Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I am using Lightroom Classic. I have a Windows laptop and a Windows desktop. I load new photos to the laptop, and sync to the desktop once a while to keep all photos. How can I use both computers at the same time, without having to sync them every time I finished using one?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you want to be able to work with Lightroom Classic on two (or more) computers, I highly recommend keeping both your catalog and your photos on an external hard drive.

More Detail: While there are various approaches you could use to work with the same Lightroom Classic catalog on more than one computer, in my view the best approach is to keep the catalog and photos on an external hard drive.

Lightroom Classic does not support storing the catalog on a network. It is technically possible to use a cloud-based storage service such as Dropbox for the catalog, but I do not recommend this approach due to the risk of the catalog getting out of sync.

By keeping your Lightroom Classic catalog on the same external hard drive as your photos, you can very easily switch between computers by moving the hard drive to the computer you want to use. You can then open the Lightroom Classic catalog directly from the external hard drive on the computer you are currently working from.

You’ll just need to make sure that the drive letter (for Windows) or volume label (for Macintosh) assigned to the external hard drive is the same on both computers, so that the path to your photos will remain the same as well.

You can copy the entire folder containing your Lightroom Classic catalog to the external hard drive that contains your photos, and then open that catalog directly from either computer.

Today’s Question: When you say, “In addition, you’ll want to ensure that the monitor display is properly calibrated…”, I assume you mean on your own monitor, since you may not have control over the receiving monitor? I guess having the embedded color profile and having your own monitor calibrated will be sufficient to control the display on the possibly uncalibrated receiving monitor, right?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No. If you are sending an image to someone with an uncalibrated display, the appearance of the image will be somewhat unpredictable. But embedding the sRGB color profile will help increase the chances of relatively accurate color for the image.

More Detail: Most digital monitor displays are reasonably accurate in terms of color, and to some extent accurate in terms of brightness, even if they are not calibrated. However, if the display is not calibrated the appearance of the image will be much less predictable and may be rather inaccurate.

The ideal solution would be to convince anyone you are sending an image to that they should obtain and use a display calibration tool, such as the Calibrite ColorChecker Display (https://timgrey.me/calibrite) that I recommend. Odds are, however, that a non-photographer is not likely to calibrate their display.

Most monitor displays tend to have behavior that is relatively close to the sRGB color profile. This is the primary reason I recommend using sRGB as the color profile you embed in images that will be shared on a digital display such as a monitor or projector.

With this approach, if the software being used to display the image supports color management, the color will be reasonably accurate even if the display is not calibrated. If color management is not being used there is a higher risk of an inaccurate image display, but in this type of context there isn’t much you can do to improve the accuracy of the image, since you don’t have any way of knowing the behavior of the specific display configuration being used by the recipient of the image.

Today’s Question: Some newer laptops are coming with only Micro SD card readers/slots. I think most of these Micro SD readers/slots can store up to 1 TB. If faced with space constraints on the internal hard drive, would you consider storing photos on a Micro SD card? Would Lightroom Classic performance be limited or different if the photos were on a Micro SD card versus an external drive?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While MicroSD (or other flash-based memory cards) can offer about the same performance and reliability of typical external hard drives, I would tend to not use a memory card for primary storage simply because I consider it far too easy to lose one of these very small cards.

More Detail: Flash-based memory cards, including MicroSD and other formats, have much in common with SSD drives in terms of performance and reliability. As a result, I am perfectly comfortable with the general notion of storing data on a flash-based memory card. For example, I’m don’t worry very much about using media cards in my camera to capture photos.

However, for more permanent storage I prefer to use external hard drives rather than media cards, simply because I’m more worried about losing a media card because it is so small. That said, if you are comfortable with the issue of keeping the memory card physically safe, and as long as you buy a high-quality memory card, you can store data very reliably on these cards.

My personal tendency would be to use memory cards in this scenario as a backup for primary storage, or to use the cards for temporary storage needs. For example, I would be perfectly comfortable using memory cards for transferring data between computers, or as an additional cache storage, such as adding such a card as a scratch disk in Photoshop.

As always, regardless of what type of storage device you’re using to store your photos and other important data, I highly recommend maintaining a good backup workflow. For example, I use GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup) to locally back up my storage devices, and Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup) to create an additional cloud-based offsite backup.

Today’s Question: A question about the answer regarding where to store Lightroom Classic catalog. Can one keep the catalog on the internal drive but have a copy on the external where the photos are stored too—not working in the one with the photos on the external but just storing a copy there?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can keep an additional backup copy of your Lightroom Classic catalog anywhere you’d like. Just be sure not to accidentally open a backup catalog in place of your master catalog.

