Author: Tim Grey

Today’s Question: During one of your presentations you restarted Lightroom [Classic CC] and I noticed the image that appeared while Lightroom was loading included your GreyLearning logo. How do you customize that startup image?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can replace the default splash screen in Lightroom Classic CC by simply creating an image of up to 900 by 600 pixels and saving it into the “Splash Screen” folder based on your operating system.

More Detail: The first step to customizing the splash for Lightroom, of course, is to actually create the graphic you want to use for this purpose. Many photographers, for example, prefer to have their company logo or other promotion information appear on the splash screen. This provides a small promotional opportunity when you launch Lightroom with clients to review images.

The splash screen image can be up to 900 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall. Save the image as a JPEG or PNG file, putting it in the appropriate folder based on your operating system.

For Macintosh users, you can get started by navigating to the Library folder. To do so, hold the Option key on the keyboard while choosing Go > Library from the menu. Note that the Library option does not appear on this menu if you’re not holding the Option key. Within the Library folder, navigate to Application Support > Adobe > Lightroom > Splash Screen.

For Windows users you’ll want to start by navigating to the Users folder on your system hard drive (drive C: by default). Then continue navigating to AppData > Roaming > Adobe > Lightroom > Splash Screen.

Once you’ve navigated to the appropriate folder, place your custom splash screen image into that folder. When you restart Lightroom, your customized splash screen will appear while Lightroom is loading.

Today’s Question: In Lightroom how do you rename the previous import?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can rename photos after import by selecting them and choosing Library > Rename Photos from the menu. In the case of the previous import, note that you can find those images in the Previous Import collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module.

More Detail: It is possible to rename photos during import into Lightroom, of course. But you can also rename later in your workflow. You may have forgotten to rename during import, or you might want to wait until after you’ve deleted outtakes, so you won’t have gaps in the filename numbering.

The first step is to select the photos you want to rename. If those photos are the last images to be imported, you can select the Previous Import collection from the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. You can then choose Edit > Select All from the menu to select all of those photos, and then choose Library > Rename Photos to initiate the renaming process.

If you need to select other photos, you can navigate to the appropriate folder and select all (or some) of the photos. Then choose the Rename Photos command to bring up the Rename Photos dialog. Note that the title bar for the dialog will indicate how many images you’re renaming, so you can get a sense of whether you’ve selected the correct range of photos.

The renaming process later in your workflow is the same as during import, in that it involves the use of a template. So you can choose a template from the File Naming popup, or choose “Edit” from that popup to bring up the Filename Template Editor dialog where you can define a structure for renaming photos.

In the Rename Photos dialog you can then fill in any other details, such as if the template you’ve selected includes a Custom Text or Sequence Number field. Then click OK to apply the renaming to the selected photos.

Today’s Question: I’m only using Photoshop, not Lightroom. I’ve seen a lot of information about creating presets for applying effects in Lightroom. Is it also possible to create presets in Camera Raw?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can indeed save settings in Camera Raw, much as you can save presets in Lightroom. The commands are found on the popup menu at the top-right of the adjustments panel in the Camera Raw dialog.

More Detail: The first step to saving Camera Raw adjustment settings is to actually apply those adjustments to an image. For this purpose I generally open a “test” image that I’m not too worried about, so I don’t have to be concerned about resetting the adjustments for the photo.

I then recommend resetting the current adjustments to the default settings. You can do so by clicking the panel popup menu button at the top-right of the adjustment controls and choosing “Reset Camera Raw Defaults” from the popup menu. Then apply all of the various adjustments you’d like to save.

When you’re finished applying your adjustments, click the panel popup menu at the top-right of the adjustments once again, and choose “Save Settings. In the dialog that appears you can choose which specific categories of adjustments you’d like to include in your saved settings. Make sure the checkbox is only turned on for the specific categories you want to include in your saved settings, and click the Save button.

