Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: You mentioned that it is only possible to have a single catalog synchronized to the cloud in Lightroom Classic. But if I signed up for a second Creative Cloud subscription, wouldn’t that enable me to synchronize an additional catalog.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, if you add a second Adobe Creative Cloud subscription you would be able to synchronize one Lightroom Classic catalog for each of your two subscriptions. You would also need to sign out of one account and into the other to change which images you were viewing and updating via synchronization.

More Detail: You can only enable synchronization for a single Lightroom Classic catalog, because that synchronization is associated with your Adobe Creative Cloud. When you enable synchronization for collections in Lightroom Classic, the images in those collections are available from virtually anywhere using the Lightroom mobile app, Lightroom website, or Lightroom desktop application.

If you wanted to enable synchronization for more than one Lightroom Classic catalog, you would need to sign up for an additional paid Creative Cloud account. You could then synchronize one catalog for each of your accounts.

However, the actual workflow involved with this approach would not exactly be streamlined. In order to switch between the catalogs for each account, you would need to sign out of one Creative Cloud account and into another account.

If you were using Lightroom Classic with two different Creative Cloud accounts on two different computers, working with Lightroom Classic would not be too complicated. However, if you were accessing the synchronized images via Lightroom mobile or Lightroom web, you would need to sign out of one account and into the other to change which collections from which catalog you were currently browsing.

In my view, the simpler approach would be to use a single catalog in Lightroom Classic rather than two catalogs, and then to use some method of identifying collections in a way that would identify which catalog they would have been in had you been using two catalogs. In my view this would be less cumbersome than trying to manage two different Creative Cloud accounts.

Today’s Question: If you add color labels in Lightroom, will they show up in MacOS Finder? And vice versa?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No. The color labels available on MacOS are specific to the operating system, and MacOS doesn’t display the contents of the Label field in metadata where the color label is stored by Lightroom and other applications.

More Detail: While the concept of assigning color labels to files in MacOS is similar to the ability to assign color labels in other software such as Lightroom Classic, Adobe Bridge, and other applications, the two features are not related to each other.

The color labels you can assign in MacOS are an operating system feature, and the information is not stored directly in the files themselves. This is why, for example, if you synchronize files to the cloud that have MacOS color labels, those color labels won’t appear when the files are accessed from a different computer.

The color labels assigned by Lightroom Classic, Bridge, and other applications, use the Label field that is part of the XMP metadata standard. The implementation involves simply adding a word to the Label field, which some software applications will then translate to the display of a specific color for an image. Note, for example, that by default Lightroom Classic uses the word “Red” for a red color label, while Adobe Bridge uses the word “Select” for a red color label.

So, the MacOS color labels and XMP metadata labels are completely different metadata values implemented in completely different ways. Software such as Lightroom Classic does not support the MacOS color labels, and when you display metadata for images using MacOS the Label field (and therefore the color label value) is not displayed.

Assuming you are saving metadata to files for your images in Lightroom Classic, you could browse your color labels in Adobe Bridge or another application that supports that metadata. Just be sure not to make any changes to that metadata outside of Lightroom Classic, because doing so will cause a metadata mismatch.

Today’s Question: I have some images of a seascape, and my horizon always looks off. It’s almost like I can’t “snap” it into place. Even the Auto or Level doesn’t get it quite right. I’m wondering if there was a keyboard shortcut to rotate just a smidge, or a pixel?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can nudge the rotation when cropping by clicking the mouse in the Angle field and pressing the up or down arrow keys to rotate one-tenth of a degree at a time.

More Detail: When cropping in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw you have several options for adjusting the rotation of the image, such as to straighten a crooked horizon. Those include dragging your mouse just outside the crop box, clicking the Auto button in Lightroom Classic, using the Straighten tool (the bubble level icon), or entering a manual value in the Angle field.

One of the great tricks for fine-tuning almost any adjustment in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw is to use the arrow keys to increase or decrease the numeric value associated with the adjustment, which includes the Angle field for rotating while cropping.

You can click the mouse on the textbox to activate the field, and then use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to increase or decrease the value, respectively. In the case of the Angle field the up arrow will rotate clockwise by one-tenth of a degree, and the down arrow will rotate counter-clockwise by one-tenth of a degree.

If you initially need a stronger adjustment, you can hold the Shift key while pressing the up or down arrow keys, which will rotate by one-half a degree for each press of the key.

Note that this same behavior is available for the other textboxes associated with adjustments, such as for the many adjustment sliders. In most cases the up and down arrow keys will adjust the value by one, and holding the Shift key will cause the up and down arrow keys to adjust the value by ten. However, the actual result will vary among some of the adjustments.

Today’s Question: You’ve mentioned that you recommend getting a high-resolution 4K display, but that you don’t set the display to maximum resolution. Why buy a high-resolution display if you’re not going to use that high resolution?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend opting for a display with a high resolution (such as 4K or 5K) to provide excellent display quality, but prefer to set the display at a lower resolution so that interface elements are larger and text is more legible.

