Category: Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I’m finally starting to learn to use the Curves adjustment in Photoshop. Previously I had done my basic tonal adjustments with Levels. Once I am comfortable with Curves, is there any need to use Levels at all?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Once you’re comfortable using the Curves adjustment in Photoshop there’s no need to use the Levels adjustment at all.

More Detail: The Curves adjustment can be used to apply all the adjustments that are possible with Levels, and more. Therefore, if you’re comfortable using Curves there’s no benefit to using the Levels adjustment.

The Levels adjustment is used primarily for setting the black point and the white point, as well as for applying a middle tone adjustment. In Curves there are sliders below the curve area for the black point and white point, which operate in exactly the same way as the same adjustments in Levels. The effect of the middle tone slider in Levels can be reproduced by adding an anchor point at the center of the curve line and dragging it directly upward or downward.

In this way you can think of the Levels and Curves adjustments as providing the exact same adjustment options. The difference is that the Curves adjustment offers considerably more power, with the ability to add additional anchor points to manipulate the shape of the curve, and therefore focus adjustments in specific areas of the image based on the underlying tonal or color values.

For example, you can brighten the shadows and darken the highlights by adding anchor points on the curve in the appropriate positions. You can even apply a color balance adjustment differently for the highlights versus shadows, for example, by using additional anchor points on the curve for an individual color channel rather than working with the composite RGB channel that only provides tonal adjustments.

Today’s Question: I used to see a “thumbnail slider” on the bottom right of the screen below the preview area in Lightroom Classic, but it has disappeared. Can you how to get it back?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can enable the thumbnail size slider for the grid view in Lightroom Classic by clicking the popup button at the far right of the toolbar below the grid view and selecting “Thumbnail Size” from the popup.

More Detail: In the grid view in the Library module you can adjust the size of thumbnails using the slider at the far right of the toolbar below the image preview area. Note that this slider is not available when in the loupe view display, since in the loupe view you’re viewing a single image rather than a series of thumbnails.

The toolbar can be hidden or revealed by pressing the letter “T” on the keyboard. If the toolbar is hidden you obviously won’t be able to see the Thumbnails slider, so in this case simply press “T” on the keyboard to reveal the toolbar so you can access the Thumbnails slider.

If the Thumbnails slider is missing from the toolbar when in the grid view, you can click the downward-pointing triangle button at the far right of the toolbar to bring up a popup menu. There you can choose “Thumbnail Size” to enable the Thumbnails slider again.

Note that this same approach can be used to hide or reveal the various controls available for the loupe and grid views in the Library module. There are different options available for the loupe view versus the grid view, so you can review the items on the popup to see if there are any others you would like to enable or disable.

Today’s Question: Do you think that cloud storage, such as Backblaze, is advisable for the off-site portion of a 3-2-1 strategy or would you recommend using another physical location? Backblaze seems a good choice with their flat fee pricing for unlimited storage, but maybe I’m missing something.

Tim’s Quick Answer: I treat online backup solutions such as Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/cloudbackup) as a “bonus” supplement to a backup workflow, not as a replacement for an offsite backup that you control.

More Detail: During my presentations on “Backing Up Your Photos” as part of a recent GreyLearning Ultimate Event, I discussed the “3-2-1” strategy for backing up your data. This involves having copies of your data on three separate storage devices (one primary and two backup copies), with two of those devices stored locally, and one of those devices stored at a separate physical location.

On online backup solution certainly meets the criteria of being an offsite backup of your data. However, you aren’t in direct control over that copy of your data. With an online backup solution, you generally won’t have any idea where the servers are that contain your data. While in general I’m confident that these services do a good job of keeping your data safe, I prefer to be a little more paranoid about my data when it comes to my backup strategy.

Because of these issues, I prefer to use services like Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/cloudbackup) as a supplement to my backup workflow. For what I consider to be a modest price, Backblaze provides me with an additional offsite backup in addition to my own workflow. For each primary hard drive I have two backup drives (and a third backup drive for my most important data) that I alternate between. I store those backup drives separately, but I still like the additional peace of mind of my Backblaze online backup.