In the dialog that appears, enter a name for the settings you’re saving. If you’d like, you can also create or open a subfolder within the Settings folder. Then click the Save button to actually save your settings. Those settings will be preserved in an XMP file, much as settings for raw captures processed with Camera Raw.

In the future you can apply your saved settings to an image from within Camera Raw. Simply go to the popup menu once again and choose Load Settings. Then select the XMP file created when you saved the settings, and then click the Load button. The saved settings will be applied to the current image within Camera Raw, so you can refine those settings as needed and then open the photo.

Today’s Question: When I open an image in Photoshop, it’s always necessary for me to choose View > Fit on Screen from the menu to maximize the image size before I can proceed with anything else. Is there a way to instruct Photoshop to perform that step automatically every time an image is opened?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can have Photoshop always size images with the “Fit on Screen” zoom setting by creating an action that you activate to be run every time an image is opened in Photoshop.

More Detail: The first step to enable Photoshop to always zoom images with the “Fit on Screen” setting is to create an action for this purpose. Start by going to the Actions panel, choosing Window > Actions if the panel isn’t currently visible. Navigate to the folder (or create a new one) in the Actions panel where you want to create the action. Then “Create a New Action” button (the blank sheet of paper icon) at the bottom of the Actions panel to start the process of creating an action.

In the New Action dialog, type a meaningful name for the action, such as “Zoom Fit on Screen”. Confirm the desired folder is selected for the action, and then click Record to begin creating the actual action. Then click on the panel popup menu at the top-right of the Actions panel (it has an icon of a set of four horizontal lines) and choose “Insert Menu Item” from the popup menu.

When the Insert Menu Item dialog appears, go to the menu bar and choose View > Fit on Screen. Then click OK in the Insert Menu Item dialog. You can then click the “Stop Recording” button (the white square icon) at the bottom of the Actions panel to stop recording the action.

Next, go to the menu bar and choose File > Scripts > Script Event Manager. In the Script Events Manager dialog turn on the “Enable Events to Run Scripts/Actions” checkbox if it isn’t already turned on. Then choose “Open Document” from the Photoshop Event popup. Below that, set the option button to Action (rather than Script). Select the folder where you created the action, and the action you created with the Fit on Screen command. Click the Add button to add this event, and then click the Done button to close the Script Events Manager dialog.

At this point, every time you open an image in Photoshop (whether directly or via another application such as Adobe Bridge), the image will automatically resize with the “Fit on Screen” zoom setting.

Today’s Question: You said that you consider Lightroom Classic’s backup during import to be a “temporary” backup. Why is that, and does it mean you don’t recommend using this backup option?

Tim’s Quick Answer: When you use the option to create a second copy of your photos during import into your Lightroom catalog, the backup is not what I consider a “complete” backup of the source files. It is still perfectly fine to take advantage of this backup option during import, but I then recommend creating a more complete backup after the import is complete.

More Detail: When importing photos into Lightroom Classic with the “Copy” (rather than “Add”) option, you have the option of creating a second copy of your photos as part of that process. However, the backup copy created when you turn on the “Make a Second Copy To” checkbox in the Import dialog isn’t what I consider a “complete” backup.

When you enable the backup during import, Lightroom will copy the source images being imported to a second location that you specify. However, within the location you select, a subfolder will be created to contain the backup copy of the photos. The name for that folder will not match the name of the folder you are importing your photos into. Instead, the folder will be called “Imported on” with the date of import appended to the folder name.

If you rename the photos during import, that renaming will also be reflected in the backup copy. However, metadata updates you apply during import (such as by using a metadata preset or entering keywords) will not be written to the backup copy of the images. The source images can have those metadata updates applied to the source images (rather than only being included in the catalog) if you have enabled that option in the Catalog Settings dialog.

