Thanks, Jim, for picking up this thread.
LR is used as a photo editing and a photo managing & cataloging system. When shooting and editing in RAW, LR stores all information in a sidecar file, and in order to see the edits in an app that's not LR, one has to export the photos (e.g., to jpg format).
I don't export images from LR to anywhere but Flickr for two reasons:
- I already have plenty of photos on my HD without exporting / duplicating them locally
- LR is and always will be my system of truth: often enough I tweak photos when I look at them. Keeping a collection of duplicates in sync (jpgs and RAW) just adds too much of a headache (though using a publishing services within LR might help with the sync).
Like most photographers, I have a workflow, which I am quite content with, using one or more SW for each step: import from camera, selecting photos, tagging, editing, final usage and storage. So being curious what other MC users are doing in this context, I had asked about use cases (
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,126085. The two compelling answers were:
- to easily access photos and play slideshows with music on your TV
- to manage metadata / keywords
As I don't have a TV, the first case doesn't apply to me, but I can see the value.
Tagging is a different story, and my thoughts on that are:
- Tagging / keywording works well (enough?) for me in LR.
There's no doubt though that MC's meta data features are far superior, and I am very open to further explore possibilities. - No matter the workflow or use case (first MC then LR or vice verse), tagging would have to work both ways, and it would have to be on the raw file (and potentially the stacked jpg)
- The keyword hierarchy that I have created in LR would have to be reflected seamlessly in MC, and changes or additions to it would have to be replicated in either app.
- Especially because I am using cloud back-up for my photos, changing the workflow must not touch any existing tags and photos - I'd not be willing to have all my photos and catalog files be changed and therefore having to be backed-up again (similar to the pain of adding waveform to all audio files, which I have done recently and which will keep Carbonite working for weeks)
Given these challenges, creating and showing slideshows with music on a TV is probably the low hanging fruit use case you should aim at, as this might be a huge value add for many.
*side note: To me it appears similar to what I currently experience with ebooks - I am spending quite some time on finding out how MC can improve my reading experience: I can edit metadata in MC better than anywhere else, but unless the metadata is integrated seamlessly with a 'usage' app like Calibre and eventually my Kindle Paperwhite, I am not sure what value I get from it.