Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: What do you think about offsite cloud storage for backing up the laptop computer with home back up drive?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I think a cloud-based backup solution can be a very good supplemental backup solution, with a few caveats. Good options include Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/cloudbackup) and Carbonite (https://www.carbonite.com), among other options.

More Detail: Among the key aspects of a good workflow strategy is that you retain multiple copies of your important data (such as photos), and that you store a backup at a separate physical location from your original data. An online (cloud-based) backup solution can help meet both of these goals.

Of course, an online backup solution isn’t without its challenges. To begin with, you don’t have any control over the storage being managed by the company providing the online backup service. In most cases you won’t even have any idea where the computers storing your online backup are actually located.

In addition, by its nature an online backup solution requires an Internet connection for your ongoing backup updates. As you add or update files, the backup will update via your Internet connection. Thus, if you add or update files (especially large files) on a regular basis, the actual backup update can take considerable time if you don’t have a fast Internet connection.

It is also worth noting that while many online backup services offer unlimited backup data storage, in some cases when you reach a certainly threshold your connection (and therefore your backup) may slow considerably. If the delay in backing up your latest data is significant, you could find that you are missing recent files in the event you need to recover from an online backup.

For these (and other) reasons, I recommend only using an online backup as a supplement to a complete backup solution. In other words, I recommend having at least two full backups of your data (plus the source data that is being backed up), in addition to any online backup you choose to make use of. I also recommend storing at least one of your backup copies at a separate physical location from the source data, even if you’ll use an online backup solution.

Ultimately, that means an online backup solution would provide a non-critical backup that serves to provide additional peace of mind at a relatively modest price. But I would never recommend using an online backup service as your only backup solution.

Today’s Question: You talked about how you could figure out where lens flare would be positioned in a photo [in a recent Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter]. But how can I avoid lens flare altogether?

Tim’s Quick Answer: To avoid lens flare you need to ensure that the source of light causing the flare (such as the sun) is positioned behind the front lens element, or outside of the field of view of a lens shade. It is also possible to avoid (or minimize) lens flare by creating a composite image.

More Detail: Lens flare is caused by having a bright light source reflecting back and forth among the lens elements in a lens. A common cause of lens flare that is difficult to avoid, for example, would be having the sun in the frame of a photo.

You can mitigate the appearance of lens flare by changing your position, as noted in a previous Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter. Changing the zoom setting and lens aperture setting can also alter the lens flare, helping to minimize the adverse impact of the flare.

The best way to ensure there is not any lens flare in your photo is to ensure that any bright light source is behind a line parallel with the front lens element. In other words, having the sun more or less behind your position as the photographer. In addition, with the use of a lens hood, you can ensure the light source is outside the field of view of that lens hood, so that the hood effectively shades the front of the lens relative to the position of the light source.

Obviously either of the above approaches don’t provide ideal solution when then intent is to include the light source in the frame. In those cases you could create a composite image to minimize (or eliminate) lens flare in a photo, while still including the sun in the frame.

The approach involves first capturing the scene as you normally would, with lens flare included in the photo. Then capture a second capture of the same scene (ideally using a tripod to ensure the framing of both photos is a perfect match). For this second capture, use some object (such as a finger) to block the sun. This photo will not include any (or much) lens flare.

You can later combine the two photos into a composite, replacing the areas where lens flare is visible with the same areas from your second photo. This approach can alter the overall appearance of the image when there is scattered backlighting, for example, but does provide an effective means of minimizing lens flare in a photo.

Today’s Question: When I switch between the two presentations [parametric and point curve] for the Tone Curve in Lightroom at the bottom left is the title “Point Curve”. Should the title change to parametric when I am in the parametric mode or does it constantly stay as Point Curve? When I get the four sliders at the bottom, is that the parametric curve function or am I still in point control?

Tim’s Quick Answer: When you see the four sliders below the Tone Curve, you are in parametric mode. When you don’t see those sliders you are in point curve mode. These two options simply provide different ways to interact with the Tone Curve adjustment.

