The real news is that we gained the Point Color panel that allows for much finer control over a customizable range of color. The HSL panel remains unchanged and is still quite useful. So, what does Point Color do that the HSL panel cannot? There are two key functions of Point Color that differentiate it from HSL, first being that Point Color allows us to fine tune the range of affected colors with a high degree of control, whereas each specified color in the HSL panel affects an unchangeable range of similar colors.

We’ll look at some example photos to show why that is important. The second key difference is that Point Color is available as a global adjustment (affecting all selected colors in the entire photo at once) and as a local adjustment in the Masking panel. Taken together it means that while HSL can be quite useful when you are happy with adjusting the predetermined range of colors affected by each slider, we now have a tool that gives us far more control to narrow in on a very specific range of colors and make desired adjustments both globally and locally. Let’s look at some examples to see how this works.

Getting Oriented

When you first view the Point Color panel there is not much to see, but as soon as you grab the Sample Spot Color (Eyedropper) tool and click on the color you want to sample it comes to life. Note, I have expanded all the disclosure triangles in the panel to reveal all the options.

Next to the eyedropper you’ll see a color swatch representing the selected color (note, as you adjust the color this swatch will change to show both the original selected color and the adjusted color). Below that is a large color field displaying the selected color (indicated with a black pin) within the range of hues that will be affected. Below the color field is a color bar displaying a larger view of the selected color (this also changes to show the original and adjusted color). To the right of the color field is a color rectangle that shows the selected color within a range of luminance values.

With the color selected you can now adjust that color’s hue, saturation, and luminance as desired by dragging within the color field or color rectangle or by moving the Hue Shift, Saturation Shift, or Luminance Shift sliders. Dragging left or right within the color field adjusts the Hue Shift. Dragging up or down in the color field adjusts the Sat. Shift. Dragging up or down in the color rectangle adjusts the Lum. Shift. As you make adjustments by dragging in the color field, you’ll see how the corresponding sliders move in concert. Likewise, moving any of the sliders results in seeing a white circle move in the corresponding color field to represent the resulting change.

Putting in Practice

Let’s say I wanted to shift the color of this young woman’s dress from a very saturated red to a less saturated pink. If I were to use the Targeted Adjustment tool in the Mixer tab I could try to shift the hue, saturation, and luminance towards a more pink color, but because the original color was so similar in hue to her skin tone, the end result is less than desirable. There’s no way to constrain the range of affected hues with this tool or use it with Masking.

Let’s reset those adjustments and switch to the Point Color tool. I’ve used the eyedropper to sample the color of the dress. Looking at the colors in the color field I can tell I’m going to run into the same issue I had before, so let’s use the Range controls to see if I can limit the range of affected color to avoid affecting her skin and lips. The Range slider can be shifted right to expand the range of affected color or shifted left to decrease the range. With the Range disclosure triangle expanded we can access more granular controls for fine tuning the hue, saturation, and luminance range I want to adjust. In a case like this it can be helpful to check the Visualize Range box, which changes the unaffected colors to grayscale and leaves only the affected range in color.

Now we can clearly see areas of her arms and face that will be affected if I don’t constrain the range of affected colors.

With the range dialed in to just affect the dress I can now make the desired shifts in hue, saturation, and luminance to change the color of the dress without affecting her skin.

That type of adjustment was just not possible before using HSL alone since we had no way to customize the range of hues being affected by the adjustment. As close as the color in the dress was to some of the color in her skin tone, I was able to limit the affected range of hues narrowly enough to effectively isolate the dress from her skin, but there’s even more power in Point Color than in just limiting the range.

Point Color in Masking

In that example I was just (barely) able to isolate the color I wanted to adjust from the subject’s skin tones, but what if limiting the range of colors wasn’t possible, or the same color existed in more than one place within the photo, and you only wanted to adjust one location? That’s where Point Color’s other difference over the Mixer (HSL/Color) can be found, which is in Masking. I’m going to reset/remove the global Point Color adjustment by double-clicking the Point Color label at the top of the panel. Alternatively, you can right-click a color swatch and choose to delete the swatch (or all swatches) from the contextual menu, which does the same thing.

Next, click the Masking icon to enter that tool. Since I have a person in this photo I can leverage the AI-based masking ability to select just her dress with a single click on the Clothes checkbox under Person Mask Options, then click Create Mask.

With her dress masked, I can expand the Point Color panel and use the eyedropper to sample the color of her dress as I did before. With Masking, you’ll likely see the overlay by default at first, but as soon as you select the eyedropper the mask is hidden so you can see what you are sampling. Thanks to the mask I don’t need to worry about constraining the color range as this adjustment (and any other adjustment I decide to apply to this mask) will only affect her dress. That means I can just focus on adjusting the color of the dress right away.

