Adobe Lightroom is a software package that helps you import, process, and manage your photos. The Lightroom plug-in will allow you to upload your images from Lightroom directly into your PhotoShelter account.
- Download & Install
- Exporting to PhotoShelter
- Publish Service
- Sync from PhotoShelter
- Sync to PhotoShelter
- FAQ
Download & Install
1. If you’re upgrading from a previous version our Lightroom plug-in, we recommend that you do not delete your existing version until the following steps are completed.
2. Make sure you have a backup of your Lightroom catalog saved in a safe location.
3. Download version 1.12 of the plug-in here.
4. Double click on the downloaded file to unzip the the plug-in. This will reveal the uncompressed plug-in file titled "PhotoShelterSync.lrplugin."
5. Move the PhotoShelterSync.lrplugin file to your preferred storage location.
6. Open Lightroom and select "File" > "Plug-in Manager."
7. In the new window, the left pane will reveal all plug-ins currently installed on your Adobe Lightroom application. At the bottom of the left pane, click the "Add" button.
8. Locate the file "PhotoShelterSync.lrplugin" in the folder you chose to store it.
9. If you're using a Mac, select the file "PhotoShelterSync.lrplugin" and click the "Add Plug-in" button in the bottom right of the window:
If you're on a PC, Select the folder "PhotoShelterSync.lrplugin" and click the "Select Folder" button at the bottom right corner of the window.
10. If the plug-in was installed properly, the "Installed and Running" status will appear next to the plug-in name. The plug-in should show as PhotoShelter V2 version 1.12.
11. If you’re upgrading from an old version of our Lightroom plugin, we suggest that you run the “Sync from PhotoShelter” function. Once that is successfully completed, you can remove the old version of the plug-in from your Lightroom plug-in manager.
Using the Lightroom Plug-in
The plug-in supports two options for uploading your photos to PhotoShelter - exporting and publishing. Exporting is a simple uploading approach, which allows you to upload selected files in your desired file format to PhotoShelter. Publishing is a more complex approach that’s designed to automatically sync changes in Lightroom to PhotoShelter.
Exporting
To upload to PhotoShelter using the export option, follow these steps:
1. Select the photos in your Lightroom catalog that you would like to upload.
2. Navigate to “File” > “Export.”
3. In the export window, choose “Export To” > “PhotoShelter V2.”
4. Under “Authorization,” enter the email address and password that you choose to log into PhotoShelter.
5. In the “PhotoShelter Folder Selection” tab, select your desired destination for the selected files.
6. Choose your desired file format and output settings.
7. Click “Export.”
Publish Service
The publish service is designed to automatically sync changes in Lightroom to your PhotoShelter account. If you often re-edit or apply metadata to photos in Lightroom after uploading the photos to PhotoShelter, this is a great option. As the publish service is more complicated than exporting, there are a few important best practices:
- Publishing is only designed for photographers who work out of a single Lightroom catalog, PhotoShelter account, and computer. If you use multiple Lightroom catalogs, use the export feature instead.
- If you choose to use the publish service, you should make all changes to your photos, galleries, and collections in Lightroom. This includes moving photos, deleting content, applying metadata, etc. If you make updates in PhotoShelter, it’s possible that your publish service in Lightroom will get out of sync.
- The publish service will allow you to select a single file type for publishing. We generally recommend using the publish service to upload high res JPGs to your account. If you also want to upload RAW files or other file formats, we recommend that you use the export feature or an alternate upload method for those file types.
To set up the publish service, follow these steps:
1. In Lightroom, locate the publish services tab on the bottom left of your navigation pane. Next to the PhotoShelter tab, click the "Set up" link.
2. In the "PhotoShelter Account" tab, enter the email address and password that you use to log into your PhotoShelter account.
3. Select your desired file settings for publishing to PhotoShelter.
4. When you're done, click the "Save" button.
5. After setting this up, you may want to run the Sync from PhotoShelter option to synchronize your existing gallery/collection structure and associate photos that have already been uploaded to PhotoShelter.
6. Once the synchronization is complete, you can now add photos to galleries within the publish service to upload them to PhotoShelter. Any updates that you make to the photos in the publish service should automatically be marked to be republished to PhotoShelter.