More Detail: The curve is always defined by points “behind the scenes”. In other words, the shape you’re defining is a series of Bezier curves, which require points to define the various changes in the shape of a curve. For example, an “S” curve can be defined by two points in addition to the end points. A simple arc could be defined with one extra point (in addition to the end points).

So, in a sense, you are always working with a “point curve”. And you always have the preset curve shapes available from the Point Curve popup regardless of which mode you’re currently working in.

The only difference between working in point curve versus parametric mode is how you interact with the curve. In point curve mode you are actually adding or moving anchor points directly on the curve. In parametric mode you are instead working with sliders (Highlights, Lights, Darks, and Shadows). Note, by the way, that you can still use the curve directly to adjust the slider values (by clicking and dragging directly on the curve), but you aren’t able to actually add or move anchor points directly in this mode. The sliders are simply intended to make it easier to manipulate the shape of the curve to achieve the desired effect in the photo.

Ultimately you are always refining the shape of the curve in order to change the appearance of the photo. The only question is how you are interacting with the curve. You can use the more simplified approach of using four sliders, or you can create and adjust multiple anchor points directly on the curve. The former is simpler, and the latter provides more control.

Today’s Question: With many other ways for a photographer to represent their work online, do you think it is important for photographers to have an actual website? Or would just social media pages or other outlets suffice?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While having a website is certainly less important than it might previously have been, I still think a website in some form can be useful to serve as a virtual business card for the photographer interested in promoting their photographic work. A very simple solution would be to use a platform such as Wix (https://timgrey.me/wix).

More Detail: The whole concept of a website has changed a bit, I think. What I mean by that is that many photographers can simply use a Facebook page or Instagram account as the foundation of promoting their photography. However, I do think there is value in having a central information point that is easy to point others to. A custom website address provides a good solution, in my view.

Many photographers simply use a Facebook page as a replacement for a website. And Instagram provides a platform for sharing your photography. For example, you can find (and like) my Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/timgreyphoto

But if someone doesn’t use Facebook, I can redirect them to my Instagram feed, suggesting they follow me at @timgreyphoto. But if they aren’t an Instagram user, then what?

That’s why I think a single “landing page” with links to all of your applicable pages and content makes the most sense. This provides a simple and universal way to direct people to information about you and how to contact you.

For example, I maintain a simple website at http://www.timgreyphoto.com that exists simply to provide a central repository for the various information about me and ways to follow or contact me.

Having your own website doesn’t mean you need to hire a website developer or go to a lot of trouble. There are many platforms that enable you to create a customized website complete with your own custom website address. A couple good options for this type of site include Wix (https://timgrey.me/wix) and SquareSpace (https://www.squarespace.com).

Today’s Question: What happened to the “Classic” Presets in Lightroom Classic 7.5 [for the Develop module]? There used to be a pretty extensive list of so-called “Classic” presets that included the AI-based Auto Toning feature that evaluated each image and applied auto toning.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The “Classic” presets have been hidden but are still available. You can right-click within the Presets area of the left panel and choose “Manage Presets” to bring up a dialog that enables you to choose which presets to display.

More Detail: The presets in the Develop module were re-organized with a recent update to Lightroom. This caused some third-party presets to be lost, requiring that they be re-installed. It also caused some of the categories of presets to disappear, but they are still available.

To modify the list of presets, start by right-clicking in an empty area within the list of presets on the left panel in the Develop module. On the popup menu that appears, choose the “Manage Presets” command. This will bring up the Manage Presets dialog, which lists the categories of presets available.

In this case you’ll notice the checkboxes for the preset categories beginning with “Classic” are turned off. You can turn on the checkbox for any of those categories that you’d like to still have available on the Presets list. Then click the Save button to close the Manage Presets dialog, and the Presets section will now reflect the selected categories of presets.

Today’s Question: I use Lightroom Classic CC. When editing I save the edits to an XMP sidecar file. My understanding is these edits are also recorded in the catalog, so why do I need an extra XMP file on my disk which also slows down Lightroom? Will other programs use the XMP file should I ever drop Lightroom and use another program? Are they used for another purpose?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you save metadata for your raw captures to XMP sidecar files (or directly to the file for other image formats), standard metadata such as keywords and star ratings will be included. That metadata can be accessed by other software applications. In addition, adjustment settings from the Develop module are included, which could also be used by Adobe Camera Raw (via Photoshop and Bridge).

