Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: What do you recommend including in a metadata preset to be assigned to photos on import into Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In addition to contact and copyright information, I recommend including a metadata attribute that identifies that the images need to be reviewed to identify favorites versus outtakes. I use a red color label for this purpose, and after import also add a red color label to the folder the newly imported images are stored in.

More Detail: When creating a metadata preset that you’ll assign to all images via import, it is important to make sure you’re only including metadata that will be generic for all photos you’ll import. In general, that means only including your contact and copyright information in that metadata preset.

For example, it doesn’t make sense to include keywords in a metadata preset because there aren’t likely to be any keywords that would apply to every single image you ever import. If such a keyword were applicable, it would not be a particularly helpful keyword because every image in your catalog would potentially have that same keyword.

In addition to contact and copyright information, I suggest including a metadata attribute in the metadata preset to identify that the images need to be reviewed. I use a red color label for this purpose, which means adding the text “Red” to the Label field when creating a metadata preset, based on “Red” being the default text for a red color label in Lightroom Classic.

To get started creating a metadata preset choose Metadata > Edit Metadata Presets from the menu. In the Edit Metadata Presets dialog update the values for the metadata fields you want to include in the preset and make sure the checkbox to the right of each field is only turned on for those fields you want to include in the metadata preset. Then click the Preset popup at the top of the dialog and choose “Save Current Settings as New Preset” from the popup menu. In the dialog that appears enter a meaningful name for the preset and click the Create button. Then click the Done button to close the Edit Metadata Presets dialog.

To assign the metadata preset to all images during import, choose the applicable preset by name from the Metadata popup in the Apply During Import section of the right panel in the Import dialog.

Note that the color labels are only visible when you’re browsing source that contains the images. That means it isn’t necessarily obvious that a particular folder contains images that still need to be reviewed. I therefore recommend also assigning a red color label to the folder, which you can do by right-clicking on the folder name in the Folders section of the left panel and choosing Add Color Label to Folder > Red from the popup menu.

Once you’ve reviewed the photos to identify favorites and outtakes, you can remove the red color label from the images. After all images have been removed you can also remove the red color label from the folder by right-clicking on the folder and choosing Add Color Label to Folder > None from the popup menu.

Note that if you’re a GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle subscriber you can view my full import workflow, including the use of a metadata preset, by signing in to your GreyLearning account (https://www.greylearning.com/users/sign_in) and then following this link to access the lesson directly:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/take/lightroom-classic-ultimate-live-learning/lessons/74156674-importing-photos-lrc-15-2-1

Today’s Question: When I initiate an import in Lightroom Classic for a parent folder that contains a very large number of images in several subfolders, sometimes it takes a while before all the images in the source location are found, with an animated circle at the bottom left showing that it is still working. Do I need to wait until all photos are found before clicking the Import button, or will Lightroom Classic thoroughly check the full source and import all photos? I do have the “Include Subfolders” checkbox turned on.

Tim’s Quick Answer: All images in the selected source location will be imported, even if you don’t allow Lightroom Classic to count all the images in that source location before initiating the import.

More Detail: Interestingly, this is a question I tested with AI based on some of the discussion in my answers last week, and with both ChatGPT and Google Gemini, I was given the wrong answer. Both of those indicated that only the number of images that had been counted at the time you clicked the Import button would actually be imported.

Fortunately, Lightroom Classic is smarter than AI seems to think it is. When you select a source of images in the Import dialog that contains a particularly large number of photos, it might take a while for all those photos to get indexed. During the time that the images are being tabulated you’ll see a circular animation near the bottom-left of the Import dialog. To the left of that animation the current count of images and the total storage they consume will be shown as well.

Eventually all images in the source location will be indexed, at which point the animation will disappear and the count of images will stop increasing. This provides an indication of the total number of images to be imported.

However, you don’t actually have to wait for that indexing to be complete before clicking the Import button to initiate the process of adding the photos to your catalog. So, as long as you’ve configured all settings for import to your liking, you can click the Import button as soon as you’re ready, without waiting for all images to be indexed.

The only reason to wait for all images to be indexed first is if you want to make decisions about which images to import, such as to turn off the checkboxes for images you don’t want to import, or to take advantage of the Assisted Culling feature as part of the import workflow.

Today’s Question: Do you think the process of creating a photograph is as important as the final image?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In many respects I think the process of creating a photograph is much more important than the final image. To me the final image is often mostly a tangible reminder of the experience of witnessing the original scene we photographed.

