Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Is it OK to store my [Lightroom Classic] catalog in the same master folder as my library of images? Are there any downsides to doing this? I backup changes to the master folder daily to the cloud and to a local external drive.

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is indeed perfectly fine to store your Lightroom Classic catalog in the same storage location as your photos. The only potential drawback is that if the catalog is on an external hard drive performance may be degraded to some extent in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: By default, the Lightroom Classic catalog is stored in a folder within the Pictures folder that is part of the operating system. Many photographers, of course, store their photos on one or more external hard drives. As a result, it is quite common for the Lightroom Classic catalog to be stored in a different location and possibly on a different storage device from the photos being managed by the catalog.

It is perfectly fine to have the catalog stored separately from your photos, but it is also fine to have the catalog stored alongside the photos.

In general, I recommend storing the Lightroom Classic catalog on an internal hard drive. This generally ensures optimal performance, and it also enables you to work in Lightroom Classic without having to connect an external hard drive. For example, you can review and update metadata for photos using the catalog even if the source photos aren’t currently available, such as if the photos are on an external hard drive that is not currently connected to the computer.

If you prefer to store the catalog along with your photos, that is perfectly fine. If that means the catalog is on an external hard drive it is possible that performance will be degraded in Lightroom Classic, but this approach also provides greater workflow flexibility. That is because having the catalog and photos on an external hard drive makes it easy to switch between more than one computer by simply moving the hard drive between those computers.

Ultimately, you can store the Lightroom Classic catalog and the photos being managed in whatever local hard drive location is most convenient for you depending on your specific workflow needs.

Today’s Question: What is the better method: To adjust the raw file in Camera Raw and then open in Photoshop for further adjustments or to first convert the raw to TIFF and then process in photoshop using the Camera Raw filter followed by other adjustments?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend applying your adjustments to the raw capture in Camera Raw (or the Develop module in Lightroom Classic) before processing further in Photoshop, rather than converting without adjustments and then using the Camera Raw filter on the rendered image.

More Detail: The Camera Raw filter in Photoshop provides a convenient way to apply the same adjustments available in Camera Raw to any supported image directly within Photoshop. However, for raw captures I still recommend applying at least basic tone and color adjustments in Camera Raw, saving the Camera Raw filter only for later refinements to the image.

There is some degree of advantage to applying adjustments as part of the process of converting a raw capture to fully rendered pixel data. These benefits can be relatively subtle, but there can be an impact on overall image quality. Therefore, I recommend making use of Camera Raw (or the Develop module in Lightroom Classic) to at least optimize overall tone and color before rendering the raw capture for further processing in Photoshop.

To be sure, the benefits of applying adjustments to tone and color at the time of rendering the raw capture to full pixel values will generally be relatively modest. Still, I consider it a good habit to use the best practices for ensuring optimal image quality whenever possible.

After processing the raw capture, you can then continue using the Camera Raw filter and other adjustments in Photoshop to further refine the photo to perfection.

Today’s Question: Somehow a group of photos landed in two very separate locations in Lightroom Classic. I went back and forth and ended up, necessarily, deleting from the disc all the duplicate files. How is this possible?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The only way to have two copies of the actual image files for photos in Lightroom Classic is to import both copies without enabling the option to not import suspected duplicates, or to export images with the “Original” option for the file format while also adding the exported photos back to the catalog. The other possibility is that the images were actually virtual copies or were referenced in a collection rather than being contained in two separate folders.

More Detail: It is obviously impossible to have two copies of the same file with the same filename in the same folder. However, it is of course possible to have two copies of the same file as long as they are in different folders or have different filenames. Lightroom Classic will certainly allow you to import more than one copy of the same photo, although there is a feature to help avoid this issue as part of the Import process.

In this context, it is most likely that either there were two copies of the same photos that got imported or the photos were imported from a media card twice with different destinations for each import. If the photos were imported more than once, having turned on the “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox in the Import dialog would have helped ensure the duplicates did not get imported. Obviously it is also helpful to ensure you don’t inadvertently create more than one copy of the same photos in the first place.

