Author: Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I always wondered if the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop is the same as adjusting in Camera Raw to start with. It seems that Camera Raw would be better as its adjustments are applied directly to the rendered raw file instead of applying to an image layer.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The primary disadvantage of the Camera Raw filter compared to Camera Raw is that not all adjustments found in Camera Raw are available for the filter. There are also some theoretical benefits to applying adjustments as part of the raw processing rather than after, but in most cases these would translate to very modest changes that would not be easy to see.

More Detail: Overall, the adjustments available with Camera Raw versus the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop, although there are some exceptions. Those exceptions are the primary disadvantage of using the Camera Raw filter rather than using Camera Raw, although in most cases the features missing from the Camera Raw filter are available elsewhere in Photoshop.

There are also some potential advantages to using Camera Raw rather than applying adjustments on an image layer in Photoshop, but in most cases these would be very minor and difficult to see in the image. That’s especially true if you’re working with a 16-bit per channel image in Photoshop for the Camera Raw filter. There is also a slight risk of image degradation (especially with 8-bit per channel images) if you apply the Camera Raw filter multiple times to the same image layer.

The features that are available in Camera Raw but not in the Camera Raw filter include crop and rotate tools and the Enhance features, which include Denoise, Super Resolution, and Raw Details. But you can obviously crop and rotate an image using the Crop tool and Transform commands in Photoshop, so the absence of these in the Camera Raw filter isn’t a major issue.

Today’s Question: In the new Assisted Culling feature in Lightroom Classic, there are new categories under the Catalog heading, one which is Missing Photographs. All of those listed as “Missing” in this new section (nearly 150,000) in my catalog are at known locations easily found and have no “?” appearing on the image frame in Library. Can you explain what is this category of Missing Photographs intended to identify?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The “Missing Photographs” collection isn’t new, but there appear to be some issues that cause the exclamation point to not appear for some photos when the Assisted Culling feature has been used.

More Detail: The “Missing Photographs” collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module in Lightroom Classic will only appear if the Photo > Find All Missing Photos command has been used. It is not a new feature of Lightroom Classic 15.

Based on my testing, when photos appear in the Missing Photographs collection, they are indeed missing, meaning they can’t be found in the expected folder with the expected filename. However, there appear to be one or more bugs in the new update to Lightroom Classic that cause the exclamation point icons to not show up reliably. This appears to be related to the use of the Assisted Culling Feature.

When you enable Assisted Culling, photos get marked with a green circle with a checkmark if they are identified as Selects, and a red circle with an “X” if they are identified as Rejects. This icon appears in the same location that the exclamation point for a missing photo would appear, causing the exclamation point to not appear for missing photos that also have been marked by the Assisted Culling feature.

Furthermore, my testing shows that even if you turn off the Assisted Culling criteria so that the Select and Reject icons are hidden, the exclamation point icon for missing photos still doesn’t appear. However, you would still see the “Photos is missing” message below the Histogram on the right panel in the Library module.

So, I think it is safe to say that if a photo appears in the Missing Photographs collection in the Catalog section, the source image file truly can’t be found by Lightroom Classic. You just might not see the corresponding exclamation point icon with the image thumbnail due to an apparent bug in Lightroom Classic related to the new Assisted Culling feature.

Today’s Question: With the latest update to Lightroom Classic I’m suddenly seeing a black circle with an exclamation point on a few folders. I had never seen these icons before, and don’t know of any problems with the marked folders. Should I be worried about something?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The new icon you’re referring to indicates that one or more subfolders are missing within the marked folder. The actual missing folders would be marked with a question mark icon, but the new exclamation point icon marks all parent folders for the missing folder to help improve discoverability of this issue.

More Detail: Prior to Lightroom Classic 15, only folders that were actually missing would be marked to indicate that status, with a question mark appearing on the folder icon. One of the problems with this approach was that if a subfolder several layers deep was missing, the chances of discovering that issue might be relatively low since subfolders can be hidden from view by collapsing a parent folder.

With the new update all parent folders for a missing folder will be marked with an exclamation point within a black circle. If you hover your mouse over this icon, you’ll see a tooltip with information about the missing folder(s) contained within the applicable folder. Note that every parent folder will be marked in this way, so depending on how deep your folder structure is you might see multiple folders marked with the exclamation point icon. This is to help ensure that you notice the issue so it can be dealt with promptly.

When a folder is missing it simply means that a folder with the expected name is not found in the expected location. This could mean that you renamed the folder in its current location or that you moved the folder to a different location, for example. After determining where the folder actually is, you can right-click on the missing folder and choose “Find Missing Folder” from the popup menu. Once you’ve reconnected the applicable folder, the alert icons for that folder and parent folders will go away (unless there are still other subfolders missing within a given parent folder, of course).

