Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Is it possible to selectively “paint” in the Dehaze effect in a layer in Photoshop? It’s a wonderful, useful, and effective tool but it is – to my knowledge – a universal adjustment that cannot be applied to very specific areas in Camera Raw.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Actually, with the latest updates to Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, you can include Dehaze (as well as Clarity and Texture) as adjustments for a targeted adjustment using the masking feature.

More Detail: Prior to the recent update, you could still use a workaround to apply Dehaze as a targeted adjustment in Photoshop. The process would involve applying the Camera Raw filter to a duplicate image layer, and then using a layer mask to constrain that adjustment to only the area of the image you wanted affected.

However, with the latest updates you don’t need to go to that trouble. You can simply use the Dehaze adjustment with a targeted adjustment, such as with the Brush masking option. The Dehaze adjustment is found along with Clarity and Texture in the Effects section of the adjustments available for targeted adjustments with the masking feature in both Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic.

So, you could for example add a new mask with the Brush option, then increase the value for Dehaze and paint that adjustment into the desired areas of the image. This enables you to focus the Dehaze adjustment on the specific areas of the image that need it, without altering the contrast and color of other areas of the image that don’t need the haze reduction effect.

Today’s Question: When I work with the ‘People’ Mask [in Lightroom Classic] I sometimes get the latest version with nine options. With other images, I’m only offered three options. How do I get the entire nine options for all my photos?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The options for a People mask when applying targeted adjustments in Lightroom Classic are based on what elements were able to be detected in the image. If you’re not seeing all nine possible options, it simply means that Lightroom Classic wasn’t able to detect the other elements.

More Detail: Among the mask options for targeted adjustments in Lightroom Classic is the People option. If one or more people are detected in a photo, you can select the thumbnail for a person under the People heading within the Masking controls. Once you’ve selected a person, you’ll see checkboxes for the portions of a person that can be affected by your targeted adjustment.

The currently available options include Facial Skin, Body Skin, Eyebrows, Eye Sclera (whites of the eyes), Iris and Pupil, Lips, Teeth, Hair, and Clothes. This list could expand with future updates to Lightroom Classic.

However, any elements that weren’t detected won’t be included as available options. For example, with a photo that includes two people in profile where their eyes aren’t really visible for one person only five options were available and for the other person seven options were available.

The People masking feature is based on image analysis, and you can’t alter that analysis or manually select portions of a person with the People feature. Therefore, if an option isn’t available because it couldn’t be detected the only solution is to use a different masking option, such as the Brush mask option to manually paint to indicate areas you want to apply a targeted adjustment to.

Today’s Question: What’s the difference between “Sequence #” and “Index #” when creating a template for renaming photos in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The Sequence Number option allows you to choose the starting number for the images you’re renaming. The Index number option renames automatically based on the number of images but starts the count at zero rather than one.

More Detail: The Sequence Number and Index Number options for renaming are very similar, but with a couple of important differences.

The Index Number option relates to the index number that is displayed with the thumbnails of each image by default in Lightroom Classic. In other words, if you include the Index Number option in a template for renaming photos, you won’t have a choice for what number is used. Each image will be numbered based on where the image falls in the order within the folder.

The main drawback of the Index Number option is that it starts counting with zero rather than one, which means the index number in the filename won’t match the index number on the thumbnail. This is a minor issue that might not both some photographers, but I do wish that the counting would start with one.

The main advantage of using Index Number is that the photos will include a number in the filename that is unique and applied automatically. You don’t have any option for altering the value for Index Number.

With the Sequence Number option, you have more flexibility, since you can specify the starting number. Unfortunately, that also means you need to remember to adjust the starting number when importing subsequent photos. For example, if you import 100 photos with the starting number set to “1”, the images will include a number in the filename that matches their order from 1 to 100. If you then import another 50 images, you need to remember to change the starting number to 101 to have numbers that properly run in a sequence.

I prefer to use the Sequence Number option, because it allows you to specify the starting number. However, the Index Number option is arguably better because it is completely automatic when it comes to setting the number for each image, with the only real drawback being that it starts counting at zero rather than one.

Today’s Question: When I work in a photo in Lightroom Classic and send it to Photoshop and then choose “Save As”, it doesn’t go to the original folder that I started out with. Instead, it sends me to Pictures and then I have to navigate back to my original folder. How do I remain in the same folder when sending photos from Lightroom to Photoshop?

Tim’s Quick Answer: For photos sent to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic you should be using the “Save” command rather than “Save As”. For photos opened directly in Photoshop you can also enable the “Save As to Original Folder” option in Preferences to ensure that when you use “Save As” the default destination will be the folder the current image was opened from.

More Detail: When you send a photo from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, you should only use the “Save” command, not “Save As”. If you use “Save As” and change the folder location or filename the saved copy will not appear in your Lightroom Classic catalog. Instead, simply use the “Save” command. The file format and filename will have been specified by Lightroom Classic for you, with the folder being the same as the source image and the filename based on the settings established on the External Editing tab of the Preferences dialog.

