Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: How can I set the “Auto Adjustment” feature as a preset for Import [in Lightroom Classic]?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The key to applying the automatic adjustments during import is to create a preset with the “Auto Settings” checkbox turned on in the “New Develop Preset” dialog.

More Detail: When you create a new preset, you are really saving existing settings that you’ve applied to an image so that the same settings can be applied to other images. When saving that preset, you have the option of selecting which specific adjustments should be included as part of the preset. In other words, a preset can include just a small number of adjustments, rather than all of the adjustments available in the Develop module.

Furthermore, you can apply a preset to images as they are being imported into your Lightroom catalog. If the preset you apply included the “Auto Settings” option when the preset was created, each image will have the automatic adjustments applied based on an analysis of each individual image.

For example, let’s assume you only wanted to apply the automatic adjustments to images being imported, with all other adjustments left at their default settings. You could go to the Develop module, and click the “plus” (+) button to the right of the Presets heading on the left panel to initiate the process of creating a new preset.

Then, in the New Develop Preset dialog, you could click the “Check None” button to turn off the checkboxes for all adjustment categories. Next, in the Auto Settings section near the top of the New Develop Preset dialog, you could turn on the “Auto Settings” checkbox. Note that the “Process Version” checkbox would also remain turned on, and should be left on in this context.

If needed you could also enable other adjustments in the New Develop Preset dialog. To save the final preset, enter a meaningful name in the Preset Name field, and click Create to save the preset.

The next time you are importing photos into your Lightroom catalog, you can choose the preset you saved as part of the above process from the Develop Settings popup in the Apply During Import section of the right panel in the Import dialog. The automatic adjustments will then be applied to all images when they are imported, based on the preset you applied.

Today’s Question: What is “focus peaking”, and why would I want this feature on a digital camera?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Focus peaking is a display on a camera’s LCD or electronic viewfinder that highlights areas of the scene that are in focus. This can be tremendously helpful for establishing or fine-tuning focus.

More Detail: Focus peaking has been common in video capture for quite some time, and I do consider this feature most helpful for video rather than still photography (though it can still be very helpful for still photography). As noted above, a focus peaking feature will highlight areas of the scene that are in focus, and in many cases you can choose the color to be used for the focus peaking presentation on the camera’s LCD display (when using the live view feature) or in the camera’s electronic viewfinder (for cameras that are so equipped).

The reason I consider focus peaking to be especially helpful for video capture is that it enables you to ensure a key subject remains in focus even as that subject gets closer or further away from the lens. It can be much faster and easier to adjust focus based on a focus peaking display rather than on a visual evaluation of the scene through the viewfinder, for example.

That said, focus peaking can most certainly be helpful for still photography. I find focus peaking especially helpful in tricky scenarios, such as in low lighting conditions, when it is difficult to critically evaluate which areas of the scene are in focus. In addition, many photographers with less than perfect vision find focus peaking to be an excellent primary tool for adjusting focus for a scene.

While focus peaking may not be a critical feature for all photographers, I do consider it a feature that can be tremendously helpful. I think it would be beneficial for any photographer who has never seen or used focus peaking to try it out and get a sense of whether they might find this feature helpful enough to add it to the list of “must have” features for their next camera purchase.

Today’s Question: I work in Lightroom and create virtual copies for variations on images. I would like to identify them, such as “more prominence to main subject”, “For client X”, or “cropped for 8×10”. If I change the filename on any of the virtual copies, it changes the filename on all and on the original. How can I label different virtual copies made for different purposes?

Tim’s Quick Answer: For this purpose I would suggest adding text to a field in metadata, such as the “User Comment” field available in the EXIF metadata.

More Detail: Renaming a photo can certainly help provide additional details about an image, but in the context of virtual copies in Lightroom this is not a good solution. Instead, I suggest adding information to metadata to reflect the notes you want to maintain for the image.

As you’ve probably noticed, there are a great many fields available in metadata that you aren’t likely to use. I recommend finding one of these fields that you aren’t likely to use for another purpose, and that makes sense for keeping notes about your photos.

For example, I would not generally recommend using the Title and Caption fields in metadata for this type of note about a photo, because those fields may be used for other purposes. For example, the Title can be used to label an image automatically when you share to online services such as Facebook.

