Lightroom: Collection Sets

Lightroom: Picks, Selects and Prints Collections

I use the collection sets for almost all of my image collections. The image collections are different from the processing collections. The image collections are collections that I copy photos to, manually. They are not based on a selection criteria, just on my arbitrary, spur of the moment, judgment. The maintenance collections are smart collections based on specific criteria such as: “Did I forget to fill in the headline or the copyright of the photo?”

Almost all the collections sets contain 3 collections:

1. Selects
2. Prints
3. Picks

Notice the order, it’s important to me.

The Selects

The photos after the import that I selected, with the Pick/Reject, for further work. These are the photos that I will be processing, keywording, developing…

The Prints

The photos that I print for the customer. Not all collections have the Prints, because some collections are not to be printed, but just delivered as JPEGs or TIFFs (mostly JPEGs). Why a separate collection for the print? The processing is usually different for a print than for a file. Usually, I significantly increase the Brightness for the print. The noise reduction is different, often nonexistent, it depends…

Why a Prints collection? I need to be able to give the customer another print, a few month later, that will match their existing one.

All the Prints come from the Select collection.

The Picks

Very few photos make it into the Picks, but occasionally there’s one here and and another one there. This is the portfolio material!

All the Picks come from the Select collection.