Author: Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I have some photos where I do exactly what you suggest [using the “Save a Copy” command], but the save dialog only gives 7 format choices, none of which is a JPEG, even if I uncheck the Layers checkbox. I’ve attached a reduced-size version of the TIFF file.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can’t use the “Save a Copy” command to save a JPEG file when the source image is in the 32-bit per channel mode. I would call this a bit of a glitch, though it is a somewhat understandable issue.

More Detail: In previous answers I’ve explained how you can’t save an image as a JPEG file (among some other file formats) using the “Save As” command if the image includes features not supported by a JPEG file such as layers. Instead, you can use the “Save a Copy” to create a JPEG file without having to make changes to the source image to ensure it is compatible with the JPEG file format.

However, today’s question brought my attention to one exception: You can’t use the “Save a Copy” command to save a JPEG when the image is in the 32-bit per channel mode.

Admittedly, this isn’t likely to be a common issue affecting very many photographers, and it is understandable why Adobe would not enable the “Save a Copy” command for saving a JPEG based on a 32-bit per channel image.

The key reason you would potentially have an image in the 32-bit per channel mode is if you had assembled an HDR image in Photoshop and took advantage of the 32-bit per channel bit depth option. You could then apply tone-mapping using Camera Raw for the 32-bit per channel image, and make some adjustments before converting the image to the 16-bit per channel mode.

I consider the 32-bit per channel mode to be something of a temporary mode, since there are limits to the types of adjustments that can be applied in the 32-bit per channel mode. For example, while you can add adjustment layers to a 32-bit image, you can’t add adjustment layers for Vibrance, Color Balance, and Black & White, among others.

The reason I don’t really consider this to be a bug in Photoshop is that simply converting the image to 16-bit per channel mode without flattening the image first will result in an altered appearance for the image, and generally requires a tone-mapping step. While this could certainly be dealt with as part of the “Save a Copy” command, it is a bit of a unique scenario and doesn’t align with the typical use for a 32-bit per channel image.

So, if you’re working with a 32-bit per channel image you won’t be able to save the image as a JPEG even with the “Save a Copy” command. However, I recommend getting the image to the point that you have apply adjustments to the point that you convert to 16-bits per channel to create a “finished” master image before creating a JPEG copy based on the master image.

Today’s Question: I thought that if you flatten a Photoshop file, you could “Save As” a JPEG. So why use “Save a Copy”? Save As seems to accomplish the same thing?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The “Save As” command in Photoshop will only allow you to save an image as a JPEG if the image is fully compatible with the JPEG format. That means the image can’t have any layers, layer masks, or saved selections, and that it must be in the 8-bit per channel mode, for example.

More Detail: As noted in an answer last week, the “Save As” command in Photoshop will now only allow you to save in a file format that supports all features of the current image. If the image has layers, for example, you can save in the Photoshop PSD or TIFF file format (among others), but you can’t save as a JPEG. To save a JPEG without altering the image to be compatible, you can simply use the “Save a Copy” command.

There are a variety of features in Photoshop that can’t be preserved as part of a JPEG file, among other file formats. The inability to save a file in a format that doesn’t support all features of the file is aimed at helping you ensure you don’t accidentally save a file without preserving all elements of the file.

If you wanted to save a layered image as a JPEG you could certainly flatten the image first. However, this includes the risk that you might accidentally fail to retain the layers in a supported format. The Save a Copy command will cause a new file to be created in any file format, without replacing the primary image.

Layers, however, are not the only feature of Photoshop that can’t be included in a JPEG image. Besides having no layers, JPEG images can only be saved in the 8-bit per channel mode. They can only be set to the RGB or CMYK color mode. They can’t have any layer masks, alpha channels, or saved selections.

You could certainly make changes to the image to make it compatible with the JPEG format so you can use the “Save As” command. However, it is easier to not worry about the specific features you may or may not have taken advantage of for the image, and instead use the “Save a Copy” command when you want to save an additional image file beyond the master image. That master image should generally be saved as a Photoshop PSD or TIFF file in order to preserve all features you’ve taken advantage of.

Today’s Question: In reviewing your answer about updating copyright information for multiple photos in Lightroom Classic, I am not able to find the Copyright field or many other fields at all. In the Metadata section I only see the filename, the image dimensions, and a few other fields. How do I access all the other metadata fields?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can change which metadata fields are displayed by selecting an option from the popup that appears to the left of the Metadata heading on the right panel in the Library module. I generally prefer the “EXIF and IPTC” option because it enables a large number of helpful metadata fields.

