Adobe Portfolio - Easy but has limitations

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Hooligans Imagery

Hooligans Imagery

Michael H
Supporting Member
Marketplace
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Edit: as I discovered (see post #22) the method described has some limitations in the quality of your images especially those that are cropped.


One of my summer goals was to set up Adobe Portfolio this summer.
Adobe Portfolio - included with the Photography Plan even the 9.99 one, allows you to create a Portfolio website. Only cost to you is if you use a custom domain.

Here's a recap of my hour today.
I had set up 10 collections in LRc previously with images ranging from 8-56 in number. My idea was once set up I would refine which ones and how they present themselves.
I turned on Sync in LRc (cloud in upper right) and checked the tick marks next to the 10 collections.
I went to https://portfolio.adobe.com/ and made a site with my plan. You can watch the Terry White Video below to get an idea. You can choose from a number of themes.
Bottom line is that it isn't hard.
My LRc synch didn't go smoothly in terms of the names. I don't understand why but my collection names got changed and mixed up. I opened up Lightroom web and sorted this out.
Now seems to work ok and I am not sure what caused it.
Editing the pages and layouts is fairly intuitive once you do it a few times.

NOTE - the benefit of this process is you manage the web content from Lightroom Classic or Lightroom. When you choose to Reset a Page from Lightroom all your changes to the collection including changes to images or new images etc will synch to your Portfolio site.

My next step will be exactly that - refine which images I want to show and update the edits and then resynch it all.

You can easily use a custom domain name.

I recommend the video below for a great starter lesson. Oh but then it will take two hours.

hooligansimagery.myportfolio.com

Michael Herbert

hooligansimagery.myportfolio.com hooligansimagery.myportfolio.com

Terry White video

Below is a sample image linked. If you want to be able to get links you can't use the Disable Right Click in settings.

af87f579-8bfe-419c-8ed9-0bc0ea2ff6e4_rw_1200.jpg
 
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Thanks, Michael. I played with adobe portfolio a couple of years ago but gave it up. It's helpful to know that it can be used with LrC.
 
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seh said:
Thanks, Michael. I played with adobe portfolio a couple of years ago but gave it up. It's helpful to know that it can be used with LrC.
Click to expand...
The beauty is once set up, updating is basically synchronization. This morning I discovered a super easy way as well. You open up Lightroom on the web and even if you don't use it. The connection to portfolio is shown and you can easily update the albums with the icon on the right. It's easier there than on the Portfolio site.

I need to do a deeper dive into customizations but they are easy, and don't require any code knowledge.

1719143167552.png
 
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Thanks Michael. I setup one a few years ago but didn't maintain it. You've incentivized me to go back to it (y).

Nice shots too! I liked your Hooligans page - I have 2 cats also (both Siamese) and the shots made me smile.
Larry
 
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LarryR said:
Thanks Michael. I setup one a few years ago but didn't maintain it. You've incentivized me to go back to it (y).

Nice shots too! I liked your Hooligans page - I have 2 cats also (both Siamese) and the shots made me smile.
Larry
Click to expand...
Thanks Larry - we got these guys to keep the scorpions and other bugs at bay in the house in AZ. They earn their keep. I am glad you got a smile from it.

Apparently over the past couple of years the Portfolio process was enhanced by the Behance team that Adobe acquired. So yes take a look. You might find it way easier.
The think that I so love is you can make a Collection Set with all your Portfolio collections under it and then it is so easy to add and swap out over time and even update an image. Say you have one with high noise, and you go use the @Steve method now with AI masking to improve it. You just synch the connection and boom it's updated.
 
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jerrylwatson said:
That is correct. I click add image and I choose the image on my computer.
Click to expand...
So I assume you have disable right click, enabled. So is there a way to post those images here if you desire? I like the Lightroom integration as I can edit and update or add and subtract from LR or LRc. I guess you feel the quality is better your method.
 
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Hooligans Imagery said:
So I assume you have disable right click, enabled. So is there a way to post those images here if you desire? I like the Lightroom integration as I can edit and update or add and subtract from LR or LRc. I guess you feel the quality is better your method.
Click to expand...
Yes right click is disabled. And yes I think the quality is better. I also do not want to use the cloud.
 