More Detail: By default, the various updates you apply to your photos within Lightroom Classic CC are only saved to the Lightroom catalog, not to the actual image files. If you manually save metadata to images (via the Metadata > Save Metadata to File command) or enable the option to have this information saved automatically (via the Catalog Settings dialog), Lightroom will save updates to the image files themselves in addition to being written to the catalog.

For standard image file formats (and Adobe DNG files), these metadata updates would be saved into the file itself. For proprietary raw captures the information would instead be written to an XMP sidecar file alongside the raw capture.

One of the reasons I prefer to enable the automatic saving of this metadata to the source image files is to provide a backup for the key information that would otherwise only be contained in the Lightroom catalog. Lightroom-specific features such as pick/reject flags and collections are not included in this capability, which makes those features dependent upon the Lightroom catalog. But I prefer to have this partial backup for my most important metadata updates.

The Develop settings that are saved along with the standard metadata are specific to Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw. Therefore, while other applications can access the standard metadata values saved out to the image files, adjustments you’ve applied would require Lightroom or Camera Raw.

So if you switched to a non-Adobe software solution, the standard metadata saved to your image files would be accessible, while the Develop adjustment settings would not be available.

Today’s Question: I’ve learned that if I don’t like where lens flare appears in a photo, I can move my position and the flare moves too. This enables me to put the flare into a better position, such as not being in front of my subject. But I have to move several times taking pictures in different positions before I get a good result. Is there any way to determine where the flare will actually appear in a photo?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can preview where the flare will appear in a photo by enabling the depth of field preview option while using the Live View display on your camera’s LCD display to view the scene. It is also possible to simply use the viewfinder in conjunction with the depth of field preview option, but this could risk eye damage if a very bright light source (such as the sun) is the cause of the lens flare.

More Detail: I recommend using the Live View mode when you need to refine the position from which you are capturing a photo based on lens flare. This will provide a preview of the actual effect you can expect to capture, without putting your eyes at risk of damage if it is the sun within the frame causing the lens flare.

The key is to ensure the lens aperture is stopped down to the setting you will use for the actual capture. With an SLR, for example, the lens aperture remains fully open until you capture a photo (or enable the depth of field preview). Since lens flare is impacted by the aperture setting, you want to have the aperture stopped down when previewing the scene.

So, simply enable the Live View display, then enable the depth of field preview. You will then be able to see a preview of the lens flare (and the overall composition) on the camera’s LCD display. Adjust the camera’s position until you’re happy with the flare effect, and capture your photo.

Today’s Question: I obviously understand the zoom feature of lenses. But I don’t understand what is meant by the zoom setting for a flash. How do you “zoom” the light of a flash?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The zoom setting on a flash enables you to narrow (or widen) the coverage area of the light from the flash to better match the field of view of the lens based on the focal length.

More Detail: To make the best use of the light emitted by a flash unit, you want it to cover the full area of the subject or scene you are photographing. If the light from the flash covers too small an area, you will obviously not have even lighting within the scene you are photographing. If the flash covers too large an area, you are wasting the light that falls outside the scene you are photographing.

Many flashes have a zoom setting, so you can adjust the coverage area of the flash based on the field of view of the lens focal length you are using. In fact, some flashes include an automatic zoom setting, where the flash coverage area is adjusted automatically based on the focal length of the lens currently in use.

Note that you may need to compensate for the cropping factor of your image sensor if you are using a camera with a sensor smaller than full-frame. In other words, with a camera that does not have a full-frame sensor you may need to set the flash to the effective focal length based on sensor size, rather than the actual focal length of the lens itself. For example, on a camera with an APS-C sensor a 50mm lens would have the field of view of an 80mm lens, and you may need to set the flash accordingly.

