Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: What’s the difference between “Sequence #” and “Index #” when creating a template for renaming photos in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The Sequence Number option allows you to choose the starting number for the images you’re renaming. The Index number option renames automatically based on the number of images but starts the count at zero rather than one.

More Detail: The Sequence Number and Index Number options for renaming are very similar, but with a couple of important differences.

The Index Number option relates to the index number that is displayed with the thumbnails of each image by default in Lightroom Classic. In other words, if you include the Index Number option in a template for renaming photos, you won’t have a choice for what number is used. Each image will be numbered based on where the image falls in the order within the folder.

The main drawback of the Index Number option is that it starts counting with zero rather than one, which means the index number in the filename won’t match the index number on the thumbnail. This is a minor issue that might not both some photographers, but I do wish that the counting would start with one.

The main advantage of using Index Number is that the photos will include a number in the filename that is unique and applied automatically. You don’t have any option for altering the value for Index Number.

With the Sequence Number option, you have more flexibility, since you can specify the starting number. Unfortunately, that also means you need to remember to adjust the starting number when importing subsequent photos. For example, if you import 100 photos with the starting number set to “1”, the images will include a number in the filename that matches their order from 1 to 100. If you then import another 50 images, you need to remember to change the starting number to 101 to have numbers that properly run in a sequence.

I prefer to use the Sequence Number option, because it allows you to specify the starting number. However, the Index Number option is arguably better because it is completely automatic when it comes to setting the number for each image, with the only real drawback being that it starts counting at zero rather than one.

Today’s Question: When I work in a photo in Lightroom Classic and send it to Photoshop and then choose “Save As”, it doesn’t go to the original folder that I started out with. Instead, it sends me to Pictures and then I have to navigate back to my original folder. How do I remain in the same folder when sending photos from Lightroom to Photoshop?

Tim’s Quick Answer: For photos sent to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic you should be using the “Save” command rather than “Save As”. For photos opened directly in Photoshop you can also enable the “Save As to Original Folder” option in Preferences to ensure that when you use “Save As” the default destination will be the folder the current image was opened from.

More Detail: When you send a photo from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, you should only use the “Save” command, not “Save As”. If you use “Save As” and change the folder location or filename the saved copy will not appear in your Lightroom Classic catalog. Instead, simply use the “Save” command. The file format and filename will have been specified by Lightroom Classic for you, with the folder being the same as the source image and the filename based on the settings established on the External Editing tab of the Preferences dialog.

If you’re working with an image that was opened directly in Photoshop rather than sent from Lightroom Classic, you can enable a setting that will cause the “Save As” command to default to the folder where the current image is saved. To enable this option, bring up the Preferences dialog by choosing Edit > Preferences > File Handling on Windows, or Photoshop > Settings > File Handling on Macintosh.

On the File Handling tab of the Preferences dialog turn on the “Save As to Original Folder” checkbox in the File Saving Options section at the top of the dialog. With that checkbox enabled, when you use the “Save As” command the default folder will be the same folder as the current image is stored in.

Enabling this checkbox will resolve the issue presented in today’s question when sending photos to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic. However, as noted above I don’t recommend using the “Save As” command when an image has been sent from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop because the saved copy will generally not be added to the Lightroom Classic catalog. Instead, simply use the Save command in this situation.

Today’s Question: Rightly or wrongly, I don’t like to install major Lightroom Classic updates until I’ve learned about the new features. Unfortunately, I am now way behind in my updates and am still using an older version (10). I’d like to do the major updates one at a time. But when I click on Help/Updates in Lightroom, the only option I see is to update to Version 12.4. Is it not possible to do updates on a more piecemeal approach?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can choose among the various versions of Lightroom Classic (or other Adobe applications) using the “More” menu in the Creative Cloud app rather than checking for updates within the application you want to update.

More Detail: If you choose Help > Updates from the menu in Lightroom Classic, you’ll only be offered the most recent version if an update is available. If you want to install a different version, you’ll need to use the Creative Cloud application.

