Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: You’ve mentioned the ability to mark folders with color labels or stars in Lightroom Classic, but is there a similar feature for those of us using Adobe Bridge to provide faster access to folders we use more frequently?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can indeed mark folders as favorites in Adobe Bridge to provide faster access.

More Detail: Perhaps the easiest way to get fast access to folders you’re most likely to browse in Adobe Bridge is to mark those folders as favorites. You can then access your favorite folders quickly and easily by going to the Favorites panel.

To mark a folder as a favorite, go to the Folders panel and right-click on a folder, then choose “Add To Favorites” from the popup menu. This will mark the folder as a favorite, so it will appear on the Favorites panel. This will also cause the popup menu to change for that folder, so that when you right-click on it you will instead see a “Remove From Favorites” option, which can obviously be selected to remove the folder from the Favorites panel.

You can then navigate to the folder quickly by going to the Favorites panel and clicking on the applicable folder there. When you click on the folder in Favorites, you’ll be able to see subfolders in the Content panel, as long as “Show Folders” is enabled on the View menu. However, you can’t simply expand the folder to see subfolders on the Favorites panel. But if after selecting a folder on the Favorites panel you switch to the Folders panel, the selected folder will be highlighted, and you can then click the caret symbol to the left of the folder to expand to reveal subfolders.

The Favorites panel is included by default in the Essentials and Filmstrip workspaces, which can be selected from the Window > Workspace submenu. You can also enable the Favorites panel in a workspace that doesn’t include it by choosing Window > Favorites from the menu.

Today’s Question: To rename a catalog in Lightroom Classic, is it really as easy as going to File > Rename Catalog and entering a new name? Do you turn on the “Rename parent folder” checkbox?

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is very important to check your overall storage structure before using the “Rename parent folder” option. But yes, renaming your Lightroom Classic catalog is as easy as entering a new name in the Rename Catalog dialog. I recommend leaving the “Rename parent folder” checkbox turned off unless you’ve checked the folder structure in advance.

More Detail: Renaming the various files associated with your Lightroom Classic catalog is now incredibly easy, thanks to the addition of the Rename Catalog command in version 14. However, if you enable the option to rename the parent folder that contains the catalog, you can potentially run into some serious challenges.

The risk here applies to those who have photos stored in folders within the same folder as the catalog itself. Some photographers have used this approach particularly when storing their catalog and photos together on an external hard drive that can be moved between more than one computer.

If, for example, your photos are all stored in folders within the same parent folder as your catalog, enabling the “Rename parent folder” option will cause the path to your photos to change, which in turn can cause every single folder and photo being managed by Lightroom Classic to suddenly appear to be missing.

If your Lightroom Classic catalog is stored in a standalone folder with no photos stored within that folder (including subfolders), then it is safe to enable the “Rename parent folder” option. And since by default the folder has the same name as your original catalog, it can be helpful to confirm your overall storage structure before enabling the option to rename the parent folder that contains the catalog.

Today’s Question: You have periodically referred to settings for Lightroom Classic in the Preferences and Catalog Settings dialogs. Why couldn’t all the options be consolidated into a single dialog? It doesn’t seem like it should be necessary to have two places for settings when one would do.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The key distinction between Catalog Settings and Preferences in Lightroom Classic is that Catalog Settings applies only to the catalog that is currently in use, while Preferences applies to the full installation of Lightroom Classic on the computer, affecting all catalogs you might open on that computer.

More Detail: Most applications include a Preferences dialog where you can configure various settings and options based on your personal preferences. With Lightroom Classic, in addition to the Preferences dialog there is a Catalog Settings dialog with additional settings.

While it would be reasonable to merge all the settings in Preferences and Catalog Settings in Lightroom Classic, I do think it is good that they are separate since they affect Lightroom Classic differently. The settings in the Catalog Settings dialog will only apply to the catalog that is currently in use, which enables you to have different settings for different catalogs. The settings in the Preferences dialog apply to the Lightroom Classic installation on your computer, so the same settings will apply regardless of which catalog you have open.

In general, I recommend using a single catalog to manage all photos, which would make the distinction of the Catalog Settings dialog irrelevant. However, if you use more than one catalog, you can configure different settings for each within Catalog Settings. The fact that there are two dialogs rather than one serve as a bit of a reminder of that distinction.

Today’s Question: In the context of working in Lightroom Classic when the source photos aren’t available, you said “If you build Smart Previews you can even apply adjustments in the Develop module.” Can you clarify how this works and what I need to do to enable me to apply adjustments to images that aren’t currently available?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can build Smart Previews in Lightroom Classic on import or later in your workflow. Those Smart Previews enable you to work in the Develop module and export copies of photos even when the source files aren’t available.

More Detail: Working in Lightroom Classic primarily revolves around viewing Standard Previews for your photos, which are effectively JPEG copies of the original images created at a reduced resolution (based on the setting established for Standard Preview Size on the Previews tab of the Catalog Settings dialog). While these previews enable you to view your images and apply metadata updates even when the source files aren’t available, you can’t work in the Develop module based on a Standard Preview.

