Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Do you prefer to sharpen images in Lightroom [Classic] or Photoshop? I have been using Photoshop for many years to finalize images for prints or publication, paper or digital, but I am open to change.

Tim’s Quick Answer: I prefer to sharpen my photos in Photoshop rather than Lightroom Classic, primarily because Photoshop enables me to exercise more control over the sharpening settings.

More Detail: In Lightroom Classic you can sharpen photos whenever preparing a photo for output, such as in the Print module for prints, or in the Export dialog when you are exporting a photo to share in a particular way. However, the sharpening options are a bit limited. You can specify whether you are printing to matte or glossy paper versus sharing digitally. In addition, you can specify whether you want “Low”, “Standard”, or “High” sharpening applied. In addition, Lightroom Classic does not provide a preview of the actual sharpening effect, so it can take a bit of trial and error to find the right settings for a give image.

In Photoshop you are able to select from several different sharpening tools or filters. I typically use the Smart Sharpen filter, though in some cases I use the Unsharp Mask filter. In either case, you have considerable control over the actual sharpening applied to your photos. You can also preview the effect for the sharpening in Photoshop, which can be very helpful in terms of getting to the right settings more quickly.

To be sure, evaluating the sharpening effect in Photoshop can be a bit tricky when you will be printing the image you’re working with. For digital sharing, the photo will appear to viewers in the same way it appears to you, so it is relatively easy to achieve good sharpening settings. When you are printing a photo, you need to anticipate what the final result will look like based on the behavior of the specific paper and ink being used for the print.

With experience and practice you can get to the point where you are able to anticipate the right sharpening settings based on a preview in Photoshop. That can take a bit of time, but once you have a sense of what the preview should look like to achieve a print you’re happy with, you can sharpen more efficiently and with greater control using Photoshop rather than Lightroom Classic.

Today’s Question: You recently answered a question about switching to Adobe Bridge from Lightroom [Classic]. Do you think Bridge is the best alternative if one were to stop using Lightroom?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, personally I would not choose Adobe Bridge as an alternative to Lightroom Classic, in large part because I’ve experienced consistent frustrations with performance in Adobe Bridge. I would instead consider one of the other alternative options if I wanted to stop using Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: I should clarify right from the start that I am happy with Lightroom Classic as the foundation of my workflow for organizing and optimizing my photos. While many photographers have struggled with using the catalog in Lightroom Classic, I find the catalog to be advantageous for organizing and locating my photos.

In particular, the catalog in Lightroom Classic makes it easier to manage and locate photos across a large number of folders. When I’ve used Adobe Bridge for teaching or to manage photos or videos not being managed by Lightroom Classic, I’ve frankly been a bit frustrated with the experience in terms of overall performance.

If I needed to stop using Lightroom Classic for any reason, assuming the software landscape were the same that it is today, I would probably consider these three options as the most likely to replace Lightroom Classic for my needs:

ON1 Photo RAW 2020: http://timgrey.me/on1raw

Skylum Luminar 4: http://timgrey.me/luminar4

Capture One 20 Pro: http://timgrey.me/captureone

But again, I personally consider Lightroom Classic to be one of the top software applications available for organizing and optimizing my photos, and don’t anticipate switching to any other solution anytime soon.

Today’s Question: While following your instructions about the before and after view options in Lightroom Classic, I noticed the Reference View button next to the before and after button. What is the difference between these view options, and do you recommend using Reference View?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The Reference View in Lightroom Classic enables you to apply adjustments to one image while simultaneously viewing another image alongside the image you’re working on. This can be helpful when you want to make an image appear similar to another photo, for example.

More Detail: The Reference View option is similar to the Before/After view option, except that with Reference View you are comparing the current image to a different image, rather than seeing the current image without adjustments applied to it.

Reference View is helpful when you want to adjust an image to make it look similar to another image, or you otherwise simply want to be able to reference a different photo while applying adjustments to an image.