There’s often more than one way to achieve an adjustment, and the right way will depend on the photo and what you are trying to achieve. With Point Color you have such a fine level of control that just wasn’t possible in Lightroom before, and we still can utilize the HSL/Color controls too. This opens wonderful possibilities for fine tuning skin tones, removing color casts from shadows, adjusting product photography to better match the desired color, and so much more.

The post Get to Know Point Color in Lightroom Classic appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

[Editor’s note: It seemed fitting that my last blog post of the year should be my last column in Photoshop User magazine, which ceased publication with the December issue. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have written my Under the Loupe column for so many years. – Rob]

When you first expand the panel, you’ll see everything is grayed out until you check the box next to Apply, which brings it to life and applies the settings to the selected photo.

By default, it uses AI to create a depth map of the photo and applies the default blur amount of 50. Having a photo with a clearly distinguishable subject will improve the quality of the depth map it creates. With this photo, I was impressed with how well it detected the subjects and even the default settings helped to separate them from the background. This tool is no replacement for in-camera depth of field blur and won’t replace any of my fast lenses, but in this case the photo was shot with the Canon RF600mm f/11 lens, so I couldn’t open the aperture any wider. My goal is to use Lens Blur to help the owl and squirrel stand out more from the busy background, without it looking too fake (obviously in the eye of the beholder).

Let’s get oriented to the panel. The Blur Amount slider does exactly what it says, and if you take it to 100, you’ll see we’re heading into fake looking blur territory. Below that slider are five different bokeh options, and hovering your cursor over each will reveal a pop-up with its name and description. The first is the most normal looking, but definitely worth clicking each one and exploring how each affects the photo. A photo with out of focus light sources will really show the differences between each option. If your photo does contain out of focus light sources (imagine a string of holiday lights in the background), then the Boost slider can be used to adjust the brightness of those light sources (the effect is very subtle on a photo like this).

For some photos, simply adjusting the desired Blur Amount and Bokeh option may be all you need to get the desired effect. If you want to fine tune things further or if the AI generated depth map doesn’t quite work for your photo, you can manually select what is in focus using the Focal Range controls. At the top of the Focal Range pane are icons for the AI generated depth map and a crosshair icon that allows you to click (or click-drag) over the region of the photo you want to be in focus. I think the AI did a good job of finding the desired subject, but there are some areas I want to refine, so I’ll leave the AI depth map and explore how I can modify what is in focus and what is blurred.

To really see how the depth map is working you’ll want to check the Visualize Depth box, which displays a color-coded depth map overlay on the photo. The warmer the color the nearer to the camera while the cooler the color the further away. You can see these are the colors displayed in the Focal Range pane as well. To visualize what exactly is in focus, keep the checkbox checked, then click on the handle within Focal Range. Dragging left or right will change what is in focus and you’ll see the in-focus area of the photo displayed in white. You can also reduce or increase the size of the rectangle to further refine what is in focus and what is blurred.

For this photo, I tried to reduce the size of the in-focus area as much as possible to ensure the owl and squirrel were in focus along with the branch they are on, but there were still some areas of the owl that remain slightly out of focus, and this is where the Focus and Blur brushes at the bottom of the panel come into play. The Focus brush allows for painting in areas that we want to be in focus, while the Blur brush allows for painting in areas that we want more blurred. The Size, Feather, and Flow sliders work just the same as they do for the brush in the Masking panel. There is even an Auto Mask checkbox that works great when brushing over an object with clear edges between it and the adjacent area. In this case, I’ll select the Focus brush, reduce its size (the left and right bracket keys also adjust brush size here) to fit within the area of the owl not fully in focus, and paint over its back and tail to include those areas in focus.

You can paint with the overlay on or off as desired. Use the Amount slider to blend your adjusted area in with the rest of the photo. Zooming into 100% shows some areas along in focus objects that need help along the edges, such as the branch coming up in front of the owl. Switching to the Blur brush, I can fine tune those edges to clean that up and match the blur along the edge to the background’s level of blur. Just as when brushing in Masking, hold the spacebar and click on the image to zoom in/out, or to click and pan around.

When done brushing with either tool, use the Amount slider to fine tune the look to all the areas you brushed and blend with the rest of the photo. If you want to make a new brush adjustment, click the + sign next to the brushes to begin a new adjustment with a different amount setting. In this case I wanted to ease the transition of blur on the bottom branch as it heads into the background below the animals. Now, I know this is not the same as true lens blur done in-camera, but I do like having the ability to make the subjects stand out of a busy background in a subtle way with quite a bit of control. Be sure to use the eye icon on the Lens Blur panel as you go to see the photo without Lens Blur for comparison.

