Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: You’ve mentioned that the new Assisted Culling feature [in Lightroom Classic] is mostly helpful when reviewing portraits rather than other types of photography. But how helpful is this feature for identifying the best and worst photos from a portrait session?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I would say the new Assisted Culling feature in Lightroom Classic is good but imperfect for reviewing portraits, but I’m also confident it will continue to improve relatively rapidly.

More Detail: The Assisted Culling helps identify favorite versus outtake photos, in part by detecting whether an image is in focus and whether a person’s eyes were open, among other factors. Overall, it is relatively accurate, but it does make some mistakes.

For example, in my testing I found that if narrow depth of field was used intentionally, the image often gets marked with a low score because it isn’t perceived as having good focus. Similarly, I’ve found that images with somewhat dramatic lighting often get flagged as having exposure problems.

These sorts of challenges can obviously dilute the value of the Assisted Culling feature. However, it is important to recognize the considerable benefit this feature can provide as well.

The way I look at it, I wouldn’t blindly trust the Assisted Culling feature to identify my best photos. However, I would trust it to help me narrow a batch of photos to those most likely to be among my best from a photo shoot. For example, if I’ve captured a large number of photos, I would certainly leverage Assisted Culling to determine the photos I should focus on first, because the photos marked as rejected by Assisted Culling have a lower chance of being among my favorites.

In other words, for now I see the Assisted Culling feature as being helpful for enabling me to make the best use of my time by focusing on the photos marked as likely being among the best. But among those photos there will probably be some I would reject, and among those rejected by Assisted Culling I often find photos I like. So it is helpful, but not perfect, though again it will certainly improve over time.

Today’s Question: I know you’ve mentioned that you can’t assign more than one color label to a photo. For my workflow I would find it very helpful to be able to assign multiple color labels to identify the status of different images. Can you recommend any workflow for getting around this limitation?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this type of scenario, I recommend using what I refer to as “fake keywords”, which are just keywords used for purposes beyond subject identification in an image.

More Detail: As noted in today’s question, you can only add a single color label to an image when it comes to software that uses the Label metadata field for this purpose. This is similar to how you can only assign a single star rating to an image, so an image can’t have both a two-star and a four-star rating, for example.

One way you can work around this type of limitation is to use a keyword for situations where you might want to assign more than one attribute, such as when you would otherwise want to assign more than one color label to an image. For example, if you use a red color label for an image that needs to be reviewed and a green color label for images you want to share with someone else, you can’t assign both color labels for an image that you both need to review and want to share with someone else.

I refer to keywords being used for something of a non-standard purpose as “fake keywords”, even though they are very much keywords being added to metadata. For example, I use the keyword “InstagramShare” to identify photos I’ve shared to my Instagram feed, so I know which images have versus have not been shared.

For color labels you could use somewhat literal keywords such as “RedLabel” and “GreenLabel”, or you could use custom keywords that represent tasks, such as “Task-Review” and “Task-Share”. You could even then create a smart collection for applicable keywords, so that the smart collection would be automatically populated by all images that contain the applicable keyword perhaps along with other metadata attributes.

Today’s Question: Since updating to Lightroom Classic 15, Lens Blur, which has always worked well in the past, now stops working after a while. If I clear the cache and reboot it starts working again. Are there any fixes?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I’ve seen several reports of problems with the Lens Blur adjustment with Lightroom Classic 15, so I assume Adobe will provide a fix reasonably soon. Besides clearing the cache, I’ve also seen suggestions that disabling GPU support has helped work around this issue.

More Detail: I haven’t been able to reproduce this issue myself, but I’ve seen a number of reports from users of both Windows and Macintosh indicating that the Lens Blur adjustment isn’t working (or only works intermittently) since the update to Lightroom Classic 15.

There are indications that clearing the cache helps resolve this issue, at least temporarily. To do so, go to the Performance tab of the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic and click the Clear Cache button in the Camera Raw Cache Settings section. I recommend restarting Lightroom Classic after clearing the cache and then testing to see if the Lens Blur adjustment is working.

