Today I thought I’d run the Lightroom Q&A column (from the Lightroom Queen herself, Victoria Bampton) from the October 2021 issue of Photoshop User magazine. Here ya go:

Q. Lightroom is asking to upgrade my catalog. Do I have to upgrade it and is it safe?

A. When Adobe releases a major Lightroom update (e.g., version 10.0 or 11.0), usually around October or November each year, a catalog upgrade is often needed to support one of the new features. The first time you open each Lightroom catalog after the update, Lightroom asks permission to upgrade to the new catalog format. If you want to use the new version, you do have to let it upgrade.

Good backups are always wise, but it’s generally a safe process. Lightroom takes a copy of your current catalog and upgrades the copy. You can select the new catalog name during the upgrade process but, by default, Lightroom adds the version number to the current catalog name, for example, Personal-v10.lrcat. The upgrade also renames the existing previews and sync data files to use with the upgraded catalog.

It’s worth keeping the old catalog for a while, just in case you come across a bug and need to roll back to the previous Lightroom version, but hopefully it won’t be needed!

Q. I don’t like to update to a new Lightroom release immediately, in case there are big bugs. How do I stop Creative Cloud automatically updating my Lightroom version?

A. That’s very sensible, particularly for the October/ November releases, which tend to include bigger changes. Since they require a catalog upgrade, it isn’t as easy to roll back to the previous release, compared to other smaller updates throughout the year.

To turn off Auto Update, open the Creative Cloud app, which usually lives in the menu bar (PC: system tray). Click your avatar at the top-right corner and select Preferences. In the Apps section, turn off the switch for Lightroom Classic and click Done to confirm. (In the example shown here, I have Photoshop and InDesign currently turned off.) If you want to turn off Auto Update for all the apps, click the Auto-Update switch.

When you’re ready to update, return to the Updates section in the Apps tab of the Creative Cloud app and click the Update button next to Lightroom Classic.

Q. I just imported a bunch of images and videos and I want to separate out the videos to move them to a different drive. I remember that there’s a quick way to filter the videos in the Grid view, but how? I can’t remember the steps.

A. If you wanted to search your whole catalog, you’d need to select All Photographs in the Catalog panel on the left. Since you only want to search the files you’ve just imported, you can select either Previous Import in the Catalog panel or the folder into which you imported the images in the Folders panel.

The Filter Bar should show at the top of the Grid view. If it’s missing, press the Backslash key (\) or go to View>Show Filter Bar.

To show only the videos, you’ll need to click on the Attribute option in the Filter Bar. The file type icons are the last ones to the right of the word “Kind.” The icons aren’t easy to distinguish, so from left to right, they are: Original Photos, Virtual Copies, and Videos. Click on the Videos icon to hide all of the images and just leave the videos visible.

Q. Is it possible to edit more than one image at the same time in Lightroom?

A. By default, even if multiple photos are selected, your Develop slider adjustments only apply to the active photo. If you want your adjustments to apply to all of the selected photos, you can enable Auto Sync.

To do this, select multiple photos and then toggle the switch next to the Sync button. The label changes to Auto Sync and the button is highlighted to make it more obvious. As you adjust the sliders, all of the selected photos are updated at the same time.

I should add one warning, however: Auto Sync is powerful but dangerous, as it’s easy to accidentally apply a setting to multiple photos without realizing that they’re all selected. It gets particularly confusing if you often switch between standard Sync and Auto

Sync. If you’re going to use Auto Sync, make sure you keep the Filmstrip visible so you can easily see the number of photos that are selected.

Q. I primarily work in Lightroom Classic, but I want to be able to share a collection as a web gallery. How do I do that?

A. If you don’t already have sync enabled in your Lightroom Classic catalog, start by clicking on the cloud icon at the very top right to show the Sync Activity, then click Start Syncing.

To sync a collection to the cloud, toggle the box to the left of the collection in the Collections panel and you’ll see a sync icon appear. Then, to get a link that you can share with friends or family, Right-click on the synced collection and choose Lightroom Links>Make Collection Public. This makes the collection accessible to other people, but only if you give them your secret link. The link is shown at the top of the Grid view, or you can select Copy Public Link in the same Right-click menu to copy it to the clipboard.

When someone visits the secret link, they can view the photos in Grid or Loupe view. If they sign in using an Adobe ID or social login (Google, Facebook, or Apple), they can also leave Likes and Comments on the photos, which show up in the Comments panel in your Lightroom catalog.