So, the User Comment field is a good fit, I think, and you may find other fields that also represent a good option for this type of note, or for other details you want to remember about a photo.

Today’s Question: In reference to the question and answer [on March 14th] about adding text to filenames, I wonder if there is any way to use the features of Adobe Bridge and Lightroom together or in conjunction without messing everything up?

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is not really possible (at least without creating significant additional work for yourself) to use Adobe Bridge for renaming your photos after you have imported them into Lightroom. However, you could most certainly take advantage of the more advanced renaming options in Bridge before importing photos into Lightroom.

More Detail: Adobe Bridge includes some features for file renaming that go beyond what is available in Adobe Lightroom. For example, in Bridge you can rename through the use of a string substitution option, which is not available in Lightroom. You could use this feature to replace the “IMG_” text that precedes the sequence number in the filename for many camera models with more meaningful text related to your name or photo shoot details, as just one example of how this feature might be useful.

However, if you use Adobe Bridge to rename photos that are being managed by Adobe Lightroom, you’ll quickly create a potentially significant problem for yourself. By renaming photos outside the context of your Lightroom catalog, the photos will suddenly become “missing” within Lightroom, because those photos can’t be located with the filenames that are expected based on your Lightroom catalog. You would need to reconnect all of the renamed photos manually within Lightroom to resolve this issue, which could be time-consuming and frustrating.

Therefore, the only real option that would provide the additional renaming features of Adobe Bridge for photos you wish to manage in Adobe Lightroom would be to rename the photos using Adobe Bridge before importing those photos into Lightroom.

You could, for example, download and rename the photos to the intended storage location using Bridge, and then import those photos into your Lightroom catalog using the “Add” option found at the top-center of the Import dialog in Lightroom. Most importantly, if you’re going to rename your photos (or perform any other work) after those photos have been imported into your Lightroom catalog, that work should be performed (or initiated) from within Lightroom.

Today’s Question: When one makes a selection or layer mask and then feathers it, does the feathering extend only outward from the masked area? Or does it also extend into the masked area?

Tim’s Quick Answer: When you apply feathering to a selection or layer mask, that feathering extends both outward and inward relative to the existing edge of the selection or layer mask.

More Detail: If a selection or layer mask does not have any feathering applied, the edge of that selection or layer mask can be thought of as having a crisp edge with no transition. The selected area can be thought of as white, and the non-selected area as black, which happens to be exactly how Photoshop presents a layer mask or saved selection.

When you apply feathering to a selection or layer mask, you are quite literally applying a blur to the selection or mask. That blurring extends in both directions from all contrast edges in the selection or mask.

In other words, when you feather a selection, the selection edge will be enlarged (by virtue of the blurring), and that enlargement will extend in both directions. So the area you selected will be a little less selected within the selection area, and a little more selected in the area outside that selection area.

Because of this aspect of feathering, it is very often necessary to shift the edge of a selection or mask outward slightly after applying feathering. This is one of the reasons I prefer not to feather selections, and instead save that feathering for after a mask has been created based on a selection.

Furthermore, this is one of the reasons I prefer to use the Select and Mask workspace in Photoshop to apply feathering, so that I can also take advantage of the Shift Edge control that enables you to shift the mask edge inward or outward as needed based on the subject area, the amount of feathering applied, and the strength of the adjustment (if applicable) being applied to the area you had selected.

Today’s Question: In Lightroom the videos I’ve imported along with my still photos often don’t play very smoothly. Is there something I can do to improve the playback within Lightroom?

Tim’s Quick Answer: As you can imagine, upgrading your computer could certainly help. But short of that, I recommend revealing the video file in your operating system and then playing the video from there, outside of Lightroom.

More Detail: Video playback in Lightroom is not always smooth, especially if there are background tasks being performed (such as an import or rendering of previews for images you’ve just imported). Increasing the amount of memory (RAM) in your computer and otherwise upgrading performance can certainly help. But when you’re not able to get smooth playback from within Lightroom, I find you can achieve much better results by going to your operating system instead.

