Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Often I will shoot various subjects on a single memory card. When I import into Lightroom Classic I currently import each subject separately but would love to import all the photos at once with appropriate options. For example, I may have flower shots and bird shots on the same card but want them stored, keyworded, and cataloged differently. Is there a method of batching files for import of different subjects or shoots together but identifying and storing them differently if desired?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Lightroom Classic doesn’t really support the workflow you’re looking for. It is possible to import portions of the photos from a single memory card with different settings for each group, but I recommend importing all photos from the card into a “temporary” folder in one step, and then processing the batches from that temporary folder based on your workflow preferences.

More Detail: It is possible to import only a portion of the photos on a single memory card into your Lightroom Classic catalog. For example, let’s assume you want to first import the first half of the photos on a card. You could click on the thumbnail for the first photo in the second half, then hold the Shift key and click on the last photo. This would select all the photos in the second half group. You can then click the checkbox for any of those selected photos to turn off the checkbox for all of them, which will cause those photos to not be imported.

However, I don’t recommend this approach because it can create some confusion in terms of which photos have already been imported versus not, especially if you will be importing multiple groups that are not necessarily in contiguous groups on the media card.

Instead, I recommend importing all the photos on the media card into a single “temporary” folder. The photos can then be processed based on your workflow preferences from that folder.

For example, you might import all the photos into a “To Be Sorted” folder. After importing you could divide the photos into subfolders based on topic. Within each of those folders you could assign applicable keywords in batch, and otherwise process the images. When you’ve wrapped up that work you can move the subfolders as needed to a different location, perhaps rename those folders, and perform any other photo-management tasks you need.

To me it makes more sense to get all the photos downloaded and imported in a single import process, so that you don’t inadvertently skip any photos and you also ensure the photos are all backed up as quickly as possible. You can then continue refining the organization of those photos and dividing them into other folders as needed based on your overall organizational workflow.

Today’s Question: Is there a way to stop Lightroom Classic from taking me to the “Previous Import” collection when I import new photos? I prefer to continue browsing the current folder rather than the collection.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can prevent Lightroom Classic from automatically navigating to the Previous Import collection after an import by turning off the “Select the ‘Current/Previous Import’ collection during import” checkbox.

More Detail: By default when you initiate the import of new photos into Lightroom Classic you will be taken to an automatic collection that contains the photos from that import. While the import is still active the collection will be called “Current Import”, and as soon as the import is complete the collection will be called “Previous Import”.

The idea is that you likely want to review the most recently imported photos as soon as they are imported, so you’re taken to those photos automatically. Of course, that can be a bit of a distraction if you’re browsing the folder that you’re importing to, or another folder altogether, and you don’t want to be interrupted by being taken to the collection featuring the imported photos.

This behavior can be changed with a setting in the Preferences dialog. Start by going to the menu and choosing Edit > Preferences on Windows or Lightroom Classic > Preferences on Macintosh. Go to the General tab, where you’ll find the “Select the ‘Current/Previous Import’ collection during import” checkbox. Turn the checkbox off if you don’t want Lightroom Classic to automatically navigate to the collection featuring the imported photos, and keep the checkbox turned on if you do want to have the collection selected automatically.

Today’s Question: The Select Sky command in Photoshop does a pretty good job for most images, but is there any way to adjust the settings for this selection option when it doesn’t work great on a certain image?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you can’t adjust any settings for the Select Sky command in Photoshop. Your only option is to refine the automatic selection after it is created by using other selection tools or commands.

More Detail: The Select Sky command (as well as the Select Subject command) is an automatic selection command in Photoshop that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the image and create a selection. Therefore, there are no settings for these selection commands, and they operate completely automatically once selected.

While the results from both commands is often quite good, they are generally at least a little less than perfect. To improve upon the selection, you would need to use other selection tools or commands.

For example, you could make use of other selection tools to add to or subtract from the initial selection. In most cases I recommend creating a layer mask based on the initial selection and then making modifications from there. Among other things you can use the options on the Properties panel for the layer mask, such as the “Color Range” or “Select and Mask” commands to further refine the layer mask to perfection.