If you log into the Lightroom Web interface, there are additional sharing options for each collection. For example, you can allow your viewers to download photos, view additional metadata, change the gallery layout and color theme, or even add additional text describing the photos.

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There ya have it – thank you, Victoria! BTW: Photoshop User magazine is published on the first business day of the month for members of KelbyOne. It’s usually around 124 pages or so, and has tons of Lightroom and Photoshop tutorials, articles, reviews and news. For more on KelbyOne photography, Photoshop and Lightroom education, click right here.

Here’s wishing you a triple-fantastic week!

-Scott

P.S. It’s just two weeks to the Portrait Photography Conference. I’ve got some killer classes lined up, along with an absolutely top-notch instructor lineup – it’s going to be epic. Details and earlybird discount tickets right here.

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The November 2020 issue of Photoshop User is now live on the KelbyOne site and KelbyOne Mags for iOS and Android.

Welcome to “The Magazine for Lightroom & Photoshop Users!” Starting this issue, we’ve rolled in all the content from Lightroom Magazine to create a bigger and better magazine for KelbyOne members. So whether you use Lightroom, Photoshop, or both, there’s something here for you!

Plus, we take a look at all the latest updates announced at Adobe MAX, we offer tips for moving files back-and-forth between Lightroom and Photoshop, we discuss when it’s best to use Lightroom vs. Photoshop, we take a deep dive into the new Color Grading panel in Lightroom, we explore using the new live shapes and Triangle tool in Photoshop, and so much more! You’ll also find a brand-new column on “Going Mobile” by Bryan O’Neil Hughes!

Cover image by KelbyOne member Dan Brannon

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 85 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 64 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro or Plus member yet? Click here for more information.

The post The November 2020 Issue of Photoshop User Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Issue 64 of Lightroom Magazine is now available for KelbyOne members on the KelbyOne site and on the KelbyOne Mags app for iOS and Android.

In this issue, don’t let your photography go off the rails when it comes to capturing sharp images; plus, using the new Hue control in local adjustments to edit hair color and skin tones; how to get the most out of using color labels on images, folders, and collections; wave painting long exposures; and so much more!

This issue’s cover photo is by Dave Williams

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 80 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 64 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro member yet? Click here for more information.

The post Issue 64 of Lightroom Magazine Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Issue 63 of Lightroom Magazine is now available for KelbyOne members on the KelbyOne site and on the KelbyOne Mags app for iOS and Android.

In this issue, we explore how the new ability to locally adjust hue gives us amazing power to edit color in our images, plus revisiting the same location during different seasons can yield surprising photographic results, Serge Ramelli explores how much his photo processing has evolved over the past 10 years, and so much more!

This issue’s cover is by KelbyOne instructor Karen Hutton! Karen is
also one of the instructors in our upcoming Landscape Photography Conference.

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 80 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 63 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro member yet? Click here for more information.

The post Issue 63 of Lightroom Magazine Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

The August 2020 issue of Photoshop User is now live on the KelbyOne site and KelbyOne Mags for iOS and Android.

In this issue, learn how changing an object to a specific hue takes more than just brushing on the new color, plus using adjustment layers to help isolate tones for creating better selections, synthesizing skin textures in areas that have lost definition during retouching, creating realistic cast shadows, and so much more!

This issue’s cover image is by KelbyOne member Brigitte Gathercole-Day

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 80 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 62 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro or Plus member yet? Click here for more information.

The post The August 2020 Issue of Photoshop User Magazine Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Beside my role as Editor/Publisher of Lightroom Magazine, I also write the Lightroom Q&A Column in each issue as well, and heading into this weekend I thought I’d share my Q&A from the current issue we publish the mag 10 times a year for KelbyOne members). So, here’s my Q&A from the July 2020 issue:

Q. I’m buying a new laptop and I want to make sure I buy one with enough RAM, so Lightroom will run as fast as possible on this new machine. How much RAM should I buy?

A. Adobe says that to increase the performance of Lightroom, they recommend 12 GB of RAM, and while that will do the trick, I’d go with 16 GB (that’s what I’ve been using on my laptop for the past eight or so years
and it’s been great—my Lightroom hauls butt!). After you’ve got 16 GB of RAM, rather than buying even more RAM, I’d invest in a large, fast SSD drive for your laptop; you’ll definitely feel the speed increase, and not
just in Lightroom.

