Sync Lightroom Collections to Piwigo AutomaticallyPiwigo is a powerful open-source photo gallery that’s ideal for photographers and hobbyists who want to host and organize images on their own server. Adobe Lightroom is a professional-grade tool for organizing, editing, and preparing photos for publication. Combining Lightroom’s cataloging and editing strengths with Piwigo’s web gallery features creates an efficient workflow: edit and organize in Lightroom, then automatically sync selected collections to your Piwigo site for sharing or client delivery.
This guide covers an end-to-end automated workflow: choosing tools, installing and configuring plugins, mapping Lightroom collections to Piwigo albums, transferring metadata, handling image versions and originals, preserving privacy and access controls, troubleshooting, and maintenance. It assumes basic familiarity with Lightroom and a working Piwigo installation (self-hosted or hosted by a provider).
Why automate syncing Lightroom to Piwigo?
- Save time: no manual export/upload after every edit.
- Preserve organization: Lightroom collections, keywords, captions, and ratings can map directly to Piwigo albums and photo metadata.
- Keep versions: publish edited JPEGs while retaining originals locally or on Piwigo if desired.
- Streamline client delivery: share album links with matching access controls.
- Reduce errors: automation enforces consistent naming, metadata, and image processing parameters.
Planning your workflow
Before configuring tools, decide the goals and constraints of your workflow:
- Which images will be published? (All, flagged, rated above X, specific collections)
- Will you upload originals, edited JPEG exports, or both?
- How should Lightroom metadata map to Piwigo fields? (Title, description, tags/keywords, GPS)
- Do you need to preserve Lightroom edits (exported JPEG/PNG) or allow clients to download originals?
- Do you want automatic album creation and updates when Lightroom collections change?
- How to handle deletions and renames: mirror changes or keep Piwigo independent after upload?
- Bandwidth and storage considerations on the Piwigo server.
Documenting these decisions up front avoids surprises later.
Tools and plugins you can use
There are two main approaches:
- Lightroom-side export plugin that uploads directly to Piwigo.
- A synchronization tool or script that watches a folder and pushes changes to Piwigo.
Popular options:
- Lightroom Piwigo Export Plugin: a plugin that integrates into Lightroom’s Export dialog to upload directly to a Piwigo gallery. (Check for updated community plugins compatible with your Lightroom version.)
- Export to a watched folder + a Piwigo sync script (using Piwigo APIs or CLI tools): Lightroom exports to a local folder; a background process (rsync + custom script, or a small Python/Node script using Piwigo’s XML-RPC/API) monitors and uploads changes.
- Lightroom Classic Publish Services with a custom plugin: more advanced — allows publishing/unpublishing, sync management, and incremental updates from the Lightroom Library.
Choose the approach based on your need for realtime automation, control within Lightroom, and whether you want Lightroom’s Publish features.
Installing and configuring a Lightroom export/publish plugin
If you choose a Lightroom plugin that uploads directly to Piwigo, the basic steps are:
- Obtain the plugin compatible with your Lightroom version (Lightroom Classic vs. Lightroom CC desktop; plugins mainly work with Classic).
- Install the plugin:
- In Lightroom Classic, File > Plug-in Manager > Add.
- Point to the plugin folder and enable it.
- Configure the plugin settings with your Piwigo site URL, username, and password or an API key if supported.
- Map export settings:
- Image format (JPEG/PNG), quality, resizing, sharpening, color space.
- Metadata handling: include title, caption, keywords, GPS.
- Album mapping: choose an existing album or create a new Piwigo album based on a Lightroom collection name.
- Test with a small collection to confirm image quality, metadata transfer, and album creation.
Tip: Use a Piwigo account with appropriate permissions (create/upload) and consider an account dedicated to automated uploads.
Using Lightroom Publish Services for true synchronization
Lightroom Classic’s Publish Services are designed for ongoing sync between your catalog and a web gallery. With a Publish Service plugin for Piwigo, you can:
- Mark photos in the “Publish” collection to be uploaded.
- Edit and republish changed images; Lightroom sends only deltas.
- Unpublish photos to remove them from the online gallery.
- See publish status in Lightroom.
Steps:
- Install a Publish Service plugin for Piwigo if available.
- Create a new Publish Service (Library > Publish Services panel > Setup).
- Configure default export settings and album mapping.
- Drag collections/photos into the Publish collection; click “Publish”.
- Future edits can be republished selectively.
