Streamline Your Photography with iPad & Lightroom | Sync, Backup & Archive

[@dylanvanderjeught9883]

Hi! I shoot a lot of burst but i save all of my RAWS from all of my shoots, I’m considering to make the switch to LR My current Workflow: I transfer al of my RAW files to an SSD: 2023 -> 2023/09/13 (Client info) -> RAW From there I select the photos i want to edit with Photomechanic and import them to LRC (i have one catalog) . All of the RAW files keep stored on the SSD, is this something that’s possible as well if you import them on the iPad in Lightroom? Or is my best options just follow my previous workflow and make smart collections of my selection? Thanks!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Based on your workflow the only thing I would add to the end is to creat a collection of those selects within LRC and “sync” that with LR by clicking the sync button. That will sync your selects into the cloud to pull down the smart previews on your phone or iPad. So you could bypass the “importing” on iPad all together annnnnd doing it this way is actually much faster to sync and the way I currently sync my catalog. Fantastic question - pinned 🙏💪

[@dylanvanderjeught9883]

@@Secondcropcreative thanks for the fast answer and your awesome content!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Raise your hand if you are as PUMPED as I am for this how-to!!! 🙌🙌🙌

[@andrefrancois9927]

Hello Ross, I want to thank you for this super video about Lightroom's workflow and ecosystem. It was the most enlightening material I found on KZbin. I've been using Lightroom for many years in my photographic projects, but now I want to travel lighter, so I'm trying not to travel with a notebook anymore, but to travel only with my iPad. Your video showed me that it is possible. I'm going to redo my entire workflow based on your material. Thanks for that.🙏

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on. Glad it could help. Remember though, this is just how I roll with the Adobe Lightroom ecosystem- others may have different needs or requirements. But, this seems to be working so smoothly for me and I’ve been using it for over a year now I’m this manner.

[@florianmirtschin1593]

Finally someone who explains how the workflow is with removing images from CC

[@Secondcropcreative]

Glad it helped!

[@Cjsk8mom]

Phew! Thanks....I think this is just what I need, now I just need to go watching 3 or 30 more times to get it all to flow!

[@michaelnishiguchi3176]

This video has everything I needed. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to use Lightroom Classic and CC together. Traveling and editing is nice with the iPad but I still wanted physical backups and the full desktop version. Thank you!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - glad it could help you get on your way!

[@ltakallen]

Thank You 🙏🏾. I really have gained a deeper understanding of LRc & iPad workflow. You are doing what I have long wanted to, but couldn’t quite “wrap my head around”. I now, “See the Light-room”(lol😂). Seriously, Great Tutorial. Cheers!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - that’s what I want to do here is help others figure it out. Not everyone will do it the same way but at least it will get your gears turning and hopefully set you on the right path! 🙏💪

[@ChristianRouLund]

I am so glad that you are sharing these step by step guide due to I'm going to do the same thing 👌👌

[@Somnifex.]

Excellent video! Very helpful

[@KB_Lincolnshire_Photography]

finally a guy who explains it properly thankyou so much

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - thanks for the support 🙏💪

[@isaiahsarju]

Thank you for this. Not exactly what I'm going to do but super helpful starting place and understanding how to think about it all

[@Secondcropcreative]

Happy shooting and happy new year!

[@isaiahsarju]

@@Secondcropcreative happy new year!

[@ccorProductions]

Legend! Having a mess in Lightroom for a while really affected how much i acctualy wanted to use my camera. Looking forward to finding joy again x) Thanks!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Oh man - this hits home. Until I got a workflow for post production I was so lost. Appreciate ya!

[@yuriyork8094]

So far this is the best Lightroom tutorial that I came across on KZbin. Simple and to the point. The only thing I’m still confused is master catalogs Specifically taking existing catalogs and adding them into one master catalog.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Great question. So I was essentially creating a catalog for every year for a long time. All I did was create a true “master” catalog and use the import catalog menu to import all those yearly catalogs into my master. So in essence those photos are still on all those old external hardrives, but instead of having to load/change catalogs I have the entire catalog referencing all my photos across all my external hardrives. (I hope that makes it a little clearer)

[@ibathrooms]

@@Secondcropcreative After watching your video, I went ahead and upgraded my Creative Cloud plan to have that 1TB storage to be able to do what you do. I'm still not clean as to "master catalog", I might be looking into it in more details later on. For now I need to purchase some external storage and once I have that proceed to doing all the twicks in the Lightroom

[@waterworthr]

This is really well explained, thank you for sharing!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on. Glad it was of value 🙏

[@stevehines8864]

This was extremely helpful. I appreciate the technical detail and step by step approach which help me to understand how I can tweak things to make it work for me. For instance, I sync to a desktop drive which is backed up to a NAS drive Big Big thank you.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Glad it could help- you know everyone does things a little differently

[@bravovideographer]

Amazing tutorial men!! Thank you so much

[@LuisGarciaQuinteiro]

Best workflow by far! Really well explained!!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Thanks a ton. I really appreciate it!

[@OpticalSenasations]

Thank you for the video. As a user of Lightroom since it was a development project, moving to learning this CC since Adobe and Apple can’t get their stuff together for the iPad Pros, I could not find how to copy and past INDIVIDUAL settings. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Searching the documentation on this app is an exercise in futility. You had some other very useful tips and workflow info in here as well. For me, I wanted to give you recognition for answering my biggest gripe (at present) with LRCC.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - thanks so much!

[@jackychng25]

This tutorial is gold!

[@xaserman]

Excellent workflow!! Exactly what I was trying to figure out. Thanks for the help.

[@Secondcropcreative]

No problem- enjoy the freedom/flexibility

[@wywhwywh221]

I needed this video. I wanted to use both LR & LRc but couldn’t make it easy. Thanks man keep up the videos. I will be re watching this now my new mac book pro arrived ✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - glad I could help out!

[@ChristopherSkow]

Wow! So very helpful - I've been doing it wrong all these years...

[@Secondcropcreative]

I still think there is no “right” way. Just a way that works for each individuals workflow

[@butch4111]

This video was a GREAT help! Thanks!!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Awesome - you’re welcome, thanks for stopping by!