Q. I saw where you said in your SLIM System class that you should have a backup in the cloud, but I already have my entire image library backing up to Adobe’s cloud automatically. Do I need another cloud backup?

A. You do not. That advice was for Lightroom Classic users who are storing their images either on their computer or on an external hard drive. In your case, it sounds like you’re using the cloud-storage version of Lightroom, so your images are already backed up to Adobe’s cloud. No need to do double-duty and back them up somewhere else. All that being said, being the paranoid photographer that I am, I’d still keep a copy of all my images locally on an external hard drive (strictly as a backup), but hey, that’s just me. Remember, just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

Q. Scott, my LR is a disaster! How do I start over from scratch?

A. I’m assuming you’re using Lightroom Classic, so to start over from scratch, simply go under Lightroom’s File menu and choose New Catalog. This will quit Lightroom, restart it, and what you’ll see is a fresh, new, empty catalog. No photos. No thumbnails. No nuthin’. Now you can start from scratch: Import your photos, do your sorting, and stuff like that. Important little note here: when you’re doing this “start-from-scratch” thing, you’re literally starting from scratch, so none of the edits you’ve done to your photos will be visible (they’re stored in your old catalog or catalogs). If you want to keep those edits after you create your new catalog, go under the File menu, choose Import from Another Catalog, find your old catalog, and import the parts you want from it (this will bring up a dialog where you can choose which collections and things you want to come over). Again, that’s just an option, but I didn’t want you to be shocked when you import your images from scratch and the edits you made to your RAW photos and such aren’t visible anymore. Just so you know.

Q. I’m using Lightroom Classic and I’ve synced over a bunch of collections to my iPad. My question is: how do I stop syncing a particular collection, and what happens if I do?

A. Stopping the sync is easy. In Lightroom Classic, go to the Collections panel and you’ll see a little box to the left of each of your collections, and any that you’ve synced over will have a small sync icon (it’s kind of like a lightning bolt, but not really). Click on that icon to turn it off, and that collection will no longer sync. It will remove those images from your iPad, but not from Lightroom Classic; the images in that collection will still stay on your computer as always.

Q. Let’s say I’ve taken a two-row pano (a row of three images across the top and a row of three images across the bottom). In order to get all of them into a single pano is it best to create an upper and lower pano first?

A. That’s actually not necessary. Lightroom will recognize that you shot a top row and bottom row (assuming of course, you did the standard “overlapping of images by 20–30%” when you took the shot), so just select all six shots, go under the Photo menu, under Photo Merge, choose Panorama, and it will stitch all six shots together into one single image for
you. The image you see here is a three-row pano, with four across (a total of 12 images) stitched into one large pano without Lightroom even breaking
a sweat.

There ya go! Hope you found those helpful. 🙂

Next Tuesday the Photoshop Conference Kicks Off

We’re going to have over 1,000+ photographers learning from an all-star crew of the best Photoshop instructors anywhere and you do not want to miss it. Don’t wait and hear how awesome it was after the fact — instead, why not be a part of it? It’s next Tuesday and Wednesday (July 14-15, 2020); it’s all live-streamed online so you can watch it wherever you are; plus all the classes are archived for you until the end of the year, and tickets are available right now at kelbyonelive.com — You’ve been wanting to really learn Photoshop — now’s your chance! 🙂

Have a good one everybody! Stay safe; look out for each other. Love everybody (except anyone who’s not an Alabama football fan). #rolltide!

-Scott

P.S. If you get a chance, check out scottkelby.com for my story (and pics) of my ordering and hanging a huge 60×40″ metallic print from ImageWizards (plus, they are giving my readers a “this weekend only” deal). Here’s the link.

The post Time For Some Lightroom Q&As appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

The June/July 2020 issue of Photoshop User is now live on the KelbyOne site and KelbyOne Mags for iOS and Android.

In this issue, learn what lies beneath the surface of blending modes in Photoshop, plus cool ways to blend type into images, give yourself a tattoo, fashion retouching for agency standards, creating action sequences, and so much more! Check out all the latest magazine articles with our Search Articles feature on the website. We hope you enjoy this issue!

This issue’s cover image by KelbyOne member Dave Thurau!

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 80 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 62 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro or Plus member yet? Click here for more information.