Sync from PhotoShelter
The Sync from PhotoShelter feature includes two primary functions:
- Sync the gallery/collection structure that you have set up in your PhotoShelter account to the publish service in Lightroom
- Associate photos that exist in your PhotoShelter account with photos that exist in your Lightroom catalog
In order to associate photos, the sync function will look through all of the photos in your PhotoShelter account and all of the photos in your Lightroom catalog, using the EXIF and IPTC data of those images to identify matches. If a photo exists in both locations, it should associate the PhotoShelter image ID with the photo in your Lightroom catalog, and show the photo in the appropriate location within your Lightroom publish service. This will work best when there is only one copy of each photo in both locations.
To create matches, the following fields are used:
- EXIF capture time
- IPTC aspect ratio
- IPTC title
- IPTC caption
Please note that if you have a large Lightroom catalog and/or PhotoShelter account, the Sync from PhotoShelter option may take a while to complete. We recommend letting it run before taking additional actions within the plugin.
To run the Sync from PhotoShelter function, navigate to “File” > “Plug-in Extras” > “Sync From PhotoShelter”:
Sync to PhotoShelter
The Sync to PhotoShelter option will synchronize the gallery and collection structure you have set up on your PhotoShelter Lightroom Publish Service to your PhotoShelter account. This includes gallery and collection names, descriptions, and visibility settings. This option is helpful if you notice a mismatch in information between Lightroom and PhotoShelter, and want to revert the changes in PhotoShelter to match what you have set up in Lightroom.
To run the Sync to PhotoShelter function, navigate to “File” > “Plug-in Extras” > “Sync to PhotoShelter”:
FAQ
What versions of Lightroom will this plug-in work with?
The plug-in was built for Lightroom Classic CC.
What is the difference between Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC?
According to Adobe, Lightroom CC was redesigned to create an editing workflow regardless of the device you’re using by storing all of your photos, including RAW files, on a cloud server. Lightroom Classic CC maintains all of the photo-editing power meant for desktop systems and is what most people think of as the original Lightroom program. For PhotoShelter, the plug-in will only work for Lightroom Classic CC. Lightroom CC doesn’t currently include the ability to install external plug-ins.
If I make metadata changes to published images do those files need to be re-uploaded to PhotoShelter?
No. The current version of the plug-in will update the image metadata on PhotoShelter first and only replace the entire file when absolutely necessary (i.e. a change to the way the image looks or a change in publish service settings).
What happens when I remove an image from a PhotoShelter gallery in Lightroom?
The next time you publish images in Lightroom that image will be moved to your deleted image area on PhotoShelter.
Can I use Smart Galleries to automatically add images to PhotoShelter galleries in Lightroom?
Yes. Simply right-click on the PhotoShelter gallery list in Lightroom and select “Create Smart PhotoShelter Gallery.” Once created any image that meets the rules you set will automatically be added to the gallery.
If the same image exists in more than one Smart PhotoShelter Gallery the publish service will upload a separate copy of the image in each gallery on PhotoShelter. This is a limitation of Lightroom.
Changes to Smart Gallery rules only apply to new images. Images that were previously published via Smart Galleries will remain on PhotoShelter.
Can I have more than one PhotoShelter publish service installed in the same Lightroom catalog with different files settings?
No. If you have more than one PhotoShelter publish service uploading to a single PhotoShelter account, all images on PhotoShelter will be replaced with files that match the settings of the publish service that was most recently run. If you want to store two different file types (e.g. JPG and RAW) of the same photo on PhotoShelter, we recommend publishing one file type (JPG) and using the export feature to upload the other (RAW).
I edited the metadata of images on PhotoShelter. Will my changes appear in Lightroom?
No. The publish service was designed for a workflow in which Lightroom is always the "master copy" and as such, changes in Lightroom will always overwrite the versions on PhotoShelter.
Am I able to see custom PhotoShelter image metadata?
Yes. If you have a large archive, we realize it is important for you to be able to see if individual images are associated/uploaded to PhotoShelter and what PhotoShelter settings are applied to those images. You can now see the PhotoShelter image ID, model release and property release status for any published image.
How do I know when my upload or synchronization is complete?
You will see a progress bar in the upper left corner of Lightroom once you have started an upload or synchronization.
Do not make changes to the publish service settings while an upload or synchronization is in progress. This will result in errors and PhotoShelter becoming out of sync with your Lightroom catalog. If you need to make changes to the publish service, cancel any tasks in progress, change the settings and restart the upload or synchronization.