Creative Cloud Version Confusion

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Today’s Question: You have defined the differences between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC very well. However, I am now seeing double entries for other Adobe products (Bridge, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign), all with both CC and CC 2017 entries. Bridge CC indicates “Update”, while Bridge CC 2017 indicates “Open”. Should I update the CC 2017 versions of all of them?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The latest versions of the Adobe applications as part of a Creative Cloud subscription now exclude the calendar year from the name when viewing the Creative Cloud application. The “CC” version is the latest version, which will actually bear “2018” as the year portion of the full application name after you install the new version. The “CC 2017” version is the prior version of the application.

More Detail: To be sure, the switch to a subscription model for the Adobe Creative Cloud applications has led to some confusion. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that updates now occur more frequently in general, with smaller updates released somewhat often.

However, there are still major updates to the applications, and when that occurs Adobe has been adding a calendar year to the name of the application. So now we have, for example Adobe Photoshop CC 2018. The previous major update had been given the name Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.

Within the applications themselves, you will now see “2018” reflected in the application name and in the “About” dialog if you install the latest versions of the applications. Unfortunately, within the Adobe Creative Cloud application where you are able to install updates, the “2018” portion of the name is not included, which can obviously lead to some confusion.

Because the latest updates for the Adobe Creative Cloud applications represent relatively significant updates, the installation is not an actual “update” installation. In other words, if you have Photoshop CC 2017 installed and you then install “Photoshop CC”, you’ll have both the 2017 and 2018 versions installed.

In this scenario, my general recommendation is to install the latest update (that’s the version without a year number in it) once you are comfortable doing so. I recommend that you keep the prior version (the 2017 version in this case) installed until you know everything is working properly with the new update. You can then uninstall the prior version of the application once you’re comfortable using only the latest update to the software.

Note that if you see an “Update” button to the right of an application name on the Apps tab of the Adobe Creative Cloud application, that means an update is available for that version. If you see an “Install” button, that indicates that the application in question has not been installed yet. If you see an “Open” button, the latest version of that application is already installed, and you can click the Open button to launch the application.

Sharpening and Clarity

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Today’s Question: In [Adobe Camera Raw or] Lightroom, can the sharpening sliders in the Detail panel be used in conjunction with the Clarity and Dehaze sliders, or should I (in general) use one just one of these tools on any particular image?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Sharpening, Clarity, and Dehaze focus on different issues, and therefore you can indeed mix and match all three depending on your specific goals for a given image.

More Detail: There is no question that the Sharpening, Clarity, and Dehaze adjustments in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw (as well as similar adjustments in other software tools) provide effects that are all similar. However, the differences among these adjustments are such that there is no problem employing more than one (or even all three) of these adjustments for a single image.

In a very general way, you can think of all three of these adjustment types as providing a localized contrast enhancement. All are, in varying degrees, enhancing contrast in areas of the image that already exhibit some degree of contrast in the way of texture and detail.

The key difference between these three adjustments is the scale, especially in the context of the Sharpening and Clarity adjustments. Sharpening applies at a very small scale, mostly emphasizing differences between immediately adjacent pixels. Clarity is very similar, but with a somewhat mitigated effect that blends across larger transition areas within the image.

The Dehaze adjustment can to some extent be thought of as being very similar to the Clarity adjustment, conceptually applying across an even larger transition size. However, the Dehaze adjustment is actually quite a bit more sophisticated than that.

The point is that while there are considerable similarities among these several adjustment types, the differences are such that you can indeed use all three (as needed) for a single image. Sharpening will enhance perceived sharpness, Clarity will help enhance texture, and Dehaze will help reduce the appearance of haze. All similar effects to be sure, but with a different specific implementation in each case.

Two-Stop Bracketing

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Today’s Question: You said [during the “Creating Stunning HDR Images” presentation at PhotoPlus Expo] that you had bracketed a set of captures by one stop. But you also said you recommend bracketing in two-stop increments. So was there a reason you bracketed by one stop for the images you showed?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Bracketing in two-stop increments is absolutely more than adequate for creating high dynamic range (HDR) images. The only reason I sometimes use one-stop bracketing for some images is that I generally prefer to change the bracketing increments rather than changing the number of shots included with automatic exposure bracketing (AEB).