More Detail: Since the Lightroom Classic catalog contains considerable information about your photos, including metadata updates, adjustments, and more, you naturally want to make sure you keep your catalog safe. That means, among other things, making sure you maintain a good backup copy of the catalog.

I do recommend using the built-in catalog backup feature in Lightroom Classic to create backup copies, in part because it includes options to check the catalog integrity and to optimize the catalog to improve performance. But regardless of how you are backing up your catalog, you can store that backup anywhere you’d like.

First and foremost, of course, you want to store the catalog backup on a hard drive other than the drive the catalog is on. That is so that if the hard drive fails you don’t lose both the master catalog and backup copies. So, if the catalog is on the internal hard drive, backing up to an external hard drive makes perfect sense.

You can also copy the catalog to a cloud-based storage solution, such as Dropbox, or by using an online backup service such as Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup), which is what I use and recommend for a cloud-based backup solution.

Today’s Question: I have experienced that a photo I see on my computer does not transfer the same (in terms of color) when I send it to a friend. I will export the photo to my desktop and then send as an attachment. I view the attachment and it doesn’t have the same rich color. I’m not sure if they are getting what I thought I was sending. Is this typical? What happens when I send to a print company?

Tim’s Quick Answer: This problem suggests a breakdown of a color-managed workflow. You need to make sure the display is calibrated and that you are using software the supports color management.

More Detail: If an image looks good in one software application (such as Lightroom Classic) but then doesn’t look good when viewed with other software, that suggests that either you did not include a profile in the exported image or that you are using software that doesn’t support color management.

First, you’ll want to make sure that a color profile is embedded in the image. That profile contains information on how the color values in the image should be interpreted. I realize this may seem unnecessary, as it would be reasonable to assume that a color would be defined universally. However, a color profile is indeed required because the same color appearance can be defined in different ways depending on the color space being used.

In Lightroom Classic you can select a profile from the Color Space popup in the File Settings section of the Export dialog. For on-screen display I recommend using sRGB for the color space.

Second, you need to make sure the software being used supports color management, meaning the software will actually use the embedded profile to interpret the colors in the image correctly. Most web browsers support color management, but in some cases that support may be disabled by default. It is worth confirming that the software being used to view the image actually supports color management.

In addition, you’ll want to ensure that the monitor display is properly calibrated so that colors and tonal values will be presented as accurately as possible. I recommend the Calibrite ColorChecker Display package for this purpose, and you can learn more about the ColorChecker Display here:

https://timgrey.me/displaycal

Note that in the context of sending a photo to a printer, the same basic concepts would still apply. The key difference in that context is that I recommend checking with the printer to find out the specific profile they recommend embedding in the image for optimal results.

Today’s Question: Once I’ve merged several catalogs into a single master catalog in Lightroom Classic, how to I make sure that Lightroom Classic will only use the new catalog, not one of the previous catalogs from before merging?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can “lock in” a single master catalog by setting that catalog as the Default Catalog for Lightroom Classic in the Preferences dialog.

More Detail: I highly recommend using a single catalog to manage all photos in Lightroom Classic, rather than dividing photos up among two or more catalogs. I also strongly recommend setting Lightroom Classic to always open that master catalog by default, to avoid any confusion in the event you needed to open another catalog for testing, for example.

To set a default catalog, first open the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic. To bring up the Preferences dialog on Windows you can choose Edit > Preferences and on Macintosh you can choose Lightroom Classic > Preferences. Go to the General tab, and click the popup labeled “When starting up use this catalog” in the Default Catalog section of the General tab.

You’ll find the current catalog on that popup, along with any other recently opened catalogs. Choose the catalog that is your master catalog, and then close the Preferences dialog. From that point forward whenever you launch Lightroom Classic it will open the catalog you had specified, helping to ensure you don’t accidentally work with a different or backup catalog.

Today’s Question: I have two hard drives, one with the Lightroom Classic catalog and the other with the photo files. I want to move the catalog and the files to a new (smaller/faster) SSD drive. Any suggestions? Many thanks!!!

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this scenario I suggest using the “Export as Catalog” command in Lightroom Classic, which will create a new catalog and copy photos so that everything is consolidated on the single drive.

More Detail: There are a variety of approaches you could use to moving your Lightroom Classic catalog and photos to a new hard drive. You could, for example, move the catalog files and photos manually, and then set the new hard drive to match what Lightroom Classic is expecting for your photos, meaning giving the new hard drive the same drive letter (Windows) or volume label name (Macintosh) as the hard drive you had been using previously.

