Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: In Lightroom Classic is there a way to reject a group of photos, so that I can delete them from Lightroom and the hard drive? I have lots of junk photos just wasting space.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can very easily apply a Reject flag to multiple photos in the Library view in Lightroom Classic, and then quickly delete all rejected photos in a given folder or other location.

More Detail: The Reject flag in Lightroom Classic can be very helpful for deleting outtakes with an efficient workflow. While this approach adds an additional step compared to simply selecting and deleting photos, that extra step also provides an additional opportunity to make sure you really want to delete the applicable photos.

The first step is to mark photos that you’d ultimately like to delete with a Reject flag. This can be done with a batch of photos in the Grid view (thumbnails) display in the Library module. You can select multiple images at a time to make this process easier.

To select a range of images that are all in a sequence, click on the thumbnail for the first image and then hold the Shift key on the keyboard and click on the thumbnail for the last image in the sequence. To select images that are not in a sequence you can hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh while clicking on the thumbnail for each photo you want to add to the selection.

After selecting multiple photos within the Grid view display, you can press the “X” key on the keyboard to assign a Reject flag to all of the selected images.

Once you’re finished reviewing a group of photos you can easily delete all images to which you have assigned the Reject flag. First, navigate to the location where you want to delete all photos that have a Reject flag. That could be a single folder, for example, or you could even go to the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module if you want to delete all photos with a Reject flag in your entire Lightroom Classic catalog.

Finally, go to the menu and choose Photo > Delete Rejected Photos. In the confirmation dialog that appears, click the “Delete from Disk” button so the images with the Reject flag with be both removed from the catalog and deleted from your hard drive.

Today’s Question: I would like to use a printing service for some large metal prints. The printer will only accept a file size under 32 megabytes, but some of the images I would like to have printed are in the 38 to 39 megabyte range. The printer’s suggested solution is to change the resolution to 150 pixels per inch. Yet the same printer suggests a minimum resolution of 300 pixels per inch for metal prints. I am wondering if I should gradually lower the resolution in the Lightroom Classic export process until the file is under 32MB. Would that work?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend contacting the printer directly to convince them to allow you to send larger files, or to find a different printer who doesn’t place this limitation on file size.

More Detail: Granted, you can achieve good print quality at 150 pixels per inch, especially if the final image will be displayed in a location where viewers won’t be able to get right up to the print. And in fairness, a metal print does lose a bit of detail as part of the printing process, which makes it somewhat reasonable to use a resolution of 150 pixels per inch.

However, I recommend sizing images for printing at the highest resolution supported by the output process. In most cases for a metal print, that resolution would be around 300 pixels per inch.

I consider the file size limitation of 32 megabytes to be arbitrary and frankly silly. An image saved as a TIFF file in 8-bit per channel mode would exceed 32 megabytes at an output size of a little under 13-inches by 10-inches at 300 pixels per inch. That’s not what most photographers would consider a particularly large print.

You could reduce the file size a little more by using ZIP compression for the TIFF file, which is lossless compression. Otherwise, for large prints, the only way to get the file size down without compromising on resolution would be to save as a JPEG image file, which I consider to be a bad idea especially for large prints.

So, again, I suggest having a conversation with the printer to find a way to submit a larger file size, or finding a printer that is able to accept file sizes commensurate with the output size being produced.

Today’s Question: I know you can use virtual copies in Lightroom Classic to have different interpretations of a photo. But in Friday’s answer you made reference to metadata as well. Don’t virtual copies inherit the metadata of the original image?

Tim’s Quick Answer: When you create a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic it does inherit the metadata of the original photo. However, after creating a virtual copy new metadata updates are not synchronized between the original photo and the virtual copy.

More Detail: A virtual copy in Lightroom Classic is often thought of as providing the ability to create more than one interpretation of a photo in the Develop module. For example, the original image might be in color, and you might make a virtual copy for a black and white interpretation, and yet another virtual copy for a sepia-tone version.

