Initiating a Catalog Backup

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Today’s Question: Currently when I quit Lightroom Classic it just closes, without asking if I want to backup the Catalog. How can I initiate a backup when this occurs?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can initiate a catalog backup for Lightroom Classic by choosing the “When Lightroom next exits” option from the “Back up catalog” popup in the Catalog Settings dialog. Note that you may also want to make sure the backup frequency setting is established based on your preference.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic will prompt you to backup the catalog based on the frequency you select in the Catalog Settings dialog. This includes an option to backup the catalog the very next time you quit Lightroom.

To adjust the setting, go to the Lightroom Classic menu on Macintosh or the Edit menu on Windows and choose Catalog Settings. In the Catalog Settings dialog choose the General tab and check the “Back up catalog” popup.

You can set the frequency of the backup to once a day, once a week, once a month, or never. Naturally I recommend backing up your catalog on a somewhat frequent basis, taking into account how often you tend to update information in your catalog.

Regardless of which frequency option you have selected in the Catalog Settings dialog for backing up your catalog, you can always perform a backup on an ad hoc basis. Simply choose the “When Lightroom next exits” option from the “Back up catalog” popup, close the Catalog Settings dialog, and quit Lightroom. You will then be prompted to backup the catalog, with the setting in Catalog Settings going back to the frequency option you had established before choosing the “When Lightroom next exits” option.

Even if you are using other software to backup the hard drive where your Lightroom catalog is stored, I still recommend making use of the backup feature included within Lightroom Classic. That’s because as part of the process of backing up your catalog with Lightroom Classic you can have the catalog checked for errors and also have the catalog optimized.

Discontinued Video Support in Lightroom

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Today’s Question: I twice saw a message in Lightroom saying video support was ending in June 2020. What options are available to do what Lightroom will no longer be doing?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Video playback support is ending in Lightroom Classic only for those running Lightroom on Windows 7, and that support will end by June 2020. Other operating systems (including Windows 10) will not be affected by this change.

More Detail: Microsoft ended general support for Windows 7 in 2015, and ended extended support in 2020. I’m sure this is part of the reason (or perhaps the entire reason) that Adobe is discontinuing support for video playback in Lightroom Classic for users running Windows 7. Note that the Slideshow module is also affected by this change to Lightroom Classic.

Because Microsoft has ended support for Windows 7, I highly recommend upgrading to Windows 10. I appreciate that many users preferred Windows 7 over Windows 10, but the lack of support can lead to software compatibility issues and security concerns.

In this case, upgrading to Windows 10 will resolve the issue regarding video playback in Lightroom Classic. And again, users of other operating systems, including MacOS and Windows 10, are not affected by this change.

Catalog Backup Location

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Today’s Question: My Lightroom [Classic] catalog is on my internal SSD drive. When I close Lightroom I’m asked if I want to backup the catalog, which I confirm. With all the recent columns about catalogs, I began to wonder if the internal drive is best for storing the catalog? Also, I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know where the backup copy resides.

Tim’s Quick Answer: By default, the Lightroom Classic catalog backups are stored within the same folder as the catalog itself. I recommend changing this to a different storage device, so the backups are stored separately from the catalog.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic will prompt you to backup your catalog with a frequency that is based on the option set in the Catalog Settings dialog. You can choose to backup monthly, weekly, daily, or every time you exit Lightroom. When the allotted time has passed, Lightroom will prompt you upon exit to backup the catalog.

In the “Back Up Catalog” dialog, the current backup location will be indicated. By default, this is a “Backups” folder located within the same folder as your catalog. I recommend storing the catalog backups on a separate hard drive, just to provide more flexibility in terms of recovery options should something go wrong with the drive on which your catalog is stored.

To the right of the Backup Folder display in the Back Up Catalog dialog, you can click the Choose button to select a different backup location. For example, with the catalog on the internal hard drive on your computer, you may want to store the catalog backups on an external hard drive.

In addition, there are two checkboxes in the Back Up Catalog dialog that I recommend making sure to have turned on when backing up your catalog. The “Test integrity before backing up” checkbox enables you to have Lightroom verify that the current catalog does not have any indications of corruption before the catalog is actually backed up. The “Optimize catalog after backing up” checkbox enables you to potentially improve performance in Lightroom by having the catalog optimized.

While various other backup solutions can help you ensure you have a backup copy of your Lightroom Classic catalog in case anything goes wrong, the features provided by the two checkboxes noted above provide enough potential benefit that I recommend using Lightroom to backup your catalog even if your catalog is already being backed up by other software you are using.

How to Uninstall Adobe Apps

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Today’s Question: I have a follow-up question about your comment: “An uninstaller is included with Photoshop and Lightroom, for example.” I’ve never found an “uninstaller” in Photoshop or Lightroom. I just used right-click in Finder on the Photoshop folder and used “Move to Trash” = is that the same thing as your “uninstaller”?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can generally uninstall an older Adobe application on Macintosh using the included Uninstall program. On Windows you can use the Programs and Features option (though this varies with different versions of Windows. For Creative Cloud versions of Adobe applications, however, you should use the Uninstall option in the Creative Cloud application.

