Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I wanted to delete some photos, and rather than try to select them all I added them to the Quick Collection. But when I went to the Quick Collection, Lightroom Classic wouldn’t let me delete the photos. I could only remove them from the collection. Is there no way to delete photos that I’ve added to the Quick Collection?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can delete photos from a collection in Lightroom Classic by first selecting all of the images in that collection, and then using the option to navigate to the source folder in order to delete the selected photos. Note, however, that this will only work if the photos are all in the same folder.

More Detail: When you choose the option to “remove” a photo from your Lightroom Classic catalog, the default action is to remove the photo from the catalog without deleting the source image file. However, if you are removing a photo from a folder, you have the option to delete the source images. Simply click the “Delete from Disk” button in the confirmation dialog after choosing the “Remove Photo” command. That command can be found on the Photo menu on the menu bar, or by right-clicking on an image.

However, if you are currently browsing a photo within a collection rather than a folder (including the collections such as the Quick Collection found in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module), you don’t have the option to delete the source image files. Rather, your only option is to remove the photo from the current collection.

To work around this, you can first navigate to the applicable collection, and then select the photo (or photos) you want to delete. If you’ll be deleting multiple photos, just be sure you only select photos that are contained in the same folder. Then, right-click on one of the selected photos and choose “Go to Folder in Library” from the popup menu. That will cause Lightroom to navigate to the folder where the selected image is stored, and the photos you selected will still be selected after switching from a collection view to a folder view.

At that point, having navigated to the folder and with the photo(s) still selected, you can right-click on one of the selected images and choose “Remove Photo” from the popup menu. In the confirmation dialog you can then click the “Delete from Disk” button and the photos will be removed from your Lightroom catalog and deleted from your hard drive. Note that the photos you delete will also automatically be removed from any collection they are contained in.

Today’s Question: I often change the columns for the Metadata search category based on a specific need as far as locating an image. However, I then sometimes find it difficult to get all of the columns back to their starting point of Date, Camera, etc. Is there an easy way to reset these columns?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can click the popup at the top-right of the Library Filter (to the left of the lock icon) and select “Default Columns” to quickly reset the columns to their default metadata options.

More Detail: The Library Filter bar provides a variety of options for filtering your photos, so you can track down a particular photo in many cases quite easily. Among the more powerful filter option is the Metadata tab. Within this tab you can select metadata fields for the various columns. For example, you could specify that you want to see photos from last year, captured with a particular lens, at a particular lens aperture and shutter speed.

It is also possible to add or remove columns to or from the filter criteria on the Metadata tab. The result is an ability to search for photos, potentially across your entire photographic catalog, based on whatever details you can remember about the metadata for the photo you’re looking for.

Of course, with so much flexibility, it is relatively easy to make a bit of a “mess” with the columns in the Metadata section of the Library Filter bar. In other words, you might want to simply reset the columns to their default value. And, as noted above, you can do exactly that. Simply click the popup to the left of the lock icon at the top-right of the Library Filter bar and choose “Default Columns” from the popup.

Today’s Question: Your answer about color temperature got me thinking about the settings on my camera. The manual says that Daylight has a temperature of 5200, and Shade has a temperature of 7000. But isn’t that backwards? Does the warmer light really have a cooler temperature?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The temperature settings on your camera aren’t backwards. The Kelvin scale is basically the opposite of the “psychological” values of warm and cool that we use to describe the color of light. So the “Shade” setting compensates for a Kelvin temperature of 7000, which is relatively blue. The result is an image that is shifted toward yellow, so that the image appears less blue.

More Detail: As photographers when we talk about warm lighting (or color) for a photo, we are referring to colors in the range of red, orange, and yellow. When we talk about cool lighting (or color) we are talking about colors such as cyan and blue. But this is actually the opposite of the Kelvin color temperature scale.

On the Kelvin scale, the colors we describe as “warm” have a lower temperature, and the colors we describe as “cool” have a higher temperature. That is because the Kelvin scale relates to science, not to the psychological attributes we have assigned to colors.

The Kelvin scale is based on the concept of a theoretical black body radiator. This refers to the color of light an object will give off as it is heated up. Initially that object will glow red, but as it gets hotter and hotter it will transition through yellow, and then on to blue.

On your digital camera, the white balance presets refer to the color of light they are compensating for. The illumination provided by sunlight in a shady area appears rather blue, which has a moderately high Kelvin value (at least in the contest of visible light). To compensate for light with a color appearance around 7000 Kelvin, you need to shift the color toward yellow.

This issue can also be a little confusing in software applications such as Lightroom Classic. When you adjust the Temp slider to a higher temperature value, the color in the image does indeed “warm up”. But that is because you are compensating for a light source that is more blue, with a higher Kelvin temperature. So, the color in the image is actually getting shifted to a lower Kelvin temperature, but we would describe the image as having a warmer appearance.

I realize all of this can be a bit confusing, and perhaps a bit technical. But I do think it can be helpful to understand the basis of the numbers we’re using to optimize the appearance of our photos, both at the time of capture and in post-processing.

