I'd like to make it a dumb question day - clone stamp, finding photos in lightroom

[Brownbear]

1. In Photoshop elements my clone stamp tool, which I typically use to erase dust spots is set to a pattern stamp. I can't find where to set it back to normal so that it just blends in the dust spots like it used to do.

2. In light-room 4.1 is there a method to find the photos you have uploaded into light-room? Sometimes I can find the folders no problem, but I don't know how I get there, and that is the problem.

In the light-room book it says to create a light-room photos folder in your pictures folder on the c drive which I have now created.

However, there is a another folder in my pictures folder called light-room, which I think was created when I installed light-room. When I look in this folder I do not see my light-room photos (the ones I uploaded to lightroom or my edits in lightroom... I only see the light-room back up photo icons. I can see all my lightroom photos in my pictures file in the c drive, so maybe it is not a concern...?

Thank you.

[rpcrowe]

There is a drop down menu (down arrow to the left of "Size") which will allow you to change the shapes of the clone stamp. The [ key will decrease the size of the stampand the ] key will increase the size. The clone stamp is one of my favorite tools. I will often use it at 100% density to clean up my backgrounds on dog pictures such as getting rid of the leads. I will also use it at about 50% density to clean up the faces of some of our rescue dogs who have stained faces.

BTW: that isn't cheating because after the have been with us for a short while, we will have cleaned up their faces. Photoshopping is just to get a jump on their portraits for www.petfinder.com.

I can't help you with finding images in PSE which is probably best done with key words. However, I have never liked the PSE system of filing images. I have filed my images for years in files and could always immediately find the image. When I started using PSE, I began to misplace images. One thing which can throw a monkey wrench into the PSE system is deletiong images from other than in the organizer, or deleting images from within the organizer and not deleting them from the hard drive.

I don't like that Photoshop Premiers Elements mixes my video clips with my still images in Organizer. Or am I goofing up on that?

Returning to Photoshop CS6, the images are always where I want them...

[Scott Stephen]

On Lightroom, and finding photos:
a.) I would pick up a portable hard drive and back all my shots up. One day your computer will die, and you don't want all your photos on it with no backup copy.
b.) I am not sure what you mean when you say you can't find them. Maybe you have let the program set up a file for you, but you don't know where it is. Better to do this manually yourself than to let Lightroom do it for you. Better to just make a file and call it "Photos 2012" or something, and then always download photos from your camera manually into this folder first, rather than letting Lightroom open the camera up for you. I give every batch of photos its own new folder within that Photos 2012 folder, using a date-description format (2012-10-27; Halloween kids and zoo day). Only after I have manually saved all the photos from the memory card into that folder do I then import them into Lightroom. If you let Lightroom run the show, it might be hard to tell where the photos are going.

[djg05478]

I'm no help with your specific questions, but in general, here is a humungous tutorial resource for LR4. http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-lightroom-4/

Hope this helps

[dan marchant]

2. In light-room 4.1 is there a method to find the photos you have uploaded into light-room? Sometimes I can find the folders no problem, but I don't know how I get there, and that is the problem.

What do you mean by find?
a) You imported them into Lightroom but now can't find them in Lightroom, or
b) You can see them in Lightroom but want to find them on the actual physical disk?

[Brownbear]

Thank you Richard. I will be happy to reset my clone stamp tool back to normal... I can find all my photos in PSE no problem because they are in my pictures file and I give them a unique name.

Just curious what does one use a patterned clone stamp tool for?

Thank you to everyone else who replied. I have a hard drive back up, and I have started saving the photos I have edited with lightroom in a unique file, and I can find these photos in my pictures file, no problem.

What I can't find are my photos in Lightroom itself. ie. when I open up lightroom and try to find the photos I've imported into Lightroom or edited with Lightroom, I can't always find them.. Sometimes list of the pictures in folders appears on the left hand side of the screen, and then I am fine... It is getting to the list of folders that I can't figure out...

