Capture One Sessions Question

[Joe94]

Evening all,

After spending the last few weeks getting to grips with C1 (using a test session), I am no ready to actually link my actual images/raw files into it.

Now my plan was to use a sessions workflow (get me away from catalog which was one thing I wasn’t a fan of in LrC) where by I would create a different sessions for each type of photography under a year dated master folder, as being a weekend hobbiest I would end up with large scales of images in the grand scheme of things.

So I would have 2021 (master folder) > then sessions being the sub folders, for example one would be called ‘Garden Birds’, another ‘Garden Macro’ and so on.. However today it occurred to me that one thing I may face, is I could end up with loads of images/files by the end of the year in say the ‘Garden Bird’ folder (session), but with no sub structure like months... so it got me thinking should I actually be using a catalog workflow even though I’m not large scale, but this time round (unlike I didn’t with Lr which is where I think I got frustrated), just import the files using my already made filling structure - Year -> type of photography -> month and not letting C1 make the structure....

Or is there a way to sub categories sessions, could using Albums or Smart Albums be a good way to organising files within. a session?

As I say I would prefer to use sessions if possible but just wanted to see if anyone else is doing as I want to and if my ideas are feasible?

Many Thanks

 

[ChrisR]

@Joe94 , I'm converting from Aperture to C1Pro, but using catalogues rather than sessions, so I've no input into that part.

With a catalogue, the Folders part of the Library panel is an exact match of my Mac disk structure wrt imported files. So that part's probably what you want.

However, there's no way AFAICS (and confirmed in the most recent webinar I watched) that the User Collections part of the panel will automatically mirror the file structure. The webinar narrator said he thought it was a good idea as an option, and had suggested it to the devs. But no promises, obvs.

Also, you can't use Smart Albums in the Folders part.

I did imports from Aperture, and the User Collections part created as a result is a reasonable match for my Aperture structure (which in turn is a good match to the Mac folder structure). I'd guess the same would happen if you did an import from LR, but that IS just guessing, and may not be what you want anyway. However, subsequent imports of new batches of images (actually film scans, so quite small) did not match that structure. I'm finding it difficult to devise a User Collections structure and corresponding import strategy that works for me. I'm thinking of using Smart Albums based partly on keywords, but the past corpus is probably incompletely and rather randomly keyworded!

Importing is so far the biggest PITA with C1Pro. Can't even connect my digi camera and import from there when I have some digi photos (if you have Nikon, you might be able to, see my Aperture -> C1Pro thread in here).

 

[Joe94]

@Joe94 , I'm converting from Aperture to C1Pro, but using catalogues rather than sessions, so I've no input into that part.

With a catalogue, the Folders part of the Library panel is an exact match of my Mac disk structure wrt imported files. So that part's probably what you want.

However, there's no way AFAICS (and confirmed in the most recent webinar I watched) that the User Collections part of the panel will automatically mirror the file structure. The webinar narrator said he thought it was a good idea as an option, and had suggested it to the devs. But no promises, obvs.

Also, you can't use Smart Albums in the Folders part.

I did imports from Aperture, and the User Collections part created as a result is a reasonable match for my Aperture structure (which in turn is a good match to the Mac folder structure). I'd guess the same would happen if you did an import from LR, but that IS just guessing, and may not be what you want anyway. However, subsequent imports of new batches of images (actually film scans, so quite small) did not match that structure. I'm finding it difficult to devise a User Collections structure and corresponding import strategy that works for me. I'm thinking of using Smart Albums based partly on keywords, but the past corpus is probably incompletely and rather randomly keyworded!

Importing is so far the biggest PITA with C1Pro. Can't even connect my digi camera and import from there when I have some digi photos (if you have Nikon, you might be able to, see my Aperture -> C1Pro thread in here).

Hello, thank you very much for this, very helpful & gives me lot to think about

When I was using Lr, I was totally new to photography & PP so I just alllwed Lr to import my images and set up its own filing structure, which ended up being year > month > date, which became messy for me, now I know I didn’t give learning how catalogs work enough time & to understand how you can have fully control over structure even with a catalog workflow, I ditched Adobe because of that but also many other things.

So now I think I need to start fresh now I have decided on C1 and maybe just try both workflows with my images (luckily not loads), and yeah just see what ultimately ends up working for the best.

Thanks again, very much appreciated

 

[myotis]

So I would have 2021 (master folder) > then sessions being the sub folders, for example one would be called ‘Garden Birds’, another ‘Garden Macro’ and so on.. However today it occurred to me that one thing I may face, is I could end up with loads of images/files by the end of the year in say the ‘Garden Bird’ folder (session), but with no sub structure like months...

If you go into the library tab, and scroll down to filters. You will find filters for dates (including months). So while in your "Garden Birds" session, you can see how many images are in each month and click on one or more months to display the thumbnails for that month or months. You could of course also set up smart folders, but most of what you want is probably already there as filters.

The Filters tool

The Library tool tab has the Filters tool that is useful for global image searches or grouping images. There is a number of ways to use different filters. Filter by Star rating and/or Color tag E...

support.captureone.com

 

[Joe94]

If you go into the library tab, and scroll down to filters. You will find filters for dates (including months). So while in your "Garden Birds" session, you can see how many images are in each month and click on one or more months to display the thumbnails for that month or months. You could of course also set up smart folders, but most of what you want is probably already there as filters.

The Filters tool

The Library tool tab has the Filters tool that is useful for global image searches or grouping images. There is a number of ways to use different filters. Filter by Star rating and/or Color tag E...

support.captureone.com

Hello, thank you so much for this! I didn’t realise the use of filters and what you describe seems like it really could fit what I’m after!

So with this in mind then, would it you say if you don’t mind, that my idea for using Sessions in this way, treating sessions as a folder for type of photography, then using filters ect.. sounds like A feasible workflow? And would work just as good as a catalog workflow but would would enable me to use the benifits and simplicity of sessions?

See I just wasn’t sure if people used sessions in this way aha

 

[myotis]

So with this in mind then, would it you say if you don’t mind, that my idea for using Sessions in this way, treating sessions as a folder for type of photography, then using filters ect.. sounds like A feasible workflow? And would work just as good as a catalog workflow but would would enable me to use the benifits and simplicity of sessions?

Within a session you have most of the C1 catalogue search and sort tools, but whether sessions are a good idea depends on how you want to work.

I think they are ideal for photographers who only work in discrete projects e.g. wedding photography where you create and name a session for each wedding e.g "1992 March, Williamson and Livingstone, St Johns Edinburgh". I came across someone recently who only took photographs on his holidays and he set up a folder for each holiday. He didn't use C1, but if you already have a system based on discrete folders, then using sessions with C1 makes sense as the session adds useful tools and refinement to a folder per project system.

The problem comes when you want to find something from across sessions. If you use your Garden Bird session as an example, If you want to find every photograph of every goldfinch on dandelions you have ever taken in your garden, how do you find them. or every photograph of Aunt Mary you have ever taken, how do you find them.

This is where. catalogue makes sense, but only if you take the time to fill in metadata for every photograph as this is usually needed to do any kind of search. All my bird photographs have the common and scientific name added in the metadata for searching. If you aren't going to add this sort of metadata, this advantage of a catalogue largely disappears. You can still search on metadata of course e.g lens focal length, iso etc, which can be useful, and I think LR (but not C1) has face detect so you could probably train it to ID Aunt Mary and tell it to search for similar.

But if you are happy with a folder based approach (ie 2021_Garden Birds) then C1 sessions should work fine. as long as you remember to save all the relevant files into the "2021_GardenBirds/Capture folder".

There are a couple of things to consider. You can import the Sessions into a C1 catalogue once they are no longer active. C1 doesn't sync catalogues with sessions so it’s a one time import, But it’s a useful way of archiving work, and if you bear this in mind as you work in a session, you can keyword important images as you go along making it easier to use the catalogue tools to search through old forgotten files, while still using Sessions for your active work.

You can also catalogue sessions. I use Neofinder for this as it allows you search on a path. Even though the raw images are in different session folders, they are all inside a session_name/capture folder and Neofinder can selectively catalogue the contents of every folder that has "capture" in its path. You can do the same with the other session folders.

This allow a Session workflow, but albeit with a need to run the Neofinder catalogue update, the ability to have a full search across all your sessions. It's pretty quick to update the catalogue, so its maybe another option for the future, if you discover finding things cross session difficult.

Finally, there is no reason why you can't combine a named folder approach with a catalogue. eg just import the named folders (full of files) into a catalogue.

But only you know how you work

 

[Joe94]

Within a session you have most of the C1 catalogue search and sort tools, but whether sessions are a good idea depends on how you want to work.

I think they are ideal for photographers who only work in discrete projects e.g. wedding photography where you create and name a session for each wedding e.g "1992 March, Williamson and Livingstone, St Johns Edinburgh". I came across someone recently who only took photographs on his holidays and he set up a folder for each holiday. He didn't use C1, but if you already have a system based on discrete folders, then using sessions with C1 makes sense as the session adds useful tools and refinement to a folder per project system.

The problem comes when you want to find something from across sessions. If you use your Garden Bird session as an example, If you want to find every photograph of every goldfinch on dandelions you have ever taken in your garden, how do you find them. or every photograph of Aunt Mary you have ever taken, how do you find them.

This is where. catalogue makes sense, but only if you take the time to fill in metadata for every photograph as this is usually needed to do any kind of search. All my bird photographs have the common and scientific name added in the metadata for searching. If you aren't going to add this sort of metadata, this advantage of a catalogue largely disappears. You can still search on metadata of course e.g lens focal length, iso etc, which can be useful, and I think LR (but not C1) has face detect so you could probably train it to ID Aunt Mary and tell it to search for similar.

But if you are happy with a folder based approach (ie 2021_Garden Birds) then C1 sessions should work fine. as long as you remember to save all the relevant files into the "2021_GardenBirds/Capture folder".

There are a couple of things to consider. You can import the Sessions into a C1 catalogue once they are no longer active. C1 doesn't sync catalogues with sessions so it’s a one time import, But it’s a useful way of archiving work, and if you bear this in mind as you work in a session, you can keyword important images as you go along making it easier to use the catalogue tools to search through old forgotten files, while still using Sessions for your active work.

You can also catalogue sessions. I use Neofinder for this as it allows you search on a path. Even though the raw images are in different session folders, they are all inside a session_name/capture folder and Neofinder can selectively catalogue the contents of every folder that has "capture" in its path. You can do the same with the other session folders.

This allow a Session workflow, but albeit with a need to run the Neofinder catalogue update, the ability to have a full search across all your sessions. It's pretty quick to update the catalogue, so its maybe another option for the future, if you discover finding things cross session difficult.

Finally, there is no reason why you can't combine a named folder approach with a catalogue. eg just import the named folders (full of files) into a catalogue.

But only you know how you work

Thank you very much for this, it really is all very helpful.

I think after considering your points and doing a bit more thinking yesterday, it seams in fact the easiest workflow for me, might actually be a catalog, however this time I need to make sure I take control over the folder structure first, then reference the catalog in C1 based on my pre made folder system: 2020 -> Garden Birds -> Month (Jan, Feb ect..) -> then the image. Then as you say, if I then decide to also use key wording or collection ect then I have this ability too.

Like you mention, I think Sessions could work, but as im finding you may face limitations as things grow, even though for me against many photographers the amount of images is not going to be huge, considering it only a weekend wildlife hobby, however that being said, the benefit of this would be my catalog would be lighter than many other. Also it seems session really are ideal for one of projects, but yeah can become confusing If you try and use them as essentially mini catalogs...

Trouble is along with many other performance/general things, that I didn't like with Lightroom classic; where I was new to it all I never really understood how catalogs really work and just imported my images straight from SD card & aloud LrC to create its own referenced structure which was essentially Year -> Month -> Date and so within 6 months even though I only had around 500 images, I ended up with soooo many folders some of which only had 1 or two images. So yeah this time in need to create the folder structure as before, then just tell C1 to reference that and not allow C1 the control.

Couple of things If I may to expand...

1) One thing LrC didn't like was if I moved a file outside of Lr, is this the same for C1 even if you create the workflow first? This is not a problem but if im going to use a catalog again it'll be good to know aha

2) Using a catalog with C1, would backing up be the same as LrC.. I had my raw files on an external drive, the catalog file on the internal drive (iMac), then have Lr create a copy of the catalog file on the external drive with the raw files and then I create fully copies/backup of that external drive with the raw files & catalog file onto 2 other external drives?

Many Thanks for all you help, very much appreciated

 

[myotis]

Couple of things If I may to expand...

1) One thing LrC didn't like was if I moved a file outside of Lr, is this the same for C1 even if you create the workflow first? This is not a problem but if im going to use a catalog again it'll be good to know aha

2) Using a catalog with C1, would backing up be the same as LrC.. I had my raw files on an external drive, the catalog file on the internal drive (iMac), then have Lr create a copy of the catalog file on the external drive with the raw files and then I create fully copies/backup of that external drive with the raw files & catalog file onto 2 other external drives?

I have never imported files from an SD card into LR or C1 catalogues. I used BreezeBrowser initially and then Photo Mechanic, but many people use Fast Raw Viewer to move files from the SD card into a file structure onto their hard drive. I add some keywords and metadata at this stage, just simple things like a single broad keyword like "animal" or "landscape".

Having said that, I use a Year Month Date format as you describe (along with XMP sidecar files for the metadata) and it doesn't really matter that a folder has a single file in it as I rarely view them like that in the catalogue.

In the catalogue, I nearly always view things through some kind of filter/smart folder e.g. all files with animal in the keywords or all files from December 2020. Or all files from December 2020 that also has the "animal" keyword. Metadata is all stored in the XMP sidecar files so regardless of program I can edit metadata from anywhere e.g. LR, C1, PhotoMechanic, Bridge or Neofinder, and all these programs will pick up any changes.

The time invested in adding even one keyword to a file is quickly repaid, and the time to develop the habit is when you only have a few files. As an aside I also add a description to every dated system folder that contains files e.g 2020-07-01 Stockhill wood and Chew Valley Lake.

But to your questions.

Yes, you should move files from inside C1, but one of the benefits of a Year-Month-day system is that you should never need to move any files as all your viewing and manipulation will be done "virtually" inside the catalogue. You can just ignore the number of folders with individual files.

And yes, you should backup the catalogue file and the raws as you describe.

 

[Joe94]

I have never imported files from an SD card into LR or C1 catalogues. I used BreezeBrowser initially and then Photo Mechanic, but many people use Fast Raw Viewer to move files from the SD card into a file structure onto their hard drive. I add some keywords and metadata at this stage, just simple things like a single broad keyword like "animal" or "landscape".

Having said that, I use a Year Month Date format as you describe (along with XMP sidecar files for the metadata) and it doesn't really matter that a folder has a single file in it as I rarely view them like that in the catalogue.

In the catalogue, I nearly always view things through some kind of filter/smart folder e.g. all files with animal in the keywords or all files from December 2020. Or all files from December 2020 that also has the "animal" keyword. Metadata is all stored in the XMP sidecar files so regardless of program I can edit metadata from anywhere e.g. LR, C1, PhotoMechanic, Bridge or Neofinder, and all these programs will pick up any changes.

The time invested in adding even one keyword to a file is quickly repaid, and the time to develop the habit is when you only have a few files. As an aside I also add a description to every dated system folder that contains files e.g 2020-07-01 Stockhill wood and Chew Valley Lake.

But to your questions.

Yes, you should move files from inside C1, but one of the benefits of a Year-Month-day system is that you should never need to move any files as all your viewing and manipulation will be done "virtually" inside the catalogue. You can just ignore the number of folders with individual files.

And yes, you should backup the catalogue file and the raws as you describe.

Thank you, very much for this, I think I need to play around with things and as you say, see what works for me, but I think I'm going to treat moving to C1 as a fresh start & really invest the time on ensuring I use the catalog as it was supposed to be used, including the use of key wording

 

[Olly B]

I must admit to have been following this thread with a lot of interest, as I have just jumped from Olympus to Fuji and as I was using DXO which does not support Fuji Files, I have bundled in Capture One 21 for Fuji in with my purchase. Like you Joe, I didn't make the best use of the LR cataloguing system so I too am hoping to make a fresh start with Capture 1, hence my interest. I tend to take an 'eclectic' range of photographs meaning I have no real skill in any genre!! I think from reading this thread, it would make sense to follow what has been proposed and to get a lot better at keyboarding when I process any photos! I intend to try and watch a few You Tube tutorials in the meantime whilst waiting for my new set-up to arrive (hopefully later this week). Thanks, Joe, Graham and Chris for the informative thread.

 

[Joe94]

I must admit to have been following this thread with a lot of interest, as I have just jumped from Olympus to Fuji and as I was using DXO which does not support Fuji Files, I have bundled in Capture One 21 for Fuji in with my purchase. Like you Joe, I didn't make the best use of the LR cataloguing system so I too am hoping to make a fresh start with Capture 1, hence my interest. I tend to take an 'eclectic' range of photographs meaning I have no real skill in any genre!! I think from reading this thread, it would make sense to follow what has been proposed and to get a lot better at keyboarding when I process any photos! I intend to try and watch a few You Tube tutorials in the meantime whilst waiting for my new set-up to arrive (hopefully later this week). Thanks, Joe, Graham and Chris for the informative thread.

Ah it no problems at all Olly, glad the thread is helping others in my situation

Problem with me, was I was a) so new to photography and pp I didn't really know how catalogs truly worked, but also b) because I found Lr had so many other issues I just didn't spend the time on it and aloud Lr to control/set up my catalog.

But yeah then when I moved to C1, I originally thought Sessios would be best for me, but now I realise actually a catalog is better, but I just need to this time use it how its supposes to, as you say with keyword, collections ect.. But also set up the folder structure first how I want it and then just reference the catalog to it, so don't let C1 decide!

I can see session being really good now as closed end to end project for professional, like a family photoshoot but yeah for me as a hobbiest I'm going to go with the catalog workflow but invest in keyboarding ect aha

 

[Olly B]

Having received my Fuji and code for Capture 1, I have spent this afternoon playing with images from the camera, initially I ttied to use sessions, but like you Joe, could see some limitations, so I too have decided to stick with catalogues. Just a quick couple of questions: do you import from your card/camera straight into Capture 1 , or do you use another system as Graham does, ie importing via another programme to the Mac/external hard drive and then open Capture 1, and also, did you set up your folder structure on your hard drive first and then used that for the Capture 1 catalogues? Hope that makes sense!!
I am trying to create as simple and streamlined workflow as possible.

once in Capture 1, I have been really impressed with the editing functions ( not all of which I know how to use. - yet!)

Thanks.

 

[Joe94]

Having received my Fuji and code for Capture 1, I have spent this afternoon playing with images from the camera, initially I ttied to use sessions, but like you Joe, could see some limitations, so I too have decided to stick with catalogues. Just a quick couple of questions: do you import from your card/camera straight into Capture 1 , or do you use another system as Graham does, ie importing via another programme to the Mac/external hard drive and then open Capture 1, and also, did you set up your folder structure on your hard drive first and then used that for the Capture 1 catalogues? Hope that makes sense!!
I am trying to create as simple and streamlined workflow as possible.

once in Capture 1, I have been really impressed with the editing functions ( not all of which I know how to use. - yet!)

Thanks.

Hey Olly, good to hear your like C1

As for workflow, I’ll be totally honest with you I’m still trying to decide, set this up myself aha. I have definitely decided I am going to use a catalog workflow, but where with Lightroom Classic, I didn’t really focus on workflow side of things, I just let LrC put everything in its default date order, I have decided to treat C1 as a fresh start and so I’m spending time really learning how the filling system side of it works, to come up with a workflow that works for my photography.

Sorry I can’t be too much help right now, but as soon as I have something worked out, I will definitely let you know my plans

 

[myotis]

do you use another system as Graham does, ie importing via another programme to the Mac/external hard drive and then open Capture 1, and also, did you set up your folder structure on your hard drive first and then used that for the Capture 1 catalogues?

I wouldn't worry about me using Photo Mechanic to . The C1 import tools are very competent and powerful and you can import into an existing folder or create a new folder.

There is some discussion about this in a video I linked to in another thread that Joe started (linked again below)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvAHwf9zhjA&list=PLBZS3EGK3tQ-H9ciBN9cTXGCy7V3I2LBf&index=8


On this same Capture one youtube channel there are several videos on importing and using catalogues (if you haven't already found them)

 

[Joe94]

I have also just seen that capture one is adding improvements/new features to its import process in the big March update

 

[myotis]

I have also just seen that capture one is adding improvements/new features to its import process in the big March update

These mid cycle updates are a bit unpredictable in content, sometimes they add big new features and sometimes they just tweak existing ones, so I would wait and see how "big" this update will be. Having said that, they are always very worthwhile having changes.

 

[Joe94]

These mid cycle updates are a bit unpredictable in content, sometimes they add big new features and sometimes they just tweak existing ones, so I would wait and see how "big" this update will be. Having said that, they are always very worthwhile having changes.

Ahh okay aha, yeah we just have to wait and see then

 

[Olly B]

Just to update where I am at in my Capture One journey, I am importing from my SD card straight into C1, I've made a catalogue called 2021 which is in my Mac pictures folder, and created a folder under users collection (I think) in C1 for the month - Feb, so when I am importing, I pick the catalogue and highlight the folder and then import (I also do a back-up import into my external hard drive, which I leave untouched), the photos are all then in the catalogue 2021 and the sub-folder February. I then colour code the images according to how I have decided to use the colours, ie green for landscape, yellow for wildlife etc, and if it warrants it, star rate. On experimenting I have found by using those filters I can locate an image pretty quickly (although I don't have too many images at present!). I have also imported my LR catalogue into C1 and that is sitting there as another catalogue, so I can now access from C1 all my old images that were stored there.
All the images are also backed up on Google Drive cloud, and eventually I will remove them from the hard drive so my MacBook doesn't get too overloaded with photos!

I am always happy for suggestions if this does not seem a logical workflow!!

I must say I am really impressed with C1, I have got a lot of learning to do in respect of the editing modules but they are reasonably intuitive, and I also have Affinity software set-up as a plug-in should I need to do anything there! I would also add that C1 seems to be a lot quicker on my MacBook Pro than LR and DXO, so another win there. I think I now need to be thinking of shedding some of the stuff taking up hardware space that I no longer will be using!

Additionally as I am really new to the Fuji world, I can see why Fuji shooters recommend C1, it does seem to produce excellent colours and sharpness!

 

[vintageman]

As the years roll by the number of your images will increase dramatically!

I've accumulated 50,000 in the last 20 years and that's increasing as I scan earlier film images.

Lightroom keywords became muddled as I struggled finding them on the small pane.The catalogue is now a heady 1.4GB and of course you should have at least 2 back ups.

I'm now keywording the whole portfolio from scratch. Without calculating I decided that importing to any new catalogue would just take up too much time!

All my workflow will now be with ACDsee which doesn't import images into a catalog as it works directly from folders on your HDD linking them to a database.
Edits are stored in XMP sidecar files next to the original files.

You may want to think how well your workflow and finding images will cope in 20 years time

 

[Olly B]

Very good point David, I’m not particularly sold on the colour coding and rating as I will inevitably forget to do so on occasions, I have thought about forgetting the sub categories, ie landscape, wildlife etc, but wanted a way of finding particular genre of images without trawling through each month/year etc. I do feel I need to make a definite decision and just stick with one process , I’m
definitely suffering from ‘analysis paralysis’ !! Whatever I decide upon I need the same filing system across hard drive and cloud too!!

 

[Joe94]

Very good point David, I’m not particularly sold on the colour coding and rating as I will inevitably forget to do so on occasions, I have thought about forgetting the sub categories, ie landscape, wildlife etc, but wanted a way of finding particular genre of images without trawling through each month/year etc. I do feel I need to make a definite decision and just stick with one process , I’m
definitely suffering from ‘analysis paralysis’ !! Whatever I decide upon I need the same filing system across hard drive and cloud too!!

Hey Olly,glad your likeing C1, I thought I would offer you my update from yesterday from me, after I have been playing around yesterday & this morning...

I now have come up with a structure & workflow that I really think will work for me and am 99% sure is what I’m going to go/stick with...

So my primary folder structure for my raw files (OS level), will be as follows and will include small words to describe WHERE the images were taken only, & NOT SUBJECT (this is an example)

Images (Master Folder)

> 2020 (Yearly Sub Master folders)

> 01 January (Month sub folders)

> 20-01 _ Garden*
> 20-01-13 _ New Forest**
> 20-01-22 _ Med Cruise***

* ‘Garden’ is a folder that I’m only attaching to the month because I will be taking images in the garden throughout the whole month so don’t want to end up with potential 30 (daily day folders)

** Single day trips or shoots like the ‘New Forest’ will be attached to the date of the trip/shoot

*** Mutli day trips like holidays ‘Med Cruise’, I will attached to the date that the trip began


I have decided to go with this level of primary structure at OS level, because if I went with a pure YYYY-MM-DD file structure, with no descriptions of ‘where’ the images were taken and totally relied on collections & smart smart albums for the ‘where’ descriptive primary structure, then if I ever needed to access my images outside of C1 or via a different program in the future, collections/smart albums can not be carried over. So if I at least got some description at OS level then along with Keyword (more on them next), then I’ll still have a good filling system & a good level of knowledge of actually what in each folder.

On top of this OS level structure, I will now start to add keywords to images, describing what’s in the image or for subject categorisation, rather than relying on collections, (for the same reasons as above) and after testing things, they really are use full for: A) finding a specific image or group of images with same characteristics via a keyword is faster & B) keyword CAN be transferred out of C1 via an XMP side file, if ever needed.

So for example any images regardless of the shoot, that have a bird in them, I would add ‘bird’, but then any bird image that was a Robin, I’d add ‘Robin’. On top of subject, I will also add the place as a keyword too, so then in the future I could search for an image right to the point of a ‘Robin in the new Forest’ for example.

As for Collections/smart albums, the time I may use those is for 1 of 2 reasons - secondary organisation.
1) if I really want to group all bird images or holiday from the whole year for example, into one quick access folder.
2) for ‘admin’ purposes. So for example I may have a collection for all images I have uploaded to Flickr or Instagram

But aside from these, I won’t use collections for any primary organisation on OS folders & keywords, because as said above I now know collections/albums can’t be transferred but if I ever did need to use another software, as long as I have my OS structure & keywords I will still easily find images & and collections I did want can easily be re built with the keywords.

The final thing I decided was how I would use colour coding/rating , and for me I think I’m going simple...

Red = new images to the catalog (un-processed)
Yellow = working files
Green = Fully processed
5 star = images I have exported to jpg for show

Okay so this has all happend after my testing this morning & although it seems complex, in reality I feel for me as a hobbiest it’s actually a really simple, fluid workflow & structure


Hope this helps mate

 

[AgentOrange76]

I have a similar set up.

Folder for the year.

Each session is then named YYYYMMDD Location or Topic, e.g 20210213 Canvey Island Long Exposure

By dating YYYYMMDD this puts them in date order so removes the need for monthly folders.

Likewise I have a folder in each year that I add extra images into like ones of my sisters Horse, garden birds, or if i have a project. Best will in the world im likely to have no more than 50 sessions a year and probably a lot less as I dont shoot every week or have keepers from every week.
I copy the RAW files to a to sort folder on my hard drive and use FastStone viewer to cull before importing them to a session. If i end up with a handful of generic images i drop them into on of the "project" folders thats relevant. I dont need to be able to find an image in the blink of an eye or show a range of similar images. I also enjoy the taking far far more than i do the editing and printing.

 

[Joe94]

I have a similar set up.

Folder for the year.

Each session is then named YYYYMMDD Location or Topic, e.g 20210213 Canvey Island Long Exposure

By dating YYYYMMDD this puts them in date order so removes the need for monthly folders.

Likewise I have a folder in each year that I add extra images into like ones of my sisters Horse, garden birds, or if i have a project. Best will in the world im likely to have no more than 50 sessions a year and probably a lot less as I dont shoot every week or have keepers from every week.
I copy the RAW files to a to sort folder on my hard drive and use FastStone viewer to cull before importing them to a session. If i end up with a handful of generic images i drop them into on of the "project" folders thats relevant. I dont need to be able to find an image in the blink of an eye or show a range of similar images. I also enjoy the taking far far more than i do the editing and printing.

I like the tip about not needing a separate month folder.

So to check if I may, do you just follow this kind of thing, but all under just one 'year' master folder:

2020
> 2020-10-13 Spain
> 2020-10-25 Forest trip
> 2020-11-05 Forest trip
> 2020-12-25 Xmas Day

So like that with no monthly breakup folders?

That sounds a good tip, because I don't doo many trips per day you see and you mention you have a folder in each year for extra images, is that a separate on for say 'sister horse' or literally just one miscellaneous folder, where any non single trip related images go?

Do you also re name images?

Many thanks

 

[Joe94]

The other thing im trying to fully decide on, is how I approach multi day trips.. For example if I have a 2 week cruise, would I use the first day for all the images or still put them into individual days?

 

[AgentOrange76]

I like the tip about not needing a separate month folder.

So to check if I may, do you just follow this kind of thing, but all under just one 'year' master folder:

2020
> 2020-10-13 Spain
> 2020-10-25 Forest trip
> 2020-11-05 Forest trip
> 2020-12-25 Xmas Day

So like that with no monthly breakup folders?

That sounds a good tip, because I don't doo many trips per day you see and you mention you have a folder in each year for extra images, is that a separate on for say 'sister horse' or literally just one miscellaneous folder, where any non single trip related images go?

Do you also re name images?

Many thanks

Yes but I dont have the - between the numbers, I cant remember why but it may be that you cant do so when creating the session name in Capture 1 (you cant have / - or . in a file name so might be C1 wont allow it either)

So 20201013 Spain is what I call the session when creating a new session in Capture 1.

If my 2 week trip was made up of snapshots rather than a focused project/location/event then I would have 1 session for the generic and individual sessions for the focused shoots.

2 years ago I did a week with the family in the Lake district. (I dont like the sound of that! bloody covid!)
1 day i did an early morning shoot at a location so this has its own session. Another day I joined a photo walk so that also has its own session. I then have a session where all the one off images go where I took a photo while out walking with the family, that waterfall where i took 2 or 3 shots etc. Some of these will be memories rather than A1 images.
With the date in the session name it groups them together so easy to find.

 

[Joe94]

Yes but I dont have the - between the numbers, I cant remember why but it may be that you cant do so when creating the session name in Capture 1 (you cant have / - or . in a file name so might be C1 wont allow it either)

So 20201013 Spain is what I call the session when creating a new session in Capture 1.

If my 2 week trip was made up of snapshots rather than a focused project/location/event then I would have 1 session for the generic and individual sessions for the focused shoots.

2 years ago I did a week with the family in the Lake district. (I dont like the sound of that! bloody covid!)
1 day i did an early morning shoot at a location so this has its own session. Another day I joined a photo walk so that also has its own session. I then have a session where all the one off images go where I took a photo while out walking with the family, that waterfall where i took 2 or 3 shots etc. Some of these will be memories rather than A1 images.
With the date in the session name it groups them together so easy to find.

Ah brilliant, thank you very much for this tips, very much appreciated

The only other thing I need to get the hang of is keyboarding aha.

 

[SFTPhotography]

I have a similar set up.


By dating YYYYMMDD this puts them in date order so removes the need for monthly folders.

100000 times this.

Sort your raws like this and no matter if you use LR, C1, on1 whatever you are fine. Personally I wish c1 would do away with catalogues and just go with side car files that sit inside the session folder. Makes back up very easy

 

[Joe94]

100000 times this.

Sort your raws like this and no matter if you use LR, C1, on1 whatever you are fine. Personally I wish c1 would do away with catalogues and just go with side car files that sit inside the session folder. Makes back up very easy

Hi Steve, thank you for supporting this idea.

So I have just put my library in this method & I agree it does work and denies the need for individual month folders, but the screenshot below shows my only one issue, that I just don't know what to do about..

So as you can see most of my 'day folders' are named Garden and this is because they are just general images through the month taken in my garden, but are a mix of bird, macro, the moon for example; these sub categories I intend to use key words & collections to group specific subjects. However the problem is many of them only end up having very few images in many case bellow 3, so after a month I could end up with almost one for every day...

So I really like the idea to using this yyyymmdd method for day trips or holiday (also shown), but what should I do about the garden? do I just make one folder for all miscilanioase images for each month? Or any other ideas, very much appreciated.

 

[AgentOrange76]

yep just have one folder. Depending on the amount of images you will end up with you could have just one for the year or 1 for each season - autumn winter spring summer or one for each month. Personally I have one for the year but make it specific - garden birds, insect macro, still life, etc etc

 

[Joe94]

yep just have one folder. Depending on the amount of images you will end up with you could have just one for the year or 1 for each season - autumn winter spring summer or one for each month. Personally I have one for the year but make it specific - garden birds, insect macro, still life, etc etc

Thank you, I will give this a go and see how it works out, but it seams thins might be a good plan for me.

I must admit I apologise because I slightly miss understood that you actually said this in your original reply, but I get what you mean now...

So if my understanding is correct now, you have a Master ‘Year’ folder -> then inside you eaither have year long broad sub folders, to which are on going so you add to them through out like ‘Garden birds 2020’ -> and then individual specific yyyymmdd folders if it’s a specific one of shoot, day trip or holiday?

Thank you

 

[AgentOrange76]

Yes. its the best solution for me so I dont end up with lots of sessions with minimal amount of images in.

 

[Joe94]

Yes. its the best solution for me so I dont end up with lots of sessions with minimal amount of images in.

And that’s my biggest worry for my style of photography too.

Thabk you very much for all your help & support, definitely given me some really good tips which will really help me out

 

[myotis]

And that’s my biggest worry for my style of photography too.

I know we have discussed some of this before...

James is using Sessions, so his only form of finding things is searching through named system folders (though there are ways to catalogue Session folders if you want to). Hundreds of folders with only a single file would be a nightmare for Sessions, but irrelevant when you are using catalogues.

The mindset for organising work by sessions is very different to the one needed for organising work for catalogues. Naming system folders is a useful backup should you need to work outside the catalogue but it's not essential, and I suspect many people just work with date only system folders. Once you get your catalogue set up you will probably never go near your system folders.

The important bit is to make sure you keyword (with external XMP sidecar files) every image with the same names as you are using for your main groupings (e.g garden birds, or whatever). Keep the key wording simple, and do it as soon as you import the files.

Use a C1 metadata preset on import to add the majority of information, e.g. one for garden birds, and if you regularly visit the New Forest, one for the the New Forest etc.etc. So every file, with no effort (other than the time to set it up) will have date, location and possibly keyword data added automatically on import.

Once imported select all the images in C1 and add the most relevant key word (from a pre-prepared list) to all the images. say maybe woodland, or landscape. Then scan through all the just imported images and add a tag (maybe use a colour on a hot key) and pick out the images that also had a photo of a bird. Filter on the colour tag and select all of these files to add a "bird" keyword. Or you might be able to add more than one keyword on the first pass. You might then need to third pass to remove "landscape" from the images you took at church on the way, and replace it with "buildings"

A lot of the time a single scan will be all that's needed. Sometimes it's more complicated. but keep it simple and only aim for a couple of (or one )important key words per file. As I've said before, I found that one keyword was a lot more useful than no keywords, which was often the case in the days when I tried to "fully" keyword images and in the end never found the time to do any keywording.

You do however, need to put a lot of effort into deciding on your minimal keyword set, and set them up in C1, so the keyword spellings and capitalisation are consistent, and that you use the same 10 or so, broadbrush keywords that will allow the rapid keywording of images on import.

For example you probably don't want a keyword "garden birds" as having two keywords "home" and "animal" would be of more universal application. Instead of adding the keyword "garden birds" to a file, you would add "home" and "animal". A smart folder searching for all files with "home" and "animal" keywords would find all your garden bird photographs, but they are broad enough to help find other files. e.g. if you used a New Forest template to import all from the day trip to the New Forest , and also added the "Animal" keyword to all files with birds, then you could easily search on "New Forest and Animal" to find all your bird pics from the New Forest.

Deciding on your basic keyword set is a crucial bit of work and one that needs some thought and effort.

If you are using catalogues, sorting out how to use the metadata presets, keywords, searches and smart folders, and XMP sidecar files is where the most rewards will come from.

Raw files+XMP sidecars with good metadata are also the most flexible approach should you want to change your workflow in the future.

Adding descriptive text to the system folders is a little bit of a luxury (albeit useful), and although I do it (from inside Photo Mechanic) it's only occasionally of any value, and that's mainly because I often use C1 as a browser to edit files inside the system folders, to avoid importing any files into a sessions or a catalogue.

As an aside, the obvious solution to ending up with too many folders with only one image, is to take more photographs

 

[Joe94]

I know we have discussed some of this before...

James is using Sessions, so his only form of finding things is searching through named system folders (though there are ways to catalogue Session folders if you want to). Hundreds of folders with only a single file would be a nightmare for Sessions, but irrelevant when you are using catalogues.

The mindset for organising work by sessions is very different to the one needed for organising work for catalogues. Naming system folders is a useful backup should you need to work outside the catalogue but it's not essential, and I suspect many people just work with date only system folders. Once you get your catalogue set up you will probably never go near your system folders.

The important bit is to make sure you keyword (with external XMP sidecar files) every image with the same names as you are using for your main groupings (e.g garden birds, or whatever). Keep the key wording simple, and do it as soon as you import the files.

Use a C1 metadata preset on import to add the majority of information, e.g. one for garden birds, and if you regularly visit the New Forest, one for the the New Forest etc.etc. So every file, with no effort (other than the time to set it up) will have date, location and possibly keyword data added automatically on import.

Once imported select all the images in C1 and add the most relevant key word (from a pre-prepared list) to all the images. say maybe woodland, or landscape. Then scan through all the just imported images and add a tag (maybe use a colour on a hot key) and pick out the images that also had a photo of a bird. Filter on the colour tag and select all of these files to add a "bird" keyword. Or you might be able to add more than one keyword on the first pass. You might then need to third pass to remove "landscape" from the images you took at church on the way, and replace it with "buildings"

A lot of the time a single scan will be all that's needed. Sometimes it's more complicated. but keep it simple and only aim for a couple of (or one )important key words per file. As I've said before, I found that one keyword was a lot more useful than no keywords, which was often the case in the days when I tried to "fully" keyword images and in the end never found the time to do any keywording.

You do however, need to put a lot of effort into deciding on your minimal keyword set, and set them up in C1, so the keyword spellings and capitalisation are consistent, and that you use the same 10 or so, broadbrush keywords that will allow the rapid keywording of images on import.

For example you probably don't want a keyword "garden birds" as having two keywords "home" and "animal" would be of more universal application. Instead of adding the keyword "garden birds" to a file, you would add "home" and "animal". A smart folder searching for all files with "home" and "animal" keywords would find all your garden bird photographs, but they are broad enough to help find other files. e.g. if you used a New Forest template to import all from the day trip to the New Forest , and also added the "Animal" keyword to all files with birds, then you could easily search on "New Forest and Animal" to find all your bird pics from the New Forest.

Deciding on your basic keyword set is a crucial bit of work and one that needs some thought and effort.

If you are using catalogues, sorting out how to use the metadata presets, keywords, searches and smart folders, and XMP sidecar files is where the most rewards will come from.

Raw files+XMP sidecars with good metadata are also the most flexible approach should you want to change your workflow in the future.

Adding descriptive text to the system folders is a little bit of a luxury (albeit useful), and although I do it (from inside Photo Mechanic) it's only occasionally of any value, and that's mainly because I often use C1 as a browser to edit files inside the system folders, to avoid importing any files into a sessions or a catalogue.

As an aside, the obvious solution to ending up with too many folders with only one image, is to take more photographs

Thank you as always Graham, all very helpful and I definitely need to give everything a good think about.

I also agree I need to spend even more time really understanding the value of the metadata & key wording tools

As for taking more photos, you right there too haha, although I must say the current virus situations isn't helping things aha

 

[Joe94]

I know we have discussed some of this before...

James is using Sessions, so his only form of finding things is searching through named system folders (though there are ways to catalogue Session folders if you want to). Hundreds of folders with only a single file would be a nightmare for Sessions, but irrelevant when you are using catalogues.

The mindset for organising work by sessions is very different to the one needed for organising work for catalogues. Naming system folders is a useful backup should you need to work outside the catalogue but it's not essential, and I suspect many people just work with date only system folders. Once you get your catalogue set up you will probably never go near your system folders.

The important bit is to make sure you keyword (with external XMP sidecar files) every image with the same names as you are using for your main groupings (e.g garden birds, or whatever). Keep the key wording simple, and do it as soon as you import the files.

Use a C1 metadata preset on import to add the majority of information, e.g. one for garden birds, and if you regularly visit the New Forest, one for the the New Forest etc.etc. So every file, with no effort (other than the time to set it up) will have date, location and possibly keyword data added automatically on import.

Once imported select all the images in C1 and add the most relevant key word (from a pre-prepared list) to all the images. say maybe woodland, or landscape. Then scan through all the just imported images and add a tag (maybe use a colour on a hot key) and pick out the images that also had a photo of a bird. Filter on the colour tag and select all of these files to add a "bird" keyword. Or you might be able to add more than one keyword on the first pass. You might then need to third pass to remove "landscape" from the images you took at church on the way, and replace it with "buildings"

A lot of the time a single scan will be all that's needed. Sometimes it's more complicated. but keep it simple and only aim for a couple of (or one )important key words per file. As I've said before, I found that one keyword was a lot more useful than no keywords, which was often the case in the days when I tried to "fully" keyword images and in the end never found the time to do any keywording.

You do however, need to put a lot of effort into deciding on your minimal keyword set, and set them up in C1, so the keyword spellings and capitalisation are consistent, and that you use the same 10 or so, broadbrush keywords that will allow the rapid keywording of images on import.

For example you probably don't want a keyword "garden birds" as having two keywords "home" and "animal" would be of more universal application. Instead of adding the keyword "garden birds" to a file, you would add "home" and "animal". A smart folder searching for all files with "home" and "animal" keywords would find all your garden bird photographs, but they are broad enough to help find other files. e.g. if you used a New Forest template to import all from the day trip to the New Forest , and also added the "Animal" keyword to all files with birds, then you could easily search on "New Forest and Animal" to find all your bird pics from the New Forest.

Deciding on your basic keyword set is a crucial bit of work and one that needs some thought and effort.

If you are using catalogues, sorting out how to use the metadata presets, keywords, searches and smart folders, and XMP sidecar files is where the most rewards will come from.

Raw files+XMP sidecars with good metadata are also the most flexible approach should you want to change your workflow in the future.

Adding descriptive text to the system folders is a little bit of a luxury (albeit useful), and although I do it (from inside Photo Mechanic) it's only occasionally of any value, and that's mainly because I often use C1 as a browser to edit files inside the system folders, to avoid importing any files into a sessions or a catalogue.

As an aside, the obvious solution to ending up with too many folders with only one image, is to take more photographs

One thing I forgot to add, was that I found out if just using C1 (without like photo mechanic), then there are two options for XMP sidecar files... either auto which will auto create them, however according to what some say this can have quite a negative effect on performance and the second is manual.

So I presume that as long as I do the actual keyboarding, if I ever did need to use a different program, then all I would need to do I manual create them first? Unless the auto doesn't really have such affect on performance.

 

[myotis]

One thing I forgot to add, was that I found out if just using C1 (without like photo mechanic), then there are two options for XMP sidecar files... either auto which will auto create them, however according to what some say this can have quite a negative effect on performance and the second is manual.

So I presume that as long as I do the actual keyboarding, if I ever did need to use a different program, then all I would need to do I manual create them first? Unless the auto doesn't really have such affect on performance.

I don't know what effect syncing the metadata to external XMP files has on C1 performance. I know its often discussed with LR as reducing performance, but never seen it mentioned about C1.

As it's a bit of extra work, it seems reasonable it might slow things down, but once the metadata is written, I'm not sure how much it's going to affect things. I would leave the autosync XMP active unless it turns out to be an issue.

I haven't given it much thought, as I have nearly always had more than one catalogue (of the same raw files) running at the same time with several programs using the XMP files to share the metadata.

 

[Joe94]

I don't know what effect syncing the metadata to external XMP files has on C1 performance. I know its often discussed with LR as reducing performance, but never seen it mentioned about C1.

As it's a bit of extra work, it seems reasonable it might slow things down, but once the metadata is written, I'm not sure how much it's going to affect things. I would leave the autosync XMP active unless it turns out to be an issue.

I haven't given it much thought, as I have nearly always had more than one catalogue (of the same raw files) running at the same time with several programs using the XMP files to share the metadata.

Ah okay, well yeah in that case, ill have it turned on and see how I get on.

Thinking about it thought, your right actually that much of the time it relates to LrC, which has performance issues anyways and I suspect the majority of those have ten of thousands more images than me in a a catalog too.

 

[myotis]

Thinking about it thought, your right actually that much of the time it relates to LrC, which has performance issues anyways and I suspect the majority of those have ten of thousands more images than me in a a catalog too.

LR and C1 are very different programs and do things very differently, including things like sliders. e.g. saturation in C1 works more like vibrance in LR, Brightness in C1 works like Exposure in LR (LR doesn't have the equivalent of C1's exposure) . The Black and White sliders in LR aren't the same as the B and W sliders in C1's HDR, but work the same as the black and white points in C1's levels. They also apply varying but different approaches to being "smart".

The programming behind the catalogue database are also very different, even though both use SQLite, and the approach to what is done in the background and what is done in the foreground is also very different. It makes comparing performance between them very difficult.

However, "overall" LR catalogues are faster and more robust than C1 catalogues, and, in terms of catalogues you are more likely to have performance issues with C1 than LR.

 

[Olly B]

Hello all,

Once again I am following this with interest, I like the editing suite in C1, but I am still struggling with deciding on the file management, which does seem to give so many options, and there are so many You Tube videos each extolling different ways on doing this. Basically, I just want to import images from my SD card onto my external hard drive (as I work on a MacBook laptop, I'm not too keen on having a growing stack on raw files sitting on my Mac hard drive), I understand - if I'm right (!) that I would need to create an overarching catalogue on my ex-hd and then within that create a folder structure of my choosing, ie 2021 - topic - (landscape) - YYMMDD , or 2021 - YYMMDD - naming ie West Wittering. Does that sound right? From above, I have gathered that like LR, setting this up so C! can find everything, needs to be done from within C1.?

Another question, initially on getting my new camera and C1, I uploaded a few fuji raw files from my SD card via C1 onto my Mac hard drive, and there they sit, Capture 1 RAF files, however, if I am outside of C1 and just want to preview the files on my hard drive, they will not open? Is this something to do with Fuji files (I acknowledge I may have to post this question in the Fuji users forum!). I have tried to open them from my pictures folder on the hard drive, using 'Open With" and choosing C1 but whilst it launches C1, no image is displayed? I am sure this is something relatively simple, but I am definitely 'lockdown dense' and can't figure it out!!!

Thanks for any input on above.

 

[myotis]

Hello all,

Once again I am following this with interest, I like the editing suite in C1, but I am still struggling with deciding on the file management, which does seem to give so many options, and there are so many You Tube videos each extolling different ways on doing this.

This is a long answer, but it was already written for another forum, and gives an overview of the C1 options. It might be a lot to take in, so please ask me any questions on the bits I've just made confusing.

But first, to answer your questions, yes you can store your raw files in an external HD and get C1 to create a catalogue from existing folders/files OR get C1 to do the copying of files from your SD card and create the folder structure on import.

The Fuji file problem is a C1 problem (or LR problem). You can't simply "open" files with programs designed around opening files from a database. Unlike LR, C1 offers some work a rounds for this but you still a need an existing C1 "database" or "session" file for the Fuji file to open in.

Capture One offers four ways of managing files. Two use catalogues and two use sessions. Sessions are only available in the paid for versions of C1.


The four methods are Referenced catalogues, Managed catalogues, Sessions and "dummy" or "empty" sessions.

With "referenced" catalogues you don't really "import" the files "into" a catalogue when you do an import.

You simply add a link to the raw file and the raw file stays where put it on your drive. Or, if you are using LR/C1 to import the file from a memory card it will put them wherever you tell the program to put them on import from the card. They aren't physically "in" the catalogue.

The raw processor program (LR or C1) creates a preview of the raw file in its catalogue database and all your edits on that "preview file" file are stored as a set of instructions alongside the preview in the catalogue database. The program applies these instructions to the preview every time you look at the "raw" in the catalogue. When you open the Raw file in LR/C1 you are looking at the preview plus the LR/C1 default edits.

When you export from LR/C1, it uses the stored editing instructions to know what it needs to do when creating the JPEG or TIFF from the raw. The edits at this stage are baked into the JPEG or TIFF. With the JPEG/TIFF you are no longer viewing a raw file preview through a set of instructions of how you want it to look, as you have now physically created a new file with the pixels changed to match those instructions. The raw file, of course remains untouched.

So a "referenced" catalogue only contains a previews plus instructions plus a link to the raw files that are stored somewhere outside the catalogue. The raw files can be stored in any kind of structure that makes sense to you, and you can create the catalogue from existing folders or files on your hard drive, or you can get C1 to create these folders when it moves the files off your card and onto your computer drive (internal or external)

While a referenced catalogue, leaves the raw files where you originally put them, a "managed" catalogue, on import, physically moves the raw files from where ever they were, to inside the catalogue file. This creates a single enormous catalogue file that contains, and "locks away" the raw files, plus previews, plus edit instructions into a single container.

A managed catalogue isn't an option with LR, but it was the default approach with the now defunk Aperture, and is an option with C1. Generally its advised against using this approach because of concerns over corrupt catalogue files also affecting access to your original raw file. The advantage is that "everything" related to your photographs can be stored in a single file, which makes it easier to manage.

Sessions in C1 are a kind of halfway house between a Referenced and Managed catalogue, which give the benefits of a single container approach, while still giving full access to all files.

With a "normal" session, C1 by default creates four folders inside the Session folder: a Capture, Selects, Output and Trash folders.

When you use the import tools to import into a session, the raw files are physically moved from where they were stored on your drive into the session Capture Folder. And previews of all the Raw files + default editing instructions are stored in a "Capture One" sub folder inside the Capture folder alongside the raw files.

The actual session file *.cosessiondb. contains the information on running the session e.g how you have customised the interface etc, but all the important stuff, files + previews +edits are in the Capture folder. So all this information is stored beside the raw files, and not buried inside the C1 session file or C1 catalogue file.

The idea is that you use a new session per project, and "everything" related to that project is stored within a single folder. Making it easy to find, archive or share.

All raws from the sitting go into the capture folder, the ones you want to edit get dragged into the selects folder, and the final edits shown to the client go into the output folder, but you don't have to do it this way, and you can rename or just ignore the folders (except the Capture folder).

This is ideal for say a portrait photographer who can create a new C1 session for every portrait sitting, knowing that every file relating to that sitting will be inside the session folders.

Not so ideal for a bird photographer who needs to search across years worth of pictures for a specific bird species in a specific location, which relies on good keywording. In this case a catalogue makes more sense.

With the "dummy" or "empty" session approach we are fooling C1 into thinking that the folder on your drive where you drag a raw file from (or open it from the file browser in C1) is a "Capture" folder. This forces C1 to create a new "Capture One" folder for preview and edit information in every folder you open a file from without creating multiple dedicated "project based" sessions.

For this to work you need to create a new session called something like "C1_Viewer" which will create a "C1_viewer.cosession.db" file which you can store wherever you want. When this session is opened you can use the library tab in C1 to navigate to your system folders and and click on a raw file to open it in C1 without importing anything into C1. You can also drag files directly into this session, and if its running in the background use the right click "open with" option from finder (they broke this a few updates ago, but might be working again).

When you open a raw file this way, C1 creates a "Capture One" sub-folder inside the same folder as the raw is stored in. This is where C1 stores the file previews and editing instructions. As C1 works at a folder level, the disadvantage is that when you do this, C1 creates previews for "all" the raw files in the folder and stores them in the "Capture One" folder. However, the file you click on is the file that C1 opens and you don't need to wait for all the previews to build, you can start editing immediately. The advantage is that when you open any other file in that same folder, the previews are already built.

Hopefully, this makes some sense, but I agree it takes a bit to get your head around it. I would try and watch as many youtube videos as you can on C1 catalogues and sessions before you commit fully to an approach.

I've only seen this dummy session approach mentioned once in videos and that must have been ten years ago, so I doubt you will find much on it, but the more you get a handle on how C1 file management works, the easier it will become to work out what is going on.

Actually since originally writing this, I've just seen the dummy session idea mentioned at the end of this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkqbc_4S2GU


There is a companion to the above video on using catalogues here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWmT0kfLudU&t=4s