Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Is there any way to prevent Lightroom Mobile from syncing images from my iPhone’s Camera Roll?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can turn off the automatic import of photos on the Import page of the Settings within the Lightroom mobile app.

More Detail: The Lightroom mobile app (for iOS and Android devices) includes the option to automatically import the photos you capture using the camera app on your mobile device. This provides a convenient method of adding those photos to your Lightroom Classic catalog, for example. However, it is possible to disable this automatic import if you prefer.

Start by tapping the gear icon that appears at the top-right of the Lightroom mobile app. That will bring up a Settings page, where you can tap Import to access the settings related to importing photos. There you’ll find individual settings for Photos and Videos. Tap to toggle the setting to on or off based on your preference for importing photos and videos automatically.

Today’s Question: I really like the idea of keeping my Lightroom Classic catalog on an external drive so I can use it with both my desktop and laptop computer. What is the suggested workflow for backing up the external drive and would you have your photos on that external drive as well?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can keep your Lightroom Classic catalog and photos on the same external hard drive to enable working on different computers simply by connecting the hard drive to the computer you want to use. I recommend backing up that drive with software such as GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup), though I would also use Lightroom Classic to backup the catalog for maintenance purposes.

More Detail: The Lightroom Classic catalog can’t be used across a network, so if you want to be able to work in Lightroom Classic on more than one computer, you’ll need to move the catalog between computers. The easiest way to accomplish this is to simply keep the catalog on an external hard drive that can be moved between computers.

Keep in mind that performance will generally suffer to some extent when keeping your Lightroom Classic catalog on an external rather than internal hard drive. Therefore, if you are going to keep your catalog on an external hard drive you’ll want to choose a drive with high performance, such as an SSD drive.

You can also keep your photos on the same external hard drive so that both the catalog and photos being managed by that catalog are on the same drive. This makes it easy to switch between computers and work with your catalog and photos, as long as you have Lightroom Classic installed and activated on the computer you want to work on.

To backup the catalog and photos on an external hard drive I recommend a synchronization approach. I use GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup) for this purpose, but there are other backup solutions that provide similar features.

However, even if you’re using other software such as GoodSync to backup your catalog, I still recommend using backup feature in Lightroom Classic to backup your catalog. That’s because Lightroom Classic enables you to scan your catalog for errors and optimize the catalog as part of the backup process, which can help alert you to potential problems with your catalog and also help improve overall performance.

Today’s Question: For one of my folders when using the Synchronize Folder command in Lightroom Classic with the “Show import dialog before importing” checkbox turned on, I’m seeing an odd behavior. Lightroom Classic initially indicates that there is one new photo. Yet when I click the Synchronize button there aren’t any photos shown and the Import button is grayed out. I’ve tried this several times with the same result. Do you know why this may be happening?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The most likely explanation here is that there is a photo within the folder that is not currently in your Lightroom Classic catalog, but that it is not being imported because that same photo is duplicated elsewhere on your hard drive and is included in the catalog.

More Detail: The Synchronize Folder command in Lightroom Classic makes it easy to update a folder within the catalog to reflect differences on your hard drive. For example, if you add a new image to the folder through your operating system, that photo would not appear in your Lightroom Classic catalog. You could, however, right-click on the folder in the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module and choose Synchronize Folder from the popup menu to bring the “missing” photo into your catalog.

As noted in today’s question, you can also choose to show the Import dialog as part of this synchronization process, so that you can adjust the settings for the import. This would enable you, for example, to assign a Develop preset and metadata preset to the images being added to the catalog via synchronization.

If the Synchronize Folder dialog indicates that there are images to be synchronized, but the Import dialog does not show the images, that is an indication that you have the “Do Not Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox turned on, and that the images are indeed duplicated elsewhere in the catalog.

This would also suggest that the New Photos filter option is set at the top center of the Import dialog. That will cause the duplicates that are not being imported because of the fact that they are duplicates to be hidden from view. If you instead selected the All Photos filter option you would see the images that are being excluded because they are duplicates, and those images would be dimmed with the import disabled for them.