For a more exaggerated example, I’ll take a photo with a very wide depth of field and give it a strong blur effect to simulate a shallow depth of field. After letting Lightroom create its AI depth map I’ll grab the Point/Area Focus tool to manually click on the car to tighten the area of focus even more.

I’ll turn on Visualize Depth, and further refine the area I want to be in focus around the car.

I’ve got the area dialed in, but due to the car windows we can see into the background, but those areas are still in focus. Grabbing the Blur brush, I can brush over the areas within the windows to match the blur with the background.

With a new Blur brush, using a lower Flow setting to slowly build up the effect, I can paint on the hill behind the car to separate it from the car with a more subtle blur. If you accidentally paint over the wrong area, you can hold the Option (PC: Alt) key to flip the brush to an eraser to erase any errant strokes. By using a lower flow and multiple brush instances, you can build up layers of blur. In an otherworldly image like this, I think the added blur can enhance its look (again, subject to taste), and the Lens Blur tool provides a pretty high degree of control even in its Early Access state. I look forward to seeing how this tool evolves and how it can help us achieve a final look beyond what our cameras and lenses can do alone.

As a final note I’d like to thank Scott Kelby, Chris Main, Kim Doty, Barbara Thompson, Jessica Maldonado, Margie Rosenstien, and Angela Naymick, along with all the rest of the behind-the-scenes team that have made Photoshop User magazine so wonderful for so many years. I’m sorry to see this is the final issue, but it has been an honor and a privilege to have been able to write for it since Lightroom first came on the scene. Thank you to all who have read these issues, and I hope to see you still in the KelbyOne community and LightroomKillerTips.com. – Rob

The post Exploring the New Lens Blur Panel appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Configure your default catalog

One of the most important ways of ensuring you’re opening the correct catalog each time you launch Lightroom Classic is to configure a specific catalog as the Default Catalog. Go to Lightroom Classic > Preferences > General (PC: Edit > Preferences > General) and click the Default Catalog drop-down menu to choose the catalog file that is currently open and set that as the default. From that point forward you can rest assured that each time you launch Lightroom Classic that catalog will open regardless of what catalog you previously had open.

Create an import preset

A huge time saver and important method for keeping your import process consistent and efficient is to save all the common settings of the Import dialog as a preset. On your next typical import, configure all general settings as desired (excluding any settings that are too specific, like keywords or collection membership), and then click the Import Preset drop-down menu and choose Save Current Settings as New Preset. Give the preset a meaningful name when prompted and click Create. The next time you import a new batch of photos just confirm your preset is selected (or select it yourself) and know all your core settings are ready to go.

Master zooming in Library and Develop

Some time ago Lightroom Classic got an update that changed some of the zoom functionality for the better. The first thing to note is that it replaced the old zoom ratios (1:1) with zoom percentages that I think are easier for people to understand. Additionally, it added a 100% button above the Navigator panel to make it easy to quickly jump to that zoom level as needed. You can still access a range of zoom levels, from 6% to 1600% from the drop-down menu at the top of the Navigator. We also gained two new ways to zoom; Box Zoom and Scrubby Zoom. Box Zoom works in both the Library (Loupe view) and Develop modules by holding the CMD key (PC: Ctrl) while dragging a rectangle (box) the size you want to zoom into. Scrubby Zoom only works in Develop (with GPU acceleration enabled), and involves holding the Shift key while dragging left to zoom out or right to zoom in. Give them a try!

Mark folders and collections as favorite sources

If you have folders that you want to access quickly from anywhere in Lightroom Classic, you can mark them as a favorite. Simply right click any folder in the Folders panel and choose Mark Favorite from the contextual menu that appears. This adds a star icon to that folder and adds the folder to the Favorite Sources list accessible from the Filmstrip panel in any module. You can add a collection or even collection set to the Favorite Sources list by first selecting it in the Collections panel, then click the breadcrumbs menu in the Filmstrip and choose Add to Favorites at the bottom of the list (you can remove sources from the list the same way).

Mark most used presets and profiles as favorites

A quick way to gather your most used Develop presets into one group is to mark them as a favorite. Simply right click a preset and choose Add to Favorites from the contextual menu. That preset will be added to a special Favorites group at the top of the Preset panel.

Similarly, you can open the Profile Browser in the Basic panel, scroll through profile groups, and click the star icon that appears in the upper-right corner of each profile to mark it as a favorite. Favorite profiles will conveniently appear in the Profile drop-down menu in the Basic panel for easy access.

Manage the Presets panel

Lightroom Classic comes pre-installed with many Develop presets, in various groups, within the Preset panel. Some are good, some are not, but once you’ve explored them and possibly marked some as favorites (see previous tip) you can hide any preset groups in the panel you no longer need to see (presets marked as favorites will still be visible in the Favorites group even if you hide its parent preset group). Click the + sign at the top of the Presets panel and choose Manage Presets to open the Manage Presets dialog box. From there, simply uncheck any preset groups you no longer want to see in the Presets panel and click Save. You can always go back to this dialog box and restore any hidden groups.