To get started click the Reference View button on the toolbar below the image preview area in the Develop module. This is the button that has an “R” and an “A” on it, for “Reference” and “Active”. You can cycle between a Reference View with the two images side-by-side, or above and below each other.

Initially there won’t be a reference photo, so you will see an indication that you can drag-and-drop a photo into the Reference area in order to use that image as a reference. As you apply adjustments, only the Active photo will be updated, with the Reference photo remaining unchanged. In other words, the Reference photo is truly there just to refer to while applying adjustments to the Active photo.

You can change the current Reference photo by simply dragging a different photo into the Reference area. Note that if you switch out of the Develop module, by default the Reference photo will be removed, so that the Reference area is empty next time you return to the Develop module. You can prevent this “reset” by toggling the lock icon to appear locked to the right of the Reference Photo. Simply click on the icon of the lock to switch between having the current Reference photo locked versus unlocked. This lock feature only relates to whether the Reference photo will reset when you switch out of the Develop module.

Today’s Question: How do I toggle between a before and after rendition of a photo to which I have applied adjustments in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can quickly toggle between a “before” and “after” view in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic by pressing the backslash key (\). In addition, there are several other options for comparing an image with versus without the adjustments applied to it.

More Detail: Unfortunately, you do need to be in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic in order to switch between “before” and “after” views. However, there are a variety of ways you can evaluate the adjustments applied to an image when you are viewing that image in the Develop module.

As noted above, you can toggle between a full “before” versus “after” view of the image by pressing the backslash key (\) on the keyboard. In addition, there are several other view options for evaluating adjustments.

First, you can choose among a variety of views that enable you to directly compare the “before” versus “after” version of the current image. Below the image in the Develop module you can find a toolbar (if that toolbar isn’t visible, press the “T” key on the keyboard to toggle the visibility of the toolbar). Toward the left side of the toolbar you’ll find a button with the letter “Y” (possibly twice) on it. Clicking that button will cycle the view through several comparison options.

You can also click the popup just to the right of the button to see a menu where you can select among the view options. There are a total of four views, all of which involve a “Before/After” comparison. You can either view the before and after views side by side or above and below each other. In addition, you can choose to view the full “before” and “after” view, so you are seeing the full image twice, or you can choose a split view option. With the split view option you’ll see half of the image as the “before” version, and half as the “after” version, split left-to-right or top-to-bottom depending on the option you choose.

It is worth noting that you can also toggle the visibility for individual adjustment sections in the Develop module. To the left of the heading for each section on the right panel in the Develop module (other than the Basic section) you’ll find a toggle button that looks something like a light switch. You can click that button to turn off (or on) the full section of adjustments. So, for example, you can view the image with the Tone Curve section applied or without, just by toggling that switch.

Today’s Question: I am starting to fill up my external hard drives and would like to start deleting large files that I no longer need. Is there a way to sort by size in Lightroom [Classic]?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Lightroom Classic does not provide an option to sort based on file size. However, you could filter based on file type or megapixels, which at least to some extent would help you locate large files to prioritize for possible deletion.

More Detail: When your hard drive is starting to get full, it makes perfect sense to prioritize deleting larger files, in order to clear up as much space on the drive as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Lightroom Classic doesn’t provide an option for sorting by file size.

However, there are certain file types that tend to be larger than others, and you can filter by file type in Lightroom Classic. You can filter based on file type in a couple of ways, using the Library Filter bar in the grid view display. If the Library Filter bar isn’t visible, choose View > Show Filter Bar from the menu.

The first option is to filter for videos rather than still images. On the Attribute tab of the Library Filter bar you’ll find a Kind option at the far right. To the right of the Kind label you’ll see three icons, which serve as toggles for filtering files by type. The first button is for master photos (in other words, not virtual copies). The second button is for virtual copies, and the third is for videos. So, you can click the third button to filter the current folder so you’ll only see video files.

