Author: Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I see that Adobe has added an AI noise reduction feature to Lightroom Classic [and Camera Raw in Photoshop]. Do you recommend using this new option over the manual approach to noise reduction?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While I find that the new AI-based noise reduction available in Lightroom Classic as well as Camera Raw in Photoshop is very good, I do find that I’m able to get slightly better results with the manual noise reduction controls.

More Detail: The new AI-based Denoise feature from Adobe is impressive, to be sure. With a careful adjustment of the strength of the effect you can get a very good result with minimal effort. However, there are some drawbacks based on my testing.

First, when you use the Denoise feature you will be creating a new Adobe DNG file rather than applying noise reduction to the existing raw capture. This can be a minor disadvantage in terms of having an “extra” file to manage, but I don’t consider this to be a major barrier.

I’ve also found that the default value of 50 for the Amount slider is far too aggressive, resulting in considerable loss of detail and texture in the image. I recommend starting at a value of around 20 for Amount, fine-tuning based on the specific image you’re working on, and the results you’re seeing in the preview. But in my testing a value of around 20 for Amount was far superior to the results I achieved with the default value of 50.

The results with the new Denoise feature compared to the manual noise reduction controls were rather mixed. I was consistently able to retain better texture and detail in images with manual noise reduction, but I was able to retain more of the natural colors, especially in small areas, using the new AI-based Denoise feature.

Based on my experience, I would say that the manual approach is best when your priority is to minimize the appearance of noise while retaining texture and detail in the image. If the priority is to retain even the finest color details and you’re willing to slightly degrade texture and detail, then the AI-based Denoise feature may work better. I’ve also found that the best solution varies depending on the image, so it isn’t a bad idea to test both options for images that exhibit considerable noise.

I think it is worth keeping in mind that the new Denoise feature is new and will certainly be improved over time. In addition, because the image is based on artificial intelligence, as more images are processed the quality of the results will surely improve over time as well.

The Denoise feature is found in the Detail section where the existing noise reduction controls are found. You simply click the Denoise button, adjust the Amount setting in the Enhance dialog, and click the Enhance button to process the image and create the new DNG file. The process is simple, but I do find that I’ve been able to achieve better results in general using the existing manual controls for noise reduction.

Today’s Question: I’m trying to rotate one image layer in a composite image in Photoshop by 180 degrees. However, when I use the rotation command all layers in the entire image rotate. Is there a way to only rotate a single image layer?

Tim’s Quick Answer: To rotate an individual image layer in Photoshop you need to use a command found on the Edit > Transform menu, rather than on the Image > Image Rotation menu.

More Detail: In Photoshop you’ll find a set of rotation commands on the Image > Image Rotation menu, which includes options for a 180-degree rotation, a 90-degree rotation either clockwise or counter-clockwise, and an Arbitrary option for rotation by any number of degrees. However, these options are for rotating the entire image, including all image layers, not just the currently selected layer.

If you want to rotate an individual image layer, start by clicking the thumbnail for that layer on the Layers panel so the applicable layer will be selected. Then from the menu choose Edit > Transform. There you’ll find options for a 180-degree rotation or a 90-degree rotation either clockwise or counter-clockwise. These commands will only rotate the currently active layer on the Layers panel, not the entire image.

Note, by the way, that there are also options to flip the image either horizontally or vertically on both of these menus. As noted above, the commands on the Image > Image Rotation menu will flip all layers for the entire image, while the commands found on the Edit > Transform menu will only flip the currently selected layer on the Layers panel.

Today’s Question: In response to your answer about photos stored in iCloud rather than on the iPhone, it seems to me that Apple is intentionally making it difficult to get photos out of the cloud. Is that your sense as well?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, I absolutely believe that most companies offering cloud-based storage solutions intentionally make it difficult to remove data from that online storage. In most cases this seems to be aimed at ensuring users will need to start paying for more cloud-based storage space more quickly.

More Detail: I have become increasingly convinced (and frustrated) that companies offering cloud-based storage solutions take steps to ensure you use up greater storage capacity, so you’ll need to pay a higher recurring subscription fee for the storage.

This often takes the form of making it difficult to remove files from cloud-based storage, such as by making it difficult to easily and safely download the content so it can be stored locally instead of in the cloud. It can also take the form of defaulting to the use of cloud-based storage rather than local storage, or prompting you to store more files in the cloud.

If cloud-based storage makes sense for you, then it can be very helpful. For example, some photographers prefer the cloud-based storage employed by the cloud-focused version of Lightroom. Other photographers, such as myself and many others, prefer to manage the storage of our photos locally, preferring Lightroom Classic or Adobe Bridge to manage that local storage, for example.

There is certainly a convenience aspect to storing photos and other data in the cloud, such as to make those files more easily accessible from virtually anywhere. And to be fair, in many cases the subscription fees for additional cloud-based storage are often reasonable. However, I do with that companies offering cloud-based storage solutions were more transparent about the options available, and made it easier to migrate away from cloud-based storage for those that decide to make this change.