More Detail: You can choose which set of metadata fields you want displayed in the Metadata section on the right panel in the Library module by choosing an option from the popup to the left of the Metadata heading.

There are a variety of options available, including the “Default” option that includes fields such as the filename, copyright info, star rating, color label, and capture time. My personal preference is the “EXIF and IPTC” option, which includes the capture information recorded by the camera along with other commonly used fields including contact information, copyright details, and the Title and Caption fields.

Of course, the best option depends on your particular preferences in terms of which fields you tend to refer to the most or tend to update. I encourage you to review the options available from the popup to the left of the Metadata heading, so you can choose the setting that includes the most useful metadata fields for you.

In fact, you could even customize your own configuration for the Metadata section by choosing Default from the popup and then clicking the Customize button that will then appear at the bottom of the metadata section.

Today’s Question: I have Lightroom Classic set up so that on import it establishes my copyright on all images imported. That’s fine when they’re mine! I have a project for a summer camp I went to in the 60s, where I am working on some professional images they had made at the time. They all now have my name in the copyright field. Is there a way to undo this temporarily, so that cell is just blank. Or should I just undo it and reimport the photos?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can update metadata for multiple images by selecting the images you want to update in the grid view (not the loupe view) and then updating the applicable fields in the Metadata section of the right panel in the Library module. In this case that could simply mean deleting the text in the Copyright field, for example.

More Detail: If you have incorrectly applied metadata updates to a group of images, it is very easy to remove (or update) metadata values for those images.

The first step is to select the images. If you want to select all the images in the current location you’re browsing, you could simply choose the Select All command from the Edit menu or use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Macintosh. If you want to select a range of photos, you could click on the first image and then hold the Shift key while clicking on the last image. You can also toggle the selection of individual images by holding the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh while clicking on the image.

With the images you want to update selected, it is important to switch to the grid view display rather than the loupe view. That is because by default in the loupe view, you’ll only be updating the currently active image shown in the loupe view even if you have multiple images selected on the filmstrip. In the grid view you’ll be updating all selected photos.

You can then go to the Metadata section of the right panel and update any metadata fields you’d like, such as the Copyright field in this case. You can delete the text in a field, or update with new text, pressing Enter/Return on the keyboard to apply the change. Note that you’ll need to confirm the update in the dialog that appears, unless you have previously selected the “Don’t show again” option for that dialog.

Today’s Question: In earlier versions of Photoshop I had dozens of simple shapes I could draw like stars and hearts. Now, in Photoshop 2023, when I click the Shape dropdown, all I have is four folders of not-so-useful shapes like Wild Animals. Is there a way to get the original shapes back?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can load the shapes from earlier versions of Photoshop by enabling the ” Legacy Shapes and More” group.

More Detail: With a relatively recent update Adobe completely overhauled the shapes available for the Custom Shape tool. Granted, this isn’t a tool that photographers tend to use all that frequently, but it can be very helpful for adding things like symbols and arrows or other simple shapes for things like slideshows or other presentations.

Fortunately, you can get those shapes back relatively easily. Start by bringing up the Shapes panel by selecting Window > Shapes from the menu. In the Shapes panel click on the panel popup menu, which has an icon showing three horizontal lines at the top-right of the panel. From the popup menu that appears choose “Legacy Shapes and More”.

When you select this command, you’ll see a “Legacy Shapes and More” group on the Shapes panel as well as on the Shape popup on the Options bar for the Custom Shape tool. Within this group you’ll find a variety of subfolders containing the many different shapes that had been included by default in earlier versions of Photoshop.

Today’s Question: I recently got my Mac with the M1 chip set and upgraded to Photoshop 2023. I thought that I had everything under control until I wanted to Save As a JPEG file, but that does not seem to be there anymore. How can I send my photos to friends if Adobe does away with the option to save JPEG files?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can still save photos as JPEG images from Photoshop. The solution in this case is to use the “Save a Copy” command from the File menu, which will enable you to save a copy of the current image as a JPEG file, or any other supported file format.

More Detail: Adobe recently updated Photoshop with a “feature” that prevents you from saving an image in a file format that does not support all the features you’ve used for the image. The aim here is to prevent you from losing important image data, but of course the way it is implemented can lead to some confusion.

JPEG images, for example, don’t support layers, saved selections, layer masks, high bit depth, and more. Let’s assume you opened an image in Photoshop and then added some layers, for example, and then wanted to save a JPEG copy to share with a friend. In earlier versions of Photoshop, you could choose the Save As command, and save a JPEG. If you then closed the layered image, you would be prompted to save the file. Having saved a JPEG, you might assume you don’t need to save again, so you don’t save the updated file. As a result, you will have lost layers and any other features not supported by the JPEG version you saved.

