Import and the catalog

Learning goal

You will be able to explain where your photos go when you bring them into an editing program and what the program does with them, and gain the habits of working safely with a catalog. You will see that the catalog file holds not the photos but their location, information and edits; you will tell adding photos in place that already sit in the archive apart from copying those that come from a card; you will choose the destination folder, naming, keywords and preview size during import; you will prevent and solve the missing file problem that appears when you move photos outside the program; and you will use collections, which put a photo into several groups without copying it. You will also learn how applying a single preset to all photos during import can affect faces of different skin tones.

The question

You have come back from a weekend bike tour with your friends; there are three hundred twelve frames on the card. When you open the program and press the import button, a window appears and at the top stand three options: add, copy, move. Because you don't know which one you should choose, you pick one at random. A few minutes later the thumbnails line up on the screen; but something is strange: the images look lively at first, then one by one change a little, their colors fading slightly.

The next day, when you drag the photos to another folder on your computer, question marks appear in the corners of the thumbnails in the program and the photos won't open. How do photos get into the program? Is what goes into the program the photo itself, or a note about it? In this lesson we will talk about import and the catalog.

Context

In Lesson 15.3 we saw moving photos from the card to the computer, copying files and verifying the transfer, and in Lesson 15.4 placing them in folders in date order. In those lessons we were dealing with the files themselves. In a catalog-based program, on the other hand, there is one more layer: while the files sit in a folder, the program keeps a separate record about them.

Understanding this distinction prevents many surprises with an editing program: whether the photos will be deleted if you delete the program, how a photo can sit in two albums at the same time, why thumbnails change, or why photos suddenly seem to have disappeared. This lesson tells how that record book works and how to work with it safely.

Simple explanation

What does the catalog hold?

A catalog file is the data file the program keeps on the computer that records each photo's address, information, keywords, stars and all its edits. The photos themselves aren't inside this file; they go on sitting in their folders. Think of a library's card catalog: the cards hold the books' locations and information, but the books are on the shelves. If the catalog is deleted the photos aren't lost, but the notes and edits you kept about them are.

This distinction comes up when you want to delete a photo too. Most catalog-based programs offer two options: removing the photo only from the catalog, or deleting the file from the disk too. In the first, the file goes on sitting in its folder, and only the program no longer shows it; in the second, the file goes to the trash. Confirming without reading which button you pressed is the most common route to a loss you didn't want; when you aren't sure, first removing it only from the catalog is always a choice you can undo.

A preview is a small or medium-sized copy of an image that the program creates to show a photo quickly. At the very start of import, the program shows the small JPEG the camera embedded inside the RAW file; this image carries the camera's own color and contrast preferences. A few seconds later the program processes the raw data its own way and creates a new preview, and the thumbnails change. The colors fading slightly isn't a mistake, but the shift from the camera's interpretation to the program's; editing starts from this point anyway.

What is chosen during import?

To add in place is to introduce photos that already sit in the archive folder to the catalog without moving or copying them; it is the simplest route for photos already copied to the computer and backed up, as in Lesson 15.3. If the photos are still on the card, the copy option copies them to the date folder you specify and adds them to the catalog at the same time. The move option, on the other hand, removes the files from their original place; it isn't safe when importing from a card.

The import window is also a good place to add information to the files: applying a template that adds the date and event to the names, adding keywords and copyright information common to the whole shoot, and choosing the preview size. Small previews speed up import but make you wait when you enlarge photos; large previews slow down import but speed up browsing afterward. Many programs also offer an option that prevents the same file from being imported a second time.

What are a missing file and a collection?

A missing file is a photo that has a record in the catalog but that the program can't open because it can't find it at its recorded location. The most common cause is moving or renaming photos outside the program, with the computer's file manager: the file has changed place but the catalog's record goes on pointing to the old address. The way to prevent this is to do moving and renaming from inside the program; when it does happen, showing the file's new location with the program's find or relink option reconnects the record. If the files haven't been deleted, no edit is lost.

A collection is a virtual group that brings photos together independently of their folders. A photo can sit in several collections at the same time without its file being copied: bike tour, best portraits, exhibition candidates. Folders show the files' real location; collections show what you want to do with them. Because the catalog holds all this information, you need to include the catalog file in the backup system from Lesson 15.6 too.