Today’s Question: I have been unable to download photos from my iPhone or iPad into Lightroom. Only one or two appear, despite there being a few thousand. Is this problem unique to me? Is there a solution?

Tim’s Quick Answer: It sounds like most of your photos are currently being stored in the cloud rather than on your devices. You’ll need to download the photos to the device before they can be discovered by Lightroom.

More Detail: When you enable iCloud synchronization for photos on an iOS device, the primary storage for your photos becomes Apple’s servers rather than your device. If the storage is getting full on one or more of your devices, the original photos will be removed from the device to free up space. It will still appear that the photos are there, meaning you’re able to see the images, but the source files aren’t actually on the device.

When photos are stored in the cloud rather than on your device, there will be a small cloud icon on the photo. This is the indication that the photos are not stored locally, but are stored in the cloud via Apple’s servers.

In the Settings app on your device you can go to your iCloud account and select Photos, you can choose the “Download and Keep Originals” option. However, this requires that you have enough storage space on your device for the photos to be downloaded. If you don’t have enough space you could remove other apps or data to make enough space available.

You can also download photos from the cloud using the Photos app on your computer, or by signing in to iCloud.com. However, you are limited to selecting and downloading less than 1,000 at a time, so you may need to go through several steps to get all your photos downloaded.

Once you have your photos downloaded either to your device or to your computer, they will be available locally so you can import them into Lightroom, for example.

Today’s Question: If you have taken a photo and want to make a print, but it has a blown-out highlights area, what will that look like on a print and is there anything that can be done in Lightroom Classic or Photoshop to fix it? I’ve been told that blown out highlights are unrecoverable, but in this time of AI has that changed?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Areas of a photo that are blown out will have no ink on the paper in the print, causing the area to look odd both in terms of tone and texture. This can be fixed by either pulling back the white point or using image cleanup techniques to fill in the area.

More Detail: When areas of an image are blown out to pure white, there is no texture in those areas. When printed, these blown out areas of the photo will not have any ink on the paper. That results in a complete lack of texture in the area, but also means the paper in that area will be exposed. This can look a bit odd, because the texture and degree of gloss can vary somewhat significantly between areas with ink versus no ink.

There are two basic ways to resolve this issue in the print. The first (and simpler) approach is to pull back the whites so that areas that are pure white are a very bright shade of gray instead. This can be done by reducing the value for the Whites slider in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw. You could also adjust the white slider for Output Levels with a Levels adjustment in Photoshop. The result is that there will be ink on the paper in the areas that are blown out, but there still won’t be any texture in those areas.

Therefore, in many cases the better approach is to fill the blown-out areas using image cleanup techniques. This can be done with the Healing tool (with the Content-Aware option) in Lightroom Classic, or with the Spot Healing Brush tool or the Content-Aware Fill command in Photoshop.

If the blown-out areas are relatively small, image cleanup techniques can work remarkably well. If the areas are relatively large, it can be a little more difficult to clean up the area in a way that looks natural. However, with a bit of work you can fill those areas in so they will look better in the final print, to the point that (hopefully) nobody would recognize that any work had been done in those areas at all.

Today’s Question: Can you explain how to expand the canvas in Photoshop for those of us that placed our subject too close to the edge?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The primary method I recommend for extending the canvas for an image in Photoshop involves copying a section of pixels along the edge, flipping those pixels, and using those pixels to extend the image.

More Detail: There are, of course, a variety of ways you could approach the task of extending an image in Photoshop, such as when you have a subject that is a little too close to the edge of the frame. You could simply extend the canvas, for example, and then fill that area using Content-Aware Fill.

However, in most cases I find that duplicating pixels from the image for the purpose of extending the canvas provides a simpler and more seamless solution.

To get started, use the Rectangular Marquee tool to create a selection of the area between the subject and the edge of the photo. I recommend starting the selection outside a corner of the image, and then drag to the opposite side outside the photo. The selection should include the entire edge of the photo and not include any of the subject.

With the selection active, click on the thumbnail for the layer you want to copy pixels from on the Layers panel to make that layer active. This will often be the Background image layer, for example. Then from the menu choose Layer > New > Layer via Copy to copy the selected pixels on to a new layer.

You’ll then need to flip the new layer you just created so that the edge of the new layer will match up with the existing edge of the image. If you copied pixels from the left or right side of the image, go to the menu and choose Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. If you copied pixels from the top or bottom of the image, choose Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical from the menu.

Next, select the Move tool, and drag the layer you created by copying selected pixels outside the image area. Drag directly outward on the side you copied, so that for example if you copied pixels on the right edge of the image you’ll drag the new layer outside the image on the right side. Make sure that the layer aligns with the outer edge of the photo. For example, if you duplicated on the right side you want the left side of the new layer to align with the right side of the image, with the top and bottom edges of the layer aligned with the top and bottom of the image.