If you want to import the photos even though they are duplicates, you could turn off the “Do Not Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox in the Import dialog. And, of course, you’ll probably want to also search for the duplicates within your catalog and deal with them accordingly.

Today’s Question: You discussed the topic of “demosaicing” and touched based on the Bayer sensor. Can you also discuss the Foveon sensor and its potential advantages on capturing color values?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The Foveon sensor captures full color for each pixel, rather than only red, green, or blue for each pixel as with a Bayer pattern sensor. While there are theoretical advantages to the Foveon sensor, there are also limitations that have prevented the Foveon sensor from having a clear advantage over others.

More Detail: As I imagine most photographers are aware, the typical digital camera includes a sensor with a Bayer pattern array, where for each four pixels on the sensor two are capturing only green light, one is capturing red light, and one is capturing blue light.

Because these sensors only capture one out of the three color values per pixel, software must be used to process the resulting image data into a full-color photo. This process is referred to as “demosaicing”.

The Foveon sensor was first used in a camera (the Sigma SD9) in 2002, and I had the opportunity to test that camera at the time. While I was impressed with the technology and the level of detail in the photos from the Foveon sensor compared to other digital cameras at the time, the technology never caught on with the top digital camera manufacturers. In 2008 Sigma acquired Foveon, and several camera models employing the Foveon sensor were released by Sigma over the years.

While there are theoretical advantages to the Foveon sensor based on capturing full-color information, there are drawbacks as well. For example, because light is being absorbed in separate “layers” in the Foveon sensor, the sensor isn’t capturing as much information as you might assume. That translates into a need for additional amplification, which results in noise. The more recent Foveon-based cameras I’ve been able to test exhibited very poor noise performance.

All things considered, I would say that the benefits of the Foveon sensor are outweighed by the disadvantages, and that in general sensors with a Bayer pattern array provide better image quality compared to the Foveon sensor.

Today’s Question: Could you please address the best ways to do local dodging and burning, in Lightroom Classic vs. Photoshop?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In Lightroom Classic you can dodge and burn using the Adjustment Brush to paint adjustments into specific areas of a photo. In Photoshop I recommend a technique that involves painting with black and white at a reduced opacity on a separate layer set to the Overlay blend mode.

More Detail: Dodging and burning involves lightening and darkening specific areas of an image, often to enhance detail or refine the mood of an image. The concept comes from the wet darkroom, where you could dodge and burn by adjusting how much light reached the photographic paper during exposure with an enlarger.

In Lightroom Classic the Adjustment Brush tool can be used to lighten and darken specific areas of a photo. After selecting the Adjustment Brush from the toolbar below the histogram display on the right panel in the Develop module you can set a slight increase or decrease for the Exposure control. Then paint within the image to apply that lightening or darkening to specific areas of the photo. You can add additional edits to enable lightening in some areas while darkening in others, for example.

In Photoshop I recommend a technique that involves painting on a separate layer. Start by holding the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh while clicking on the Create New Layer button (with the plus symbol) at the bottom of the Layers panel. In the New Layer dialog that appears, set the Mode popup to Overlay and turn on the “Fill with Overlay-neutral color” checkbox. Click OK to create the new layer.

Next, choose the Brush tool, and set the colors to their defaults of black and white by pressing the letter “D” on the keyboard. On the Options bar set the brush to a 0% value for Hardness and reduce the Opacity for the brush (not the layer) to about 15%.

You can then paint with black on the new layer to darken areas of the image, and paint with white to lighten. Note that you can press “X” on the keyboard to switch between the foreground and background color, which means switching between black and white in this case.

It is possible to apply effective dodging and burning with either Lightroom Classic or Photoshop. However, my preference is to use Photoshop because I find it a little more streamlined to work on a single layer, painting with black or white to switch between darkening and lightening. With Lightroom Classic it can be a little more complicated since you need to work with more than one edit pin in order to be able to both lighten and darken.

Today’s Question: I have a problem with Lightroom Classic in the develop module. If it is my lucky day, I can process an image and it will stay in its position on the filmstrip along with the original. If it is not my lucky day when I process an image both the processed image and the original jump to the end of the filmstrip. Can you explain what is happening and how I can ensure that my images stay in place in the filmstrip during processing?

