Lightroom Guy

Your go-to guys for Lightroom & photography lessons & Lr catalog Repair

Lightroom Classic Spot Removal Tool is Slow

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Recently, we’ve had a number of Lightroom Classic 8 clients on older Macs complain that the Spot Removal tool is slow. Even on a 2015 iMac with decent specs, running on an i7 processor with 16GB RAM and Fusion drive, the Spot Removal tool is slow.

Previous Solutions

But before I get started with the solution, I want to point our readers to the Adobe site for general optimization of your hardware and operating system for Adobe Lightroom.

Spot Removal Tool is Slow

This URL has a list of ways you can do to generally get Lightroom running faster. Today’s blog post is for those of you who are seeing that the Spot Removal tool is slow. Lots of spinning rainbows and wasted time. Our solution may also help Lightroom speed up the other local adjustments as well, to perform better and faster.

The Spot Removal Tool is Slow

So, this is a new video tutorial update for speeding up Lightroom. We blogged about speeding up Lightroom 5 a number of years ago and recently in Lightroom 8, using third party software, Photo Mechanic. But now, we’re talking more specifically about speeding up what can be the dead slow, wait for the spinning rainbow, time killing spot removal tool. Especially if you’re spotting scans (prints and slides), which can be the worst culprits.

Lightroom Classic CC User Manual PDF Download

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A PDF version of the current Lightroom Classic CC User Manual can be a little tricky to find. The product no longer comes in a box with a user guide. So, we are posting a direct link to the Lightroom Classic CC User PDF Manual for our readers here. It’s a definitive source of information, plus it’s a searchable PDF, and written in simple and straightforward language.

Lightroom Classic CC User Manual
http://lightroom_reference.pdf/

A lot has changed since Adobe released Lightroom version 1 back in 2007. In 2017, Adobe decided to break Lightroom into two different versions: Adobe Lightroom Classic CC and the cloud-based Adobe Lightroom CC. This created (and still creates) a bit of confusion. For more on the differences between the two versions, read our previous blog post Lightroom CC vs Lightroom Classic: Should You Switch?

We each have 11 years of professional experience using, teaching and troubleshooting Lightroom. One of the single most important pieces of reference material that we regularly rely on for ourselves and our clients is Adobe’s help manual. It’s been four years since a Lightroom (now Lightroom Classic CC) User Manual was published by Adobe in PDF form, and yet it remains the best resource for Lightroom.

We know that Lightroom Classic CC is one of the more sophisticated pieces of camera raw processing software and from time to time we all need a little help. And while there are dozens of published how-to books and thousands of hours of instructional videos available online, navigating this morass can be time-consuming and bewildering. You’ll find that the Lightroom Classic CC User Manual’s table of Contents will take you right to where you need to search.

Download the entire 10/15/2018 update of the Lightroom Classic CC User PDF Manual. This is usually updated regularly, but is not directly related to new releases. When there is a new release, info on improvements, bug fixes and new features can be found on the Adobe site, online here.

Below is a summary of the Lightroom Classic CC User Manual chapters.

Lightroom Classic CC User Manual Chapters

  • Chapter 1: Introduction to Lightroom Classic CC
  • Chapter 2: Lightroom CC for Mobile, TV and the Web
  • Chapter 3: Import Photos
  • Chapter 4: Workspace
  • Chapter 5: Viewing Photos
  • Chapter 6: Manage catalogs and files
  • Chapter 7: Maps
  • Chapter 8: Organize photos in Lightroom Classic CC
  • Chapter 9: Process and develop photos
  • Chapter 10: Export Photos
  • Chapter 11: Work with external editors
  • Chapter 12: Slideshows
  • Chapter 13: Print photos
  • Chapter 14: Photo books
  • Chapter 15: Web galleries
  • Chapter 16: Keyboard shortcuts

How to Create Copyright Preset for Lightroom Classic

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It’s 2019 – Time to update your Lightroom copyright preset.

The method to create a Lightroom copyright preset hasn’t changed over the years. But like many things we only need to do once, we forget the process. So, as a public service, here’s the step-by-step process:

Create the Copyright Preset

In the Library Module, go to the Metadata Panel and from Preset pulldown menu on the right side, choose “Edit Presets.” If you should find the Metadata panel completely blank, you’ll need to select a photograph. Then the Metadata fields will appear.

Creating a 2017 Copyright Preset in Lightroom

Choose Edit Presets

Now you’re looking at the Edit Metadata Presets dialog window. The panel looks overwhelming, but don’t worry. We’re only going to fill in two of these sections. Click on every disclosure triangle on the left side to close any open sections except for “IPTC Copyright” and “IPTC Creator.”

Create Copyright Preset

 

Fill in the ITPC Copyright Section

Change the Copyright Status pulldown menu from “Unknown” to “Copyrighted.”

Create Copyright Preset

In the Copyright field, type the copyright symbol followed by the year and then add your name. The © copyright symbol keystroke for Mac is Option G. For PC, hold down the ALT key while typing this sequence of numbers: 0169.

