Sync Lightroom with Piwigo: A Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Exporting and Managing Lightroom Galleries in Piwigo

Managing and publishing your Lightroom galleries to Piwigo streamlines sharing, backups, and client delivery. This guide walks through exporting photos from Adobe Lightroom, importing them into Piwigo, and maintaining galleries with metadata, versions, and access controls.

Why use Piwigo with Lightroom

• Organization: Piwigo’s albums mirror Lightroom collections for easy navigation.
• Control: Granular permissions and private galleries for clients.
• Backup: Host a personal archive separate from cloud services.
• Efficiency: Batch uploads and plugins automate the workflow.

Prerequisites

• Lightroom Classic installed (desktop export features used).
• A Piwigo site (self-hosted or hosted at piwigo.org).
• Optional: Piwigo Lightroom plugin (third-party) or FTP/ZIP access to server.

1. Plan your gallery structure

• Match Piwigo albums to Lightroom collections or collection sets.
• Decide on naming conventions, keyword/tag mappings, and access levels (public, private, password-protected).

2. Prepare photos in Lightroom

1. Use Collections to group photos for each Piwigo album.
2. Apply metadata: titles, captions, IPTC fields, and keywords — these can transfer to Piwigo.
3. Create virtual copies or separate export presets for web (sRGB, sharpened, resized).

3. Export settings for Piwigo

Use an export preset in Lightroom with these recommended settings:

• File format: JPEG
• Color space: sRGB
• Quality: 80–90 (balance quality and file size)
• Resize to fit: long edge 2048 px (adjust per site needs)
• Sharpening: Standard for screen
• Metadata: Include all metadata or at least Copyright and IPTC
• Output sharpening and watermarking: optional

Save these as a named export preset (e.g., “Piwigo Upload”).

4. Upload methods

Choose one based on your setup:

• Piwigo Lightroom plugin (if available)

  • Install the plugin and configure API credentials from your Piwigo account.
  • Use the plugin to export directly from Lightroom to the chosen album.
  • Benefits: preserves metadata, automates album creation, handles tags.

• FTP / WebDAV

  • Export photos to a local folder matching album structure.
  • Use FTP or WebDAV to upload to the Piwigo “gallery” folder, then use Piwigo’s batch add feature to register files.
  • Good for large batches or when plugin isn’t available.

• ZIP upload via Piwigo admin

  • Export images into folders, compress to ZIP, then use Piwigo’s ZIP import to create galleries.
  • Faster for many images and preserves folder-to-album mapping.

• API / Third-party tools

  • Some community tools and scripts can push photos via Piwigo’s API. Use for automation or CI systems.

5. Preserve metadata and IPTC fields

• Ensure Lightroom export includes IPTC and EXIF fields.
• After uploading, check a sample image in Piwigo to confirm title, caption, and keywords appear correctly.
• If missing, use Piwigo’s metadata plugins to import IPTC or map fields.

6. Managing versions and updates

• For edits: re-export only changed files and re-upload with the same filename to replace images.
• Keep a clear naming/versioning scheme for originals vs edited exports.
• Use Piwigo’s batch tools to move photos between albums, assign tags, or apply batch permissions.

7. Access control and client delivery

• Set album permissions (public, private, or password-protected).
• Create duplicate client galleries with limited access or use the “users & groups” feature for individual clients.
• Enable download permissions if clients need full-resolution files.

8. Performance and storage tips

• Generate and let Piwigo create thumbnails and intermediate sizes; configure sizes in Piwigo admin.
• Use a CDN or front-end caching if hosting high-traffic galleries.
• Regularly prune or archive originals if storage is limited; keep master files in separate backups.

9. Backup and sync strategy

• Keep Lightroom catalog backups and original RAW files locally or in cloud storage.
• Use Piwigo backups (database + gallery files) and periodic exports of gallery data.
• Consider automated scripts to sync new Lightroom exports to Piwigo.

Troubleshooting common issues

• Missing metadata: recheck export metadata settings and test different images.
• Slow uploads: use ZIP upload or FTP for large batches.
• Wrong colors: ensure sRGB export and confirm Piwigo serves images without color profile stripping.
• Duplicates: enable consistent filenames or use Piwigo’s duplicate detection plugins.

Quick workflow summary

1. Create Lightroom collection.
2. Apply metadata and run edits.
3. Export using “Piwigo Upload” preset.
4. Upload via plugin, FTP, or ZIP.
5. Verify metadata and adjust album settings.
6. Share gallery link with clients.

If you want, I can create a Lightroom export preset file and step-by-step instructions for installing a Piwigo plugin — tell me which Piwigo hosting type you use (self-hosted or hosted).