If a ready-made Publish plugin isn’t available, a custom plugin or using the Export plugin repeatedly can accomplish similar results, though without the same incremental tracking.
Export settings recommendations
- File type: JPEG for web galleries; use quality 80–90 as a balance of quality and size.
- Resize to fit: choose a long-edge pixel size appropriate to your gallery theme and client expectations (e.g., 2048 px).
- Color space: sRGB (web standard).
- Sharpening: Standard for screen; adjust for your camera and export size.
- Metadata: include copyright, title, caption, and keywords; remove private EXIF if needed.
- Watermarking: apply only if required — better to use Piwigo’s watermarking feature server-side for uniformity.
- Filename template: include date or unique ID to avoid name collisions.
Mapping Lightroom metadata to Piwigo
Decide how Lightroom fields map to Piwigo:
- Lightroom Title → Piwigo Title
- Lightroom Caption/Description → Piwigo Description
- Lightroom Keywords → Piwigo Tags
- Ratings/Color Labels → Use for filtering before publish (Piwigo does not natively support Lightroom ratings)
- GPS → Piwigo geolocation (if plugin supports it)
- EXIF/IPTC → uploaded with images; Piwigo can extract/display EXIF
Ensure the plugin supports these mappings. If not, post-processing via the Piwigo API can set metadata after upload.
Handling originals, edited versions, and versions control
Options:
- Export edited JPEGs for web — recommended for speed and consistent appearance.
- If you want clients to download originals, either:
- Upload originals alongside edited exports (increases storage).
- Keep originals on a private download area and provide links.
- For each Lightroom edit, publish the exported version. Keep filenames or metadata stable so subsequent publishes update existing Piwigo photos rather than create duplicates.
- Use Lightroom’s UUID or filename+capture time to uniquely identify photos.
Access control and privacy
Piwigo supports albums with privacy levels (public, registered users, password-protected, etc.). Decide per-album settings before publishing:
- Public galleries for portfolios.
- Password-protected or private albums for client previews.
- Limit thumbnail resolution or disable downloads via Piwigo plugins if necessary.
Set the plugin to assign uploaded photos to the correct album privacy level or run a short script using Piwigo’s API to adjust permissions after upload.
Automating the folder-watch approach
If using a watched folder:
- Configure Lightroom to export to a consistent folder structure that mirrors Piwigo album names.
- Use a background script/tool that monitors the folder (inotify on Linux, Folder Actions on macOS, Task Scheduler or a background service on Windows).
- When new/changed files appear, the script:
- Calls Piwigo’s API to find/create the target album.
- Uploads the file and sets metadata.
- Optionally deletes or archives the local file after successful upload.
- Implement logging and retry logic for failures.
A simple Python example using requests to call Piwigo’s API can be built; ensure you follow Piwigo’s API authentication and rate limits.
Troubleshooting common issues
- Connectivity/auth errors: verify credentials, test via browser/API client, check TLS/HTTPS.
- Duplicates: ensure export naming and plugin settings avoid re-uploading identical images; use publish service if possible.
- Missing metadata: check plugin metadata mapping and Lightroom export metadata inclusion settings.
- Slow uploads: reduce image size, enable chunked uploads if supported, or schedule overnight synchronization.
- Permissions: ensure the Piwigo user has album creation/upload rights.
Maintenance and best practices
- Regularly back up both Lightroom catalogs and Piwigo database/files.
- Monitor disk usage on the Piwigo server; enable optimization or offloading of originals to external storage if needed.
- Keep plugins and Piwigo updated for security and compatibility.
- Test the workflow after major Lightroom or Piwigo upgrades.
- Keep one canonical source: treat Lightroom as source of truth, and let automated sync mirror to Piwigo.
Example: basic Python script outline (folder watch + upload)
# pseudocode watch_folder = "/path/to/export" on_new_file(file): album = map_folder_to_album(file.folder) ensure_album_exists(album) upload(file, album) set_metadata(file.metadata) For production, implement robust error handling, authentication via Piwigo API keys, and logging.
Conclusion
Automating sync between Lightroom and Piwigo saves time and keeps your online portfolio aligned with your edits and organization. Choose between a direct Lightroom plugin (simpler, integrated) or a folder-watch + upload script (flexible, can run outside Lightroom). Map metadata deliberately, test with small batches, and set access controls according to client needs.
If you want, I can:
- Recommend specific plugins compatible with your Lightroom version,
- Draft a sample Python uploader using Piwigo’s API,
- Help configure export presets in Lightroom for optimal web output.
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