However, you can use Smart Previews to work on your images in the Develop module. These are previews that are generally at a higher resolution than Standard Previews at 2,560 pixels on the long side, without JPEG compression applied. As such, they are more suitable as a proxy for your original image and can be used in the Develop module.

You can build Smart Previews for all photos during import by turning on the “Build Smart Previews” checkbox in the File Handling section of the right panel in the Import dialog. You can build Smart Previews at any time later in your workflow by selecting the applicable photos in the Library module and then going to the menu and choosing Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews.

Once you’ve built Smart Previews for images, you can optimize those images in the Develop module or export copies based on the Smart Preview. Just keep in mind that the Smart Previews won’t have the full fidelity of the original images, in large part due to their reduced resolution. When you want to be more critical about the adjustments you apply in the Develop module, I recommend working based on the original image files.

Today’s Question: If I neglect to disable lens corrections when I import my photos [into Lightroom Classic], can this be undone after importing? When I import photos taken with a fisheye lens, I don’t want Lightroom to correct the distortions.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can disable the Lens Corrections adjustment in Lightroom Classic by turning off the “Enable Profile Corrections” checkbox after the photos had been imported. You can even apply this change in batch by enabling the Auto Sync feature.

More Detail: I prefer to apply a variety of adjustments using a preset when importing new photos into my Lightroom Classic catalog, as a way to change the default settings for certain adjustments. For example, I apply profile-based lens corrections and a bit of a boost for both Vibrance and Clarity. However, in some cases I may not want to apply those adjustments at import.

If a preset was applied by mistake on import, you can simply turn off the adjustment (as in the case of turning off the “Enable Profile Corrections” checkbox for Lens Corrections), reset an adjustment, or even reset all adjustments.

When changing an adjustment that was applied using a preset during import, there’s a good chance that if you didn’t want those adjustments applied that you need to disable the adjustment for all the photos that had been imported. You can do this using the Auto Sync feature.

To get started, select the photos you want to update. For example, this might be as easy as selecting all photos in the “Previous Import” collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. Then go to the Sync button at the bottom of the right panel in the Develop module and turn on the toggle switch on the left side of the button so the button updates to read “Auto Sync”. This indicates that Auto Sync is enabled.

With Auto Sync enabled, all adjustments you modify will update automatically for all selected photos. So, you can turn off the “Enable Profile Corrections” checkbox, turn off the Lens Corrections section altogether, or otherwise update the adjustments for the selected photos.

When you’re finished, I recommend turning off the Auto Sync feature, just to make sure you don’t inadvertently apply updates to multiple photos unexpectedly if you have selected more than one image while working in the Develop module.

Today’s Question: As a follow up to editing photos when the source drive is not connected, how does Lightroom deal with it when write to XMP sidecar files is enabled? Does it wait until the drive is connected and write them then? Automatically?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, as soon as the source files are available again, Lightroom Classic will automatically save any updates you had made while the files were offline as long as you have turned on the option for these updates to be applied automatically.

More Detail: One of the advantages of the catalog in Lightroom Classic is that you can browse your photos (as long as previews had been built) and apply metadata updates even if the source files aren’t currently available. For example, if you store your photos on an external hard drive that isn’t connected to the computer, you can still review those photos, assign star ratings, add keywords, and more. If you build Smart Previews you can even apply adjustments in the Develop module.

If you turn on the “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog, Lightroom Classic will also save standard metadata updates to the source files. If you have applied updates while the source files were offline, Lightroom Classic will automatically start saving any metadata updates to the XMP sidecar files for raw captures (or to the files themselves for other image formats) once the files are available again.

If you’re not feeling confident that the updates were saved to the source files, or if you haven’t turned on the “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox, you can also manually save metadata updates to the source files. Simply go to the Library module and select the photos you want to update, then choose Metadata > Save Metadata to Files from the menu.

Today’s Question: Is there a way to batch process several images for an HDR [high dynamic range] merge in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can batch process bracketed photos into high dynamic range (HDR) images by first stacking the images and collapsing the stacks.

More Detail: I think it is well known that you can assemble HDR images in Lightroom Classic. However, it is a bit of a “hidden feature” that you can process HDR images in batch as well. This can obviously provide some workflow efficiency, and can also be very helpful for being better able to review the images to find your favorites without having to try to interpret the original bracketed exposures.

Batch processing for HDR is only supported for stacks of images, so you’ll first need to group the bracketed exposures into stacks. You can do this manually by selecting the images for a stack, right-clicking on one of the selected images, and choosing Stacking > Group into Stack from the popup menu. You can also potentially stack the images automatically by using the menu command Photo > Stacking > Auto-Stack by Capture Time.

You also need to collapse the stacks, which can be done by choosing Photo > Stacking > Collapse All Stacks from the menu. Then select the stacsk, and initiate the batch HDR processing by choosing Photo > Photo Merge > HDR from the menu.

