Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Is there any downside to going back to photos I edited a long time ago [in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw], and updating them to the current [process] version for the purpose of, for example, reducing noise and possibly making a few “tweaks”?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The only real risk of changing the process version for a photo that had previously edited is that doing so can alter the appearance of the photo, in some cases rather significantly.

More Detail: The process version in Lightroom or Camera Raw can be thought of as representing the version of the set of adjustments that are available. That not only includes new features that get added over time, but also changes in the algorithms that determine the specific behavior of individual adjustments.

For example, in the first process version the basic tone adjustments included Exposure, Recovery, Fill Light, Blacks, Brightness, and Contrast. In the current process version (version 6) those have been updated to Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks.

If you had made a series of modifications to the tonal adjustment settings for an image using process version 1, and then updated that image to the latest process version, there could be a rather strong change in the appearance of the image. You could certainly then refine the adjustment settings based on the updated process version, but this adds a degree of work and in some cases it may be difficult to get the image back to the look you wanted.

To help manage this issue, when you want to update an image to a new process version I recommend first creating a virtual copy. Then, on the assumption you’re more likely going to want to retain the final image with the newer process version, I recommend leaving the virtual copy as a reference image that reflects the original adjustments, and then updating the adjustments for the original image including the update to the latest process version.

By creating a virtual copy for this purpose, you’ll be able to easily compare the previous and current versions of the image, and also revert to the earlier version of the image should that become necessary.

Today’s Question: I have two folders that have some of the same photos in Lightroom Classic. Is there an easy way to identify the duplicates so I can remove them from one of the files?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In my view the only real option that can be trusted for identifying duplicates is to browse the full group of photos at the same time, sort by capture time (and possibly filter the images), and then review the images to confirm which are duplicates. You can then compare the duplicate images to identify which should be kept and which should be discarded.

More Detail: Unfortunately, there isn’t a reliable and automatic method for removing duplicates in this context. There are a couple of plug-ins that purport to do this, but they only mark suspected duplicates and don’t have good algorithms for figuring out which of the duplicates is the better version to keep, for example.

Therefore, I would suggest browsing both folders and reviewing the images manually.

Start by selecting one folder in the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module and then hold the Command key on Macintosh or the Ctrl key on Windows while clicking on the other folder. In the grid view make sure the sort order is set to Capture Time. This will provide a great starting point for identifying duplicates, because duplicate images will be next to each other, assuming the capture time hadn’t ever been modified for the images being reviewed.

Of course, just because the thumbnail is the same doesn’t mean you can be certain that one of the apparent duplicates needs to be deleted. For example, you might have an original raw capture as well as a virtual copy or perhaps a TIFF or PSD file that was created via Photoshop. However, you can review the file types in this context to get a sense of whether there is a duplicate that should be deleted.

If you have true duplicates, such as two raw captures that are obviously the same image in different folders, the next step is to decide if one should be prioritized over the other. For example, you can review whether one or the other was optimized in the Develop module or had specific metadata updates such as star ratings or keywords. If there is one clear “winner”, the other image can be deleted. If there have been updates to both, you may want to apply metadata updates across the two images to get one of them updated with the most (and most recent) info.

Ultimately this process can be a bit time-consuming, but in my view it is important to be sure you’re deleting the right duplicate to avoid losing metadata updates or other important changes. In the future, hopefully there will be more powerful tools for reliably determining which images can truly be deleted as duplicates in Lightroom Classic without as much effort.

Today’s Question: I was checking my settings in Catalog Settings for Lightroom Classic, and noticed the “Import Number” and “Photos Imported” fields both show a value of one, even though I’ve imported many photos many times. Do these fields serve some sort of purpose, and if so why do the numbers never change?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The fields in question relate to the option of being able to rename photos to include a number based on how many times you’ve imported photos, as well as a number based on the total number of photos imported. The options in Catalog Settings allow you to change the current number for each field if needed.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic includes a variety of options for defining a template to rename photos. It is worth noting, especially in the context of today’s question, that there are different options for renaming based on whether you access the Filename Template Editor from the Library module or the Import dialog.