Sync LrC catalog to Lr

To expand your Lightroom Classic catalog to your mobile devices it all starts with syncing your catalog. Click the cloud icon in the upper-right corner of the interface and click Start to begin the process. I’ve got an entire article if you want to learn more.

Explore Auto Adding photos in Lightroom for mobile

I like to use the Lightroom app on my iPhone to transfer photos taken on that device to my Lightroom Classic library. I have the Photography plan with 1TB of storage, so I don’t worry about filling up the cloud storage, and I like that this can be automated. If you only have the 20GB storage plan, use this tip with caution (or not at all). To set up Auto Add, tap the 3-dot menu next to the album you want to add the photos to automatically and toggle the Auto add from device photos to the on position. From that point on any newly add photos to your device’s camera roll will automatically import into Lr. You can disable by toggling that same switch to the off position. This will not automatically add photos previously sitting on your camera roll.

Access the Lightroom camera faster

I love the camera module within the Lr app on my phone and shoot with it a lot. On iOS (version 9 or later) you can jump right to the camera by doing a long press on the Lr icon to access a contextual menu containing an option for Take Photo or Take Selfie to choose the back or front facing camera respectively. On Android (version 7.1.1 or later) the process is similar. Locate the Lr icon on your home screen and give it a long press to access the Lightroom Camera app shortcut.

Set a Target Collection or Album

A fast way to add photos to a collection in Lightroom Classic or album in Lightroom is to designate a collection or album as the Target. In Lightroom Classic, right-click any regular collection and choose Set as Target Collection from the contextual menu. From that point on, you can select any photo (or group of photos in Grid view) and press the B key to add the selection to the Target Collection. In the Lightroom for desktop app, right-click the desired album and choose Set “[album name]” as the Target Album from the contextual menu. In this app, the T key is the shortcut to add selected photos to that album.

The post 10 Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Tips appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Understanding the Import Process

Importing photos into LrC is the process of bringing information about your photos from your memory card (or already on your computer) into the catalog for organization, editing, and management. The act of importing creates a database record for each photo you bring in, and that record is where all the work you ever do to each photo is stored. The import process can also include copying or moving photos to a new location, but that is a secondary function. To begin an import, open the Library module and click the Import button located at the bottom left corner of the screen.

Here are the key things to know about the Import dialog:

Choose a Source: Choose the desired source from which you want to import, such as a memory card or a specific folder on your computer.

Copy, Move, or Add: Across the top of the Import dialog, you need to choose what action you want to perform on your photos. The most common option is to choose Copy, which copies the photos from the source to a new destination. If the photos are already in the location you want them to reside (such as a folder on your hard drive) you can choose Add and no copying or moving of photos will occur.

Destination Folder: If choosing the Copy or Move option you next need to choose where you want LrC to put the photos being imported. You can organize your photos by date, location, or other criteria. Choose a scheme that makes sense to your brain and can scale easily into the future. Note, after import you can use LrC to move photos between folders and manage your photos, but you need to pick this starting location. If Add was selected you won’t see the Destination panel as the photos are already in their destination.

I’m going to take this opportunity to point out that it is in your best interests to only use LrC to move photos and folders around on your drive to keep the catalog up to date with these changes. If you move imported photos outside of LrC you will break the link between the catalog and the photos and create more work for yourself.

All the other options on the Import dialog are there to help speed up other aspects of your workflow, such as applying metadata or edits, but they are not required. In the beginning, refine your thinking about your organizational structure for your photos as that is super important over time. As you become more proficient, utilize the other Import dialog panels to multi-task the import process and save those settings as an import preset.

After importing, the photos will appear in the Library. From there, you can further organize, edit, and manage your photos using the various tools and features as you move through your workflow. Presets, profiles, and default settings are important tools to making your workflow more efficient, so let’s talk about what those mean.

Utilizing Presets and Profiles

While LrC can handle JPGs, PNGs, TIFs, PSDs, and even many video formats it has its roots in editing raw files. If you choose to capture photos in raw format then that image data has not been fully processed by the camera, which allows for more flexible postproduction choices down the road (such as changing white balance). When a raw photo is imported into LrC it has to apply some form of default settings to serve as a starting place for you to view, evaluate, and begin editing the photo. Out of the box, LrC has an Adobe designed default, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, you can customize your default settings to your liking. Creating a custom default requires selecting a develop preset that applies desired settings in the Raw Defaults section of the Presets tab of the Preferences.

