Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: I get a message about metadata confusion in Lightroom when I work on the image in both Lightroom and Photoshop without closing and reopening the image. I don’t know which choice to check, Import Settings from Disk, or Overwrite Settings. Would you please explain these two choices and the benefits of each?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The solution here is actually to never open an image directly from Photoshop or otherwise update the metadata outside of Lightroom. If you ensure that all tasks related to your images are initiated within Lightroom, you won’t experience this data mismatch in the first place. Resolving the issue for images that have already been impacted requires making a decision about which updates to keep versus discard.

More Detail: If you update metadata for an image outside of Lightroom, the result will be a mismatch between the metadata stored with the image and the metadata in your Lightroom catalog. Even opening a RAW capture directly in Photoshop will cause adjustment metadata to be updated. Updates made outside of Lightroom will not be reflected in your Lightroom catalog, causing a mismatch and potential confusion, as well as the risk of lost data.

For example, let’s assume you add a keyword in Lightroom. If you have enabled the option to automatically save metadata out to the actual files on your hard drive (or you have manually saved that metadata) then you can see the updates in other software. So, for example, the new keyword you added would be visible if you browse the image with Adobe Bridge.

However, if you add a keyword with Adobe Bridge, that keyword will not be visible within Lightroom, because Bridge can’t add the keyword to your Lightroom catalog. Lightroom can recognize when the metadata in your catalog doesn’t match the metadata in the image file on your hard drive, and alert you of this mismatch.

To resolve the issue for images that were processed outside of Lightroom, you’ll need to decide which updates to keep and which updates to discard. For example, if you added “Bridge” as a keyword from Adobe Bridge and you added “Lightroom” as a keyword from within Lightroom, you can’t retain both keywords. You’ll need to choose whether to keep the metadata from the file on your hard drive (“Bridge” in this example) or to keep the metadata within Lightroom (“Lightroom” as a keyword in this case). In this example, one of the two keywords will be lost when you choose an option.

If you choose the “Import Settings from Disk” option in the metadata mismatch dialog, then the Lightroom catalog will be updated with all of the metadata contained in the image on your hard drive, overwriting the metadata for that image in the Lightroom catalog. If you choose the “Overwrite Settings” option, the metadata from your Lightroom catalog will be saved to the image file on the hard drive, overwriting the metadata that was there. In either case, of course, the metadata mismatch will no longer exist.

As noted above, the real solution is to avoid this problem in the first place. Once you start using Lightroom to manage your photos, it is critical that you initiate all tasks related to your photos from within Lightroom. This will ensure that your Lightroom catalog always remains up-to-date.

Today’s Question: When opening an in image in Lightroom for editing in Photoshop I’ve always had a pop up that asked if I wanted a copy, copy with Lightroom edits, or the original file to export to Photoshop. After an update, it’s gone, no pop up at all, and it exports the original RAW file. How do I get this pop up back so I can export copies to edit in Photoshop?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Actually, Lightroom is still creating a copy of the RAW file. The only change is that you’re not seeing the dialog, but really the dialog isn’t necessary since a copy would always be created, and your original RAW capture would remain untouched. So having the dialog no longer appear is actually a good thing, although perhaps a bit confusing.

More Detail: A relatively recent update to Lightroom caused the dialog in question to no longer appear when you are sending a RAW capture to Photoshop from Lightroom using the Photo > Edit In command from the menu. With other file types (such as JPEG, TIFF, or PSD) the dialog will still appear, since in those cases you could choose whether you want to make a copy or simply open the source file directly.

With a RAW capture, the source image is processed and sent to Photoshop, creating a TIFF or PSD file in the process. You can choose which file type (and the basic settings for that file) on the External Editing tab of the Preferences dialog in Lightroom.

The adjustments you have applied to the RAW capture in Lightroom will automatically be reflected in the derivative image that is created as part of this process.

