Month: August 2024

Today’s Question: At times I want to send an image to a publisher without including the metadata. Is there a way to delete all metadata from an image being sent from Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can exclude most metadata by exporting photos from Lightroom Classic and choosing either “Copyright Only” or “Copyright & Contact Info Only” from the Include popup in the Metadata section of the Export dialog. Similar options are available when exporting via Adobe Bridge.

More Detail: In some cases, you may want to exclude metadata when sharing photos, such as to prevent others from learning what camera equipment or settings were used, where the photo was captured, what keywords were assigned, or other details.

In the context of Lightroom Classic, you would typically create copies of images to share with others by exporting copies of the source photos. In the Export dialog you can configure the various settings, such as to make JPEG copies based on original raw captures. To limit the metadata that is included in the derivative images, choose an option from the Include popup in the Metadata section of the Export dialog. When you want to limit the metadata being included, you’ll likely want to choose either “Copyright Only” or “Copyright & Contact Info Only”.

For those not using Lightroom Classic there is a similar option to export from Adobe Bridge. First enable the Export panel if it isn’t already by going to the menu and choosing Window > Export. Drag selected images to the Custom Export option in the Export panel. In the Export dialog you can configure the settings for the copies of the photos you’ll be creating. In the Metadata section you can keep the “Include Original Metadata” checkbox turned on, but then choose either ” Copyright Only” or “Copyright & Contact Info Only” from the popup below the checkbox. Click the Start Export button when you’re ready to export the images.

Sharing images without the original metadata does involve creating copies of the source photos. But in most cases, that’s exactly what you would want to do anyway, such as to send a JPEG copy rather than an original raw capture. The key is to configure the appropriate option for excluding most metadata from the image, so the recipient will only be able to see the details you want them to be able to see.

Today’s Question: I wonder if you could clarify the benefits of exposure bracketing. Is the benefit simply to have more options? If I take three bracketed shots and then merge those photos in Photoshop, will the result simply be the same as the middle exposure? Or is there a gain to taking and then merging bracketed shots?

Tim’s Quick Answer: There are two key reasons to bracket exposures. The first is to have an additional option in case the base exposure isn’t optimal. The second is to be able to blend exposures for a high dynamic range (HDR) result.

More Detail: Bracketing exposures simply means that rather than capturing just a single exposure, you will capture additional exposures that are either brighter or darker (or both) compared to the baseline exposure. A standard approach, for example, would be to capture both an exposure that is one stop darker and an exposure that is one stop brighter, along with the standard exposure.

One of the primary reasons photographers might bracket exposures is if they are dealing with a tricky lighting situation (such as backlighting) and they aren’t confident that they will get the exposure right. In some situations you may obviously have the time to capture a test exposure and then capture additional photos with adjustments as needed. But in many cases you may not have that flexibility. For example, with concert photography things may be changing so rapidly that if you don’t get the shot right the first time, you won’t get the shot at all.

So, bracketing exposures helps give you options so that if the baseline exposure is problematic, you have other exposures that will likely have worked out better. Note, by the way, that while bracketing with a total of three exposures is pretty standard, many cameras will enable you to automatically bracket with five, seven, or even more exposures.

The other common reason to bracket exposures is for scenes where the overall tonal range exceeds what can be captured in a single exposure. For example, when including the sun in the frame it is often impossible to capture a single exposure without clipping the highlights or the shadows (or both).

When bracketing for HDR I generally recommend separating the exposures by two stops. In many cases three exposures may be enough, but in extreme cases you may need to bracket with more exposures. The bracketed exposures can then be assembled after the capture to create a final HDR image that contains more detail than a single exposure would have been capable of. Note, by the way, that if the tonal range of the scene doesn’t exceed what your camera can capture with a single frame, there won’t be a benefit to creating an HDR image. In fact, in this situation creating an HDR image may result in more noise than would be present in a single exposure.

Today’s Question: I was intrigued by your mention of “the default panel configuration” in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic. I didn’t think there was a way to change the panel configuration, but is that actually possible?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, it is possible to reconfigure all panels in Lightroom Classic by choosing which sections will be visible. For the right panel in the Develop module you can also change the order of the panel sections.

More Detail: For all modules in Lightroom Classic you can choose which panel sections you want to hide or reveal. By default all panels are revealed, but you can hide panels that you know you’ll never need to use. To do so, right-click on the header for any panel section to view a popup with all sections listed. You can choose a panel by name to turn it off or on. A checkmark icon appears to the left of panels that are currently visible, so it is easy to review the current configuration.

With the right panel in the Develop module you have even greater flexibility, in that you can change the order of the panel sections. To get started, right click on a section header on the right panel in the Develop module and choose “Customize Develop Panel” from the popup menu.

In the Customize Develop Panel dialog you can then configure the panel sections. There is a checkbox to the right of each section name, and you can turn the checkbox off to hide a section or on to reveal a section. You can also drag the handle (the three horizontal lines icon) to the left of any section name and drag the section upward or downward in the list to change the section order.

When you’re finished configuring the right panel you can click the Save button to apply the changes. Note that there is also a “Default Order” button you can click to reset the panel section order to the default configuration.

Hiding or rearranging panels can help reduce clutter and streamline your workflow within Lightroom Classic. Just keep in mind that it also means your interface won’t look the same as for other Lightroom Classic users. For example, if you watch my video training courses, I generally have the panels in the default configuration, and that can lead to a little bit of confusion if you’ve changed your configuration.