Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: You answered a question about the 32-bit per channel option but suggested that 16-bit was the most a photographer would realistically need. But my flatbed scanner claims to have a bit depth of 48-bit. Is that just marketing hype, or is there actually some benefit to this higher bit depth?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Actually, in this case the confusion comes from how the information is being presented. A bit depth of 48-bits for the scanner is the same thing as 16-bits per channel for an RGB image.

More Detail: Bit depth can understandably be a somewhat confusing topic, especially because the numbers involved can get rather big rather quickly.

Bit depth is typically described as a number of bits per channel, such as 8-bits or 16-bits per channel. Most photographers are dealing with RGB (red, green, blue) images, which have three channels.

So, if you are able to scan at a bit depth of 16-bits per channel, that is the same as 48-bit (without “per channel” on the end of it). If you have 16 bits for the red channel, 16 bits for the blue channel, and 16 bits for the green channel, that adds up to a total of 48 bits (16+16+16=48).

Similarly, you may sometimes see a bit depth presented as 24-bit, which would indicate a bit depth of 8-bits per channel for an RGB image (8+8+8=24). The key thing to keep in mind is that if you don’t see “per channel” after the indication of bit depth then you likely need to divide the number by three to determine the actual per-channel bit depth, assuming of course that the information presented was based on an RGB image.

Today’s Question: Could you please explain how to get access to the grayed-out filters in Photoshop?

Tim’s Quick Answer: When a filter is grayed-out in Photoshop, it indicates that the filter is unavailable. That generally means the current image has settings that are not compatible with the filter, and the solution would be to update the image to ensure compatibility.

More Detail: Most of the filters in Photoshop have been updated to support most image modes. However, there are still some exceptions. Some filters will only work with photos in the 8-bit per channel mode, and some are only available for images in the RGB color space, for example.

Before making changes to the image to access certain filters, I recommend making a copy of the image so that you preserve the original with maximum information. You could, for example, choose Image > Duplicate from the menu to create an additional copy of the current image.

You can then adjust the image attributes so that the unavailable filters will become available. This will most often mean converting the image to the 8-bit per channel mode, which you can do by going to the menu and choosing Image > Mode > 8 Bits/Channel.

If the image is not in the RGB color mode, that could also cause certain filters to be unavailable. To correct this issue, go to the menu and choose Image > Mode > RGB Color.

By using one (or both) of the above options, you should find that the filters that had been grayed-out will now be available. If there are any other filters that aren’t available, you would need to check the specific compatibility. For example, third-party plug-ins may have specific requirements for the image format or may have compatibility issues with certain versions of Photoshop.

Today’s Question: I have a lot of images from the country of Oman. Unfortunately, every time I ask Lightroom Classic to search for images with the keyword Oman it also shows every image with the keyword woman. It doesn’t seem to want to believe me that I’m only searching for “Oman” and I don’t want every image with “woman”. I have never seen any solution to this.

Tim’s Quick Answer: There are actually a couple of options you could use here. One is to use the “Contains Words” option for a text search, and another is to use a quick search from the Keyword List.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic provides several methods you can use to locate photos that contain keywords. Some of these are rather broad searches, which may include unintended search results as outlined in today’s question. For example, a basic search under the Text tab of the Library Filter bar will include all photos that have the characters you enter within the Keywords field, even if those characters comprise only part of an actual keyword for some of those photos.

You can, however, search for a specific keyword without including photos that don’t include that specific keyword.

First, you could use the “Contains Words” option for the text search. First, go to the Text tab on the Library Filter bar in the grid view for the Library module. You can choose View > Show Filter Bar from the menu if the Library Filter isn’t shown. Set the first popup on the Text tab to “Keywords” and set the second popup to “Contains Words”.

With these settings established, when you type a word (or words separated by commas) into the text box, only photos that contain the specific word (or words) in the Keywords field of metadata will be included in the search results.

Another option is to use the Keyword List to locate photos that include a specific keyword. Locate the keyword you want to search for in the Keyword List on the right panel in the Library module. When you hover your mouse over a keyword on that list you’ll see a right-pointing arrow to the right of the keyword. Click that arrow, and you will be taken to a search result featuring photos that contain that specific keyword.

With either of these approaches you can locate photos that contain specific keywords, without photos that simply contain similar keywords. For example, these methods would enable you to easily locate photos that contain “Oman” as a keyword, without including photos that include “woman” as a keyword without also including “Oman”.

Today’s Question: Very interesting post [https://asktimgrey.com/2021/07/27/hard-drive-type/]. What are the warning signs for SSD failure?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, any “odd” behavior of your computer such as crashes, restarts, or errors during startup could be a warning sign. I would also say that a top warning sign of a possible SSD drive failure is if you receive an error that the drive is read-only or otherwise can’t be written to.

More Detail: In general, with computer hardware, anytime something isn’t working the way it should I would treat it as a warning sign. If the issue doesn’t seem especially severe, such as just having the computer crash or restart on you, then I might confirm that a recent backup has been updated, and just keep an eye on things. If the problem occurs again, then I would get the system tested.

