Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Can you toggle between the adjusted image and reset, back and forth, in Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, in Lightroom Classic you can toggle back and forth between the full set of adjustments you’ve applied and the Lightroom Classic default settings via Reset, using the Undo and Redo commands. However, you might find the use of a virtual copy provides a more streamlined approach.

More Detail: If you want to view the original default interpretation of an image in Lightroom Classic without any adjustments applied, you can use the Reset command. Note that this is more reliable than using the Before and After views, because the “Before” version displays what the image looked like on import, which isn’t necessarily the same as the default adjustment settings. For example, adjustments may have been applied prior to import using Camera Raw, or you may have applied a Develop preset during import. Both of those would cause the “Before” view to differ from the Reset view.

So, if you want to truly see what the image looked like before any adjustments were applied, you could use the Reset button at the bottom of the right panel in the Develop module to reset all adjustments to their defaults. You could then use the Undo command (Edit > Undo) to undo the Reset, and as needed use the Redo command (Edit > Redo) to undo the Undo so that the adjustments are no longer reset.

However, as noted above, I think simply creating a new virtual copy for the image and using the Reset option on that virtual copy provides a more streamlined approach. That way you can simply switch between the original image (with adjustments) and the virtual copy (with adjustments reset) to compare a true before and after for the image.

Today’s Question: Could you comment on the pros and cons of using the Adaptive Color profile in an import preset [with Lightroom Classic] as opposed to one of the standard profiles such as Adobe Landscape? I have tried it in an import preset along with some development adjustments that I commonly make, such as reducing highlights, and converting to DNG. The only issue that I see is the necessity of clicking on the update AI button for the imported photos.

Tim’s Quick Answer: While it is perfectly fine to apply a preferred profile as part of a preset during import into Lightroom Classic, I prefer not to use the Adaptive Color profile in this context due to the somewhat mixed results I’ve seen and the need to update the AI processing after import.

More Detail: The Profile popup in the Basic section of the right panel enables you to choose a profile you want to use for a base level interpretation of the image data for a photo. The profile does not represent saved adjustments the way a preset does, but rather alters how the underlying pixel values are interpreted. The various options provide different variations and creative effects for images.

The Adaptive Color profile is unique in that it leverages AI to analyze the image and adapt the interpretation of pixel data based on that analysis.

You can include a profile in a preset created in the Develop module by turning on the “Treatment & Profile” checkbox in the New Develop Preset dialog box. The applicable profile will then be applied to the image if you select that preset from the Develop Settings popup in the Apply During Import section of the right panel in the Import dialog.

However, there are three issues that cause me to prefer not to use the Adaptive Color profile during import (or in general in my workflow).

First, the Adaptive Color profile by its very nature has a variable effect on images. That is part of the potential benefit of this profile, but it also means that similar images might have a slightly different look applied to them based on the profile. This isn’t generally a major concern, but it can cause some issues in your workflow especially when processing multiple similar photos.

Second, if you apply the Adaptive Color profile during import, the result is applied to the embedded preview in the raw capture, rather to the underlying raw capture data. As a result, the profile analysis needs to be updated after import. On the toolbar below the histogram on the right panel in the Develop module the button on the far right is for the AI tools, and the icon will appear yellow if there are updates that need to be applied. You can then click that button and click the applicable update to apply it. This adds an extra step and will cause the appearance of the image to change relative to the result created during import.

Finally, my own testing with the Adaptive Color profile shows that I’m not particularly pleased with the results around half the time. Sometimes the results are good, but in many cases they are problematic to the point that I prefer to choose a different profile rather than apply adjustments to compensate for the issues created by the profile.

As a result of these issues, my general preference is to use the Adobe Color profile. But if you prefer the Adaptive Profile I think that’s perfectly fine, I would just suggest applying it in batch (via the Auto-Sync feature) in the Develop module after import rather than during import.

Today’s Question: I would like to have a snapshot of an image in Lightroom Classic that will not change. When I make a virtual copy the changes go on to both images. I’d like to have a reference for the original image to refer to.

Tim’s Quick Answer: If you want a reference image representing the “before” version without adjustments applied, you can either create a virtual copy before applying adjustments or reset the adjustments after creating a virtual copy.

More Detail: I should hasten to point out that adjustments in Lightroom Classic are non-destructive, meaning the original image file is not directly affected by the adjustments you apply in the Develop module. That enables you at any time to reset the image to its original appearance without any adjustments applied, for example.