It is also possible to import photos to the catalog as part of the process of exporting photos from the catalog. I don’t generally recommend taking advantage of this feature due to the potential to create confusion, but it is an option. If, for example, you exported using the “Original” option for the Image Format setting, you would be creating an exact copy of the original image. If you also turn on the “Add to This Catalog” checkbox in the Export dialog, the exported copies would be added back to the catalog, creating duplicates and potential confusion.

Before deleting duplicate images, however, it is important to ensure that they are indeed duplicates. For example, it can be confusing to find the same images more than once, such as when you create a virtual copy based on an original or when you add a photo to a collection. These “duplicates” are simply references to the original image, and do not represent duplicate image files on the hard drive.

Note, by the way, that the potential for confusion related to duplicate images in your Lightroom Classic catalog is one of the reasons I recommend importing directly from your media cards out of the camera rather than downloading first and importing later. It is also one of the reasons I recommend having the ” Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” checkbox turned on when importing new photos.

Today’s Question: What monitor do you recommend for photographers?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend a monitor display with 4K resolution and ideally with full coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, along with specifications that are otherwise good. One of my current favorite displays is the ViewSonic VP2785-4K 27-inch monitor (https://bhpho.to/3j9po4e).

More Detail: In my mind one of the first things to decide when choosing a monitor display is what size you prefer. I personally prefer a 27-inch display, but other photographers prefer larger or smaller displays. Part of this decision depends upon how close you tend to be to your display. If you tend to be a little farther from the display, you’ll likely prefer a larger size, and vice versa.

The next decision in my mind relates to resolution. A high-resolution display can help provide greater detail and higher image quality on the display, with the flexibility of being able to set the display to a lower resolution to help make text and interface objects larger and therefore easier to see. If you know you’ll always set the display to a relatively low resolution, there’s no real benefit to opting for a display with a much higher resolution.

In general, I recommend a display with 4K resolution, which has approximately (but not exactly) 4,000 pixels across. Most 4K displays will have a resolution that features about 3,800 pixels across by around 2,000 down.

Next, I recommend finding a display that covers the full Adobe RGB color space, to help ensure the best results in the context of a color-managed workflow. Many displays are still closer to only supporting sRGB, which means you’re not seeing all the colors that could potentially be contained within an image. The benefits of the Adobe RGB color space support primarily relates to printing, so if you rarely print your photos this is less of an issue.

Naturally you’ll want to make sure that the display has a good contrast ratio, a good refresh rate, a wide viewing angle, and possibly other convenient features such as built-in USB ports and speakers. In terms of the basic specifications most good displays will provide great results. The “accessory” options are a matter of preference and are not included with many displays.

I’ve found great displays from a variety of companies including ViewSonic, BenQ, Dell, LG, EIZO, and others. My personal preference in terms of great quality at a reasonable price tends to be ViewSonic. One of my top recent picks for monitor displays is the ViewSonic VP2785-4K display, which you can find here:

https://bhpho.to/3j9po4e

Today’s Question: Would it be safe to upgrade my MacOS to Monterey now? Every time upgrade is done I seem to lose something else.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, based on my experience I would say it is perfectly safe to upgrade to MacOS 12 Monterey.

More Detail: Apple does not have the best reputation for ensuring backward compatibility with their operating system updates, so I certainly understand that photographers would be reluctant to upgrade too soon. Fortunately, while I did run into some issues with the previous release of MacOS 11 Big Sur, I have not discovered any issues with the upgrade to MacOS 12 Monterey.

I tend to be a little reluctant to update to a new major release of an operating system or software application. Most of the time if I upgrade early, it is in an effort to get a sense of what issues may arise so I can report those to my readers.

Fortunately, MacOS 12 Monterey has been a seamless upgrade based on my experience. I haven’t found any issues with software applications not being supported, and I’ve not seen any indications that hardware support was dropped for any key devices.

