For over a decade, my go to for photo editing was Adobe Lightroom. Before Adobe went to the ‘rent software’ model, I used the standalone versions of Lr 3, Lr 4 and Lr 6. Shortly after getting Lr 3, I found ON1 Photo Suite. Over the years, I’ve honed my editing skills using Lr, Photoshop and ON1 in conjunction with each other.
Fast forward to 2020. Adobe began messing about with my paid for, perpetual licensed standalone products; 3 Lr versions and Production Premium CS6 that includes Photoshop/AI. Knowing it was just a matter of time before I could lose all my work, it was decision time. Should I switch to using ON1 as my main browser/image organizer and editor? It really was a pretty easy choice, the time was now!
With over 90,000 images and a thoroughly messed up, out of control Lr catalog, I set about getting things in order before the switch. After finishing the folder structure and moving around about 1/2 of my images (more on this to come in a future post), Lightroom 6 glitched again. UGH! Let me tell you, I was sweating bullets thinking I lost all edits before completing the migration over to ON1…
There wasn’t any time to waste. I got Lr 6 to work again and immediately started the migration process from Lr to ON1. Though not finished with all I wanted to do, the folder structure was exactly what I wanted and with over 1/2 the images in their new home, the rest could be finished off over time within ON1.
My first attempt at migration was cut short by a power outage. The second went perfectly without a hitch! It was so simple and didn’t take as long as I had thought. Once the migration completed, I did a quick look over the Lr edited images and found only about 6 that didn’t look as they should. Reckon one could be upset by that, but not losing 90,000 images was more important to me! Redoing the off images will be a breeze imho. 🙂
Here’s a look at what my Lr 6 catalog looked like before and what it now looks like in ON1 Photo Raw. While I plan to do a blog post on organizing photos; whether you’re using Lr, ON1 or another editor, I’ll touch just a bit on this for you to ponder.
When I first started out, I did folders by date/location and added pertinent keywords. That worked well for awhile, but as the years went on I tried other photogs suggestions and dates were harder for me to remember. So it was back to simplicity. Location is far easier for me to remember, but you do what works best for you. And… Never change your method of folders or none if you choose, no matter what anyone else says!
Conclusion
Perhaps you’re like me. Using Lightroom for years makes wanting to change seem wrong. But… If you are looking for software that is compatible to Lr and in some instances offers more that you can OWN (or rent if you prefer), then consider switching after you’ve done some research into ON1 Photo Raw.
I said years back when I bought my first ON1 product, if they are serious about putting the effort in then I had no doubt they would match and possibly even surpass Lightroom and/or Photoshop. They sure have come a long way and their latest products are well worth a look!
The learning curve isn’t too bad. Just need to learn where things are like; stars, color labels, search, keywords, etc. I did have to change up my workflow just a tad and though I’m not as fast as I was in Lr, no doubt I will be after getting some spare time to knock out a bunch of edits.
Capture the Moments!
~ Charly