[@chrispeeters5604]

OMFG, Thank you so very much!!! I've been wanting to use Lightroom on the iPad for ages but never pulled the trigger because it can't handle jpeg's and Raw's (I know, I'm starting out and I like the Fujifilm JPEG's). Your video was simply amazing and so detailed into every point. Thank you so very much! I'm going to edit some photo's on my iPad this week now :D Also, this is going to be amazing for trip's so I can just bring my iPad or even my phone in a pinch.

[@BWaterman]

You're a legend. Thanks so much.

[@joelkdean]

Great tutorial! Thank you!!

[@Secondcropcreative]

You are welcome 🙏

[@Dgoodger324]

Great info, only just found Lightroom classic and trying to get it to work together with Lightroom has been a nightmare! This has helped a lot 👍🏻👍🏻

[@EastbelgiumPhoto]

Thats exactly how I work too, with one exception. I import the old wa ynd not using the iPad cause I found it a little bit too slow on my old iPad Pro. Nice and well explained video!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - thanks for watching and for the comment!

[@grantzke]

i have a very similar workflow, the only difference is that i import to my pc and then sync with lightroom cloud. the benefit of this is that you can elect to only upload smart previews, which dont take up any space in the cloud. Because of this, i am able to have my entire 120,000 catalog accessible from my ipad without paying for any more than 20gb of lightroom storage. it kinda sucks that i have to get to my computer before uploading them or exporting them, but for me its much more convenient to have access to all of my photos at any point

[@Secondcropcreative]

This is a great point that I didn’t address in the video. Thanks for the input!!!

[@nftip]

I wonder if there is a way to import full raws via the iPad into the cloud and later only have the previews available, because it would be nice to have access to all the images like you said. But doesn't that make the LR preview file huge? Can you do full edits on the previews?

[@rs779]

Currently I use my PC and LR Classic for edits but doing more travelling I want to start using my iPad Pro 10.5 to flag and edit while on the road. Can you elect to use smart previews only if importing to iPad and then the cloud while travelling. How would you’ll you then get full raw files to PC storage? Hope that makes sense.

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@rs779 as long as you set up the sync like I have shown, the files get downloaded from the cloud to you designated drive you setup in the sync settings

[@rs779]

Great video. Please clarify - if using a laptop you could import photos and link to cloud with LR CC where only smart previews would be stored. But if using only an iPad when travelling you need enough space on the iPad for the imported photos. Correct? I assume if you start to run out of space on iPad you could cull photos and remove the rejects that were previously imported to reduce storage use on iPad. Correct? Do you shoot RAW or RAW and JPEG? Lastly do you know if you can move files to Amazon Photos with Files from your travel SSD? Thanks

[@mentordh]

Sooo helpful and so accurate!!! Thank you so much!!! CAN YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT COLLECTIONS?

[@nftip]

This video is so awesome, I was looking to find the proper workflow how to include selections/edits on an iPad. I have even bought an iPad and gave up and sold it again, because I couldn't get it to work without total confusion and the uncertainty of loosing stuff. The only thing I don't get in your workflow is "why you manually move folders to your back-up disc in finder?" I always do it inside Lightroom between any physical harddrives, so you can't make mistakes in deleting folders manually. Can't wait to start learning this iPad workflow and travel without my laptop and only a little iPad mini. First trip I will still bring my laptop because I am not sure how fast I can learn the CC edits and I can still fall back on my LrC workflow if needed. Thank you for doing this video! 🙏📷

[@Secondcropcreative]

I have since started doing this in LRC myself - glad you have the iPad. I’ve also started just carrying my se card reader dongle in the field and import with my iPhone too 🤯

[@nftip]

@@Secondcropcreative I have been using Dropbox for my catalog and now i stead of the harddrive I am considering Dropbox for the location to store them in the first instance. I will let you know how that goes, that would mean one thing less to take and keep your photography bag light😃

[@str33tdog]

regarding the backup for the catalog: I don't know if CC can do that, but in Classic definitely enable the XMP export (manually if you press CTRL + S or "Catalog Settings" -> "MetaData"). You can then import the XMP files again and all the RAW changes are stored there.

[@danidah]

Super helpful!

[@LincAg]

Huge thank you for this walk through. I tried ipad only but sadly with space issues had not kept a great catalog. New default setup right here. Wish all of this could be ipad only and it recognized where you offloaded pics from cloud but this will do until that becomes reality

[@Secondcropcreative]

Always glad to help

[@lacuswongq7839]

Thanks for your video, but questions ~ I don’t have my iPad now and plan to get one, what storage you suggest to get it? If I input the image to iPad and let it upload to lightroom could, did the image will storage in iPad as well? Or just the preview image will save into the iPad and the original RAW will upload to the file location you choose into MacBook?

[@Secondcropcreative]

If you import on the iPad, only the previews are stored in the cache of Lightroom app. The actual RAW files will sync to your cloud, and then backup in the LRC catalog as long as you have it setup and open it on a desktop

[@lacuswongq7839]

​ @Second Crop Creative Thank you, cuz i was consider what storage i should go for, 256 or 512. Im enjoying editing image in my bed, but u know it, is not very comfortable to doing that using Macbook Pro

[@cameraman655]

While I have been an avid user of LR since 2009, and to date, no matter how much I love this program, I still can not fully wrap my head around it, in particular the catalog. You and I share a similar technique with regards to uploading and saving images. However, no matter how hard I try to keep my images off my Mac’s SSD (512gb M1 Mac Mini), sending the images to two external drives, and the catalog placed on one of those externals, still, the damn photos keep clogging up my Mac’s drive. In addition to the 2 external drives, I have 2TB of space on Adobe cloud and 2TB of Cloud space. Like you, I use my iPad Pro to upload my work, and any additional editing the LR Mobile can not handle, I will finish up in LRc on my Mac. All an all, a great and informative video, keep em’ comin’.