Once you’ve found a video you want to review in Lightroom, right-click on that video and from the popup menu that appears choose “Show in Finder” (for Macintosh users) or “Show in Explorer” (for Windows users). This will bring up a window in your operating system reflecting the folder location of the video file you right-clicked on, and that video file will be highlighted.

You can then double-click on the video file to open it in the default player for your operating system, and at that point you should expect improved video playback performance.

Today’s Question: I have a series of pictures that I imported into Lightroom with a name I’d like to change. If possible, I’d like to keep some components of the name (especially the date), but would like to change the first part of the filename. Is that possible?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can add text to the beginning of the existing filename in Lightroom, but you can’t pick and choose among elements of the existing filename to keep or change.

More Detail: Adobe Bridge actually includes the ability to perform something of a “search and replace” when renaming photos. Lightroom doesn’t provide quite that degree of sophistication, but you can most certainly retain the existing filename as part of a new filename when renaming photos in Lightroom.

The first step is to select the images you want to rename. While in the Library module, you can then choose Library > Rename Photos from the menu to bring up the Rename Photos dialog. From the File Naming popup you can choose “Edit” to bring up the Filename Template Editor dialog, where you can specify the structure to be used for renaming your photos.

Since you want to retain the original filename, I would start by choosing “Original Filename” from the Preset popup at the top of the Filename Template Editor dialog.

You can then add additional elements to the filename structure. You might select among the various metadata values that are available on the different popup controls, for example. Or you might simply click the “Insert” button associated with the Custom Text label so you can enter your own text to place at the beginning of the filename. When a new token is added, you can drag it to a new position as needed. In this case, for example, you would want to place your additional elements before the “Original Filename” token.

If you want to add text (such as a dash to separate your new elements from the original filename) you can do so in the textbox. First click within the large textbox below the Example filename, and use the arrow keys on the keyboard as needed to place the insertion point in the desired position. For example, in this case you may want the flashing insertion point to be between the additional elements (such as a “Custom Text” token and the “Original filename” token. You can then type any text or characters that you want to use as part of the file-naming template.

You can reference the Example shown above the large textbox where you are defining the filename structure in order to confirm you have achieved the desired result. If you want to be able to use this same template in the future, you’ll want to save it. To do so, click the Preset popup at the top of the Filename Template Editor dialog and choose “Save Current Settings as New Preset” from the popup. In the dialog that appears, enter a name for the new preset and click the “Create” button.

Then click the “Done” button to close the Filename Template Editor dialog. In the Rename Photos dialog, if you included a Custom Text token as part of your template, you can enter the desired text in the Custom Text field. Then click OK to apply the renaming to the selected photos.

So, while it is possible to append text before or after the original filename for photos you are renaming in Lightroom, you’re not able to pick and choose the portions of filenames while renaming the way you can in Adobe Bridge.

Today’s Question: When searching and scrolling through the list of Folders in Lightroom, I need to click the triangle icons to reveal sub-folders. After doing this repeatedly there are all of these expanded folders, which makes searching take much longer. Is there a way to “bulk” collapse the folders?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can collapse a folder along with all sub-folders by holding the Alt/Option key while clicking on the spinner (triangle) control for the top-level folder. This same option can be employed for the top-level parent folder to collapse (or expand) all folders and sub-folders on an entire hard drive, for example.

More Detail: When browsing a hierarchical structure (such as the folder structure represented in the Folders list in Lightroom) you will find a triangular icon to the left of each folder name. This triangle is a “spinner” control, which enables you to expand or collapse a folder structure, to reveal or hide sub-folders contained within a folder. In Lightroom, if that triangle is solid it indicates there are folders contained within the folder. A dotted triangle indicates there are no sub-folders.

If you hold the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh while clicking on a spinner control, you will expand or collapse (depending on the current state) all sub-folders at all levels within the folder you are clicking the spinner control for.

Taken a step further, if you reveal the parent folder for a top-level folder, you will reveal the hard drive itself, enabling you to expand or collapse all folders in your entire storage structure on the entire drive.

So, for example, let’s assume you have expanded a variety of folders and sub-folders, as noted in today’s question. If you want to collapse all folders across the entire drive, you would first need to reveal the “folder” that actually represents the hard drive. To do so, right-click on any top-level folder on that drive and choose “Show Parent Folder” from the popup menu that appears.