More Detail: I’m not sure whether especially old version of Adobe applications included an uninstaller, but more recent versions have. On Macintosh it is generally save to simply delete the application (or application folder) from the Applications folder, without going through an uninstall process. However, when an uninstaller is available, I recommend using it to help ensure all application files are properly removed.

For Windows 10, you would want to use the Programs and Features option to remove older applications. Hold the Windows key and press “X” on the keyboard, and then choose “Programs and Features” from the popup menu that appears. Within Programs and Features you can then select the application you want to remove.

If you want to remove a Creative Cloud version of an Adobe application, you should use the Creative Cloud application for this. Bring up the Creative Cloud application first, which is where you would install updates that are available for installed applications, for example. Then click the ellipsis (three dots) icon at the bottom-right of the application you want to remove and choose Uninstall from the popup menu that appears.

Merging Folders of Photos

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Today’s Question: I have two file folders in my Lightroom Classic catalog that contain photos from the same event, and I want to put them all into one folder. How do I merge the folders or how do I move the photos from one folder to the other?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can easily merge folders of photos in Lightroom Classic by selecting all photos in one folder, and then dragging-and-dropping them to the destination folder. Once the source folder is empty, you can right-click on the folder and choose “Remove” from the popup menu.

More Detail: When it comes to using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, one of the most important things is to make sure that all tasks are initiated within Lightroom, rather than out through your operating system or using other software.

When you have photos you want to move from one folder to another, the process is rather simple. You can select the photos you want to move, and then drag-and-drop them to the desired destination folder within the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module. In the confirmation dialog that appears, click the Move button, and the photos will be moved. That means the photos will move within the context of your Lightroom catalog, as well as on your hard drive.

If you move all of the photos from a given folder, obviously that folder will be empty. To remove the empty folder from Lightroom (and your hard drive), you can right-click on the folder in the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module, and choose Remove from the popup menu that appears.

Note that this process of merging folders, along with the process of splitting one folder into two or more folders, are topics covered in my “Cleaning Up Your Mess in Lightroom” course that you can find in the GreyLearning library by following this link:

https://timgrey.me/mess29

Upgrading to 16-bit

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Today’s Question: As a follow-up to your question about converting from JPEG to raw [in Friday’s Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter], wouldn’t applying that conversion help ensure smoother gradations of tone and color in the photo? I know you’ve mentioned that in the past as a benefit of a higher bit depth.

Tim’s Quick Answer: No. Converting an image from 8 bits per channel to 16 bits per channel will not have any significant impact on the degree of posterization that may occur if you apply strong adjustments to the image.

More Detail: One of the key advantages of working with high-bit data for a photo is the ability to ensure smooth gradations of tone and color even with strong adjustments to an image.

An 8-bit per channel image can have up to 256 shades per channel. A 16-bit per channel image can have 65,536 shades per channel. That’s a significant difference, especially when you consider a typical image is comprised of three channels (red, green, and blue).

As you apply adjustments to an image, such as enhancing contrast, the transition of tonal values among neighboring pixels will change. With strong adjustments, smooth gradations can be made less smooth, creating effects such as banding in what would otherwise be a smooth transition in the sky, for example.

Converting an 8-bit per channel image to the 16-bit per channel mode still means the image contains a maximum of 256 shades per channel. As you apply adjustments to the image, that number could increase as pixel values are possibly distributed differently in terms of the actual value. But that doesn’t provide any real benefit, especially when you consider a 16-bit per channel image would actually start off with so much more information compared to an 8-bit per channel image.

It is worth noting that most digital cameras don’t actually support 16-bit per channel capture. Rather, most camera models support either 12-bit or 14-bit capture. That still translates to 4,096 shades per channel for a 12-bit capture, or 16,384 shades per channel for a 14-bit capture, which again provides a significant potential advantage compared to an 8-bit capture.

The issue of bit depth is one of the reasons I recommend using raw capture rather than JPEG capture whenever possible. And, as noted above, converting a 8-bit capture to the 16-bit per channel mode won’t provide any real benefit compared to capturing at a high bit-depth in the first place.

Raw from JPEG

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Today’s Question: I’ve been watching your recent Ask Tim Grey posts on shooting DNG on iPhones [and other smartphones], particularly where you point out that the special features cannot be used by Lightroom Mobile. Does Topaz’ JPEG to RAW app offer a way around this?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No. The “JPEG to RAW AI” software from Topaz Labs doesn’t provide a true alternative to an original raw capture.