However, a virtual copy is really a complete additional set of metadata for the source photo. So, for example, after creating one or more virtual copies for a photo you can assign different star ratings to each version of the image. You can also assign different keywords and other metadata for each photo. And, as noted above, you can apply different adjustments in the Develop module for each image.

In some ways this is very good, so that you can assign different star ratings to the different versions of the photo to help you decide which is your favorite version.

Of course, this can also be a little bit of a challenge. If you’re adding keywords later in your workflow, after you had already created one or more virtual copies, those keywords won’t propagate to all versions of the image. You would need to update the metadata for all versions of the image or synchronize that metadata after applying it to one version of the image.

To some extent you can think of a virtual copy as being a completely separate copy of the original image. Of course, in reality a virtual copy is simply an “extra” set of metadata that relates to the source image. But it is important to keep in mind that the metadata for a virtual copy can be different from the metadata for the source image.

Today’s Question: You answered a question from a photographer about switching from Lightroom Classic to Bridge, and you said that one of the information losses would be “virtual copies”. I routinely make one or more virtual copies for different processing decisions. Will those virtual copies and all the processing information be lost if I for some reason stop using Lightroom Classic? Is that information not saved in metadata somehow attached to the original file? Would I have to, in effect, export every one of my virtual copies to retain that processing data? If so, yikes!

Tim’s Quick Answer: You would indeed need to export your virtual copies if you were going to stop using Lightroom Classic and wanted to preserve those versions of your photos.

More Detail: A virtual copy in Lightroom Classic enables you to create more than one interpretation of a photo in terms of adjustments in the Develop module or metadata for the image. For example, you can optimize a color photo, then make a virtual copy and create a black and white interpretation of the same capture.

If you enable the option to automatically write changes to metadata for your photos (found on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog), an XMP sidecar file will be created or updated for raw captures that you apply changes to within Lightroom Classic. However, that metadata is not saved outside of the catalog for virtual copies.

If you wanted to preserve the virtual copy version of the photo in the same way as the original raw capture with a sidecar file, you would need to export the virtual copy. In the case of a raw capture, if you export with the “Original” option selected from the Image Format popup, the original raw file will be exported along with an XMP sidecar file containing the metadata updates and adjustment settings.

In other words, you can create multiple copies of the same raw capture file (each with a unique filename of course) and you can have different XMP sidecar files for each, containing different adjustment settings.

Keep in mind that the adjustment settings included in the XMP sidecar file from Lightroom Classic are only usable in Lightroom or via Camera Raw in Photoshop. Other software tools would not be able to interpret those adjustment settings. So, if you were going to stop using Lightroom Classic as well as Photoshop, you would want to export your raw captures to TIFF files to preserve the appearance of the photos with a format that other software could make use of.

Today’s Question: In your recent online workshop you used the transform command in Photoshop to change the shape of a selection. Can the other transform commands such as Skew be used for selections as well?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, the “other” transform commands found on the Edit > Transform menu in Photoshop can be used with selections. However, you may find it easier to work with these commands on a layer mask based on a selection, rather than directly on a selection.

More Detail: Photoshop features a Transform Selection command on the Select menu, which enables you to adjust the overall size and shape of a selection. This includes a Warp setting on the Options bar, which makes it possible to exercise considerable control over the shape of a selection.

Of course, the Transform Selection command is a variation on the Transform commands found on the Edit menu. The key difference is that the Transform Selection command is obviously aimed at changing the overall shape of a selection, while the commands found under Edit > Transform on the menu are aimed at adjusting the shape of pixel-based layers.

However, the various Transform commands can also be used on selections. If there is an active selection in Photoshop, choosing one of the Transform commands from the Edit menu will cause that transform to alter the shape of the selection, rather than the currently active layer on the Layers panel.