For these reasons, I treat the “Make a Second Copy To” option during import as a temporary backup solution. I do prefer to make use of this option, so that I have an “extra” backup of my photos immediately upon import into my Lightroom catalog. However, once I’ve then created a synchronization backup for two or more backup drives (using GoodSync, http://timgrey.me/greybackup), I can discard the backup Lightroom created during import.

To be sure, I’m never in a hurry to discard the “extra” backup created when I import photos into Lightroom. But when I need to free up hard drive space on the drive where I store those import backups, I can comfortably delete those backups since I already have two (or more) additional backup copies of all of my photos.

Today’s Question: I recently read a reference to HSL as a color space. I had never heard of this. How does the HSL color space relate to RGB, and is there any need for me to consider working in HSL?

Tim’s Quick Answer: HSL (or HSB) is actually a color model, rather than a color space. A color model is a method of describing colors, while a color space is a range of colors available for use in an image. What that means is that HSL simply provides a different way to describe color compared to the RGB color model.

More Detail: When using the HSL color model, colors are described based on their hue, saturation, and luminance (or brightness). That typically involves a hue value expressed as degrees around the color wheel, and values for saturation and luminance (or brightness) expressed as a percentage. In the RGB color model the same colors are described based on the amount of red, green, and blue light are combined to create a color. Those RGB values would range from zero to 255 for 8-bit per channel images, and from zero to 65,535 for 16-bit per channel images.

In other words, when working in the RGB model, you could also say that you are working in the HSL model. Both simply provide different ways of describing the same colors. In software such as Photoshop, you aren’t able to switch to the HSL color mode. Rather, you would typically work in the RGB color mode. However, in the Color Picker dialog (and elsewhere) you can see HSL values (referred to as HSB values in the context of Photoshop) in addition to RGB values. There are also other options included, based on other color models, including Lab and CMYK.

When working in software such as Photoshop, you can choose a color space for your photos. So color spaces such as ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB, and sRGB describe a specific range of available colors, while a color model determines how those colors are communicated.

Today’s Question: I want to import images from my hard drive into Lightroom Classic and at the same time make a copy of those images on an external drive. I selected “Copy” and checked “Make a Second Copy To” and selected the second location. Since the files are already on my hard drive and I have told Lightroom where to put the second copy, can I just skip the “Destination” panel? I would have selected “Add” but that option doesn’t allow me to make a copy to a second location. If I use “Add” do I have to manually make a copy to my external drive?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this type of scenario I would use the “Add” option for the import operation in Lightroom, since the source image files are already in the intended storage location. You will then need to perform a separate backup, since the “Make a Second Copy To” option is not available when importing with the “Add” option.

More Detail: If you are using the “Add” option during import, you’ll need to perform a separate backup for the photos being imported, because you’re not able to automatically make a backup copy when using the “Add” option. And if the photos are already in the appropriate storage location, you don’t want to use the “Copy” option, because that would make a redundant copy of your photos in another folder, and would not cause the source images to be added to your catalog based on their existing folder location.

In general I recommend importing photos before you have copied them to their final storage location. That typically involves copying the photos from a media card to a hard drive, for example. For photos that have already been copied to the intended location, you can import with the Add option, and then perform a separate backup, such as with the GoodSync software I recommend for creating a backup via synchronization (http://timgrey.me/greybackup).

I actually think of the backup option during import into Lightroom as a “temporary” backup in any event, so even when taking advantage of that option I would still want to create an updated backup via synchronization or other methods after the import is complete.

Today’s Question: What are “aperture blades?’  You talked about those in the context of sunburst shots [in the webinar on wide-angle photography].

Tim’s Quick Answer: The aperture blades are the individual components that are used to form a roughly circular shape for the lens aperture that allows light to pass through the lens to the image sensor (or film).

More Detail: An aperture is in theory a perfect circle through which the light passes from the lens to the image sensor. With many lenses, when the aperture is wide open the aperture blades are retracted to the point that the aperture is a true circle, with no impact from the aperture blades.

