Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I have many document files with same name as an image, but with DOC or TXT extension. I use these for extensive info about the image, such as the people or location featured in the image. If I import my photos into a Lightroom Classic catalog will these files create confusion?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, these unsupported files won’t create any confusion for Lightroom Classic. The documents won’t be imported into the catalog along with the photos, but they will remain on your hard drive for you to review or update as needed.

More Detail: When you import existing photos that are already stored where you want them into a Lightroom Classic catalog, only supported image and video formats are imported. All other files will remain where they are, and the folder structure shown within Lightroom Classic will match the folder structure on the hard drive.

Documents stored in the same folder as your images will not be imported into your catalog, but you can still access those documents directly on the hard drive. Just be sure you don’t make any changes to the photos or folder structure on the hard drive. Those changes should be initiated within Lightroom Classic.

Of course, if you start using Lightroom Classic you manage your photos, you’ll likely find it easier to add the information about your photos to the metadata for those photos within your catalog. For example, you could use keywords to identify the subjects that appear in each photo, and you could use the Title or Caption fields in metadata to add more details about the circumstances of the photo. This will help streamline your overall workflow, so that all of the information you need about your photos is contained within your Lightroom Classic catalog.

Today’s Question: Do you need to hold the camera steady during the second half of the long exposure when using long exposure noise reduction?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you don’t need to continue holding the camera steady during the second exposure created when you have enabled long exposure noise reduction in the camera.

More Detail: When you enable long exposure noise reduction your camera will actually capture two images for each photo you capture. The first exposure is the actual photo, and the second exposure is a “dark frame” that is created to measure the actual current noise behavior of the image sensor, so the noise can be subtracted from the actual photo.

During that “dark frame” exposure, the camera is not actually recording any image data through the lens. It is instead taking the equivalent of a photo captured with the shutter remaining closed. That would theoretically produce an image that is completely black. In reality there will be noise in that capture, and so the noise is known to have been generated by the sensor and can therefore be subtracted from the photo.

Because there is no image data being captured through the lens during this “dark frame” exposure, there is no risk in moving the camera during that exposure. You’ll just want to be sure that the real exposure has indeed completed, before moving the camera.

You may obviously want to keep the camera in the same position in any event, so that you can capture another photo of the same scene, perhaps with different camera settings, as soon as the long exposure noise reduction capture is completed. However, after the initial exposure and during the “dark frame” exposure you could certainly start moving the camera into a different position for your next shot.

Today’s Question: When I attempt to import photos into Lightroom Classic on a Windows computer it only imports my raw captures. But when I try from my Mac it imports both the raw files and the JPEGs. Is there a way to fix this? I do have the “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox turned on.

Tim’s Quick Answer: On the Macintosh you simply need to turn on the “Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos” checkbox on the General tab of the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic. Note, however, that in the context of Lightroom Classic I don’t generally recommend using Raw+JPEG capture in the first place.

More Detail: When you choose the Raw+JPEG capture option on your camera, you end up with two copies of every photo you capture. The original raw capture is preserved, and the camera then also renders a JPEG image based on that raw capture.

By default, Lightroom Classic will copy both the raw and the JPEG files of raw+JPEG sets to the selected folder location on import. However, only the raw capture will actually be imported into the catalog.

If you want both the raw and JPEG captures imported into your catalog, you can simply turn on the ” Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos” checkbox on the general tab of the Preferences dialog. For future imports, both the raw and JPEG captures will be imported alongside each other.

In general, however, I don’t recommend importing the JPEG along with the raw capture, as doing so can cause confusion about which is the “real” source photo. Lightroom Classic will generate JPEG previews based on the raw captures, which in many respects takes the place of what you might otherwise use the JPEG captures for. And you could always export a JPEG copy based on the raw capture that includes the adjustments you’ve applied in Lightroom Classic.

