Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Is it possible to sync keywords across an entire folder of images, all at once, in Lightroom Classic? It seems when I try it only applies to one photo even though all are selected.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can indeed assign keywords to multiple selected photos all at once in Lightroom Classic by making sure you are in the grid view (not the loupe view).

More Detail: The issue you’re running into is what I refer to as the “Loupe View Snafu”. When you are in the loupe view in Lightroom Classic by default you are only working with a single image, even with multiple images selected. In other words, if you select many images but are in the loupe view, when you add a keyword only the image shown in the loupe view display will actually have the keyword added. The other selected photos will not be updated.

If you have multiple photos selected while in the grid view display, metadata updates such as keywords will apply to all of the selected photos. Therefore, I recommend making sure you are in the grid view when you select multiple photos and want to apply the same metadata updates to all of the selected photos.

You can also synchronize metadata across multiple images using the Sync Metadata button at the bottom of the right panel in the Library module. But in general I find it easiest to simply make sure you are in the grid view display with multiple photos selected when you want to update metadata for those selected photos.

Today’s Question: I’ve tried using the “Skin Tones” option for the Color Range selection in Photoshop, and most of the time I don’t get very good results. Am I doing something wrong, or is there some trick to using this feature?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, I don’t find that the “Skin Tones” option for the Color Range command in Photoshop provides very good results, though turning on the “Detect Faces” feature and fine-tuning the Fuzziness value can help improve the selection.

More Detail: There are quite a few selection tools in Photoshop that provide excellent results with a streamlined workflow. In my experience, however, the option to select skin tones in photos in a relatively automated way does not work very well.

I find that many photographers are surprised that it is even reasonable to expect Photoshop to be able to automatically identify skin tones in a photo. However, this is often feasible because in many cases skin tones will fall into a predictable range of color values.

However, I am rarely able to get a good initial selection using the “Skin Tones” option for the Color Range command. Quite often the skin tones are only partially selected, and other areas of the image with similar ranges of color values also get included in the selection.

The first step within the Color Range dialog (found on the menu at Select > Color Range) is to choose the “Skin Tones” option from the Select popup at the top of the dialog. This will provide an initial selection of skin tones based on an analysis of the image. I recommend turning on the “Detect Faces” checkbox, which in most cases will improve the selection for skin tones within the photo.

Fine-tuning the Fuzziness setting can also help. I typically find that the initial Color Range selection for skin tones does not include enough of the overall skin tone areas within the photo, and so increasing the value for Fuzziness will expand that selection. However, you can also reduce the value for Fuzziness if you need to restrict the range of color values that are being selected in order to reduce the selection size.

Keep in mind that the Skin Tones option for the Color Range selection command really is focused on selecting skin tones, not just faces or people. That said, I do find that this selection option provides very mixed results, and so I generally resort to the “Sampled Colors” option for the Color Range command, or to the use of other selection tools such as the Quick Selection tool.

Today’s Question: The in-camera light meter tries to take everything middle gray so if you take a picture of a white wall in auto mode the wall will appear gray, not white. So you would have to overexpose by 2-3 stops to get the wall white as it should be. What happens when you meter with a external light meter such as Sekonic. The same?

Tim’s Quick Answer: A hand-held light meter provides the same basic function as the meter in your camera, though the specifics of how you deal with the information provided will vary depending on the type of meter.

More Detail: An exposure meter enables you to measure the light level illuminating a scene and determine appropriate camera settings that will ensure a good exposure for that scene. The general way these light meters are described is that they are trying to determine the average light level illuminating the scene and determine an exposure that will ensure that a middle gray card in the scene will appear as middle gray in the final exposure.

Of course, you can meter off something other than a middle gray card, which means your metered exposure won’t necessarily provide an optimal final exposure. For example, if you meter off snow on a bright sunny day, the meter will attempt to set an exposure where the snow will appear gray. You’ll generally need to compensate by increasing the exposure by about two stops to ensure the snow will appear white rather than gray.

There are some differences with accessory versus in-camera light meters in terms of the options available. In general, both will offer options for the size of the area being metered, such as spot metering versus evaluating a larger area of the scene. In addition, handheld meters (unlike in-camera meters) may offer the ability to measure incident light rather than reflected light.

In other words, with some handheld exposure meters you can position the meter in the area where the subject you’re photographing is located and therefore illuminated by the light, to measure the light actually reaching the subject. Other meters, including those in the camera, will measure light reflected by the scene rather than being emitted toward the scene.

