Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I successfully moved my photos and Lightroom from an old Macintosh to a new PC. However, none of my collections came over. How can I recover the collections?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Collections are a Lightroom-specific feature, meaning collection information is not stored with the photos themselves. Therefore, in order to preserve collections (and other Lightroom-specific features) when switching computers, you need to copy the Lightroom catalog file along with your images.

More Detail: When you want to move Lightroom from one computer to another, even if that involves switching operating systems, you can retain all of the information in your Lightroom catalog by copying the catalog files to the new computer, along with your photos.

The Lightroom catalog file (with a “lrcat” filename extension) can be used by the Lightroom application on both Macintosh and Windows computers. As a result, the process of migrating computers is relatively easy.

First, I recommend copying the entire contents of the folder that contains your Lightroom catalog from your existing computer to your new computer. You can determine where this folder is by clicking the “Show” button in the Information section of the General tab within the Catalog Settings dialog.

After copying the entire folder that contains your Lightroom catalog files to the new computer, you will want to make sure the photos themselves are available. This could be as simple as connecting the external hard drive that contains your photos to the new computer. Depending on the specifics of your workflow (and if you are switching platforms) you might also need to copy your photos to a new storage location as part of this process.

Once the catalog files and the photo files are available on the new computer, you can double-click on the catalog file (with the “lrcc” filename extension) on that new computer to launch Lightroom and open the catalog. At this point the photos will most likely appear to all be missing, because the specific path information to those photos will have changed. You can right-click on one of the missing folders and choose the option to “Find Missing Folder”. Then locate the applicable folder in the new storage location, and select it as the folder you want to reconnect. Lightroom will most likely then recursively reconnect all of the missing folders, but you may need to manually reconnect others as well.

With this approach you will retain all of the details for your photos, including Lightroom-specific features such as collections, pick and reject flags, history, and more.

Today’s Question: What do you advise about the “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option when importing photos into Lightroom? I import my photos as DNG.

Tim’s Quick Answer: In short, I recommend never using the “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option when importing photos into Lightroom. Instead, I recommend always using either the “Standard” or “1:1” option.

More Detail: Put simply, Lightroom will always generate a “Standard” preview for any photo you browse within Lightroom. In addition, a “1:1” preview will always be generated for any photo you zoom in on. The only real question is therefore whether you want to generate those previews when you initially import the images, or whether you want to let Lightroom generate those previews as they are needed.

As a general rule, I recommend generating previews before you actually need them, so that your browsing experience will be more pleasant (meaning less frustrating).

At a minimum then, I recommend choosing the “Standard” option for previews when you import photos into Lightroom. When in doubt, this is the preview option to select.

Therefore, the only other question is whether you should generate “1:1” previews, so you won’t need to wait for previews to be generated for images you zoom in on. To me this is really a question of how frequently you zoom in on your images.

Personally, I don’t tend to zoom in on a very large percentage of my photos. I can review the overall images using the “Standard” preview, viewing the image at a full-screen size without zooming in further. I only zoom in when I have selected a potential favorite image I want to work with, and I want to check for sharpness, noise, blemishes, or other issues.

If you tend to zoom in on many (or most) of your images, I suggest building the “1:1” preview option on import. But for most photographers I think the “Standard” option is perfectly good. But I never recommend using the “Embedded & Sidecar” or “Minimal” options.

Note, by the way, that the latest update to Lightroom Classic CC (formerly Lightroom CC) includes a refined workflow for the “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option. While this may help streamline overall performance in some cases, I still very much prefer (and recommend) using only the “Standard” or “1:1” preview options upon import to Lightroom.

Today’s Question: Do both TIFF and PSD files permit the full range of editing in Lightroom, in the event I might want to edit them further in the future either with Lightroom or some other editing or artistic software?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, the full range of adjustments in Lightroom is available for TIFF and PSD files, as well as all other supported image formats. Just keep in mind that adjustments in Lightroom do not alter the actual source image file, which you’ll need to take into account for your workflow if you decide to use other software to work on these images.