Today’s Question: Maybe we aren’t supposed to see an image open in Camera Raw from Lightroom Classic, but it does so that about 20% of the time for me. Usually if I close it and go back to Lightroom Classic and try again, it opens correctly.

Tim’s Quick Answer: This suggests that about 20% of the time you’re sending a non-raw image (such as a TIFF or JPEG) to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic, and that you have Camera Raw configured to open these other file types.

More Detail: In a previous answer I explained that if you’re sending a raw capture from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop you won’t see the Camera Raw dialog. If you do see the Camera Raw dialog for a raw capture, it indicates that you opened the raw capture directly in Photoshop or via Adobe Bridge.

However, it is possible for the Camera Raw dialog to appear if you have sent a compatible JPEG or TIFF image from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop and you have support for those file formats enabled in Camera Raw.

In this case I recommend disabling support for non-raw formats in Camera Raw, mostly to avoid confusion. You can always use the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop if you want to access some of the Camera Raw features for non-raw images.

To disable support for non-raw files, go to Camera Raw and click the gear icon at the top-right to bring up the Camera Raw Preferences dialog. In Adobe Bridge you can also go to the Edit menu on Windows or the Adobe Bridge menu on Macintosh and choose Camera Raw Preferences to bring up the dialog. In the Camera Raw Preferences dialog go to the File Handling tab, where I recommend setting the popups in the “File Format Handling” section to the “Disable” setting.

With that support for non-raw image types disabled, compatible JPEG or TIFF images (among other formats) will open directly in Photoshop from Lightroom Classic without bringing up the Camera Raw dialog.

Today’s Question: Is there a quick way [in Photoshop] to get the Contextual Task Bar off the screen after I’m done with it? I can retrace my steps to call up the tool, then remove it when I am done, as it really clutters the screen. It would be easier, however, if there were a shortcut key to get the taskbar on or off my screen.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can assign a keyboard shortcut to the Contextual Task Bar (or other menu commands in Photoshop) to make it easier to hide or reveal the taskbar, but you might also consider pinning it to a location that is not in the way, such as over the Options bar.

More Detail: The Contextual Task Bar provides access to various tasks based on the context of what you’re doing, and in particular it provides access to Generative AI features in Photoshop. If you want to be able to quickly hide or reveal this taskbar you can assign a keyboard shortcut to it. To get started, go to the menu bar and choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

In the search field near the top-left of the dialog you can enter “Contextual”, or you can navigate to the Window section. To the right of the Contextual Task Bar command click in the text field and then press the keyboard shortcut combination you want to assign to this command. There’s a very good chance that whatever keyboard combination you try will result in a message that the shortcut is already used by another command. If so, you can either try a different combination or replace the shortcut if the existing command isn’t one you need a keyboard shortcut for.

Next, click the Accept button to apply the change, and click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog. You can then use the assigned keyboard shortcut to hide or reveal the Contextual Task Bar.

If you just want to make sure the Contextual Task Bar doesn’t get in the way of the image or interface elements, you can pin it to a more convenient location. Start by dragging the taskbar to the preferred position using the “handle” on the left side of the bar. Then click the “More” button (the three dots on the right side) and choose “Pin bar position” from the popup menu. This will add a checkmark icon to the left of that command to indicate it is enabled. The taskbar will then remain in that position unless you move it to a new location, in which case it will instead be pinned to the new location.

Today’s Question: You’ve said that Camera Raw provides the same adjustments as those found in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic, but isn’t this not always true?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Correct. While generally speaking Camera Raw and the Develop module in Lightroom Classic (and the Edit adjustments in Lightroom) are exactly the same just with interface differences, recently some features have been added to Camera Raw before they are available in Lightroom.

More Detail: If my memory serves me correctly (which is not necessarily the case!) until relatively recently there was parity between Camera Raw and the Develop module in Lightroom Classic, with the only real differences being related to the interface not the actual adjustments.

However, that is no longer the case. For example, the Tone Curve adjustment was available for masking adjustments in Camera Raw before it was available in Lightroom Classic. Similarly, the Dust option for Distraction Removal with the Remove tool was added to Camera Raw before being included in Lightroom Classic.

Based on the history of parity (even if features were released earlier in one application than another), I fully expect that any features added to Camera Raw without being included in Lightroom Classic will eventually be added to Lightroom Classic as well.

Today’s Question: I use Lightroom Classic, but sometimes edit photos in Photoshop. Why do I sometimes see Camera Raw when I open a raw image in Photoshop, but other times I don’t see Camera Raw and the image just opens in Photoshop?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you’re using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, you should never see the Camera Raw dialog in Photoshop unless you’ve used the Camera Raw filter. The Camera Raw dialog appears when you open a raw image directly in Photoshop rather than sending the image from Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: When you send a raw capture to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic, the source raw image is rendered based on the adjustment settings from the Develop module, opening in Photoshop without the Camera Raw dialog coming up. When you save that image, it will automatically be saved with the file type and settings established on the External Editing tab of the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic.

