I’m not enjoying LR’s DAM tools that much as yet - but I’m warming to Photos. I’m pondering a workflow whereby I import images into LR, edit and process then export chosen images to Photos for OS X so I can easily view on Apple TV, iPad and I guess generally use Photos as my DAM software.
Having never tried it before - would it be too hard for an Automator novice to create a workflow to export from LR to Photos?
Cheers
Darryn
It’s easy. I just did it by creating a watch folder that automatically imports photos into Photos (sounds weird huh?). I created an export preset in Lightroom that puts the photos in the watch folder. But Automator doesn’t have any Photos actions so you need to go to a 3rd party website to get them first.
Here’s the basic steps:
1. Go to Photosautomation.com and download the Automator actions for Photos (The download button near the middle of the page).
2. Double-click the installer “Photos Actions Installer.pkg” to install the actions into Automator. (The action files are actually placed in /Library/Automator)
3. Open Automator and create a new folder action and drag in the actions like the image below:
4. In the popup menu at the top set the watch folder you wish to assign the action to.
5. The move source files to trash option should be checked if you want things cleaned up after import to Photos.
6. Save the action and quit Automator. You should be ready to export from LR to your new watch folder.
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply. Very much appreciated. I’ll set it all up tomorrow.
Best regards
Darryn.
Let us know how it goes. I was considering making this a Tip. It would be nice to know if my instructions are any good.
Thomas
It’s working well Thomas! I’m still on-the-fence as to which way to go with Apertures demise. Part of me wants to stay with Aperture in the hope that Photos will improve enough I can migrate straight to that, so I’m sticking with Aperture mean time but experimenting with LR. The process you describe above works from Aperture as well - in fact, any image that is dropped into the watch folder from wherever will head off to Photos.
Thanks again.
Darryn