To prevent you from accidentally discarding the special features you may have used for an image, the Save As dialog now only allows you to select among file formats that support the features for the current image. For example, if the image includes layers you could save as a Photoshop PSD or TIFF file, but not as a JPEG or PNG file.

Thus, the addition of the Save a Copy command. When you want to save another copy of the image in a file format that doesn’t support all applicable features for the image, simply choose File > Save a Copy from the menu. This will enable you to save a copy of the source image in any file format you want. For a JPEG image, for example, that means the additional copy would be flattened without any layers and would be in the 8-bit per channel bit depth, for example.

You would still want to be sure to preserve the original image in a format, such as Photoshop PSD or TIFF, that supports all the features you’ve used for the image, but with the Save a Copy command you can still save another copy of the source image in any file format you’d like.

Today’s Question: Is there a way to ‘share’ Camera Raw edits, especially masking edits, between Lightroom Classic and Photoshop? When I open an image from Lightroom Classic into Photoshop (right click, open as smart object) it comes in with all the existing edits but Camera Raw has been reset. Similarly, when I save a Photoshop image it comes in as a fresh image into Lightroom Classic.

Tim’s Quick Answer: While Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw use the same adjustments, and those adjustments are therefore interchangeable, in the context of a workflow that includes both Lightroom Classic and Photoshop you would generally be using one or the other without the ability to see a full history in both applications.

More Detail: As I’ve noted in the past, Camera Raw in Photoshop and the Develop module in Lightroom Classic are essentially the same thing. They provide the same interchangeable adjustments, but with a different approach to workflow. This generally means you would be choosing between one workflow or the other in the context of processing a raw capture.

To illustrate the concept of interchangeability, if you were to process a raw capture using Camera Raw you could later import the raw capture into Lightroom Classic and your original adjustments from Camera Raw would appear thanks to the settings preserved in the associated XMP sidecar file.

Similarly, if you applied adjustments to a raw capture in Lightroom Classic and then exported the raw capture using the “Original” option for the file format, you could then open that raw capture via Camera Raw in Photoshop and all your adjustments from Lightroom Classic would appear in Camera Raw.

However, while you can send images from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, there isn’t support for a full roundtrip workflow for a raw capture. Instead, when you send an image to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic you’re creating a new derivative image, which means that image will no longer retain the previous editing history.

You could then use the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop to apply the same adjustments you would otherwise find in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw, but once the image gets back to Lightroom Classic you once again won’t preserve the original history for that derivative image, but instead would be creating a new history from that point forward.

Of course, if you’re using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, you really shouldn’t be opening a raw capture directly in Photoshop to begin with, as doing so will result in adjustments that aren’t reflected at all in Lightroom Classic for the raw captures.

In general, my recommendation is to use Lightroom Classic to optimize your raw captures as close to perfection as possible. When there are features you need to take advantage of in Photoshop, you can then send that raw capture to Photoshop to create a derivative Photoshop PSD or TIFF file that you can optimize in any way you’d like using Photoshop. When you’re done, you can save and close the image, and it will appear alongside the original in Lightroom Classic.

Admittedly, it would be great if we could bounce back and forth between Lightroom Classic and Photoshop without having to create a derivative image in the process, so that the workflow was much more seamless. However, that is impossible based on the very different approach to image processing used by Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.

Today’s Question: I would like to apply a watermark to images before syncing them with a collection to the cloud from Lightroom Classic. Is there a way to add a watermark to photos without exporting first and then importing the saved photo back into Lightroom Classic? I also don’t really like the Print module option to print to a JPEG file.

Tim’s Quick Answer: I would say that the best solution in this case is to add the watermark via the export feature, but you can save a step by using the option to add the exported photos back to the catalog. Those copies can then be added to synchronized collection that you share with clients.

More Detail: While Lightroom Classic includes an option for adding a watermark to photos easily when sharing photos such as via an export, by creating a gallery in the Web module, or when printing from the Print module, there isn’t an option to add that watermark automatically to collections of photos you synchronize to the cloud for sharing with others. Fortunately, there is a bit of a workaround that works reasonably well.

While this process does involve exporting photos to create copies with a watermark applied, you can automatically add those photos back to the catalog so they can be easily added to a collection and synchronized to the cloud for sharing with others.

Start by selecting the applicable photos and clicking the Export button at the bottom of the left panel in the Library module. From the Export To popup in the Export Location section at the top of the dialog choose “Same folder as original photo”. I also recommend turning on the “Put in Subfolder” checkbox so the images will be separate from the originals. Then enter a name for that folder, such as “Share”, in the textbox to the right of the checkbox.