More Detail: The core of today’s question is something I’ve thought about a great deal over the years. Interestingly, I somewhat recently I learned that I have a condition that results in photographs being of particular value to me.

Within the last year or two I discovered that I have a condition called aphantasia, which means I’m not able to create mental images in the “mind’s eye”. In other words, I don’t have the ability to have a visual recall in my mind of a subject or scene I’ve observed. It is estimated that only about 1% to 4% of the population has aphantasia, so I may be somewhat biased in my perspective. But I suspect this condition may be part of the reason I value photography so much, as it provides a tangible way for me to experience memories.

Still, I do feel that the process of creating an image is in some ways more important than the final image. For this reason, I try to make sure I’m fully experiencing and appreciating the scene I’m photographing. That is in part to add to the experience, but also to contribute to being more deliberate about the photographic process. That, in turn, can lead to a better final photograph.

To be sure, I very much value the final photograph, at least for those images that I feel turned out particularly well. But if I had to choose between having the final photograph and having the original experience, I would choose the experience. But I still want the photos too!

Today’s Question: Do you miss film photography?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, though I would never want to miss out on the incredible advantages provided by digital photography.

More Detail: I must admit, when I first saw this question, my immediate thought was that I did not miss film photography because I appreciate the advantages of digital photography. With digital, for example, we have immediate feedback on how an image turned out, greater resolution and overall image quality, the convenience of being able to capture many photos with no real cost involved, and more.

However, as I reminisced about what photography was like in the days before digital photography even existed, I realized that there were some unique advantages of that era. In effect, what we may have perceived as disadvantages with film photography also represent some of the things I miss most about photography before digital cameras were available.

One of the key things I appreciate about film photography is that it tended to be more deliberate and required more focus and attention to detail. For example, we were often limited to just 36 exposures on a roll of film, and there was no preview of what those images were going to look like. You had to wait until the film was processed to see the results.

To be sure, even in the days when film photography was our only option, the limitations could be frustrating. But there was also something special about the process involved, and the need to wait for the film to be developed before you would know how your photos turned out.

In a world where we have the incredible tools of digital photography, I don’t feel particularly inclined to pursue film photography. I have fond memories of the days before digital cameras became available but am sure glad that we can take advantage of the benefits of digital tools in photography.

Today’s Question: What do camera manufacturers need to do to remain relevant in a smartphone-camera world?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If camera manufacturers want to remain relevant in photography long-term, my feeling is that they’ll eventually need to start manufacturing their own smartphones.

More Detail: Today’s question is actually one that was submitted for a panel discussion at the Smoky Mountains Photo Fest event that I had the privilege of speaking at recently. We ran out of time to address the question, so I wanted to share my thoughts here.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still think there is a significant market for dedicated digital cameras, I just think that market will start to diminish over time. For example, I would expect there won’t be any new digital SLR camera models in about five years.

Mirrorless camera sales have actually been increasing over the years, and represent a significant market. I suspect a significant portion of the sales of mirrorless cameras are photographers transitioning away from digital SLR cameras, which makes sense in the context of the sales statistics for both.

What I think is perhaps more significant is that smartphone sales represent more than 100 times the sales of dedicated cameras. Granted, those smartphones aren’t purchased primarily as cameras at least by the vast majority of users, but they are used for many types of photography by a huge number of people. And that includes a decent number of professional photographers, by the way.

I believe these trends will continue. Combined with the fact that smartphone cameras have dramatically improved in terms of image quality, features, and control, I think photographers will increasingly realize that much of their photography could be handled with a smartphone, which after all provides an incredibly convenient photography solution that most of us carry with us pretty much at all times.

But I should emphasize that none of this is to suggest that photography will be diminished by these changes. Quite the contrary, I think that as smartphone cameras continue to improve there will only be greater enthusiasm for photography. As long as AI doesn’t diminish that interest in photography, I suppose.

Today’s Question: Congrats on 25 years of Ask Tim Grey. I’m curious if there is a particular category of question that has “disappeared” over the years, meaning something that was maybe more topical early on that photographers don’t ask about these days?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, I would say the most significant topic that has disappeared over the years would be color management. Fortunately, this is in large part because circumstances have improved to the point that color management isn’t as big a challenge as it was in the early days of digital photography.