If you’re seeing the Camera Raw dialog in Photoshop when a raw image is opened, it means you opened the raw image directly in Photoshop rather than sending it from Lightroom Classic. That is something that should be avoided because, for example, it will cause a metadata mismatch with Camera Raw updating settings for the image that are not reflected in Lightroom Classic.

When using Lightroom Classic to manage images, the only time you should see the Camera Raw dialog in Photoshop is if you chose to use the Camera Raw filter, which can be accessed by choosing Filter > Camera Raw Filter from the menu in Photoshop. This enables you to have the same adjustment options as Camera Raw (or the Develop module in Lightroom Classic) while working on an image layer in Photoshop.

Today’s Question: I appreciated your tip about using a keyboard shortcut to add photos to a collection. However, when I select multiple photos on the filmstrip and press the letter “B” to add to the target collection, only one image is added to the collection, not all selected photos. Am I doing something wrong?

Tim’s Quick Answer: To add multiple photos to the current target collection in Lightroom Classic you’ll want to select the images in the grid view. If you have selected the loupe view only the active image will be added, not all selected images.

More Detail: As noted in yesterday’s Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter, if you right-click on a collection in the Collections section of the left panel in the Library module and choose “Set as Target Collection”, you can then press the letter “B” on the keyboard to add selected photos to that collection.

As addressed in today’s question, however, this option is subject to what I refer to as the “loupe view snafu”. What I mean by that is that by default when you’re in the loupe view (rather than the grid view) in the Library module, even if you have selected multiple photos on the filmstrip you’re only actually updating the image currently shown in the loupe view. In the context of today’s question, that means in the loupe view if you try to add multiple images to a collection with a keyboard shortcut, only one image will be added rather than all selected images.

The quick and easy solution is to simply make sure you’re in the grid view before pressing the letter “B” to add the selected photos to the target collection. More broadly, I recommend getting in the habit of always using the grid view (rather than the filmstrip) when you want to select multiple photos, just to avoid a situation where you think you’re updating multiple photos but really only one image is being updated.

Today’s Question: Is there a way to assign a keyboard shortcut for adding photos to a specific collection in Lightroom Classic? It seems very slow and cumbersome to have to drag photos into a collection.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, if you assign the intended collection as the target collection you can press the letter “B” on the keyboard to add the currently selected photo(s) to the target collection.

More Detail: Many photographers think of the letter “B” as a keyboard shortcut in Lightroom Classic as being associated with the Quick Collection, which is found in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. But in fact, the letter “B” is the keyboard shortcut for adding photos to the target collection. It’s just that the Quick Collection is the default target collection.

To change the target collection to the collection you want to add photos to, right-click on collection in the Collections section of the left panel in the Library module and choose “Set as Target Collection” from the popup menu. When you do so you’ll notice that a plus symbol (+) appears to the right of the collection, which is a marker indicating this is the current target collection. By default, that plus symbol would have been to the right of the Quick Collection.

With the target collection set you can now select photos and simply press the letter “B” on the keyboard to add the selected images to the current target collection. When you’re done working with that collection I do recommend right-clicking on the Quick Collection and choosing “Set as Target Collection” so that the letter “B” keyboard shortcut will be set back to the default behavior of adding to the Quick Collection, just to avoid confusion about which collection photos will be added to.

Today’s Question: How do you add a new external hard drive for Lightroom Classic when your current drive is almost full?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can either transition to a new and larger hard drive or add an additional hard drive to supplement your existing storage. The key is to make sure you manage this process in the context of the Lightroom Classic catalog.

More Detail: If you want to migrate your photo storage to a larger hard drive, I recommend first copying the entire contents of your existing hard drive to the new drive. Then disconnect the original hard drive, and make sure the new hard drive has the same drive letter (Windows) or volume label (Macintosh) as the original drive. This will ensure that the photo storage has the same location and folder structure as the original drive, so that from the perspective of Lightroom Classic nothing will have changed. In other words, all the photos and folders will be where they are expected, they are just on a drive that has more free space now.

If you want to supplement your existing storage with an additional hard drive, you need to add a folder to that drive within Lightroom Classic to make it visible for access. To do so go to the Folders section of the left panel in the Library module and click the plus (+) button to the right of the Folders heading. Choose “Add Folder from the popup menu that appears and navigate to the new hard drive. Then create a new folder on that drive with a meaningful name such as “Photos”. Click the Choose button to complete the process.

At this point you will see the new folder you just created under a separate heading for the new hard drive. You can then drag folders from the original drive to the top-level folder on the new drive if you need to free up space on the original drive. You can also make a point of importing any new photos to the new drive from that point forward, since you will have more free space available on the new drive.