If it isn’t possible for any reason to use the same drive letter or volume label name for the new hard drive as had been used for the previous drive, you could also reconnect the missing photos within Lightroom Classic after having copied the catalog and photos to the new hard drive.

However, in this type of scenario it can be easier to simply use the “Export as Catalog” command, which will create a new copy of your catalog while also enabling you to copy the photos, with both going to the new hard drive.

To get started, open your existing catalog in Lightroom Classic. Navigate to the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section at the top of the left panel in the Library module. Then go to the menu and choose Edit > Select None so that no photos are actually selected. This will ensure that all photos will be exported as part of this process.

You can then go to the menu and choose File > Export as Catalog. Navigate to the new hard drive location where you want to store the catalog and photos, and make sure that the “Export negative files” checkbox is turned on. You can create a new folder on the new hard drive if you prefer. I also suggest keeping the “Include available previews” checkbox so that existing previews for your photos will be retained and won’t need to be rebuilt for the new catalog.

With the settings established for the export, click the Export Catalog button. A new catalog will be created in the destination you specified, and all photos will be copied with the same folder structure as you have currently in the existing catalog. Once all files have been copied you can open the catalog from the new location and start using that as your primary catalog from that point forward.

Today’s Question: Is it possible to change the name of a drive within Lightroom Classic on a Mac?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you aren’t able to rename a hard drive (or change the drive letter assignment on Windows) from within Lightroom Classic. You would need to make that change through the operating system, and then reconnect the folders that go missing in Lightroom Classic as a result of the change.

More Detail: A hard drive has a specific unique identifier that you can think of as an address of sorts for the drive. On Windows that identifier is a letter, with the primary internal hard drive typically being designated as the C: drive, and other hard drives having other letters of the alphabet. On Macintosh the identifier is a volume label, which is a name for the drive. The default name for the primary internal hard drive is “Macintosh HD”, and other hard drives can essentially be given any name you’d like.

Lightroom Classic uses the drive identifier along with the folder structure to keep track of where your photos can be located. If you make changes to the folder structure outside of Lightroom Classic, the photos within that folder structure will appear missing. Therefore, it is important to make any changes to the folder structure from within Lightroom Classic, which will update both the catalog and the actual storage structure on your hard drive.

However, it is not possible to change a hard drive assignment (drive letter or volume label) directly through Lightroom Classic. Therefore, that will need to be done through your operating system. Macintosh users can change a hard drive volume label by simply right-clicking on the hard drive through the operating system and choosing the Rename option. Windows users can change a drive letter assignment using the Disk Management utility.

If you change the drive letter assignment through the operating system, Lightroom Classic will no longer be able to find folders and photos on the hard drive. You will therefore need to reconnect the folders that have gone missing. When you reconnect one of those folders, Lightroom Classic should recursively reconnect all the other folders, though I have seen this fail from time to time.

In most cases the process of changing a hard drive assignment and reconnecting the folders in Lightroom Classic is rather straightforward. However, it is possible that you’ll need to reconnect multiple folders, so I only suggest going through this process if there is a clear benefit to you.

Today’s Question: Is it OK to store my [Lightroom Classic] catalog in the same master folder as my library of images? Are there any downsides to doing this? I backup changes to the master folder daily to the cloud and to a local external drive.

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is indeed perfectly fine to store your Lightroom Classic catalog in the same storage location as your photos. The only potential drawback is that if the catalog is on an external hard drive performance may be degraded to some extent in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: By default, the Lightroom Classic catalog is stored in a folder within the Pictures folder that is part of the operating system. Many photographers, of course, store their photos on one or more external hard drives. As a result, it is quite common for the Lightroom Classic catalog to be stored in a different location and possibly on a different storage device from the photos being managed by the catalog.

It is perfectly fine to have the catalog stored separately from your photos, but it is also fine to have the catalog stored alongside the photos.

In general, I recommend storing the Lightroom Classic catalog on an internal hard drive. This generally ensures optimal performance, and it also enables you to work in Lightroom Classic without having to connect an external hard drive. For example, you can review and update metadata for photos using the catalog even if the source photos aren’t currently available, such as if the photos are on an external hard drive that is not currently connected to the computer.

If you prefer to store the catalog along with your photos, that is perfectly fine. If that means the catalog is on an external hard drive it is possible that performance will be degraded in Lightroom Classic, but this approach also provides greater workflow flexibility. That is because having the catalog and photos on an external hard drive makes it easy to switch between more than one computer by simply moving the hard drive between those computers.

Ultimately, you can store the Lightroom Classic catalog and the photos being managed in whatever local hard drive location is most convenient for you depending on your specific workflow needs.