Today’s Question: I have enabled the option to show “address suggestions” showing the name of location based on GPS metadata for my photos. But how do I take those suggestions and make them permanent? When I click in a field such as “City” the suggestion disappears.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can make address suggestions for location metadata permanent by clicking on the label for the metadata field and clicking the suggestion on the popup that appears. Note that you can also have this information automatically added to copies of photos upon export.

More Detail: For photos with GPS coordinates embedded in metadata you can have Lightroom Classic display the city, state, and country (as applicable) as metadata suggestions. That information can then be made permanent for your source photos if you’d like and can also be included automatically in exported copies of photos that include those location suggestions.

To see the address suggestions in the first place you need to enable the feature in the Catalog Settings dialog. Start by choosing Edit > Catalog Settings from the menu on Windows or Lightroom Classic > Catalog Settings on Macintosh. On the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog turn on the “Look up city, state and country of GPS coordinates to provide address suggestions” checkbox. If you want to be able to include those suggestions in metadata automatically when exporting photos you need to also turn on the “Export address suggestions whenever address fields are empty” checkbox.

If you want to make the address suggestions permanent for a photo browse the location metadata, which you can get to quickly by choosing Location from the popup to the left of the Metadata heading on the right panel in the Library module. Address suggestions will appear as italic text in the various fields, such as City, State, and Country/Region. To apply a metadata value permanently click on the label to the left of the field (such as “City”) and click on the address suggestion text in the popup that appears.

Even if you have not made address suggestions permanent in the metadata for photos, you can still include the address suggestions in metadata for exported copies for your photos. As noted above, you’ll first need to turn on the applicable checkbox in the Catalog Settings dialog. You’ll then need to choose “All Metadata” from the Include popup in the Metadata section of the Export dialog, and make sure that the “Remove Location Info” checkbox is turned off.

Today’s Question: You’ve explained in the past that problems can occur in Lightroom Classic if you make changes to the color label definitions after you’ve already assigned color labels to your photos. Does the same issue exist for changing the definitions for color labels for folders and collections? In other words, is it safe to change the color label definitions for folders and collections as long as I don’t change them for photos?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, there is no problem at all with changing the definitions for color labels for folders or collections. In fact, updating those definitions can be helpful in your workflow.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic includes the ability to assign color labels to folders and collections, which can be helpful for a variety of workflow purposes. For example, I use a red color label to flag folders that contain photos I still need to review. If you change the definitions of the color labels for folders and collections to reflect the reasons you are using those color labels, you can make it easier to assign the correct color label for the correct purpose to a folder or collection.

The default color label definitions in Lightroom Classic use the name of the color as the term used for the label. So, for example, a red color label has the word “Red” associated with it. In the context of a folder or collection that means if you right-click on a folder, for example, and choose “Add Color Label to Folder” from the popup menu, the submenu will show “Red” at the top of the list.

However, you could update the definition for the red color label for folders to say something like “Review Needed” so that on that popup menu you would see “Review Needed” rather than “Red”. This can make it easier to select the correct color label for the intended purpose.

Making changes to color labels for folders or collections won’t cause any problems with existing color labels you’ve assigned to folders or collections. The same isn’t true for photos because the term defined for a color label at the time it is assigned is added to metadata to the photo, so that if you change the definitions for color labels for photos that metadata would no longer match.

To change the definitions for color labels for folders or collections first go to the Library module and from the menu choose Metadata > Color Label Set > Edit. In the Edit Color Label Set dialog go to the tab for Folders or Collections and update the definitions for each color label based on your workflow preference. Click the Change button and the updates will be applied.

Today’s Question: When using the Spot Removal tool in Lightroom Classic to clean up blemishes in a photo, I always use the Heal option. Is there any reason I should ever consider the Clone option?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In most cases the Heal option for the Spot Removal tool in Lightroom Classic is the best option. I would only use the Clone setting when you find that the blending from the Heal option is causing unwanted artifacts. However, in those situations I would also strongly consider sending the image to Photoshop for further image cleanup work rather than dealing with the limitations related to image cleanup in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: The key difference between the Clone and Heal options for the Spot Removal tool is that with the Clone option pixels are copied from source to destination without being altered, while with the Heal option the pixels are blended to better match the destination area.