Thank you.

[ScoutR]

1. In Photoshop elements my clone stamp tool, which I typically use to erase dust spots is set to a pattern stamp. I can't find where to set it back to normal so that it just blends in the dust spots like it used to do.

If you right click on the clone stamp tool you will have 2 choices: clone stamp tool OR Pattern Stamp Tool. You must have accidentally clicked the Pattern Stamp Tool. Just right click on the Clone Stamp Icon select Clone Stamp.

2. In light-room 4.1 is there a method to find the photos you have uploaded into light-room? Sometimes I can find the folders no problem, but I don't know how I get there, and that is the problem.

I'm not sure what you mean by this???

In the light-room book it says to create a light-room photos folder in your pictures folder on the c drive which I have now created.

That sounds right, so if you want to find your photos in Windows Explorer you just navigate to the folder you created. When you import photos into lightroom new folders will automatically be created in Explorer by Lightroom depending on how you have asked LR to import the photos. It's important that you let LR set the structure. Don't move things around or rename or anything else in Explorer or the LR catalogue won't be updated and it will not work properly.

Edit: I just read Scott's post and I don't mean to contradict, But I had a horrible time with Lightroom when I started doing things manually in Windows Explorer. It might have just been the way I was doing things.... Soooo all I'll say is be careful if that's what you plan to do.

If you want to find them in Lightroom the same file structure "should" show up in the left hand panel of the Library screen in Lightroom. You might have to click the dropdown arrow for FOLDERS and then you should see your file structure. I cannot say exactly what yours will look like because there are various options for how you set this up when you import the photos. For instance I have mine set up by the year and then date. i.e. Lightroom Photos > Year> Date

When you have that sorted out, you can easily find specific photos by taking advantage of the database functions at the top of the library screen. You have to be in Grid view in order to see your options, but you can sort and filter using text, attributes, and metadata.

However, there is a another folder in my pictures folder called light-room, which I think was created when I installed light-room. When I look in this folder I do not see my light-room photos (the ones I uploaded to lightroom or my edits in lightroom... I only see the light-room back up photo icons. I can see all my lightroom photos in my pictures file in the c drive, so maybe it is not a concern...?

This also sounds as it should be. I have the same on my setup. I don't mess with it because it was created when Lightroom was installed, and to tell you the truth I'm not sure what it is which is why I don't touch it.

Hope that helps, take your time and keep reading and asking questions until you get things set up the way you want.

Wendy

[Brownbear]

Thank you everyone... I now have my clone stamp tool back and I can see my photo folders in Light room.

I also learned that if you right click on the icons in PSE, other options come up. (Thank you Wendy... And yes I will leave that file folder alone)

Scott. Thank you. Yes, I think it is best for me to use explorer to retain control over where my photos are placed. That is why I can find all my PSE photos (loaded in explorer first) which I neglected to do with lightroom, and will do from now on, following Wendy's naming strategy..

Thank you to all!

[davidedric]

With reference to Lightroom (4.2 in my case) and storing photos. It may sound a bit complicated, but I really only want in LR the pictures I will work on.

- I have all my photos that I want to work on in LR in a single folder structure, with subfolders to allow me to manage them (by event, or whatever). Mine happens to be on a separate drive partition on my internal hard drive, but it could be anywhere.
- When I have a new set of photos, I first upload from my camera onto an external hard drive. I just store them in subfolders named by the date they were taken. That's then my complete archive.
- Then I create a folder or folders in my LR folder structure for the events I've just photographed
- Then, I copy the photos (normally just the RAW images) that I think might be keepers from the external drive into my newly created folders (use whatever tool you want, I happen to have an old copy of ACDsee)
- Then I open LR and Import my new folder

This way, I always have two copies (actually three, because my internal drives are mirrored) of what I think are my best images, but don't find myself overwhelmed in LR with thousands of images.

Works for me so far.