Within the Creative Cloud application, select the Apps option from the menu at the top-left of the window. Then select “All apps” from the left column. Locate the application you want to update from the list at the right. Then click the “More” button (it shows three dots) and select “Other versions” from the popup menu. In the dialog that appears you can click the Install button to the right of the version of the application you want to install.

I should point out that I generally recommend installing the latest version of an application, perhaps waiting a little while after the new release to make sure there aren’t reports of instability or other problems. That said, if you prefer to install one major update at a time so you can learn about the new features in each version before moving on, you can certainly do that by choosing the specific version you want to upgrade to.

Today’s Question: I like to organize my photos in Lightroom Classic by adding keywords. If you click to the extreme right on a keyword in the keyword list, you see all the photos with that keyword. Is there any way to be able to select a second keyword to see only the photos containing both keywords?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can filter for photos that contain both keywords, but only by using the Text filter option rather than the Keyword List.

More Detail: When you click on the arrow that appears to the right of a keyword on the Keyword List when you hover the mouse over a keyword, the images will be filtered so that you’re seeing every image in your Lightroom Classic catalog that includes that keyword in metadata. However, this is a filter for a single keyword.

The arrow button on the Keyword List is actually just a shortcut that selects the applicable keyword from a Keyword column on the Metadata tab of the Library Filter bar. If you switch to the grid view display and make sure the Library Filter bar is not hidden (choose View > Show Filter Bar from the menu if it is hidden) you’ll see the applicable keyword selected in the left-most column on the Metadata tab.

If you hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh, you can click on additional keywords to add them to the filter criteria. However, this operates using “or” as the logic. In other words, you’ll see photos that contain any of the selected keywords, not just photos that contain all the keywords.

To filter with “and” as the logic you’ll need to use the Text tab on the Library Filter bar, which unfortunately means you’ll need to type the keywords manually. If you have keywords selected on the Metadata tab, then click on the Metadata heading to disable that filter. Then on the Text tab set the first popup to Keywords. In the text field to the right enter the keywords separated by a comma. Then choose “Contains All” from the second popup for the “and” logic or select “Contain” if you want the “or” logic.

For example, let’s assume you’re searching among images captured on a safari in Africa. You’re looking for photos that include zebras and elephants. In this case you would enter “zebra, elephant” in the text field, with Keywords selected from the first popup. If you select “Contains All” from the second popup you would only see photos that include both zebras and elephants (based on the keywords). If you select “Contains” from the second popup you would see photos that only contain zebras, photos that only contain elephants, and photos that contain both zebras and elephants.

Today’s Question: I was confused by the recent question about applying corrective adjustments when printing using the appropriate printer profile. When you’re using a profile shouldn’t the print be accurate without any adjustments?

Tim’s Quick Answer: With accurate profiles and a proper workflow for color management, no adjustments will be necessary to compensate for an inaccurate print. But if a profile isn’t accurate some compensation may be needed if you’re not able to obtain a more accurate profile.

More Detail: First and foremost, it is important to use a proper color-managed workflow to ensure accurate color for your photos. That includes properly calibrating and profiling the monitor display, obtaining accurate printer profiles, and using proper settings when printing.

Start by making sure your monitor is properly calibrated and profiled, using a package that includes a colorimeter device. For example, I use and recommend the ColorChecker Display from Calibrite (https://timgrey.me/displaycal).

Next, make sure you have high-quality profiles for the printer, ink, and paper combinations you intend to print with. These profiles are often available from the printer or paper manufacturer. For the most accurate profiles possible I recommend creating them yourself, such as with the Calibrite ColorChecker Studio package (https://timgrey.me/colorstudio).

It is also very important that you use the appropriate settings when printing an image, so that the profile is used correctly to compensate for the behavior of the printer.

If the results aren’t good, the first step is to troubleshoot your workflow so you can hopefully resolve whatever issue is leading to inaccurate prints. Applying adjustments to compensate for an inaccurate print should only be considered after troubleshooting your workflow and attempting to obtain more accurate profiles.

