Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Your answer about working on an image from a collection versus a folder [in Lightroom Classic] was very helpful, including the details about working on a virtual copy rather than the original source image. But how would I know if I am working on a virtual copy rather than the original?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can identify a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic based on the Copy Name indication after the filename on the filmstrip, or by the turned page corner icon that appears on the thumbnail as long as you have the display of badges enabled.

More Detail: One of the more obvious indications that an image in Lightroom Classic is a virtual copy is the turned page corner icon that appears as a badge on the thumbnail of a virtual copy in the grid view or on the filmstrip. This icon appears at the bottom-left corner of the thumbnail as long as the feature is enabled.

To ensure the badge for a virtual copy is displayed on the filmstrip go to the Interface tab of the Preferences dialog and make sure the “Show badges” checkbox is turned on in the Filmstrip section. To enable the badges for the grid view choose View > View Options from the menu while in the Library module and go to the Grid View tab. Make sure the “Thumbnail Badges” checkbox is turned on in the Cell Icons section.

In addition to the thumbnail badge for virtual copies, these images will have a Copy Name associated with them. The default Copy Name for the first virtual copy for an image will be “Copy 1”, and the number will increment for additional virtual copies based on the same source image. This Copy Name value will be displayed after the filename for the selected virtual copy above the thumbnail filmstrip on the bottom panel, appearing after the source image filename and a slash.

Note that you can change the value for the Copy Name field, which in turn will update the text associated with the filename for virtual copies. This enables you to assign a more meaningful name to virtual copies, so that you can remind yourself of the purpose of the virtual copy, for example.

The Copy Name field can be found toward the top of the Metadata section of the left panel in the Library module, but only with some of the metadata field options you can select from the popup to the left of the Metadata heading. For example, if you choose “EXIF and IPTC” from that popup the Copy Name field will be displayed. Note that if you clear out all the text from the Copy Name field the word “Copy” will still display after the filename on the bottom panel, so you can still identify the image as a virtual copy.

Today’s Question: Let’s say I am about to export an image [from Lightroom Classic] that I have in one of my Collections. But then I notice something that needs a quick cleanup or removal and I make that correction, but am doing so in my Collections, not going back to the image in my Folder. I am assuming with some testing that I have done, there is no problem in making the correction in Collections but just want to be sure that something is not going to be amiss in not making the correction in my Folder.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Making changes to an image that has been selected from a collection rather than a folder will cause the changes to be reflected in the source image in the folder. Just keep in mind that the source image could be a virtual copy rather than the original capture.

More Detail: When you add a photo to a collection in Lightroom Classic you are not making a copy of the source image file. Rather, you are simply adding a reference to the image in the collection, so that you can group various photos together and make it easier to locate certain images quickly.

As a result, when you modify an image in a collection, you are in effect actually altering the source image in the folder. For example, whether you assign a star rating or a keyword by first selecting the image from a folder versus a collection, the result is exactly the same. When you later locate the image by selecting it in either a folder or collection, you’ll see the metadata updates. The same applies to adjustments made in the Develop module.

However, it is important to keep in mind that virtual copies can be added to collections, and virtual copies represent a separate version of the original image. For example, if you create a virtual copy and then add a keyword to the original image, the virtual copy will not contain that new keyword. This feature is primarily aimed at enabling you to create different versions of photos in the Develop module.

If you add a virtual copy to a collection you would then be adjusting the virtual copy if you selected it in the collection. In the source folder you would be able to locate both the source image and the virtual copy, but you might have only added the virtual copy to the collection.

So, any work you perform on an image in a collection will be reflected for the same image in the source folder. Just make sure you know when you’re working on a virtual copy rather than the source image file, so that you know which specific image you’re actually affecting when selecting an image from a collection.

Today’s Question: Would syncing the parent folder (such as Pictures) within Lightroom Classic identify any photos that have not been imported and add them to the catalog?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, adding photos to the catalog is one of the key features of the “Synchronize Folder” command in Lightroom Classic. This command provides the option to add photos to the catalog that are within the folder structure you applied the command to but that aren’t currently in the catalog.

More Detail: There are a variety of reasons that not all photos that are contained within a folder on your hard drive would be included in your Lightroom Classic catalog. You may have only imported some of the photos from a given folder, you may have removed photos from the catalog without deleting them, or you may have added photos to a folder outside of Lightroom Classic.

Regardless of the reason that a folder in Lightroom Classic doesn’t match in terms of the photos actually included in the folder on your hard drive, the “Synchronize Folder” command provides a solution.

To get started, right-click on the folder you want to synchronize and choose “Synchronize Folder” from the popup menu. This command will check all subfolders within the folder you selected for synchronization, so you can apply the command to a parent folder if you want to check all subfolders within.

