PhotoWalkPro

I use a lot of images in my blog.  To save time in preparing them for upload I use a great little feature in Lightroom called Export.  I know, it doesn’t sound very sexy but the time it saves me means I can spend more time typing and less time resizing, changing color spaces, and moving files to my blog folder.  Since I import all of my images to Lightroom, the Export function is my logical choice for handling all of these functions and since I have it set up as a preset, all I have to do is select my images and my preset, that’s all there is to it.

The real secret to making this feature work for you is to set up your User Defined Preset.  When you first click on Export under the File menu, you will be presented with a dialog box to define your parameters.

Start by selecting the location where you would like your images to end up once exported.  Next, set up your file naming.  You can use the pre-defined choices or set up your own naming convention.

To set up your own naming convention, click on Edit from the drop-down menu.

Next, choose the type of file you would like to export your photos as.  I choose JPEG for mine but there are several file types to choose from.  If you use the JPEG option, you will also be able to select the image quality.  The larger the number, the higher the quality and the less compression that will be applied.

The next section will define the image settings for your exports.  If you are exporting for the web, you will want to select sRGB.  You can also choose to have your images resized for your particular purpose.  I choose 800×800 which means that my images are resized to fit within that pixel dimension while maintaining their aspect ratios.

The last two options allow you to add some metadata and define what you would like to happen after the export is complete, i.e., open the images in a folder, open them in Photoshop, burn them to a disc, or do nothing.  I like mine to open in a folder view just to verify that I didn’t forget anything.

Now that all of your settings are in place, click the Add button at the bottom left of the dialog box and then name your preset.

That’s it for the setup.  You are now ready to process your images with a couple of mouse clicks.  To make it happen, just go to the Library in Lightroom and ctrl-click on the images that you want to export.

Now go up to the File menu, click on Export with Preset, and then choose your newly created preset.

That’s all there is to it.  You images are now waiting for you in the folder of your choice.  This is a great little time saving tool and will work for many of your processing needs like making a burn folder or preparing images for email.  So give it a shot and see if it doesn’t save you a little time for the rest of your busy day.

Related posts:

1. Get a Little Action In With Droplets
2. Sharing Your Lightroom Presets
3. Bridge vs. Lightroom
4. Cleaning Out Your Lightroom Catalog (Part B)
5. Lightroom Export Plug-In for AdoramaPix

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Image Processing, Lightroom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.