There are a handful of benefits to MacOS 12 Monterey, though most of the new or updated features are not significant in the context of a photography workflow. I have found the operating system to be very stable, and I’ve not found that any of the changes have gotten in the way of anything. So, if you’re thinking about upgrading, I do think it is perfectly safe to do so now.

And yes, Windows users can rest assured that Microsoft tends to do a much better job of maintaining backward compatibility with older hardware and software applications.

Today’s Question: How can you make sure that a hard drive has been erased so nobody can recover data from it? And how do you wipe your old internal drives when they are no longer in a computer, but sitting in a drawer?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If a hard drive is still usable, you can easily format the drive with a security option that will wipe the data so that nothing can be recovered. If the drive is no longer usable you can physically damage the drive to prevent data recovery.

More Detail: Both the Windows and Macintosh operating systems include options for securely erasing a hard drive. This involves not only erasing data from the drive but also writing random data back to the drive so that the original data cannot be recovered.

On Windows you can use the Format command using the Command Prompt application. On the Start menu look for the Windows System folder, and within that folder launch Command Prompt. You can then type the Format command for the drive letter you wish to delete all data from, including the “/P” parameter to have multiple passes of meaningless data written to the drive. The more passes you use the more secure the erasure will be.

For example, let’s assume you have a drive with drive letter Z: assigned to it, and you wanted to use four passes to overwrite the drive. You would use this command at the Command Prompt:

Format Z: /P:4

Macintosh users can use the Disk Utility application, which is found within the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. Select the drive you want to erase, and then click the Erase button. In the Erase dialog you can specify the Name you want to use for the drive, as well as the Format you want to use for that drive. More importantly in this case, you can click the Security Options button and drag the slider to the “Most Secure” setting before clicking OK. Then click the Erase button to securely erase the data from the drive.

If the drive is no longer usable you can take steps to physically disable the drive. One simple way to achieve this is to damage the circuit board on the drive. You will likely need a special Torx screwdriver to remove the circuit board, in which case you can carefully break the circuit board in half. If you’re not able to remove the circuit board, you can simply damage the board directly.

Damaging the circuit board will prevent the hard drive from being used as-is, but it won’t actually remove the data from the drive. If you want to render the drive unreadable you would need to damage the platters in the drive (or the flash chips for SSD drives). There are various techniques you could use to physically damage the drive, but you’ll want to be very careful to avoid injury. If you’re able to open the drive and get to the platters, you can physically damage those platters, but again you’ll want to exercise caution here.

Unless you have highly confidential data on your drives, it may be overkill to try to physically destroy the drive. Instead, I suggest wiping the drive through the operating system if possible and also carefully damaging the circuit board.

You can then take advantage of a hard drive recycling program, which offers to destroy your drive without accessing your data. Western Digital offers this type of service, which you can learn about here:

https://www.westerndigital.com/campaign/landing/easy-recycle

Today’s Question: In Lightroom Classic is there an easy way to reorganize presets? Over the years, I’ve collected and created a number of presets. Some I’ve never used. Some are old and rarely used. Others, especially ones I’ve created, are used frequently. Is there an easy way to create a different folder structure for presets?

Tim’s Quick Answer: It is possible to organize presets in the Develop module in a variety of ways, though unfortunately this does mostly involve moving or removing individual presets. It is also possible to hide (or reveal) groups of presets.

More Detail: If there are entire groups of presets you don’t use in Lightroom Classic, such as some of those that are installed by default, you can hide those groups altogether. To do so, click on the plus symbol (+) to the right of the Presets heading on the left panel in the Develop module and choose “Manage Presets” from the popup.

In the Manage Presets dialog you can then turn off the checkbox for any preset groups you want to hide from the left panel and turn the checkbox on for any groups you would like to make available again. Click the Save button to apply the changes.

If there are presets you simply don’t need anymore, you can right-click on a preset and choose Delete. Just keep in mind that this will permanently delete the preset, not simply hide it from view.

You can also organize your user-defined presets into groups, which provides something of a folder structure for your presets.