Be sure to turn on the “Add to This Catalog” checkbox as well, so the photos will be added back to the catalog, so you don’t need to import them through a separate process. Configure the preferred settings for the images, including the options for a watermark in the Watermarking section, and then click the Export button to create the watermarked copies of the photos.

You can then create a collection that includes these images to synchronize for sharing with your client. A quick way to create a collection that includes these photos is to drag the folder (such as the “Share” folder in this example) down into the Collections section on the left panel in the Library module. You can then right-click that collection and choose “Rename” to give it a more meaningful name.

Turn on the synchronization checkbox to the left of the collection name within the Collections section, and then in the grid view display click the “Make Public” button at the top-right of the grid view. This will generate a link you can then share with clients, so they can review the photos complete with your watermark.

Today’s Question: I have the red frame [color label] on images when I import them [into Lightroom Classic], so I can tell which ones are not edited. How do I remove that color from the frame once I did in fact edit it?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Once you’ve reviewed a batch of photos that were marked with the red color label in Lightroom Classic, you can select all those photos, switch to the grid view display, and press the number “6” on the keyboard to remove the red color label.

More Detail: I use a metadata preset in Lightroom Classic to assign a red color label to all new photos as they are imported into my catalog. That signifies that I’ve not yet reviewed the photos to decide on favorites versus outtakes, which helps make sure I don’t overlook any photos in my workflow.

Of course, once I’ve reviewed the photos that means I don’t need the red color label anymore, so it can be removed. To do so I simply select all photos that have been reviewed in the current folder, switch to the grid view display so I can update the metadata for multiple photos at once, and then press the number “6” on the keyboard, which is the keyboard shortcut for the red color label.

It is important to note that the keyboard shortcuts for color labels are toggles, meaning if you press “6” on the keyboard it will assign a red color label to the current photo, and if you press “6” again that color label will be removed. So you need to be sure you know the current color label status for the selected photos before you use the keyboard shortcut. And, of course, if you’re using a color other than red, you’ll need to use the appropriate keyboard shortcut, such as “7” for yellow or “8” for green.

If you’ve finished reviewing all photos in the current folder, you could simply use the “Select All” command to select the images, by pressing Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Macintosh. If you haven’t gotten through all the photos, you can quickly select photos from the current back to the first image that you need to remove the label for. With the current image selected, simply scroll left on the filmstrip (or up in the grid view) and hold the Shift key while clicking on the thumbnail for the first image you want to select.

So, you can use a metadata preset to assign a color label on import, and then use a keyboard shortcut to remove the color label from selected photos once you’ve reviewed the images.

I discussed the workflow I use to assign red color labels to photos on import into Lightroom Classic in an article called “Red Labels for All!” in the January 2021 issue of my Pixology magazine for photographers. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can sign up and get the back issues, including the January 2021 issue, on the GreyLearning website here:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/pixology-magazine

Today’s Question: You mentioned that hard drives fail periodically. I’m curious to know how often you experience hard drive failures, and if you think this is just something we should expect from time to time.

Tim’s Quick Answer: I typically experience a hard drive failure about once every few years. This is based on having more than a dozen hard drives in active use, including primary drives and at least two backup drives for each primary.

More Detail: Hard drive failures are a fact of life, and so really it is not a matter of if a hard drive will fail but rather when. Fortunately, today’s hard drives are overall very reliable. However, failures do occur. I experience a failure about once every three years on average, though sometimes I go longer without a failure and sometimes I experience more than one failure in a single year.

I have also “retired” hard drives that hadn’t yet failed but had given me reason to distrust them, such as if a file fails to copy or gets corrupted, or the hard drive fails to mount through the operating system.

It is difficult to gauge hard drive reliability based on a small data set. I often hear from photographers who say they have had a very bad experience with multiple failures from a single hard drive manufacturer. However, overall industry data supports that failures are relatively rare.

I have actually gotten to the point where I don’t worry about hard drive failures. To be sure, I consider them a minor annoyance, but they don’t generally cause me to lose any data. That is because I maintain a consistent backup workflow that ensures when a hard drive fails I have a backup I can recover from quite easily.

When a hard drive does fail, I’m able to recover from a synchronized backup created using GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup), which means the backup is an exact copy of the original drive. Therefore, the biggest issue I face when a hard drive fails is that I need to purchase a replacement for the failed drive and create a new backup, so that I’m back to having a primary drive and at least two backup drives.

I should add that in addition to my local backups I use Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup) as an online backup solution to provide yet another layer of redundancy.