Today’s Question: I moved all my photos to a new folder, and deleted the folder where they were (I also have multiple backups). That mean that all my folders are disconnected in Lightroom Classic. Can they be reconnected in an easier way than reconnecting each individual folder?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can reconnect all folders at once by reconnecting the parent folder that contained the folders that were moved, even if that parent folder is actually the hard drive that contains all the folders.

More Detail: If you move the folders that contain your photos outside of Lightroom Classic, all folders and photos will appear as missing within Lightroom Classic. The better solution, of course, is to move those folders from within Lightroom Classic so they won’t be missing in the first place.

In a situation where you’ve moved all folders from one location to another outside of Lightroom Classic, you can reconnect all the folders in one step by reconnecting the parent folder.

Of course, the parent folder in this context needs to be missing as well, so it can be reconnected. In this case it sounds like that folder will appear as missing because it was deleted. If that’s not the case, you could rename that folder to something else. If it was an external hard drive, you could simply disconnect the drive from the computer.

You need to be able to see the parent folder above the missing folders to be able to reconnect all the missing folders below. If that parent folder isn’t visible above the missing folders, right-click on one of the missing folders and choose “Show Parent Folder” from the popup.

At that point you can right-click on the parent folder and choose “Find Missing Folder” from the popup. Select the folder (or hard drive) that is the parent for the folders that were moved, in their new location, as the folder to be connected. When you reconnect that parent folder, all subfolders below will be reconnected at the same time.

Another option would be to move the folders and photos back to where they were originally, so they would no longer be missing within Lightroom Classic. You could then move the folders or photos to the desired new location from within Lightroom Classic to avoid having to reconnect missing folders at all.

Today’s Question: Over the years I’ve had several different cameras The file names for the cameras have all started from the first file names allocated by each camera, and as a result, there are many different images with the same file name. When I import images into Lightroom from each of the cameras, will Lightroom recognize that images with the same file name from different cameras are different from each other rather than treating them as duplicates?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this scenario the photos will not be identified as duplicates by Lightroom Classic even though the filenames are the same, because the capture time and file size would be different.

More Detail: When importing photos into Lightroom Classic you can turn on the “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox in the File Handling section of the right panel in the Import dialog. With this option enabled Lightroom Classic will disable the import of photos that are determined to be duplicates of photos already in your catalog.

This duplicate detection is based on the filename, the capture date and time, and the file size. In the case of photos captured with different cameras that result in images with the same filename, the capture date and time and the file size would also be different. Therefore, the images would not be considered duplicates.

Obviously you can’t have two files with the exact same filename in the same folder. So, for example, if you were to attempt to move a photo within Lightroom Classic to a different folder where another photo with the same filename existed, you would receive an error message indicating that the photo could not be moved.

However, if you import photos into a folder that contains images with the exact same filenames, the import would proceed. To avoid the duplicate filenames Lightroom Classic would simply add a parenthetical number (such as “(1)”) to the end of the filename for the image being imported that had the same filename as another photo in the same folder.

Today’s Question: You said that soft proofing is available “in part” to facilitate adjustments to correct for an inaccurate print. Isn’t this the only reason to use soft proofing? Or are there other reasons?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In addition to using soft proofing to assist you with adjustments for improving the accuracy of a print, you can also use soft proofing to troubleshoot those issues in the first place as well as to make a decision about which paper might be best for printing a particular photo.

More Detail: Soft proofing is a feature available in Lightroom Classic and Photoshop that simulates the appearance of a printed photo on your monitor display. With the soft proof feature, you select the color profile that represents the printer, ink, and paper combination you’ll be using to print a photo. You then configure the output conditions, such as the rendering intent to be used, and a preview is provide that simulates to the extent possible what the printed output will look like using your monitor for the preview.

Of course, even with the soft proof feature it is important to keep in mind that the experience of viewing an image on your monitor is very different from viewing a print that depends on reflected light. That said, the soft proof display is reasonably accurate and can be very helpful.