The overall concept, however, is the same in terms of a light meter only measuring light based on the settings you’ve established and the method for that measurement. Regardless of the type of meter being used, you will generally need to consider how you may need to compensate for the meter reading you obtain. This is less true for an incident meter, since an incident meter is actually measuring how much light is reaching the subject as opposed to measuring how that light is reflected off the subject. But some degree you’ll need to compensate for the meter reading regardless of the particulars.

Most photographers will be able to get by perfectly well with their in-camera exposure meter, taking into account how you may need to compensate for the area of the scene you’re metering off of. In some cases, however, it can be helpful to use a handheld meter, and especially an incident meter, such as when photographing a subject that is illuminated by a series of strobes rather than natural light.

Today’s Question: I shoot raw and I export images as JPEGs in Lightroom Classic for general uses such as a screensaver, a website, a digital photo album, and printing smaller-sized prints. How much of the benefits of shooting raw am I losing in the raw to JPEG conversion and final output?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this context you aren’t actually losing benefits of raw capture, since you would have optimized the photo based on the raw capture and the JPEG format was (mostly) well-suited to the type of sharing.

More Detail: Raw capture provides a number of benefits over JPEG capture, including higher bit depth for greater dynamic range, the lack of JPEG compression artifacts, and more. With a photo that has been properly exposed the benefits of raw capture aren’t exactly huge, but there are benefits.

In particular, raw capture provides greater tonal range latitude and dynamic range. That translates to greater flexibility with adjustments in post-capture processing. For example, because of the higher bit depth of a raw capture you can apply stronger tonal adjustments without the risk of as much loss of detail, such as a loss of smooth gradations that can occur when applying strong adjustments to a photo at a lower bit depth.

Naturally, a JPEG capture will contain less overall information than a raw capture, and will often exhibit at least minor evidence of the visible grid pattern that results from JPEG compression. In the case of sharing online you will typically be saving the final image as a JPEG regardless. That means you would still be sharing an image that doesn’t contain as much information as the raw capture, but you would have still gained the potential benefits of the raw capture in the first place.

In other words, even if you’re going to be sharing a photo as a JPEG for online sharing or other purposes, I still recommend using raw capture in the first place. Note, however, that when printing photos I recommend using a file format without compression that will potentially degrade the quality of the image, such as is the case with JPEG capture. So, for printing I would export the photo as a TIFF file, but for other digital sharing I would export as a JPEG, but still use raw capture for the original photos.

Today’s Question: If I create a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic and then edit the photo, do the changes get reflected in the original photo?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, the changes you make to a virtual copy are not reflected in the original photo from which the virtual copy was created.

More Detail: When you create a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic, that virtual copy inherits the metadata from the original photo. So, for example, the information about camera settings would be duplicated from the original in the virtual copy, as would other metadata from the original capture. Any updates you had made to the original image before creating the virtual copy, such as keywords and star ratings, would also be inherited by the virtual copy.

However, once a virtual copy is created, changes made to metadata from that point forward are not synchronized automatically between the virtual copy and the original. So, for example, if you update metadata for a virtual copy, those changes are not reflected in the original photo. And if you update metadata for the original photo, those changes will not be reflected in the virtual copy that had been created previously.

The idea is that a virtual copy represents a second interpretation of the original photo, including both metadata updates and adjustments. So a virtual copy inherits the settings from the original when it is created, but from that point forward the virtual copy and the original behave as though they were two different photos, just based on the same original raw capture.

Note that you can synchronize metadata across multiple images, including virtual copies. So it is possible to make updates to metadata or adjustments that apply equally to both a virtual copy and the original photo the virtual copy is based on.

Today’s Question: When I use a traveling catalog [in Lightroom Classic], I find the keyword structure always ends up being different than my desktop catalog. How do you “synch” the keywords between catalogs, preferably BEFORE the trip?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can synchronize keywords from your primary catalog to a traveling catalog by exporting keywords from your primary catalog and importing them to your traveling catalog. This will ensure that all keywords on the Keyword List in your primary catalog will be readily available to you during your travels.

More Detail: The Keyword List on the right panel in the Library module in Lightroom Classic includes all keywords that have been added to all images in the current catalog, or that were added to the catalog regardless of whether they have been assigned to any images.