If you have other reasons you want to preserve a JPEG copy of your original raw captures at the time of capture, that’s perfectly fine. But you might give some thought to whether there is a real benefit to the additional clutter created by having two copies of every photo.

Today’s Question: With Lightroom Classic can I put a border around the edge of my photos?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Not exactly. You could use the “Stroke Border” option in the Print module to add a border around a photo, but this does not provide a great solution. Instead, I recommend sending the image to Photoshop to add a Stroke layer effect.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic does not include a general “stroke” effect that enables you to add a border to an image, other than the option for adding a Stroke Border in the Print module. The Print module, of course, is focused on printing your photos. You could use the “Print to File” option to generate a JPEG image of the result, but that would not be ideal for all scenarios.

More to the point, creating a border effect in this way would require that you’re either willing to crop the image to fit the paper dimensions, or configure the paper dimensions to exactly match those of your photo. This can be a little complicated to configure, depending to some extent on how you’ve cropped your photo.

Instead, I recommend sending the image to Photoshop (via the Photo > Edit In command on the menu) to add a stroke effect, where you could also add a variety of other visual effects to the photo. In the context of Photoshop that would call for adding a Stroke via the Layer Effects feature.

You could convert the “Background” image layer to a normal layer by double-clicking on the thumbnail for that layer on the Layers panel. Then click the “fx” button at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Stroke. That will bring up the Layer Styles dialog, where you can configure the Stroke settings along with adding other visual effects.

Today’s Question: I’ve put my Lightroom Classic catalog and images all on an external hard drive. Can I move my catalog to my laptop [internal hard drive] without messing everything up?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can move your Lightroom Classic catalog to an internal hard drive from the external hard drive. This will likely help improve overall performance and will also enable you to work with your catalog even if the external hard drive is not connected to the computer.

More Detail: The Lightroom Classic catalog contains the information about your photos, such as metadata and adjustments you have applied. Even if the source image is not available, such as when an external hard drive is disconnected, you can still review the information about your photos. You can even update information about photos with the source files unavailable, such as to assign keywords or other metadata updates to the photos.

You may therefore want to keep your Lightroom Classic catalog on an internal hard drive so you can review the information in the catalog even when you have not connected the external hard drive that contains the actual images.

Before getting started I do recommend backing up your catalog, just to ensure you can recover if anything goes wrong as part of this process. Then you’ll need to be sure you know where your catalog is currently stored. You can get this information in the Catalog Settings dialog, which you can access by choosing Edit > Catalog Settings from the menu on Windows or Lightroom Classic > Catalog Settings on Macintosh. In the Catalog Settings dialog go to the General tab and click the Show button to the right of the Location field. This will bring up a window in your operating system for the location where the folder containing your catalog is located, with the folder selected.

Next, quit Lightroom Classic to make sure you don’t move the catalog while it is in use. You can then move the entire folder containing your catalog to the preferred location. Note that you may also prefer to copy the folder to the new location, and then rename the existing folder to make it clear that this is now a backup copy of your catalog.

You can then navigate to the folder containing the catalog in the new location you have placed it. Inside that folder you can double-click the catalog file, which is the file with the “LRCAT” filename extension. This will launch Lightroom Classic and open the catalog. Because your photos will still be stored in the location they are expected, everything in Lightroom Classic will look exactly the same as it did before.

Today’s Question: Wouldn’t this photographer [who asked about whether they could continue using old versions of Photoshop and Lightroom] have to upgrade when he/she purchases a new camera model that isn’t supported by Photoshop CS6?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, the photographer would not need to upgrade Photoshop (or Lightroom Classic) to gain support for a new raw capture format because they could use the Adobe DNG Converter as a workaround.

More Detail: The Adobe DNG Converter is a software tool that enables you to convert proprietary raw captures to the Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) file format. Those DNG files can then be processed with older versions of Lightroom or Photoshop that haven’t been updated to support the newer proprietary raw capture.