As noted in my prior answer, soft proofing is often used as a troubleshooting tool, where you apply adjustments to compensate for the shortcomings of the printed output. This can only do so much, since the limitations of a given printer, ink, and paper combination are very real and can’t be overcome with simple adjustments to the source image.

In addition to this common reason for using soft proofing, you might consider using this feature before you even attempt to print a photo as a way to choose which papers might be best suited for a particular image.

For example, photos with strong contrast and highly saturated colors tend to look best on a glossy or semi-gloss paper. An uncoated matte paper will tend to make such an image look very flat and unsaturated. Using the soft proof feature you can cycle through the color profiles for the various papers you’re considering using, to get a better sense of which might be the best fit.

Today’s Question: I determined a set of correction values (for HSL and Vibrance) in Lightroom Classic to compensate for the printer not producing accurate color. The question is: when printing a photo for which I’ve already made changes to these parameters, can I just add (or subtract) the correction values that I previously determined? That is, will the correction values add or subtract linearly from the values previously set.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can manually update the values for the various adjustments, but you can’t automate this process in the Develop module because synchronizing adjustments or using a preset applies absolute adjustments, not relative changes to existing adjustments.

More Detail: You can certainly apply adjustments to a photo in Lightroom Classic to compensate for a print that isn’t quite accurate. In fact, the soft proofing feature in the Develop module was added in part for this very purpose.

Let’s assume, for example, that to get an accurate print you need to increase the Hue value for Red by ten points. That means that for an image that you hadn’t applied any Hue adjustment you would want to set the Red value for Hue to +10. But if you needed to increase the value for the Red slider to +15 when adjusting the overall appearance of another photo, when printing that image you would want the Red value to be set to +25, representing an increase in value of ten points.

You could most certainly manually apply these types of adjustments. For example, when you’re ready to print an image where the Red value is set to +15 you could simply add ten to establish a value of +25. This isn’t necessarily very efficient, but it is the only way to get an accurate result in this case.

The options for synchronizing adjustments or applying presets in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic result in absolute (not relative) values for the adjustments. So in this case, for example, if you used a preset to apply a +10 adjustment to the Red slider for Hue, both the images noted above would end up with a value of +10, when the second of the examples above really needed a value of +25.

The only way to apply relative adjustments in Lightroom Classic is to use the Quick Develop controls on the right panel in the Library module. For example, let’s assume you had one image where you had adjusted the Exposure to a value of +0.5, and another where you had adjusted the value to +1.0. If you then wanted to darken each of the images by one stop, you could use the Exposure adjustment in Quick Develop. Just select the two images in the grid view (not the loupe view) and click the button with two arrows pointing to the left, and both images will be darkened by one stop. That will set the first image to the equivalent of -0.5 exposure and the second image to an even exposure.

Today’s Question: Is there a way to delete a control point on the Tone Curve in Lightroom Classic? I thought it used to be possible to drag the control point away from the curve to remove it, but that doesn’t work now.

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can delete a control point from the Tone Curve in Lightroom Classic (or for the Curve adjustment in Camera Raw for Photoshop users) by either double-clicking on the control point or by right-clicking and choosing “Delete Control Point” from the popup menu.

More Detail: In earlier versions of Lightroom Classic (and Camera Raw) it was indeed possible to remove a control point from a curve by simply dragging it away from the curve far enough for it to be removed. I don’t have any idea why Adobe would have disabled this behavior, but they did.

Fortunately, you can still easily remove a control point by double-clicking the control point or right-clicking and choosing “Delete Control Point” from the popup menu.

Note, by the way, that if you’re using the Parametric option for the Tone Curve adjustment you don’t have the option to remove a control point because there aren’t any control points on the curve. In Parametric mode instead of adjusting the shape of the curve by adding and moving control points you use the sliders for Highlights, Lights, Darks, and Shadows to adjust the tonality of the image.