After selecting the “Synchronize Folder” command Lightroom Classic will analyze the folder and provide a summary with several options. If there are photos on the hard drive that aren’t in the catalog, the “Import new photos” checkbox will be enabled, with a count in parenthesis indicating how many photos were found. Turn on this checkbox if you want to add those photos to the catalog.

If there are photos in your catalog that are not contained in the folder on your hard drive, the “Remove missing photos from catalog” checkbox will be enabled, also with a count of the number of missing photos. Turn on this checkbox if you want Lightroom Classic to remove those missing photos from the catalog.

You can also turn on the “Scan for metadata updates” checkbox if you want Lightroom Classic to check for metadata that was updated directly in the photos on the hard drive without being updated in Lightroom Classic. Turning on this checkbox will update the metadata in the catalog accordingly.

After selecting the options you want to enable, click the Synchronize button and the applicable updates will be applied to your catalog.

Today’s Question: I made a series of adjustments in Lightroom Classic, with one of the steps along the way being a content-aware cleanup. After applying more adjustments, I realized the cleanup wasn’t good. Is there any way to go back and fix just that one step without losing all the work I had done after that step?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you can’t undo a single history state without also undoing the adjustments that were applied after that history state. However, you can reset an individual adjustment based on a review of the history states.

More Detail: The history in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic is linear, meaning you can go back in time to a given history state, but doing so will cause all steps that had been applied after that state to also be undone. So, if you performed ten steps in history, for example, and you realize you want to undo the third step, with the history feature you can only go back to step three so that steps four through ten would also be undone.

However, because all your work in the Lightroom Classic develop module is non-destructive, you can always reset or refine an individual adjustment. This can be based on reviewing the history states to get a sense of what was done, which can inform your decision about what needs to be changed.

Today’s question indicates that a cleanup done with the Healing tool is the history step that represents a mistake. You can therefore simply select the Healing tool again, click on the edit pin for the spot that you want to fix, and press the Delete key on the keyboard to delete that correction. You can then use the Healing tool again in that area to improve the cleanup work as needed.

If you wanted to undo an individual adjustment, you can obviously see what adjustments were applied in the history list. This could help you determine which adjustment you need to reset, for example. In addition, the history states for individual adjustments show the degree to which the adjustment was changed and the new value for the adjustment based on the change.

For example, let’s assume you applied a Clarity adjustment, then went back and increased the value for Clarity to a very high level. If you later decide that was too much, you can look at the history states to determine what the prior value was.

To the right of these history states you will see two numbers. The first number indicates the change in value for the adjustment, and the second number indicates the updated value. So, for example, if you see Clarity listed with the first number being +25 and the second number being 45, then you know that Clarity had been set to 20, but then you increased it by 25 so the new value is 45. Setting Clarity to 20 would therefore set it back to the value it was at before the additional adjustment.

The point is that while you can’t undo individual history states without also undoing all adjustments performed after that state, you can refine or reset individual adjustments based on a review of the history for an image.

Today’s Question: Is there a Book Module in either Photoshop or Bridge?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, the Book feature available in Lightroom Classic isn’t available in Photoshop or Bridge. However, you can create books without using Lightroom Classic with the free BookWright software from Blurb (https://www.blurb.com).

More Detail: The Book module in Lightroom Classic represents an integration with Blurb (https://www.blurb.com), but you don’t have to use Lightroom Classic to create a Blurb book. Instead you can use the free BookWright software from Blurb.

You can download BookWright for free just by having a Blurb account. If you already have an account you can sign in, and if you don’t you can create an account quickly and easily. You can then use the various “Start Project” links on the Blurb website to get started, downloading the latest version of the BookWright software as part of that process.

The BookWright software provides the same basic features as the Book module in Lightroom Classic in terms of creating a book layout featuring your images, selecting the print options, and ordering your book through the Blurb website. You can also make your book available for sale through Blurb if you’re interested in that option.

Today’s Question: Since Adobe introduced the recent 2024 updates to Photoshop and Bridge, I am getting an error message [indicating Photoshop can’t be found] when I double-click on a thumbnail in Bridge. It seems to be looking for the 2023 version of Photoshop. How can I solve this problem?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can resolve this issue by updating the file type associations in Preferences in Bridge to reflect the latest version of Photoshop.

More Detail: It is possible to have more than one version of Photoshop installed, and sometimes this can lead to issues where Adobe Bridge is looking for a version of Photoshop that is no longer installed. In other words, if you double-click on an image to open it in Photoshop, you may receive an error message indicating Photoshop couldn’t be found.