Today’s Question: I have kept my photo collection on my C drive on my laptop, organized by year and month. I have duplicates of the collection on two external hard drives (J and G drives). Now I wish to delete all photos off my C (internal) drive, and work only from the J drive, with backup to the G drive. How do I manage this transition?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Assuming you have already made an exact copy of the photos on your internal hard drive to the external hard drive, with the exact same folder structure, I would recommend connecting the existing catalog to the external hard drive. This will involve fewer risks than trying to create a new catalog or deleting the photos from the internal drive from within Lightroom.

More Detail: It is important to keep in mind that your Lightroom catalog is simply managing information about your photos and referencing the source image files in their storage location. If you copy photos from one location to another outside of Lightroom, it is important to avoid creating a mismatch between the Lightroom catalog and your overall photo storage.

Normally the approach I would recommend in a situation like this would be to start by creating a reliable backup (or two, or more) of the photos on your internal hard drive. Then, within Lightroom, I would move all of the folders from the internal hard drive to the external hard drive you want to use moving forward.

In this case you have already copied photos from the internal hard drive to an external hard drive. As long as the copy is an exact match of the original (such as by using synchronization software), then you can connect the existing references to your photos to the new storage location.

The first step here is to “hide” the photos on the internal hard drive from Lightroom. This can be as simple as renaming the top-level folder for the overall storage structure, so that Lightroom will no longer find the folders and photos where they are expected. You can then right-click on any of the folders that now appear to be missing within Lightroom, and choose the option to reconnect the missing folder. In the dialog that appears you can then select the corresponding folder on the external hard drive. Lightroom should then recursively reconnect all folders on that external hard drive, so there are no longer any missing photos or folders within Lightroom.

In effect, what you’re doing here is redirecting Lightroom to the exact same folder and photo structure on a different drive. In the process you will not lose any information for your photos, since the catalog information is still available and you are simply referencing different copies of your photos.

Once that overall process is complete and you have confirmed that everything is in order in Lightroom, you can make yet another backup of your photos on the external hard drive, and then delete all photo folders on your internal hard drive to free up space. This last step, of course, should be postponed a little while to make sure all of your photos are safely being managed from your external hard drive before removing the photos altogether from your internal drive.

Today’s Question: I’m puzzled by the extreme variation in file sizes after I resize in Photoshop then compress in JPEG format. My regular work involves processing a group of images starting with a RAW capture, and then processing in Lightroom, then exporting to Photoshop as a 16-bit TIFF. I convert to 8-bit, do routine adjustments, save, and then resize to specific pixel dimensions of 1024 x 681. Then I save as a JPEG at a Quality level of 8, which is where the question arises. The size of the final JPEG images ranges from around 200KB to sometimes 4MB. Is there a good explanation for this?

Tim’s Quick Answer: There can actually be a tremendous degree of variation in file size for JPEG images, based on the contents of the photo. In addition, additional variation can be caused by the amount of metadata embedded in the image as well as whether an ICC profile is embedded as part of the image.

More Detail: It is very common to see file size variations for JPEG images that represent about a factor of six or more. In other words, after processing a group of photos to create JPEG images with the same overall settings, if the smallest file size is around 100KB I would not be surprised if one or more images had a file size of around 600KB.

If you have an embedded profile for some images but not others, this would generally create a file size difference of around 200KB. That can obviously create a larger spread. Metadata will, of course, generally not cause a tremendous variation in file size, though that obviously depends on how much additional metadata (such as keywords) you’re adding to the images.

If some of the images are HDR captures, there is certainly a greater potential for variation in file sizes. That is because HDR images often contain more detail that non-HDR images, and greater detail results in a larger file size with a JPEG image.

I would say that a 4MB file size for a JPEG image that has pixel dimensions of 1024×681 pixels is highly unlikely. I would check to see which ICC profile you are embedding (if any), and the size of that profile. If you are consistently converting the images to the sRGB color space then you shouldn’t see this variation. But if a different profile with a larger file size is being used in some cases, that could certainly explain the larger file sizes in some cases.