You can then hold the Alt/Option key on the keyboard and click on the spinner control for the top folder that represents the hard drive itself. After collapsing all folders, you can release the Alt/Option key and simply click on the spinner control for the folder representing the hard drive to reveal the folders at the top level on the hard drive, without revealing any sub-folders within those folders.

When you’re finished working with the folder that represents the hard drive, you can right-click on that folder and choose “Hide This Parent” from the popup menu that appears. At that point you will once again only be viewing the top-level folders in your overall storage structure, without the folder representing the hard drive itself.

Today’s Question: I hope you don’t mind a question about iPhone photography. I like to use the iPhone to capture panoramas, but it always wants me to pan from left to right. Is there any way to change this so I can pan from right to left?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can absolutely switch the panning direction when capturing a panorama using the Camera app on an iPhone. Just tap the arrow to switch between left-to-right panning and right-to-left panning.

More Detail: There are two features related to capturing a panorama with the iPhone Camera app that I find many photographers are not aware of.

First, as noted above, you can reverse the panning direction for capturing a panorama. Normally, when you switch to the “Pano” mode within the Camera app, the arrow you see will be pointing to the right, indicating you need to start on the left side of your scene and pan to the right as you are capturing your panorama. However, you can simply tap on the arrow to “flip” it to point left. You can then start your capture on the right side of the scene, panning to the left across the scene during the capture.

In addition, I think it is worth keeping in mind that you are not limited to horizontal panoramas. You can also capture a vertical panorama when using Pano mode in the Camera app on an iPhone. All you need to do is rotate the iPhone for your capture.

For Pano mode, if you are capturing a horizontal panorama, you would hold your phone vertically and pan across the scene during your capture. If you want to capture a vertical panorama, simply rotate the iPhone 90-degrees, so that the arrow indicating the panning motion points up or down (depending on the direction you rotated the iPhone). And, as needed, you can tap the arrow to switch between panning from the bottom to the top of the scene, or vice versa.

Today’s Question: Is there a way in Photoshop to extend the right side of the photo to make a larger canvass, but instead of inserting a solid color or transparancy, telling it to use the colors of the pixels at the far right so it just looks like that wall goes on further and further?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can actually accomplish this effect quite easily, primarily through the use of the Transform command to stretch a column of pixels to the edge of an expanded canvas.

More Detail: The first step here is to extend the canvas for the image, so that there is space available for the new pixels you’ll be adding. To avoid filling the new space with the current background color, you’ll want to convert the Background image layer to a “normal” layer. To do so, double-click on the thumbnail for the Background image layer on the Layers panel, and click OK in the New Layer dialog that appears.

Next, you can extend the canvas to create the desired amount of additional space for the effect. To get started, choose Image > Canvas Size from the menu. I generally find it easiest to turn on the “Relative” checkbox, so you can specify the amount of space you want to add. However, you can also leave this checkbox turned off and simply update the existing dimensions as needed. Then choose the unit of measure (such as Pixels or Inches) from the popup, and update the value for Width and/or Height. In this case, for example, you would only be extending the Width value. Click OK to apply the change.

You can now duplicate the desired pixels, in this case a single column at the far right of the image.

First, zoom in considerably, so you can easily identify (and click on) the pixel in question. So in this case you would zoom in to the right edge of the existing image, so you can click on a pixel in the right-most column. Then choose the Single Column Marquee tool by right-clicking on the button for the Rectangular Marquee tool on the toolbox and choosing “Single Column Marquee Tool” from the popup that appears. Then click on a pixel in the right-most column of pixels in the image to select that column of pixels. You can then choose Layer > New > Layer Via Copy from the menu to duplicate that column of pixels onto a new layer.

This new layer, consisting of only a single column of pixels in this case, will now be active on the Layers panel. So, choose Edit > Free Transform from the menu to enable a transformation of this layer. There will be anchor points at the corners and midway down the sides of the layer. Drag the right-center anchor point to the right, all the way to the edge of the canvas you extended for the image. You can then press Enter/Return on the keyboard, which will finalize the effect.

The overall process here may sound a little involved, but it is actually quite straightforward, and very easily produces the intended effect.