When you create a virtual copy for an image, the virtual copy inherits the adjustment settings applied to the source image, causing both copies to be an exact match. There are two ways to avoid having the images match in this way.

The first approach would be to create a virtual copy for an image before you start working on the image. You could, for example, have the original image be without any adjustments, applying all adjustments to the virtual copy instead. At any time, you could then reference the original image compared to the adjusted version.

If you had already applied adjustments to the original image and then created a virtual copy based on the original, both images will have the same adjustments applied to them. However, you can simply select one of those images (either the original or the virtual copy depending on your preference) and click the Reset button at the bottom of the right panel in the Develop module to reset all adjustments to their default values. This would result in two copies of the image, one with adjustments applied and one without.

Today’s Question: I was looking at the Sandisk SSD drives you had recommended, but the price seemed to be almost double what you mentioned. Am I looking at the wrong drive, or did the price really go up that much?

Tim’s Quick Answer: SSD storage prices are skyrocketing right now. Sandisk has more than doubled the price for certain models of the Sandisk Extreme SSD drives that I recommend, so now isn’t a good time to buy SSD storage. However, this issue is forecast to continue through 2027 and possibly beyond.

More Detail: There is currently a significant shortage of the flash memory chips used in SSDs and other storage devices. This is leading to a dramatic increase in prices for flash storage devices. Most models of the Sandisk Extreme SSD storage devices I use and recommend have had their price increase by about double.

You may be able to find stock at some resellers that still represents the earlier lower price. However, that will likely change quickly. For example, B&H Photo has updated their price based on the latest increases, and that is reflected on other reseller sites I’ve checked as well.

In addition to the price increases, in the case of the Sandisk devices the latest model updates have been getting significant negative reviews indicating that drives are disconnecting randomly or even failing altogether. I therefore don’t recommend buying the Sandisk Extreme SSD drives for the time being. However, you’ll likely find that all other manufacturers will similarly increase their prices, as many have already done.

Much of the storage is being attributed to the increasing demand for high-speed storage capacity at data centers handling AI (artificial intelligence) processing. This issue has also led some manufacturers to shift away from the type of storage used for SSD drives and toward the faster storage used at many data centers. Forecasts suggest this shortage could extend into 2027 or even 2028.

If you need high-speed storage, the SSD devices that provide optimal performance are going to be considerably more expensive. Expect to pay more for storage than you could just days or weeks ago. If you need to add storage where performance isn’t as critical, such as for backup drives, you might consider purchasing traditional hard drives until the price of SSD storage starts to come down again.

Of course, there’s also no guarantee that when the flash memory shortage is resolved that retail prices for storage will come down all that quickly.

Today’s Question: It constantly baffles me how different the sizes can be between Lightroom Classic and, once you export something, on the hard drive. I recently had a photo in Lightroom Classic that showed as a big 44MB but once I exported it full size it was about 12MB as shown in the Mac Finder. It had been cropped a lot, if that makes a different. Please help me understand the difference and how to deal with it.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Especially if the original image in Lightroom Classic is a raw capture, if you export to a different file format the file size is very likely to differ significantly. Depending on the file type selected, the file can be considerably larger or considerably smaller. Cropping will also affect the file size, since it impacts the number of pixels included in the exported copy.

More Detail: Generally speaking, a raw capture will have a file size that is approximately equal in megabytes to the number of megapixels for the image sensor. There are some factors that can impact this relationship such as compression of the raw file, but in general the file size will be relatively close in this way.

When you export an image from Lightroom Classic, you’ll generally be exporting to a file format other than the original, unless you’re simply exporting a copy of the original raw capture without adjustments applied to it. The file format and settings can have a significant impact on the file size.

If you export as a JPEG for sharing online, for example, the file size will be considerably smaller than the original because of the use of lossy compression with JPEG images. This would be compounded by cropping the image to reduce the total number of pixels. If you were to resize the image to smaller pixel dimensions the file size would be smaller still.

If you export in a format such as TIFF, the file size will generally be significantly larger. For example, all other things being equal, a TIFF file without layers or compression will be about three times larger than the original raw capture file. This is because most raw captures only contain one color value for each pixel, while a TIFF image will have full RGB color values for all pixels.

Because of all the variables involved, I don’t consider file size to be a good placeholder for image resolution or pixel dimensions. Furthermore, these factors make comparing file sizes for different file formats to be problematic. Instead, I recommend focusing on the purpose of the file format. If you’ll be printing an image, for example, the TIFF format is a good choice for maintaining image quality, at the cost of a larger file size. For online sharing a JPEG image is a good choice because it provides a much smaller file size though with some degree of lost image quality.