If you missed my GreyLearning Ultimate Event on Backing Up Your Photos, the recordings of all sessions are available. These are included at no additional cost with the GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle, but you can also purchase the recordings from the event here:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/greylearning-ultimate-event-backing-up-your-photos-may-2023

Today’s Question: Your answer about the Masking slider for sharpening in Lightroom Classic to avoid sharpening the sky reminded me (I think) that there was a way to prevent smooth areas from being sharpened when sharpening a photo in Photoshop? Is that the case, and if so where do I find it?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, the Unsharp Mask filter in Photoshop includes a Threshold slider, which enables you to prevent sharpening smooth areas of an image similar to the effect of the Masking slider for sharpening with Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw.

More Detail: Sharpening is a process of enhancing edge contrast in areas of the image that already exhibit contrast. This contrast enhancement causes contrast edges in the image to have greater contrast and to transition over a shorter distance, increasing the perceived sharpness of the image. This is a good thing in general, but it can be a problem if you are enhancing texture in areas of the image that should be smooth, such as a clear blue sky.

While the Unsharp Mask filter in Photoshop isn’t as advanced as the newer Smart Sharpen filter, it does include a Threshold control that enables you to exercise control over preventing sharpening from being applied to smooth areas.

You can find the Unsharp Mask filter on the menu at Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. The Amount slider controls the strength of the sharpening effect. The Radius slider determines how far outward from contrast edges the sharpening effect will extend. The Threshold slider allows you to specify how much contrast much exist before sharpening is applied.

The default value for Threshold is zero, meaning sharpening will be applied to the entire image, anywhere contrast exists between neighboring pixels. Increasing the value for Threshold will require more contrast before sharpening is applied.

Generally speaking, when you want to prevent sharpening from applying to smooth areas within an image, a value for Threshold of somewhere around 10 to 20 will generally be more than adequate. I prefer to apply very strong sharpening initially with exaggerated values for Amount and Radius, as I fine-tune the value for Threshold to ensure sharpening is applying only in areas where I want it applied. I’ll then reduce the values for the Amount and Radius sliders to more appropriate levels for the image.

As noted above, the newer Smart Sharpen filter is more advanced in some ways than Unsharp Mask. However, because of the Threshold slider that is available for the Unsharp Mask filter but not with Smart Sharpen, I often favor Unsharp Mask for images where I want to be able to control the sharpening effect with greater precision in order to maintain the smoothness of smooth areas of a photo.

Today’s Question: How does one download photos from a memory card (from a digital camera) without a computer to an external hard drive? There are times I do not want to have my computer along but do very much want to download the photos for safekeeping.

Tim’s Quick Answer: While many of the purpose-built drives that address this issue are no longer available, you can use a smartphone or tablet to copy photos from a media card to an external hard drive.

More Detail: Over the years there have been a variety of storage devices that enabled you to download directly from a media card to the device. Unfortunately, those devices have largely been discontinued. There are some drives that support wireless transfer, but many of these have been discontinued as well. One option that is still available is the NewQ Filehub (https://timgrey.me/filehub), which is a device you can connect an external hard drive to via USB and that includes an SD card slot, so you can transfer photos from an SD card to a hard drive.

I therefore recommend using a smartphone or tablet as an intermediary for backing up photos when traveling without a computer.

The first step is to ensure you have an adapter to download photos directly to your mobile device. For example, iPhone users can use an adapter for the Lightning port to a USB port (https://timgrey.me/lightningusb) to connect a USB card reader, or use a Lightning to SD card reader adapter (https://timgrey.me/sdlightning). For iPad or other mobile devices with a USB-C connector you can use a similar adapter (https://timgrey.me/usbc2a) to connect a card reader.

You can then transfer the photos from your media card to your mobile device using the adapter. For iPhone and iPad users, for example, you can use the Import feature to download the photos to your device. I recommend creating a new album to add the photos to as part of this process, so you can keep track of which photos you were from the media card rather than captured directly with your mobile device.

Once you’ve downloaded the photos to your mobile device, you can also transfer them to an external hard drive or other storage device. You can, for example, use a USB adapter to connect a bus-powered external hard drive.
A storage device I highly recommend for iPhone users is the SanDisk iXpand flash drive (https://timgrey.me/lightningdrive). This storage device includes both a Lightning connector to connect to an iPhone and a USB connector for connecting to a computer (or a tablet with an adapter).

If you want to transfer the photos to another storage device, you can connect it to your mobile device and then copy the photos. On the iPhone, for example, you can select the applicable photos in the Photos app, and then tap the sharing button and select the “Save to Files” option. Set the attached storage device as the destination and the images will be copied to that device.