More Detail: Lightroom is “non-destructive” in the context of your source images, which means that when you apply adjustments in Lightroom you aren’t actually altering the source image file on your hard drive. This is a very good thing, but something you need to take into account for your workflow when you want to edit photos outside of Lightroom.

What that really means is that you’ll need to create an additional copy of the image if you later want to use Photoshop or other third-party software to further refine the image.

When you send a photo from Lightroom to Photoshop, if you want to retain the adjustments you applied in Lightroom you’ll need to create a new copy of the image file. Similarly, if you want to work with the image (and have the Lightroom adjustments applied) with other software, you’ll need to make another copy of the file. You could either send the image (creating a copy in the process) directly from Lightroom, or export a copy of the image from Lightroom and then edit that duplicate image directly within the source file.

So, it would be fair to say that the Lightroom adjustments aren’t actually altering the source image, and that you would need to create a new copy of the file in order to have the adjustments applied. But this is an intended effect of the non-destructive workflow employed by Lightroom. Regardless, all adjustments found in Lightroom are available for all supported image formats, including TIFF and PSD.

Today’s Question: I am not Cloud literate so this may be a silly question. I am in a country with limited Internet availability. My carrier limits me to 30 GB up/down per month. My photo files are about 800 GB. If I switch to the new Lightroom CC in the future will I need to upload my full 800 GB to a Cloud server??

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, using the new Lightroom CC would generally mean you would be uploading (via synchronization) all of your existing photos to the cloud. However, conceptually it is also possible to pause this synchronization to avoid exceeding your online usage limits. That would, however, greatly reduce the utility of Lightroom CC.

More Detail: The new Lightroom CC very much revolves around online synchronization to the cloud. That means you would initially be copying all of your existing images via the Internet to Adobe’s servers, and as new photos are added to Lightroom CC they too would be copied via synchronization.

You can certainly pause the synchronization at any time within Lightroom CC. However, there are some inherent challenges with this.

First of all, if you were to pause the synchronization for Lightroom CC in order to avoid reaching a data cap for your Internet usage, it could take considerable time before you achieve any real utility with Lightroom CC. In this specific example, if you limit yourself to a maximum of 30 GB of synchronization each month, to synchronize the full 800 GB library would require more than two years. That obviously isn’t very practical.

In addition, pausing synchronization means that updates applied to your photos (such as adding star ratings or keywords, or applying adjustments) would not be synchronized. You would therefore not be viewing the latest updates for your images when viewed on other platforms such as on a mobile device or in a web browser.

Put simply, I would not recommend using Lightroom CC unless you have consistent access to a high-speed Internet connection without data transfer limits that would prevent you from taking full advantage of Lightroom CC. The online synchronization feature of Lightroom CC is really a core feature, and in my mind you should only consider the new Lightroom CC if you’ll be able to fully implement that capability within your workflow.

Today’s Question: It was suggested to me that instead of using the saturation sliders in Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, or Photoshop, that I should convert my photo in Photoshop to the “Lab” mode and then apply a curves adjustment layer to the ‘a’ and ‘b’ channels. When I do this it seems to me that I’m really getting more of a contrast adjustment like I would in the ‘RGB’ mode with a curve. It probably is a little more saturated but the contrast is also there. What are your thoughts?

Tim’s Quick Answer: My recommendation would be to make use of the Vibrance and Saturation adjustments, rather than converting an image to Lab color mode (and then likely back to RGB).

More Detail: There are many adjustments that can be applied to great effect in the Lab color mode in Photoshop, in some cases providing an advantage over the RGB color space. However, quite often I find that the advantages are minimal, and not without risk.

For example, in this case I suspect you are applying an unbalanced adjustment for the two channels, resulting in more of a contrast (or color contrast) adjustment rather than a saturation boost.

Even if you applied a perfect adjustment in Lab using Curves in order to boost saturation, as far as I’m concerned this would provide no real advantage over simply using the Saturation or (even better) the Vibrance adjustment. Both of these adjustments are quite sophisticated, and have been updated over the years, so that there isn’t a real advantage in this case to switching to Lab mode.