For something more severe, such as a drive becoming read-only or the computer crashing during startup, I would get the hardware tested immediately. Diagnostics can often determine the nature of the problem. In some cases, it could be a software issue, which could even call for reinstalling applications or the operating system.

If the diagnostics indicate a problem, and especially a problem with an SSD drive or other flash-based storage, I strongly recommend replacing that hardware as soon as possible.

As always, a good backup strategy is critical. For an online backup solution, I recommend Backblaze, which you can learn more about here:

https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup

Today’s Question: In your answer on July 27th, you mention “flash-based SSD storage”, which you say has an almost guaranteed failure after a time. Can you clarify if ‘flash-based’ is a particular type of SSD storage? Is there another type of external SSD storage (other than flash-based) that does not have that same problem?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Flash-based storage refers to any device that employs non-volatile memory using flash memory chips. Flash-based storage includes SSD (solid state drive), the memory cards you use in your digital camera, USB-storage devices that are often referred to as “jump drives” or “thumb drives”, and more. Traditional hard drives are not flash-based storage devices, using magnetic platters and moving parts to read and write data.

More Detail: As discussed in my answer from July 27th (https://asktimgrey.com/2021/07/27/hard-drive-type/), flash-based storage will fail after a certain number of erase/write operations. Obviously, this isn’t a precise number of operations at which point a specific memory chip will fail, but rather an estimated number based on the general performance of the memory chips in use.

Most flash-based storage devices employ techniques that spread the load evenly across the memory chips on the device, along with other ways of attempting to extend the life of the storage and taking failed memory out of use without the device failing completely. Still, the overall life of flash-based storage is somewhat limited.

That said, I consider the advantages of flash-based storage, such as faster performance, less energy consumption, and more, to outweigh the drawbacks. It just means that you may want to replace your flash-based storage devices every few years or so, depending on the specific device and the degree to which you update the data on the specific storage device.

You can find some flash-based storage option examples here:

https://bhpho.to/3yeZ3sM

Today’s Question: Your recent column reminds me that I, too, need a new laptop, but prefer a PC. I use Photoshop, using the laptop for travel, not for storage of my library. Can you suggest what requirements I should look for?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you’re looking for a laptop that will be a secondary computer for traveling, the specifications aren’t especially critical. I would opt for a multi-core processor, at least 8GB (preferably 16GB) of RAM, and a graphics processor with DirectX 12 (Windows) or Metal (Macintosh) support.

More Detail: These days it is relatively easy to find a laptop that will support Photoshop, in large part because laptop performance overall has improved to the point that Photoshop will generally run without a problem. Still, it is a good idea to make sure the laptop you’re purchasing will support Photoshop.

If the laptop is running the latest Windows or Macintosh operating system and has at least 8GB of memory (RAM), you’re probably in pretty good shape. I do recommend opting for a relatively fast (above 2 GHz) processor, ideally with multiple cores (such as a quad-core processor).

Another key feature is a graphics processor (GPU) that supports DirectX 12 for Windows computers or Metal for Macintosh computers. You’ll want a minimum of 2GB of video memory (VRAM), though 4GB can make a big difference in terms of performance.

Obviously you’ll need adequate hard drive space as well, but the total size you need will depend on what you’ll install on the internal hard drive versus store on the external hard drive. If you’ll be using an external hard drive for much of your storage (such as photo storage) you can probably get by with a 500GB drive. A 1TB drive would provide some breathing room for additional applications and data. I do recommend an SSD drive, though a traditional hard drive may provide greater capacity at a lower price.

You can get more details about Adobe’s system requirements for Photoshop on the Adobe website here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/system-requirements.html

Today’s Question: When inevitably “media cards can fail” (and most likely with some valuable images contained on the SD cards that haven’t been downloaded, is there any software or technology available to salvage those images?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, there is software as well as services for recovering data from damaged media cards and other storage devices, including hard drives.

More Detail: In a previous Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter I talked about best practices with media cards and referenced the fact that flash-based media cards (such as the memory cards you use to store photos in your camera) will fail after a certain number of erase/write operations. In addition, cards can fail for a variety of other reasons.

Fortunately, there is software aimed at data recovery. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always mean that all photos can be recovered. If there was a physical fault with a media card, for example, some of the images may have been corrupted, even if the files can be recovered.

For media cards one of the software options is RescuePro, which had previously been bundled with certain SanDisk media cards. That software is now available from LC Technology, and you can get more information here:

https://lc-tech.com/sandisk-rescuepro-and-rescuepro-deluxe/

There are also data recovery services, which can recover data from a variety of damaged storage devices (or accidentally erased devices) including hard drives. For example, you can ship a damaged hard drive to such a service, and they will analyze the drive and provide you with a quote for the cost of data recovery based on what is possible. One option is Ontrack, which you can learn about here:

https://www.ontrack.com/en-us/recover-personal-files

Today’s Question: Let’s say you use the white balance eye dropper to pick a neutral color and Lightroom Classic [or Adobe Camera Raw] picks a yellow/blue setting [Temperature] as well as a Tint [green/magenta] setting, I always see videos of photographers shifting the white balance for warmer/cooler color. Does anyone shift the Tint?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, photographers certainly adjust the Tint slider to refine overall color in a photo, though doing so is generally less likely to be needed after using the White Balance eyedropper tool. In addition, the Temperature (blue/yellow) adjustment is generally more useful for purposes of a creative interpretation of the color in a photo.