People are sometimes confused about presets and profiles, so let’s clarify. Presets and profiles are both tools that allow you to apply specific adjustments and looks to your photos. However, they serve slightly different purposes and work in distinct ways:

Presets are simply a way to save a combination of adjustments (or even a single adjustment) in a file that you can apply to your photos with a click. They are essentially a collection of settings that affect various aspects of an image, such as exposure, contrast, color grading, and more. Presets are often used to achieve a consistent look across a series of images or to quickly experiment with different styles. LrC comes with a lot of presets in the Presets panel of the Develop module, but over time you can create your own custom presets or acquire presets from others.

Profiles are like the picture styles you see in your camera, such as Portrait, Landscape, Standard, etc., and influence how the colors and tones in your image are initially interpreted. They’re often used to achieve different color grades or looks, and they primarily affect the color and tonal characteristics of an image, rather than individual editing adjustments. If you shoot in raw you can change the profile during postprocessing, but if you shoot in JPG the in-camera picture style is “baked into” the final image.

A preset can contain a profile but doesn’t have to. A profile can change the color and tone of your photo without affecting any of the Develop sliders, so choosing a desired profile first and then beginning your adjustments is a good way to begin an edit.

If you want to match the look of your raw photos most closely in LrC to how they appeared in-camera, then you’ll want to choose the camera matching profile that corresponds to the one you configured in your camera. LrC comes with a variety of built-in profiles that range from basic to creative looks. You can also create or import custom profiles to achieve specific looks.

I encourage you to take a few raw photos into Develop and explore all the presets in the Presets panel and all of the profiles in the Profile Browser to see how they work independently and together. As you become more proficient, you can create your own custom presets and continue to customize your raw default settings to begin processing your raw photos from the moment they are imported.

There’s clearly a lot more to learn about LrC, but I hope that these fundamental concepts will help you move forward with confidence.

The post Key Things Everyone Using Lightroom Classic Should Know: Part 2 appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

[Note, this originally appeared in the September issue of Photoshop User magazine.]

A Workflow Tool

Fundamentally, Lightroom Classic (LrC from here on out) is a workflow tool, and image editing is just one part of the workflow. A typical digital photography workflow includes capture, image transfer, organization, file management, application of metadata, image enhancement, output (in various forms), and image retrieval. LrC can be used in all those tasks, and if you’re not using LrC in those ways then you may be missing out. It is also just as important to know what LrC cannot do, and at the top of that list I’d put image backup, which is a task we all must do outside of LrC.

LrC takes a modular approach to these tasks, which is why there are seven different modules (Library, Develop, Map, Book, Slideshow, Print, and Web) across the top of the interface. I would argue that the Import and Export dialogs could also count as modules as well due to them being just as important (if not more so) than any of the others. It is true that not every photographer will have need of every module (sorry, Web), but I do recommend becoming familiar with each and filing away its capabilities for the future.

The modules are what we see in the interface, but under the surface is a database that allows us to seamlessly move between each module, import our photos, edit them, organize them, and send the finished versions out into the world. This database is called the catalog, and within the catalog is where LrC stores everything it knows about your photos, from the camera generated EXIF metadata to where they are stored on your drive(s) to every change you make in a LrC session. Just to be clear, your actual photos are not stored within the catalog, only a reference to where each photo resides on a drive is stored in the catalog. The catalog file is arguably almost as important as your photo library as it is the repository of all the work you ever do inside of the program. It is so important LrC includes features to help you monitor, maintain, and backup your catalog file, and I can’t stress how important it is to leverage these features.

Find Your Catalog

Knowing where the catalog is located is critical and luckily very easy to do. Here’s how:

Step One: With LrC open, go to the Lightroom Classic menu (PC: Edit) and choose Catalog Settings to open the Catalog Settings dialog.

Step Two: Select the General tab and note the location and file name shown. This is where your catalog resides on your drive. The catalog has a .lrcat file extension (that’s a lowercase “L” not an uppercase “i”). Each time you open LrC it opens the catalog file and all the work you do during that session is saved to the catalog.

Step Three: Click the Show button to open a Finder (PC: Explorer) window displaying the folder containing the catalog file, then open that folder in your file browser to see its contents.

Alongside the catalog are a few other files that are key to the program’s operation. Some of these files only appear when the catalog is open in LrC to protect it (like the .lrcat-lock and .lrcat-wal files) while others contain previews of your photos (the ones with the word preview in the file name) and others that are only present if you sync your catalog to the cloud-based Lightroom. You should not have to manage those other files, but if you see more than what I’m showing here you may want to learn which, if any, you can delete. The key takeaway is knowing the location and name of your catalog file should you ever have a problem that requires restoring from a backup copy.

