Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Like most of your readers, I keep all my photos in Lightroom Classic, but I also have a lot of photos from family and friends that were taken at parties, family events, etc. and they are not in Lightroom. But I’m thinking that maybe they should be so I can use Lightroom’s organizational and search capabilities with them. Do you have any advice about doing this?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, I do think it makes sense to consolidate most (or all) photos into your Lightroom Classic workflow, even if they are from sources other than your own photography or represent categories of photos beyond your normal photography.

More Detail: In general, I prefer to have all photos consolidated with a single workflow. For example, while there tend to be very different motivations for photos I capture with my smartphone compared to my “real” cameras. However, I still keep photos from both types of cameras in a single consolidated Lightroom Classic catalog.

The same holds true for photos I didn’t capture myself. For example, when leading a photo workshop or presenting at an event, sometimes an attendee will capture a photo of me and share it with me. Similarly, old family photos such as childhood photos of myself weren’t captured by me. But I still keep all these photos (and photos in other categories) in my Lightroom Classic catalog.

The overarching goal to me is to be as streamlined and organized as possible. When I’m looking for a photo, regardless of the provenance of the photo, it is helpful to know I can always start my search in my single Lightroom Classic catalog.

Having said all that, I do think it can be helpful to distinguish these photos from your normal photo workflow in some way. For example, I don’t add my copyright and contact information to the metadata for photos I didn’t capture. Similarly, I’ll often organize these other types of photos outside my normal workflow, such as by using a distinct folder structure.

For example, for photos captured by an attendee at an event I was speaking at, I’ll create a subfolder referencing the photographer who captured and shared the images within the folder containing my own photos from the trip. For archival family photos I maintain a separate top-level folder indicating that these are a different category of photos, with organized folders (such as by date range) within that folder.

In addition, there are certainly situations where photographers may want to maintain two distinct workflows. For example, many photographers use an iPhone for casual photography and may be using iCloud synchronization to keep those photos available across all their Apple devices. In that type of situation, it might not make sense to consolidate all photos into a single workflow, since there is generally a relatively clear distinction between the photos in the two different workflows.

Today’s Question: I prefer to see photos from all subfolders when I select a parent folder in Adobe Bridge. However, when I enable this feature, as soon as I navigate to a different folder, I’m no longer seeing photos from subfolders. Is there a way to make this setting permanent?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can permanently enable the option to view photos in subfolders for the selected folder using the “Always Show Items from Subfolders” option for the Content panel in Adobe Bridge.

More Detail: In Adobe Bridge you can view images not only from the currently selected folder, but from all subfolders within that folder, by enabling the option found on the menu at View > Show Items from Subfolders. However, as noted in today’s question, when you navigate to a different folder that feature will be automatically turned off by default.

If you prefer to keep the “Show Items from Subfolder” feature enabled permanently, that is an option. Start by making sure the feature is enabled by going to the View menu and looking at the “Show Items from Subfolders” command. If there is a checkmark icon to the left of that command, it is enabled. If there isn’t a checkbox click the command to enable the feature.

Next, go to the Content panel and click the panel popup menu to the right of the label for the panel. The icon for the popup menu shows three horizontal lines, which is often referred to as the “hamburger menu” because it resembles the layers of a hamburger. On the popup menu turn on the ” Always Show Items from Subfolders” option, and the feature will remain on even when you navigate to a different folder.

Keep in mind that keeping this option enabled can make browsing a bit more sluggish, because for each folder Bridge needs to process previews for all images in all subfolders. If that performance issue becomes a problem, you can disable the feature by choosing View > Show Items from Subfolders from the menu.

Today’s Question: I have a fairly large number of photos in Lightroom Classic that show there is a metadata mismatch. I’m confident that the information in the catalog (rather than on the hard drive) is correct. Is there a way to batch process all these photos to resolve the metadata mismatch?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can fix this issue for all affected photos by selecting all images that have a metadata mismatch and then applying the update to all selected images.