Another option is to filter based on file type. On the Metadata tab of the Library Filter bar you can set one of the columns to “File Type”. Then select the types of files that are likely to be large. That would include video file formats as noted above, as well as TIFF and Photoshop PSD files.

In some cases it might also be helpful to filter images based on the number of megapixels, though for most photographers this probably won’t be especially helpful. But you could create a Smart Collection with a filter set so that collection only includes files over a certain number of megapixels. This would be especially helpful if you have photos that have been enlarged (such as in Photoshop), whether that means literally enlarging a single image, or creating a composite image such as a panorama.

While filtering with the options above can be helpful in locating larger file sizes, it obviously is not a replacement for actually sorting by file size. Hopefully Adobe will add this feature in a future update to Lightroom Classic.

Note, by the way, that you could also browse photos sorted by file size in your operating system. This can be a little cumbersome, and it is important to remember that changes (including deleting files) should be initiated in Lightroom Classic, not in your operating system. But at least this approach would provide a true option for sorting by file size for your photos.

Today’s Question: I got back from a trip with far too many photos shot in bracketed sets of three for HDR in my Canon 5D MkIV. Now I have to merge them in Lightroom Classic to get an HDR image. It works great but is a pain. Should I have used the in camera HDR and ended up with a JPEG? I know this is subjective, but with too many sets of three photos bracketed by two stops, dealing with them is very slow. I’m only through about a fifth of my shots, even with not creating an HDR for many of them.

Tim’s Quick Answer: I do not recommend creating in-camera HDR images, and instead suggest that you focus on streamlining the process of reviewing the bracketed photos.

More Detail: Bracketed exposures can be helpful when you’re dealing with a challenging exposure situation, or when you want to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. However, those bracketed exposures can also slow down the process of reviewing your photos.

I don’t recommend using in-camera HDR as a solution, because you’ll get better results with more flexibility by blending multiple raw captures in post-processing. In my opinion in-camera HDR should only be used as a tool for evaluating your photos at the time of capture, and only when the camera will still retain the raw captures along with the in-camera HDR image.

When it comes to reviewing bracketed exposures, I think the key is to not think about the fact that you have three times (or more) the total number of images to review compared to if you had not bracketed. In other words, some of this is a matter of perspective.

For example, with three bracketed exposures, you can generally make a decision based on one of the three exposures in a set (which often means the middle exposure value). Normally, after reviewing a photo, you could press the right arrow key to move on to the next photo. In the case of bracketed exposures, instead of tapping the right arrow key once, you simply tap it three times (or more, depending on how many images are included in your bracketed sets).

Another option might be to organize the bracketed exposures into stacks in Lightroom Classic. You can actually have Lightroom Classic automatically stack the images based on capture time, which in the case of bracketed exposures is actually likely to stack the sets of images correctly. Just note that the best overall exposure won’t necessarily be at the top of the stack, which can reduce the benefit of this approach.

To automatically stack photos based on capture time, navigate to the folder containing your bracketed exposures in Lightroom Classic. Then from the menu choose Photo > Stacking > Auto-Stack by Capture Time. Adjust the value for the Time Between Stacks slider, which in the case of bracketed exposures can be set to a relatively low value, perhaps as low as one second.

While stacks can help reduce clutter for bracketed exposures, as noted above when you stack images there’s a chance the top image in the stack won’t be the best image for evaluating the overall bracketed shot. Therefore, my preference is generally to somewhat quickly review the best exposure for each stack, skipping over the “other” exposures for each set. I then only assemble an HDR image from the bracketed exposures that I think have the best potential of producing a final image I’m happy with.

Today’s Question: How do I move photos from being managed by Lightroom [Classic] to Adobe Bridge?

Tim’s Quick Answer: To switch to Adobe Bridge for managing your photos you’ll want to first make sure there are no missing photos in your Lightroom Classic catalog, and then save metadata out to the actual source image files. Keep in mind you will most likely lose some information about your photos in this migration.

