stop along the southern ring road.  Here again some patience is all that was needed to allow most of the tourists to clear from my field of view, leaving a lone figure in red to provide the trigger, along with scale, visual interest and balance to the composition.  It’s also a nice counter point to the cool greens and bluish tones that dominate the rest of the image.

Sunrise on Kauai.  I watched this group of people at the top of the cliff as the sun rose over the horizon.  Amidst all the selfies over the next 10 minutes nothing stood out visually. Nothing provided the trigger… until one brave fellow ventured near the edge of the cliff.

The trigger isn’t always related to a specific moment (let alone, to the presence of a human figure).  I love the patterns on Hosta leaves, and we have several growing in containers on our patio.  As lovely as they are, after a while you begin looking for something different, something unique to difference your next image from all the others.  The lone water droplet clinging to this leaf was the trigger, breaking the symmetry of the pattern on this leaf and providing a unique centre of interest.

Jay’s idea of “waiting for the trigger” is really a variation of Sam Abell’s idea of finding an interesting background and waiting for something interesting to happen in front of it.  (yes, I know –  I’m a terrible name-dropper!) This often requires patience, but just as often requires thinking about what needs to happen in your image to create the trigger and make the image uniquely your own.

-BPSOP Instructor – Mark English

Mark Teaches:

After the Click: Refining Your Vision in Lightroom & Camera Raw

The Art of Printing & Selling Your Art

This post is one in a series on how to create a compelling series of images that convey a sense of place and tell a story.

CASE STUDY: A SEASIDE LUNCH

Next time you’re taking photos, include detail shots to flesh out your story. Details shots, when added together with photos of people, help show the mood of your scene.

Have a look at the images in this case study:

• Sign through flowers showing the location (Coffee on the Rocks)
• Looking outside to the Open sign
• Interior shot showing nautical decor
• Handwritten lunch menu on chalkboard

Do you see how each image tells part of the story? Each of these images is a single idea. By combining several images together, a story can be created.

TIPS TO GREAT DETAIL SHOTS:

1. Vary the camera angle in each shot. Shoot up, down, out, across, or through a subject.
2. Frame your subject tightly to omit clutter. Reveal part of the subject.

SIGN UP NOW FOR BRIT’S CLASSES 

Amazing Travel Photos Made Easy

Celebrate Your Life in Beautiful Images Part 1

Celebrate Your Life in Beautiful Images Part 2

Photography Essentials

No post processing skills necessary for any of Brit’s courses.

You can also work with Brit privately

Mentoring: Schedule a live session with Brit via Skype

Get a private image video review: Private Video Image Reviews

Find out about all of Brit’s courses, including Photographing Fine Art & Craft

There are many ways to approach an iconic location when shooting landscape photography. You could just shoot it the way 1,000’s of other photographers have, or come up with your own creative ideas.

It helps to a plan when going to a location, and have a concept of how you want to shoot it.

Recently, I returned to an iconic Iceland location. It is a long drive to reach this place and you really only get a short time to get the image you want. Many factors come in to play in Iceland, and most of it is because of the weather. It can be very windy and cold. It’s not the type of weather you would like to stand out in for hours to get the perfect shot.

Because I had been there before, I knew the layout of the land, and this time, I had a specific idea. I wanted a reflection on the beach with a leading line of the water. I was looking at my past images of this location, and I thought that there was something missing in those images. I felt my pre-visualization might help me capture a better image. 

The pre-visualization of an image will only work if you have all the elements you need. Composition, exposure, and the weather all need to be in your favor. But, instead of wandering around looking for a concept, you already have one. Sometimes, when you are in an iconic place such as this, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and revert back to an image that you might have seen before. But why do that? You are doing photography to create something unique and creative, something that will have your own stamp on it.

With this image, I really thought about how I wanted to photograph this iconic location. I wanted the leading line of the waves but didn’t really think through how that was going to work. It was quite cold and windy and my first thought was to go back to the car and get warm. But that wouldn’t have helped me with my goal.

Be prepared for the unexpected. 

Was the wind going to be blowing 30mph? Was the water going to come up and leave my feet in my “waterproof boots” completely drenched? Were there going to be people walking in the foreground of my shot? None of this had come to mind when I decided this is the shot that I wanted, but I was still able to come up with an image I really love.

Here’s another image that I had a pre-conceived plan. It’s a little bit of a walk to get to this location and it was later in the day than I would have liked, but it’s still a beautiful location. As I was setting up for the shot, I see two riders on horseback come walking down the beach. How perfect! 

Part of the pre-visualization of an image also has to do with how you will adjust the image in post-processing. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier article, every image will need some post processing as the camera does not see the color and light the way your eyes do. Even when you are shooting with a high megapixel camera that’s not possible. The high megapixel camera, will, however, give you a wider dynamic range to work with later in Lightroom.

If you want more information about my Lightroom Quickstart class, please head on over to the class page here.

Holly Higbee-Jansen is photographer, trainer, blogger, and workshop leader who enjoys teaching and the creative process. Her passions include teaching photography workshops in beautiful locations in California, Iceland, Costa Rica and the American West with her husband Mark. Holly also teaches online classes on Lightroom, Photoshop, and photographic technique. Get Holly’s Free E-Book on “Landscape Photography and the Light“ and find out about her newest workshops at Jansen Photo Expeditions.com.

Reach Holly by email at hhjphoto@gmail.com and read her blog at JansenPhotoExpeditions.com/Blog

Holly Teaches:

iPhone Photography

In this class, we will introduce you to the magic of iPhone photography using several shooting and editing apps that will give you the ability to make your pictures sing in a fun and easy way.You will learn how to crop, change saturation, brightness and affect the overall look of your pictures with HDR, drama and grunge filters and other techniques. You will be amazed at the simple and effective methods.

Lightroom Quickstart

Do you want to learn to create images that show the beauty of the scene you saw when you took the photograph? Do you want to learn the other essential side of digital photography, photo editing and get up to speed quickly?

This course is designed to get you up and running FAST in this incredibly powerful program. In this two week information packed class, you will learn how to import, organize and perform simple and effective editing processes that will let you produce beautiful adjustments to your pictures.

For a complete list of Holly’s current workshops go to:

Jansen Photo Expeditions – JansenPhotoExpeditions.com

Holly’s Blog: http://jansenphotoexpeditions.com/blog

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Jansenphotoexpeditions

Instagram – http://instagram.com/photographyexplorations