In short, I’d suggest keeping your workflow relatively simple, and not be tempted to “tricks” that aim to provide marginal gains that you may not even be able to perceive. Worse, switching to a color mode you aren’t particularly familiar with could cause challenges in terms of maintaining quality and fidelity in your images.

It is worth noting, by the way, that switching to the Lab color mode and then back to the RGB color mode could itself lead to minor alterations in pixel values that could be somewhat problematic, and that would negate any gains you might have obtained by using the Lab color mode in the first place. So, I suggest sticking with the RGB color space and the very good Saturation adjustment and the (even better!) Vibrance adjustment.

Today’s Question: Thank you for your video about the “new” Lightroom CC [https://youtu.be/yYVhtou5pVI]. One thing I’m concerned about is the synchronization feature. When I’m traveling with limited access to the Internet, would I still be able to use this new version of Lightroom? The synchronization feature sounds great, but what if I’m not always online, or if I have a really slow connection?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you don’t need to be connected to the Internet to make use of the new Lightroom CC. You can add photos locally, and they will synchronize to the cloud whenever you are connected to the Internet. A slow connection simply slows that synchronization, but doesn’t prevent you from working.

More Detail: The new Lightroom CC announced by Adobe yesterday revolves around cloud-based synchronization, so you can access all of your photos from virtually anywhere on just about any device. The software previously known as Lightroom CC is now referred to as “Lightroom Classic”.

While Lightroom CC uses an Internet connection to synchronize your photos to the cloud so they are available from just about any Internet-connected computer or device, you don’t need to be online to make use of Lightroom CC.

You can add photos to Lightroom CC locally on your computer without being connected to the Internet, with no limits on what you’re able to do with those photos. When you have an Internet connection available, Lightroom CC will synchronize your photos (and the settings for the photos) to the cloud. A slow Internet connection would obviously slow that process down, but it won’t prevent you from working locally.

As noted in the episode of Tim Grey TV referenced in today’s question (https://youtu.be/yYVhtou5pVI), the new Lightroom CC is certainly a new product that doesn’t necessarily include all of the features a photographer would require in their workflow. But it does include an impressive set of technologies that are worth exploring. In other words, just because Lightroom CC might not have everything you need today for your workflow, it may very well provide an ideal solution for you at some point down the road.

Today’s Question: I just saw an announcement from Adobe that there is a completely new version of Lightroom CC. Should I switch to this new version? Will the Lightroom CC I’ve been using stop working?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The new Lightroom CC is a completely new platform for managing your photos, which revolves around cloud-based synchronization of all of your original captures. The existing Lightroom will now be referred to as Lightroom Classic, and will continue to be updated and supported by Adobe.

More Detail: Understandably, there has been some confusion about Adobe’s latest announcement about a completely new software application (and ecosystem) that is being called “LightroomCC”. The existing Lightroom application will now be referred to as Lightroom Classic.

The new Lightroom CC includes some impressive features, such as cloud-based synchronization of all of your original captures, so that every image can be accessed from anywhere (provided you have an Internet connection), from virtually any device such as a computer, smartphone, or tablet. In addition, image analysis in Lightroom CC enables you to search for photos based on content, without having to add keywords for those details first.

Lightroom Classic will continue to be supported and updated, and in fact I plan to continue using Lightroom Classic as the foundation of my workflow for organizing and optimizing my photos. I see great promise in Lightroom CC (and some of the technology it includes), but it doesn’t yet include all of the features I need in my workflow.

To me, Lightroom CC is a good solution for those who want to be able to access their photos from anywhere, and don’t feel the need to be extremely “hands-on” when it comes to managing their library of photos. With time I’m sure both Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic will evolve, so I’ll certainly be re-evaluating my workflow approach from time to time.

To learn a bit more about the new Lightroom CC, you can check out the latest episode of Tim Grey TV on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/yYVhtou5pVI

Today’s Question: Is there a way to see the satellite photo view of the map in Lightroom’s map module? I know this feature is available with Google Maps, and that Lightroom makes use of Google Maps. But is the satellite view feature available?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can view the satellite photo version of the map in Lightroom’s Map module by choosing “Satellite” (or “Hybrid”) from the Map Style popup on the toolbar below the map display.