More Detail: In my early days helping to educate photographers in the world of photography (and especially during the transition to digital photography that was getting started at that time) color management was one of the topics I was asked about the most.

I think there are several factors that contributed to this. One was that color management is a rather technical topic that isn’t particularly easy to understand. The second is that in the early days of digital imaging the available tools weren’t great in terms of accurate color throughout the workflow. The third factor was that I was (and still am) a bit of a technical nerd, and so I gravitated toward topics such as color management.

In fact, I intended for the first book I authored to be on the subject of color management. Circumstances intervened so that my first book (as a co-author) was “Real World Digital Photography”. But my second book was “Color Confidence”, which served as a guide to color management for photographers.

In those early days monitors were CRT rather than LCD. Those CRT displays were far less stable, tending to drift in the overall color relatively quickly. This required somewhat frequent calibration to ensure an accurate display. These days, LCD displays are quite stable, especially in terms of color.

Similarly, there has been a great improvement in the accuracy of color profiles available for printer, ink, and paper combinations. This is the result of both printer manufacturers and paper manufacturers providing more accurate profiles by default, so that building your own profiles is far less necessary.

Of course, another factor that has caused color management to be a less important topic for photographers is that there has been a significant shift away from printing photos in favor of sharing digitally, such as by sharing photos online.

All of these factors have led to a situation where the topic of color management is one I am rarely asked about, despite the fact that in my early days of helping photographers in the world of digital imaging color management was easily the topic I was asked about the most.

Today’s Question: Do you think that AI will replace you in terms of providing answers to photographers, or will a human element continue to be important?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, in large part I expect that AI will be able to answer questions from photographers to the point that there will be less demand for me to answer questions. In the meantime, however, I’ve found that an increasing number of photographers are seeking additional assistance from me after AI chatbots contributed to problems in their workflow.

More Detail: AI chatbots have improved dramatically in recent months, to the point that they’re able to provide in-depth answers to complex questions. For photographers that can include getting answers related to photography, workflow, and more.

As I celebrate 25 years of answers questions from photographers through my Ask Tim Grey newsletter, the notion of AI making me obsolete is certainly top of mind. To some extent I think it is probably inevitable that photographers will increasingly seek answers from AI chatbots and have less of a need to seek answers from me.

However, there are two things that make me worry less about AI making me obsolete.

The first is that while AI generates answers based on a tremendous library of information, it still lacks the element of human perspective. I believe there is still value in having a real person with real-world experience and expertise. In other words, AI will surely reduce the demand for my answers but won’t eliminate that demand altogether.

Second, at least for the short term I’m finding that AI is contributing to photographers needing more help from me rather than less. When I provide one-on-one online consultations to photographers, it has become increasingly common for the photographer to report that they tried to solve their problem with the help of an AI chatbot, only to have that lead to additional and sometimes bigger problems.

I remain rather ambivalent about the impact of AI. In many respects AI will prove tremendously helpful in a variety of ways. But AI will also very likely be disruptive in very transformative ways, some of which have the potential to be very problematic.

In many respects, AI has the potential to be disruptive in troubling ways. But my hope is that it will be like other technological innovations over the years that were disruptive but that we managed to transition through without too much difficulty. In other words, AI may negatively impact some aspects of my work, but I’m confident I’ll be able to adapt to the changes brought on by these developments.

Today’s Question: I saw that you presented on the use of AI tools for applying painterly creative effects to photos. Have you drawn a conclusion about which tool provides the best results?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes. If I could only use one AI tool for applying painterly effects to photos (such as oil paint and watercolor effects) I would currently choose Google Gemini. My current second choice would be ChatGPT from OpenAI.

More Detail: I have done some relatively extensive testing of the various AI tools for applying creative effects to photos, with an emphasis on creating a painterly effect. That includes transforming photos to look like an oil painting, watercolor, pointillist painting, and more.

During my recent testing I consistently found that Google Gemini (https://gemini.google.com) provided the best results, though I fully acknowledge that there is considerable subjectivity involved in choosing a favorite. My second favorite results were achieved with ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com), though it is worth noting that with some images ChatGPT provided my favorite results.

One of the biggest disappointments in my testing was Midjourney (https://www.midjourney.com). This came as a little bit of a surprise, because for a period when the current AI tools were newly available, Midjourney consistently provided the best results. In my latest testing I was mostly disappointed with results provided by Midjourney.