Today’s Question: While I don’t totally understand the numbers, I’m accustomed to the white balance adjustment in Lightroom Classic showing a temperature value of somewhere around 5,000 (sometimes considerably lower, sometimes a bit higher). However, with some images the value for the temperature is zero (until I apply an adjustment). I can’t figure out why some images have a range I’m expecting, and others have a zero value to start with. Any ideas?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The “normal” temperature scale you’re referring to is shown for raw captures. For other supported image formats such as JPEG or HEIC photos, the scale is an adjustment with a default value of zero.

More Detail: For most supported image formats in Lightroom Classic the Color Temperature (Temp) and Tint sliders operate in much the same way as many of the other adjustment sliders. For the Temp slider, that means the default for images such as JPEG and HEIC captures is a value of zero, with the ability to shift toward blue with a minimum value of -100, or toward yellow with a maximum value of +100.

For raw captures, the Temp adjustment represents color temperature values in degrees Kelvin. The actual value represents the number of degrees Kelvin representing the color of the light being compensated for. For example, if the illumination of the scene was a rather blue light, the value for Temp would be relatively high, indicating the temperature of the light being compensated for. That would result in a shift toward a more yellow (or at least less blue) appearance.

For all image types (including raw captures) the Tint slider functions mostly the same. You can shift toward green with a minimum value of -150 for raw captures and -100 for other image formats. When adjusting toward magenta the maximum value is +150 for raw captures and +100 for other image formats. The only other difference among image types is that for raw captures the default value for Tint will be based on the in-camera white balance setting. For all other image types the default value is zero.

The point is that the key difference in the scale for the Temp slider relates to raw captures versus other standard image types. But the overall function of the Temp and Tint sliders is essentially the same in terms of actually adjusting color for a photo.

Today’s Question: Regarding manual focus: You reference using the live view to focus when wearing glasses, but any hints for those of us who wear progressive lenses? I’m never sure what part of the glasses lens I’m looking through, so the focus is often not very sharp. Should I just get tri-focal lenses for photography?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Depending on your vision prescription, you may be able to avoid glasses altogether when photographing by adjusting the diopter on your camera’s viewfinder (if it is so equipped). You could also opt for eyeglasses that do not have progressive lenses when you are photographing.

More Detail: I too have eyeglasses with progressive lenses and find it difficult to make sure I’m looking through the right portion of the lenses when evaluating sharpness. When using the LCD in Live View mode, I can use the text on the display to help make sure I’m looking through the right portion of the glasses. If the text looks sharp, then I’m looking through the right portion to evaluate the rest of the image preview.

If you prefer to use the viewfinder, a diopter adjustment may provide a solution. If your camera has a diopter, you can apply an adjustment so the view is in focus when you aren’t wearing your glasses. As long as your vision prescription isn’t too strong, this can provide a good solution.

Another option might be to use reading glasses with a single correction factor (not progressive lenses) when photographing, assuming that is an option for you based on your prescription. This would enable you to have a single vision correction that would be suitable for evaluating focus based on the camera’s LCD display.

Trifocal (or even bifocal) lenses would be a good idea if the above didn’t work, since the lack of blending for the focus zones on the lenses would make it easier to know when you’re looking through the correct portion of the lens. This would make it possible, for example, to use one portion of the lens for evaluating focus on the camera’s LCD display, and another portion for evaluating distant focus through the viewfinder.

Today’s Question: I wish to add and consolidate significant storage (new drives) to my Lightroom [Classic] catalog of folders and files. I have several hard drives that I want to consolidate into a pair of 6TB drives, including images and backups. The question is: Can this be done efficiently through the Lightroom folders panel? Or, should I do it with an external application like ChronoSync, and then reconfigure the Lightroom links?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The transfer and consolidation of your photo storage should be done within Lightroom Classic. The backup of the photo storage needs to be performed outside of Lightroom through the use of third-party software.

More Detail: Attempting to move and consolidate storage outside of Lightroom Classic and then reconnect the folders and photos that would then be in a different location than Lightroom expects them would be a daunting task. Instead, the transfer of your photos to a new storage device should be done within Lightroom Classic.

Before doing anything, I recommend backing up all of your photos and your Lightroom catalog, just to be on the safe side. Then you can start the process of migrating your storage.

After configuring the new hard drive for use (such as formatting it if necessary) you can add a folder to that drive from within Lightroom Classic so the drive will be visible within Lightroom. To create that new folder, click the plus symbol (+) to the right of the Folders heading on the left panel in the Library module and choose “Add Folder” from the popup menu. Navigate to the new hard drive, and click the New Folder button at the bottom-left of the dialog. Give the folder a name (such as “Photos”) and click the Create button, then click the Choose button.

At this point you will see the new folder under a heading for the new hard drive. You can then drag-and-drop folders from the previous storage location to the new storage location. I recommend doing this in relatively small batches, to make it easier to recover if there are any errors along the way.