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s edition of the Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter, I recommend upgrading to the latest versions of Adobe applications, which generally means signing up for an Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan subscription (https://timgrey.me/ccplans). This ensures you have the latest features, support for newer raw capture formats, and more.

For photographers who are avoiding the subscription model by continuing to use older versions of Photoshop and Lightroom, at some point they will likely run into a situation where they buy a new camera that uses a proprietary raw capture format that is not supported by the older versions of the software they are using. The Adobe DNG Converter provides a workaround for this situation.

You can download the free Adobe DNG Converter here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/adobe-dng-converter.html

Note that I still recommend signing up for an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription plan, to provide access to the latest features, bug fixes, and other updates to Adobe’s software applications. But if you continue using an older version of Adobe applications that don’t support newer raw capture formats, the DNG Converter provides a solution.

Today’s Question: You shared a photo and mentioned wide angle, but the lines on the sides were straight. How did you accomplish that?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Distorted lines in a wide-angle can be corrected quite effectively with a combination of profile-based lens corrections and transformations, which are available in Adobe Camera Raw (Photoshop) and Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: Photoshop and Lightroom Classic both include powerful tools for correcting distortion in photos. For Photoshop users you can find these adjustments in Camera Raw (including the use of the Camera Raw Filter within Photoshop), with the profile-based lens corrections found in the Optics section and the transformation options found in the Geometry section. In Lightroom Classic these adjustments are found in the Lens Corrections and Transform sections, respectively, of the right panel in the Develop module.

The profile-based lens corrections enable you to use a profile for the behavior of the specific lens used to capture the photo. As long as a profile is available for the lens that was used, you can apply a correction based on that profile. This will compensate for barrel or pincushion distortion in the image, as well as vignetting, both of which are especially common with wide-angle lenses.

The transformation adjustments are even more powerful. In particular, I recommend using the Guided option for the Upright adjustments. With the Guided adjustment you can draw two to four lines within the image to identify lines that should be perfectly horizontal or perfectly vertical. The image will then be transformed to make those lines straight.

So, for example, let’s assume you’re correcting a photo of a building. You could start by drawing two lines for the horizontal areas, such as the roof line and a line toward the bottom of the building. You could then draw two additional lines for the sides of the building. The result would be an adjustment that compensates for the warped appearance of the building, so the lines are all straight again.

Note that there are also manual transformation options, such as sliders for both vertical and horizontal perspective correction, so you can continue fine-tuning based on the initial adjustments.

Today’s Question: I have Lightroom 6 and Photoshop CS6. I haven’t changed my equipment in five years and rarely use Photoshop, but I do use Lightroom a lot. Would it be prudent for me to finally update both?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, I absolutely think it is worth updating to the latest versions of Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. This will enable you to update to the latest versions of the operating system, which will provide greater security. It will also enable you to upgrade to the latest computer hardware if you would like.

More Detail: I completely understand that many photographers (including myself) are frustrated by the shift to the subscription model for software. That said, when it comes to the Adobe software applications such as Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, I do think the subscription rate for access to these applications is reasonable, and Adobe does continue to update their applications regularly.

One of the most important reasons to subscribe if you’re using Lightroom and/or Photoshop is to enable you to make updates to your operating system and hardware. Many photographers are using older (and sometime unsupported) versions of operating systems, which are less secure than the latest updates. In some cases this approach also means you are unable to update to the latest computer hardware.

Taking all of this into account, I think it makes the most sense to accept that the subscription model is here to stay, and that it is worthwhile to sign up for the Creative Cloud Photography Plan if you are interested in using Lightroom Classic and/or Photoshop in your workflow. You can learn more about the Photography Plan and other options for the Adobe Creative Cloud here:

https://timgrey.me/ccplans

Today’s Question: What is the hierarchy in Lightroom Classic for the catalog, folders, and collections, and how they interplay?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The catalog in Lightroom Classic represents all of your photos and the information about those photos. Folders represent the actual folders on your hard drive, and therefore represent your actual storage structure. Collections provide a way to group photos together in ways that go beyond the folder structure, such as grouping photos together from various folders for a particular project.