During import it is also possible to apply a preset, that is, a saved sequence of edits, to all the photos. But a warm, contrasty preset set up on one portrait that makes a particular skin look good may not give the same result on another skin: it can push light skin toward orange, and dark skin toward an over-darkened, flat tone. It is safer to settle for a neutral start during import and deal with faces one by one later.

Visual evidence

This time you import the bike tour's second card with a plan. You choose the copy option, point to the date folder in your archive as the destination, and rename the files with the shooting date and the name "bike-tour." You add the keywords "bike," "friends," "highland road" and your copyright information to every frame, choose large previews and go get your coffee. When you come back, the thumbnails have shifted from the camera's lively interpretation to the program's calmer one.

The first folder you moved outside the day before, you reconnect by clicking the program's missing file mark and showing its new location; all the edits are in place. Then you open a collection named "tour-portraits" and add the portraits of your four friends to it, without copying their files. You see that a warm preset you tried during import pushed your freckled, light-skinned friend toward orange, and your dark-skinned friend toward a flat tone with blocked-up shadows; you remove it and edit the two portraits separately. In the evening you also back up the catalog file to the external drive.

Common mistakes

Summary

The catalog file holds not the photos but their address, information and edit history; the photos stay in their folders, and the embedded preview seen at the start of import is replaced a few seconds later by the program's own interpretation. Photos that sit in the archive are added in place, those on a card are copied; during import the destination folder, naming, keywords and preview size are chosen, and if photos are moved outside the program they become missing files and need to be relinked. Collections group files without copying them, and the catalog file is included in the backup; settling for a neutral start during import and editing faces separately later keeps the color of every skin.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will import a shoot into your program in a planned way.

1. When importing a card, choose the copy option, point to the archive folder in date order as the destination, and choose a template that adds the shooting date and the event to the names.
2. Add keywords common to the whole shoot and your copyright information from the import window.
3. Watch how the thumbnails change at the start of import, and note the difference between the camera's embedded preview and the program's interpretation.
4. Add a photo to three different collections; then find where your catalog file sits on the computer and include it in your backup.

Check yourself

• Could you explain to someone the difference between the catalog file and the photo files?
• If you moved a photo outside the program, do you know how you would relink it?
• If you used a preset during import, how was the color of faces of different skin tones affected by it?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What does the catalog file contain?

• A) The photos themselves
• B) Only JPEG copies
• C) The photos' address, information and edit history
• D) The camera's settings

2. Why do the thumbnails change color a few seconds after the start of import?

• A) The program shifts from the camera's embedded preview to the preview it processed itself
• B) The files are corrupted
• C) The card is slow
• D) The catalog has been deleted

3. You moved photos to another folder outside the program, and question marks appeared in the program. What should you do?

• A) Shoot the photos again
• B) Delete the catalog
• C) Uninstall the program
• D) Show the new location with the program's find or relink option

4. A warm preset you applied during import shifted a light-skinned friend toward orange. What is safest?

• A) Import with a neutral start and edit faces one by one later
• B) Make the preset even stronger
• C) Delete the portraits
• D) Rename the catalog file

Answers

1. C — The catalog keeps a record of the photos; the photos stay in their folders.
2. A — The embedded preview is the camera's interpretation; when the program creates its own, the thumbnails change.
3. D — Relinking points the record to the file's new location; the edits aren't lost.
4. A — A single preset doesn't give the same result on every skin; faces should be dealt with separately.

Summary card

• The catalog keeps a record of the photos; the photos stay in their folders.
• First the embedded preview shows; then the program's interpretation.
• Photos in the archive are added in place, those on a card are copied; moving is risky.
• Move from inside the program; if lost, relink. Back up the catalog file.
• Collections are virtual; start neutral on import, edit faces one by one.

Bridge to the next lesson

The bike tour's three hundred twelve frames are now in the catalog, waiting to be edited. But editing them all would take days, and most of them are blurry, repeated or eyes-closed frames anyway. You need to choose twenty frames for an exhibition; which ones will you keep and which will you cut? How do we choose 20 out of 500 photos? The next lesson talks about culling, cutting fast and decisively in two rounds with stars and flags.