When you are creating a new preset in the Develop module you have the option to assign the new preset to a group. By default, your new presets will be added to a “User Presets” group, but you can also click the Group popup and choose “New Group” to create a new group. When you save the new preset it will be added to the selected group.

You can also create new groups as part of the process of moving presets. In the Presets section of the left panel in the Develop module right-click on a preset you want to move to a different (or new) group and choose Move from the popup menu. In the Move Preset dialog choose the destination group from the Group popup or choose New Group to create a new group as the destination for the preset. Click the OK button to apply the change.

Once you have the desired groups defined to organize your presets you can drag-and-drop within the Presets list on the left panel to move presets into the desired group. Unfortunately, this only works for user-defined presets, not pre-installed presets.

Another helpful option is to define frequently used presets as favorites, so they will appear in whatever group you have assigned them to as well as appearing in a special Favorites group at the very top of the presets list. To add a preset to the Favorites group simply right-click on it and choose “Add to Favorites”.

Unfortunately, the preset management features in Lightroom Classic aren’t particularly robust, but with a little bit of work you can streamline your Presets section so you can more easily get to the presets you want to use at any given time.

Today’s Question: With external hard drives offering increased capacity with less cost, many of us have accumulated many drives that we no longer use. Can you recommend a means whereby we can dispose of them with assurances that the drive will be erased and do so in an environmentally respectful manner?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can recycle your hard drives for free with a service such as one provided by Western Digital. Storage devices from any manufacturer can be recycled through this program, not just Western Digital devices.

More Detail: Hard drives include a variety of materials that can be recycled. Recycling a hard drive ensures that the drive will be destroyed and that the materials will be recycled rather than put into a landfill.

Western Digital (among others) offers a recycling program through a partner, which involves shredding the storage device and separating the component materials for recycling. You can have your storage devices recycled at no cost to you, including free shipping of the devices. In the case of the Western Digital program, you’ll even get a coupon good for 15% off your next purchase of $50 or more in exchange for recycling your storage devices with the program.

While this program does involve the destruction of the storage devices you send in for recycling, which means the data on those devices will be destroyed as well, I do recommend wiping the hard drive before sending it in, out of an abundance of caution. And, of course, make sure that you have already saved and backed up any data on the drives before sending them in for recycling.

You can get more of the details and initiate the process of recycling your old storage devices here:

https://www.westerndigital.com/campaign/landing/easy-recycle

Today’s Question: All my photos are on an external drive, and I was interested in having a copy on my internal hard drive. I use GoodSync at your recommendation and sync to another external drive, but since I have plenty of storage on my iMac, I thought it would be a good idea to have another backup. Is there a reason you would recommend that I use the internal drive as my main Lightroom Classic repository instead of my main external drive? I have the catalog on my external drive as well. If I do switch to the internal drive as my main storage, I would still want to keep my 2 external hard drives in sync as backups.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Since you have more than enough storage on your internal drive, I would suggest that you put your catalog and photos on that internal drive to maximize performance with Lightroom Classic. You could then use both external hard drives for backup. The only reason to keep the photos and catalog on the external hard drive would be if you needed to be able to switch between computers while still working with your photos in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: As noted in yesterday’s Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter, you can migrate your photos from an external hard drive to an internal hard drive, which will improve overall performance to some extent in Lightroom Classic. Having the catalog on the internal hard drive will generally have an even more significant impact on performance.

After you have migrated your photos and catalog to the internal hard drive, be sure that you’re only using the catalog on the internal hard drive moving forward. You can then transition to using the external hard drives as backup drives.

In the context of GoodSync (https://timgrey.me/greybackup), you would be then creating a backup job that would back up the primary folder containing your photos on the internal hard drive to either the external hard drive itself or a folder on an external hard drive designated for that backup. Two similar backup jobs could be created so you would be able to back up your photos from the internal hard drive to each of the two external hard drives.

It also isn’t a bad idea to add an offsite backup to the mix, such as through a cloud-based backup solution. The service I use and recommend is Backblaze, which you can learn about here:

https://timgrey.me/onlinebackup