More Detail: The camera I typically use for capturing HDR images is capable of bracketing with up to seven exposures. It also includes settings for five and three exposures for automatic bracketing. I generally prefer to alter the increments for the bracketing rather than changing the number of exposures to capture, simply because it is easier on my camera to adjust the bracketing increments than to change the number of bracketed exposures.

In other words, this is all a matter of expediency when dealing with the process of making changes to the camera’s settings. In my case it is much easier to adjust the bracketing increments and the overall exposure compensation than it is to go deeper into the menu and change how many images are being captured when the automatic exposure bracketing feature is used.

I’d rather have more captures than I need than not enough, so I keep the number of bracketed shots set to the maximum (seven exposures in my case). When I am dealing with an extreme high dynamic range situation, I will bracket by two stops per exposure for a total of seven exposures. When the situation clearly does not require such a significant range, I will reduce the bracketing increment to one stop rather than changing the number of exposures.

Ultimately I aim for having photos with exposures separated by two stops each, with enough captures to cover the full tonal range of the scene I’m photographing. Determining how to reach that goal depends on your personal preferences as well as the specific features and usability considerations of your camera.

Preserving Collections

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Today’s Question: I successfully moved my photos and Lightroom from an old Macintosh to a new PC. However, none of my collections came over. How can I recover the collections?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Collections are a Lightroom-specific feature, meaning collection information is not stored with the photos themselves. Therefore, in order to preserve collections (and other Lightroom-specific features) when switching computers, you need to copy the Lightroom catalog file along with your images.

More Detail: When you want to move Lightroom from one computer to another, even if that involves switching operating systems, you can retain all of the information in your Lightroom catalog by copying the catalog files to the new computer, along with your photos.

The Lightroom catalog file (with a “lrcat” filename extension) can be used by the Lightroom application on both Macintosh and Windows computers. As a result, the process of migrating computers is relatively easy.

First, I recommend copying the entire contents of the folder that contains your Lightroom catalog from your existing computer to your new computer. You can determine where this folder is by clicking the “Show” button in the Information section of the General tab within the Catalog Settings dialog.

After copying the entire folder that contains your Lightroom catalog files to the new computer, you will want to make sure the photos themselves are available. This could be as simple as connecting the external hard drive that contains your photos to the new computer. Depending on the specifics of your workflow (and if you are switching platforms) you might also need to copy your photos to a new storage location as part of this process.

Once the catalog files and the photo files are available on the new computer, you can double-click on the catalog file (with the “lrcc” filename extension) on that new computer to launch Lightroom and open the catalog. At this point the photos will most likely appear to all be missing, because the specific path information to those photos will have changed. You can right-click on one of the missing folders and choose the option to “Find Missing Folder”. Then locate the applicable folder in the new storage location, and select it as the folder you want to reconnect. Lightroom will most likely then recursively reconnect all of the missing folders, but you may need to manually reconnect others as well.

With this approach you will retain all of the details for your photos, including Lightroom-specific features such as collections, pick and reject flags, history, and more.

Embedded and Sidecar Previews

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Today’s Question: What do you advise about the “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option when importing photos into Lightroom? I import my photos as DNG.

Tim’s Quick Answer: In short, I recommend never using the “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option when importing photos into Lightroom. Instead, I recommend always using either the “Standard” or “1:1” option.

More Detail: Put simply, Lightroom will always generate a “Standard” preview for any photo you browse within Lightroom. In addition, a “1:1” preview will always be generated for any photo you zoom in on. The only real question is therefore whether you want to generate those previews when you initially import the images, or whether you want to let Lightroom generate those previews as they are needed.

As a general rule, I recommend generating previews before you actually need them, so that your browsing experience will be more pleasant (meaning less frustrating).

At a minimum then, I recommend choosing the “Standard” option for previews when you import photos into Lightroom. When in doubt, this is the preview option to select.

Therefore, the only other question is whether you should generate “1:1” previews, so you won’t need to wait for previews to be generated for images you zoom in on. To me this is really a question of how frequently you zoom in on your images.

Personally, I don’t tend to zoom in on a very large percentage of my photos. I can review the overall images using the “Standard” preview, viewing the image at a full-screen size without zooming in further. I only zoom in when I have selected a potential favorite image I want to work with, and I want to check for sharpness, noise, blemishes, or other issues.

If you tend to zoom in on many (or most) of your images, I suggest building the “1:1” preview option on import. But for most photographers I think the “Standard” option is perfectly good. But I never recommend using the “Embedded & Sidecar” or “Minimal” options.