More Detail: A metadata mismatch occurs in Lightroom Classic when the information in metadata for an image file on the hard drive doesn’t match the metadata in Lightroom Classic. This can occur if you make metadata changes using software other than Lightroom Classic, which is something you should not do. But it can also occur with something more innocuous, such as editing a raw capture directly in Camera Raw rather than in Lightroom Classic.

If you’re not sure why there is a mismatch and believe you may have made meaningful updates outside of Lightroom Classic, you should review the metadata mismatches more carefully to ensure you don’t lose any important updates. But if you’re confident that all meaningful metadata updates have been made in Lightroom Classic and that nothing updated outside of the catalog needs to be preserved, you can batch correct the issue for all affected photos to resolve the metadata mismatch indications.

For example, you could select the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module so you can apply the correction to all photos in the catalog. You could also select one or more folders to correct specific images.

Switch to the grid view, and on the Library Filter bar at the top of the screen (choose View > Show Filter Bar if it isn’t visible) choose the Metadata tab, making sure no other criteria on other tabs are enabled unless you want to use more specific filter criteria. Click the heading popup at the top of one of the columns on the Metadata tab, go to the Develop submenu, and choose “Metadata Status”.

From the Metadata Status column, you can then select any status other than “Up to date”. The status that will most likely represent the largest number of photos with a metadata mismatch, for example, will be “Changed on disk”. Once you’ve set the filter for the status options you want to batch correct, select all the currently displayed photos.

Finally, click the metadata mismatch icon at the top-right of one of the selected thumbnails and then click the “Overwrite Settings” button. This will cause the metadata that differs in the source files compared to the catalog to be updated to match that in the catalog.

Today’s Question: I’m accustomed to seeing XMP (sidecar) files with the same (base) name as my edited images from Lightroom Classic. I just noticed a file I edited also has an ACR (Adobe Camera Raw?) file. Do I really need this one too or can I delete it?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You should retain both the XMP and ACR files, as they contain details of metadata updates and adjustments you’ve applied to the original raw captures in Lightroom Classic (or Adobe Camera Raw).

More Detail: As many photographers are probably already aware, XMP sidecar files are used by software such as Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw to store metadata that has been updated for raw captures, so that the original raw capture doesn’t need to be modified.

This approach was recently updated to include both an XMP and an ACR sidecar file, in part to help improve performance. The XMP file contains standard metadata updates, such as keywords and star ratings, while the ACR file contains raster data such as masks used for targeted adjustments.

As such, you generally want to preserve both of those files along with the original raw capture. Of course, deleting the XMP and ACR files won’t affect the original capture data in the raw capture file, so it is possible to delete those files without losing the original photo. However, in most cases you would want to retain the metadata updates and adjustments for your photos. In other words, the only reason to delete the XMP and ACR files is if you wanted to effectively reset an image to the original capture right out of the camera with no metadata updates or adjustments.

Today’s Question: After a recent update when I launch Photoshop I see a bunch of thumbnails from images I’ve worked on recently. I used to just see the empty window, and I find the new display distracting. Is there a way to go back to the old style?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can disable the Home Screen you’re seeing by turning off the “Auto show the Home Screen” checkbox in Preferences.

More Detail: The Home Screen is not a new feature in Photoshop, so if you only started seeing it recently it was probably caused by either installing a clean (without existing Preferences) version of Photoshop or from resetting the Preferences.

I also find the Home Screen to be distracting and not particularly helpful, so I prefer to turn off the “Auto show the Home Screen” checkbox, which can be found on the General tab of the Preferences dialog. You can bring up the Preferences dialog by choosing Edit > Preferences > General from the menu on Windows or Photoshop > Settings > General on Macintosh.

If you disable the Home Screen but find that you sometimes want to make use of it, you can click the house icon at the far left of the Options bar to bring it up.

I similarly find the newer New Document dialog to be cluttered and distracting, so I prefer not to use it. If you similarly prefer the older version of the New Document dialog you can turn on the “Use Legacy ‘New Document’ Interface” checkbox that is also found on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.

Today’s Question: I created a Photoshop workspace in the Beta version. Can I easily transfer that to the non-Beta version?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can copy saved workspaces from one version of Photoshop to another or from one computer to another.