Today’s Question: Is there a way [in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw] to automatically (and then as an import preset) bring the whites, blacks, highlights, and shadows up or down to the clipping point?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Sort of. The Auto adjustment will generally set the slider for Whites and Blacks close to the clipping point. However, results can vary considerably from one image to the next.

More Detail: While many photographers are critical of the Auto adjustment in Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw, it can be helpful for getting an image to a better starting point. That also means that if you apply the Auto adjustment to all images (such as during import into Lightroom Classic) you’ll generally have a better preview for evaluating the image. You can then refine the adjustment settings to better suit your vision for individual images.

The Auto adjustment will affect several of the basic tonal and color adjustments, and is based on an evaluation of the image. Therefore, the results will vary from one image to the next. In general though, applying Auto will set the Whites and Blacks sliders reasonably close to the clipping point for highlights and shadows, respectively.

With some images you’ll find that there is perhaps more clipping that you would prefer after applying the Auto adjustment, and in other cases you may find that the contrast wasn’t set quite high enough. I also tend to find that the Auto adjustment increases the value for the Shadows adjustment too much, but I’m also biased in generally preferring moderately dark shadows in an image to provide greater overall contrast.

An option that is less automated but more accurate is to hold the Shift key on the keyboard while double-clicking the slider handle for Whites or Blacks. This will set each adjustment very close to the clipping point, but there isn’t a way to batch process this with unique settings for each image, so the Auto adjustment provides greater efficiency in this regard.

If you want to apply the Auto adjustment to all images upon import into Lightroom Classic (or later in your workflow) you can create a preset in the Develop module that includes the Auto Settings option. To do so, apply the adjustments you want to include in the preset to a sample image. Then click the plus symbol (+) to the right of the Presets heading on the left panel in the Develop module and choose “Create Preset” from the popup. Enter a meaningful name in the Preset Name field and turn on checkboxes for the adjustments you want to include, including the “Auto Settings” checkbox in this case. Then click the Create button to save the preset.

Today’s Question: I wanted to add a stroke border around an image [in Photoshop] as a creative touch, which I’ve done before. However, no matter what settings I use, the stroke border never appears on the image.

Tim’s Quick Answer: It sounds like the image was cropped in Photoshop without deleting pixels, causing the stroke effect to be added at the outer edge of the photo that is hidden from view. I suggest adding a layer mask based on the current crop to cause the stroke border to come into view.

More Detail: When you add a stroke layer effect to an image layer in Photoshop, it is placed at the outer edge of the image layer. If that outer edge is outside the visible canvas area, such as because the image was cropped non-destructively, the stroke will be positioned outside the visible image area.

You could crop destructively to resolve this issue, but I don’t recommend that. This would involve, for example, turning on the “Delete Cropped Pixels” checkbox on the Options bar for the Crop tool. However, I recommend keeping that checkbox turned off so you can always recover the cropped portion of the image should you decide that is necessary later.

Instead, I recommend adding a layer mask to the image layer you’ve added the stroke to based on the current crop of the image. To do so, choose Edit > Select All from the menu to create a selection of the full image based on the current crop. Then select the image layer with the stroke effect on the Layers panel and click the “Add Layer Mask” button (the circle inside a rectangle icon) at the bottom of the panel.

With this layer mask added, the stroke effect will appear at the outer boundary of the image based on the setting you used. Just be sure to select the “Inside” option from the Position popup for the stroke so it will appear inside the visible image area.

To add a stroke border, by the way, you can select an image layer (if it is the Background image layer you need to double-click its thumbnail on the Layers panel to convert it to a normal layer), then click the “Add a Layer Style” button (the “fx” icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose “Stroke” from the popup. Configure the settings in the Layer Style dialog and click OK to add the stroke border.

Today’s Question: Is there a tried and true method of getting rid of the glare off someone’s glasses?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The new AI-based reflection removal in Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic can provide good results. Otherwise, you would need to use a more manual approach of toning down the glare.

More Detail: Adobe recently added a Reflections option for Distraction Removal with the Remove tool in Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic. While this can produce good results removing distracting glare, I’ve had very hit-or-miss results with reflections in eyeglasses in large part because those reflections tend to be in a rather small area of the photo. Still, it is worth turning on the Apply checkbox in the Reflections section of Distraction Removal to see if it will produce a good result.

