lightroom catalog headache

[msinger]

so my situation is this --


i send a hi-res copy of all the images from my shoot, untouched, to my assistant via a zipped file that i put on my server. he imports these untouched files and edits them all in lightroom. he then exports and sends me the catalog w/ all the new develop settings he's applied to the images but not the images themselves since i have a copy of those on my computer. i try to import his catalog to apply to his develop settings to the set of images i have on my computer. but, even though the images have the same naming system, i cannot access the "existing photos" dialog in order to apply the changes.


what am i doing wrong? and is there an easier way to do this?

[jorgemonkey]

What you could do is delete your untouched images from your Lightroom catalog (NOT from the computer), then import your assistants catalog.

Or now that I think about it if the changes made to the images were written to XMP files, you could just copy those XMP files from your assistants file to yours and that should show you the files.

[SmartWombat]

I've never done that with the images already in my catalog.

I have done nearly what you described.
Copies of the images on my laptop in a folder structure.
c:\pictures\2008\dtm\brandshatch\*.*
Imported into Lightroom, rated, picked, and edited.
Then the images exported as a catalog.
Images copied to the house NAS into a similar folder structure.
y:\pictures\2008\dtm\brandshatch\*.*
The catalog imported into my PC catalog.

BUT because the originals were at C: and my copy at Z: the images are not found.
That is easy to fix by clicking on the thumbnail in gallery view and then finding the image on Z: - there's also an option to find all nearby images. Problem solved !

I have also copied over the XMP files from the laptop to the NAS and then synchronised the folder changes. But it doesn't seem to preserve the imported/edited order in the history that I get when I import the catalog from the laptop.

[drg]

There are a couple of solutions that are pretty simple to make work.

1. The catalog/database for LR has to reference the same drive/image location. Just be sure you and the assistant have your working copies located on the same drive path.
1a. Then click on the appropriate catalog. That is the filename ending in .lrcat. The older catalog of previous edits can be stored separately (in another folder or 're-named'). The Catalogs could be named as a sequence (One.lrcat, Two.lrcat, etc.) or just replaced.

2. If you are doing extensive work in Photoshop and are generating *.psd files and large sidecar *.xmp files there are workarounds but my experience has been it is simpler to use a common drive to work from. This could be a DVD-ROM (the media is pretty cheap) if large enough, or just use an external Hard Drive to keep everything in one place. This does have the disadvantage of requiring it to be physically transferred between the two of you.

3. Another option is to Export a 'Collection'. Then you can pass the files that have been altered separately each time and then later add the collections together in to a new Master.

I bet you are trying to Import via the menu the new Catalog. Just click on the new *.lrcat file from Windows (if using that, Apple is very similar) and your copy of Lightroom will open it as a new Catalog.

There is a review of the official Adobe Manual and training materials that I wrote for Photography review at this link:
http://reviews.photographyreview.com...and-classroom/

If I can further help you interpret how to make this work, please do not hesitate to ask!

When I work with various other photographers, designers, assistants, etc., we are now converting our working files to *.dng (of course we keep separate original camera raws) before embarking on passing the work around, either one file or whole catalogs at a time.