To resolve this issue, go to the Preferences dialog in Adobe Bridge by going to the menu and choosing Edit > Preferences on Windows or Adobe Bridge > Settings on Macintosh. In the Preferences dialog go to the File Type Associations tab by selecting it from the list along the left side of the dialog.

Within the File Type Associations tab, you’ll see a long list of file types supported by Bridge. You can scroll through or search for a file format and change the popup to the right of the file type to the latest version of Photoshop (currently Photoshop 2024 25.0). You’ll need to repeat this for each of the file types you want to open in the latest version of Photoshop from Bridge, such as proprietary raw capture formats, Adobe DNG files, Photoshop documents, TIFF files, JPEG images, and perhaps other formats.

After updating the file type associations, you can click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog. When you then double-click on a file of a type you updated the file type association for that image will be opened in Photoshop as expected.

Today’s Question: I recently created a book using the Book module in Lightroom Classic and your Mastering Lightroom Classic video tutorial. I’ve completed the first draft of the book and uploaded it to Blurb for a proof copy. Can I start a second book but still retain the existing one for future updates? I don’t want to start a second book and lose the draft of the current one.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The first step is to make sure you’ve saved the original version of the book within the Book module. When you’re ready to start working on an updated version, you can duplicate the saved book collection to use that as a new starting point, preserving both versions of the book in the process.

More Detail: When it comes to preserving a book layout in the Book module in Lightroom Classic, the first thing to know is that you can save your book layout. To do so, after at least creating the initial book, click the “Create Saved Book” button toward the top-right of the book preview area. This will create a new collection featuring the images included in the book and will preserve the layout for the book as part of that collection.

Note, by the way, that once you’ve saved a book you could also start on a new empty book. You can, for example, navigate to a new folder or collection that contains the images you want to include in the book. Then you can click the “Clear Book” button at the top-right of the image preview area, or the “Clear Layout” button in the Auto Layout section of the right panel, in order to create an empty starting point for a new book.

After saving a book you can return to the book layout to continue working on it at any time by selecting the collection from the left panel in either the Library or Book modules, and then update the book within the Book module. Changes you make will be saved automatically to the collection representing the saved book. You can also add images to the collection in the Library module to make them available on the filmstrip when working on the book.

If you want to preserve the initial draft version of the book and create a new draft that you’ll update, you can simply duplicate the existing collection representing the saved book. To do so, right-click on the collection representing the saved book and choose “Duplicate Book” from the popup menu. The default name will be the name of the original collection with the word “Copy” appended to it, but you can rename this duplicate collection by right-clicking and choosing “Rename” from the popup menu.

This will create a copy of the original collection, featuring all the same images and the same book layout. You can then work in the Book module to refine this additional version of the book, and changes will be saved to the collection for the book automatically. As long as you don’t modify the original saved version of the book you will preserve the original draft while being able to create additional drafts based on the first version.

Today’s Question: I keep all my photos and videos on an external drive with a “Pictures” folder, and lots of subfolders under that. Over the years about 300 of my 90,000+ photos are not located in my pictures folder – indicated by selecting my Pictures folder [in Lightroom Classic], doing a Select All, and seeing it is about 300 photos short of the total number of photos in the catalog. How do I find all photos/videos NOT in my pictures folder?

Tim’s Quick Answer: My expectation is that the photos that seem to be unaccounted for are indeed in the folder structure you’re expecting them in, but there are a few things you can do to confirm this.

More Detail: Using the “Select All” command isn’t a very reliable way of determining how many photos are contained within a given folder structure. There are several ways you can get a more accurate view of the situation.

To begin with, you can make sure that no filters are applied that might reduce the number of photos displayed, which in turn would impact the number of photos selected. On the Library Filter bar above the grid view display in the Library module make sure the “None” option is selected so no filter is set.

In this case I suspect the reason you’re seeing a mismatch is that some of your photos are grouped into stacks with other photos. For example, if you create an HDR or Panoramic image in Lightroom Classic you can have the resulting image grouped into a stack with the source images. If some of the stacks are collapsed, the count for the selected photos will only count the stack as a single image, even though it contains multiple images. In this case you could go to the menu and choose Photo > Stacking > Expand All Stacks so that all stacks are expanded and thus all images within the stack would be counted if you used the Select All command.

There are some other options to consider, however. If you enable the “Show Photos in Subfolders” option found on the Library menu when in the Library module in Lightroom Classic, the parent folder will show a photo count that represents all photos within that folder as well as all subfolders, rather than only photos contained directly within the parent folder.

So, if you turn on the “Show Photos in Subfolders” option, the top-level Pictures folder would most likely show the same count as for the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. Of course, if the numbers don’t match, that’s an indication that there are photos stored elsewhere. They might be on a different hard drive, in which case they could be found in folders contained in the other hard drive, which would have a heading in the Folders list.

