Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: When I’m reviewing my photos in the Library module in Lightroom I have rotate buttons below the image preview. But when I go to the Develop module those rotate buttons disappear. Is there no way to rotate photos within the Develop module?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While the rotate buttons are not available on the toolbar when working in the Develop module in Lightroom, you can still rotate images by using a menu command or a keyboard shortcut.

More Detail: In most cases, of course, you aren’t likely to need to rotate your photos in 90-degree increments, because your camera will have set a rotation flag automatically for your photos. But in some cases you may find that the rotation wasn’t applied correctly, or that you want to alter the rotation for an abstract photo.

When reviewing your photos in the Library module you can have rotation control buttons on the toolbar below the image display (or on the thumbnails themselves). You can hide or reveal these rotation buttons when working in the Library module. Simply click the downward-pointing triangle at the far right of the toolbar below the image preview area and choose the “Rotate” options.

When you are working in the Develop module, however, these rotation buttons are not available. However, the menu commands for rotating your photos are still available. You can, for example, right-click on the thumbnail for a photo on the filmstrip and choose the “Rotate Left” or “Rotate Right” command. You can also go to the Photo menu on the main menu bar and choose the same options.

In addition, you can use keyboard shortcuts to rotate your images while in the Develop module. To rotate the image left (in 90-degree increments) hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh and press the left square bracket key ([) on the keyboard. To rotate the image right, hold the Ctrl/Command key and press the right square bracket key (]).

Today’s Question: I have upgraded to Lightroom CC and am confused as to why I am not seeing the Basic panel in the Develop module [screenshot included].

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this case it sounds like you have hidden a panel section without realizing it. You can re-enable the Basic section by right-clicking on one of the headers of the right panel in the Develop module and choosing “Basic” from the popup menu that appears.

More Detail: Lightroom enables you to hide individual sections of the left and right panels in the various modules. This can be helpful if you want to reduce clutter by removing sections you never make use of. However, it can also be confusing if you manage to hide a section by accident.

Fortunately, it is very easy to reveal a hidden panel section once you know the “trick”. To hide or reveal any sections on a given panel, you can first right-click on one of the headers for any section. For example, you could click in the area where you see the “Basic” header or the “Tone Curve” header when looking at the right panel in the Develop module.

When you right-click on a header on one of the panels, you will see a popup menu with a list of all of the available sections for that panel. In the case of the right panel in the Develop module, for example, you will see Basic, Tone Curve, Adjustments, Split Toning, Detail, Lens Corrections, Effects, and Camera Calibration.

A checkmark icon to the left of these section names indicates that the section is enabled. If there is no checkmark it indicates the section is hidden. You can toggle any section between being hidden or revealed by clicking the applicable option from the popup menu. So, in this example with the Basic section missing you could simply choose “Basic” from that popup menu to reveal the Basic section on the right panel in the Develop module once again.

Today’s Question: As a follow-up to the May 12 question about in-camera versus post processing long exposure noise reduction, do you have the same opinion on high ISO noise reduction?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, there is an important distinction between long exposure noise reduction and high ISO noise reduction in the context of noise reduction applied in the camera. The high ISO noise reduction in the camera does not directly affect RAW capture data. Results will vary, but in general I find that I prefer to apply the high ISO noise reduction in post-processing rather than in the camera.

More Detail: The long exposure noise reduction I referred to in the May 12th edition of the Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter does apply to RAW captures. The second “dark frame” exposure is used to subtract noise from the image in the camera, changing the information in the RAW capture.

High ISO noise reduction operates differently. For JPEG captures, this high ISO noise reduction will of course affect the original JPEG capture. However, for RAW captures the high ISO noise reduction will not affect the actual data recorded by the image sensor. Instead, this information will be added a special metadata within the image. However, in general the only way to make use of that special metadata regarding noise reduction is to use the software provided by your camera’s manufacturer to process your RAW captures.

In other words, if you are using software such as Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw to process your RAW captures, the high ISO noise reduction settings in your camera will not apply to those RAW captures at all.

As noted above, for the limited number of cameras I have tested for in-camera high ISO noise reduction, I have found that I am happier with the results I can achieve with post-processing noise reduction. For example, Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw now provide excellent noise reduction, which I have generally found to be better than the in-camera noise reduction that is available.

So, while I do recommend making use of long exposure noise reduction in the camera, I generally don’t recommend using in-camera high ISO noise reduction. Note that even when you have applied long exposure noise reduction in the camera you will likely want to apply additional noise reduction when processing your photos after the capture.