I’ve also seen indications that disabling GPU support can help with this issue. To disable GPU support go to the Performance tab of the Preferences dialog and set the Use Graphics Processor popup to Off. Once Adobe (hopefully soon) provides an update that resolves the issue with the Lens Blur filter be sure to go back and set the Use Graphics Processor option to Auto (or Custom) to take advantage of the performance improvement it can provide.

Today’s Question: I bought a new hard drive, and the setup document indicates it is formatted with “ExFAT” for compatibility with both Windows and Macintosh. Should I leave that as it is, or format the drive for my operating system?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend formatting the drive for your operating system, meaning NTFS for Windows or APFS for Macintosh. It is very important, however, to keep in mind that formatting the hard drive will erase all data on it.

More Detail: While the ExFAT file system does enable you to use a hard drive with both Windows and Macintosh interchangeably, I don’t recommend using it because tech people like me consider it to be more prone to corruption and other issues. This is due in part to the file system not being journaled, which is a particular problem if the drive gets disconnected unintentionally. I therefore recommend using NTFS (Windows) or APFS (Macintosh).

Keep in mind, of course, that formatting a hard drive will erase all data on the drive. Therefore, you’ll want to perform this step before you use the drive to store any of your data. You can format the drive using Disk Management on Windows or Disk Utility on Macintosh, where it is also important to make sure you select the correct drive for formatting.

Today’s Question: I am looking at an iMac or a Mac Mini, and the models I’m considering only come with 2 TB of hard drive space. I currently have 3 TB, which gets me by. Is it preferable to move all my photos and Lightroom Catalog to an external drive and work off that? If so, how would I do that? Or is there a better alternative?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I suggest keeping the Lightroom Classic catalog on the internal drive, unless you need to be able to move the catalog between computers. However, I do recommend storing your photos on an external hard drive.

More Detail: While it is possible to get more than 2TB of storage on most computers, that may involve opting for a more powerful (and expensive) configuration in order to be able to add more storage capacity. I don’t consider it worth paying a premium for internal storage when you can use external storage at a considerably lower cost.

For example, with an Apple Mac Mini the cost to go from 4TB to 8TB of storage is $1,200, while you can get a great external SSD for a little over $300. I use and recommend the SanDisk Extreme line of SSDs, and you can find the 4TB model here:

https://timgrey.me/sandisk4tb

To migrate to external storage, you can create a new folder on the new hard drive within Lightroom Classic. Start by clicking the plus (+) button to the right of the Folders heading on the left panel in the Library module and choosing “Add Folder” from the popup menu. Then navigate to the new hard drive and click the New Folder button to create a new folder, using a general name such as “My Photos” for the folder. Then click the Choose button to finalize the change. You’ll then see that new empty folder in the Folders section of the left panel in Lightroom Classic, under a heading for the new hard drive.

Before proceeding, make sure you have a good backup (or two or three) of your photos, just to be sure you have an easy way to recover in case anything goes wrong during the process of moving your photos to the new drive.

At that point you can select folders from your internal drive and drag them to the new folder on the new drive. I recommend working in small batches of folders, so it is easier to recover from any issues that may arise during the process. You can select a small number of folders at a time by clicking the first folder, holding the Shift key, and clicking the last folder. You can repeat this process until all folders and photos have been moved to the new hard drive.

Today’s Question: I have run into a problem after upgrading to the latest version of Lightroom Classic. I keep having an exclamation mark on my ultimate parent folder, but there is no exclamation mark on any of the subfolders.

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is possible you’re experiencing a bug that I’ve not seen reported. However, I also recommend double-checking that there isn’t a missing subfolder since that is what the new icon indicates.

More Detail: The new folder badge introduced with Lightroom Classic 15 indicates that there is a subfolder somewhere within that folder that is missing. If the missing folder is empty, it is possible there are no missing photos in your catalog, only missing folders.

The new badge is actually quite helpful, in that it makes it more clear when you have an issue with one or more missing folders and possibly missing photos. When a folder is missing, all folders that are a parent to that folder will have an exclamation point icon within a black circle. So, for example, let’s assume you have a date-based folder structure where there’s a top-level “Photos” folder with subfolders for years and subfolders within those for months. So, for example, you might have a folder named “01” (for January) within a folder “2025”, which in turn is within the “Photos” folder.