Transforming the shape of a selection can be a little challenging based on the animated dashed line used to indicate the selection edge. You may find it easier to instead either switch to Quick Mask mode (by pressing “Q” on the keyboard) before using one of the Transform commands on a selection, or by creating a layer mask based on the selection and then applying the Transform command to the layer mask.

Granted, in most cases a selection will likely have a somewhat irregular shape based on a specific area of the image, in which case the Transform commands may not prove especially helpful. However, when the selection has more of a geometric shape (such as an elliptical selection created with the Elliptical Marquee tool), the Transform commands can prove incredibly helpful for modifying the selection or a layer mask based on the selection.

Today’s Question: I have five images that are attempting to sync to the cloud in Lightroom Classic, but the sync never finishes. There are no error messages on the Lightroom Sync tab of Preferences. I have left Lightroom Classic open for hours and nothing changes. The sync function just keeps running… Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You should be able to resolve this issue by rebuilding the synchronization data, which is a “hidden” option in the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: I’ve had this same issue periodically with Lightroom Classic over the past year or so. In some cases the issue can be resolved disabling and then re-enabling synchronization. However, when no errors are indicated, I find it is generally necessary to rebuild the synchronization data.

To rebuild the synchronization data first bring up the Preferences dialog by choosing Preferences from the Edit menu on Windows or the Lightroom Classic menu on Macintosh. Go to the Lightroom Sync tab within the Preferences dialog and hold down the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh. This will reveal a “Rebuild Sync Data” button. While holding the Alt/Option key, click on that “Rebuild Sync Data” button, and then click the Continue button in the confirmation dialog.

Once the process of rebuilding the synchronization data is completed, your sync should no longer be in limbo.

Today’s Question: My computer has been sending me urgent distress signals, telling me that I need to free up hard drive space ASAP. My Lightroom previews.lrdata file is 58GB and contains only standard previews. My photos reside on an external HD. Can I safely delete the previews file to free up space on my computer? What would you recommend?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, it is safe to delete the Lightroom Classic previews file. However, this will slow performance in Lightroom Classic, and over time the previews file will grow as new previews are built for your photos.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic builds lower-resolution JPEG previews of your original captures to speed up the process of browsing your photos. Those previews are stored in a previews file, which has the same base filename as your Lightroom Classic catalog file, with “Previews” appended to that name and a filename extension of “lrdata”. It is safe to delete this file if you need to recover hard drive space, as the previews can always be re-built later.

Deleting the previews file can certainly free up considerable storage space. Of course, this would generally be a temporary fix, since the next time you launch Lightroom Classic, previews will be built again for images in each folder (or other location) that you actually browse. Therefore, even if you need to delete the previews file temporarily, I would also look for other files that can be deleted in order to free up more hard drive space.

Later, once you have adequate storage space, you could build previews for all images in your catalog. To do so, first navigate to the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. Then make sure there are no filters set so that you’re actually browsing all images, and then choose Edit > Select All from the menu to select all of the photos. Finally, from the menu, select Library > Previews > Build Standard-Sized Previews.

Another option would be to move the entire folder containing your Lightroom Classic catalog and related files to an external hard drive, in order to free up space on your internal hard drive. Keep in mind, however, that having the catalog on an external hard drive will degrade performance in Lightroom Classic, so it is best to keep the catalog on the internal hard drive of your computer if at all possible.

Today’s Question: I have had occasion to make a virtual copy of a photo and like it much better than the original version I processed. I would like to keep the virtual copy as the master and delete the original. How can that be done?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can indeed apply the adjustment settings for a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic to the master image, which effectively swaps the adjustment settings between these two versions of the photo.

More Detail: A virtual copy in Lightroom Classic represents an additional interpretation of a source photo. In other words, by using virtual copies you can have more than one set of adjustments applied to the same source image.

From time to time you may find that you are happier with the adjustments applied to the virtual copy, and so you want to retain that version as your master image, and perhaps discard the “other” version of the image.