More Detail: The Map module in Lightroom does indeed use Google Maps for the map data. That includes the ability to use several different styles for the map, including satellite view.

The map view options can be found on the Map Style popup at the left side of the toolbar that appears below the map display. If you don’t see that toolbar in the Map module, you can press the “T” key on the keyboard to reveal (or to hide) the toolbar.

The default setting for the Map Style popup is “Road Map”, which presents a basic road map. Switching to “Satellite” will cause the map to be assembled from satellite photos, so you can see actual terrain features on the map. The “Hybrid” setting projects a basic road map display over the satellite image view.

In addition you’ll find a “Terrain” option, which is similar to the “Road Map” view but with a representation of the topography on the map. The “Light” and “Dark” options provide two black and white versions of the “Road Map” display.

In general I find that the “Road Map” view is most helpful for sorting out what location you’re looking at on the map. I also find the “Satellite” view option helpful for confirming specific location details, since you can see terrain details as well as features such as buildings and roads with this view option.

Today’s Question: In follow-up to your comments on external backup, why can’t you consider a source such as Carbonite or some other cloud service? Is this a viable solution?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I absolutely consider cloud-based backup solutions to be an excellent supplement to an overall backup strategy. My key issue with online backup is that it should be used in addition to a local backup, rather than serving as an exclusive backup solution.

More Detail: One of the key elements of an optimal backup workflow is an offsite storage location. In general I prefer to have one backup stored conveniently in the same location as the original data, for faster recovery if anything goes wrong. However, I also prefer to have an additional backup stored in a separate physical location to provide better protection for your data.

An online backup solution obviously provides an excellent solution for having a backup copy of your photos and other data stored at a different physical location. However, a cloud backup solution involves data storage that you don’t control, which is why I prefer to treat cloud backup as a supplemental backup solution.

In other words, provided you are creating a backup copy of all of your photos and other data that you store locally (ideally with a copy stored at a separate physical location), I would absolutely encourage the use of a cloud-based backup solution. Besides providing an offsite backup solution, cloud-based backup also serves as an automatic backup that operates in the background.

A cloud-based backup solution such as Carbonite therefore provides a variety of benefits, and is therefore something that I encourage using as an additional (though not primary) element of your overall backup workflow.

Today’s Question: Was the photo of the sunset in Rome that you shared on Instagram an HDR? How did you get so much detail in the shadows while still having detail in the sun?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, the Rome sunset photo in question (https://www.instagram.com/p/BaEWah8ANR2/) was a high dynamic range (HDR) image, consisting of seven exposures separated by one stop each.

More Detail: When you include the sun in the frame, you can count on either losing detail in the foreground shadow areas or losing detail in the sun (or both). By capturing multiple exposures and blending them together into an HDR result, you can retain considerable detail in both the highlights and the shadows and then determine how you want to interpret the scene.

My general approach to capturing the exposures for an HDR image is to determine exposure settings that will retain highlight detail for the brightest areas of the image, and then increase the exposure from there to cover the full range of shadow values.

In the case of including the sun in the frame, I don’t generally go to the extreme of including full detail in the sun. I will typically allow the red channel to get blown out to some extent, for example, so that I’m retaining reasonable detail but not capturing a huge range of images.

You can use automatic exposure bracketing to capture the sequence of images, or use the Manual exposure mode to adjust the shutter speed for each capture. I usually start with a dark exposure that retains highlight detail, and then continue increasing the exposure in two-stop increments until I have an exposure that retains full shadow detail. (And yes, in this specific example I was only bracketing in one-stop increments, only because I didn’t need more range for this specific range and prefer to adjust the increments rather than change the number of exposures).

The images can then be assembled into an HDR image using a variety of different software tools. In the final tone-mapping step of the workflow you can choose how to interpret the final scene. At this point I recommend applying adjustments that preserve detail and yet retain a natural look to the image.