Today’s Question: In your answer about in-camera noise reduction you explained that a second “black frame” is captured. Doesn’t that mean you are essentially doubling the time it takes to capture a photo? Wouldn’t a 30-second exposure then take a full minute to actually capture? And isn’t that a good reason not to use in-camera noise reduction?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, in-camera noise reduction does double the total time required to capture a photograph, but in my mind it is well worth the extra time in terms of the improvement in quality (relative to noise levels) in the final capture.

More Detail: As noted in the previous edition of the Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter, in-camera noise reduction generally operates by capturing a “black frame”, which is essentially a duplication of the “real” capture with the shutter closed to prevent light from reaching the image sensor.

This black frame provides information about how the image sensor is performing in terms of noise in the same overall conditions as the photo you are capturing. That information is then used by the camera to subtract the noise from the capture.

To be sure, there are situations where it is more important to be able to work as quickly as possible, or to be able to capture more photos within a given timeframe. But when it comes to overall image quality I consider in-camera noise reduction to be tremendously helpful for long exposures.

You will generally find that in-camera noise reduction is not employed until you reach exposure times of around thirty seconds or more. As a result, the impact of the second black frame capture is somewhat significant in terms of total time. It is also significant, however, in terms of the reduction of noise in the capture.

So, recognizing that using in-camera noise reduction essentially doubles the amount of time required for each long exposure capture, I do recommend making use of this feature whenever time allows.

Today’s Question: I would like to know the difference between the long exposure noise reduction option in camera and the noise reduction with Lightroom or Photoshop. What is the best option for long exposure with a 10-stop ND filter?

Tim’s Quick Answer: These two types of noise reduction are actually fundamentally different, with the in-camera option relating to how the camera actually behaves while the post-processing option can only analyze pixel values in the photo. For long exposures I recommend employing both in-camera and post-processing noise reduction.

More Detail: The in-camera noise reduction option provides a unique advantage, in that it is able to compensate for the actual behavior of the image sensor at that specific time under the current conditions.

As you may be aware, there are a variety of factors that can impact overall noise, including the design of the image sensor, the duration of the exposure, and the amount of heat buildup on the sensor. In-camera noise reduction provides the best opportunity to compensate for these various factors. In most cases this function operates by essentially capturing two exposures. First, your actual exposure is captured. Then a “black frame” is captured, where a photo is captured with the same exposure duration, but with the shutter closed to prevent light from reaching the sensor.

This black frame exposure can then be used to determine the noise behavior of the image sensor under the current conditions, so that the camera can then process the actual capture to subtract out the noise. This is, of course, a rather sophisticated operation, and it can be very effective at reducing the noise in the initial capture.

When you are applying noise reduction in post-processing, you only really have the pixel information to work with. Thus, noise reduction software uses a variety of techniques to evaluate and reduce the appearance of noise in the photo.

Since both in-camera and post-processing noise reduction employ a different approach to reducing noise, and since they compensate for different limitations, I recommend using both of them. I generally consider in-camera noise reduction to be the more important of the two, but there will likely be some degree of problematic noise remaining in the image even after in-camera noise reduction has been applied. The careful application of additional noise reduction in post-processing can help ensure the best image possible from the perspective of noise.

Today’s Question: Can you explain why a digital SLR that is limited to somewhere around ten frames per second for photos is able to shoot sixty frames per second for video?

Tim’s Quick Answer: There are two key factors here, which I’ll over-simplify in an effort to keep things as clear as possible. First, video is typically shot at a lower resolution than still photos, so there is less data to process per frame. Second, for still photos there is generally a lot more work being done by the camera, such as moving the mirror and potentially establishing autofocus for each frame.

More Detail: Let’s assume a “typical” digital SLR that has a 20-megapixel image sensor. That means that each photo you capture will contain 20 million pixels. If we assume a frame rate of ten frames per second, that translates into 200 million pixels recorded per second.

If we then assume full high definition (HD) video at 1080p, we would be recording frames that are 1920 by 1080 pixels in overall size. That translates into just over 2 million pixels per frame. Even if we assume a higher-than-typical frame rate of 60 frames per second, the total number of pixels being recorded per second with video is “only” about 124 million pixels. At 30 frames per second that value goes down to about 62 million pixels per second. So, fewer pixels being processed per second with video.