The issue is that the circle for the lens aperture needs to be at different sizes, based on the f-stop you’ve selected. So the circle would be small for f/22 and large for f/2.8, for example. But making a perfect circle that can be resized isn’t all that easy. So instead, the aperture is comprised of a series of “blades”.

These blades generally have an arc on the side that will form the outer edge of the circle for the aperture. A series of these blades are assembled in something of a circle, so the inner edge of each blade helps to form a portion of the circle. These blades can all be brought closer in to the center of the circle to form a small aperture, and further away to form a large aperture.

Of course, with multiple blades forming the circle, that circle won’t in fact be a perfect circle. There will be little “notches” where one blade overlaps with another. Those notches are what cause the sunburst effect to occur when the aperture is stopped down to a small size (such as at f/22).

For those who may have missed my webinar presentation on wide-angle photography, which included a discussion of how many blades are used to create the aperture for a given lens, you can view the recording on the Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/Q8As06fppwI

Today’s Question: In a previous answer you said that on the Tools menu [in Adobe Bridge] I will have a Photoshop option. I had that in older versions but don’t have that option now and I don’t know why, or how to get it. Can you help?

Tim’s Quick Answer: This issue will most likely be resolved by simply enabling the startup script for Photoshop from within the Preferences dialog in Adobe Bridge. If that option is not available, re-installing Photoshop should provide a solution.

More Detail: There are a variety of startup scripts for Adobe Bridge that enable various features from other applications. In order for those features to be available, the applicable startup script must be enabled in Bridge.

To get started, you can choose Adobe Bridge > Preferences from the menu on Macintosh, or Edit > Preferences on Windows, in order to bring up the Preferences dialog in Bridge. Then select the Startup Scripts page from the list at the left side of the dialog. At this point you should see various Adobe applications listed within the preferences dialog, including Adobe Photoshop CC 2018.

If you’re not seeing the Photoshop commands on the Tools menu in Adobe Bridge, that most likely means that the checkbox for Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 is turned off here. Simply turn the checkbox on (including for other applications if you’d like) and click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog. Then quit and restart Bridge, and the menu commands for Photoshop should then be available on the Tools menu.

If there is not a startup script available for Photoshop, that most likely means something went wrong with the installation of Photoshop. In that case you would likely need to reinstall Photoshop in order to resolve this issue.

Today’s Question: When scanning a black and white negative what advantage (if any) is there to scanning as an RGB image? I have been creating 48-bit scans as if I were scanning a regular color transparency, inverting the image to get a positive, and then trying to optimize the effects across the three channels (accounting for the film stock tint). I’m not sure I’m getting anything more than scanning as a black and white negative directly to a greyscale image.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The potential advantages of scanning a black and white negative as a color image are extremely minimal in terms of image quality in most cases. Except for scenarios where the black and white film has a clear color cast, I would tend to simply scan to grayscale, unless you intend to add color to the image later.

More Detail: There’s no question that scanning a negative in color mode yields more information than scanning in grayscale mode. However, that doesn’t necessarily translate into information that benefits the quality of your final image. With a truly neutral black and white negative, you would end up with three channels (red, green, and blue) if you scan in color, but the real difference between those channels would be minimal in terms of detail in the photo.

It is more important to scan at a high bit depth, and at the maximum optical resolution of your scanner, in terms of getting maximum information from the negative. Scanning in color will produce a file that is three times larger (because you would have three channels in the image instead of one), with very little difference in the final result.

If the film has a strong color cast to it, then scanning in color could be slightly beneficial. And if you intend to add color to the final image, it might make sense to start with a color (RGB) image, since that’s where you would be ending up anyway. But in general the benefit of scanning a black and white negative in color are minimal, in addition to the larger file size and additional workflow steps required for converting the color scan to a true black and white image.

So, I typically scan black and white negatives in grayscale mode, since the potential advantages of scanning in color are quite minimal.