[@Secondcropcreative]

One thing to look out for is if you use the catalog backup feature and where those are saved. If you don’t periodically clear those out they will take up massive amounts of space

[@GenreFilmsUK]

I’d like to add my thanks to the many others who have said how good this video is. You’ve explained really well the principles of LR and LRC. You’ve also provided lots of great examples of how to get the most out of LC and LRC and speed workflows up. I do have a question regarding the interaction between Lightroom cloud and the iOS photos library. I’ve had a go at using LR to backup images to a an SSD with my master image files. If the iOS photos library set to “optomise” are images from the iOS device in Lightroom cloud compressed or are they the original image size?

[@Secondcropcreative]

That is a very good question that I unfortunately cannot answer because this is something I am not familiar with myself but hopefully someone in the community can help out! 💪🙏

[@ahinepics]

Looking to replace my 2013 13'' mbp with an ipad pro. As an amateur, your workflow doesn' t match mine but it's still one of the most complete video about lightroom sync 👍🏻

[@Secondcropcreative]

Right on - I appreciate that. Everyone is definitely entitled to the workflow that works for THEM. I appreciate your comment because it took me a lot of trial and error to come up with my workflow, and I never saw one completely put together guide on it.

[@nyctilia]

OMFG you just saved my a**! x) Thankfully it’s just a private thing I’m working on but I am still quite new to Lr and LrC and got confused. I haven’t edited photos for quite a while and mindlessly loaded them into Lr instead of LrC. I made a basic edit a couple of days ago and now I wanted to go more into detail but those photos are actually made for print. So after a good while of Google and KZbin search I realised that the export options on Lr are very limited and you really cannot determine the exact ppi or export in png which blew my mind. I mostly save my stuff locally and had not synched anything (don’t like using the CC cloud space) so I wondered how I could get the edited stuff from Lr to LrC. I never use all those "share" options so I hadn’t touched the cloud button and I feel so stupid not having thought of that :D Anyway, great video which helped me in a way you might not have imagined xD

[@Secondcropcreative]

Awesome stuff - glad I could help and happy shooting my friend!

[@cloesophia]

Nicely Done :)

[@benoitpiret9065]

There are some photos that I like to keep on the IPAD. Usually the 5 stars. I also choose to store locally on the iPad some collections.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Be mindful you might fill up your iPad over time

[@janospasztor3007]

Thanks for an excellent video. I finally understood file management behind LrC/iPad/Cloud. One question: until before I saw your video, I had not specified in the sync dialogue box where files should be saved. When importing files directly though LrC, I specified the folder on my hard disk. However, it is not clear to me where the original files were placed when I imported the pics through my iPad, which I often did. Although I did keep those files separately manually in my archives, but I wonder where else they may be between the cloud and my desktop?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I do believe they just sit in the cloud until they get pulled down into that sync folder on your desktop

[@janospasztor3007]

@@Secondcropcreative Thanks, but how can one "pull down"those files for specific folders? I want to make sure that one day when I need more space on the iPad, when I on sync certain folders, the original pictures are not simply "not lost"but that they are int he right place in the LrC environment. Thanks

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@janospasztor3007 I think there is something getting lost in translation and I will attempt to clear it up. Nothing is stored on your ipad. If you input from an iphone or ipad those files go directly to the cloud - if your internet is not good this could take a long time to sync to the cloud. Next, when you open up LRC, as long as you have defined the location of your sync folder, and have sync active, those actual RAW files will actually download to that folder. For example, I have it syncing to my external harddrive. Once everything is synced and downloaded, I then rename and move those folders to where I need them BUT WHILE I'm in lightroom classic - not in finder/file explorer, becasue this will break the location path that Lightroom recognizes (not a whole deal, you will just need to "FIND MISSING FODLER" within LRC). When I need more space in the cloud/Lightroom Mobile, I go to the ALL SYNCED PHOTOS within LRC and select the photos I can unsync to free up my cloud space. When they are unsynced at this point, as long as they have downloaded fro mthe cloud, they will remain at the lcoation you have specified, or moved to. When in doubt, test it out with some burner files to make sure you don't lose anything...I'm planning on making a follow up video hopefully within the next couple months to hopefully address some of the questions here!

[@janospasztor3007]

@@Secondcropcreative Indeed. I think I understood that. The problem I am trying to address is that before I saw your excellent video, I had not specified [in the sync setup dialogue] the location where files should be stored, and while most of my pictures were imported directly on my desktop into LrC I did use my iPad a few times for major trips. In those cases, since at that time the home location was never specified, I don't know where those files are? This is only the case for 3-4 major trips and the related original files. From now on the setup is clear - and I even tested that new pics I loaded through the iPad are now appearing int he appropriate hard disk... In any case, I look forward to seeing your next video... All best.

[@katwyble9611]

Hello Ross! This video has been super helpful in helping me figure out a Lr & LrC workflow between my PC and iPad Pro. I had a couple of questions. 1 - Why is it if I import my photos in LrC do I only get a smart preview of it on my iPad? It's not useful for editing while on the go that way. Is there a way to change that? 2 - I did the iPad method of importing photos to Lr and then syncing them to my master catalog in LrC. On my iPad I see that the photos say local - original CR2 and cloud - original CR2. My cloud says I'm synced and backed up, but my iPad storage shows that I have 1.75 GB of Lightroom data on it. Will these eventually be deleted or will they stay on the iPad as long as I'm actively editing those photos? I'm seeing that I'm filling up space on my iPad and external SSD with repetitive photos. Is this normal or is there a way to not have so many duplications on every device? Again Thank you for the awesome video. Extremely beneficial and the way you laid out a lot of the workflow was awesome.

[@Secondcropcreative]

1 - unfortunately as far as I know when you sync from the desktop app to the cloud it syncs the smart previews. It’s fine for editing on the go, but if you want to export those files, say I’m your phone, it will be limited to the smart preview size which defaults to 1400 on long edge (I think) - but you can change that in your preferences I do believe 2- as far as your “duplicates” go once they are safely in your catalog you can unsync them from the cloud (when you no longer need access to them in the cloud). Once again I don’t use the cloud as a long term solution- it’s only temporary until I get edits done and files safely back to the catalog and backed up. And finally I can’t remember, but there might be a setting within the Lr app on the iPad/phone that “keeps originals” on your device. I do not have that checked as it will take up a huge chunk of space over time. I believe you access that in the upper right corner of the app

[@katwyble9611]

Ok gotcha! Yeah I do that to my workflow and yeah they are not actually downloading to my iPad. It’s just a cache storage area.Thank for the information and extra clarification. Your videos are very helpful and informative.