Today’s Question: Suppose you have a folder named “tigers” and in this folder you have identified some of the images as “mom”, “dad”, “son”.  But you also have some that were simply tagged “tigers” without further classifying and now you want to go back to put them in mom, dad, or son. Is there any way to sort the tigers folder for the images that are NOT mom, dad, son? Otherwise, you have to go back through the entire folder watching the keyword list and stop when you don’t see mom, dad, or son, which would be very tedious.

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this case you could simply filter the images based on a text filter based on the “Don’t Contain” option for Keywords, entering “mom, dad, son” into the search field. If you want to further filter the images so you are only seeing those with the “tiger” keyword but without the “mom”, “dad”, or “son” keywords, you can use the Keyword option with the Metadata filter to specify that you want to see images that include “tiger” as a keyword.

More Detail: The filtering options within Lightroom are surprisingly sophisticated, though the many possibilities for locating images aren’t necessarily all that obvious. In this case a combination of filtering by a keyword and also filtering by the absence of several keywords will provide the desired solution.

In the Library module you can display the Library Filter bar (if it isn’t already displayed) by choosing View > Show Filter Bar from the menu or by pressing the backslash key (\) on the keyboard. Be sure you have navigated to the folder that contains the images you want to filter, and then set your filter criteria.

To filter the images to show those that do not have certain keywords added, you can use the “Don’t Contain” option. Click the Text header to bring up the text filter fields, and set the first popup to “Keywords” so you can filter specifically by the Keywords field in metadata. Then choose “Don’t Contain” from the second popup, so you can filter based on an absence of specific keywords. Then enter the keywords that are absent from the images you’re looking for, separating each by a comma. In the example from today’s question you could enter “mom, dad, son”.

You can then choose the Metadata option to filter based on images that do contain a specific keyword, such as “tiger” in this example. Click the header for the right-most column in the Metadata section, and choose “Keyword” from the popup menu. That column will then display a list of all available keywords, so you can choose one or more keywords that you want to filter based on those keywords being included in metadata for the image. In this example you could choose “tiger” from that list.

In this way you will be filtering the images so that only those containing one or more keywords (just “tiger” in this case) and that don’t contain any of another set of keywords (“mom”, “dad”, and “son” in this case). That, in turn, will enable you to review the images, perhaps in this example enabling you to add the “mom”, “dad”, “son” keywords that hadn’t yet been added for all images.

Today’s Question: I made a duplicate copy of an image in Lightroom and tried to add it to a new folder in Lightroom. It transferred both images so I “removed” the duplicate. Unfortunately it also removed the original. Is there an easy way to find it and put it back in Lightroom?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you removed the image from the catalog without deleting it, you can simply synchronize the folder to recover the image. If you deleted the image itself, the only possible solution is to recover the image file from the Trash/Recycle Bin in your operating system.

More Detail: When you create a copy of an image within Lightroom, you are actually creating a “virtual copy”. This is essentially just a second set of adjustments so you can create two different interpretations of a photo in the Develop module. The source file is not duplicated on your hard drive, so you still only have a single copy of the source image.

If you move an image from one folder to another, any virtual copies associated with that image will also appear to be moved to that destination folder. This is because the virtual copy isn’t an actual file, but rather just a set of additional adjustments within Lightroom.

This can certainly lead to some confusion when it comes to removing a photo from your catalog. If you select the option to remove a virtual copy (by right-clicking on the virtual copy and choosing the “Remove Photo” command), you will simply be asked to confirm that you want to remove that virtual copy, since doing so won’t cause the source image to be deleted.

If you choose the “Remove Photo” command after right-clicking on the source image (rather than the virtual copy) then you’ll have a couple of options. You can remove the image from your Lightroom catalog without deleting the source file, or you can delete the source file from your hard drive. With either option, by removing the source image the virtual copy will be removed as well. Note that choosing the option to delete the source file will actually move that file to the Trash or Recycle Bin for your operating system, so you can still recover the file from that location as long as you haven’t “emptied” that Trash/Recycle Bin.

If you used the “Remove” option, then you can bring the source image back into your catalog by synchronizing the applicable folder. Simply right-click on the folder in question and choose “Synchronize Folder” from the popup menu. In the Synchronize Folder dialog be sure the “Import new photos” checkbox is turned on, and click the Synchronize button to add the images that had been removed back into your catalog.