In this scenario, if the “01” folder is missing it would display a question mark icon on the folder icon within the Folders list. The “2025” and “Photos” folders would show the exclamation point icon within a black circle.

So, to locate the missing subfolder you would make sure the top-level folder is expanded to reveal subfolders and then scroll down the full list looking for the exclamation point icon. Assuming you found such a folder, you would need to expand it to reveal its subfolders so you could look for the missing subfolder within.

If you’ve scoured the folders list and don’t have an exclamation point icon for any subfolders, I would try quitting Lightroom Classic and restarting it. If at that point the icon still appears, I would assume there is a bug with this feature, in which case hopefully Adobe will address that soon.

If it does seem to be a bug, you can submit the details to Adobe here:

https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

Today’s Question: During one of your presentations you restarted Lightroom Classic, and the dialog came up asking if you were sure you wanted to quit. I had turned on the checkbox so that dialog wouldn’t come up in the future. Is there any reason you don’t disable that alert?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The only reason I don’t disable the confirmation dialog for quitting Lightroom Classic is that I sometimes accidentally press the keyboard shortcut for quitting the application when I’m presenting, and that would interrupt the flow of my presentation more than seeing the dialog and clicking the Cancel button.

More Detail: In Lightroom Classic many of the alert dialogs that appear under various circumstances include a “Don’t show again” checkbox. If you turn on the checkbox, that particular dialog won’t appear again in the future, unless you later click the “Reset all warning dialogs” button on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.

For some of the dialogs I don’t recommend using the “Don’t show again” option. For example, if you drag selected photos or folders to a different location in the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module you’ll see an alert asking if you’re sure you want to move the photos. Because it is relatively easy to accidentally drop photos on the wrong destination folder, however, I recommend keeping that alert enabled so you can hopefully recognize situations where you dropped on the wrong destination and can click the Cancel button before dragging to the correct destination.

In concept I don’t feel the need for the confirmation dialog when I use a keyboard shortcut to quit Lightroom Classic. However, because I am often demonstrating Lightroom Classic (or other applications) during a presentation or workshop, I prefer to have the confirmation dialog appear. That’s because I’m often using a lot of different keyboard shortcuts when presenting, and sometimes accidentally press the shortcut for quitting the application when I didn’t intend to.

If there are dialogs you don’t feel you need to see, you can certainly disable them. And if you later change your mind, you can click the “Reset all warning dialogs” button on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.

Today’s Question: I upgraded to the new Lightroom Classic version 15, but the catalog is still a 13.3 version. Doesn’t the catalog number change with each new major version of Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Your catalog would have been updated for Lightroom Classic if you opened the catalog with Lightroom Classic 15. The reason your catalog name reflects an older version number is that Lightroom Classic no longer renames your catalog when it is upgraded, but you can rename it to make the name more clear.

More Detail: In early versions of Lightroom Classic (including before “Classic” was added to the name), when a catalog was upgraded a new copy was made and the name was appended with a “-2” at the end. This could cause you to have an old catalog named “Lightroom Catalog”, for example, with the new catalog being called “Lightroom Catalog-2”. With time that could lead to a situation where you had a catalog named something like “Lightroom Catalog-2-2-2”.

In more recent versions, the version number of Lightroom Classic would be appended to the catalog filename, so you might end up with a catalog name along the lines of “Lightroom Catalog-2-2-2-13-3”, for example.

Most recently, Lightroom Classic no longer renames the catalog when an update requires that the catalog be upgraded. Instead, an updated catalog is retained in the current catalog folder, and a copy of the non-updated catalog is added to an “Old Lightroom Catalogs” subfolder.

I consider this latest change to be a good thing, because it enables you to choose your own permanent name for the Lightroom Classic catalog. The only issue, as noted in today’s question, is that most users will have a catalog name that corresponds to an older version of Lightroom Classic, even though you have upgraded. Fortunately, this can be easily resolved thanks to a relatively new command for renaming your catalog within Lightroom Classic.