[@PL-im4mg]

Amazing tutorial. Thank you! I don’t understand why you need so much adobe cloud space. Can’t you download the files on the ssd and edit everything on the iPad with the ssd attached ? Also, would the 20 gb adobe cloud be enough if you only use it for one shoot at the time and then transfer everything to the classic? Thanks

[@Secondcropcreative]

I leave those files in the cloud for a while so that my clients have time to grab them. But yes. In theory if your shoots to go past 20GB you would be fine.

[@kylewiltshire]

do you export on the Ipad or switch back to desktop to export. Also, do you keep all your exports in one folder?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I usually just export on my phone if I am sending to socials. Otherwise it stays in the catalog and I export on desktop if I want to put them in my print shop

[@seanmsn]

Thanks for the video it helped me clear a few things up. I still have one doubt though. When you speak of the master catalogue, which is it? The catalogue on the SSD or the catalogue on Media4? This is confusing me. Do I just need to add the SSD catalogue to the Media4 catalogue once and from then on when I archive the photos the Media4 catalogue will grow automatically? Sorry if my question doesn’t make sense but this is really confusing to me.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Really good question. I hope I can answer it here. Essentially use one catalog- ideally it should actually be on your computer (recommended by Lightroom itself) - that is just the catalog. The photos can be on any drive(s). In this video (and still to do this day) I merged all my catalogs to a master on the SSD. I back that up to the current drive I’m filling up/backing up. So for instance I have all my working photos/files and catalog on SSD - but then I’m also backing it up to Media 4 and the backup of Media4Backup - so my catalog is always in 3 locations but I’m actively only using one. The two others are backups and for insurance if anything goes wrong.

[@seanmsn]

@@Secondcropcreative Thanks for the quick reply. So, I currently have a catalogue on my MacBook which was created by Lightroom. This catalogue is empty. I currently use an SSD which has my photos and a catalogue. So basically I need to import the SSD catalogue into the MacBook catalogue. The photos can stay on the SSD for now. Am I right in presuming this? Now once the SSD is full, I will want to back this up to a NAS. Is this just a case of copy/paste of the photos and catalogue to the NAS? Also, does the catalogue have to have the same name because in your video it seems that the catalogues had different names. Thanks again for your help.

[@StephaneBihan]

Excellent thank you

[@thecoleandjohnshow7236]

Nice job... one clarifying question please. I get the whole thing... except the one critical step that I think you sort of glossed over... You said, overnight you let the download to your primary drive. So, let's see if I have this correct. I've set up my sync on LR Classic. I will now download using the iPad. This will put them in the cloud AND add them to my library on the Mac Studio but the files will remain in the cloud. Now I can rename the folder in LR Classic etc... The step I'm missing is, how do I download the images from the cloud onto my Mac Studio which is where my primary catalogue is and where my images or stored and backed up.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Once you open up Lightroom Classic (or if it is already open) the files will begin to sync to your catalog/main drive as they get to the cloud. I hope that helps clarify.

[@thecoleandjohnshow7236]

Okay, I've been doing some testing. And I think I answered my own question. The FULL RAW files are automatically downloaded into the folder structure I set up on my SSD drive. It just takes a bit of time. That is incredible! So when I get home from my upcoming trip to Namibia, all my images will be on my Mac Studio! I don't need to re-import at all! Crazy good.

[@thecoleandjohnshow7236]

@@Secondcropcreative Yup, that is what I just figured out. I just finally got an iPad Pro for this trip and this finally helps make sense of how to best use it. Thank you! Great vid.... but an unsolicited suggestion if I may.... the light behind you is distracting.. :). Like I said, UNSOLICITED!!!!! So go ahead and yell at me... but softly as I'm very sensitive... and old...

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@thecoleandjohnshow7236 Hahah no worries and don't worry about it- you're not the first one to mention the infmaous 'light' - thanks for the feedback and comment!

[@marcusineson]

Thank you soooooo much for this I’ve been searching for something that would tell me how to do this. Now going to watch it 3 more times and try to match my system to yours. My one problem may be that I have photos in albums that I imported direct from the camera and Lightroom to the cloud do you have Any advice on how to wrangle these into the workflow you described for example we are part way through 2022 and I have Photo in the cloud plus I’ve imported them direct into Classic (I know I’ve really screwed up) can this be fixed?

[@Secondcropcreative]

Without looking at your catalog I don’t think you’ve “screwed up.” If your original import was onto a computer or hardrive THAT is where your raw files live. The cloud files are essentially “proxies” that sync to your devices (if my understanding is correct). I think in the video I show how you can unsync those files once you no longer need them in the cloud. This saves cloud space, and the raw files should still be on your computer/hard drive. Once again - hard to tell without seeing it and you could test on a dud photo to be sure.

[@Viet-n2s]

Thank you for great tutorial. I have a question: when you import photos from SD card to Lightroom, the RAW files and all the edits will be synced to cloud, but please clarify after that if all the RAW files are still in the iPad storage or not. In case yes, we will need an iPad with a large storage, how may GB iPad are you using? Thanks again!

[@Secondcropcreative]

Once they get backed up in Lightroom I believe the smaller smart files are pulled in from the cloud to iPad when you are editing.

[@benoitpiret9065]

Cool video. I just use time machine to backup my entire Mac.

[@Secondcropcreative]

👌

[@MatthiasJunWilhelm]

1. If I want to sync already uploaded full-resolution RAWs from the cloud back to the same files that exist in my classic catalog but with a different edit, is this possible and which edit version would be prioritized? Will either the classic or the cloud edit-version be lost? 2. How would you proceed to upload and sync specific albums or files in full resolution from Classic to CC (if they are not in the cloud but in Classic)? 3. And by the way could the sync between CC and Classic work as a method to rename files in the cloud (as this is not possible in CC but in Classic)?