When you create a new empty catalog, such as to use on a laptop when traveling for photography, there will initially not be any keywords on the Keyword List. As a result, you can’t simply turn on the checkbox for a given keyword on the Keyword List when you want to add keywords to photos you import to your traveling catalog.

Fortunately, it is possible to effectively synchronize your list of keywords from the primary catalog to a catalog you’ll use while traveling.

To get started, open your primary catalog. From the menu choose Metadata > Export Keywords. In the dialog that appears you can choose where to save the exported keywords list and give that list a name. I recommend saving the list on a storage device you’ll be able to easily connect to your laptop computer, for example. You could also simply save on the desktop and then email the list to yourself. You can use a meaningful name for the keyword list, just to make sure you know where that list came from.

Next, you need to get the exported keyword list file to your laptop. You can use an external hard drive or other storage device, of course, or simply email the file to yourself since it won’t be a very large file.

With the exported keyword list on your laptop, you can then open (or create) your traveling catalog in Lightroom Classic. Then go to the menu and choose Metadata > Import Keywords. Navigate to the location where the exported keywords list is located and import that list.

At this point the Keyword List on the right panel in the Library module will include all of the keywords from your primary catalog. You can therefore assign keywords from this list to your photos while traveling. When you then merge the photos from your traveling catalog to the primary catalog back at home the keywords assigned while traveling will be included as part of that process.

Today’s Question: You said you prefer to use adjustments in Lightroom Classic rather than something like the ColorChecker Passport. Can you expand on why that is the case? It seems that the ColorChecker would help ensure more accurate colors in photos.

Tim’s Quick Answer: A product such as the ColorChecker Passport (https://timgrey.me/colorchecker) from X-Rite Photo can indeed help ensure more accurate color in your original captures. However, in many cases this will not actually provide optimal color, since in most cases we don’t want our photos to appear to have been illuminated by pure white light.

More Detail: On the surface it seems like the notion of capturing “accurate” color in your photos is rather straightforward. In fact, however, it can be a little tricky to capture truly accurate color, or to define exactly what we mean by accurate color in this context.

Products such as the ColorChecker Passport from X-Rite are primarily aimed at helping you achieve truly accurate colors in your photos. The problem is that accurate color in this context is generally defined as having the subjects of your photos appear as though they were captured under a perfectly white light source.

In most cases I think it is fair to say that photographers aren’t truly looking for “accurate” color, but rather “pleasing” color that reflects how a scene actually appeared.

For example, if you are photographing during “golden hour” just before sunset, you most likely want to retain the color influence of the golden light illuminating the scene. A product such as a ColorChecker Passport will attempt to remove the golden color of the light in order to ensure more “accurate” color.

There are, of course, situations where you absolutely want to ensure the colors in your photos are an accurate reflection of the subject you were photographing, such as with product photography. In many cases, however, that is not your true goal.

If you you do indeed want the colors of objects in your photos to match the subject as though there was not any color case caused by the lighting illuminating a scene, then the ColorChecker Passport can be a perfect solution. You can learn more here:

https://timgrey.me/colorchecker

Note that I discussed some of the ways you can achieve more accurate colors right at the time of capture in the article “Capturing Accurate Color” in the June 2021 issue of my Pixology magazine. You can learn more about the magazine on the GreyLearning website here:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/pixology-magazine

Today’s Question: I’ve been disappointed that Adobe hasn’t been providing profiles for new Canon cameras in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw. The generic Adobe profiles sometimes leave raw images looking quite flat. I’ve seen mention online of color checkers being used to create camera- and lens-specific profiles that can be used in Lightroom Classic and I wondered if you’ve tried that.

Tim’s Quick Answer: A reference card such as the ColorChecker Passport (https://timgrey.me/colorchecker) from X-Rite Photo can help achieve more accurate colors. However, in general I recommend using an updated preset for Lightroom Classic to improve the initial appearance of photos.

More Detail: In general, you will likely find that raw captures appear a bit flat with default adjustment settings in most software. This can be a little disappointing, since the image on your camera’s LCD display will often be more saturated with better contrast compared to what you’ll see on your computer.

However, this is primarily related to the interpretation of the raw capture. In the camera, for example, the raw capture is often interpreted to reflect better contrast and saturation.

Lightroom Classic employs profiles that define the initial interpretation of the raw capture data. You may find, for example, that there is a profile you are most happy with in terms of the initial appearance of your photos. However, you can also change the default adjustment settings to improve the initial appearance of your photos.