If there is only a single hard drive, it is possible you have photos stored in a parent folder above the top-level folder. If you suspect that might be the case, you can right-click on the top-level folder and choose “Show Parent Folder” from the popup menu. This will reveal the parent of the selected folder, so you can move up the folder structure to look for other photos.

Today’s Question: What different effect if any on the quality of a JPEG image processed in Photoshop might result from either A) just opening the JPEG with Command+R in Bridge on my Mac to use Adobe Camera Raw processing first and then opening in Photoshop versus B) opening a JPEG in Photoshop and then using the Camera Raw Filter? Does one or the other method give the user an advantage in processing steps?

Tim’s Quick Answer: There’s no difference in terms of image quality with either approach. I recommend either opening the image as a Smart Object from Camera Raw or using Camera Raw as a filter in Photoshop to maximize flexibility in your workflow.

More Detail: Camera Raw was originally created for processing raw captures, as indicated by the name itself. However, it can also be used to process other supported image formats, such as JPEG and TIFF. From Adobe Bridge you can select the photos(s) you want to open in Camera Raw and then choose File > Open in Camera Raw from the menu. You can also press Ctrl+R on Windows or Command+R on Macintosh to open the selected photos in Camera Raw via Bridge.

Opening a non-raw image via Camera Raw obviously adds an additional step in your workflow when it comes to processing the image. It also limits your flexibility unless you make use of the Smart Filter feature from Camera Raw.

I don’t like the limitations of using a Smart Object in the context of a layer-based workflow that might include other layers, such as for image cleanup. I therefore prefer to use Camera Raw as a filter, working on a duplicate layer.

If you want to open the image as a Smart Object from Camera Raw, you can open the image via Camera Raw and apply any desired adjustments. Then click the workflow summary at the bottom-center of the screen and turn on the “Open in Photoshop as Smart Object” checkbox. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog and click Open when you’re ready to open the image in Photoshop.

If you’re using Camera Raw as a filter in general I recommend making a copy of the image layer you want to work on, and apply the Camera Raw filter to that duplicate layer. You can also convert an image layer to a Smart Object first by choosing Filter > Convert for Smart Filters from the menu before applying the Camera Raw filter.
If you have converted an image layer to a Smart Object you can access the Camera Raw settings again to refine them by double-clicking on the Smart Object layer. However, as noted above this creates the risk that there will be mismatched pixels if you have combined the Smart Filter layer with other image layers containing pixels.

Today’s Question: All my photos are on a 3TB external hard drive, which is becoming full. I want to move all those to a new, larger 5TB external hard drive. What are my options?

Tim’s Quick Answer: My recommendation is to copy the photos exactly as they are to the new hard drive, and then use that new drive in place of the original. You can use software such as GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup) to streamline this process.

More Detail: If you’re not using software such as Lightroom Classic, which uses a catalog to manage the information about your photos, you can copy your photos from the smaller drive to the larger drive in any way you find convenient. For example, if you’re using Adobe Bridge to manage your photos it isn’t important that the photos are copied with the same folder structure to the new hard drive, because there’s no catalog that would get out of sync from such an action.

If you’re using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, it is very important that you use an appropriate approach to migrating to a new hard drive. There are two basic options available in this case.

The first option is to move the photos from the smaller drive to the larger drive from within Lightroom Classic. In order to be able to see the new drive within Lightroom Classic you’ll need to add a folder to that drive. To do so, click the plus (+) button to the right of the Folders heading on the left panel in the Library module and choose “Add Folder” (not “Add Subfolder”) from the popup menu. Navigate to the new hard drive and click the “New Folder” button. Give the folder a meaningful name such as “My Photos” and click the Choose button.

Once you’ve created a new folder on the new hard drive, that folder will appear under a heading for the hard drive in the Folders list. You can then select folders from the old drive and drag-and-drop them to the new drive. I recommend working in small batches rather than moving all folders at once, to make it easier to deal with any issues that arise during the process.

The second option is to copy the photos to the new drive outside of Lightroom Classic, making sure that the new drive will be an exact match to the existing drive. You can copy the entire contents from the smaller drive to the larger drive through the operating system, but I prefer to use synchronization software such as GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup) to streamline the process and ensure an exact match between the two drives.

Once you’ve duplicated the folder structure precisely between the old and new drive, make sure that the new drive has the same drive letter (Windows) or volume label (Macintosh). Disconnect the old drive, and then use the Disk Management feature to change the drive letter on Windows, or simply rename the new drive to have the same name as the old drive on Macintosh.

After making sure the new drive is an exact match to the old drive, you can launch Lightroom Classic and continue working as usual because even though the photos are on a new hard drive, the storage structure will still be exactly what Lightroom Classic is expecting.