Adobe Lightroom 3 Files and Some Ideas on How to Manage Them
I wanted to cover some options for configuring Lightroom 3 for optimum and safe use. Lightroom 3 is a flexible program and as a result there is not a ‘right’ way of configuring it, but there are many less than ideal ways of setting it up. This article is meant to give you some information to help you make the decisions that will allow you to configure Lightroom 3 for your needs. Fortunately, Lightroom 3 is easy to reconfigure as you change and grow, so don’t panic if you have already setup and feel you need to change.
The Basics
For starters, Lightroom 3 (LR3) is different than most other photo editing tool you have probably used. If you are using LR3 at this point you already probably know this, but just so we are all on the same page, I am going to go over it. LR3 is not a photo editing tool were you open a photo, edit and change the photo and then save the new version. LR3 has a much different approach, instead it uses your base image (often a RAW Format Image) as a digital negative, LR3 does not actually change your original image/file that comes out of the camera. Instead it tracks the changes you make in the editing process in a database (LR3’s catalog) and overlays those changes on a preview copy of the image in real time. As you are editing, LR3 saves your edits to the catalog and your original image is untouched. When you want to export, print, or output the image LR3 processes the image combining the original image and the edits. This has many advantages over traditional tools like Photoshop, but it does require the photographer to pay attention to some new files that LR3 uses that will become as critical to your workflow as the images themselves.
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