I keep hoping that an external hard drive that supports direct transfer without the need for any other device will become successful enough to be available and supported in the long term. In the meantime, since several of these types of devices have been discontinued, a smartphone or tablet provides a good solution.

Today’s Question: Recently my photos all started showing a lightning bolt on the Histogram panel, and when I click on that symbol, I get a message saying my photos need to be updated for “new processing technology”. Why did this happen, and should I update the photos?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The recent upgrade to Lightroom Classic version 12.4 involved an update to the latest Process Version (version 6). You can simply update existing photos on an as-needed basis if you’re going to work with them in the Develop module. While it is possible to update all photos in batch, this could cause some minor variations in the appearance of photos.

More Detail: With some updates to Lightroom Classic a new Process Version for the Develop module is created, reflecting changes in the adjustments available or the algorithms for processing photos. With the update to Lightroom Classic version 12.4, the new Process Version 6 has become available.

All new photos you import into Lightroom Classic will have the latest Process Version applied automatically, but existing photos will retain the Process Version that is assigned to them. The number of Process Versions in use will vary depending on how long you’ve been using Lightroom Classic and whether you’ve updated the process version for existing photos along the way.

It is possible to update a large batch of photos at once to the latest process version. For example, you could select all photos in a given folder, or all photos in your entire catalog within the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. You could then select all the photos and click the lightning bolt icon in the Histogram section of the right panel. In the confirmation dialog you can then click the “Update All Selected Photos” button if you want to update all selected photos to the latest Process Version, or the Update button if you only want to update the single active photo.

However, updating the process version can cause a slight change in the appearance of a photo. You may therefore want to only update the Process Version for photos you’ll be updating the adjustments for in the Develop module. There’s nothing inherently wrong with leaving existing photos set to an older Process Version so they’ll retain the appearance based on the original adjustments you applied.

Today’s Question: My question is regarding domestic and overseas travel by air with my camera gear. What precautions do you recommend regarding security and protection of photo gear? Have you found TSA approved case locks to be adequate? Domestic and international? I have a rigid, internally padded waterproof case with provisions for 2 padlocks.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Whenever possible, I recommend traveling with your most important gear in your carry-on bag. If you need to pack some gear in your checked luggage, I recommend ensuring that you have the equipment insured, which may require (or benefit from) providing a list of gear with serial numbers to your insurance provider.

More Detail: When traveling with photo gear there is obviously the risk of damage, theft, or lost luggage. Naturally, we want to minimize the risks to our photo gear when traveling.

First and foremost, I recommend keeping all gear in your carry-on bag if possible. If the gear won’t all fit, I suggest prioritizing based on the most important or most valuable items. For example, I will often put my tripod and ball head into a checked bag, along with some of my accessories such as chargers and filters. I wrap these items in clothing or otherwise ensure they will be safe from damage due to rough handling of the luggage.

While I do recommend using a lock for your checked baggage, it is important to keep in mind that locks must be TSA-approved and should not be considered entirely safe. The master keys for these locks can be found beyond the TSA staff who require that they be able to access your bag if they feel a search is warranted. In other words, people other than the TSA can simply unlock your bag with a contraband master key.

Insuring your gear can help manage a situation where the gear is lost, stolen, or damaged. Note that in some cases you will need to register the gear with serial numbers for it to be covered, or to avoid a situation where you aren’t insured for the full value.

Another option is to ship your larger gear to your destination using a shipping service such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS. Be sure to adequately insure the items with the shipping provider when using this approach. You might also consider in some cases renting specific gear at your destination, rather than traveling with it, to avoid the risk of loss or damage during your travels.

There’s no question that putting your camera gear in checked luggage can be somewhat stressful, as you’re hoping the gear actually makes it to your destination. While I’ve never had camera gear go missing during air travel, I have had bags get lost forever by the airline (fortunately not the bag that had photo gear in it). There’s always a risk, so the key is to mitigate the risk as much as possible.

Today’s Question: A ton of my images in Lightroom Classic have appeared with the upward arrow and the following message: “The metadata for this photo has been changed by another application. Should Lightroom import settings from disk or overwrite disk settings with those from the catalog?” I have not knowingly done anything to the image to provoke this. How can I correct this, preferably in bulk?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you’re certain that you haven’t made any updates to metadata outside of Lightroom Classic, you can use the option to overwrite the metadata for the images based on your catalog. This update can be performed in batch for a group of selected photos.