Of course, things do get a bit more complicated. For example, the new Canon EOS-1D X Mark II (http://timgrey.me/atg1dx2) supports 4K video up to 60 frames per second, while capturing still images with a 20.2 megapixel image sensor. The resolution of the 4K video in this case is 4096 by 2160 pixels. That is “only” about 8.8 megapixels. However, when shooting that video at 60 frames per second you are processing more pixels per second (about 530 million) that you would for still photos captured at the maximum frame rate of 16 frames per second (about 319,000 pixels per second).

However, there are additional complexities here that make this possible. As noted above, there is generally more work being done by the camera when capturing individual still images in sequence. In addition, the “more” data being recorded for video doesn’t always translate into more data being stored on a memory card.

In the case of the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, 4K video is captured in the Motion JPEG format, which employs compression to reduce overall file size as well as the overall amount of data being handled. With HD (1080p) the result is an MPEG-4 video.

So again, in general the answer here is relatively simple, because in most cases video represents less information being processed compared to still photos with a typical digital SLR. But, of course, there are more complicated issues involved in some cases, especially when it relates to how the video frames are processed and what specific tasks the camera must perform for still photos compared to video.

Today’s Question: About a week ago I happened to notice that the folders and subfolders I see in the Lightroom Library view are not matched by what I see in the Finder view of my folders and subfolders on the drive where they are stored. That is, folders and subfolders (as well as some photos) that I have moved and deleted within the Lightroom Library module are still appearing in their previous locations in the Finder view of my external drive. In addition, in the Import dialog in Lightroom, the folder hierarchy matches the one I see in the Finder, not the one in the Lightroom Library module. Am I seeing normal Library behavior?

Tim’s Quick Answer: This does sound like perfectly normal behavior in Lightroom. The key is to understand how Lightroom handles the removal of photos and folders within your Lightroom catalog, and to recognize that Lightroom’s behavior varies based on the circumstances.

More Detail: In this case, it sounds like the primary source of confusion relates to removing versus deleting folder and photos.

When you choose to remove one or more photos from your Lightroom catalog, you have the option of removing or deleting the photos. In other words, you can remove the photos from the Lightroom catalog but keep them on your hard drive, or you can actually delete the photos from your hard drive (removing them from your catalog at the same time). This option is available in the confirmation dialog that is presented when you choose the Remove Photos command.

My personal view is that if you are going to remove photos from your Lightroom catalog, you should probably delete them from the hard drive at the same time. After all, if you are using Lightroom to manage your photos, the only way you’re likely going to discover those photos is within Lightroom.

Note that if right-click on a folder that contains photos and choose the Remove command, the folder and photos within that folder will be removed from your Lightroom catalog, but neither the folder nor the photos will actually be deleted from your hard drive.

If, on the other hand, you delete all of the photos within a folder and then choose the Remove command for that folder, the folder will be removed from your Lightroom catalog and deleted from your hard drive.

In other words, there is a bit of variability in terms of the behavior of the options for removing photos and folders within Lightroom. It is possible to delete folder and photos from within Lightroom, but it is also possible to remove photos and folders from your catalog while leaving the actual files and folders in place on your hard drive.

If the folders on your hard drive that are not reflected in Lightroom are indeed empty or contain photos you don’t want to keep, you can delete those folders and photos. If, on the other hand, you want those images included in your Lightroom catalog, you can use the Import feature with the Add option to add those existing folders and photos back to your catalog.

As for the Import feature, that will reflect the actual contents of whatever storage device (such as a hard drive) you browse within Import. The Library module in Lightroom only presents folders and photos that are actually being managed by Lightroom. Any folders or photos that were “left behind” based on the use of the Remove command will still be visible in the Import dialog just as they are visible within your operating system.

Today’s Question: My Lightroom Catalog and Previews are on my main internal hard drive. I wish to keep them there. Therefore, I only want to move my photo files to a larger external hard drive. Is it correct to assume that I close Lightroom; then after copying all of my photo files to the new external hard drive, I give it exactly the same name as the old external hard drive? Having done that, when I next open Lightroom, will it automatically find my photo files?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, it is possible to “upgrade” to a larger hard drive for your photos, while keeping your Lightroom catalog (and therefore previews) on the internal hard drive on your computer. The process you described in today’s question is one way of accomplishing this task.

More Detail: The key to this approach is that Lightroom is looking for your photos based on the path to the photos referenced within the Lightroom catalog. If you “upgrade” to a larger hard drive to store your photos, you can simply make that hard drive appear with the same path as the “old” hard drive, and Lightroom essentially won’t know the difference.