[@Secondcropcreative]

1 - I’m not sure if I understand this question correctly but any edits that you make in the cloud will automatically be synced back to classic. There is a way to create “versions” within the cloud though which might solve what you are trying to do here 2- you can sync anything from Classic to the cloud by creating a collection and hitting the sync button or right click and I think there is a “sync with Lightroom” option. I do believe this only works with collections that you make within Classic though. 3- I’m not entirely sure about this one as I’ve never tried ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@MatthiasJunWilhelm]

​@@Secondcropcreativemakes sense :) thank you 🙏

[@jamesss1953]

hi and thank you for this - despite you flitting from one thing to the other it ‘all’ made sense. I was actually able to sort out my ADOBE cloud now. I now fully understand the process I have just given a Like and I have subscribed ✔️ 1 Q? though - imported via iPad, edited, synced = fine. Going back into desktop “collections” can you directly PRINT using the PRINT module? and also, should I wish to export to desk top will it provide an original JPEG (derived as usual from a RAW)….if this makes sense 🥴

[@Secondcropcreative]

So I never use the print dialog (hence why it’s hidden in my Lightroom) so I can’t answer that question - my assumption is yes you can print as long as there is a printer on your network. If you want to export the original raw I would use the history portion of the develop module or make a digital copy and export the original that way (I hope that helps)

[@jamesss1953]

@@Secondcropcreative yes it really helps .... thank you again 😇

[@crashgtr]

Thanks for the video! I have been a long term Lightroom user. Been through disk going bad. Lr version 5. Recently I had to get Lightroom CC. I have some. Photos that need to be imported into the cc but it is saying I need 111gig on my local to import the images. Any idea why they are saying that if I am trying to import them from a portable drive into the cloud?

[@Secondcropcreative]

Is your catalog on your local? If so you will need the space because although those photos are accessible in the cloud they need to be part of the catalog as well

[@ccorProductions]

So, I got some questions :) My problem is that i have different catalogs on different units, one on my desktop, one on my mac and one on my ipad. What would be the procedure to combine these? I also wonder; when my Catalog SSD gets full. And I tranfer the my photos from that SSD to storage in another SSD. I would have to also have to delete the photos from my cloud. But then, will these photos from lets say 2005, still be viewable in lightroom? Or only if I have connected my storage to the computer and then then told lightroom where to find the photos?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I think all these questions are answered in the video. But I’ll try to address them here. First and foremost you need to get all those catalogs combined. There was a part in the video where I show you how to import catalogs into one master. You need to do this and just keep adding more drives over the years. Next, I usually don’t wait to clean out my SSD - as clients get their photos I move them off onto the hdd and backed up right away. You can then go to the synced photos in Lightroom desktop and unsync them safely to free up cloud space. Once again, if the files from the cloud have downloaded to your desktop catalog you are safe to unsync whenever- but don’t unsync until they are double backed up. You will be able to still view any old photos, even back to 2005 as long as they are part of that master catalog. It does drive me nuts now that people advise to have multiple catalogs. It’s got to be a logistics nightmare as well as a headache trying to find the catalogs and the photos that go with them.

[@ccorProductions]

@@Secondcropcreative Thank you for your help! I am sure I will be comming back to this video for help frequently 😄

[@hypertexter]

Hey, great tutorial! I’m trying to achieve exactly this workflow, but I’m stuck at the uploading from my iPad Pro. It’s unbelievably slow and I can’t seem to find a solution to speed that up. Any suggestions?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I am finding this is highly dependent on your iPad specs and internet speed, but might have more to do with the iPad specs. I think there is some processing done on the iPad which is no match for a modern laptop. I plan to make a follow up to this video in the. We year addressing this very issue as I have run into as well. I now only use this workflow for photo shoots that are ideally under 100 photos or if it is my only option to back up in the field.

[@hypertexter]

@@Secondcropcreative well, it’s an iPad Pro M2 1TB 😅😅 I have 50Mbps in upload, but admittedly I haven’t tried yet to hook it up to a 5G Sim card. I have to see if that makes a difference. So far it uploaded ~5000 pictures in 2 days of uninterrupted uploading 😬

[@haileymaxfield7927]

Any advice on syncing presets between Lr and LrC? :)

[@Secondcropcreative]

Great question - I don’t think I’ve made a video on that yet. I did make one however on how to create LUTs from photoshop and import them which may get you started in the right direction

[@stewartlogie]

I use an iPad whilst on photo trips, but have a different understanding from what I got from your video as to the route of files. As you import files from your SD card into Lightroom they most definitely do go onto the device itself. Check the iPad storage part of “settings“ on your iPad and you will see Lightroom as taking up a lot of space after you have ingested a chunk of files. Lightroom then uploads to Adobe’s cloud and removes those files from your iPad. The speed of the upload is, of course, very dependent on your connection. In the local storage part of the “app settings” within Lightroom you can see how much of the iPad’s storage is being used. That number gets less as more is stored in the cloud. The good news is that transfer to the iPad is quite speedy and after that you can unplug SD card. If the files weren’t stored in the iPad storage temporarily you would have to keep the SD card connected until the files had been transmitted over your internet connection, which might be a long time in your average hotel room.

[@Secondcropcreative]

This is probably the case for sure, I’ve just never dug into where the files are as I think a lot of people think they will be stored on your iPad. Which is not the case (as you pointed out above). It’s almost like a temporary staging location until they get to the cloud…

[@lotalove9865]

Great video! I used to sync from Lightroom classic for photos to go to Lightroom cc but I kept starting to edit on the iPad and then things wouldn’t sync properly for me to export on my computer and would have discrepancies on my edits and ratings. Have you ran into this issue at all?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I have not run into this issue - I primarily edit on my phone/iPad exclusively and have started syncing from Lightroom Classic lately as it is 10x faster to process sync to the cloud

[@jackyyeoh7382]

Thank you very much for sharing this video! This video is indeed awesome, simple and straight to the point. I am new to photography and considering to purchase an iPad for Lightroom editing instead of investing on MacBook. I am going to subscribe for the Adobe Photography Plan, which includes access to both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, which is matching with the workflow introduced by you and should be perfect. However, my concern is that the plan only provide 20GB of cloud storage. If possible, I prefer not to upgrade to 1TB which is quite expensive (doubled) and I don't need 1TB of STORAGE, I just need more STAGING SPACE instead. It should be fine since we can desync outdated album to free up the cloud storage, but the Lightroom catalog need space too, it will grow very fast especially advice given from you is to use only 1 single catalog. I am pretty sure the 20GB won't last long. It would be very helpful if you can give some advice to work with only 20GB cloud storage. I don't need to store the albums in the cloud storage. Instead, I just need a way to work on iPad with the 20GB cloud storage only.