In the Rights Usage Terms field, copy and paste the following legal speak: No reproduction rights are granted without the express written permission of (your name). No other usage is expressed or implied. Part of the pasted text will become hidden. But, when applied to a photo, it will appear in its entirety in the IPTC Rights Usage Terms metadata field. Double check for typos!

Create Copyright Preset

Fill in the IPTC Creator Fields

Fill in as much (or as little) contact info as you wish. And, when you’re finished, go to the Preset pulldown menu. Choose “Save Current Settings as New Preset…” Type in your Preset Name and choose Create.

Lightroom Copyright Preset

You’ve now created your Lightroom Copyright Preset for 2019.

Apply your Lightroom Copyright Preset to a Photograph

In the Library module, select an image or a group of images. Then, choose the 2019 copyright you made from the Preset pulldown menu in the Metadata panel. If you have a group of images, you’ll have an “Apply Metadata Preset” dialog appear asking you if you want one or all selected photos to have the preset applied. 

Lightroom Copyright Preset

Even if you don’t select IPTC from your Metadata view options, as long as you select your Preset, copyright information will be embedded in your image.

We wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2019!

Happy Holidays from Lightroom Guy!

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Lightroom Guy

2018 has been an amazing year with lots of growth for Lightroom Guy. We want to thank all of our clients and those of you who read this blog on a regular basis. The world of digital photography is constantly growing and changing. And, to keep up means we have our work cut out for us!  But working closely with so many amazing photographers makes it incredibly rewarding for us.

When DA and I joined forces, we identified that we both wanted Lightroom Guy to be a boutique business where we have great relationships with our clients. We’ve achieved that goal, but we’re not sitting on our laurels. We’re always striving to learn more. 

As we look forward to 2019, there are a number of things we are very excited to tell you about:

Phase One Certification

Digital Asset Management LIghtroom Guy

Phase One is a high-end, medium format camera manufacturer with a raw editing software called Capture One. Both DA and I have recently been certified as Phase One Certified Professionals. This means that we now offer an option for developing photos that rivals Lightroom in many ways. The benefit to you is that, as experts and professionals in the field, we can continue to expand our expertise and offer better solutions to you to support your photography. Drop us a note if you’d like to learn more.

More How-to Videos

YouTube Lightroom Guy

We’ve been experimenting and testing the best way to offer on-demand skills building for our clients. We know that our YouTube videos have benefitted you in many ways. And we’re continuing to work on creating quality videos that are in line with your needs and the quality of our in-person training you have come to expect from us here at Lightroom Guy. Look for more of these videos throughout the new year.

American Photographic Artists workshops

The NY chapter of this professional organization has partnered with us to develop workshops for APA members, as well as open to the public. We’ve been working on the best ways to offer photo workshops through our LightroomNYC brand and our partnership with APA is the best way to expand and grow our services.

New Website for 2019

Lastly, we’re on track to launch a new website in January. We’ve been tweaking the format for the greatest possible usability in order to organize and deliver our content to you. A fresh look for the new year!

Lightroom Guy New Web Site

We want to thank everyone again for being part of our community, and we’re grateful for your ongoing engagement and support.

Happy holidays to you and yours from Lightroom Guy!

Lightroom CC December 2018 Update

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Adobe Lightroom CC 2.1.1

Version 2.1.1 For Mac and PC

Last week we highlighted the updates in Lightroom Classic 8.1. For this post we will cover updates to Lightroom CC 2.1.1. This set of releases for Lightroom CC are mostly incremental. Nevertheless, Adobe shows no signs of slowing down their development of the new platform. In fact, 2.2 is already in process and, while we’re not allowed to say what the actual improvements are, we are excited by what is coming!

This December update brings us to version 2.1.1 and we have 3 relatively minor changes along with the usual updates for camera and lens support.

Set as Target Album

This very functional addition allows you to set a particular Album as a “target” and then, as you roam through your library of photos, you can simply hit the ‘T’ key and add selected photos to the target Album. This makes it much easier to organize your photos and you can add single photos or, select a group of photos to add to your targeted Album.

You can choose any Album as the targeted Album by simply right-clicking (control + click on Mac) on the Album and choosing “set as target.” You can change the target anytime by doing the same on another Album or disable it by unchecking the

Lightroom CC

Album Sharing Updates

Lightroom CC

You can now use the Pick Flag and Star Ratings to filter what images are shown in a Shared Album. Prior to this, any image in a shared Album would be visible. So, if you wanted to not show certain images in an Album you would have to remove them from that Album.

Now, you can choose to show only images that have been flagged or have a certain star rating. This will make it much less of an hassle to share a smaller subset of images from a single Album.

General Performance Improvements

Importing from an SD card or directly from a camera should be faster. There should also be some noticeable speed improvements when working in the People view.

Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Update Version 8.1

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Our favorite 8.1 improvements …

Lightroom Classic Update

Not two months after the Lightroom Classic CC update to version 8 was launched (leaving Lightroom 7.5 in the dust), Lightroom Classic CC Version 8.1 has been released. It seems that Adobe is coordinating this update with the entire Adobe photo ecosystem: Adobe Camera Raw 11.1, Lightroom Classic CC, Lightroom CC and Lightroom CC 4.1 for Android, iOS and ChromeOS. For you holdouts, it’s a good reason to love the Creative Cloud. These improvements, updates and bug fixes keep making Lightroom better and better.