The first step is to copy all of your photos from the existing external hard drive to the new drive. You can quite literally copy all of the contents of one drive to the other, or use synchronization software such as GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup) to perform this task.

Once you have copied all of the folders and photos from the “old” drive to the “new” drive, you’ll need to update that drive. First quit Lightroom, and then disconnect the “old” hard drive from the computer. Then update the “new” hard drive so that it matches the path of the old drive.

For Windows users, this means changing the drive letter (which you can do in the Computer Management application) to the same drive letter that had been used for the old hard drive. For Macintosh users you simply need to update the volume label for the new drive to match that of the old drive, which you can accomplish by right-clicking on the new drive and choosing Rename, then applying the same name as the old drive.

At this point the path to all of your folders and photos will appear exactly as those paths had been before the storage upgrade. You can then launch Lightroom and you will find all of your photos available just as if nothing had happened at all. Except now you’ll have more space available on the new larger hard drive.

This process was also outlined in the August 2014 issue of Pixology magazine, in the article “Step by Step: Storage Upgrade”.

Today’s Question: I’m looking for a tutorial that you did on removing what I’ll call a color cast from a portion of a picture. What I remember was a horse in a field with a partial greenish color cast caused by vegetation that was in the way when the picture was taken. Do you happen to remember where I may have seen this?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I don’t recall where that lesson may have been published, but it is a technique I have taught at a variety of workshops. The basic process involves painting with the desired color on a new layer in Photoshop, employing the Color blend mode.

More Detail: The first step is to add a new empty image layer directly above the Background image layer. To do so, first click on the thumbnail for the Background image layer. Then click the “Create a New Layer” button (the blank sheet of paper icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel.

To help stay organized I recommend renaming the new layer to something like “Color Fix”. To rename, simply double-click on the name of the layer, type a new name, and press Enter/Return on the keyboard to apply the change.

Next, change the blend mode for this new layer to Color. The default blend mode is Normal, which you’ll see reflected on the popup near the top-left of the Layers panel. Click that popup and choose Color.

You can now choose the Brush tool, and configure the tool to use a soft-edged brush (a low Hardness setting). I generally use a simple round brush, but you can use different shapes if it is helpful for your painting.

To select the color you want to paint with, hold the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh and click within the image to select the desired color. For example, one of the images I have used to demonstrate this technique featured a horse with some green foliage in the foreground causing a color cast. In this situation I would hold the Alt/Option key while clicking on an appropriate color from the horse.

With the desired color selected, you can now paint in the area of the image that exhibits the problematic color cast. Note that to produce the best result you’ll generally need to sample a variety of different colors from the image while painting.

For example, if the horse in my sample image was brown, there would actually be many different shades of brown found within the horse. Therefore, I couldn’t simply choose a single shade of brown and paint over the entire area requiring color correction. Instead, I would sample various different shades of brown as I was working to resolve the color cast.

This technique is quite simple to implement, but can help you produce excellent results even with complicated color problems in the image. In effect, you are retaining all of the underlying texture while only altering the actual color appearance of the image, thanks to the Color blend mode.

Today’s Question: I created a layer mask [in Photoshop] to separate my subject from the background so that I could apply more image noise reduction to the background than what the subject will get. I am also using the same mask to blur the background but not the subject. If I combine the two layer masks into a single selection, the entire image is not selected. How can that be?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The short answer here is that adding two selections together doesn’t produce a result where the luminance values in the shades of gray of a selection are exactly added together. In effect, adding luminance values of 50% plus 50% does not yield 100%, but rather 75%.

More Detail: In most cases this behavior is not a real problem, because the specific impact of a particular shade of gray on a layer mask isn’t critical. The result achieved with white on a layer mask (the full effect is applied) is important. And the result achieved with black on a layer mask (none of the effect is applied) is important. Shades of gray in between tend to be less important.

Still, this behavior can be problematic when combining different layer masks or selections together. For example, let’s assume a simple selection that is 50% selected. If you invert the selection that area would still be 50% selected. But if you merge the two selections together, you don’t end up with 100%.

In other words, merging two selections together, where the second selection represents the inverse (the exact opposite) of the first selection will not produce a result where all pixels in the image are selected.

I’m sure there is some complicated mathematical explanation for why this situation makes sense, rather than what we might consider a more “logical” approach to combining selections and layer masks. But the bottom line is that if you want to select the entire image, you should use the “Select All” command found on the Edit menu, rather than combining existing selections or layer masks.