Tim’s Quick Answer: It sounds like the sort order for the images is to blame here. For example, you may be sorting the images by Edit Time or Edit Count. I would recommend sorting either by Capture Time or File Name to help ensure a consistent sort order.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic provides a variety of options for adjusting the sort order of your photos. Some of the sorting options are perhaps more useful and commonly preferred, such as sorting by Capture Time or File Name. Other sort order options are a little more esoteric but can provide a potential workflow benefit in certain situations.

For example, the Aspect Ratio sort order will cause images to be sorted based on the relationship between width and height, so that vertical and horizontal images will be sorted into separate groups. This may not be the most helpful sort order, but there are certainly situations where it could be helpful.

Of course, if you have the sort order set to an unexpected setting, the way images get sorted could be a bit confusing.

The “Edit Count” sorting option, for example, will cause images to be sorted in order based on how many times they have been edited in the Develop module or updated in the Library module. This enables you to sort images based on how much work you’ve done (or not done) with them in Lightroom Classic. That also means that as you apply edits to a photo, the image may jump to a different position based on the current sort order.

I recommend using the Capture Time sort order as the default setting, switching to other sort orders when they prove useful in your workflow. And when you’re finished using a different sort order, I recommend switching the sort order back to Capture Time to avoid confusion.

Today’s Question: I sometimes use the Auto adjustment in Lightroom Classic to set an initial starting point for a photo. Is there a way to apply the Auto adjustment but only for certain adjustments rather than all of the tonal adjustments?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can apply an automatic adjustment for an individual adjustment by holding the Shift key while double-clicking on the text label (or the slider handle) for Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Vibrance, or Saturation, in the Basic section of the right panel in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: The Auto button in the Basic section of the right panel in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic will cause the image to be evaluated and automatic adjustments applied. If you prefer, however, you can apply an automatic adjustment to individual adjustments.

As noted above, you can apply that automatic adjustment to an individual adjustment by holding the Shift key on the keyboard while double-clicking on the label (or slider handle) for one of the supported adjustments.

However, it is worth noting that applying an automatic adjustment to each adjustment control individually will not produce the exact same result as clicking the Auto button, because of the way the image is evaluated. That is because in effect different values are being evaluated by the automatic adjustment.

For example, let’s assume the Auto adjustment causes the Exposure value to increase to +0.50, and for the Whites value to increase to +7. If you reset the adjustments and then hold the Shift key while double-clicking on the label for Whites without adjusting Exposure, the Whites value might decrease to a value of -15 rather than increasing as it would with the Auto adjustment. That’s because the Whites slider is now being adjusted based on an image that was not brightened with the Exposure adjustment, or otherwise affected by various automatic adjustments.

So, you can most certainly pick and choose which supported adjustments you want to apply an automatic adjustment to. You are just likely to get different results for each individual adjustment compared to what you would end up with if you simply clicked the Auto button.

Note, by the way, that you could also use Auto to apply all of the automatic adjustments, and then double-click (without the Shift key) on either the label or slider handle for an adjustment to reset that individual adjustment back to the default value.

Today’s Question: In Lightroom Classic, is there a way to filter on “Copy Name” for virtual copies? I want to find and delete these duplicate versions of my photos.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The images with text in the “Copy Name” field will generally be virtual copies. You can filter for virtual copies on the Attribute tab of the Library Filter bar. In addition, you can search for specific text in the “Copy Name” field using the Text tab of the Library Filter bar.

More Detail: When you create a virtual copy in order to have more than one interpretation of the same source image, by default Lightroom Classic will add the word “Copy” and a number (starting with “1”) to the Copy Name field in metadata. You can review this field in the Metadata section of the right panel in the Library module.

In addition, you could simply add text to the Copy Name field if you wanted to for any reason. You could, for example, update the name assigned to virtual copies by Lightroom Classic, or define your own use of the Copy Name field even when you haven’t created virtual copies.