In most cases the Heal option for the Spot Removal tool provides a good result, blending the source pixels into the destination area so they match more accurately. You can always move the source and/or destination area for a given cleanup area to help ensure a better match.

However, in some cases the helpful behavior of the Heal setting can lead to problematic artifacts caused by the nature of the blending. In those cases you may want to use the Clone option to perform a basic replacement of the blemish by directly copying pixels from a different area of the image. You can then use the Heal option to apply additional separate cleanup work to help the original cleanup area blend more smoothly into the surrounding area.

In most cases where the Heal option isn’t providing an adequate solution, I would recommend instead sending the image to Photoshop so you can take advantage of the Content-Aware technology that is more widely available within Photoshop. Hopefully at some point Lightroom Classic will include the same (or similar) technology to improve the power of the Spot Removal tool, but until then I consider Photoshop an important tool for image cleanup for Lightroom Classic users.

Today’s Question: When I switch to browsing a different folder the filter I’ve set (often star ratings) is reset, so that I’m seeing all photos in the new folder. Is there a way to keep the filter settings active when I switch to a different folder?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can lock the current filter criteria with the small padlock icon at the top-right of the Library Filter bar, so that the filter criteria will remain active when you navigate to a different folder or collection.

More Detail: By default, when you navigate to a different folder or collection in Lightroom Classic any filter criteria you have established will be removed, so that you are browsing all photos in the new location. Fortunately, you can change this behavior so that the filter criteria are locked.

The lock option is found at the top-right of the Library Filter bar above the grid view display in the Library module. If you don’t see the Library Filter bar simply press the backslash key (\) to reveal the filter bar. At the top-right you can click the padlock icon to toggle the status. The icon is a bit small and therefore a little difficult to see the difference, but the padlock icon shows open when the filter is unlocked and closed when the filter is locked.

Let’s assume, for example, that you have set a filter based on star ratings above a certain number. If the filter lock is turned off, then navigating to a different folder will cause the filter to reset to “None” so that you’re able to see all photos in the new location. If the filter lock is turned on, when you navigate to a different folder or collection the filter criteria will remain active.

I personally prefer to always keep the filter lock enabled, so that filter criteria won’t change regardless of which folder or collection I navigate to. If I want to see all photos again I set the filter to “None” rather than unlocking the filter. I can then select the desired attributes again when I want to re-enable the filter criteria.

Today’s Question: I saw your response to a question on removing color cast from old family photos and was wondering if a similar inverted color mask technique could be used for removing the orange mask (or its inverse) from scanned color negatives.

Tim’s Quick Answer: There is actually a “Color Negative” preset in the Curves adjustment for Photoshop that works pretty well. You could, however, use a variation on my technique for correcting for a strong color cast by sampling the film border around the frame of the image.

More Detail: Color negative film employs various dyes to produce the final colors in a photograph. Due to the balance of the dyes used, an orange color tint would appear in the negative. Many film scanners are able to compensate for this automatically, but if you are using a digital camera to digitize the negatives the color will generally remain, with a blue appearance if you have inverted the negative to a positive image.

The Curves adjustment in Photoshop includes a “Color Negative” option on the Preset popup, which generally does a good job of both inverting the image and compensating for the orange mask.

In addition, you could employ a variation of a technique I described in a previous answer that was focused on correcting for strong color casts in faded photos.

In the case of a negative you would want to sample a color from the frame that represents the unexposed film. You could use the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop to sample this color. Then create a new image layer on the Layers panel and fill it with the color you sampled by choosing Edit > Fill from the menu and choosing “Foreground Color” from the Contents popup. Make sure the Mode is set to Normal and that the Opacity is at 100% and click OK to apply the color fill.

Next, invert the color for this new “color fix” layer by choosing Image > Adjustments > Invert. Then change the blend mode for this layer to “Color” using the popup at the top-left of the Layers panel that has a default value of “Normal”. Finally, reduce the Opacity for this layer to around 50% using the popup slider at the top-right of the Layers panel.

