Always Fit on Screen

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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.

“Temporary” Backup

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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.

HSL Color

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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.

Backup While Adding

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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.

Aperture Blades

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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

Missing Tools on Menu

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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.

Black and White Scans

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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.

In-Camera Flash

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Today’s Question: All other things being equal (which I realize isn’t actually the case), would you recommend opting for a camera with a built-in flash? Or do you think it is always better to use a separate flash?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Recognizing that “all other things being equal” is not so easy in the real world, I do think it is nice to have a built-in flash to use for supplemental light on occasion.

More Detail: To be sure, whenever using artificial light, it is generally best to get that light at least some distance from the lens. This will help prevent red eye when you are photographing people, and it can also help prevent the odd “dark halo” effect that can occur when the flash is close to the lens and you are photographing subjects relatively close to the lens.

In a studio environment, of course, you would likely have multiple strobes or other lights that would be positioned strategically around your subject. In other environment you might use one or more external flash units. Even if a flash is mounted on the hot shoe of the camera, that would still get the flash further away from the lens than a built-in flash would be. Even that small difference can make a big difference for your photos.

That said, I certainly find myself in situations where I don’t have a flash unit with me, and in those cases I appreciate having a built-in flash on the camera. To help compensate for the issues of having a flash that is so close to the lens, I will more often than not reduce the strength of that flash so it is contributing light that supplements (rather than overpowers) the ambient light.

So, given the choice, I certainly prefer to opt for a camera that has a built-in flash, just so it is available when other flash units are not available. I wouldn’t consider a built-in flash to be a “must have” feature, but it is certainly a “nice to have” feature I would prefer to have, as long as all of the other specifications were comparable for the camera models I was considering.

Anti-Fog with Hand Warmers

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Today’s Question: When doing time lapse of shooting stars my lens will often fog up as the temp changes. I solved the fogging by using those disposable hand warmers that you open and expose to the air. I use a rubber band to hold it wrapped around the front lens area. Works great.

Tim’s Quick Answer: This is a great tip! I heard variations on this recommendation from several readers who use hand or toe warmers on their lenses or in their camera bag in order to warm up their lenses and prevent fogging up in humid environments.

More Detail: Today’s “question” is obviously not actually a question, but rather a tip submitted by a reader (and echoed by several other readers). I thought this tip was worthwhile sharing here, even without the usual “question and answer” format.

As noted in the Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter from May 9th (https://asktimgrey.com/2018/05/09/anti-fog-wipes/), in my experience anti-fog wipes don’t actually provide any benefit in terms of preventing your lenses from fogging up when you take them from a cold environment to a relatively warm and humid environment. Instead, I suggested either waiting for the lens to warm up to the ambient temperature, or to use a hair dryer to warm up the lens before heading out (as recommended by a reader).

Using a hand or toe warmer for this purpose obviously provides a number of advantages. To begin with, you could simply put a warmer into your camera bag before you head out, so that your lenses will have a chance to warm up before you start using them.

In addition, attaching a warmer directly to the lens can help ensure the lens remains warm over an extended period, to help prevent fogging. In short, anything you can do to safely warm up the lens to match (or exceed) the ambient temperature will help prevent condensation fogging on that lens.

Value of Tilt-Shift

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Today’s Question: What is your opinion on the use of Tilt-Shift wide-angle lens to reduce (eliminate) perspective distortion?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I think a tilt-shift lens can be incredibly helpful for correcting (and often eliminating) perspective distortion. The key question is whether it makes sense for an individual photographer to add a tilt-shift lens to their camera bag.

More Detail: A tilt-shift lens enables you to move lens elements relative to each other, which makes it possible to correct for perspective distortion as well as to alter the alignment of the depth of field. While a tilt-shift lens is especially valuable for correcting perspective in architectural photography, there are a wide variety of other situations where such a lens can be helpful.

If you were photographing a building from ground level at a relatively close distance, there will always be a degree of perspective distortion, where the building seems to be leaning away from you. In that situation, I would absolutely recommend using a tilt-shift lens if you had one in your bag.

As a result, the real question to me isn’t whether a tilt-shift lens could be helpful, but whether it might be worthwhile to add a tilt-shift lens to your camera bag.

If you frequently photograph subjects (such as architecture) where your photos would benefit from perspective correction, a tilt-shift lens might absolutely be a worthwhile addition to your collection of gear. But if you only need this type of perspective correction (or to apply other creative possibilities) on a somewhat infrequent basis, it might not be worth spending extra money for a tilt-shift lens (or to carry the extra weight of that lens).

Keep in mind that some of the effects you can achieve with a tilt-shift lens can also be accomplished in processing after the capture, although the quality might not be equivalent. This is why in general I consider a tilt-shift lens to only be a worthwhile investment for photographers who will take advantage of its unique benefits on a somewhat frequent basis.