Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Is there an advantage to converting a JPEG image to PNG? I have some older images captured in JPEG format that occasionally I will process in either Lightroom or Photoshop to see if I can improve on the final image.

Tim’s Quick Answer: The primary advantage of the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format compared to JPEG is that compression artifacts are not created when an image is saved as a PNG file. Therefore, I would opt for a file format other than JPEG when saving a processed copy of the image, but there’s no need to convert all existing JPEG images to a different file format if the JPEG images won’t be processed.

More Detail: One of the drawbacks of the JPEG image format is that lossy compression is used when the image is saved. That means there is always a risk of at least some degree of visible artifacts caused by the JPEG compression. For this reason, it can be advantageous to use an image format other than JPEG.

However, JPEG compression is only applied when the file is first created, or when the file is re-saved after applying adjustments. Therefore, there’s no need to convert the JPEG image to a different file format unless adjustments are being applied to the JPEG. In other words, you can keep the original files in the JPEG format, and only create a new file with a different format for images you will be editing.

The PNG file format is a perfectly good alternative to JPEG images. By default, there is only lossless compression applied to PNG images, so compression artifacts won’t be an issue. In addition, PNG files can use a bit depth higher than the 8-bit per channel maximum for JPEG images. PNG files also support transparency, though this feature is not generally meaningful for photographic images under normal circumstances.

Keep in mind that if you are using software such as Photoshop that includes special features such as layers, you’ll need to save the image in a format that supports those features if you want them preserved for future editing. That would mean saving as a Photoshop PSD or TIFF image in the context of Photoshop, for example.

Also keep in mind that if you’re using Lightroom Classic to edit a JPEG image, the source image file is not actually altered directly. Rather, the adjustments are simply metadata values. So, the original JPEG remains unaltered, and a new file will only be created if you export the image from Lightroom Classic.

Today’s Question: Do you find any benefit for photographers in either the ColorChecker Display Pro or Plus packages over the basic package?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, in my view there is no reason to spend more for the Pro or Plus package for display calibration, as the basic ColorChecker Display (https://timgrey.me/calibrite) will provide everything you need to calibrate a monitor or digital projector.

More Detail: With most monitor calibration packages you’ll find there are several models available, with additional features included with the more expensive models. This generally includes additional controls for customizing the calibration target, so that you can specify particular values for the white point or luminance.

However, the basic calibration package typically includes all of the features you need, such as targeting standard white point and luminance values. That is the case with the Calibrite ColorChecker Display, and so I don’t recommend spending more for the Pro or Plus packages.

Note, by the way, that there has been some confusion about my recommendation of Calibrite products rather than the X-Rite Photo products I have recommended in the past. Calibrite effectively represents a rebranding of the X-Rite Photo brand, so the same technology in the X-Rite products I had previously recommended is now part of the Calibrite family of products.

You can learn more about the Calibrite ColorChecker Display package here:

https://timgrey.me/calibrite

Today’s Question: You recently stated the advantage of calibrating one’s monitor to accurately portray an image, but is it necessary if one tweaks the colors in photos? I frequently tweak an image beyond what the original or accurate colors are. If I do these things, why does it make a difference whether I have calibrated my monitor or not? If I were making an image for a scientific report I could see the value of an accurate color presentation, but if I make the fall leaves redder why is calibration important?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Calibration enables you to see an accurate view of what the image currently looks like, regardless of whether or not you’re applying realistic adjustments or exercising a bit of creative license in how you interpret a photo.

More Detail: Let’s assume you want to make fall leaves appear redder than they actually looked in nature. Without calibrating your monitor display, you wouldn’t really know if you were making those leaves appear redder rather than more orange or yellow, for example. You can’t evaluate the adjustments you’re applying without an accurate view of what the image currently looks like, and that is exactly the role of calibration for your display.

Put another way, a typical monitor display is about one stop too bright out of the box. If you don’t calibrate, you might end up making all of your images one stop too dark to compensate.

If you are the only one who ever looks at your photos, and you always use the same computer configuration to review the images, this isn’t necessarily a problem. But if you’re preparing photos for printing or other sharing, you’ll definitely want to ensure you’re applying adjustments based on an accurate view of the current state of the image.

Calibration is about making sure you’re accurately seeing what the image currently looks like, not ensuring the image necessarily looks realistic relative to what the subject matter would have looked like under perfectly white light.

As a reminder, I recommend the Calibrite ColorChecker Display for calibrating your monitor or digital projector, and you can learn more about this package here:

https://timgrey.me/calibrite

Today’s Question: I often edit from Lightroom by invoking “Edit In” to send the image to another application for a particular editing function. Once the image is returned to Lightroom Classic the file name is changed, adding “Edit” to the original name. Is there some process available to identify the application used or actions taken during the external editing?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend simply renaming the edited photo to reflect the application that was used, so you can reference that filename should you need to edit the image again or simply want to know which other software had been used.

More Detail: The name appended to the existing filename when you send a photo from Lightroom Classic to an external editor is determined in the Preferences within Lightroom Classic. The default is to have “-Edit” added to the filename when a derivative image is created, but you can change this to anything you’d like.