If you’re working with an image that was opened directly in Photoshop rather than sent from Lightroom Classic, you can enable a setting that will cause the “Save As” command to default to the folder where the current image is saved. To enable this option, bring up the Preferences dialog by choosing Edit > Preferences > File Handling on Windows, or Photoshop > Settings > File Handling on Macintosh.

On the File Handling tab of the Preferences dialog turn on the “Save As to Original Folder” checkbox in the File Saving Options section at the top of the dialog. With that checkbox enabled, when you use the “Save As” command the default folder will be the same folder as the current image is stored in.

Enabling this checkbox will resolve the issue presented in today’s question when sending photos to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic. However, as noted above I don’t recommend using the “Save As” command when an image has been sent from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop because the saved copy will generally not be added to the Lightroom Classic catalog. Instead, simply use the Save command in this situation.

Today’s Question: Rightly or wrongly, I don’t like to install major Lightroom Classic updates until I’ve learned about the new features. Unfortunately, I am now way behind in my updates and am still using an older version (10). I’d like to do the major updates one at a time. But when I click on Help/Updates in Lightroom, the only option I see is to update to Version 12.4. Is it not possible to do updates on a more piecemeal approach?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can choose among the various versions of Lightroom Classic (or other Adobe applications) using the “More” menu in the Creative Cloud app rather than checking for updates within the application you want to update.

More Detail: If you choose Help > Updates from the menu in Lightroom Classic, you’ll only be offered the most recent version if an update is available. If you want to install a different version, you’ll need to use the Creative Cloud application.

Within the Creative Cloud application, select the Apps option from the menu at the top-left of the window. Then select “All apps” from the left column. Locate the application you want to update from the list at the right. Then click the “More” button (it shows three dots) and select “Other versions” from the popup menu. In the dialog that appears you can click the Install button to the right of the version of the application you want to install.

I should point out that I generally recommend installing the latest version of an application, perhaps waiting a little while after the new release to make sure there aren’t reports of instability or other problems. That said, if you prefer to install one major update at a time so you can learn about the new features in each version before moving on, you can certainly do that by choosing the specific version you want to upgrade to.

Today’s Question: I like to organize my photos in Lightroom Classic by adding keywords. If you click to the extreme right on a keyword in the keyword list, you see all the photos with that keyword. Is there any way to be able to select a second keyword to see only the photos containing both keywords?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can filter for photos that contain both keywords, but only by using the Text filter option rather than the Keyword List.

More Detail: When you click on the arrow that appears to the right of a keyword on the Keyword List when you hover the mouse over a keyword, the images will be filtered so that you’re seeing every image in your Lightroom Classic catalog that includes that keyword in metadata. However, this is a filter for a single keyword.

The arrow button on the Keyword List is actually just a shortcut that selects the applicable keyword from a Keyword column on the Metadata tab of the Library Filter bar. If you switch to the grid view display and make sure the Library Filter bar is not hidden (choose View > Show Filter Bar from the menu if it is hidden) you’ll see the applicable keyword selected in the left-most column on the Metadata tab.

If you hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh, you can click on additional keywords to add them to the filter criteria. However, this operates using “or” as the logic. In other words, you’ll see photos that contain any of the selected keywords, not just photos that contain all the keywords.

To filter with “and” as the logic you’ll need to use the Text tab on the Library Filter bar, which unfortunately means you’ll need to type the keywords manually. If you have keywords selected on the Metadata tab, then click on the Metadata heading to disable that filter. Then on the Text tab set the first popup to Keywords. In the text field to the right enter the keywords separated by a comma. Then choose “Contains All” from the second popup for the “and” logic or select “Contain” if you want the “or” logic.

For example, let’s assume you’re searching among images captured on a safari in Africa. You’re looking for photos that include zebras and elephants. In this case you would enter “zebra, elephant” in the text field, with Keywords selected from the first popup. If you select “Contains All” from the second popup you would only see photos that include both zebras and elephants (based on the keywords). If you select “Contains” from the second popup you would see photos that only contain zebras, photos that only contain elephants, and photos that contain both zebras and elephants.

Today’s Question: I was confused by the recent question about applying corrective adjustments when printing using the appropriate printer profile. When you’re using a profile shouldn’t the print be accurate without any adjustments?

Tim’s Quick Answer: With accurate profiles and a proper workflow for color management, no adjustments will be necessary to compensate for an inaccurate print. But if a profile isn’t accurate some compensation may be needed if you’re not able to obtain a more accurate profile.

More Detail: First and foremost, it is important to use a proper color-managed workflow to ensure accurate color for your photos. That includes properly calibrating and profiling the monitor display, obtaining accurate printer profiles, and using proper settings when printing.

Start by making sure your monitor is properly calibrated and profiled, using a package that includes a colorimeter device. For example, I use and recommend the ColorChecker Display from Calibrite (https://timgrey.me/displaycal).

Next, make sure you have high-quality profiles for the printer, ink, and paper combinations you intend to print with. These profiles are often available from the printer or paper manufacturer. For the most accurate profiles possible I recommend creating them yourself, such as with the Calibrite ColorChecker Studio package (https://timgrey.me/colorstudio).

