Lightroom: Create an Image Renaming Preset

by Allen Kuhlow

I prefer to rename my digital files as I bring them into Adobe Lightroom. I eliminate the generic file name that my camera provides and create a name that has more meaning for me. Renaming the files is easy and efficient during the import process, so it speeds my workflow.

The process of importing images into Lightroom requires a few minutes to set up. However, subsequent importing sessions are fast and efficient once the importing process has been established.

I can rename these images automatically because I have created a preset that performs this task and several others as I import them. Here’s how I do that.

Begin with Lightroom open to the Library module. Near the bottom of the Library’s left panel, click the Import button.

The Import screen contains three columns. Look in the right column for the section titled File Renaming; you may need to click the twistie/triangle to open this section.
Select Edit from the Template dropdown menu.

I start my new file-naming preset with my name. Then I press the underscore key ( _ ).

It’s a good idea to use an underscore to tie the parts of your file name together.

Notice that Lightroom provides an example of how your files will be named if you use the current file-naming preset.

The next part of my file name is the date. You will find several options when you click the Additional dropdown menu.

Note: If you are a portrait or wedding photographer, you might include your client’s name instead of the date.

When you have made your choice, click the Insert button to add the date to your preset. Press the underscore key ( _ ) again.

Again, Lightroom provides an example for your approval.

The last part of my file-naming preset is called the Filename number suffix.

This is the last portion of the file name that my camera gives an image when it is saved on my camera’s memory card.

This option is located in the Image Name dropdown menu.

The last step in this process of creating a new file-naming preset is to save your work.

You might be tempted to click the Done button at the bottom of the window, but that would be a mistake because it will cancel the work you have just completed!

The correct way to save your new file-naming preset is to click the Preset dropdown menu at the top of the window, and click the appropriate option.

If you are creating a new preset, choose Save Current Settings as New Preset.

If you are modifying a preset, you could choose Rename preset “xxxxxx”, where the name of the template you are modifying appears inside the quotation marks.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is part of my process for importing images into Lightroom. There are other options in the Import screen that I use while I’m importing images, and they make image management efficient and fast. These importing tasks include deciding which information to apply to the images and deciding where the images will be stored. You can save all of these options to make your workflow even faster and more efficient.

I’ve limited this posting to the file-renaming part of my Lightroom import process. Other parts of the process will have to wait for another time.

Bracket the Composition, Not the Exposure

by Allen Kuhlow

I’ve never been a big fan of bracketing as a photographic technique. It was costly when film was the medium for recording an image; it seems even less necessary with the instant feedback that digital photography provides.

However, I love the freedom that digital photography provides. Knowing that I don’t have to pay for film and its processing has inspired me to create more variety in my images. So now I am passionate about bracketing – bracketing to exercise my creativity!

I’ve included two pairs of images to show you what I mean. This first pair was created in Florence, Italy. The top of Brunelleschi’s famous dome is featured in a closeup in this pair of images. The basic difference between these two images is a slight tilt in one of them. The first image, in which the dome and its cupola are more vertical, seems solid and grounded. The second image, the tilted one, seems more fluid, and it seems to pull my eye upward into the sky.

Duomo, Florence, Italy -  © Allen R. Kuhlow

  


The second pair of images came from the front window of a Florentine gelateria, not too far from Brunelleschi’s famous dome. Here, the difference is the result of using both of the cameras I was traveling with: my vertical camera and my horizontal camera. I usually see more than one image before I bring my camera to my eye, so I held my camera horizontal and created the first image. I found myself thinking about how many gelato cones this shop must sell every day! Then I was drawn to the height of the stacks, and I thought about how many scoops of gelato each person stacked on these cones. This became the inspiration for the vertical image.

Gelato Cones, Florence, Italy - © Allen R. Kuhlow



I seldom keep multiple versions of each image I create, but the practice of creating them gets my creativity moving and sets me free to look around and explore with the camera. Digital photography has expanded my freedom to try new ideas, to concentrate on the image and not on the camera.