Category: Ask Tim Grey

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.

Today’s Question: I saw on Adobe’s website that they are changing the plans and pricing for the Creative Cloud All Apps subscription, but I don’t see anything about the Photography Plan I’m currently using. Will the changes affect me?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The newly announced changes to plans and pricing for Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions do not affect the Photography Plan at least for now. For the All Apps plan the changes primarily relate to the use of Generative AI features and the pricing, but for now only affects customers in North America.

More Detail: For photographers who are subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan, the recent changes announced by Adobe don’t affect you. You will continue to have the same subscription price and the same number of monthly Generative AI credits. Obviously with the changes to the All Apps plan it would be reasonable to assume there may be additional changes to the Photography Plan, but there have not been any announcements related to that.

For those (including myself) who subscribe to the Creative Cloud All Apps plan, there are some noteworthy changes. First and foremost, if you want to have unlimited Generative AI credits the price will increase by $10 per month, from $59.99 to $69.99. Note that prices may vary by region and are also different for monthly versus annual plans. If you only need minimal access to Generative AI features, the price is actually going down to $54.99 from $59.99.

These plans will also be renamed to “Creative Cloud Pro” with unlimited credits for standard Generative AI features and “Creative Cloud Standard” with only 25 standard Generative AI credits per month. The Pro plan includes 4,000 credits per month for premium Generative AI features such as high-resolution video generation, while the Standard plan does not have access to premium Generative AI features.

There are also limits in terms of which mobile and web-based apps are available to those in the Standard plan, while Pro plan subscribers have access to all such apps.

You can learn more about the changes on the Adobe website here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/policy-pricing/changes-to-individual-plan.html

Today’s Question: I’d like to add an important note about Backblaze. With a recent update, Backblaze is unable to back up files that are stored in OneDrive. This appears to be an issue even if files are removed from OneDrive, as they are flagged by OneDrive if they were ever stored there.

Tim’s Quick Answer: While there are published workarounds for this issue, it doesn’t appear to have been completely fixed. Therefore, if you store files in OneDrive that aren’t being backed up through other means, you may want to find an alternative to Backblaze.

More Detail: I’m still working on getting more complete information about this issue, but since it affects the reliability of the Backblaze backup, I wanted to get the information I do have to my readers.

The primary issue seems to be caused by changes made to OneDrive, which limit the ability to ensure files are always stored locally. In other words, OneDrive uses cloud-based storage as the primary storage location for files, which means they may not be present on your local computer. Therefore, those files would not be visible to Backblaze, and as a result can’t be backed up.

Backblaze includes a purported fix for Windows users on their website, but I have seen indications that the fix doesn’t actually work. Similarly, a suggested solution for Macintosh users is inaccurate, and I have confirmed that Backblaze is not backing up most OneDrive files on Macintosh. For reference, the Windows-based information can be found on the Backblaze website here:

https://www.backblaze.com/computer-backup/docs/back-up-onedrive-windows

The reader who shared this information with me had done some research on alternatives that enable you to back up OneDrive files. One solution allows you to back up directly from OneDrive cloud-based storage rather than only from your computer. That is pCloud, which you can learn more about here:

https://www.pcloud.com/cloud-storage-pricing-plans.html?period=year

Note that pCloud offers plans that are priced based on a storage capacity limit, rather than the unlimited storage offered by other services such as Backblaze. However, it does include some other helpful benefits, including being back to back up from cloud-based storage such as OneDrive.

I will continue trying to get more definitive information related to this issue and will publish an update when I’m able to get those details.

Today’s Question: In your answer [on May 12th] about dots under the buttons for adjustment tools in Lightroom Classic, what is the meaning of “the AI masks may need to be updated“?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The indication that AI masks need to be updated means the overall image has been altered in a way that could cause an AI mask to no longer be accurate, such as when pixels were changed with the Remove tool.

More Detail: The masks that are based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology in Lightroom Classic (or Camera Raw or Lightroom desktop) analyze the image to determine what the shape of the mask should be. For example, you can use the Select Sky option to have a mask created automatically that matches the shape of the sky in the image, so that an adjustment can be applied to only the sky.

While the AI-based mask options tend to perform very well, there are situations where you need to reprocess the image to update the mask, based on having made changes to the underlying image.

For example, let’s assume you used the Select Sky feature to create a mask of the sky for an image that included a power pole that extended into the sky. In this case the shape of the mask would reflect the sky excluding the area of the power pole. The targeted adjustment would therefore affect the sky without affecting the area covered by the power pole.

If you then used the Remove tool to remove the power pole from the sky, the mask for the sky adjustment would no longer be accurate. In other words, when the power pole was removed from the image that area would be replaced by sky, the sky mask would not include that “new” area of sky. Therefore, the mask would need to be updated based on a new analysis of the image.

When this type of situation occurs, the dot below the Masking button (the dashed circle icon) on the toolbar below the histogram would appear red, indicating that the AI masks need to be updated. You can update the masks by choosing Settings > Update AI Settings from the menu, or by clicking on the more button (the three dots) to the right of one of the masks and choosing “Update AI Masks” from the popup menu. In the example above, that would cause the sky mask to be updated to include the portion of the sky where the power pole had previously appeared before being removed.

Today’s Question: You mentioned that Adobe Bridge is available for free for anyone to use. How does one obtain the software?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Adobe Bridge is indeed available for free and can be downloaded via the Adobe Bridge product page on the Adobe website.

More Detail: You can initiate the process of installing Adobe Bridge by clicking the “Download app” button on this page on the Adobe website:

https://www.adobe.com/products/bridge.html

Note that as part of the process of installing Bridge you will need to create an Adobe Creative Cloud account if you don’t already have one. You do not, however, need a paid subscription. You can create an account and install Bridge completely free of charge.