More Detail: Adobe Lightroom Classic uses a catalog to manage the information about your photos, whereas Adobe Bridge is a browser application that does not use a central catalog. You can certainly switch from using Lightroom Classic to Bridge, but some information will likely be lost along the way.

In order to maximize the amount of information about your photos that will be available in Adobe Bridge, you need to save metadata from your Lightroom Classic catalog to the source image files. First, you’ll want to make sure that no images are missing from your catalog, so the metadata can be saved.

Make sure all hard drives that are currently being used to store images are connected to your computer, and in Lightroom Classic go to the menu and choose Library > Find All Missing Photos. The goal is for Lightroom to indicate there aren’t any missing photos. Reconnect any missing folders and photos as needed, and then you can proceed to the next step.

If you already had the option enabled to automatically write metadata changes to the source image files, this next step won’t be necessary. However, I recommend going through this step regardless, just to be sure. Choose “All Photographs” from the Catalog section at the top of the left panel in the Library module. Make sure there aren’t any filters set, which you can do by choosing “None” on the Library filter bar in the grid view display. Select all images by choosing Edit > Select All from the menu. Then choose Metadata > Save Metadata to Files from the menu.

After choosing the “Save Metadata to Files” command, a status indicator will appear on the identity plate area at the far left of the top panel in Lightroom Classic. When that shows the process is complete, the metadata has been saved to the source images (which means XMP sidecar files for proprietary raw captures).

It is very important to keep in mind that if you stop using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, you will likely lose some information about your photos. That is because certain features are specific to Lightroom Classic, and can’t be saved to metadata because there aren’t any standard metadata fields to contain that information.

The information you will lose (if you’ve made use of these features) includes collections, virtual copies, pick and reject flags, and history. While you will lose the actual history of your adjustments in the Develop module, note that the adjustment settings for raw captures can be saved to metadata, and those adjustment settings will therefore apply if you later open a raw capture via Adobe Camera Raw from Adobe Bridge or Photoshop.

Today’s Question: Suppose I’m creating a fairly large print such as 20×30 and want to do a test print but not waste a full sheet of paper that large size. How can I isolate a portion of the full 20×30 and print on smaller paper to evaluate what that section of the 20×30 would look like when printed?

Tim’s Quick Answer: My recommendation is to prepare the image for the full intended output size in Adobe Photoshop, and then drag that image into a new document sized to the paper size you want to use for the test print.

More Detail: It can actually be a little bit tricky to create a print that represents a portion of a larger print, with that portion being printed at the same size as it would appear in the full print. You need to be careful not to resize the image (or portion of the image) to a different size.

One of the easiest approaches to this task in my view involves Adobe Photoshop. Start by preparing the image for the final output, such as by creating a copy of the image, flattening the image, resizing to the intended print size (including the desired pixel-per-inch resolution), and applying sharpening for the final print. This image will be the basis of a final print at the full size, but of course as long as you keep this image open you can always go back in history to refine the sharpening. You could also use a Smart Filter for this purpose.

Next, create a new document by choosing File > New from the menu. Change the unit of measure for Width and Height to the preferred setting (such as Inches) using the popup to the right of each of those fields. Set the Resolution value to the same setting used when preparing the full-sized image for print. Then set the Width and Height values based on the size of the portion of the image you want to print for your test print. This could be, for example, the dimensions of the paper size you’ll use for the test print. Keep in mind, of course, that the printable area may prevent the image from actually printing to the edge of the paper, depending on your configuration.

You can then drag the full-size image into the test print document. You can view the images side-by-side by choosing Window > Arrange > Tile All Vertically from the menu. Then select the tab for the full-size image, and drag the thumbnail for the image on the Layers panel into the actual document area for the new document you created. You can then select the Move tool from the top of the toolbar (or by pressing “V” on the keyboard) and drag the full-size image around within the new document you created, to determine which portion of the image will actually be printed.