[@jackyyeoh7382]

Alternatively, can I subscribe the Lightroom Plan instead? It provides 1TB cloud storage, but only allows access to Lightroom only, without Lightroom Classic. With Lightroom on PC, can I achieve the same tricks you explained with Lightroom classic?

[@Secondcropcreative]

When you “unsync” those files from the cloud it frees up that space. The actual catalog can be as big as you need and span as many external hard drives as you need. Just be aware if you only mount one hd at a time it will need to be the one where your catalog file is located. Also, any undoubted drives with photos on them from your catalog will show up “missing” but that is only because that drive is not attached. 20GB of storage should be fine for most cases as you edit and offload - hopefully this helps you out!

[@jackyyeoh7382]

Thanks for the reply. I got most part of what you are saying as they already mentioned in the video. However, isn't the catalog of Lightroom also stored in cloud? Isn't it occupying part of the 20GB of storage? I can unsync and offload the albums but i can't offload catalog right? Since I need to use only 1 catalog and they should be sync within Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Hope you got what I mean.

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@jackyyeoh7382 no - the actual catalog is on a drive. So when you seyup Lightroom Classic it will ask you were you want the path of your catalog to live. Think of the cloud as a means to share photos across devices/with other people. When you unsync the photos from the cloud they are taking out of the cloud storage, but they remain in the actual catalog. The catalog is acting like a filing system keeping track of not only the location of you files and where you move them (within Lightroom) but also all the edits, metadata, etc. I hope this helps - the concept is really hard to graps, and like I mentioned in the video, it has taken me 5-10 years to lock down my workflow, and then it got turned upside down (for the better) when lightroom cc and mobile where introduced to the mix!

[@jackyyeoh7382]

@@Secondcropcreative , I still not quite sure about the catalog. Since whatever editing you perform in iPad is synchronized with your Lightroom Classic in your PC, right? As far as I know, editing is kept in the catalog, if the catalog is not in the cloud, how the editing synchronization happens? Besides, if what you mentioning is true, does it means the catalog in Lightroom is stored in the iPad itself? Sorry for the long winded technical questions and thanks for your response.

[@vevanochko]

Question? If you stop syncing a collection, is there a way to add them back in to your albums? I was trying to limit the files I had to sync because my computer crashed and I am using my brothers Mac air temporarily and I need one album asap for a client. (i have 30000 in Lightroom cloud) ..But I didn’t realize doing so would remove all of my albums on all of my devices. 😩 is there away to get them to resync without re uploading individually?

[@Secondcropcreative]

If I have understood correctly they are still in your catalog just not in the cloud? If that is the case you can just right click any collection (or create a new collect) and make sure you tick the “sync with Lightroom” option. This will put it back in the cloud and make it available to share a new link with clients

[@Secondcropcreative]

Further more in Lightroom Classic there is a little icon on the left side of your collections and that might be the easiest and quickest way to get things synced back up

[@colinfoyle1856]

This is a great video, thank you. But I have a couple of questions. I get the two drive backups. When the Sandisk SSD is getting full or when you are finished with current projects, you move the photos over to the external drives (one main, and one backup - I believe, although you might use these as backups while you are still working on current projects??? Maybe). But the full catalog is kept on the Sandisk SSD. Do you ever back that up? If so where to? My thought is that the Catalog should be backed up as well as the photos. My next question is, why two new drives every year? Do you take so many photos that they will fill 2TB drives each year? That would mean you have a collection of hard drives (2 for each year), and if you need to access a photo (or group of them from a shoot), you'd need to attach the drive for that year to access the photos. Correct? I don't take anywhere near that many photos. My complete catalog of photos for 12 years can be stored on a 2TB drive, just. You will also need some sort of storage (not hard drive, but cupboard or drawers) to store those hard drives over time. I like your approach, but the 2 x externals for a year of photos is overkill for me. Also, traditional hard drives over time can fail, which is probably why you have a backup. I am trying to decide how best to manage my catalog. I used to be 'year/date' storage, but recently thought that perhaps 'descriptive name' might be better. I could never remember when I took particular photos. I suppose I could leave everything in date folders, but make sure I add Keywords to each photo to enable metadata searches. Sorry, my response, and questions ended up being quite long. But it has raised some thought provoking ideas. Thank you again.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Solid questions. Firstly, yes that catalog is manually backed up in two locations ALWAYS. I’ve never had an issue with my catalog because of having these redundant backups. Second - yes, I go through all those drives, this year I filled up 2TB in October. It’s not that hard , as I label the years that are on the drive. Therefore if a client at least reaches out with “hey, you shot our event in fall 2012,” I at least know where to start looking. The cool thing with the catalog being on the SSD is once Lightroom is opened I can start mounting and in mounting drives and they should all still pop up in my catalog. Hope this helps

[@colinfoyle1856]

@@Secondcropcreative Brilliant! Thanks. I thought you'd insist on there being a double backup of the catalog. My use-case is a bit different. I don't photograph for clients. Just my own enjoyment, and if someone wants to buy an image then fine, but that's not my main aim. I used to run a video event business, and the hobby of video making became a business, and now I don't make videos, in fact the thought of making a video is so abhorrent now. So photography isn't going to be a business for me. Plus, I am a retired IT guy, so not looking for ways to make money, just the best way to make and store images. My full catalog and image library only takes up a little more than 1TB, so I think I could get away with just using two 2TB (or maybe 3 or 4TB) backup drives for many years (or until the drives start to die). I think that's how I am going to approach it, as I don't take as many images as you do. I have one of those Sandisk drives, but 4TB, so that will keep me going for some time. I have also built my own 4TB M.2 Thunderbolt 4 drive, which is even faster than the Sandisk. Other that your approach will work perfectly for my photography. Thanks again.

[@bobbroten2350]

I suggest moving your lamp so you are not backlit. Slightly disjointed but the content is good and answered my questions. Thanks

[@Secondcropcreative]

Thanks for the feedback 🙏✌🏻

[@JuanAgustinRMassa]

Haven't finished the video yet, but wanted to comment/ask, is that an argentine pin in your cap? :)

[@Secondcropcreative]

Very close - Madison, WI

[@GothicKittyMadness]

I'm confused about the adobe sync thing. When I specify location do I just choose my main pictures folder with all my photos?

[@Secondcropcreative]

You can really choose any location. I set it to my external hard drive and when that starts to fill up I periodically move them to a different drive ***while in Lightroom (meaning moving the folders within Lightroom and not Finder or File Explorer)***

[@AngelusHD]

1 - What happens to the ipad photos when you unsync a section of the cloud storage. For my understanding there will be only smart previews stored at the ipad. 2 - Ipad: what if there is no internet connection, this makes syncing to the cloud impossible. Can we use a ssd storage with the same benefits?

[@Secondcropcreative]

When I unsync from the cloud they disappear - which is why I only unsync once they are in Lightroom Classic and backed up on second drive 2 - they will “queue” to be synced until you have internet connection again - I have not tried an external drive with the iPad as it doesn’t fit my workflow - I need them to be on Classic in the catalog

[@AngelusHD]

@@Secondcropcreative Thanks for all your answers and video, got myself an ipad pro and going to try and figure out your workflow with mine.

[@sam6]

Unbelievable video! Can't explain how useful this is. My only concern Is that at the end of the video when you synced the files from Lightroom classic is that from my understanding it doesn't sync the full file, so you'd have to edit on iPad and then export on your Mac if you wanted full res jpeg, is that right?

[@Secondcropcreative]

That is exactly right. When you sync from Classic it only syncs the smart preview. You can set the size of this in catalog settings, but by def you will be limited to 1440px on the long edge of your photos 🙏💪

[@alnoormeralli]

Great tutorial! I just have a master catalog with LrC on my desktop. I am trying to introduce an iPad with external 1TB SSD in my travel workflow. The idea is not to rely on the cloud or internet connection. Instead use the SSD for the source RAW files copied over from the memory cards, and have a “travel” catalog on the iPad. Later when back home, merge the “travel” catalog to the master catalog and move the files from the SSD to the desktop. Is such a configuration possible?

[@Secondcropcreative]

The only limitation I see with this is iPad doesn’t support Lightroom Classic - so without trying it out, I’m not sure this would be the best method if you wanted to get editing right away in the field on the iPad. And that’s the main reason why I do my workflow the way I do (but yes it relies on the cloud and internet to back up in my actual catalog). If I were you and you wanted to test it out - try a small batch your way and report back!

[@alnoormeralli]

@@Secondcropcreative you are correct, the iPad does not do well. Photos app does see the RAW files (the Z9 previews are still not supported); it does not see the SSD. File Manager app does see the SSD but not see the card reader. Lr can see both devices but only for the purpose of importing, not managing RAW file locations. Workaround would be to use a third-party file manager to move the files from the card reader to the SSD, then import from the SSD to Lr without creating a local copy. There is no access to a catalog in Lr the same way as LrC so merging to the LrC master catalog in LrC still requires syncing the RAW files via the cloud. I’ll stick with LrC on a laptop running a separate “travel” catalog and RAW files on SSD.

[@smaruzzi]

You upload and then download the pics from your camera card. Not sure that’s a smart solution, unless you always enjoy a super fast (1Gb) symmetric connectivity or the number of photos is low. I would copy to LRC, backup and then upload. I guess you feel comfortable with this approach. Thanks, Stefano

[@Secondcropcreative]

You are exactly right. I’ll be updating this video based on findings such as that. The only issue I have with your approach is the RAW files are not actually synced to the cloud when going to LRC first. Only the smart previews, so any exporting or sharing done that way will always result in a max long edge export/share of 2,800px

[@Tetra84]

If you only have a 128gb iPad and you're going somewhere (ex Antarctica) where you don't have access to your computer OR the cloud for like 2 weeks.. What's the best way to utilize the LightroomCC/Classic workflow when you do get back to internet/your main computer? the 128gb iPad won't store THAT much.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Great question - I think in that particular special circumstance I would suggest going the route of shooting on multiple cards. This process definitely only works when you have the option to access internet so they are synced to the cloud right away. If you are going to be away from internet for an extended period I would recommend multiple cards.

[@aljovanbaarsen37]

I have the approach of importing everything in LRC and than sync to LR. But that sucks. Is there no other solution for my setup?

[@Secondcropcreative]

Yes. It’s all up there in the video. You can import from your iPad or phone and have it sync back to your LRC catalog

[@aljovanbaarsen37]

@@Secondcropcreative i have watched this bid again. Thinking about upgrading to 1tb plus LRC. Is there a way to upload the raw files that i got for about six years in the cloud?

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@aljovanbaarsen37 Unless you absolutely need them in the cloud, I would advise they just stay a part of your catalog...I only use the cloud storage as a temporary solution until photos are backed up from the cloud...I also use the cloud as a means to share content with my clients...but everything lives on the harddrives and stays within the catalog....

[@mankudin_]

where do you put this master catalog, in the macbook drives or your externals?

[@mankudin_]

im pretty new to setting up lightroom. what should i do first, maybe some step by step to achieve what shown in this video

[@Secondcropcreative]

I have my external ssd that has my catalog on it and any of my photoshoots that I’m currently editing. Once my galleries are off to my clients I archive/backup those photoshoots to make space on the ssd. But I also backup that ssd after every session so my photos are in two locations as well as my Lightroom catalog

[@PL-im4mg]

How do you format the ssd to be used with iPad and Mac??

[@Burritosarebetterthantacos]

So it only syncs when you have the ssd connected to the desktop?