Backing Up Your Catalog

At the bottom of the General tab of Catalog Settings is where you can configure the frequency in which Lightroom Classic automatically creates a backup copy of your catalog. I recommend utilizing this feature even if you regularly backup your entire computer system for a few reasons:

• It is free and built into the program.
• It contains functions for checking catalog integrity and maintenance.
• Having redundancy in your backup can save your bacon.

Even though I have Apple’s Time Machine regularly backing up my entire computer I utilize LrC’s backup function too. This way should my catalog fail an integrity check during backup I can act before a problem may be visible in the program itself. If you only rely on your full system backup, you can be unaware of problems in your catalog until it is too late only to discover all your recent system backup copies contain the same problem. The only downside is that we have to remember to periodically delete the oldest backup copies to preserve disk space.

Once you configure your desired backup frequency (I chose Every time Lightroom exits) all you need to do is quit LrC, and when it is time to backup you will be prompted to complete the process.

This prompt is the only place you can customize where the backup copy of the catalog is stored. I have mine saved to a folder within my Dropbox account so that it is automatically copied to the cloud (and off the same drive as the working catalog) but choose a location that works for your system. Additionally, this dialog is where you can also choose to run the integrity and optimization functions, which I do every time. There may be occasions where I am in a hurry or maybe I already had a very recent backup, in which case I’ll click Skip this time, but I like getting prompted on each exit, so I have the choice.

Tune back in next week for a wrap up with a few more tips!

The post Key Things Everyone Using Lightroom Classic Should Know: Part 1 appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

If you didn’t customize the name of the catalog, then it may look just like mine does above. The purpose of this is so that you can try the latest version of LrC with the upgraded copy without losing the ability to roll back to the previous version and your original catalog if you run into a problem. This is a great option and I’m very glad Adobe does it this way. However, as time goes on, and you continue to use the new version of LrC that old catalog file from the previous version just sits on your hard drive serving no purpose. (Find your catalog)

I also utilize the catalog backup function built into LrC, so I even have backup copies from the old version I can fall back on as well. So, once you are sure you are going to stick with the new version of the program I recommend doing two things:

1. Run the catalog back up function to create a new backup copy in the new version (if you haven’t been already doing this).
2. Delete the old catalog file from the previous version sitting alongside your current catalog file (or at the very least, move it out of that folder and put it somewhere you will remember to delete when you are ready).

Just like with your backup copies created by LrC, they just sit there taking up space until you step in to manage (delete) them. You may also see a .lrcat-data file associated with the previous version, and you can delete that too, as you will also see a copy of that file for the current version which is being used by the current catalog.

The post Lingering Catalog Files appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

When you launch the new version of Lightroom Classic it will walk you through the process of updating a copy of your current catalog to work with the new version. The copy is updated leaving your original catalog unchanged, so if you have a problem with the update you can easily go back to the state just after updating. Assuming all goes well, and you move forward in the new version, be sure to eventually delete that old catalog from the previous version as it will just take up space.

Lens Blur

An Early Release version of a new panel, called Lens Blur has arrived. Early Access means it is still a work in progress. No, it is not as good as achieving shallow depth of field in camera, but I think it is pretty good for improving what was done in camera with a few clicks and slider moves. I look forward to seeing this feature improve.

Point Color

We’ve gained even more control over the colors in our photo with the new Point Color feature. We’ll take a deeper dive into this soon, but for now start to explore how this works by expanding the (renamed from HSL/Color) Color Mixer panel, clicking the eye dropper tool, and sampling the color you want to edit.

With a color sampled the panel comes to life and you can begin adjusting the hue, saturation, and luminance with far greater control than we’ve ever had before.

Click the Mixer tab to access the HSL controls we’ve had for years.

HDR Edit and Output

We’ve been creating and editing high dynamic range (HDR) images for a long time, but as HDR displays become more accessible we’ve needed better tools for editing HDR images to be displayed their best on HDR monitors. The new HDR Edit and output features are designed to do just that. There’s a lot more to say and explore with this feature, so look for a follow up post in the near future devoted to just this. For now, read what the ACR team has to say about it.

Filter Develop Presets (LrC)

If you’re like me and have a growing number of Develop presets sitting in your Presets panel, then this small update may be most welcome. Just like we have the ability to filter the Folders and Collections panels, we now have that same functionality in the Presets panel. Simply start typing in the search field at the top of the panel and only preset groups and presets that match the text will appear. Useful naming of your presets just became more important.

And no update would be complete without some boosts to performance in LrC, most notably when reading and writing to XMP, converting to DNG, moving folders on your drive, and loading of photos in Develop. There is one very significant update in Lightroom for Mac/Windows that even Lightroom Classic users will want to check out.

Preview in History and Snapshots (LrC)

Just like we’ve been able to quickly preview the effect of a preset by moving the cursor over the desired preset, we can now similarly preview snapshots and history steps by moving the cursor over the desired snapshot or history step.