You can then print the new document to test the results for a portion of the image printed at full scale in terms of how it will appear in the final print. You can of course make changes to the source image as needed before committing to a complete print of the full-sized image.

Today’s Question: So many HDR [high dynamic range] shots I’ve seen have a kind of phony look. You can tell a mile away that it’s HDR. Is there any additional post-processing, maybe in Adobe Camera Raw, to dial back some of that phoniness that creeps in, for a more natural look overall?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, the best way to avoid an “HDR look” for an image is to ensure the color saturation isn’t too high, and that there is relatively strong contrast in the final image.

More Detail: The somewhat artificial look that is the trademark of what many photographers consider to be a “bad” look for HDR images generally relates to saturation and contrast.

Part of the saturation is a byproduct of more tonal values in the image falling into the middle tone range than would normally be the case. When colors are very bright or very dark, they won’t have as much of a saturated color appearance. Of course, it seems rather common that photographers get a bit carried away when applying a saturation adjustment to an HDR image. Keeping the saturation somewhat modest can help avoid an “HDR look”.

Perhaps more important is to ensure adequate contrast in the final image. One of the key benefits of HDR techniques is that you are able to retain much more detail in the photo that would have been possible with a single exposure. That means that in bright highlights and dark shadows, significant detail is visible.

When so much detail is visible, the image takes on a somewhat flatter appearance, which can be another telltale sign that the photo is an HDR image. While your goal may be to retain good detail throughout the photo, it can be helpful to ensure there is a bit of contrast in the final result. In particular, I recommend darkening the shadows to create a more realistic balance of contrast for the image. You don’t need to darken the shadows so much that you lose detail and texture in those areas, but rather just to tone down the shadows and create a more “realistic” appearance for the final image.

While it is obviously possible to reduce saturation and increase contrast after creating the HDR image, you can also apply these adjustments at the time you are assembling the HDR image with the software you’re using for that purpose. I generally prefer to get most of the work of optimizing the HDR image done using the actual software being used to assemble the HDR image. I happen to use Aurora HDR for most of my processing of HDR images, but there are of course other solutions available. You can learn more about Aurora HDR here:

https://timgrey.me/aurora

Today’s Question: If in Lightroom Classic I send an image to ‘Edit in Photoshop’, then edit and ‘Save’, the edited image lands nicely in the same located from which I sent the original. If, however, I send two images from Lightroom to Photoshop, layer them into a single image, and edit, I get no ‘Save’ option, but must ‘Save As’. How do I get the finished image to save to the location of one of the original images in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this case the solution is to use the “Open as Layers in Photoshop” command rather than the “Edit in Photoshop” command. That will create the layered document for you, which will then save in the manner you are accustomed to when sending a single image to Photoshop.

More Detail: When you send an image from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, it is best to simply use the “Save” command (not “Save As”) to save the resulting derivative image file, to help ensure that image is correctly included in your Lightroom Classic catalog. To address the issue of creating a composite image with photos being managed in Lightroom Classic, it is best to use the “Open as Layers in Photoshop” command, which is intended for this purpose.

The first step is to select the images in Lightroom Classic that you want to assemble into a layered document in Photoshop. Note that the first image you select will be the default for the filename of the final layered document. After selecting multiple images in Lightroom Classic, you can also click on the thumbnail for the image you want to be used for the filename of the composite image. By default, the word “Edit” will be appended to that filename, but you can change this setting in Preferences.

Next, go to the menu bar and choose Photo > Edit In > Open as Layers in Photoshop. The selected images will then be loaded into Photoshop in a single document, with each image on a separate layer on the Layers panel. Each image will have a layer name matching its filename. You can then add layer masks or otherwise modify the layered document. When you’re all done, choose File > Save followed by File > Close from the menu, and the finished result can be found alongside the selected original image in your Lightroom Classic catalog.