Note, by the way, that the latest update to Lightroom Classic CC (formerly Lightroom CC) includes a refined workflow for the “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option. While this may help streamline overall performance in some cases, I still very much prefer (and recommend) using only the “Standard” or “1:1” preview options upon import to Lightroom.

Editing TIFF and PSD Files

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Today’s Question: Do both TIFF and PSD files permit the full range of editing in Lightroom, in the event I might want to edit them further in the future either with Lightroom or some other editing or artistic software?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, the full range of adjustments in Lightroom is available for TIFF and PSD files, as well as all other supported image formats. Just keep in mind that adjustments in Lightroom do not alter the actual source image file, which you’ll need to take into account for your workflow if you decide to use other software to work on these images.

More Detail: Lightroom is “non-destructive” in the context of your source images, which means that when you apply adjustments in Lightroom you aren’t actually altering the source image file on your hard drive. This is a very good thing, but something you need to take into account for your workflow when you want to edit photos outside of Lightroom.

What that really means is that you’ll need to create an additional copy of the image if you later want to use Photoshop or other third-party software to further refine the image.

When you send a photo from Lightroom to Photoshop, if you want to retain the adjustments you applied in Lightroom you’ll need to create a new copy of the image file. Similarly, if you want to work with the image (and have the Lightroom adjustments applied) with other software, you’ll need to make another copy of the file. You could either send the image (creating a copy in the process) directly from Lightroom, or export a copy of the image from Lightroom and then edit that duplicate image directly within the source file.

So, it would be fair to say that the Lightroom adjustments aren’t actually altering the source image, and that you would need to create a new copy of the file in order to have the adjustments applied. But this is an intended effect of the non-destructive workflow employed by Lightroom. Regardless, all adjustments found in Lightroom are available for all supported image formats, including TIFF and PSD.

Cloud Sync Clarification

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Today’s Question: I am not Cloud literate so this may be a silly question. I am in a country with limited Internet availability. My carrier limits me to 30 GB up/down per month. My photo files are about 800 GB. If I switch to the new Lightroom CC in the future will I need to upload my full 800 GB to a Cloud server??

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, using the new Lightroom CC would generally mean you would be uploading (via synchronization) all of your existing photos to the cloud. However, conceptually it is also possible to pause this synchronization to avoid exceeding your online usage limits. That would, however, greatly reduce the utility of Lightroom CC.

More Detail: The new Lightroom CC very much revolves around online synchronization to the cloud. That means you would initially be copying all of your existing images via the Internet to Adobe’s servers, and as new photos are added to Lightroom CC they too would be copied via synchronization.

You can certainly pause the synchronization at any time within Lightroom CC. However, there are some inherent challenges with this.

First of all, if you were to pause the synchronization for Lightroom CC in order to avoid reaching a data cap for your Internet usage, it could take considerable time before you achieve any real utility with Lightroom CC. In this specific example, if you limit yourself to a maximum of 30 GB of synchronization each month, to synchronize the full 800 GB library would require more than two years. That obviously isn’t very practical.

In addition, pausing synchronization means that updates applied to your photos (such as adding star ratings or keywords, or applying adjustments) would not be synchronized. You would therefore not be viewing the latest updates for your images when viewed on other platforms such as on a mobile device or in a web browser.

Put simply, I would not recommend using Lightroom CC unless you have consistent access to a high-speed Internet connection without data transfer limits that would prevent you from taking full advantage of Lightroom CC. The online synchronization feature of Lightroom CC is really a core feature, and in my mind you should only consider the new Lightroom CC if you’ll be able to fully implement that capability within your workflow.

Curve in Lab for Saturation

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Today’s Question: It was suggested to me that instead of using the saturation sliders in Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, or Photoshop, that I should convert my photo in Photoshop to the “Lab” mode and then apply a curves adjustment layer to the ‘a’ and ‘b’ channels. When I do this it seems to me that I’m really getting more of a contrast adjustment like I would in the ‘RGB’ mode with a curve. It probably is a little more saturated but the contrast is also there. What are your thoughts?

Tim’s Quick Answer: My recommendation would be to make use of the Vibrance and Saturation adjustments, rather than converting an image to Lab color mode (and then likely back to RGB).

More Detail: There are many adjustments that can be applied to great effect in the Lab color mode in Photoshop, in some cases providing an advantage over the RGB color space. However, quite often I find that the advantages are minimal, and not without risk.