If not, the next thing I recommend is using the Remove tool. Turn on the “Use generative AI” checkbox and carefully paint over only the area that has glare. In my experience Generative AI produces much better results in this type of situation compared to having it turned off.

When neither of the above works, in most cases you’ll need to resort to a more manual approach tailored to the specific appearance of glare in the image. For example, in some cases simply darkening and desaturating the glare area with a targeted adjustment will provide an improved look.

With sunglasses it is often possible to simply darken the entire lens so very little detail appears, helping to hide the glare of reflections. Targeted adjustments can be beneficial when the glare is strong and in only a portion of the lens. But when the glasses have clear lenses it can be much trickier to get a good result. Sometimes carefully targeted work will give you a good result, but I’ve also had situations where I concluded that it was best to just accept the glare because it would simply take too much work to get a good result trying to remove the glare.

Today’s Question: Concerning your presentations on “Perfecting Basic Tone and Color” and “Advanced Color Adjustments”, do you actually go through all the adjustments for every image from a specific photo shoot? Or do you perform this deep dive only for the best images from an outing?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No. I only apply the adjustments that I feel an image would benefit from, which means there are often plenty of adjustments that I skip. I also only apply adjustments to images that I intend to share, or where I want to get a better sense of the full potential of the image.

More Detail: When it comes to optimizing my photos, even in the specific context of tonal and color adjustments, I don’t feel the need to apply every available adjustment to every image. I’m selective about which images I spend time optimizing, and I only apply the adjustments that I feel will improve the impact of the photo.

For example, if I don’t mark a photo as a favorite, it will probably never get adjusted (unless I change my mind about a photo later, which does happen from time to time). I only spend time optimizing photos that I feel have some degree of potential, and even then I mostly only optimize photos that I’m going to share in some way. Of course, sometimes I optimize photos that I don’t necessarily intend to share, such as to explore the potential of an image based on improving it with adjustments.

There are certainly adjustments that I will use on pretty much every photo I ever work on. That includes adjustments like Whites, Blacks, Highlights, and Shadows, along with favorites such as Vibrance and Clarity. But there are also adjustments that I don’t use very often, such as Color Mixer or Color Grading. Don’t get me wrong, those are two incredibly powerful and helpful adjustments, but not every image needs that degree of refinement. Sometimes, for example, I’m happy with the overall color simply by adjusting White Balance, Tint, Vibrance, and Saturation, without needing to fine-tune the color in specific portions of the photo.

I think this can be one of the more challenging aspects of optimizing photos. It can be relatively easy to learn how the adjustments work, for example, but potentially more challenging to decide which adjustments to use for specific photos. I’ll be addressing this type of issue in an upcoming presentation in my Ultimate Live Learning series.

Today’s Question: With the addition of a “Clarity and Dehaze” adjustment layer in Photoshop, I’m wondering if you recommend applying these adjustments in Camera Raw [or Lightroom Classic] or using these adjustment layers?

Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, I recommend applying the Clarity and Dehaze adjustments when initially processing the original capture in Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic. However, I appreciate that the adjustment layers are available for situations where you want to add (or increase) the effect within Photoshop.

More Detail: A recent update to Photoshop added the “Clarity and Dehaze” adjustment layer, in addition to a Grain adjustment layer for adding a film grain effect. These are adjustments that had already been available in both Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, so it might seem unnecessary to have them added to Photoshop. That’s particularly true when you consider that the same adjustments could be applied using the Camera Raw filter within Photoshop.

However, I’m still grateful that these new adjustment layers are available. For one thing, adding an adjustment layer offers a simpler approach than creating a duplicate image layer or converting a layer to a Smart Object to apply the filter nondestructively. Adjustment layers have minimal effect on file size and provide a convenient way to apply or refine adjustments.

In addition, adjustment layers enable you to leverage a layer mask so that the adjustment only affects a specific area of the image. For example, you may have a landscape photo where only the background area exhibits haze. Applying the Dehaze adjustment across the entire image may cause the foreground to have excessive contrast, for example. In this type of situation you can use a layer mask with the adjustment layer to only apply the adjustment where it is needed in the image.

To be sure, with the considerable updates to both Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic over the years, many photographers find that there is less work they need to do on the image once they bring it to Photoshop. However, I’m still glad that Adobe is continuing to put work into adding new and updated features to Photoshop for editing beyond Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic.