Lightroom Questions

[futureal33]

I have some fairly basic Lightroom questions that I cant find a simple, step by step answer to, so if anyone here knows please help me out!

• When importing pics to lightroom is there anyway to automate it to import 2 copies, 1 with a watermark and 1 without
• Is there any way to automate Lightroom to export my developed photos to Facebook AND Flickr?
• Complex one! - I installed Lightroom to my C Drive (which is an SSD Flash Drive). Now each time I try to import photos it defaults to Chotos - which I dont want! I have a dedicated B: drive which is purely for storing RAW files, exports etc - how can I make LR automatically import to my B drive and not my C?
• Custom Presets - I must be doing something wrong here, but I cant figure what it is! I want to create a custom preset, so I import a photo and dont apply any development to it etc, once imported I click Develop, I then click Develop - create new preset, I then adjust my settings on the right hand panal as required (Noise Reduction, Sharpening + 10% etc) and then right click the preset - update with current settings and it should be done right? Well it doesnt work! Next time I "click" that preset to apply it, nothing happens?
• Lastly - Is there any way to make Lightroom resize my cropped photos? Each time I crop a picture it reduces its pixel size, and I have to then increase it again in PhotoShop manually - can Lightroom not do this?

Thanks for any help

 

[tdodd]

1. Adding watermarks is performed when you export photos, not when you import them. Simply export twice, once with and once without the watermark included.

2. Don't know. I've never used that feature.

3. You should be able to change your import location through the import dialogue options near the top right of the import screen. If it's automatic importing that is the problem then change the settings for auto importing.

4. When you choose to update a preset you must tick the boxes in the dialogue that pops up to say which adjustments you want included in the update.

5. If you crop an image of course it will become smaller. You're throwing pixels away. If you want it to return to the original pixel size then when you export the image(s) you need to tell Lightroom to resize to the desired size. Of course, there may be some IQ loss if you choose to create an image where the pixels it contains are invented ones instead of original ones.

 

[Alastair]

1. As above.

2. As above. I prefer to upload manually to Flickr. I have no time for Facebook, so can't help with that.

3. As above.

4. Custom presets, import the photo, make the develop changes, then save the changes you made as the preset.

5. Extreme cropping is a bad habit, it seriously redices image quality if you subsequently have to increase the size of the image. You can upsize it on export by selecting the pixel dimensions of the exported image and making sure that the tick box is checked/unchecked (I forget which) to allow enlarging. I usually resize purely on the longest edge and allow Lightroom to keep the proportions of the image constant.

 

[pitkin2020]

2 there is a plugin you can get for auto uploading to flickr and one for photobucket. I couldn't get either to work successfully and found it so much easier to just upload them manually TBH. I don't know about facebook but you could try googling for a plugin.

 

[Deleted member 29733]

Here's a nice link to Lightroom Videos

Also go into Channels, there are more tutorials in there as well.