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Refine Photos
Workflow is a personal thing. There is no right or wrong workflow. Oh yes, there are more efficient and less efficient workflows. But if a more efficient workflow just doesn't fit the way you approach your art, well then, it won't be so efficient! Therein lies one of Lightroom's real strengths. It is very flexible and can accommodate nearly all workflow styles.
One of the commands that can aid you when processing your images is Refine Photos... It's also one of those commands that gets very little press. Here's how it works. After you import your images go through them and mark your initial keepers with a pick flag (easily done by pressing the P key). When you are done go up to the Library menu and choose Refine Photos...
Once you do you will be presented with the following dialog:
Click the refine button and all your unmarked images will be marked with a Reject flag and your previously picked images will be unmarked. Now you face a choice depending on your preference. You can either move the rejected images to another folder for safekeeping or you can simply remove them from the catalog. If you decide to remove them use the keyboard shortcut Command-Delete on a Mac (Control-Backspace on PC). Or you can choose the command from the Photo menu.
Either way you'll get a version of this dialog:
If you're like me you'll choose the Remove button. I rarely completely remove images. Who knows? Someday I may be able to create a masterpiece from that previously rejected image. Maybe Lightroom 12.2 will have a cool holographic brush! We'll see!
Now repeat the process until you've refined your images down to your absolute keepers.
This workflow may be just what you are looking for or it may be the worst thing you've ever seen. Give it a try on a test catalog and see if it fits. JUST BE CAREFUL. Doing this in your All Photographs view can be dangerous if you aren't paying attention.
Let us know what workflow tips work for you!
Interesting for sure. I'd probably be more inclined to use it if the effects were more customizable. I don't use the "pick" flag until after a client has made final selections for prints, so all of my images aside from the rejects remain un-flagged. That could be a disaster in the making with the default settings.
I'd love to be able to tweak the actions taken by the refine images command though. It could be a time saver if customized.
Cool idea. Since I ALWAYS delete my images after I pick at once. (gotta be efficient to make money)
Think Im gonna try using this on my next batch no. But I really see no downside on it compared to what I do with ratings now.
I do things slightly differently which is why I don't use the Refine command - I find it too severe and I don't like to get rid of images from my catalog unless they are really bad.
This is what I do. If I have just returned from holiday, for instance, then I keyword the images appropriately (e.g. Place>Holidays>Events) and then use Smart folders to track my picks, non-picks and rejects.
So as I go through my images I reject those images which are bad and certainly deserve no further attention from me, then go through the list again picking just the images that I like.
I prefer this method for 2 reasons: i) it allows me to change my mind later; ii) I use the option of not picking (i.e. unflagged) as a 'maybe' flag... which allows me to change my mind later ;-) In fact, for my workflow, I would like LR to have a 3rd flag called "maybe" or "save for later", as it's better to be proactive in making decisions, even if its "save for later", than being passive about it and, effectively, not making a decision at all.
Cheers
Antonio
Thanks for pointing this out! I like being flexible by marking my photos with different colored labels, but in the end I tend to remove galleries and re-import my final choices. This looks like it could save a bit of work there.
I usually do the refine photos thing inside a collection instead of a folder. This prevents accidental deletion of images and it automatically creates a refined collection.
Really a good hint; thanx.
After importing my new photos, I always reject the bad ones, to delete them in the second step.
I guess, I never gonna look at those rejected photos anyway.
If there's really a need to get a rejected (and already deleted) photo back, I have a backup, that's always been made after copying the photos on the HD and before importing into Lightroom.
With this refining I'm gonna save a bit more time.
\Kooky