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Hooligans Imagery said:
The beauty is once set up, updating is basically synchronization. This morning I discovered a super easy way as well. You open up Lightroom on the web and even if you don't use it. The connection to portfolio is shown and you can easily update the albums with the icon on the right. It's easier there than on the Portfolio site.

I need to do a deeper dive into customizations but they are easy, and don't require any code knowledge.

View attachment 91801
Click to expand...
With respect to this shortcut, while it does provide an easier way to update all the Albums, you still need to go back to the Portfolio site and use the Update Live Site button for them to take effect.
 
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A couple of other tidbits. Put your Collection in Custom Order and drag the images to the order you want. In the Metadata, the Title and Caption become pop up Text when you rollover the image.

I am so happy with the set up for ease of use. I will explore the more advanced customizations soon.

If you want you can change themes and try them out.
 
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I gave up on the synchronizing Portfolio with LrC. It worked at first, but then over the years, I had nothing but problems as I tried to update my site. I tried syncing both from the Portfolio interface and from the LR Cloud, but I didn't find either method to be very fast or reliable. Sometimes it would not sync at all and Adobe support said the only solution was to delete the album and re-sync. Sometimes it created duplicate photos or albums which I then had to manually clean up. It also does not sync with Smart Collections. I use these a lot to create collections based on things like keywords and ratings. If I decide I no longer like a photo, I just change the rating and it disappears from the collection. With Portfolio I had to keep parallel (non-smart) collections to sync, which was extra work for me. I still use Portfolio, but I just export the my Smart collections to my computer and manually send to Portfolio. Much faster and less headaches.

I do like how the site looks, here's a link: https://tomegelphotoadventures.com/

Hope this helps.

--Tom
 
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tegel said:
I gave up on the synchronizing Portfolio with LrC. It worked at first, but then over the years, I had nothing but problems as I tried to update my site. I tried syncing both from the Portfolio interface and from the LR Cloud, but I didn't find either method to be very fast or reliable. Sometimes it would not sync at all and Adobe support said the only solution was to delete the album and re-sync. Sometimes it created duplicate photos or albums which I then had to manually clean up. It also does not sync with Smart Collections. I use these a lot to create collections based on things like keywords and ratings. If I decide I no longer like a photo, I just change the rating and it disappears from the collection. With Portfolio I had to keep parallel (non-smart) collections to sync, which was extra work for me. I still use Portfolio, but I just export the my Smart collections to my computer and manually send to Portfolio. Much faster and less headaches.

I do like how the site looks, here's a link: https://tomegelphotoadventures.com/

Hope this helps.

--Tom
Click to expand...
Yes I have read about that. Apparently there is a new synch engine in the last few updates. I have had a few minor delays but it gets sorted. Your site looks great.

I think it's great that one has both options. Synch or not.
 
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Thanks Michael, i will do my portfolio, learning from you, once, I am back home for my vacation. Thanks for posting this thread and your process.
 
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tegel said:
I gave up on the synchronizing Portfolio with LrC. It worked at first, but then over the years, I had nothing but problems as I tried to update my site. I tried syncing both from the Portfolio interface and from the LR Cloud, but I didn't find either method to be very fast or reliable. Sometimes it would not sync at all and Adobe support said the only solution was to delete the album and re-sync. Sometimes it created duplicate photos or albums which I then had to manually clean up. It also does not sync with Smart Collections. I use these a lot to create collections based on things like keywords and ratings. If I decide I no longer like a photo, I just change the rating and it disappears from the collection. With Portfolio I had to keep parallel (non-smart) collections to sync, which was extra work for me. I still use Portfolio, but I just export the my Smart collections to my computer and manually send to Portfolio. Much faster and less headaches.

I do like how the site looks, here's a link: https://tomegelphotoadventures.com/

Hope this helps.

--Tom
Click to expand...
I also had problems ongoing with syncing my collections in LRC, called Adobe and got advice like you that didn't work. Then I got a really knowledgeable guy at Adobe who gave me the permanent fix. You go to the Cloud symbol the top right, click on it, and then click on the gear wheel. If it is stuck, you will see a list of the photos that won't sync for some reason. All you have to do is delete them all. You don't lose any photos by doing that. Since I've learned that my photos get uploaded very quickly.
 
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Hooligans Imagery said:
One of my summer goals was to set up Adobe Portfolio this summer.
Adobe Portfolio - included with the Photography Plan even the 9.99 one, allows you to create a Portfolio website. Only cost to you is if you use a custom domain.