If you deleted the source image, you’ll need to first recover the files from your Trash or Recycle Bin, and then use the “Synchronize Folder” command to bring those images back into your Lightroom catalog.

Today’s Question: From Adobe Bridge, I open a RAW file and then in Camera Raw, I make various adjustments, then, when finished, I hold down the Option Key (on my Mac) and this opens a copy in Photoshop, leaving the original RAW file, so far as I can tell, untouched. Is this a preferred non-destructive workflow?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Actually, processing a RAW capture with Adobe Camera Raw is always non-destructive, by virtue of not altering the original RAW data file. In other words, the “Open Copy” command in Camera Raw is not necessary for RAW captures.

More Detail: The “Open Copy” option in Adobe Camera Raw is not an option that I find especially helpful. In the context of a RAW capture it really doesn’t have a meaningful effect. For TIFF or JPEG images processed with Camera Raw it doesn’t create an actual duplicate image file, but rather simply “forces” the Save As (rather than Save) command to be initiated even if you choose File > Save from the menu.

Put simply, any photo optimization work that is performed on a RAW capture is going to be non-destructive to that RAW capture, simply because such software can’t save any adjustments back to the original RAW data. Metadata updates can certainly be applied, but adjustments won’t alter the original RAW capture data.

That said, photographers who use Camera Raw to process TIFF or JPEG images might find the Open Copy command helpful. Using this option will help ensure you don’t accidentally use the Save command to replace the original version of the TIFF or JPEG image with your adjustments.

You can access the Open Copy command by holding the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh, which will cause the Open button to change to an Open Copy button. Clicking that button (with the Alt/Option key held down) will then open the image, though without actually creating a new image file. Instead, you’ll be prompted with the Save As command when you save the image, even if you choose the Save command rather than Save As from the File menu.

Today’s Question: I have generated 1:1 previews for my photos in Lightroom, but I often still see the “loading” message when I select an image. Shouldn’t the 1:1 previews make the previews load instantly?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Just because you have loaded 1:1 previews for your photos does not mean those previews will load instantly. There are a variety of factors that can impact the speed at which previews (of any resolution) can be loaded.

More Detail: The 1:1 preview option in Lightroom enables you to have a full-resolution preview for your images in the Library module. These previews will be generated automatically whenever you zoom in on an image for which there isn’t already a 1:1 preview. If you have already generated 1:1 previews for your photos, those previews can be loaded from the previews file more quickly than a new preview can be generated.

In addition, however, there are some other issues that can impact the overall speed at which previews can be loaded.

In the context of 1:1 previews, it is important to keep in mind that by default Lightroom will discard the 1:1 previews for your images if they have not been accessed in the last thirty days. As a result, it is possible you are actually experiencing slower performance for some images because the previews have been discarded and therefore need to be re-built. If this is the issue, keeping the 1:1 previews for a longer duration can help. You can select Edit > Catalog Settings on Windows or Lightroom > Catalog Settings on Macintosh to bring up the Catalog Settings dialog. On the File Handling tab you can choose when the 1:1 previews should be discarded, including an option for “Never”.

Next, I would make sure that your Lightroom catalog (and therefore all of the preview files) are located on the fastest hard drive available. In general that means storing the catalog on an internal hard drive on your computer, but the point is that overall hard drive performance affects how quickly previews can load.

You can also improve overall performance in Lightroom by optimizing the catalog periodically. This is an option available when backing up your catalog. If you’re not using the built-in feature in Lightroom to backup your catalog (and therefore not using the catalog optimization feature available as part of the backup) I recommend “manually” optimizing periodically by choosing File > Optimize Catalog from the menu.

Finally, in some cases you may actually find it helpful to discard the previews altogether and have Lightroom generate them again for you. I have had a couple of occasions where overall performance loading images in Lightroom got to be quite slow, and discarding all previews provided a significant benefit.