More Detail: If you update the metadata for photos outside the Lightroom Classic catalog, you’ll see an icon at the top-right of affected photos indicating that there is a mismatch. You can also view the status with the Metadata Status field available by selecting IPTC view option from the popup to the left of the Metadata heading on the right panel in the Library module.

If you updated metadata for photos outside of Lightroom Classic, such as by adding keywords using Adobe Bridge, this would obviously lead to a mismatch. However, even opening a raw capture in Photoshop via Camera Raw will cause a metadata update that can trigger the message you’re seeing.

If you’re confident that the Lightroom Classic catalog represents all the correct metadata for your photos, you can update the files on the hard drive to match the catalog, which will cause the metadata mismatch message to go away.

You can select multiple photos to update all at once, including selecting all photos in the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section at the top of the left panel in the Library module, if you want to update every photo in the entire catalog. Select all the photos you want to update (you can even select those that don’t have a mismatch), and then click the button to the far right of the Metadata Status field in the IPTC metadata within the Metadata section of the right panel. In the dialog that appears you can click the “Overwrite Settings” button to update the metadata for the files on the hard drive, so there is no longer a mismatch.

Note, by the way, that I recommend turning on the “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog to ensure that all standard metadata updates in Lightroom Classic are saved to the source image files as well.

Today’s Question: I converted a photo to black and white in Lightroom Classic, then darkened the sky. This resulted in halos along the edges of tree branches. I was able to correct this in Photoshop using the Clone Stamp tool set to darken. Is there a way to prevent this from happening or an easier way to correct this?

Tim’s Quick Answer: These types of halos can result from a targeted adjustment that requires more feathering, or too strong an adjustment for the black and white mix.

More Detail: With the masking features in Lightroom Classic, this type of issue can be challenging to resolve. When you use an automatic mask for the sky, for example, you can’t adjust the blending along the edge of the sky and the rest of the image. If you use the Auto Mask feature for the Brush tool, you similarly can’t adjust the feathering of the edge after the fact to modify the transition. For this type of scenario Photoshop provides better solutions than Lightroom Classic.

If you’re converting to black and white and then adjusting the mix, so that you can for example darken the blues for the sky and brighten the greens for the landscape, a strong adjustment can result in obvious halos. The easiest solution in this situation is to use reduced settings that don’t create as much contrast between neighboring areas of different underlying colors.

If you’re not able to improve the halo issue using one of the above methods, you’ll generally have significant work involved in improving the image.

One option would be to refine the mask for the targeted adjustment manually, so that you adjust the size and position of the blending in the area where the halo appears, in order to reduce the contrast in that area. Another option is to use image cleanup techniques to remove the halos. This is best done with the Clone Stamp tool in Photoshop or the Clone option for the Healing tool in Lightroom Classic. However, you would need to use a rather small brush and paint very carefully along the edge, so as to not alter the texture along the edge of the areas of transition, such as the tree branches in this example.

Today’s Question: In Lightroom Classic, if I do not want sharpening applied to the sky, I do not include the sky in the masked area that I want to sharpen. Am I correct?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Correct. If you define a mask that excludes the sky for a targeted adjustment, sharpening (and other targeted adjustments for the same mask) will not apply to the sky. You can also use the more detailed sharpening controls for a global adjustment, increasing the value for the Masking slider to avoid sharpening smooth areas such as the sky.

More Detail: The masking features of Lightroom Classic enable you to apply adjustments that only affect specific areas of a photo. If you define a mask for the entire foreground of a photo that excludes the sky, for example, you could apply sharpening and other adjustments that would affect the foreground but not the sky.

In many cases, however, you can achieve the same result for targeted sharpening more easily by using the Masking slider for the sharpening controls found in the Detail section of the right panel in the Develop module.

When you increase the value for the Masking slider, you will gradually focus the sharpening effect so that it applies to areas that have texture, without affecting areas of smooth texture such as the sky.

To get a better sense of the right setting for the Masking slider, hold the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh while dragging the slider. This will display a black and white preview over the image, where white areas indicate portions of the image that will have sharpening applied and black areas indicate areas that will not be sharpened. In this example you could hold the Alt/Option key until the sky area is entirely black and the rest of the image is entirely white in the preview, or as close to that as possible to focus the sharpening only where you want it.