Up until recently, I found myself trying to figure out the best way to share photos between my laptop when I was on the road, and my iMac back at home. There’s no perfect solution, but with a little bit of experimenting, I was able to get a solution that worked really well.
What I tried
During my recent trip to Las Vegas for WPPI, I knew I’d have a ton of different photos I would take both at the conference and during my spare time. I knew I would have to import at least some of my photos to my laptop, otherwise, I’d run out of space on my camera’s memory cards. How would I get the photos from my laptop’s Lightroom catalog to my iMac’s Lightroom catalog?
AirDrop
Those of you who use Macs and iOS devices know about the power of AirDrop, which lets you share documents to and from devices that are closeby. To me, this was the easiest way to get the photos from my laptop’s catalog to my iMac.
To get started, I would make sure all the photos were in a location that could be found on my iMac. So if I imported my photos on my laptop to the Pictures folder on my laptop, I would plan to copy them to that same folder on my iMac. This would ensure that my photos could be quickly located. Alternatively, you could use the File > Export as Catalog… command, but in my experience that can add some additional time to the process.
Then I would drag that file of photos over to my iMac via AirDrop in my Finder. I would do the same with my Lightroom Catalog folder and subsequent files. Once everything had been copied over to my iMac, I would use the File > Import from Another Catalog… command in Lightroom. This would ensure that the edits I had made in my laptop would be brought over to my iMac.
Unless I screwed up something in the process, all of my photos would appear in Lightroom, with the edits I had made in my laptop. Once I confirmed everything was in my iMac’s pictures folder, in Lightroom, I dragged that folder to my Drobo device. It’s important that the work is done the Lightroom interface, not in the Finder.
What about Windows?
The same idea can be used for Windows machines. Instead of using AirDrop, you can use an external hard drive. Make sure your photos are stored on your external hard drive before the move. Then all you have to do is copy your Lightroom Catalog folder and files, and go through the File > Import from Another Catalog… command. Because the location of your folders is the exact same, this should be a pretty quick process.
Then, again, I would drag that folder over to my Drobo device through the Lightroom interface, so the photos from my trip could be stored with the rest of my catalog’s photos.
A better way
Recently, I had to send my iMac in for some repairs. This meant that I would be without my big-screen iMac for at least a week. During that time, I had at least one photoshoot planned, with a few other leads that were waiting to be secured.
While I was without my iMac, I still wanted to be able to access my full Lightroom catalog, as well as all my photos that were stored on the Drobo. So instead of using a separate catalog for my laptop, I decided to put my Lightroom catalog on an external SSD. This would allow me to access that catalog from any computer.
Note that if you have slower USB 2 ports on an older machine, this might slow down your Lightroom workflow slightly. Most modern machines manufactured in the past 2-3 years have either USB 3 or USB-C ports (or both).
When I got done with my photoshoot, I opened up that catalog on my laptop, and all my photos were there. I imported them to the Drobo like I normally would have, despite being on a totally different machine.
What about when I travel?
The same thought can be applied when I’m on the road. Sure, I don’t have my Drobo with me, but I can just as easily import the photos either to my external SSD or internal hard drive. The Lightroom catalog location stays the same regardless.
Then when I get home, I can open up my Lightroom catalog and move the new photos over to my Drobo through the Lightroom interface. That way I keep my edits and everything stays organized.
What have you used when you’re traveling and dealing with multiple machines? Sound off in the comments below.
Lead photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash
I did it for some years, starting out with btsync (BitTorrent Sync) which to some extend worked (needed to do some hacks to get the presets and plugins across), Then I moved to using rsync (using a nas a the storage). But in the end I ended up using one computer, which made the whole thing easier. I understand the technical reason why you cannot share the library, but it’s frustrating when you need to …..
Nice article Bryan. I’ve been doing the same thing for a few years now, with a few twists. I’m a Windows user with a high end desktop and a Microsoft Surface with 256 GB of SSD. I create a new catalog when I’m on a trip, I then import the photos to the laptop. To make things easier I create a folder called Travel, in it I then create a folder for the trip, and a folder in that called Repository. The new catalog goes into the trip folder, and when I import images they go from the SD card… Read more »
Just put your Catalogue in a Dropbox folder… syncs across all devices. Did 80% of edits on the plane using my surface pro… Then finished off on my desktop at home. Seamless
Blane – While that may seem seamless, having your Lightroom catalog on a cloud storage service like Dropbox significantly increases the chances of it becoming corrupt. I would strongly advise against this. The reasoning for this is that Dropbox treats any file like a single data file. If you use Dropbox on multiple machines, it could create conflicts with that file, and Dropbox would not know how to sync any changes between machines. This can create potential issues with overwriting the file, losing changes on one of the machines, and corrupting the file. It’s always best to have a Lightroom… Read more »
I sync my Lightroom folder between computers using my Synology NAS (DS Cloud app). You also need to set up sync folders for RAW or other picture folders. The key to success is to give the drives containing the folders the same letter on every computer that you wish to use for this (in my case I have all my Lightroom folders and RAW files on “P” drive). It also a good idea to pause syncing on the computer you are working on before opening Lightroom as this can create file conflicts otherwise). If i am travelling i pause syncing… Read more »
I was just wondering why not just export a catalog for the trip then import the trip catalog when you return?
That’s kind of what I explained with the AirDrop solution. In my opinion, it’s a bit tedious but it does work.
I’m still waiting for Lightroom to allow us to save the catalog in more than one location. This option is already available when importing images (you can select “Make a second copy to:”) which is great for redundancy of your images, but the catalog is every bit as important (if not MORE important) and it would be so easy for Adobe to add this option. Every time I do a Lightroom survey I alway ask for this “second copy” option for the catalog, and for the ability to export images as PNG. I realize I’m a bit off topic with… Read more »
I use Lightroom at work at my dental practice and I like to take advantage of the subscription at home, too. But every time I edit on either machine it creates another catalog! Now I have three catalogs, but what I do is open the most recent catalog every time. Still, that’s over a GB wasted on extra catalogs. I use OneDrive and have tried to make both desktops identical in terms of folder structure, etc. But still the computer wants to make a new catalog every time: Lightroom Catalog-DOXOFFICE and Lightroom Catalog-HOME. I just want to have Lightroom Catalog… Read more »