[@Secondcropcreative]

It will sync to Lightroom classic when you have it setup to sync with Lightroom Classic. Otherwise it’s always synced via the cloud with Lightroom mobile/cc

[@Burritosarebetterthantacos]

@@Secondcropcreative Thanks.

[@Jbzy3000]

This made sense but would it be better to just get a NAS and move all the files over to it so it can grow as your catalog grows and you don’t need to buy drives every year.

[@davideurietti2561]

i've found your video very useful. I've only one doubt: where did you save the catalog? Are all they in your external hard drive (Sandisk)? Or are they still in Macbook?

[@Secondcropcreative]

Catalog is on the “staging” ssd and backed up twice on the 2 external hds

[@ed8311]

What do you do with screen brightness when editing? I find it a necessity to edit at 100%brightness and found it hugely disappointing when i figured out that my ipad pro 2021 m1 12,9 auto dims down the peak brightness of the display when it get hot, specially as it hapens just after 10-20 minutes of editing in lighroom. You dont have the same issue?

[@Secondcropcreative]

Personally I always edit on 50% brightness and always make sure night shift is off as it messes with color grading/colors

[@TylerBowmanPhotography]

I pay for 20 tb of storage so I can edit anywhere and it’s all synced. Is there a way to save some money?

[@Secondcropcreative]

What are you using? 20tb is a lot of space - this approach is working for me. A 2tb drive every year

[@brothertax]

Who’s your ISP? What speeds do you get?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I use an AT&T hotspot that gets 20-30 down a lot less up

[@brothertax]

What’s your average monthly usage, if you don’t mind me asking?

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@brothertax You don't want to know :S - since the pandemic both my wife and I are t home working 8-5 and then she has business school at night, and I teach on the side too, and then all the streaming....I'll tell you if you are hot or cold with your guesses....

[@brothertax]

@@Secondcropcreative 1TB

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@brothertax I would say you are definetly warm/in the ballpark (depending on the month)

[@42Pandas]

How can you have one catalog when Lightroom Classic chokes with a high volume of images? How do you avoid the choke every time you want to sync?

[@Secondcropcreative]

I only usually have one or two of my external hard drives attached at a time. I’ve never had an issue with it choking.

[@AngelusHD]

So what if your ipad only has 64gb and want to import your photos on the ipad, is it allowed by adobe to use an external hdd when importing?

[@Secondcropcreative]

So when I’m importing with the iPad it all goes immediately into cloud storage (adobe cloud) so depending on what your cloud storage is like you will have to clear it out ever so often with another hdd as demonstrated. I suppose if you want them on your iPad that’s fine for a temporary solution but it is not a long term plan

[@AngelusHD]

@@Secondcropcreative thx, that sounds hopeful and no i’m not planning to use the 64gb storage, i’m trying to figure out if it’s enough for apps only. I use a NAS which i use like a big raid backup solution and the important things like fotos are copied on a big external HDD. So this is your setup: - importing your photos go’s directly to your external SSD(1TB) which is linked to your adobe cloud, every change on your SSD will be mirrored to your adobe cloud. - When you’re r done you make a copy on a external HDD of that year/month/event.

[@Secondcropcreative]

@@AngelusHD for the most part 1 - import on iPad (this goes directly to cloud) 2- get on my laptop/desktop with external ssd plugged in and open Lightroom Classic (this immediately starts the sync from the iPad/adobe cloud) 3- once fully synced in Lightroom Classic I copy all those files to my other two external hdd The ssd is kind of like staging and for edits, but if I don’t need the files in the cloud I “unsync” them to save my cloud storage, but I only do this after I know the ssd is sync and they are backed up on the back up on the external hard drives

[@AngelusHD]

@@Secondcropcreative Right... Let me try again :) 1 - On the Ipad there is not catalog like in LrC. 2 - Imports go directly to the cloud there is no SSD involved, (Internet connection is needed when importing) which could be a problem when we are on the go. 2a - On the iPad itself, only lives proxy's and not the raw content(photos) (for editing you need either internet or a SSD where the RAW content is stored) 3 - Sync your photos to your SSD in LrC. 4 - Make the backups. Does the proxy's take a lot of space? i'm starting to feel it's better to get the 256gb version and is probably the bare minimum. Thx for the explanations.

[@harrywade8276]

@@Secondcropcreative thanks for the vid. Once unsynced what happens to access to those photos on iPad? Or how do you make further edits on iPad to unsynced image? Can you even view unsynced image on iPad? Or do you unsync ONLY when finished edits on iPad?

[@Burritosarebetterthantacos]

I cant get the presets from my desktop LR to sync to the iPad and ive tried literally everything. At this point Im fed up. Capture one here I come.

[@davien628]

Thanks for the video! I also do most of my editing in LR CC but have yet to figure out the best way to manage shooting photos in RAW+JPG because LR CC doesn’t have the option to group them together. Any suggestions for best workflow to manage shooting in RAW+JPG?

[@Secondcropcreative]

If it were me I’d probably create a folder for RAWs and a folder for jpgs within the project album/folder. I only shoot raw so have no use for the jpgs, but I would assume you are only editing the raws?

[@davien628]

@@Secondcropcreative thanks for the response! Yes I edit in raw but a lot of times the my fujifilm camera outputs good enough jpegs that I can share which is nice and why I shoot in both. I’m having a headache though managing them - one example is just flagging my favorites. I don’t know if I should be flagging the raw, the jpeg, or both. 😅 Really wish they could just group them together like in LR classic!

[@scooterhastings4280]

This is a crazy ask, but would you able to hop on a zoom call or something to walk me through how to get my shit right lol. My catalog is a mess and I need a fresh start haha. I just started editing on an ipad and want to nail in my workflow so it works perfectly with my mac. I am willing to pay haha.

[@Secondcropcreative]

I’d love to but my schedule has been crazy - hence no new activity on here in a while 😳

[@YouBDub]

Great video but the background key light in your setup is very distracting, I keep focusing in how the light change your nose rather than what you are saying.

[@Secondcropcreative]

Hahah. I appreciate the honest feedback 👃

[@tiffanyhardy2432]

🙌🏾

[@Secondcropcreative]

🙏