More Detail: When you save a workspace for the overall layout of panels and toolbars in Photoshop, a file is created that contains the information for that saved layout. The only real challenge is navigating to the right place for those files.

The first step is to save a workspace in Photoshop. To do so, arrange the panels the way you want them, including enabling additional panels from the Window menu or closing panels you don’t need in the workspace. Then go to the menu and choose Window > Workspace > New Workspace. Enter a meaningful name for the workspace and click the Save button. You can then copy the settings file for that saved workspace.

On Macintosh go to the Finder and hold the Option key while choosing Go > Library from the menu. If you don’t hold the Option key you won’t see Library on the menu. Then navigate to the Preferences folder, then the folder named for the version of Photoshop you used to save the workspace. For example, the current version folder is called “Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings”.

On Windows open File Explorer and navigate to the primary internal hard drive (C:). Open the Users folder, then the folder for your username. You can then navigate to AppData > Roaming > Adobe, followed by the folder for the version of Photoshop, such as “Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings”.

You can then open the Workspaces folder and copy the files for the layouts you saved with that version of Photoshop. They can be copied to the same folder structure for a different version of Photoshop, or for Photoshop on a different computer. When you launch that version of Photoshop, you’ll find the workspaces available on the Window > Workspace menu.

Note that I demonstrated this process of copying saved workspaces in Photoshop toward the end of my presentation on “Configuring the Interface” as part of the Photoshop Ultimate Live Learning series that is available exclusively to GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle subscribers. The course for that series can be found here:

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

Today’s Question: Can I change which metadata appears when I enable the overlay in the loupe view in Lightroom Classic by pressing the letter “I” on the keyboard?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can modify the settings for the info overlay in Lightroom Classic on the Loupe View tab of the Library View Options dialog.

More Detail: Pressing the letter “I” on the keyboard when in the loupe view in the Library module in Lightroom Classic will cycle you through three information overlay displays. The first time you press “I” it will show Loupe Info 1, the second time it will show Loupe Info 2, and the third time the info overlay will disappear.

You can configure the specific information that will appear on the three available lines for each info overlay configuration in the Loupe Info Options dialog. To get started choose View > View Options from the menu. In the Library View Options dialog select the Loupe View tab. Then choose the desired metadata field options from the three popups in both the Loupe Info 1 and Loupe Info 2 sections.

For example, you might want to have camera and lens information for one of the info overlays, and exposure and capture time for the second info overlay, perhaps with the filename at the top of both options. Note that the top line of the info overlay text is larger than the other two lines, so you might want to put whatever you consider the most important metadata field on the top line. When you’re finished setting the options, close the Library View Options dialog.

Once you’ve configured the desired metadata for the two info overlay options, you can use the letter “I” keyboard shortcut to cycle through with an updated display based on your selected settings.

Today’s Question: I would hasten to add that when using a Curves Layer to adjust tonality without wishing to affect color, it is best to use the Luminosity blend mode.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, if you add a Curves adjustment layer to an image in Photoshop, you can change the blend mode to Luminosity to ensure the adjustment will only impact overall tonality for the image, without any impact on color.

More Detail: While today’s question isn’t exactly a question, it is a follow-up to the question I answered on May 6th related to the behavior of the Channels adjustment layer in Photoshop.

By default, all adjustment layers have their blend mode set to “Normal”, which means the adjustment layer simply applies to underlying pixels based on the behavior of that adjustment layer. There is the potential, however, for there to be a relatively minor unintended impact on other attributes, especially with somewhat complex adjustments such as Curves.

In particular, there is a risk that when applying a tonal adjustment with a Curves adjustment layer that the color may be impacted in the image more than you would like. If you want to restrict the Curves adjustment layer to only affect tonality and not color, you can change the blend mode for the Curves adjustment layer to Luminosity using the popup at the top-left of the Layers panel.

The same concept could apply in other situations. For example, if you want to use an adjustment layer to affect color without impacting tonality, you could change the blend mode for that adjustment layer to Color.