The post The June/July 2020 Issue of Photoshop User Magazine Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Issue 62 of Lightroom Magazine is now available for KelbyOne members on the KelbyOne site and on the KelbyOne Mags app for iOS and Android.

In this issue, we cover all the new and updated features in the June 2020 release for the Lightroom ecosystem, including a deep dive into the updated Tone Curve panel; we explore the just-announced Nik Collection 3; we take a look at using the same Lightroom Classic catalog on multiple computers; and so much more!

Cover image by Sean McCormack

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 80 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 62 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro member yet? Click here for more information.

The post Issue 62 of Lightroom Magazine Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Beside my role as Editor/Publisher of Lightroom Magazine, I also write the Lightroom Q&A Column in each issue as well, and today I thought I’d share my Q&A from the current issue (it came out last week; we publish the mag 10 times a year for KelbyOne members). So, here’s my Q&A from the May 2020 issue.

Q. I heard there’s a way you can organize your images on Lightroom’s built-in Map, but I don’t see any way to do it. What am I missing?

A. Perhaps the coolest thing about Lightroom Classic’s Map module is that you don’t have to do anything if your images have GPS data embedded in them, because Lightroom will automatically add those images to the map. So if your camera has a built-in GPS feature, and you have that feature turned on, it auto-embeds the GPS location data right into your RAW or JPEG file, and then Lightroom does the rest for you. There’s nothing to do to make it happen: it just happens. So, go to the Map module, press Command-F (PC: Ctrl-F) to bring up the Search field, and type in a place where you’ve taken photos, and you’ll see a pin there (or many pins). Click on a pin and
it shows the images that were taken at that location. You can toggle through all the images using the little arrow buttons on either side of the preview. That’s all there is to it. You can also manually add images to the map. Simply select a collection in the Collections panel, and then drag the images from the Filmstrip to the location on the map where they were taken. Lightroom will automatically add the GPS information to the metadata of those images.

Q. I’m using Lightroom Classic and recently I also started using Lightroom for the cloud. What’s driving me crazy is that some of the keyboard shortcuts aren’t the same. Why would Adobe make them different?

A. There’s lots to cover here. First, Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Cloud (as I call it) weren’t designed to be used together. In fact, Adobe recommends choosing one or the other. They’re don’t sync fully with each other and mobile and, well, it just creates some issues that will drive you even crazier. Once we get past that, yes, Adobe did change some of the keyboard shortcuts, and I honestly have no idea why (prank?). If it’s any consolation, as someone who has to teach both versions (though my workflow is based on Classic, and that’s what I use on a day-to-day
basis), it drives me crazy, too.

Q. I went on holiday last summer to a country in a different time zone, and I forgot to change the time setting in my camera, so all of the shots have the wrong time that they were taken. Is there a way to fix this?

A. You bet. In the Library module, first select all the images that you want to adjust their time, then go under the Metadata menu up top, and choose Edit Capture Time (as shown above).

When the Edit Capture Time dialog appears, you can choose from three types of adjustments. With the first option, you can change the capture time to any time and date you want. In your case, you’re probably going to want the second option, which is to shift the capture time by the number of time zones. (The shot on the next page was taken in Hong Kong, which is 12 hours ahead of the Eastern US where I live, so I’d shift it +12 from the pop-up menu on the right.)

The final option allows you to change the time to the file’s creation date. Each option shows you a before and after so you can clearly see the time change before you make it. When it looks right to you, click the Change button and you’re set. Note: It warns you in the Edit Capture Time dialog that this change “cannot be undone,” but actually, yes it can! Right there in the Metadata menu is a command called Revert Capture Time to Original (as seen above). So, well, there’s that.

Q. I’ve been editing and organizing my images in Lightroom [classic] on my laptop for a while now, and I’d like to combine what I’ve done on my laptop with the rest of my image on my computer at home. Is there an easy way to do this?

A. There actually is. First, I’m assuming that all your images are on an external hard drive. If that’s the case, it’s really easy. Just drag your Lightroom catalog folder over onto that external drive; plug that drive into your home computer; fire up Lightroom on your home computer and then go under the File Menu and choose ‘Import from Another Catalog.”