Let’s assume, for example, that you have optimized your master photo in Lightroom Classic as a color interpretation of the photo. You then create a virtual copy and apply adjustments that produce a black and white interpretation of the image. You then decide that you want to keep the black and white version of the image, and discard the color interpretation. In other words, you want to apply the settings from the virtual copy to the master image.

To do so, you can simply select the virtual copy that you want to “upgrade” to having the status as your master image. Then go to the menu and choose Photo > Set Copy as Master. This will swap the adjustment settings for the photo, so that in this example the master image will have the black and white adjustments and the virtual copy will have the color adjustments.

At that point, if you only want to retain the primary version of your photo, you could right-click on the virtual copy and choose the option to Remove Photo. Just be sure that in this type of situation you are only ever removing a virtual copy, not removing the master image.

Today’s Question: Some years ago I scanned a 35mm slide. Lightroom [Classic] shows me the file size to be 108MB, and when I send the image to Photoshop I get the same size in the Image Size dialog. I have re-scanned the slide, and when I send it to Photoshop to prepare a JPEG image for submission to an agency, the file size shows as 54MB. What is causing the difference?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this case the difference is the bit depth. The first image was set to a bit depth of 16-bits per channel, with the second image set to 8-bits per channel.

More Detail: The Image Size dialog in Photoshop provides what appears to be a file size value to the right of the Pixel Dimensions heading, but this value will not necessarily match the actual size of the file on your hard drive. However, the bit depth setting for the image will impact this size value, just as it will impact the actual size of the file when saved.

The file size shown in the Image Size dialog in Photoshop can be thought of as the estimated size of the image file if it is saved as a TIFF file with no layers and with no compression applied. Saving with a different file format or settings will result in a file size that differs from what is shown in the Image Size dialog.

However, the file size estimate does take into account bit depth. In this case both source images were likely scanned at a bit depth of 16-bits per channel, although it is possible the second image was scanned at 8-bits per channel. It is also possible, however, that the image had been converted to a JPEG image before the size was viewed in the Image Size dialog. JPEG images do not support 16-bits per channel, so that conversion would necessarily involve converting the image to 8-bits per channel. That, in turn, would cut the file size in half.

Again, the file size estimate in the Image Size dialog in Photoshop should only be viewed as an estimate based on pixel dimensions and bit depth, without reflecting the file format and related settings for the final saved image file.

Today’s Question: Friday you recommended using Lightroom Classic instead of Adobe Camera Raw for basic image adjustments. What makes Lightroom Classic better than Camera Raw?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In the context of optimizing raw captures, Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw are essentially the same thing. The advantage of Lightroom Classic in the context of my answer last week was simply related to image management, not optimization.

More Detail: My suggestion to use Lightroom Classic to apply adjustments to the raw capture was simply related to a workflow that involves managing photos with Lightroom Classic. You will achieve exactly the same results processing a raw capture using Adobe Camera Raw or the Develop module in Lightroom Classic.

The reason I was recommending Lightroom Classic “instead of” Camera Raw in my answer was that the answer was predicated on using Lightroom Classic to manage photos. If you’re going to send a photo to Photoshop for further optimization, it is necessary (or at least highly recommended) that you send the photo from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, rather than opening the image directly from Photoshop.

When you send a photo from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, the raw processing is being conducted by Lightroom Classic, with a finished image sent to Photoshop. That finished image will be saved as a TIFF or PSD file, depending on the setting you have established in Preferences in Lightroom Classic.

In other words, if you’re using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, you won’t really be able to use Camera Raw for processing the raw capture, since that will be handled by Lightroom Classic instead. Therefore, it is advantageous to apply at least the basic adjustments in Lightroom Classic before sending the image to Camera Raw.

But for photographers who are using Photoshop to optimize their photos, and are not using Lightroom Classic at all, there is no benefit to Lightroom Classic in terms of raw processing. Both Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic’s Develop module provide the same results. They simply involve a slightly workflow.