More Detail: It might seem odd to purchase a high-resolution display and then not take advantage of that high resolution. However, in my view setting a high-resolution display to a resolution less than the maximum it supports provides what I consider to be the best balance.

High-resolution displays have more pixels, which translates to smaller pixels compared to a display of the same size but lower resolution. Those small pixels enable the display to present finer resolution, which translates to improved image quality.

The downside of a high-resolution display is that when used at the maximum resolution setting software interface elements can be very small, which can be problematic. This can also lead to a situation where text is too small to be able to read if the software in question doesn’t provide good scaling options.

By choosing a display that has a high resolution such as 4K (approximately 4,000 pixels across) or 5K (about 5,000 pixels across), you’ll get the advantage of finer detail and higher image quality. By setting that display to a lower resolution setting, you’ll get the benefit of interface elements and text that are at a better size.

The key benefit of this approach can best be seen by comparing two displays next to each other. For example, if one display features 1920×1080 resolution, and the other supports 4K (typically around 3840×2160 pixels), when both are set to 1920×1080 resolution the 4K display will look sharper with better image quality.

If you’re comfortable with the display size when set to the full resolution your display is capable of, that’s perfectly fine. But if like me you prefer to set the display to a lower resolution, there is still an advantage to choosing a display with a higher resolution than you’ll be setting that display to.

Today’s Question: I have two Lightroom Classic catalogs (I know you don’t recommend this, but it suits my needs). I have synchronization enabled for my primary catalog, but every time I open the second catalog, I’m prompted to synchronize that catalog. I only want to have synchronization enabled for the primary catalog. Is there a way to get Lightroom Classic to stop asking me to synchronize the second catalog?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can disable this message by deleting the catalog helper file that contains the sync data for the catalog you don’t want to enable synchronization for.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic only allows you to enable synchronization to the cloud for a single catalog. If you open a catalog and get a message asking if you want to enable synchronization for that catalog, this is an indication that synchronization had been enabled at one time for this catalog, but that you then switched to synchronizing a different catalog.

To disable this message, you can delete the sync data file associated with the catalog. First, open the catalog that you don’t want to enable synchronization for and open the Catalog Settings dialog (found on the Edit menu on Windows or the Lightroom Classic menu on Macintosh). Go to the General tab and click the Show button in the Information section. This will open a window in your operating system with the folder containing your catalog files selected.

Open the selected folder to view the catalog files. Locate the file that has the same name as the primary catalog file (the file with the .lrcat filename extension) that also includes “Sync” as part of the filename. For example, if the primary catalog file is called “Lightroom Classic Catalog.lrcat”, the sync file would be called “Lightroom Classic Catalog Sync.lrdata”.

Once the sync data file is removed, when you launch Lightroom Classic you’ll no longer be prompted to enable synchronization for this catalog.

Today’s Question: I appreciate your helpful recommendations about using color labels to mark photos, but my issue is that I find those labels difficult to see. Is there a way to make the color labels more visible in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can make color labels easier to see in Lightroom Classic by adjusting the opacity setting in the View Options for the grid view.

More Detail: One of the ways you can make color labels stand out better in Lightroom Classic is to make sure you have the setting enabled to tint the frame around image thumbnails with the label color, and then to increase the opacity setting for that feature.

To get started, in the Library module go to the menu and choose View > View Options. Go to the Grid View tab and make sure the “Tint grid cells with label colors” checkbox is turned on. This will cause the frame around each thumbnail in the grid view (and on the filmstrip) to be tinted with a color based on which color label has been assigned to images.

To the right of the “Tint grid cells with label colors” checkbox is a popup with percentage options ranging from 10% to 50%. This controls the opacity of the color tint for color labels, and the default value is 20%. You can choose a higher setting to have the color label tint stand out more.

When I’m teaching on topics that include the use of color labels, I try to remember to set the popup to 50% so color labels are as clearly visible as possible. In my normal workflow I tend to prefer a setting of 30% or 40%, so the color labels are more visible than they are with the default setting, but not as glaring as they can look with a setting of 50%.

Today’s Question: Can I document star ratings somewhere in Lightroom Classic like color label definitions?

Tim’s Quick Answer: There isn’t a feature for documenting the definitions of star ratings, but you could use color label definitions as a workaround.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic includes a feature for defining the meaning of color labels, which enables you to edit the text that will be added to the Label field when you assign a specific color label. However, I don’t recommend changing these definitions after you’ve already assigned color labels, as that would lead to a mismatch that results in the intended color no longer appearing for applicable photos.

However, you could use an additional set of definitions for color labels to provide a reminder of your definitions of star ratings.

To get started, bring up the Edit Color Label Set dialog by choosing Metadata > Color Label Set > Edit from the menu. You can then treat the colors as though they were star ratings, such as using the red field for one star, the yellow field for two stars, and so on. Enter text for each color to reflect your star rating definitions.

For example, based on the way I define my star ratings I might enter “Keeper” in the red field, “Best of Trip” for the yellow field, “Best of Year” for the green field, “Best of Decade” for the blue field, and “Best Ever” for the purple field. You could also provide some clarity about the definitions by including a number, such as “1=Keeper” for red.

