Ipad work flow

I recently bought an ipad pro and cannot figure out an easy workflow. I am quite new and not looking to do anything complicated, basically only want to:

1) import photos from SD card directly into ipad -> I have 2 problems here. When I copy the SD card jpegs into a folder "On My Ipad" it does not import automatically into photo library. The only way it does that is if I duplicate the image. Also I cannot sort by date/details/etc to easily only copy the photos I want to copy, like on Windows. I find it quite cumbersome to scroll through/select everything, especially as I do not like to delete old images on my sd card until full.

2) use a combination of dive+ app and lightroom to color correct / do minor adjustments. With the dive+ app it does not recognize the photos unless it's in photo library, which means I have to first copy the image then duplicate. So now I have 2 copies of the same image, run it through dive+, it saves a 3rd copy, and somehow wipes out the metadata (capture date, f-stop, shutter speed, etc). After dive+ I also want to run through lightroom, but when I import it becomes totally unorganized (unable to sort by date, time, or even name - dive+ at least names the files in the order it was saved, but lightroom imports it randomly). When I export after making whatever adjustments in lightroom it saves a 4th copy to photo library. If I want to use photoshop it saves a 5th copy. My storage space is running out fast.

The screen on my ipad pro looks a lot better than my windows laptop which is why I was hoping to use ipad pro for everything/ dive+ is only available on ios/android, but organization is a lot easier on windows. I have been learning lightroom but find it is much faster to use dive+, and sometimes the result is better than what I could do myself. 

There must be an easier way to do this without saving 5 copies of the same image and losing all means of organization?

Easiest way would be to scrap dive+. Import straight to LR. Export only when needed. Dive+ is supposed to be a one shop stop solution. If it needs further editing, maybe just start in a more capable editor straight away. 

Also, shoot RAW pictures, and import RAW files into LR.

LR can process them easily, and you will get much more room to adjust/correct pictures

Thanks, shooting in raw and doing my own editing instead of using dive+ is one of the things I want to work on this year. It seems easiest way is to use lightroom for everything, and scrap not only dive+ but also the iPad's native photo library? 

Correct. Since apple allowed direct import into LR this has become the easiest way. You can also sync back to your computer at home, so if you want to work on a bigger screen after returning from a trip you can keep all your edits.

The only downside to the adobe solution is their obnoxious business model. They know they have the industry standard and they abuse that fact to its limit.

On 1/12/2020 at 1:01 PM, jjmochi said:

Thanks, shooting in raw and doing my own editing instead of using dive+ is one of the things I want to work on this year. It seems easiest way is to use lightroom for everything, and scrap not only dive+ but also the iPad's native photo library? 

Chiming in late, but yes. Pick one system and run with it. 

Since the change to iPadOS, we can now load directly to LR and skip Photos.

It is a great travel setup. I did a four week trip to Iceland and Europe last year, and did not take a laptop. Worked a treat.

I also use a GnarBox, and that provides back up and security, while meaning not every image needs to go into your cloud syncing account.

I actually really like editing on LR on iPad, and probably edit about 60% of images in LR Mobile on iPad only. Another 30% or so require Lightroom Classic on my desktop when I get home, and less than 10% go into Photoshop and/or Luminar.

The easy syncing from LR Mobile to LR Classic is a great workflow.

I am so glad you are posting about this! I am excited about the idea of using an iPad Pro in stead of my MacBook Pro.

So I get how you can import your images onto an external drive using the iPad. Obviously, you can then do in field edits and posts etc. The images will reside on an external drive, so there would be no problem I'm

Once you return to base, how do you then get your images (and any edits/ratings/keywords etc.) from your iPad to your main catalog?

 The images will reside on an external drive, so there would be no problem bringing them in, but I really don't want to be rating, keywording and editing (as appropriate) twice!

Thank you!

2 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

I am so glad you are posting about this! I am excited about the idea of using an iPad Pro in stead of my MacBook Pro.

Hi Adam, good to hear from you. It's been a while!

An iPad Pro based work flow is something I am also excited about. I've been working for sometime to get a workflow I am happy with, and its very, very close now.

2 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

So I get how you can import your images onto an external drive using the iPad. Obviously, you can then do in field edits and posts etc. The images will reside on an external drive, so there would be no problem I'm

Once you return to base, how do you then get your images (and any edits/ratings/keywords etc.) from your iPad to your main catalog?

So what I am doing with this is importing all images to my GnarBox. I can do the keywording and  rating in the GnarBox app. TBH, the GnarBox apps are still a little clunky, but they're getting better. The device itself is, in a word, outstanding.

I then pull over the best of my images onto the iPad, and import them into LR (mobile). With cloud syncing, anything I do there ends up synced back to my iMac at home (once I have connectivity, of course).

2 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

 The images will reside on an external drive, so there would be no problem bringing them in, but I really don't want to be rating, keywording and editing (as appropriate) twice!

So with the workflow above, the edits and meta data I've started on in the field are already synced back. I then download the remainder of the catalogue off the GnarBox into LR Classic at home to do a review of all the other images, in case anything I missed should've been in my main selects.

2 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

Thank you!

 

No worries - I look forward to hearing of your experiences (and others'), and sharing some ideas on how to get a great workflow!

I think the issue still remains around syncing.

My photo library is around 6TB, so online syncing is a problem. A typical trip can generate around 10,000 images or more, often with the D850 that produces big files!

I can see no issues with offloading to a drive via the iPad Pro and doing the edits etc in the field. I can also easily add these files into my main image library on my return.

The issue that I can see is trying to sync any work that I have done in the field to the images.

I'm chatting to the Gnarbox guys, and the device looks great. However, within my current workflow, it doesn't seem to do anything a hard drive does not do, and the iPad workflow is limited by Lightroom CC and Lightroom CC Classic not being inter operable due to CC's lack of a catalog.

5 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

I think the issue still remains around syncing.

Agree. Its disjointed and until Adobe either beef up the LR CC ecosystem (including macOS / Windows versions) to close the feature gap with LR Classic, or they fully embrace the  catalogue system in LR CC, making syncing with Classic easy, we will continue to have this issue.

5 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

My photo library is around 6TB, so online syncing is a problem. A typical trip can generate around 10,000 images or more, often with the D850 that produces big files!

I can see no issues with offloading to a drive via the iPad Pro and doing the edits etc in the field. I can also easily add these files into my main image library on my return.

The issue that I can see is trying to sync any work that I have done in the field to the images.

I wouldn't be looking to sync such a large library either. What I do is work on a regularly small number of images on my iPad, storing those images (and their edits) on the iPad. I let these sync back via the CC infrastructure. 

The rest of the images I import locally when I get home, from the Gnarbox. These images remain on the local catalogue on my iMac, and don't sync.

5 hours ago, adamhanlon said:

I'm chatting to the Gnarbox guys, and the device looks great. However, within my current workflow, it doesn't seem to do anything a hard drive does not do, and the iPad workflow is limited by Lightroom CC and Lightroom CC Classic not being inter operable due to CC's lack of a catalog.

That is the crux of it.

Have you taken a look at the new On1 360 announcement?

Cheers

Des