There are, of course, other tools available, but here I’ve highlighted what I think are the most noteworthy options. In my presentation on “Creative Effects with AI” I not only demonstrated how to use various AI tools for applying creative effects to photos, I also provided extensive tips for creating prompts that can help you achieve the best results for an image with whatever AI tool you’re using. That included tips for having AI help you create a prompt that you can then feed to AI to get a unique effect for a photo.

If you’re already subscribed to my GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle, you can view the recording of my presentation on using AI for creative effects by signing in to your GreyLearning account (at greylearning.com) and then following this link and clicking the Resume Course button:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/creative-effects-ultimate-live-learning

And if you’re not already a GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle subscriber, you can sign up for just $99 per year by using this link to get started:

https://www.greylearning.com/bundles/greylearning-bundle?coupon=golive

Today’s Question: I have a similar question to the one you answered about more advanced searches by keyword in Lightroom Classic. I have a collection of photos to which I’ve assigned keywords. But if any photos in that collection don’t contain all of a set of keywords (usually two or three keywords) then I want to remove them from the collection. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In this scenario the best approach would be to select all photos that contain all the keywords on your list, and then invert the selection so you have the images without those keywords selected.

More Detail: While Lightroom Classic includes a “Don’t Contain” option when using a search based on keywords on the Text tab of the Library Filter bar above the grid view in the Library module, there isn’t an option for “Don’t Contain All”. In other words, when you use this option, if an image doesn’t contain just one of the keywords you’ve listed, it will be excluded even though it contains one or more of the other keywords on your list.

Therefore, I recommend selecting images based on those that do include the keywords, and then inverting the selection to get to the images you actually want to work with. In this case that would mean removing the images from the collection after inverting the selection.

The first step would be to set a filter on the Text tab of the Library Filter bar. From the first popup choose “Keywords” so you’ll only be searching the Keywords field in metadata. Set the second popup to “Contains All” so that images will be filtered to only those that contain all those on your list of keywords. Then enter the keywords in the text field separated by commas.

For example, let’s assume based on the above criteria you entered “New York City, Pershing Square, umbrella” in the text field. Only images that have all three of those keywords assigned to them would be visible. You can then select all those photos by choosing Edit > Select All from the menu.

Next, set the Library Filter bar to “None”, so all images in the current collection (or folder) are visible again. Then choose Edit > Invert Selection from the menu. At this point the selected images do not contain all the keywords you had used for your search. They might contain some (or none) of the keywords you listed, but they don’t contain all three. You can then, for example, remove those selected images from the collection or otherwise process them as you see fit. In the example above, for example, that would mean that the current selection could include images with “New York City” as a keyword but that doesn’t include “umbrella” as a keyword. The key is that the selection will only include images that don’t have all the keywords from your filter list assigned to them.

Today’s Question: Sometimes while working in Lightroom Classic I’ll accidentally click on a collection or folder, and then I have to go searching for the folder I was trying to browse. Is there a way to “undo” that selection to go back to the folder that had previously been selected?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can use the “Go Back” button to navigate to previously browsed folders or collections in Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: Among the lesser-known features of Lightroom Classic are the “Go Back” and “Go Forward” buttons. These are found toward the top-left of the bottom panel in the Library module, and enable you to navigate backward or forward through the history of folders and collections you’ve browsed. The buttons have icons with a left-pointing arrow and a right-pointing arrow, respectively.

For example, if you’re browsing photos in a folder and then accidentally click on a collection, you don’t need to scroll back up and locate the folder you had been browsing. You can simply click the “Go Back” button on the bottom panel.

In other words, the “Go Back” and “Go Forward” buttons behave very much like the Back and Forward buttons common in web browsers. So, let’s assume you start a session in Lightroom Classic browsing a folder containing photos from Italy. Then you navigate to a folder of images from Iceland. You then click on a collection featuring photos you intend to use in a calendar. If you click the “Go Back” button you’ll be taken back to the Iceland folder. Clicking the “Go Back” button again will take you to the Italy folder. If you click “Go Forward” at that point you’ll be back to the Iceland folder, and clicking it again will take you to the collection for the calendar.

While in many cases you could simply click on the folder or collection you want to navigate to, the “Go Back” and “Go Forward” buttons do provide a convenient shortcut for navigating among sources of images you’ve been reviewing. And those buttons can be particularly helpful when you’ve clicked on a folder or collection accidentally and want an easy way to get back to the images you had been browsing previously.