Today’s Question: Do you do all of your cropping in the camera? Or on the computer?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I generally crop in the camera in an effort to ensure I’m always capturing an image that is as close as possible to my intended final result. However, in many cases I will actually choose to intentionally shoot a little wider than my final framing, to provide some flexibility in processing after the capture.

More Detail: I certainly encourage photographers to make every effort to ensure their initial capture is as close as possible to the final image in most respects. You obviously want a good exposure and proper focus, for example. Similarly, I generally recommend framing up the scene based on your aesthetic sense for the final image.

So, whenever possible, I will frame up the scene based on what I think should be the final cropping for the image. Keep in mind, by the way, that many optical viewfinders don’t provide a full view of the final framing. Using Live View (or a camera with an electronic viewfinder) provides a more accurate preview of the image you’re actually capturing in this context.

There are situations though where I will intentionally not crop as tightly as I might intend for the final photo.

Sometimes there are simply practical limitations involved. I might not have a long enough focal length lens in a situation where I can’t get as close to the subject as I’d like, and so cropping in post-processing might be the only viable option for getting the framing I want.

More often, I will shoot wide to solve a particular issue with the scene. For example, when shooting architecture or wide-angle scenes, I often leave some extra space around the subject to allow for cropping after applying perspective correction.

In other cases I might know from the start that I want to exclude an area of the frame, but that doing so would require cropping to an aspect ratio other than that of the image sensor in my camera. In this type of situation I would be capturing an image that I know I will be cropping in post-processing, because I’m not able to achieve the precise crop I want in the camera.

The key is to be mindful about the decisions you’re making related to your initial capture. I encourage capturing photos that are as close as possible to what you envision for the final image, while at the same time making sure you aren’t creating problems later in your workflow by cropping to tightly in the camera.

Today’s Question: I just saw an article that said raising the ISO setting does not actually increase noise in a photo, but instead shorter exposure durations cause noise. This doesn’t match what I’ve always read. What are your thoughts?

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is mostly true that raising the ISO setting isn’t the true cause of noise in a digital camera. However, it is important to keep in mind that the article in question specifically related to astrophotography. For more terrestrial forms of photography, it is still generally safe to assume that a lower ISO setting will translate to reduced noise levels.

More Detail: As I’ve said many times, noise is the opposite of information, and in the context of photography light is the information we’re dealing with. Thus, less light will translate into more noise. This is the foundation of the “expose to the right” principle, which calls for capturing photos that are as bright as possible without losing highlight detail in order to maximize detail and minimize noise.

However, this does not mean that you should use a high ISO setting to minimize noise. Quite the contrary for most photographic scenarios.

Raising the ISO setting will require that you either use a faster shutter speed or a smaller lens aperture opening in order to reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor. The amplification triggered by the increased ISO setting will then compensate for the exposure.

However, raising the ISO setting really translates into (potentially dramatically) underexposing the image, and then amplifying the capture information in the camera. The underexposure is indeed the key cause of noise, but that underexposure was caused by a higher ISO setting. So the two are related.

Furthermore, this issue is more nuanced than the article suggested, because there is a big difference between underexposing with versus without an increase in ISO. If you use the exact same shutter speed and aperture settings at a low versus high ISO setting, you will see more noise (and less detail) in the capture with the low ISO setting. This is an indication that the camera is able to do a better job of brightening the image (through amplification of the signal) than our computers are able to do by simply brightening pixel values.

But again, more light will help ensure the lowest noise levels. Thus, you generally want as much light to reach the sensor in the camera as possible. That, in turn, means keeping the ISO setting at the minimum setting, so that you will use a larger lens aperture and/or a longer exposure duration to compensate. That results in more light, and therefore less noise.

So for most photographic scenarios, it still holds true with most cameras that you want to use the lowest ISO setting.

The reason a different approach to ISO makes sense with astrophotography is that you generally don’t have any flexibility when it comes to shutter speed and lens aperture. You may be shooting with the lens aperture wide open, and the shutter speed at the longest exposure duration possible without introducing star trails. If you need more signal, your only option is to increase the ISO setting. As noted above, a higher ISO setting is generally preferable to a low setting when all other factors (shutter speed and lens aperture) are fixed.