Local Tab (Lr for Mac/Win)

I’m very excited to see how this feature will evolve, but with this update we now have the ability to access and edit photos stored on our local hard drives without first importing them into Lr. Clicking the Local tab gives you file browser access to your drives where you can navigate to a folder of photos, browse those photos and edit them at will without ever seeing the import dialog and without having to upload those photos to the Adobe cloud. This is a real change in thinking for this cloud-based app! Edits are stored locally.

Keep in mind that photos edited locally can always be imported and synced if you wish (so you can access them on other devices running synced Lr apps), but you do not have to do this. We even have the ability to rename local folders and move photos between folders.

There may not be any features that feel as game changing as Masking or Denoise, but there’s still a lot of cool and interesting functionality to learn and see how to best incorporate into our existing and possibly new workflows. Stay tuned!

The post Adobe MAX Updates appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

To get there, just point your browser of choice to lightroom.adobe.com and sign in with the same Adobe ID and password you use for your Creative Cloud subscription. If you’ve already synced photos from Lightroom Classic or imported directly into one of the Lightroom apps, you’ll see those photos are already here. From the Home screen you can easily access recently added and edited photos, add new photos through your browser (full resolution photos that will be uploaded to the cloud, synced across Lightroom apps, and count against storage), access folders and albums, explore the Learn and Discover features, and quite a bit more. Along the top of the interface are icons for viewing notifications, checking cloud storage quota, downloading the desktop and mobile apps, accessing help and support, and accessing your account info and Technology Previews.

Technology Previews are a sneak peek into new features that aren’t fully formed but are functional enough for customers to test drive and give feedback to the Lightroom team. At the time of writing this there are two available, Collaborative Proofing and Clean Up. Collaborative Proofing has been around for a few years now as a tech preview. Clean Up is relatively new, and once enabled you’ll find a Clean Up menu item under the All Photos grouping on the left panel. Adobe doesn’t provide any glimpse into what’s under Clean Up’s hood, and simply states that it identifies photos you may want to remove to save space. Looking at the photos it suggested for me I can see it doesn’t like photos that are blurry or poorly exposed, such as these shots from my trail camera.

You can go through the photos it gathers arranged in added date and select photos that can either be flagged as rejected or just outright deleted. You can use CMD+A (PC: Ctrl+A) to select all and mark them all at once, but I wouldn’t recommend that without going through them all first, as it doesn’t like intentional blurring such as panning or slow shutter shots and really hates screen captures. Housekeeping is important, and tools like this can be helpful, but you still want to be in the driver’s seat. If you use it, be sure to click the Feedback button and let Adobe know what you think.

Grouped along with Clean Up you’ll find access to your Deleted photos (you’ve got 60 days to restore before they are automatically removed for good), Sync Issues (which groups photos having any sync related issues, which can help you identify where a problem may exist, such as in my case I had shut down Lightroom on my laptop before syncing had completed), Gallery (learn how to set up a Gallery), and Connections (these are also found in the Mac/Win version of Lightroom and allow you to send photos to online print services).

When working with your photos, you can add and remove them from albums, create new albums and folders, add and remove photos from storage, share them with others, and most amazingly edit them with much of the same functionality we have in the other Lightroom apps. To see your options, select an album, then select a few photos within it to activate the blue bar above the thumbnails. Here you’ll find the options for setting the cover photo, removing photos from the album, deleting them from the cloud, adding to another album, moving to another album, adding them to a connection, sharing them with others, downloading them, or applying keywords. In this case, I’m going to click Remove to remove these duplicates from the album.

Clicking on a single photo will switch to showing that one photo in a loupe view, where you can apply flags, ratings, keywords, title, and caption (click the i icon to access title and caption fields as well as see more information about the photo). From this view you can also access the suite of editing tools along the right panel and download and share icons along the top. Clicking the X button returns you to the Grid view. The editing tools available here are limited compared to the full apps, but still plenty powerful for something you access in a web browser.

The icon at the top will take you into all the presets that ship with Lightroom, your own custom presets, as well as presets recommended by Lightroom’s AI from the larger community. These can be a great way to explore looks and start from a different place.

Whether you apply a preset or not, the next icon down will take you into the editing suite where you can customize things to your taste. You’ll find the Light, Color, Detail, Effects, Optics, and Geometry panels waiting for you to adjust and get real-time updates as you go. These edits are then synced across all other Lightroom apps. If cropping is desired, click the Crop tool icon and fine tune your composition. When finished, click the X at the top to keep your edits and return to Grid view.

