What New Year resolutions do you have for “Lucky 2013?” One of my annual traditions is to clean out old files and get organized for the new year. Since I travel so much, my photo files have been fattening up and I’ve been procrastinating in sharing them since it feels so overwhelming to sort through.
One of the challenges I’ve always faced with photos is finding just the right picture for a post or a tweet. For instance, during one of the Twitter chats I regularly participate in such as #NUTS or #TTOT, someone might ask, “What’s the most beautiful sunset you’ve ever experienced?” Well, I have hundreds of sunset photos from different trips over the span of a couple of years, how could I possibly find “the one” in a matter of seconds? Last year, I thought I was clever in creating a set of desktop files for these types of photos and copying them to separate folders so that I could easily find them. But that just junked up my storage as I then had two copies of each photo and it also took a lot of time since it was manually done.
Enter Lightroom 4 and their “Smart Collections” feature …
Painting photos with the keyword “plane map”
Over the holidays, I’ve been having a ball learning the ins and outs this photo program, but this feature was a real epiphany. When I first tried it out, it was as if a lightbulb went on above my head and I heard angels singing hallelujah. (Of course, it was during the holidays so that could have been an entirely real experience with my iPod shuffling through Christmas music.)
Anyway, the “Smart Collections” feature allows me to create themed folders within Lightroom based on keywords I tag to the photos such as “sunsets, beaches, food, etc.” In the photo above, I was using the “paint can” to tag photos with the keyword “plane maps” so that I could pull all the map shots I took on the plane during my around-the-world trip. This would otherwise be a daunting task to sort though the 22+ folders and 5,000+ photos to find just those pictures.
Using Lightroom’s editing tools to adjust the color and gradient.
In addition to all the great organizational features, there’s also the bonus of easy-to-use editing tools that allow me to tweak the colors and gradient of photos to make them jaw-droppingly perfect as well as a cool stacking feature which allows me to ‘stack’ photos that are similar so that my photo thumbnails are easy to sort through making editing less overwhelming.
The only downside to the program is actually a positive thing — there are so many useful tools that you do have to invest a little time in learning them. I took a class at a local art school, but getting up and running is a piece of cake and there are so many online tutorials that you can learn new features at your own pace.
In fact, creativeLIVE is hosting a free online workshop for Lightroom later this month. Adobe also has a great library of videos, including one specifically for travel photography.
Want to get your own copy of Lightroom 4 to organize your photos for 2013? One lucky commenter below will be randomly selected 1-13-13. Just answer the following question in your comment:
What’s your new year’s photography resolution?
**Disclosure: Adobe sent me a free copy of Lightroom 4 to review, but all thoughts and observations are my own.
About TravelBlggr
Oh, nice giveaway! My photography resolution this year is definitely organization – both online (with my Flickr pro account) and the *thousands* on my hard drive. Eek! This will take awhile but I really must start somewhere.
My resolution is to get my wedding photos organized. Back then, I guess digital wasn’t as big, so I have tons of negatives (yes, I said negatives) and I want to get them digitized, online and shareable. I’ve checked Scancafe.com, photoscan.com and more….any suggestions? The funny thing, I was married 2003, not too long ago! I’d love to win this organizer! Cute article and very very very relatable!
To learn to use my new GoPro Hero3 camera.
To take less photos that deserve to be deleted! I only keep good photos but somehow I still keep taking lesser ones too… My goal is to previsualize better and figure out more often before taking a shot that it wont come out. They’ll be fewer photos so sift through like that
My 2013 photography resolution is to schedule photo organization, editing and tagging as a priority with equal importance as writing and financial documentation. Lightroom 4 sounds like a great tool to help accomplish my goal.
One of my resolutions is to actually spend more time editing on a real computer! I’ve been doing a lot of editing on my iphone with apps like Snapsneed, but they are only so effective. I’d like to up the ante a bit on the quality.
My resolution is to find a program or system that makes it easy for my clients to organize their photos themselves. (This will DEFINITELY be under my review!) Something easy for many levels of expertise.
Mine is to become a better storyteller. I want people to experience the story behind the photograph.
Lightroom hits the nail on the head of my resolution! I’ve got to get 2,500 pics on my phone organized before I upgrade soon, as well as more than that from my camera stored on a hard drive. I tried the folder thing too, but there’s no cross search. Sounds like Lightroom can address that and more!
Beverly,
Congrats! Your name was randomly picked using Random.org. Please send me your mailing address via our contact form and we’ll get the Lightroom 4 program to you!
Well dang! I missed the comp. I currently use Lightroom 3. My photo files are a disaster!
Long story but I messed up my catalogues last year and am still trying to dig my way out.
Thanks for making me feel better!