After entering text to define your star ratings, you can click the Preset popup and choose “Save Current Settings as New Preset”. In the dialog that appears, enter meaningful text such as “Star Rating Definitions”, then click the Create button.

At any time, you can then go to the Edit Color Label Set dialog and choose the star rating definitions preset to review your intended meaning for star ratings. But after reviewing, be sure to choose the previously selected preset (such as “Lightroom Default”) so that the correct color label definitions will be active. You can also just click the Cancel button to not apply any changes to the currently active definitions for color labels.

Today’s Question: I sometimes want a safe/permanent version of a virtual copy [in Lightroom Classic]. You mentioned exporting for this purpose. Is there a way to make sure that the exported copy is brought back into Lightroom Classic and shows up in the catalog next to the original parent photo?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can preserve a virtual copy beyond the Lightroom Classic catalog by exporting a copy in the original file format to the same folder as the original image and enabling the option to add the exported image to the catalog in the Export dialog.

More Detail: Virtual copies in Lightroom Classic are only saved in the catalog, so if the catalog were to be lost or become corrupted, the virtual copy would no longer be available. You can preserve a virtual copy by creating a file reflecting the settings for that virtual copy.

To get started, select the virtual copy (or copies) you want to preserve and click the Export button at the bottom of the left panel in the Library module.

In the Export Location section of the Export dialog set the Export To popup to “Same folder as original photo” and turn off the “Put in Subfolder” checkbox. To add the exported copy back to the catalog turn on the “Add to This Catalog” checkbox.

If you’d like to customize the name of the image, you can do so in the File Naming section. If you use the same filename as the source image, to avoid a duplicate filename Lightroom Classic will automatically add a number in parenthesis to the end of the filename for the new file.

In the File Settings section set the Image Format popup to “Original”. In the case of a raw capture that means a copy of the raw capture will be created with the metadata updates saved in an XMP sidecar file.

Adjust any other settings based on your preferences and click the Export button. The virtual copy will then be exported as an additional file in the same file format as the original the virtual copy was based on, in the same folder as that source image. The new image will also be added to the Lightroom Classic catalog alongside the original the virtual copy was based on.

Note that in this scenario you would probably want to remove the virtual copy and instead use the newly created image in order to avoid confusion.

Today’s Question: Can you explain how to assign the drive letter on Windows so that my external hard drive will always have the same drive letter?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can change the drive letter for a hard drive in Windows using the Disk Management feature. This enables you to ensure an external hard drive always gets the same drive letter assignment, so that for example the drive doesn’t appear missing in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: By assigning a specific drive letter to a hard drive in Windows you’ll ensure that drive is always assigned that same drive letter, which can help avoid problems such as folders appearing as missing in Lightroom Classic because a drive was assigned a different drive letter when connected to the computer.

To get started, right click on the Start button and choose “Disk Management” from the popup menu. Right-click on the hard drive letter in the Volume column near the top-left of the dialog and choose “Change Drive Letter and Paths”. In the dialog that appears, click the Change button. In the next dialog make sure the “Assign the following drive letter” option is selected and then choose the desired drive letter from the popup to the right. Click the OK button for each of the two dialogs, and then you can quit Disk Management.

If you’re using Lightroom Classic you would ideally only want to change the drive letter to reflect what Lightroom Classic is expecting for the hard drive. If you otherwise need to change the drive letter assignment, then all folders and photos on that drive will appear missing in Lightroom Classic. However, you can resolve that issue by using the “Find Missing Folder” command to reconnect the top-level folder in the Folders list for the applicable hard drive to the same location on the drive with the new drive letter assignment.

Note that for Macintosh users hard drives are tracked by the volume label, not a drive letter. The equivalent to changing the drive letter assignment would be to simply rename a hard drive to change the volume label.

Today’s Question: Is it possible to use parameters from the EXIF metadata on import to put into the keywords? When importing my photos into Lightroom Classic, I would like to add the camera make as a keyword automatically with the import preset.

Tim’s Quick Answer: This can’t be done completely automatically in Lightroom Classic, but you could create individual metadata presets for each camera make.

More Detail: There isn’t a way to add keywords automatically based on existing metadata values in Lightroom Classic. However, since your intent is to simply add keywords based on camera model, it would be easy to create a set of metadata presets that include the camera model.

Note that you can also easily filter images based on camera model. So, for example, on the metadata tab of the Library Filter bar you could set one of the columns to Camera, and then select all cameras of a given make by clicking on the first model and then holding the Shift key while clicking on the last model.

But if you want to also add a keyword based on the camera make using metadata presets. Using the Edit Metadata Presets command on the Metadata menu in the Library module, you could create individual presets for each camera make you want to add keywords for. For example, you could create individual metadata presets for Nikon, Fuji, and Sony. Just be sure to name the presets with a reference to the camera make, so you know which preset to apply for each import.

Then, when importing photos, select the applicable preset from the Metadata popup in the Apply During Import section of the right panel in the Import dialog based on the camera model you’re importing photos from. This will cause the metadata you included in the preset to be added to all photos during import, which in this case would include adding a keyword based on the camera make for the images.