The Masking tools have been updated here as well, though not as full featured as you may be used to in other Lightroom apps. With a photo in Loupe view, click the Masking icon to edit existing masks or create new ones. The mask types are currently limited to Subject, Sky, Background, Radial Gradient, and Linear Gradient, though Adobe says more options will be coming in the future. When adjusting a mask’s settings, we’re limited to Light, Color, Effects, and Detail.

If you’re wanting to experiment with different looks and styles you can even take advantage of the Versions feature here on the web. Versions are like snapshots in Lightroom Classic in that they are only visible when you are in the Versions screen, where you can add, delete, and rename versions as desired. To create a new look while saving the original, go into the Named tab and click Create Version, where you’ll be prompted to give it a meaningful name and click Create. This saves the current look as a version. Now you’re ready to experiment. Click the Edit icon and make your changes for the new look. Go back into Versions, click Create Version, and give this new look a name. The thumbnail of the photo will reflect the currently selected version. To switch to a different version, you’ll need to select that photo, go back into Versions, and then select the thumbnail representing the desired look you want to see.

There’s a lot of cool features hidden away in Lightroom web, and the best part of it is that allows you to access your cloud-based library (which includes smart previews synced from Lightroom Classic) from anywhere you have Internet and a web browser. Give it a try and spend a few minutes exploring the Learn and Discover sections to further improve your experience with Lightroom.

The post Getting to Know Lightroom Web appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

In the comments on that post, Patrick posted: “However, your tip made me think of how it would perhaps be useful and easy if we could do the reverse also: Create a virtual copy from within the Snapshots panel upon editing the original photo. Any chance of you asking/proposing this to the developers team?“

Well, Patrick, you can kind of do that already. Here’s how:

Step One: Edit a photo as you wish, then create a snapshot from the Snapshots panel. Let’s assume you want to explore different variations on looks, so you create a snapshot for each look.

Step Two: Press CMD+’ (PC: Ctrl+’) to create a virtual copy (or go to the Photo > Create Virtual Copy menu). You’ll now be viewing the virtual copy, which at this point looks the same as the original.

Step Three: Select the desired snapshot to represent the look of this virtual copy, and all the settings will change to reflect the settings in the snapshot you click.

Step Four: Select the original in the Filmstrip and either continue editing or reset it to defaults or choose a different snapshot to represent its look.

You can easily add as many snapshots as you wish, and since all snapshots are shared among all virtual copies, simply create a new virtual copy anytime you want to see a snapshot represented as a separate photo. This may be for comparison against the different versions or perhaps to export different versions as copies or maybe to share as a web gallery.

Should you no longer need to see the individual virtual copies you can always delete them as you have their settings preserved in snapshots and can easily bring them back again. Hope that helps!

The post Making Virtual Copies from Snapshots appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Every photo you import starts with a single set of editing instructions (starting with the default settings), and that set of instructions is updated every time you make any adjustment, which also updates the preview, so you see the results of your edits in real time without ever actually changing the pixels of the source photo managed by LrC. Virtual copies give us the ability to make more than one set of instructions, and each set of instructions refers to the same source photo. A simple example would be having a color version original and a B&W virtual copy, with each represented by its own thumbnail in the catalog. However, no actual copy of the source photo is made on your drive, so you are having minimal impact on drive storage (just the amount of the preview stored in the preview cache for each VC).

Virtual copies can also be helpful for batch exports of different versions of the same source photo or grouping different versions into different collections for sharing online, or whatever makes practical sense to your workflow.

Virtual copies only exist in the catalog file, so you won’t see any evidence of them if you look in the folder containing the source photo outside of LrC. Additionally, it is not possible to store virtual copy information in the XMP metadata of the source photos. This just adds one more reason for the importance of continually backing up your catalog file.

Snapshots to the Rescue

A Snapshot is like a virtual copy in that you can use them to store a specific set of editing instructions. However, snapshots are only visible in the Snapshots panel of the Develop panel, so they are not useful for side-by-side comparisons or dividing into separate collections. You can switch the look of a photo between snapshots by clicking the desired snapshot, which updates the preview representing that photo.

Snapshots allow you to store multiple looks or various states of an edit journey in the catalog record for a given source photo. Once a snapshot is created it is also shared among all virtual copies and the original, and unlike virtual copies, snapshot information can be written to XMP metadata, which can be useful for sharing photos with others, as a form of backing up edits to the source photo or making them available when opening the source photo in Camera Raw.

So, if you tend to use virtual copies and you want to take another step to preserve them, simply take one into Develop, expand the Snapshots panel, and create a snapshot to represent the editing state of the VC. In fact, once you’ve saved the snapshot, if you don’t need/want the VC you can delete it because the snapshot will preserve the edits. If at some point in the future you want to have a VC with those settings just create a new VC, expand the Snapshots panel, and select the desired snapshot to restore those settings to the VC.

The post Saving Virtual Copies as Snapshots appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.