After you’ve moved all of the photos and folders to the new consolidated storage, you’ll want to create a backup of the new hard drive. ChronoSync is one tool that makes it easy to backup an entire hard drive. I use a similar software tool called GoodSync, which you can learn more about here:

http://timgrey.me/greybackup

Today’s Question: Is there a tool in Photoshop that approximates the effect of the “Auto Mask” feature for the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I would say that the Quick Selection tool in Photoshop is the closest in terms of overall behavior compared to the Auto Mask option for the Adjustment Brush for applying targeted adjustments. Of course, it should also be noted that the same Auto Mask feature available in Lightroom Classic is available in Adobe Camera Raw within Photoshop.

More Detail: The Auto Mask feature for the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom Classic enables the edge of the area to which you’re applying a targeted adjustment to be detected automatically. As long as they area you’re applying a targeted adjustment to has reasonably good contrast compared to the surrounding area, this edge detection generally works reasonably well.

In Photoshop you have a variety of selection tools that often provide superior results for targeted adjustments compared to Lightroom Classic. One of the more “automated” of these tools is the Quick Selection tool, which is similar in many ways to the Auto Mask feature in Lightroom Classic.

With the Auto Mask feature you paint just inside the outer edge of the area you want to apply a targeted adjustment to. With the Quick Selection tool in Photoshop you keep the brush entirely inside the area you want to select. But other than how you position the mouse pointer while you’re painting, the overall behavior is very similar.

I generally find that the Quick Selection tool in Photoshop provides a more accurate result than the Auto Mask feature in Lightroom Classic. Therefore, I generally use the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom Classic only for relatively basic targeted adjustments. When I need to apply a more sophisticated targeted adjustment, I send the image to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic, and take advantage of the more powerful selection and layer masking features in Photoshop to achieve an optimal result.

Today’s Question: I seem to recall reading or hearing somewhere that there may be some advantage to retaining Photoshop 2019 on one’s computer even after upgrading to Photoshop 2020. Does this ring any bells? I’m going to replace my primary photo editing computer soon and this has prompted the question.

Tim’s Quick Answer: After installing a major update to Photoshop (or other applications) I do recommend keeping the older version for a brief period while you confirm the new version is working properly and not causing any problems.

More Detail: When you install a major update for one of the applications in the Adobe Creative Cloud, the new version will be installed in addition to the existing version. This differs from a minor update, where the existing installation is upgraded.

Generally speaking, you only need one version of a given application installed. That means after installing a major update you could uninstall the previous version. However, I recommend delaying that uninstall to allow enough time to make sure the new version is working properly and not creating any problems.

After you’ve spent enough time working with the new version, getting everything configured, installing plug-ins, and otherwise making sure the new version is working well for you, there generally isn’t any need to retain an older version.

So, once the new version is working well, you can uninstall the older version to free up additional hard drive space. Of course, if you have more than enough hard drive space available, you can delay the uninstall for a bit longer, just in case anything goes wrong with the new version.

The only other reason not to remove an older version of Photoshop would be if a plug-in you use in your workflow is not compatible with the new version. That is generally not an issue, however, as plug-in makers typically test and update their software as needed to make sure it will work with new updates to Photoshop.

Today’s Question: Can you offer guidance on a good way to calibrate a lens?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Calibrating a lens to apply a micro-adjustment to the autofocus can help improve sharpness for your photos. I recommend the LensAlign system from Michael Tapes Design, which you can find here:

https://timgrey.me/lensalign

More Detail: A variety of camera models enable you to apply a micro-adjustment to the focusing system, which can correct for minor errors in focusing and provide sharper photos. Properly applying that adjustment requires a calibrated method of measuring the focus performance, which is exactly what the LensAlign system (https://timgrey.me/lensalign) provides.

With the LensAlign system you can precisely measure the autofocus performance of your camera and lens combination, and make adjustments as needed to correct for a situation where the camera is focusing forward or back from the intended focus point.

Some time ago I got together with Michael Tapes, the creator of the LensAlign system, to create a video demonstrating the system in action. You can watch that video on my YouTube channel here:

https://youtu.be/ljHgSbW7Ykg

Today’s Question: If shooting handheld why not simply focus on an area and keep the shutter pressed down while you move the camera. That is much quicker many times than moving the focus point.

Tim’s Quick Answer: I find it most helpful to move the focus point within the viewfinder when photographing a moving subject that I want to have positioned at a specific area of the frame.

More Detail: If you are photographing a static scene, it is of course perfectly reasonable to keep the focus point at the center of the frame. You can rotate the camera when you want to focus on an area away from the center of the frame, and then recompose the scene after establishing focus.

With a moving subject, however, you can’t easily recompose after establishing focus. Therefore, when using a single focus point with a moving subject, I recommend moving the focus point to the position in the frame where you want the subject to be positioned. This enables you to maintain autofocus on the subject as it moves, while at the same time providing a “target” for where to position the subject within the frame.

Note that today’s question was a follow-up to a recommendation I gave during a recent webinar presentation to consider using a single focus point for autofocus, and to move that point within the frame as needed. You can view the recording of the full presentation of “Top Tips for Sharper Photos” on my “Tim Grey TV” channel on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/cbnkRdLfwZ0