As with the technique for compensating for a strong color cast in a faded photo, with this technique you’ll still need to apply other adjustments to refine the image to look its best. That would likely include, for example, adjustments to color saturation and contrast. However, with one of the two techniques covered here you should be able to get the color looking good even with the influence of the color mask from the color negative original.

You can find my technique for correcting for a strong color cast in a faded photo on my Ask Tim Grey blog here:

https://asktimgrey.com/2022/06/24/strong-color-cast-removal/

Today’s Question: Is there a point in the life of a monitor when it is too old to calibrate? I’ve had my Apple Thunderbolt display for more than 10 years, and I wonder sometimes (even though I get affirming feedback when I ask another photographer if my image color looks right).

Tim’s Quick Answer: For a modern LCD display the only indication that the display should not be relied upon for evaluating photos is if the display can’t be calibrated. That would generally mean that the display has gotten too dim, rather than having any issue with color fidelity.

More Detail: Back in the days of big and heavy CRT monitors there was a point that the monitor would get too old and no longer be able to present color accurately. The primary issue is that over time as the color display faded the three colors would not fade evenly. Eventually the three colors were so far from each other in terms of their full-strength potential that accurate color became impossible. This would be clearly indicated during the calibration process using a colorimeter.

With LCD displays that color fidelity issue is essentially not an issue. The more common issue is that the illumination source for the display starts to dim over time. Eventually the display may get so dim that you can’t accurately display bright tonal values. This too would be indicated during the process of calibrating the display.

As long as the display can be properly calibrated there’s no need to replace the display. In my experience most monitor displays get replaced because the photographer wants a display with higher resolution, larger size, or other feature benefits, rather than because the existing display could no longer be calibrated properly.

By the way, the display calibration requires a colorimeter device that measures the actual performance of the display. I recommend the Calibrite ColorChecker Display, which you can learn more about here:

https://timgrey.me/calibrite

Today’s Question: I migrated all my files from my old iMac to my new Studio Mac. In Lightroom Classic I opened my old catalog and while I have all my photos and star ratings, the color labels have disappeared. Instead, for those photos that had color labels, in the grid view there is a white square in the lower right of the frame. What did I do wrong?

Tim’s Quick Answer: This is simply an indication that the color label definitions don’t match those that were used to assign color labels to the affected image. All you need to do is update the color label definitions in Lightroom Classic to get the original colors back.

More Detail: While the color labels you can assign to images with various photo-management software applications are simple in concept, they aren’t quite as simple as they appear. When you assign a color label you aren’t actually assigning a color, but rather text in metadata.

The software looks at the text in the Label field in metadata, and compares that to the color label definitions, displaying the applicable color. In some cases, it is possible to alter the definitions used for the text associated with each color label, which can lead to confusion if there is a mismatch. Photos that have text in the Label field that don’t match a color label definition will appear with a white color label.

The first step in this case is to determine which color label definitions had been used previously. While browsing some of the photos that show a white color label go to the Library Filter in the grid view display within the Library module. On the Metadata tab browse the Label column, selecting the option from the popup on a column header if it isn’t currently displayed.

The Label column will then display all metadata values for the Label field for the photos you are currently browsing. The default definitions for Lightroom Classic are quite straightforward, being Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple. In Adobe Bridge the defaults are less meaningful, being Select, Second, Approved, Review, and To Do.

My assumption is that you’ll see an indication of one of these two color label sets when browsing the Label column on the Library Filter bar. Or you may recall that you had previously used a different definition. In any event, in Lightroom Classic you can go to the menu and choose Metadata > Color Label Set > Edit to bring up a dialog where you can select a Preset for the color labels or enter your own custom values to match what had been used previously.

For example, perhaps on your previous computer you had set Lightroom Classic to use the Bridge Default preset, but on the new computer the setting is at the default of Lightroom Default. Once you update the color label definitions in Lightroom Classic the applicable colors you were expecting based on the color labels you had previously applied will be magically restored.