To do so, you will first want to make sure that Lightroom is closed. Then go to the folder that contains your catalog and delete the file that has the same name as your actual catalog (lrcat) file, but with the word “Previews” appended to the filename and with a filename extension of “lrdata”.

When you then launch Lightroom again, you can re-generate previews for all photos. To do so you can go to the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel of the Library module and then choose Edit > Select All from the menu. Then go to the Library menu on the menu bar and choose Previews > Build 1:1 Previews (or “Build Standard-Sized Previews” if you don’t need the full-resolution previews). This will cause Lightroom to build previews for all images, which can take considerable time but can then help ensure improved browsing performance.

Today’s Question: Question on Lightroom: Can I “type in” a title, name, or date on a picture in Lightroom? And then print out the picture with the text?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While you can’t add text directly onto a photo in Lightroom in quite the same way that you can in Photoshop, you can add text when printing a photo in the Print module, or sharing with the other modules.

More Detail: There are various ways you can add text to an image you are sharing from within Lightroom. You can add text to an existing field in metadata, for example, and then add text to the image using the Photo Info option in the Page section of the right panel in the Print module. After turning on the “Photo Info” checkbox you can choose the applicable metadata field you’d like to add text based on, using the popup to the right of the Photo Info checkbox.

If you’d like a little more flexibility for the text that you add to the photo, you can use the Identity Plate option. Start by turning on the “Identity Plate” checkbox in the Page section of the right panel in the Print module. Then click on the identity plate preview below this checkbox, and choose “Edit” from the popup that appears.

This will bring up the Identity Plate Editor dialog, where you can type the text you’d like to include on the image, and then adjust the font settings for the text. After clicking OK to confirm the changes to the text, you can also drag the text around on the image in order to adjust the specific position of the text.

To be sure, Lightroom does not provide anywhere near the degree of flexibility that Photoshop provides. In Photoshop you can add multiple text layers with a variety of effects, which enables you to create text on a photo in virtually any way you would like. That said, it is possible to add relatively simple text elements to a photo you’d like to share from Lightroom.

Today’s Question: I have been looking for some information about the slim panel that resides directly left of the right hand side panels in Photoshop. I have been able to drag and drop floating panels into this, which I had initially dragged from the right side of the screen. They then revert back from full panel to icon status. It seems to me there is more to this slim panel than just a place to tuck away a panel until it is needed again.

Tim’s Quick Answer: What you’re referring to is an “iconic” panel in Photoshop. This is a panel that can collapse to a small button when you aren’t actively using the panel. If you prefer to have two (or more) columns of larger panels, you can simply expand the iconic panel by clicking the double chevron icon (<<) at the top of the iconic panel.

More Detail: The default workspace in Photoshop includes a group of iconic panels to the left of a group of normal panels. What that basically translates into is a set of “expanded” versus “collapsed” panels. The benefit of an iconic panel is that it takes up very little space until you actually need to use it, and when you do need to use it you can simply click the iconic button to expand the panel and make normal use of it.

If you only have a single “column” of panels along the right side of the Photoshop interface, you can drag another column to be docked to the left of those panels by dropping the panel to the left edge of the panels that are already docked. In most cases that will result in an iconic panel docked to the left of the expanded panels.

You can expand the iconic panels by clicking the double chevron icon (<<) at the top of the iconic panels. This will create two columns of expanded panels. If you then want to collapse that column of panels to iconic panels, you can click the double chevron icon that will now be pointing to the right (>>).

In fact, if you prefer to work with only iconic panels, even the expanded panels that are docked on the right side of the Photoshop interface by default can be collapsed with the same double-chevron button at the top of the set of docked panels.

You can learn a bit more about defining your own custom workspace in Lesson 3 of Chapter 3 (“Adjusting Your Workspace”) of the “Understanding and Configuring Photoshop CC” course, which is available as part the “Photoshop for Photographers” bundle of courses available through GreyLearning. If you’re not already a GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle subscriber, you can sign up for just the “Photoshop for Photographers” bundle (with a discount) by following this link:

http://greylearning.com/bundles/photoshop?coupon=atgphotoshop