Month: May 2025

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June 2025: “Organizing Photos in Lightroom Classic”

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Live Online Workshop
June 2-13, 2025

In June I’ll be teaching an online workshop focused on helping photographers organize their photos with a streamlined workflow using Lightroom Classic.

In addition to being able to get answers to their questions directly from me and access to recordings of all sessions, participants will also receive “Cheat Sheet” PDF handouts covering the key aspects of an organizational workflow as part of this workshop. For a limited time you can get the full online workshop experience for just $79 (normally $99).

Get all the details and sign up to join me here:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/online-workshop-organizing-photos-in-lightroom-classic-june-2025

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Limited Features for HDR Images

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Today’s Question: When working with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) I attempted to Save an image using the “Save a Copy” command. My intent was to save image as a JPEG but that option wasn’t available. I then attempted to Print but the Print command was not available. Is it possible the problem lies with the fact that I used the HDR [High Dynamic Range] option while in ACR?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The specific issue here is that the file is in the 32-bit per channel bit depth, which is an option for high dynamic range (HDR) images. Converting the image to 16-bit per channel after processing will enable the features that aren’t supported for 32-bit per channel images.

More Detail: By default, when you assemble an HDR image from a set of bracketed exposures in Camera Raw, the result will be a 16-bit per channel image. However, you can generate a 32-bit per channel HDR image by turning on the “Enable HDR editing by default for HDR photos” checkbox on the Defaults tab of the Camera Raw Preferences dialog.

A 32-bit per channel image is a true HDR image, but by default in Camera Raw when you create an HDR image the tone-mapping step is applied as part of that process, resulting in a 16-bit per channel image. But if you enable HDR processing, the result will be a 32-bit per channel image.

Converting an HDR as a 32-bit per channel image gives you the option to perform the tone-mapping with other tools, such as the Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning command in Photoshop, a variety of plug-ins, for example. However, in general I don’t consider this type of workflow to be advantageous for processing HDR images, because Camera Raw already provides great tools for optimizing those photos.

Therefore, unless you have a specific reason for wanting to work with 32-bit per channel images, I suggest turning off the HDR checkbox in the Camera Raw Preferences dialog and rendering your HDR images as 16-bit per channel images instead. Note that as long as you’re happy with how the 32-bit image had been processed, you can also convert it to 16-bit per channel in Photoshop by choosing Image > Mode > 16 Bits/Channel from the menu.