Here's a recap of my hour today.
I had set up 10 collections in LRc previously with images ranging from 8-56 in number. My idea was once set up I would refine which ones and how they present themselves.
I turned on Sync in LRc (cloud in upper right) and checked the tick marks next to the 10 collections.
I went to https://portfolio.adobe.com/ and made a site with my plan. You can watch the Terry White Video below to get an idea. You can choose from a number of themes.
Bottom line is that it isn't hard.
My LRc synch didn't go smoothly in terms of the names. I don't understand why but my collection names got changed and mixed up. I opened up Lightroom web and sorted this out.
Now seems to work ok and I am not sure what caused it.
Editing the pages and layouts is fairly intuitive once you do it a few times.

NOTE - the benefit of this process is you manage the web content from Lightroom Classic or Lightroom. When you choose to Reset a Page from Lightroom all your changes to the collection including changes to images or new images etc will synch to your Portfolio site.

My next step will be exactly that - refine which images I want to show and update the edits and then resynch it all.

You can easily use a custom domain name.

I recommend the video below for a great starter lesson. Oh but then it will take two hours.

hooligansimagery.myportfolio.com

Michael Herbert

hooligansimagery.myportfolio.com hooligansimagery.myportfolio.com

Terry White video

Below is a sample image linked. If you want to be able to get links you can't use the Disable Right Click in settings.

af87f579-8bfe-419c-8ed9-0bc0ea2ff6e4_rw_1200.jpg
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info!
 
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I wanted to report on something @Jerry Watson mentioned.
I was looking through my portfolio on various screens. I was not happy with the way some NEFs were rendered. It was interesting was to me that the .psd and .jpg seem to be better. My thought is that some cropped images that have fewer pixels aren't showing up as well. Lightroom Classic synchs a Smart Preview to Portfolio. I have read reports that Smart Previews are anywhere from 2450 to 2550 on the long side so maybe it's those images that are cropped less than that. I will continue to experiment.
If I can't solve this I may replace the NEFs with jpgs. I guess I would need a separate collection to do that which makes this harder to manage.

Jerry seems to upload .jpg directly into his Portfolio. I will note that my .jpgs are synching from Lightroom Classic.
 
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I have solved one thing - definition of smart preview from Lightroom Queen. I don't know if jpgs get a smart preview though, and I am trying to find out.
I think if an image isn't 2560 on one side it's going to get some sampling for the smart preview and that's where the fuzziness comes from.
Smart Previews contain the same type of partially processed raw data, and they’re always 2560px along the longest edge, regardless of the original file resolution or your screen resolution.

Smart previews can be used as proxy files, in place of the original files, when the original files are offline. They also help with performance when indexing photos for face recognition, when uploading photos to the Lightroom cloud, and when editing photos.

They’re stored with the catalog, and unlike the Camera Raw Cache, you’re in control of building and discarding smart previews. To build smart previews, check the Build Smart Previews checkbox in the File Handling panel of the Import dialog, or after import, select the photos in the Library module and go to Library menu > Previews > Build Smart Previews. If you decide to delete them later, perhaps because you require the disk space, you’ll find Discard Smart Previews under the same menu.

If smart previews exist, they’re used to speed up loading in the Develop module, and they can also be used to improve interactive performance, simply because there are fewer pixels for Lightroom to compute. We’ll come back to the related Preferences checkbox.
Click to expand...
 
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Ok the answer is complex and for the reason described, syncing from LRc won't give the best image quality. Part of how it was explained on Lightroom Queen to me is quoted below. Anything syncing from LRc to LR is via smart preview even if a jpg. The smart preview is a DNG which is 2560 on the long side. I will have to consider how to handle this and upload directly to LR Desktop or Portfolio. So basically my primary reason for using it - simplicity of managing a LRc collection has limitations on the quality of the image displayed.

One thing that some people don't realise when syncing smart previews to the cloud (and Portfolio) is that the smart preview is based on the full uncropped original, which means that any crop applied by the user will consequently be applied to the smart preview. So, imagine an original 6000 x 4000 image is cropped aggressively so that the resulting cropped long edge is now 3000 px, the consequence of that is the 2560 px smart preview will be cropped to only 1280 px when subsequently displayed. That could certainly impact on displayed image quality.
Click to expand...
 
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