To reveal the canvas extension, go to the menu and choose Image > Reveal All. This will expand the canvas to include the new pixels that you moved outside the image area, so you’re able to see the full expanded image.

At this point you may need to do a little image cleanup work to get a better blending of the textures where the edges of the two layers align. The fact that the pixels match up there is mostly a good thing, but it can lead to some odd visual artifacts that you’ll want to remove with image cleanup techniques, such as by using the Spot Healing Brush tool with the Content-Aware option selected.

Today’s Question: I was applying a targeted adjustment in Lightroom Classic to enhance contrast for the sky, and in doing so wanted to adjust the sliders for Whites and Blacks. However, the clipping preview that normally appears by holding the Alt/Option key didn’t work. Is this feature not available for targeted adjustments?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The more detailed clipping preview accessible by holding the Alt/Option key on the keyboard is not available within the masking features for targeted adjustments in Lightroom Classic. The only option is to use the clipping preview display available in the Histogram section.

More Detail: When adjusting the overall tone for a photo using the sliders in the Basic section of the right panel in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic, you can hold the Alt/Option key on the keyboard to see a detailed clipping preview display. This display makes it easy to determine when you are losing detail in the brightest highlights or darkest shadows based on the adjustment you’re applying.

When using the targeted adjustments available with the masking feature of Lightroom Classic, however, this detailed clipping preview is not available. In other words, holding the Alt/Option key will not provide you with any clipping preview at all when working with the masking controls.

However, the clipping preview options are still available in the Histogram section at the top of the right panel. You can click the triangle at the top-left of the histogram display to enable the clipping preview for the shadows and click the triangle at the top-right of the histogram for highlight clipping.

The clipping preview enabled with these controls in the Histogram section are not as detailed as those available by holding the Alt/Option key with the tonal adjustments in the Basic section for global adjustments. However, these options do provide a basic ability to evaluate when and to what degree you are losing detail in the highlights or shadows when applying a targeted adjustment.

Today’s Question: I have a pretty fast computer, but when I try to play videos in Lightroom Classic they don’t play smoothly. Is there a way to improve video playback in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Lightroom Classic does not perform great in general when it comes to playing video. I recommend opening video clips you want to review in the operating system from within Lightroom Classic for playback.

More Detail: Even with a very fast computer, video playback in Lightroom Classic will often be less than smooth. Fortunately, it is very easy to open videos from Lightroom Classic through your operating system, so you can use an application that is better suited for video playback to review your videos.

The first step to opening a video from Lightroom Classic is to reveal the source video file. To do so, right click on the thumbnail for a video in Lightroom Classic and from the popup menu choose “Show in Finder” on Macintosh or “Show in Explorer” on Windows. This will open a window for the folder that contains the video, with the video itself highlighted.

You can then either double-click on the video to open it with the default application, or right-click on the video to select an option to open with a different application. Using this approach will ensure you’re able to view the video with great performance using an application that is better suited to playing videos compared to Lightroom Classic.

Today’s Question: I use several cameras with different sensor sizes, and therefore different factors for multiplying the focal length. Is there a way to display the 35mm equivalent focal length for all cameras in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Lightroom Classic is only able to display the 35mm equivalent focal length if that information was written to metadata by the camera. For supported cameras, you can view this information in the “Focal Length 35mm” metadata field.

More Detail: Lightroom Classic will not automatically calculate the equivalent focal length for cameras with different sensor sizes. Some cameras, however, write the full-frame (35mm) equivalent focal length to metadata. For those cameras, you can view the equivalent focal length in metadata within Lightroom Classic.

Unfortunately, many (if not most) cameras do not write this metadata to the photos. For example, as far as I am aware none of the Canon or Nikon cameras with sensors smaller than full frame write the equivalent focal length to metadata. Therefore, the utility of this field is limited depending on which camera models you’re using.

If you’re using a camera that updates the “Focal Length 35mm” field (or if you want to check to see if your camera does) you can enable the display of this field in Lightroom Classic.

The first step is to switch to the Default metadata display configuration using the popup to the left of the Metadata heading on the right panel in the Library module in Lightroom Classic. Next, click the Customize button at the bottom of the Metadata section. This will bring up the “Customize Metadata Default Panel” dialog, where you can turn on the checkboxes for the metadata fields you want to have displayed in the Metadata section when you’ve enabled the Default view option.

Once you’ve turned on (or off) the desired checkboxes, you can also click the Arrange button to adjust the order of the metadata fields. You can then click the Save button in the Arrange Metadata Default Panel dialog, or the Done button in the Customize Metadata Default Panel dialog, and the Metadata section will be updated based on the changes you made.

This can enable you to display the “Focal Length 35mm” field to view the 35mm equivalent focal length from metadata, but again that information will only display if it was recorded by your camera. But you can also update the overall list of metadata fields displayed in the Default configuration based on your preferences.