In the vast majority of cases the impact of using the Normal blend mode for an adjustment layer rather than, for example, Luminosity or Color, is going to be quite minimal. However, if you want to exercise maximum control over your photos with no other unintended changes, changing the blend mode for an adjustment layer can be helpful. Just keep in mind that this will also limit the effect of an adjustment layer. For example, with a Curves adjustment layer if you set the blend mode to Luminosity and then alter the curve for the Red, Green, or Blue channel, you’ll only be impacting the overall brightness of the image with no shift in color balance.

You can read the question and answer that today’s question was a follow-up to on the Ask Tim Grey blog here:

https://asktimgrey.com/2026/05/06/curves-behavior-with-channels/

Today’s Question: My new camera specifications state that it features 45 megapixels. I understand there is a Bayer pattern, grouping 4 pixels with color filters effectively into one. So, does my camera 180 million pixels in 45 million groups of 4 or some other amount?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Your camera has 45 million photosites on the image sensor, resulting in an image with 45 million pixels (megapixels). Interpolation is used to calculate the “missing” color values for each single-color photosite.

More Detail: The number of megapixels specified for a digital camera generally relates to the number of photosites on the image sensor, and by extension the number of megapixels in the final image. Most images sensors employ a Bayer pattern design, where for each grid of four photosites on the sensor one will capture red light, two will capture green light, and one will capture blue light. But that grid represents four individual pixels in the final image, not four values that get combined into a single pixel.

When the raw capture is rendered, a demosaicing process calculates the “missing” color values for each pixel through interpolation. For the pixels that only recorded a red value, for example, the green and blue values must be calculated. This might seem improbable, but it makes more sense when you consider that the green and blue values for a photosite that only recorded red light is calculated based on neighboring green and blue photosites, not arbitrarily based on the red value.

In the vast majority of camera image sensors there is only one photosite on the sensor for each pixel in the final image. There are some exceptions to this. For example, the sensors original developed by Foveon used a specialized photosite construction where all three color values (red, green, and blue) were captured by each photosite.

There are other variations on the traditional image sensor structure that involve more than one photosite per pixel, such as sensors from Fujifilm that employed two sensors per pixel for increased dynamic range. In other cases, different technologies are used to enhance the image data captured by the sensor. For example, the Fujifilm Pixel-Shift Multi-Shot technology enables a camera to capture a series of images with the image sensor shifting position slightly between captures to produce an image with higher resolution and color fidelity than would otherwise be possible.

Today’s Question: Does the screenshot I’ve attached [showing a circle with an exclamation point icon attached to two folders in Lightroom Classic] indicate that I have missing folders? Someone added an image yesterday who was helping me on some printing issues and this showed up.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, an icon represented by a black circle with an exclamation point icon connected to a folder in the Folders list in Lightroom Classic indicates that one of the subfolders below that folder is missing.

More Detail: The icon with a circle inside a black circle in Lightroom Classic doesn’t indicate that the folder with the icon is missing, but rather that there is a folder somewhere within the subfolder structure that is missing. You may therefore need to scroll rather far down the Folders list on the left panel and expand multiple folders to reveal subfolders to find the actual folder that is missing. The missing folder will show a question mark icon attached to the folder.

If you suspect there is a small number of photos that are missing in the context of a missing folder, it may be faster to go to the menu and choose Library > Find All Missing Photos. Then navigate to the Missing Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel, right-click on one of the photo thumbnails in that collection, and choose “Go to Folder in Library” from the popup menu. That will automatically navigate you to the folder the image is in, which may very well be the missing folder.

You can also scroll down your folder list, looking for additional icons with an exclamation point in a black circle, expanding each of those folders by clicking on the triangle to the left of the folder to reveal all subfolders. Continue this process until you find the missing folder with the question mark icon.

You can then right-click on the missing folder and choose “Find Missing Folder”, then navigate to the updated location (and perhaps updated name for the folder) and reconnect it. If, however, the folder in question had been deleted, then you can right-click the folder and choose Remove from the popup menu.

It is possible that there had been a missing folder all along, and that you hadn’t noticed the icons previously. But it is obviously also possible that the person who was working in your catalog made a problematic change. For example, they might have imported a photo temporarily in order to print it from Lightroom Classic, and then deleted the folder from the hard drive without removing it from the Lightroom Classic catalog.