More Detail: I frankly find the marketing materials related to “JPEG to RAW AI” from Topaz Labs to be quite misleading. The core features of this software are noise reduction and compression artifact removal, which are features that can also be found in other software. The resulting image is then converted to a 16-bit per channel TIFF image. However, because the source of the image data would have been an 8-bit per channel JPEG image, you aren’t actually achieving a benefit from the higher bit depth.

In other words, “JPEG to RAW AI” is really just sophisticated image-cleanup software, which saves the resulting image as a TIFF (not a raw capture format) in order to avoid additional compression artifacts. The conversion to 16-bit per channel offers no real benefit, and causes the base file size to be twice as large as it otherwise would be.

While “JPEG to RAW AI” does a good job of reducing noise and compression artifacts in an image, it isn’t a tool I would recommend in general. As noted above, I also find the marketing of this product to be terribly misleading in terms of the actual benefits involved, and some of the information presented is factually inaccurate as well.

Saving “Memories” Videos

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Today’s Question: Is there a way to save the videos that an iPad or iPhone creates from the “For You” albums in the Photos app so they can be viewed on a computer or elsewhere?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can save these “memories” videos by playing the video on your iPhone or iPad and then using the sharing option to save the slideshow as an actual video file.

More Detail: Under the “For You” tab in the Photos app on an iPhone or iPad you’ll find a Memories heading with a variety of automatically curated slideshows. These slideshows are created by clustering related photos based on the date of capture as well as the location where the photos were captured. The individual memories will be labeled with a location and/or date range.

You can tap on one of the memories to see the photos and that are included. You can also tap the ellipsis button (three dots at the top-right of the memory album) to access editing and sharing options. You can also tap the Play button associated with the memory album to play a slideshow complete with music.

While the slideshow is playing you can tap the screen to bring up a set of options, including a sharing icon at the bottom-left of the slideshow playback. After tapping this sharing button, you can choose the “Save Video” option to save the slideshow as a video in the Photos app. You’ll then find that video slideshow along with the other photos and videos you have captured.

The video can then be played back at any time, downloaded to your computer, sent to another device via AirDrop, or otherwise shared for viewing at anytime.

Opening a Relocated Catalog

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Today’s Question: I’ve just set up my new computer. I have my Lightroom Classic catalog on an external hard drive. How do I get Lightroom to “see” the catalog?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can launch Lightroom Classic with the new catalog by navigating to the location on the hard drive where the catalog is located, and then double-clicking on the catalog file.

More Detail: You can open a specific catalog in Lightroom Classic by going to the File menu and choosing Open Catalog. However, it is often easier to locate the catalog directly through your operating system, and then launch Lightroom using the actual catalog file.

When you locate the folder where your Lightroom Classic catalog is stored you can simply double-click on the file with the “lrcat” filename extension. That is the actual catalog file, and double-clicking on the file will cause the catalog to be opened in Lightroom Classic.

When you have moved a catalog, especially if you have made a copy of the original catalog, Lightroom may be confused if you launch Lightroom directly and the most recently used catalog file can’t be found. In that case a dialog will appear, which provides an option to browse and locate the correct catalog file.

It is also worth noting that you can configure Lightroom Classic to always open the correct catalog. This can help avoid any confusion, especially if you have multiple catalogs (or multiple backup copies of a catalog). You’ll find the applicable options on the General tab of the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic.

By default, Lightroom Classic will open the most recently used catalog. However, you can also select a specific catalog that should always be opened when you launch Lightroom Classic, which can be helpful to avoid confusion when working with more than one catalog. To choose a catalog that should always be used, click the “When starting up use this catalog” popup on the General tab of the Preferences dialog. Choose the applicable catalog if it is on the list, or choose “Other” to locate a catalog that is not shown on the list.

Safe to Remove Older Applications?

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Today’s Question: My iMac has recently warned me that the hard drive is running out of space. I’ve realized that in Applications I have older versions of Photoshop and Lightroom that go back to Photoshop CC 14 through the current version. Assuming I don’t delete the most recent copies of these applications, is there any reason why I shouldn’t just uninstall all of the old versions of these applications?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Provided the latest version of an application is working properly, including all plug-ins you want to be able to use with that version, there is generally no reason not to uninstall the older versions of those applications.

More Detail: In most cases there is no need to retain older copies of an application, as long as the latest version of the application is working properly. Each version of Photoshop, for example, can consume two or three gigabytes of hard drive space. That can obviously add up to considerable space when you have multiple versions of several applications installed on your computer.

It is a good idea to make sure any plug-ins you want to use are installed and working properly with the latest version of an application before you remove older versions. In addition, it is worth considering whether you might need to retain older versions of an application to maintain backward compatibility. That generally isn’t an issue for photographers using Photoshop or Lightroom, but if you receive files from others that might require an older version of an application, you would want to take that into account.

In general though, you can most certainly remove older versions of applications once the latest version has been confirmed to be functioning properly. I do recommend, by the way, using the uninstall application to remove older version, if an uninstaller is included with the application. An uninstaller is included with Photoshop and Lightroom, for example.