In the import dialog if you choose Edit from the Template popup in the File Renaming section of the right panel, the Filename Template Editor dialog that appears will include a Numbering section where you will find popups for “Import #” and “Image #”. For each you can select an option between one and five digits, to allow for leading zeros that will help ensure proper sort order when sorting by filename.

If you use the “Import #” token in a template for renaming photos, each time you import a batch of photos into Lightroom Classic the number will increment by one. That, in turn, means the value you see for “Import Number” in the Catalog Settings dialog will increment to reflect the updated number.

The same concept applies for the “Image #” token for renaming photos, except that this option relates to the total number of images imported that included the “Image #” token as part of the template for renaming. Therefore, when you use this token to rename images, the value for “Photos Imported” in the Catalog Settings dialog will increment based on the total number of photos you’ve imported while renaming with the “Image #” token.

Of course, if you don’t use the “Import #” or “Image #” tokens for renaming photos upon import, then the values shown in the Catalog Settings dialog will remain at zero. That is the reason you’re seeing both fields with a value of one, because that is of course the starting value, and you’ve not used either token that would cause those values to increment.

Today’s Question: My catalog is nearing capacity on my 4TB external drive, and I want to split it between two drives. Do I plug in the new (empty) drive, let Lightroom Classic discover it, then just drag and drop folders onto it? This frightens me a bit.

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this scenario I recommend first creating a new top-level folder on the new hard drive from within Lightroom Classic. At that point the new folder would be visible within Lightroom Classic, and you would be able to drag folders from the existing drive to the new folder on the new drive.

More Detail: The most important thing to keep in mind for this task is that all the work should be done within Lightroom Classic. If you attempt to move folders and photos from one drive to another outside Lightroom Classic, the folders and photos will appear as missing within your catalog, and you’ll have a bit of a mess on your hands.

I should also hasten to add that before performing any of this work I recommend updating your backup of all photos. Hopefully that goes without saying since I tend to write a lot about backing up photos!

After connecting the new hard drive to the computer, you can click the plus icon (+) to the right of the Folders heading and choose “Add Folder” from the popup menu. Navigate to the new hard drive, then click the “New Folder” button. Create a new top-level folder with a meaningful name, such as “Photos”. When you click the Choose button the new hard drive and the new folder will appear within the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module.

You can then drag-and-drop individual folders from the original hard drive to the new folder on the new hard drive. Note that it is possible to select multiple folders at a time from the old drive and drag them all at once to the new location. However, if you’re going to do so I recommend dragging in relatively small batches. Otherwise, if an error occurs it can be more challenging to get things back on track.

I also recommend creating some form of logic or strategy for choosing which folders and photos will be on the new drive versus the original drive. Doing so can make it easier to keep track of where specific photos belong and can therefore be found between the two drives. This can be especially helpful if you might tend to have just one of the two hard drive connected in certain situations. You could divide photos based on older versus newer images, higher versus lower priority, or some other criteria that makes sense for you.

Today’s Question: Long ago, when I was first learning to use Photoshop, I found a way I could lighten or darken a particular area of an image and then “brush” that effect gradually into neighboring areas. Either my memory has failed me (quite possible), or the tools have changed, but I am unable to duplicate that process now. What am I missing, or messing up?

Tim’s Quick Answer: This is indeed a good technique that is still available in Photoshop. The process involves adding a new image layer with specific attributes, and then using the Brush tool to paint with black and white at a reduced opacity to darken and lighten areas of the image, respectively.

More Detail: The flexible dodging and burning technique is probably one of the adjustments I’ve been using (and teaching) in Photoshop the longest. It provides greater flexibility and control than using the Dodge and Burn tools by making use of the Brush tool instead.

To get started, select the top-most image layer (which could be the Background image layer) on the Layers panel by clicking on its thumbnail. Then hold the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh while clicking on the “Create a new layer” button (the plus within a square icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel.

In the New Layer dialog, enter a meaningful name in the Name field, such as “Dodge and Burn”. Set the Mode popup to Overlay, set the Opacity to 100%, and turn on the “Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray)” checkbox. Click the OK button to create the new layer.

Next, choose the Brush tool from the Tools panel. On the Options bar click the brush popup (the third icon from the left) and set the Hardness value to 0%. Make sure the Mode popup on the Options bar is set to Normal, and set the Opacity value to somewhere around 10% to 20%.

Set the colors to their default values of black for the foreground color and white for the background color by pressing the letter “D” on the keyboard. As needed you can press the letter “X” to exchange the foreground and background colors.

With everything configured, you can adjust the brush size as need by pressing the left square bracket (“[“) key to reduce the brush size and the right square bracket key (“]”) to increase the brush size. Then paint with black over areas of the image you want to darken, and paint with white over areas you want to brighten.

The result is a non-destructive layer-based approach to dodging and burning an image with great flexibility.

Today’s Question: I keep all my images on a 6TB external hard drive, which is quickly running out of space, and would like to back it up to an external 20TB hard drive. What software do you recommend and why?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I would use software such as GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup), though there are some very important issues that need to be kept in mind when performing this work.

More Detail: There are a variety of ways you could migrate photos to a larger hard drive. However, I recommend using software that is designed for this type of purpose to avoid problems and frustrations.

If you’re using Lightroom Classic you’ll of course need to keep in mind that if the overall path to the photos changes, you’ll need to reconnect the “missing” folders after the migration. This is best done by reconnecting a single top-level folder, such as by having a “Photos” folder that can be used as the single folder to reconnect above all others.

I don’t recommend simply copying (or moving) the photos, because this can result in problems and frustration if there are any photos that aren’t able to be transferred for any reason. This process can be managed much more easily by creating a backup job for this purpose with software such as GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup).

One significant caveat to be aware of with GoodSync is that it will make the destination location look exactly like the source location, which can include deleting existing files if you’re not careful. For example, if you have existing files and folders on the destination drive, but then select the existing photos drive as the source and the top-level (root) of the larger hard drive as the destination, GoodSync will delete existing files on the larger hard drive so that it matches what is on the source drive. In this case you should use a new parent folder on the larger drive to serve as the destination for the backup.

While the overall process of migrating photos to a new and larger hard drive is rather straightforward, there are also risks involved if you’re not familiar with the specific process involved. In that case I would recommend having someone who is familiar with this workflow take care of the process for you. Even more important, if you’re using Lightroom Classic I consider it critically important to make sure that anyone who helps you with this type of computer work is very familiar with Lightroom Classic.

Today’s Question: I’m wondering if it’s possible do a search to find all the images in a Lightroom Classic catalog where the original image is missing.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can locate all photos that can’t currently be found where they’re expected by going to the Library module and choosing Library > Find All Missing Photos from the menu.

More Detail: A “missing” photo in Lightroom Classic is simply a photo that can’t currently be located in the specific location and with the specific filename that is expected based on the catalog. For example, if you disconnect an external hard drive that contains photos being managed by Lightroom Classic, all the photos on that hard drive would show as missing. However, all you would need to do is reconnect the hard drive to your computer and the photos would no longer be missing.

So, to get started with this task the first step would be to connect all hard drives so that as many photos are available as possible. You can then choose Library > Find All Missing Photos from the menu. This will cause a collection called “Missing Photographs” to be created (if it hadn’t been created previously) in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module.