My recent mention of Adobe Bridge as a free product was in the context of making photos including metadata available to others. If there are friends or family that you want to provide photos to, along with the metadata you’ve added to the images, Adobe Bridge is a good solution that is free. Granted, Bridge may be a little complex for some users, but it does provide an effective way of browsing and reviewing photos, as well as reviewing the metadata details for the images.

Today’s Question: I’m scanning old photos that have detail on the back. I’ve been entering everything into the Title and Caption fields in Lightroom Classic. Last night it dawned in me that unless a future generation has Lightroom, the details I’m adding to the Title and Caption fields will be lost. Is there a way to add these details into a file type so it doesn’t get lost?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can absolutely preserve the updates to the Title and Caption fields (as well as other fields included in the various metadata standards) by saving the metadata to the source files in addition to the catalog, or by exporting copies of the photos with metadata included.

More Detail: By default, the metadata updates you apply in Lightroom Classic are only stored in the catalog, not the source images on the hard drive. That would create a potential challenge for others to be able to access the information you’ve added to metadata at a later date, unless they had access to and were familiar with Lightroom Classic. Fortunately there are a couple of things you can do to ensure the information is available.

First, you can enable the option to automatically write metadata updates to the source files. To do so, go to the menu and choose Edit > Catalog Settings on Windows or Lightroom Classic > Catalog Settings on Macintosh. Go to the Metadata tab and turn on the “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox. Note that this will only cause metadata fields in established standards, as well as Develop module settings, to be saved to the source images. For proprietary raw captures the information will be saved to an XMP “sidecar” file, and for other supported file formats the original file will be updated.

Another option is to export copies of photos in a more widely supported format with the metadata included. You can select the images you want to export copies of, and then click the Export button at the bottom of the left panel in the Library module to get started.

In the Export dialog, you can specify the location where you want to save the exported copies and choose among a variety of other settings. In this context I suggest exporting the images as JPEG files. In terms of the metadata, I suggest choosing the “All Metadata” option from the Include popup in the Metadata section. You can adjust the other settings based on how you want to create copies of the selected photos, and then click the Export button.

Once the metadata is included in the images, that information can be accessed through various software applications (including Adobe Bridge, which is free for anyone to use), or even by browsing the file info in the operating system using the Get Info command on Macintosh or the Properties command on Windows.

Today’s Question: I’ve discovered that Backblaze has not backed up my Lightroom Classic catalog files (.Ircat). I have this problem on several desktops running Windows 10/11 and have multiple Lightroom Classic catalogs on each that have not been backed up!

Tim’s Quick Answer: Backblaze will back up the Lightroom Classic catalog files by default. You just need to make sure you don’t have an exclusion or file size limit, and that you’ve allowed enough time for the backup.

More Detail: With the default settings, Backblaze will back up all your Lightroom Classic catalog files to their servers, providing an offsite backup of those files. However, there are some settings that can limit which files are being backed up.

Note, by the way, that some of the files associated with the Lightroom Classic catalog are “container” files and therefore will appear as a subfolder when browsing via Backblaze even though they appear as individual files on your computer.

The first thing to do is make sure that there isn’t a file size limit affecting the files you’re not finding in your backup. Bring up the Backblaze Preferences dialog by clicking on the icon for Backblaze and choosing “Backblaze Preferences” from the popup menu. Then click the Settings button and go to the Exclusions tab. At the bottom of the tab, make sure the “Do no backup files larger than” popup is set to “No Limit” (or an adequately high limit for your needs if you do want to exclude very large files).

The other thing to confirm is that the file type exclusion list doesn’t include file types you want to back up. In this case, for example, you would want to be sure that “lrcat” is not listed in the text box associated with the “The following file types will not be backed up” label.

In this case you are obviously backing up at least some of the files in the folder containing your catalogs, so obviously there is not a folder exclusion. But it is worth noting that you can also exclude specific folders on the Exclusions tab as well.

Assuming everything is configured so that the catalog files will be backed up, it is just a matter of allowing enough time for the backup to complete. Files are processed from smallest to largest, and so your largest files won’t be backed up until all smaller files have been backed up successfully. It can take considerable time to complete the initial backup, so if that has not completed yet it may simply be a matter of more time being required for the backup to complete.

Today’s Question: When scanning photos is it best to scan to TIFF format?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While the TIFF format is arguably the best choice for saving scanned photos in terms of image quality, that doesn’t make it the best choice for all situations.

More Detail: The TIFF file format enables you to save images with maximum quality, which can be helpful in terms of providing the best quality when the scanned images are printed. However, TIFF files will also be considerably larger than other formats such as JPEG. Depending on your priorities for the images, in some cases you may prefer to save as JPEG rather than TIFF.

If image quality is your top concern, I recommend saving scanned images in the TIFF file format. I also recommend scanning from a slide or negative rather than a print whenever possible, as the latter contains far less information than the original film.

However, if you are simply trying to digitize photos so they can be reviewed and shared more easily, it may not be necessary to preserve those images with maximum quality with TIFF files that will consume considerable hard drive space. For example, an image scanned from an 8″x10″ print and saved in the TIFF format would produce a file size of around 40MB, while a JPEG image even at maximum quality would result in a file size of around 3MB.

The primary issue with saving as a JPEG image is that there will always be some degree of compression artifacts that can appear as a grid pattern that is visible when viewing the image closely. If you are simply digitizing images for easier review and sharing, the JPEG compression artifacts may not be a concern. If quality is your top concern, the saving TIFF files will achieve that goal, though with considerably more storage space required.