To rename the current catalog in Lightroom Classic, go to the menu and choose File > Rename Catalog. In the dialog that appears enter a meaningful new name for your catalog. Unless you’re absolutely sure that no photos are stored in the same folder as the catalog, I recommend leaving the “Rename parent folder” checkbox turned off. Then click the Rename button and the catalog will be renamed accordingly with Lightroom Classic restarting as part of that process.

Today’s Question: My mentor insists on nailing the white balance in camera. My research says white balance has no effect on raw images. It helps the on-camera viewing, maybe has some impact on the histogram, but bottom line, get the white balance “right” in post. Thoughts, comments?

Tim’s Quick Answer: For raw captures the in-camera white balance setting is merely a metadata value and has no impact on image quality. You can absolutely wait until after the capture to optimize the white balance adjustment.

More Detail: It is obviously a good thing for photographers to want to get their photos perfect in the camera, but this doesn’t need to extend to the white balance setting. There is no impact on image quality when you adjust the white balance during raw processing after the capture.

The in-camera white balance setting translates to a metadata value. As noted in the question, changes to the white balance setting will change the appearance of the image preview on the camera’s LCD display, which in turn can alter the appearance of the histogram. But getting the setting right in camera won’t provide a benefit when it comes to image quality for a raw capture.

Of course, there may be other reasons to want to use an optimal white balance setting in camera, such as to ensure uniformity of color for photos and to minimize the degree to which images need to be adjusted after the capture. But there isn’t a benefit when it comes to image quality.

It is important to note, however, that this only applies to raw captures. If, for example, you use a bad white balance setting for a JPEG capture, that color adjustment alters the pixel values for the image, and can create image quality problems when you need to apply a strong color correction after the capture. But for raw captures you can ignore the white balance setting on the camera unless adjusting it provides you with a workflow advantage.

Today’s Question: I have a new iMac, still in the box, and I’m wondering if you have instructions or tips for doing the set up and transferring Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and Topaz Photo AI along with my external drives from the old iMac to new.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The basic process of migrating Lightroom Classic to a new computer involves transferring the complete catalog folder and photos to the new computer, installing Lightroom Classic and any plug-ins, and transferring your preferences and settings as well.

More Detail: You can start by setting up the new computer and installing Lightroom Classic and any other Adobe Creative Cloud applications you’ll be using. You can get started by following the instructions on this page on the Adobe website:

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/apps/download-install-apps/creative-cloud-apps/download-creative-cloud-apps.html

Once you have Lightroom Classic up and running on the new computer, transfer your catalog and photos. For example, most photographers have their photos on one or more external hard drives. If the catalog is on the internal hard drive, you could copy the folder containing the catalog to one of your external hard drives, and then move that folder into the Pictures folder on the internal hard drive if you prefer. You can determine the existing location of your catalog on the old computer by going to the General tab of the Catalog Settings dialog and clicking the Show button. Be sure to quit Lightroom Classic before you start, and copy the entire folder that contains the catalog and related files.

The trickiest part of this process is transferring preferences and settings. This isn’t mandatory, but it will ensure that Lightroom Classic is configured the same way on your new computer as on your old. For presets, go to the Presets tab of the Preferences dialog. There you’ll find buttons for “Show Lightroom Develop Presets” and “Show All Other Lightroom Presets”. Clicking each will open a window in your operating system with the applicable folder selected. Copy the entire folder to the same location on the new computer.

To copy Camera Raw settings, transfer the files to the same location on the new computer. On Windows navigate to your username folder and then to AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw. On Macintosh from the Library folder go to Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw. For Preferences copy the applicable file to the same location on the new computer. On Windows the file can be found by going to your username folder and then navigating to AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences\Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs”com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7, and on Macintosh the file is in the Library folder under Preferences / com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist.

Make sure the photos are on a drive with the same drive letter (Windows) or volume label (Macintosh) as was assigned on the old computer. Then double-click the catalog file (it has a filename extension of .lrcat) in the folder you transferred to the new computer. This will launch Lightroom Classic with the catalog.

You can then install any plug-ins you want to use with Lightroom Classic and continue with your normal workflow.