More Detail: In software such as Lightroom Classic or Adobe Camera Raw, the primary tool for adjusting the overall color balance are the Temp (Temperature) and Tint sliders. The Temperature adjustment shifts the color between blue and yellow, while the Tint adjustment shifts between green and magenta.

If you use the eyedropper to select a color within the image that should appear as a perfectly neutral shade of gray, the Temp and Tint sliders will be adjusted automatically to make the area you clicked on neutral.

In some cases, you may want to adjust the color in a photo so that a gray object in the scene appears perfectly neutral gray. However, in many cases this is not the actual intended effect. For product photography, for example, you want the colors to appear accurate as though the item was photographed under perfectly white light. For landscape photography you may want the scene to maintain an appearance of being illuminated by a relatively yellow light source.

It is not very common to want to have a photo exhibit a green or magenta cast, as compared to a yellow or blue cast. Therefore, the Temp slider tends to be used more frequently for fine-tuning color in a photo rather than the Tint slider.

I still recommend refining the setting for both Temperature and Tint, to achieve an optimal color balance in the photo. And then, of course, you may want to use other adjustments such as Vibrance, Saturation, and more, to fully optimize the overall appearance of the photo.

Today’s Question: You have talked about a backup system for photos, etc. beyond external hard drives. Well, living in Montana where the wildfires are everywhere this year, I’m now getting nervous. My only backup is an external hard drive sitting right next to my computer. If we lost our house to fire, and my computer/hard drives burned, I’d lose EVERYTHING. What do you recommend for off-site photo storage backup?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup) as an excellent online backup solution that provides you with a great way to build a remote backup into your workflow.

More Detail: One of the key features of a good backup solution is a remote backup. This can take a variety of forms, but an online backup provides a very good way to add a remote backup to your workflow.

You could, of course, backup a primary hard drive to more than one backup drives and keep one of those backup drives at a different location. For example, you could keep your photos drive at the office, and bring one of your backup drives home with you. The idea is that if something happens that causes you to lose your storage at one location, the other location will (hopefully) not be affected.

One convenient approach to having a remote backup of your photos and other important data is to use an online backup. As long as you have a good Internet connection, your online backup will update to reflect new or updated files on your computer relatively quickly.

I’ve used Backblaze for an online backup and find it to be a great solution that is easy to use. In addition to providing you with a remote backup of your data, Backblaze provides unlimited data storage and easy recovery options including online download or the option to have your data shipped to you on a hard drive for an additional fee.

You can learn more about the Backblaze Personal Backup service here:

https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup

Today’s Question: You recently addressed a question related to 8-bit versus 16-bit per channel bit depth. But I notice there is also a 32-bit per channel option in Photoshop, which doesn’t seem to get talked about very much. Is there ever a reason to use 32-bit per channel?

Tim’s Quick Answer: As far as I’m concerned, the only reason to employ the 32-bit per channel bit depth option in Photoshop would be to apply adjustments to a high dynamic range (HDR) image that has not yet had tone-mapping applied to it.

More Detail: Generally speaking, I recommend working in the 16-bit per channel mode when applying adjustments to your photos. This provides the potential of more than 281 trillion possible color values, which helps ensure images will retain smooth gradations of tone and color even with very strong adjustments.

When sharing images through digital means, such as via a digital slideshow or when sharing online, you can save a copy of the image that has been prepared for that purpose, such as to reduce the overall pixel dimensions and to convert to the 8-bit per channel bit depth. This still provides more than 16.7 million possible color values, which is in line with the estimated number of color values that can be perceived by normal human vision.

The 32-bit per channel mode provides an absolutely huge number of possible tonal and color values. In fact, the number of possible color values is so large (just under eight with 28 zeroes after it) that you couldn’t display it on most calculators without using scientific notation. That’s a lot of potential color and tonal values!

The reality is that this 32-bit mode is a “specialty” mode used for high dynamic range (HDR) images. For a normal photographic image this mode would not provide any value at all. In addition, an image saved in the 32-bit per channel mode will have a file size that is twice as large as the same image in the 16-bit per channel mode.

Even if you assemble an HDR image, you won’t generally have a 32-bit per channel image as a result. That’s because the HDR image will be converted to 16-bit per channel mode for the tone-mapping stage of creating the final image. It is possible, however, to generate an HDR image in Photoshop as a 32-bit per channel image. Very few adjustments will be available in 32-bit per channel mode, but you could then use Camera Raw to perform the tone-mapping for the image and save the final result as a 16-bit per channel image for further processing.