It is also very important that you use the appropriate settings when printing an image, so that the profile is used correctly to compensate for the behavior of the printer.

If the results aren’t good, the first step is to troubleshoot your workflow so you can hopefully resolve whatever issue is leading to inaccurate prints. Applying adjustments to compensate for an inaccurate print should only be considered after troubleshooting your workflow and attempting to obtain more accurate profiles.

Today’s Question: I moved all my photos to a new folder, and deleted the folder where they were (I also have multiple backups). That mean that all my folders are disconnected in Lightroom Classic. Can they be reconnected in an easier way than reconnecting each individual folder?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can reconnect all folders at once by reconnecting the parent folder that contained the folders that were moved, even if that parent folder is actually the hard drive that contains all the folders.

More Detail: If you move the folders that contain your photos outside of Lightroom Classic, all folders and photos will appear as missing within Lightroom Classic. The better solution, of course, is to move those folders from within Lightroom Classic so they won’t be missing in the first place.

In a situation where you’ve moved all folders from one location to another outside of Lightroom Classic, you can reconnect all the folders in one step by reconnecting the parent folder.

Of course, the parent folder in this context needs to be missing as well, so it can be reconnected. In this case it sounds like that folder will appear as missing because it was deleted. If that’s not the case, you could rename that folder to something else. If it was an external hard drive, you could simply disconnect the drive from the computer.

You need to be able to see the parent folder above the missing folders to be able to reconnect all the missing folders below. If that parent folder isn’t visible above the missing folders, right-click on one of the missing folders and choose “Show Parent Folder” from the popup.

At that point you can right-click on the parent folder and choose “Find Missing Folder” from the popup. Select the folder (or hard drive) that is the parent for the folders that were moved, in their new location, as the folder to be connected. When you reconnect that parent folder, all subfolders below will be reconnected at the same time.

Another option would be to move the folders and photos back to where they were originally, so they would no longer be missing within Lightroom Classic. You could then move the folders or photos to the desired new location from within Lightroom Classic to avoid having to reconnect missing folders at all.

Today’s Question: Over the years I’ve had several different cameras The file names for the cameras have all started from the first file names allocated by each camera, and as a result, there are many different images with the same file name. When I import images into Lightroom from each of the cameras, will Lightroom recognize that images with the same file name from different cameras are different from each other rather than treating them as duplicates?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this scenario the photos will not be identified as duplicates by Lightroom Classic even though the filenames are the same, because the capture time and file size would be different.

More Detail: When importing photos into Lightroom Classic you can turn on the “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox in the File Handling section of the right panel in the Import dialog. With this option enabled Lightroom Classic will disable the import of photos that are determined to be duplicates of photos already in your catalog.

This duplicate detection is based on the filename, the capture date and time, and the file size. In the case of photos captured with different cameras that result in images with the same filename, the capture date and time and the file size would also be different. Therefore, the images would not be considered duplicates.

Obviously you can’t have two files with the exact same filename in the same folder. So, for example, if you were to attempt to move a photo within Lightroom Classic to a different folder where another photo with the same filename existed, you would receive an error message indicating that the photo could not be moved.

However, if you import photos into a folder that contains images with the exact same filenames, the import would proceed. To avoid the duplicate filenames Lightroom Classic would simply add a parenthetical number (such as “(1)”) to the end of the filename for the image being imported that had the same filename as another photo in the same folder.

Today’s Question: You said that soft proofing is available “in part” to facilitate adjustments to correct for an inaccurate print. Isn’t this the only reason to use soft proofing? Or are there other reasons?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In addition to using soft proofing to assist you with adjustments for improving the accuracy of a print, you can also use soft proofing to troubleshoot those issues in the first place as well as to make a decision about which paper might be best for printing a particular photo.

More Detail: Soft proofing is a feature available in Lightroom Classic and Photoshop that simulates the appearance of a printed photo on your monitor display. With the soft proof feature, you select the color profile that represents the printer, ink, and paper combination you’ll be using to print a photo. You then configure the output conditions, such as the rendering intent to be used, and a preview is provide that simulates to the extent possible what the printed output will look like using your monitor for the preview.

Of course, even with the soft proof feature it is important to keep in mind that the experience of viewing an image on your monitor is very different from viewing a print that depends on reflected light. That said, the soft proof display is reasonably accurate and can be very helpful.

As noted in my prior answer, soft proofing is often used as a troubleshooting tool, where you apply adjustments to compensate for the shortcomings of the printed output. This can only do so much, since the limitations of a given printer, ink, and paper combination are very real and can’t be overcome with simple adjustments to the source image.

In addition to this common reason for using soft proofing, you might consider using this feature before you even attempt to print a photo as a way to choose which papers might be best suited for a particular image.

For example, photos with strong contrast and highly saturated colors tend to look best on a glossy or semi-gloss paper. An uncoated matte paper will tend to make such an image look very flat and unsaturated. Using the soft proof feature you can cycle through the color profiles for the various papers you’re considering using, to get a better sense of which might be the best fit.