Those updated default settings can include changing the profile found at the top of the Basic section on the right panel in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic. However, I also find that a boost of Clarity as well as Vibrance can greatly improve the initial look of photos.

I recommend using a preset to apply updated adjustment settings to photos. Start with a sample image that you have not yet applied adjustments to. Then refine any of the settings you’d like on the right panel in the Develop module, representing adjustments you’d like to apply to other images. Then create a preset by clicking the plus (+) button to the right of the Presets heading on the left panel in the Develop module and choosing “Create Preset” from the popup menu.

In the dialog that appears, make sure the checkbox is turned on only for the specific adjustments you want to include as part of the preset. Type a meaningful name in the Preset Name field and click the Create button to create the preset.

You can then apply that preset to images in order to update the adjustment settings. Even better, you can apply the preset to all new photos as they are imported by selecting the preset by name from the Develop Settings popup in the Apply During Import section of the right panel in the Import dialog.

Today’s Question: Are virtual copies preserved when you back up the Lightroom Classic catalog? When do you risk losing virtual copies?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, virtual copies are preserved when you back up the Lightroom Classic catalog. You can also export a virtual copy to create an additional image file based on the adjustments you applied to that virtual copy.

More Detail: As the name implies, a virtual copy is a reference to a source image that does not involve creating an additional copy of the source capture. So, for example, you could interpret the original photo in full color, and then create a virtual copy that is a black and white interpretation of the original.

In the context of Lightroom Classic, all adjustments you apply are non-destructive, meaning they are effectively just metadata updates that don’t alter the original pixel values in the source image. So, when you create a virtual copy you simply have two (or more) sets of metadata for the same source image.

While a virtual copy appears as though it were an additional copy of the source image when viewed in your Lightroom Classic catalog, that’s not the case. If you deleted a source image file, the virtual copy based on that source image file would become useless because the virtual copy is only metadata. Without the original image, the metadata is useless.

However, you can export a virtual copy to preserve it as an actual image file. For example, if you create a virtual copy based on a raw capture, you can export with the “Original” option for file format and you’ll get a new copy of the original raw capture along with the applicable metadata (including adjustments) in an XMP sidecar file.

If you don’t export a copy of a virtual copy to preserve a copy of the image and updated metadata, then the virtual copy will only exist as metadata in your Lightroom Classic catalog. That, in turn, means that if you use virtual copies (along with certain other metadata that is only stored in the catalog) that it is especially important to maintain a good workflow for consistently backing up your Lightroom Classic catalog.

Today’s Question: I currently use Photoshop and Adobe Bridge. I have used keywords in Bridge. Will those keywords be included if I switch to Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, the metadata you add to photos with Adobe Bridge will be included in the catalog when you import photos into Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: When you add metadata to photos in Adobe Bridge, by default the standard metadata updates (such as keywords and star ratings) will be added to the metadata for the photos. For raw captures that means an XMP sidecar file will be created or updated, with the metadata updates included in that XMP file.

When you then import those images into Lightroom Classic, the metadata from the photos will be included as part of that import. Therefore, all keywords and other standard metadata will appear within your catalog, just as you saw it in Adobe Bridge.

Note that this metadata support only extends to standard metadata fields. One exception to this would be the Reject flag, which is a feature supported by both Adobe Bridge and Lightroom Classic, but that is not included as part of a metadata standard. Therefore, if you apply a reject flag in one of these two applications that reject flag will not appear in the other application.

So, in the context of importing photos into Lightroom Classic that had previously been managed in Adobe Bridge, any reject flags will not be visible in Lightroom Classic.

In addition, Adobe Bridge and Lightroom Classic use different definitions for color labels, even though both are applications from Adobe. For example, in Adobe Bridge a red color label gets the value of “Select” in metadata, while in Lightroom Classic a red color label gets the value of “Red”.

If you have worked with color labels in Adobe Bridge, you can maintain your existing workflow by setting the color label definitions in Lightroom Classic to the Adobe Bridge preset. To do so, go to the menu and choose Metadata > Color Label Set > Bridge Default. You could also change the existing color labels in Lightroom Classic to match the default definitions in Lightroom Classic, such as by assigning a “Red” color label to all images that have a “Select” color label from Adobe Bridge.

Overall, however, the transition from Adobe Bridge to Lightroom Classic is very seamless, with standard metadata fields being retained, and your existing folder structure being reflected for images you import into your Lightroom Classic catalog.