Note that the processing for the selected stacks will be handled automatically, with no option to adjust the settings for the batch processing. The Auto-Align feature will be enabled for all images, but the Deghost option will be disabled. The Adobe DNG files for the assembled HDR images will be added to the top of each stack that was processed.

And for those wondering, in anticipation of a follow-up question, yes, you can perform the same batch processing for panoramic images using the exact same steps above in conjunction with the menu command Photo > Photo Merge > Panorama.

Today’s Question: How do you select a color space in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In Lightroom Classic you can only select a color profile when sending an image outside of Lightroom Classic, such as when exporting or editing in Photoshop.

More Detail: Today’s question was a follow-up to the question last week about the color space setting in Camera Raw for those editing photos in Photoshop. The equivalent in Lightroom Classic would be to choose a color profile for images being exported or edited in another application such as Photoshop.

In Photoshop you can select a working space profile in the Color Settings dialog, but this isn’t an option in Lightroom Classic. Rather, Lightroom Classic always uses the ProPhoto RGB color space for rendering images in the Develop module. The Adobe RGB and sRGB color spaces are used in other modules, depending on the focus of the task. You can’t change this behavior, as it is internal to Lightroom Classic.

You can, however, select a profile for images being exported from Lightroom Classic. You can choose the color space you want to use for images being sent to Photoshop on the External Editing tab of the Preferences dialog. There you’ll find a Color Space popup under the “Edit in Adobe Photoshop” heading. There is also a Color Space popup available for configuring other external editors under the “Additional External Editor” heading.

When exporting a copy of an image from Lightroom Classic you can also select the color profile you want to convert the image to. For example, sRGB is a good profile to use for images that will be shared digitally, and Adobe RGB is a good profile to use for images that will be printed after export. The Color Space popup in the File Settings section of the Export dialog is where you can select this profile, as long as you have chosen an image format option other than “Original” or “DNG” from the Image Format popup.

Today’s Question: Sometimes when I open an image in Camera Raw I see a warning symbol with an exclamation point at the bottom-right of the image. I understand that Camera Raw is trying to tell me there’s some sort of problem, but what is it?

Tim’s Quick Answer: That warning icon indicates that the image is set not set to the most recent process version, meaning in effect it is still being adjusted based on an older version of Camera Raw. You can update to the latest process version by clicking the symbol, but be aware that the appearance of the image may change to some degree as a result.

More Detail: With Camera Raw (as will as Lightroom and Lightroom Classic) there are process versions that basically relate to a specific version of the various adjustments available. With certain updates to these applications over the years, the image processing has been updated or expanded, resulting in a new process version.

If you open an image in Camera Raw that has never been opened before, it will default to the current process version and you’ll have access to all the latest adjustments. If you had previously processed the image with an older version of camera raw with an older process version, that older process version will be retained when you open the image with Camera Raw again. This is to ensure that the image is processed the same way and with the same appearance as when it was original optimized.

You can find the process version in the Calibration section of the Edit panel in Camera Raw. You can update the process version as needed by choosing the most recent (currently Version 6) from the Process popup. However, if you open an image that is set to an older process version you’ll also see a warning symbol of a triangle with an exclamation point in it at the bottom-right of the image preview area. You can also click that warning icon to update to the latest process version.

Because a process version relates to a different version of the adjustment engine for Camera Raw (or Lightroom or Lightroom Classic), changing the process version can cause the appearance of the image to change. In some cases that change can be somewhat significant. It is therefore important to pay attention to the image when updating the process version, and then to revisit the adjustments to get the image looking its best again. By updating the process version, however, you’ll also ensure you have access to all the latest updates and adjustments for processing your photo.

Today’s Question: The other day I took a snapshot with my iPhone that I wanted to share. The photo was too dark, so I decided to brighten it a bit and add some Clarity in Lightroom Classic. I exported the photo to my hard drive using Image Format: Original. When I attached the photo to the email, it was still too dark, not at all as it appeared in Lightroom Classic. Eventually, I tried exporting it with Image Format set to JPEG. The export worked fine. What’s going on?

Tim’s Quick Answer: When you select the “Original” option for the Image Format setting when exporting a photo from Lightroom Classic, you are exporting a copy of the original file without any adjustments. If you want to have the adjustments included in the exported file, you’ll need to choose a specific image format from the popup, not the “Original” option.

More Detail: Admittedly, it can be a little confusing when you export an image from Lightroom Classic and the adjustments are not included. But this is only an issue if you choose the “Original” option from the Image Format popup in the File Settings section of the Export dialog. That option exports a copy of the original image as it was captured, with no adjustments or other metadata updates applied.

If you want to include adjustments in the exported image, you’ll need to choose a specific file format other than “Original”. That is true even if you are exporting an image that was captured as a JPEG and you want the exported copy to be a JPEG. In this case if you choose “Original” the adjustments from the Develop module will not be included in the exported file, but if you choose “JPEG” from the Image Format popup the exported image will include the adjustments. This is true even though in both cases you would be exporting a JPEG image in this example.

So, the “Original” option is for exporting a copy of the image as it came from the camera, while choosing a specific file format will create a copy that does include your adjustments from the Develop module.