Within the Preferences dialog you can go to the External Editing tab, and at the bottom you’ll find the Template popup, where you can select a file renaming template to use. You can also choose Edit from the popup to bring up the Filename Template Editor, where you can define your own structure for renaming the derivative image being created.

You might therefore be tempted to use a template that includes the name of the external editor you use most often, such as Photoshop. However, this does not provide a good solution if you use more than one application for editing photos from Lightroom Classic.

Therefore, I recommend simply renaming the filename after you have created a derivative image by sending a photo from Lightroom Classic to an external editor. This can be done by simply changing the filename in the File Name field available in the Metadata section of the right panel in the Library module in Lightroom Classic. Simply click into the field and make any desired changes to the filename for the image, such as adding “Photoshop” to the end of the filename if you had sent the image to Photoshop for additional editing.

If you don’t see the File Name field in the Metadata section of the right panel you can change to a different metadata view preset using the popup to the left of the Metadata heading on the right panel. For example, the “EXIF” and “EXIF and IPTC” presets include the File Name field.

Today’s Question: I’ve been wanting to have some favorite images taken with the iPhone camera (all done raw) put into a Lightroom catalogue. Looking at directions online, this looks daunting. I have many thousands of images taken with the iPhone, which I guess are all stored in the Cloud. Is there a way to import selected images from my iPhone into Lightroom?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If your photos are being synchronized to iCloud, you’ll need to ensure that all photos are on your iPhone before you attempt to import to Lightroom Classic, or otherwise ensure that all photos are actually available for import.

More Detail: If you have enabled photo synchronization to iCloud, by default iPhone photo storage will be “optimized”. What that means is that in order to maintain more available storage on your iPhone the full-resolution copies of your photos will be stored in the cloud on Apple’s servers. Only when you attempt to work with a photo directly, such as by editing a photo, will the full-resolution version be downloaded.

What this means is that your photos won’t necessarily be available locally on your iPhone, which in turn means the photos won’t be available to import into Lightroom Classic. For example, when you go to import into Lightroom Classic directly from your iPhone you will only see a fraction of the photos that are on your iPhone in the Import dialog.

You can force photos to remain on your iPhone even with iCloud synchronization enabled, so that you will be able to import all photos into Lightroom Classic. This setting can be changed in the Settings app.

To get started, open the Settings app on your iPhone (or iPad). Then tap on your name at the top of Settings, which will take you to your Apple ID account. Next, tap iCloud, and then choose Photos. Under the iCloud Photos setting as long as you have that option turned on you will see an option below where you can choose between “Optimize iPhone Storage” and “Download and Keep Originals”. Make sure the “Download and Keep Originals” option is selected.

If this setting had been off, you’ll need to allow time for all of your photos to be downloaded from iCloud before you’re able to import into Lightroom Classic. Photos that are still stored in iCloud will have a small cloud icon to indicate that status. Once all photos have downloaded, you’ll be able to import from your iPhone directly into Lightroom Classic.

All of this assumes that you want to keep your photos on your iPhone but also be able to import from your iPhone into Lightroom Classic. If so, you’ll also want to enable the “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox in the File Handling section of the right panel in the Import dialog.

My personal preference is to treat my iPhone like every other camera I use, which means I download all new photos from my iPhone and then delete them after they have been imported into Lightroom Classic. Because Lightroom Classic doesn’t enable you to delete all photos after import I use other software (in my case the Image Capture application included with MacOS) in order to download and then delete all photos from my iPhone, with a workflow that is effectively the same as I use for any other camera.

Today’s Question: I have a PNG file that I would like to convert to a JPEG or TIF in Photoshop. Is this possible?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, absolutely. You can convert an image to any other supported image format with either the “Save As” or “Save a Copy” commands in Photoshop. The same is possible from Lightroom Classic using the Export command.

More Detail: Photoshop enables you to save a copy of an image into any other supported image format. The only issue in Photoshop relates to whether the image you are trying to save in a given format includes features that are not supported by the format you’re trying to save in.

For example, the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) image format supports both 8-bit per channel and 16-bit per channel mode, while you can only save a JPEG image in the 8-bit per channel mode. TIFF images can be saved in all supported bit depths in Photoshop.

Understandably, most photographers are accustomed to using the “Save As” command when they want to save the current image as a new file, possibly in a different file format. However, with a recent update to Photoshop you will only see file formats that support all features of the current image if you use the “Save As” command.

Instead, I recommend using the “Save a Copy” command, which enables you to save a new copy of an image in any supported image format, even if the current image includes features that are not supported by the format you intend to save in.

For example, the PNG image you’re trying to save to a different file format may be set to a bit depth of 16-bits per channel. If that is the case, using the “Save As” command you would not see the JPEG file format as an option. You could, however, use the “Save a Copy” command instead, which enables you to save in any format supported by Photoshop, even if the source file includes features not supported by the destination format.

The reason the “Save a Copy” command is helpful in this context is that the source image will remain as it is. You’ll simply be creating a new file in the selected format in addition to the source file you’re saving from.