For example, in this case I suspect you are applying an unbalanced adjustment for the two channels, resulting in more of a contrast (or color contrast) adjustment rather than a saturation boost.

Even if you applied a perfect adjustment in Lab using Curves in order to boost saturation, as far as I’m concerned this would provide no real advantage over simply using the Saturation or (even better) the Vibrance adjustment. Both of these adjustments are quite sophisticated, and have been updated over the years, so that there isn’t a real advantage in this case to switching to Lab mode.

In short, I’d suggest keeping your workflow relatively simple, and not be tempted to “tricks” that aim to provide marginal gains that you may not even be able to perceive. Worse, switching to a color mode you aren’t particularly familiar with could cause challenges in terms of maintaining quality and fidelity in your images.

It is worth noting, by the way, that switching to the Lab color mode and then back to the RGB color mode could itself lead to minor alterations in pixel values that could be somewhat problematic, and that would negate any gains you might have obtained by using the Lab color mode in the first place. So, I suggest sticking with the RGB color space and the very good Saturation adjustment and the (even better!) Vibrance adjustment.

Offline with Lightroom CC

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Today’s Question: Thank you for your video about the “new” Lightroom CC [https://youtu.be/yYVhtou5pVI]. One thing I’m concerned about is the synchronization feature. When I’m traveling with limited access to the Internet, would I still be able to use this new version of Lightroom? The synchronization feature sounds great, but what if I’m not always online, or if I have a really slow connection?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you don’t need to be connected to the Internet to make use of the new Lightroom CC. You can add photos locally, and they will synchronize to the cloud whenever you are connected to the Internet. A slow connection simply slows that synchronization, but doesn’t prevent you from working.

More Detail: The new Lightroom CC announced by Adobe yesterday revolves around cloud-based synchronization, so you can access all of your photos from virtually anywhere on just about any device. The software previously known as Lightroom CC is now referred to as “Lightroom Classic”.

While Lightroom CC uses an Internet connection to synchronize your photos to the cloud so they are available from just about any Internet-connected computer or device, you don’t need to be online to make use of Lightroom CC.

You can add photos to Lightroom CC locally on your computer without being connected to the Internet, with no limits on what you’re able to do with those photos. When you have an Internet connection available, Lightroom CC will synchronize your photos (and the settings for the photos) to the cloud. A slow Internet connection would obviously slow that process down, but it won’t prevent you from working locally.

As noted in the episode of Tim Grey TV referenced in today’s question (https://youtu.be/yYVhtou5pVI), the new Lightroom CC is certainly a new product that doesn’t necessarily include all of the features a photographer would require in their workflow. But it does include an impressive set of technologies that are worth exploring. In other words, just because Lightroom CC might not have everything you need today for your workflow, it may very well provide an ideal solution for you at some point down the road.

Completely New Lightroom CC

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Today’s Question: I just saw an announcement from Adobe that there is a completely new version of Lightroom CC. Should I switch to this new version? Will the Lightroom CC I’ve been using stop working?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The new Lightroom CC is a completely new platform for managing your photos, which revolves around cloud-based synchronization of all of your original captures. The existing Lightroom will now be referred to as Lightroom Classic, and will continue to be updated and supported by Adobe.

More Detail: Understandably, there has been some confusion about Adobe’s latest announcement about a completely new software application (and ecosystem) that is being called “LightroomCC”. The existing Lightroom application will now be referred to as Lightroom Classic.

The new Lightroom CC includes some impressive features, such as cloud-based synchronization of all of your original captures, so that every image can be accessed from anywhere (provided you have an Internet connection), from virtually any device such as a computer, smartphone, or tablet. In addition, image analysis in Lightroom CC enables you to search for photos based on content, without having to add keywords for those details first.

Lightroom Classic will continue to be supported and updated, and in fact I plan to continue using Lightroom Classic as the foundation of my workflow for organizing and optimizing my photos. I see great promise in Lightroom CC (and some of the technology it includes), but it doesn’t yet include all of the features I need in my workflow.

To me, Lightroom CC is a good solution for those who want to be able to access their photos from anywhere, and don’t feel the need to be extremely “hands-on” when it comes to managing their library of photos. With time I’m sure both Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic will evolve, so I’ll certainly be re-evaluating my workflow approach from time to time.

To learn a bit more about the new Lightroom CC, you can check out the latest episode of Tim Grey TV on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/yYVhtou5pVI