Go info that folder you copied over to your external hard drive; find your catalog file (it will have the file extension ‘.lrcat’) and choose to import that. This will bring up another dialog asking you which photos you want to import from that catalog. You want them all, so click Import and now your two catalogs are combined into one, and all your edits are intact. Easy right? Well, we’re not done yet. You moved the catalog, but not the photos, so drag all the folders of images onto your desktop computer (or hopefully onto the external hard drive you have connected to your desktop computer). So now the catalogs are combined and the photos are now over on your home computer. Easy right? We’re still not done.

You moved the photos from their old location on your laptop (or the external drive you use with your laptop), but Lightroom doesn’t know that. So, when you go to your desktop computer’s Lightroom catalog, and click on an image that used to be on your laptop, in the Develop module you’ll see, “The file could not be found.” It still thinks those photos are on that other drive. Easy fix: Go to Lightroom’s Folder panel in the Library module, and you’ll see question marks on your missing folders. Right-click on one of the missing folders, and select Find Missing Folder. It will show you a path to where your photo used to be. You just have to show it where those images are now (where you put that folder on your desktop computer). Once you show it where you moved the folder, it then relinks all the images in that folder and you’re back to business. Now, if you moved 20 folders, you might have to relink all 20, but it’ll only take a couple of minutes. There ya go!
Anyway, here’s how to get rid of it: At the bottom of the image preview, you’ll see a gray horizontal Toolbar (if you don’t see it, press the letter T on your keyboard to make it visible). When you have the White Balance Selector tool (W) active, you’ll see a checkbox for Show Loupe. Turn off that checkbox, and your life just got that much better.

Q. When I use the White Balance eyedropper tool, there’s a grid of squares that appears below the tool. I find that grid really distracting. Do I need it, and if I don’t, is there a way to make it go away?

A. You don’t need it. It is annoying (distracting, maddening, etc.), and yes, you can get rid of it. First, what it was designed to do is help you find a neutral color to use for setting your white balance. Theoretically, you’d be
looking for all three of the R, G, B numbers at the bottom of the grid to be the same so you’d know the pixel your mouse is currently over is a neutral color. If you think that sounds dumb, you’re not alone.

Q. I have a lot of images in my catalog, and maybe that’s why my Lightroom is starting to feel sluggish. Is there a way I can speed things back up? Do I maybe have too many previews because my catalog file size is pretty large? What can I do?

A. The first thing you might try is to optimize your catalog. It doesn’t take long and could really make a difference. Go under Lightroom’s File menu and choose Optimize Catalog. This will bring up a dialog telling you the last time you optimized your catalog (be prepared for a shock for how long it’s been), and then just hit the Optimize button and take a snack break. When you come back, hopefully things will be running a lot smoother. If they’re not, go read my article called “If Your Lightroom Is Running Slow, It’s Probably One of These 7 Reasons” right here at LightroomKillerTips.com.

Q. I was watching one of your classes online and I saw you bring up a side-by-side, before-and-after view of the image on which you were working. How were you doing that?

A. Lightroom’s before and after feature is actually fairly advanced, and there are all sorts of ways to see your before and after (side-by-side top or bottom, and split top or bottom). These views are all selected from the button in the Toolbar that appears along the bottom of your image work area (it’s the one with the letter Ys); however, I rarely use that button.
You can quickly get to the standard side-by-side before/after view by pressing the letter Y on your keyboard. To get back to the normal view, press Y again (the shortcut is easy to remember because the button itself shows the letter Y). I like this one because it’s so fast, and saves you from having to toggle through all the different before/after views just to get back
to the normal view, or click any other buttons. Just one simple key in, same key out. Note: If the letter Y takes you to a split view, click on the before and after button until you have one of the side-by-side views.

Hope you found that helpful.

Have a great weekend, everybody – stay safe, and we’ll catch ya here next week.

-Scott

The post Scott’s Lightroom Q&A appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Issue 61 of Lightroom Magazine is now available for KelbyOne members on the KelbyOne site and on the KelbyOne Mags app for iOS and Android.

In this issue, explore a set of three new plug-ins that help get your work done faster, removing moiré from images, taking advantage of all the batch-edit functionality in Lightroom Classic, creating a bird photography paradise in your own backyard, and so much more!

Cover image by Sean McCormack

KelbyOne Pro & Plus members have access to more than 80 back issues of Photoshop User magazine all the way back to January 2012, plus all 61 issues of Lightroom Magazine. Not a Pro member yet? Click here for more information.

The post Issue 61 of Lightroom Magazine Is Now Available! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.