Adobe Lightroom

One of Lightroom’s greatest strengths is the database (known as the catalog file) that records everything you do when working in Lightroom. When you import photos all the information contained in the metadata gets added to the catalog, such as exposure, ISO, time and date of capture, f-stop, camera model, and so on. In addition you probably add your own custom metadata, such as contact information, copyright, titles, keywords, ratings, labels, and so on.

Now that you have all that data entered into the catalog it only makes sense that you should be able to leverage it to make your work more efficient and productive. This is where smart collections come in. If you open the Library module and expand the Collections panel you will find a default collection set labeled Smart Collections.

Inside that collection set are 5 starter smart collections designed to introduce you to what they are capable of doing. If you double-click one smart collection you will open the Edit Smart Collection dialog box. Let’s look at the first one called Colored Red to see what makes it tick.

In the Edit dialog you can see that there is a single rule that says any photo in the catalog that has a label color set to red will be added to this collection. Pretty simple, and perhaps, in its current state not all that useful. Click Cancel to close the dialog. Note: You can edit any smart collection at any time this way.

Here’s an example of one set of rules that I find useful. In my workflow I use rating stars to mark my favorite shots from a shoot. I also use the red color label to mark photos that I shot with the intention of stitching into a panorama. When I am traveling, a shoot may extend over multiple days, but I use a folder system based on the day of actual shooting. This means photos from a given shoot can be saved across multiple folders. Knowing this, what is useful to me is a smart collection that automatically groups all my photos from a specific range of dates, with a red color label, and with a high enough rating. This way I can leverage my normal rating and color label workflow to automatically group all my best panoramic shots taken over multiple days of shooting. That’s cool! Here’s how:

Step 1.

Click the + sign with the down-facing arrow in the Collections panel header and choose Create Smart Collection. This opens the Create Smart Collection dialog (which is essentially the same as the Edit Smart Collection dialog we saw before).

Step 2.

Give it a meaningful name. Describe the collection so it is clear to you what should be found within it, such as “Best Panoramas” or what makes sense to you.

Step 3.

Assign it to a collection set. Collection sets are how you group multiple collections together. It is common to have multiple collections from any given shoot and this makes it easy to keep them all in one place. If you don’t have a set in mind now you can always add collections to a set later by dragging and dropping the collection into the set.

Step 4.

Add your first rule. In this case I want to include only photos from a specific time period, so my first rule will be to set the parameter for a range of dates. Click the rule drop-down menu and choose Capture Date.

As you will see, once you choose the type of rule you want to use a series of relevant parameters for that type of rule will appear. I want to cover a range of dates, so I’ll set the first parameter to “is in the range” which will allow me to define the dates of this shoot.

After that I just enter the start and end dates of this shoot and the first rule is all set.

Step 5.

Add the next rule. Click the + sign at the end of the last rule to start a new one. My next rule will focus on all the photos in that date range that have been given a 2 star rating or higher. Set the rule to Rating and then the parameters to “is greater than or equal to” and 2 stars.

Step 6.

Add the last rule. The other criteria I want to use is red color label. Click the + sign at the end of the last rule to start a new one. Set the rule to Label Color, and the parameters to “is” and “red”.

Now, if I had more criteria I needed to match I could keep adding more rules as needed, but since I don’t, just click Create.

You will now see your smart collection appear in the Collections panel, and if you added it to a set, within that collection set. As soon as it is created Lightroom will automatically populate it will all photos matching that criteria. That’s all there is to it.

It is worth pointing out that because smart collections are rule based the only way to add a photo to it is by making that photo match the set of rules, likewise the only way to remove a photo from a smart collection is to have that photo no longer match the rules. In my example I can add any photo from that shoot to that smart collection by giving it a rating higher than 2 and a red label.

The more you use smart collections the more uses you will start to find for them.