You can then go through the images in the Missing Photographs collection and either reconnect photos you’re able to find or remove photos that you decide you won’t be able to locate. Note that it can also be helpful to reconnect folders rather than individual photos. For example, you could right-click on a missing photo and choose “Go to Folder in Library” from the popup menu. That will navigate you to the applicable folder in the Folders list on the left panel, where you can hopefully reconnect the entire folder rather than individual photos one at a time.

Today’s Question: I periodically get an email from Backblaze featuring “Your Backup Summary”. Is it important that I review the backup summary, or can I just ignore it and let it run in the background?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I do recommend periodically reviewing your online backup summary with Backblaze, even if only to confirm that all drives have been successfully backed up recently.

More Detail: The Backblaze service provides an online backup, which means you don’t have direct access to the backup on a local hard drive. That’s part of the point of using a service such as Backblaze, since it provides an offsite backup. However, because it is an offsite backup that you’re not controlling directly, it can be good to review the status of the backup periodically to make sure your photos and other important data are indeed being backed up.

There are two basic things you can check when reviewing your online backup status. First is the overall summary of the backup. When you visit the Overview page of your online account with Backblaze, you’ll see a summary showing when the most recent file was backed up from each drive that you are backing up with Backblaze. This is a good way to confirm that the backup for all drives has been updated recently and can serve as a good reminder that you need to connect a particular drive so the backup can be updated.

In addition, you may want to periodically check the View/Restore Files tab for your online account. There you can navigate to a particular folder on a particular drive to confirm that files have been backed up. For example, you could check the files for a folder containing your most recent photos to ensure they were actually added to the backup properly.

While I have grown to trust Backblaze to properly manage my online backup, I do appreciate the peace of mind of being able to check the status of the drives I am backing up with Backblaze as well as specific folders and photos. I therefore recommend that all Backblaze users do a similar review periodically, if for no other reason than to improve your peace of mind.

You can learn more about the Backblaze online backup service that I recommend by following this link:

https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal#af9pdk

Today’s Question: I have Lightroom Classic and have limped along with it fine for some time. But I have a lot to learn about organizing my images into folders and collections, and learning how to find them. My question for you is am I better off learning Bridge and Camera Raw, or sticking with Lightroom Classic for file management? I hate to switch to Bridge/Camera Raw, as it is yet something new to learn, but maybe it is superior to Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I wouldn’t say that Bridge or Lightroom Classic are necessarily better than one another, but rather that they are different. Bridge is a little easier and more forgiving, while Lightroom Classic offers some unique benefits but requires that you have a pretty good understanding of how it works to avoid problems.

More Detail: In many respects, Adobe Bridge is the safer choice compared to Lightroom Classic, in that Bridge is a browser that doesn’t rely on the catalog. Therefore, if you’re struggling with Lightroom Classic it might make more sense to consider Bridge, if for no other reason than to avoid the potential problems that can be created if you forget that all updates should be applied within Lightroom Classic, not through other software or the operating system.

While Bridge is overall a little simpler and more forgiving, there are some advantages to the catalog that is a core feature of Lightroom Classic. That includes being able to browse all photos even when the source files aren’t available (such as when an external hard drive is disconnected), the ability to search across your entire catalog of photos quickly and easily, and more.

I personally use Lightroom Classic to manage my catalog of almost 400,000 photos, and very much appreciate the benefits the catalog provides. But I also appreciate the potential problems that can occur when photographers use Lightroom Classic without fully understanding it. There’s a reason, after all, that my “Cleaning Up Your Mess in Lightroom Classic” course (https://www.greylearning.com/courses/lightroom-mess) is one of my best sellers.

Put simply: I personally prefer Lightroom Classic compared to Bridge (or the cloud-focused version of Lightroom). However, I will caveat that by saying if you’re going to use Lightroom Classic it is very important to make sure to understand it well before getting too deep into using it in your workflow.

For more information on choosing between Adobe Bridge, Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic, check out my webinar presentation from early this year on my “Tim Grey TV” channel on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/BwpneG4y0nQ?si=hE1txjZ3HWxCH-TH