The first option that might provide a solution in this case is to filter for only virtual copies. In the grid view display, make sure the Library Filter bar is visible at the top. If not, choose View > Show Filter Bar from the menu. Then go to the Attribute tab of the Library Filter bar. At the far right of the Attribute section, you’ll find the “Kind” setting. There are three buttons. The first enables you to filter by original images, meaning not virtual copies. The second button enables you to filter by virtual copies, which is what you want in this case. The third button enables you to filter by video clip rather than still photo.

If you want to filter based on the actual Copy Name field in metadata, that is an option found on the Text tab of the Library Filter bar. After selecting the Text tab (and closing the Attribute tab if you don’t want to use the settings there as part of your filter) you can first set the option on the first popup to the right of the Text label to “Copy Name”.

From the second popup you can choose how you want to evaluate the text in the Copy Name field. For example, you might want to choose “Contains” from this popup so you can filter for any image that includes the word “copy” in the Copy Name field. You can then enter the text you want to search for in the text field to the right.

Note that for all of the above filtering options you will be filtering based on the images you are currently browsing. So, you may want to navigate to a particular folder or collection first, or you might want to choose the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section toward the top of the left panel in the Library module so you can search across your entire Lightroom Classic catalog.

Today’s Question: Can you please explain how to best use the Quality Slider (under File Settings) when Exporting Images from Lightroom Classic. I am wondering how to best balance the quality with the resulting file size when exporting for online sharing. I assume that for printing I want to keep the quality at 100%.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The Quality slider under File Settings in the Export dialog for Lightroom Classic only applies to JPEG images. I only recommend using JPEG for images that will be shared online, not printed. For those images, I find that a setting of about 80% provides a good compromise between image quality and file size.

More Detail: JPEG images always have “lossy” compression applied to them, which means image quality can be degraded as the image data is compressed. The Quality setting determines how strong the compression is, and therefore the degree to which quality may be degraded.

The actual results will vary based on the contents of the image. For example, images that are very “simple” will compress to a smaller file size with less degradation of image quality. Images that are somewhat “complex” (such as with greater texture and detail) will not compress to as small a file size and will have a greater risk of degradation of quality.

When sharing images online, the JPEG file format provides the ability to balance file size (to reduce download time) with image quality. In my experience a setting of about 80% for image quality provides a very good balance.

Quality settings that are higher than 80% will result in larger file sizes but generally with little to no visible improvement in image quality. If you set the Quality much below 80%, the file sizes won’t be dramatically smaller but the degradation in image quality may become somewhat obvious.

For images that will be printed, I recommend saving as a TIFF image rather than a JPEG, so that you aren’t losing additional print quality by rendering a JPEG image with lossy compression applied to it.

Today’s Question: Is it possible to move the User Presets up to the top of the Presets panel in the Develop Module of Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While you can’t exactly arrange the presets on the left panel in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic, there are a few ways to make it easier to access your favorite presets and hide preset groups you don’t use.

More Detail: One of the quickest ways to make sure the presets you use most are readily available at the top of the Presets section of the left panel in the Develop module is to mark those presets as favorites. When you mark a preset as a favorite, it will be added to a “Favorites” group at the top of the Presets list. To mark a preset as a favorite, simply right-click on the preset and choose “Add to Favorites” from the popup menu.

It can also be helpful to hide groups of presets you don’t use, such as perhaps some (or all) of the default presets that are included automatically in Lightroom Classic. To hide (or reveal) groups of presets, right click on one of the preset groups in the Presets section and choose “Manage Presets” from the popup menu. In the Manage Presets dialog you can then turn off the checkbox for any groups you want to hide or turn on the checkbox for any groups you want to reveal. Click the Save button to update the Presets list based on your changes.

It is also worth noting that the preset groups you create are sorted alphabetically. You can therefore rename your preset groups in a strategic way to have the most important groups on top, for example. Simply right-click on a preset group and choose Rename to change the name of that preset group.

Similarly, the individual presets are sorted alphabetically within the preset group they are contained in, so you could also use an approach to naming your presets (such as with leading numbers) to have those presets sorted in your preferred order.