More Detail: The catalog is at the foundation of a workflow for organizing, optimizing, and sharing your photos using Lightroom Classic. I strongly recommend using only one catalog to organize all of your photos. Taking this approach means that you don’t really need to think about the catalog directly, but rather can simply think of Lightroom Classic as being at the center of your workflow.

Folders in Lightroom Classic are a direct reflection of the folder structure for your photos on the hard drive. When you import existing photos from a hard drive, for example, the folder structure for those photos on the hard drive will be reflected in Lightroom Classic. If you make changes to the folder structure within Lightroom Classic, such as by renaming or moving a folder or creating a new folder, those changes will be reflected on your hard drive as well.

It is important to note, by the way, that any folder changes should be made within Lightroom Classic, which will result in those changes being reflected in the operating system. If you make changes directly through the operating system, those changes will not be reflected in Lightroom Classic, and in fact you will end up with folders and photos that are missing because they are no longer found where they are expected.

Collections represent the organizational feature that many photographers get confused by. A collection simply provides a way to group photos together in a way that goes beyond the folder structure on your hard drive. Collections are not reflected in the operating system at all, as they only exist within Lightroom.

You can use collections in a variety of different ways depending on your specific needs. For example, if you wanted to have an easy way to reference favorite photos from a single trip, you could add those photos to a collection within Lightroom Classic.

One of the great things about collections though is that they can contain photos from a variety of different folders. For example, if you were creating a photo book featuring your favorite images from a variety of different trips, a collection is a great way to organize those photos. You can add photos to a collection from multiple folders, but adding a photo to a collection doesn’t create a copy of the source image on the hard drive. The image in the collection is simply a reference to the original photo, similar to a saved search result.

Another great feature of collections is that you can enable synchronization to the Adobe Creative Cloud for a collection of photos. Those photos can then be viewed and shared using the Lightroom app on your mobile device, or by signing in with your Creative Cloud account at https://lightroom.adobe.com/.

Today’s Question: How do you determine the right f-stop and shutter speed for a photo captured during blue hour?

Tim’s Quick Answer: As a good starting point for exposure during “blue hour” you can use a lens aperture of f/8 with an 8-second shutter speed at ISO 100. You can then fine-tune or refine from there based on the conditions and your artistic preference for the photo.

More Detail: “Blue hour” is the time shortly after sunset (or before sunrise) when the color of the sunset starts to fade (or before the color of sunrise appears) and a clear sky will take on a deep and rich blue color. This will gradually fade to a very dark sky that appears nearly black of night. Despite the name, blue hour doesn’t generally last for a full hour, depending on how you choose to define the span of time with a nice blue color in the sky.

The optimal exposure will vary throughout the duration of blue hour, as the amount of light in the sky (and on the foreground scene) will change. This is especially true if you are photographing a scene such as a city at night, where the artificial lights of the city will add light that you may need to compensate for with your exposure.

However, a good starting point is to use the “8 and 8” rule of thumb, using a lens aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 8 seconds, with an ISO setting of 100.

Of course, you can then fine-tune the overall exposure settings based on the actual results you’re achieving, as well as your preferences for the image. For example, one of my favorite blue hour shots is of the Duomo in Florence, Italy, photographed from Piazzale Michelangelo. Instead of f/8, I stopped down two stops to f/16 to get a starburst effect for the lights of Florence. I kept the shutter speed at 8 seconds (using a sturdy tripod, of course), and increased the ISO setting by two stops from 100 to 400, to compensate for the change in lens aperture.

So, with exposure settings equivalent to the “8 and 8” rule of thumb for blue hour photography, I got a good exposure and a blue hour photo I’m happy with, which you can see on my Instagram feed here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/0DdnlqJ-eb/