Today’s Question: Many of my clients want a JPEG as a deliverable. Am I better off to shoot the original photo in raw, using Lightroom and Photoshop to develop it and then render the final JPEG image in the size they want? I have tried both ways and the raw seems to win every time; but it could just my bias.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, I recommend capturing in raw, and then processing the image and exporting as a JPEG for the client.

More Detail: As I’m sure every photographer knows, there are a variety of benefits to raw capture compared to JPEG. With a raw capture you have higher bit-depth, greater dynamic range, and expanded dynamic range. In addition, with raw capture you avoid the issue of JPEG compression artifacts in the original capture, which could be worsened when exporting a new JPEG copy.

In short, a raw capture provides you with the best capture from the start. You can then optimize that photo with greater image quality compared to a JPEG capture. If relatively strong adjustments are needed, a JPEG capture will be more likely to display posterization, or a loss of smooth gradations of tone and color. This is due to the lower bit-depth of a JPEG capture compared to a raw capture.

The only reason a JPEG capture might be preferred over a raw capture is that there is the potential that a JPEG capture might be ready to send to a client right out of a camera, without any processing required. However, in my view the quality benefits of a raw capture outweigh the potential workflow advantage of a raw capture.

This issue, by the way, is one of the reasons some photographers prefer to use Raw+JPEG capture. With this approach you get a raw capture for optimal image quality, along with a JPEG capture that could potentially be sent to the client before you even start processing the raw capture.

Keep in mind, however, that Lightroom Classic does not import the JPEG from a Raw+JPEG pair by default. If you want to import both the raw capture and the JPEG generated by the camera, you’ll need to turn on the “Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos” checkbox on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.

Today’s Question: How do you rate the MacOS Display Calibrator Assistant [instead of using a calibration device]?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I do not recommend the Display Calibrator Assistant in MacOS for adjusting the appearance of a monitor display. Instead, I recommend using a hardware solution such as the Calibrite ColorChecker Display (https://timgrey.me/calibrite).

More Detail: The Display Calibrator Assistant available in the System Preferences dialog under Displays depends upon you evaluating the display as you apply adjustments, rather than using a calibrated device to actually measure the output from your display. This is problematic in terms of trying to adjust the display by your perception rather than physical measurements.

If you want to take a look at the Display Calibrator Assistant, you can first select System Preferences from the Apple logo menu on the menu bar. Then go to Displays, click the Color Profile popup, and choose Customize from that popup. In the dialog that appears click the plus (+) button at the bottom-left, and the Display Calibrator Assistant dialog will appear. This will take you step by step through the process of adjusting your display, but the process does not provide precision in that process.

Instead, I recommend using a package that includes a colorimeter, which is a calibrated hardware device that can measure the actual tonal and color output of your display. This enables you to make precise adjustments to the display behavior, and generate a profile that describes the behavior of the device so that the operating system can compensate accordingly.

By calibrating with a hardware solution you can feel confident that what you’re seeing on your monitor display is as accurate a representation of your actual photos as possible. You can learn more about the Calibrite ColorChecker Display package that I recommend here:

https://timgrey.me/calibrite

Today’s Question: I know there are keyboard shortcuts for the tools in Photoshop. But these shortcuts only work for the top tool for each button on the toolbar. Is there a way to access the other tools, such as the Pencil tool rather than the Brush tool when using a keyboard shortcut?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If pressing the keyboard shortcut for a set of tools doesn’t cycle through the various tools associated with a single button you can hold the Shift key to cycle through those tools. You can specify whether the Shift key is required with a setting in Preferences.

More Detail: You can use keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop to access a wide variety of commands and features, including being able to activate a particular tool. For example, you can press the letter “B” to access the Brush tool.

Associated with the same button as the Brush tool you also can find the Pencil tool, the Color Replacement tool, and the Mixer Brush tool. It is possible to use the letter “B” to cycle through these tools, but this is not my preferred setting. When you can navigate through all of these tools using the “B” key on the keyboard, if you already have the Brush tool active but don’t realize that, and then you press “B” intending to activate the Brush tool, you’ll instead be switching to the Pencil tool.

Therefore, I prefer to enable a setting in Preferences so that you must hold the Shift key to switch between the various tools associated with a single button, and therefore associated with a given keyboard shortcut.

In the Preferences dialog you can go to the Tools tab. You can then turn on (or off) the “Use Shift Key for Tool Switch” checkbox. With this checkbox turned on you must use the Shift key in conjunction with the applicable keyboard shortcut if you want to switch among tools associated with the same keyboard shortcut. If you simply press the keyboard shortcut without the Shift key, the current tool that is on top on the button will be activated.

For example, with the checkbox turned on you must hold the Shift key while pressing the letter “B” to switch from the Brush tool to the Pencil tool. If the Brush tool is active if you only press the letter “B” without the Shift key, you’ll simply be keeping the Brush tool active.

With the checkbox turned off, pressing the letter “B” would switch between the four tools associated with the Brush tool button one by one, each time you press the letter “B”.