Just the Big Stuff

Instead of reviewing all the minutia of this Lightroom Classic update, we’re looking at our favorite improvements in 8.1. This is the desktop application and not to be confused with Lightroom CC, the cloud version (also updated to 2.1!).

Last October, we reviewed the major improvements for Lightroom Classic 8, in addition to our favorite improvements of Lightroom CC 2018, in case you missed them. And at the end of this post you can find a direct link to the “What’s New” page at Adobe for all the small details.

Here are the improvements worth knowing about:

Develop Panels Custom Order

Lightroom Classic Update
Uncheck to remove from Develop panel, drag and drop to reorder

At last week’s Digital Asset Management presentation at APA, we explained that no two photographers use the same workflow. Adobe must have heard us because you can now customize the order of the panels in the Develop Module!

Right click any of the panels on the right side of the Develop module and choose “Customize Develop Panel.” Uncheck to hide any Develop panels you don’t use, and drag and drop from the left side to reorder the ones you use the most.

Book Module Grid Snapping

Lightroom Classic Update
Snap to grid increases placement accuracy

Version 8 saw a big improvement to the Book Module, thankfully! With 8.1 Adobe has introduced grid snapping which is a much needed feature! This makes it easier to position image cells accurately to other images and text boxes. Yay!

The Book Module still isn’t perfect, but with a visible background grid, image cells you can snap to and custom page designs you can save, we’ve returned to Lightroom Classic for book making. These are all big improvements and time savers. We had been using Blurb’s Bookwright software, but returning to Lightroom simplifies our workflow. We promise, we will be reviewing the Book module at a later date.

Auto Import with Watched Folder

Auto-import images directly into a collection with a “watched” folder. Using File>Auto Import>Auto Import Settings … You can setup a new folder to automatically import and add images to a collection. This can also be a Collection synced with lightroom.adobe.com or Lightroom CC on iOS or Android. During my tests, this feature worked perfectly!

Cancel Quit

Lightroom Classic Update

I’ll bet there are a lot of Lightroom users who end up quitting Lightroom when they didn’t plan to! This feature gives you the option of canceling a “Quit.” ‘Nuf said.

Performance

For those of you with 4K and 5K monitors, grid scrolling should be up to 5 times faster switching between the Library and Develop modules.

Click here for more on Adobe’s “What’s New” page

Download for the Lightroom Classic CC Manual

We’ve had a lot of requests for the most recent Lightroom Classic manual, so as a bonus to this blog post, here’s a link to Adobe PDF download of the Lightroom Classic CC manual: Adobe Lightroom Classic Manual.

Quick! Develop Like a Pro!

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Develop Like a Pro

Using the Radial Filter to Develop Like a Pro can dramatically change the way your photos look

You can develop like a pro quickly with this simple approach.

In our Develop Like a Pro workshop, I frequently talk about using Lightroom to bring attention to the main subject of a photo. This is a subtle move that uses Adobe Sensei and the Radial Filter tool.

Adobe Sensei

Although Adobe Sensei was released for Lightroom a year ago, many users (Classic and CC) overlook it. A simple click of the “Auto” button in the Tone section of the Develop panel will engage Adobe Sensei’s features. This makes short work of your initial first steps. Sensei isn’t labeled on any of the Auto buttons, so the feature isn’t obvious. But it’s there, under the hood, working its magic, referencing thousands of photos and saving you valuable production time.

To really develop like a pro, add a professional touch using the Radial filter. This can make a world of difference and it’s quite easy to do. It adds an “instant spotlight” to your subject.

Watch the video and in just two minutes you’ll understand why Develop Like a Pro isn’t a tag line, it’s a professional approach to developing photos.

Digital Asset Management Event

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American Photographic Artists – New York

On Wednesday, November 28th from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, The Lightroom Guys are presenting, “Get Your DAM Act Together: Digital Asset Management principles and techniques for professional photographers.” The event is being sponsored by the New York Chapter of American Photographic Artists (APANY) and held at Photoshelter’s presentation space at 33 Union Square West, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10003.

Digital Asset Management is an essential part of maintaining a photo library. Having a plan (workflow) that is robust and efficient is critical to maintaining an ever growing library of images. Whether you use Lightroom, Bridge, Photo Mechanic or Capture One, this event will help you improve managing your photographic assets.

We will start the evening by reviewing basic Digital Asset Management concepts. Then, we’ll explore key principles and guidelines that apply to library management, no matter the software you’re using. Lastly, we will will review examples of real world workflows to see how to put theory into practice.

Digital Asset ManagementYour presenters are the Lightroom Guys: David Mark Erickson (Adobe Certified Expert, Capture One Certified Professional) and D.A.Wagner (Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor).

Digital Asset ManagementTickets are $5 for APA members and $15 for non-members.

Check the Eventbrite page for the venue and to purchase tickets.

Case Study: Using Photo Mechanic to Speedup Lightroom Workflow

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Photo MechanicIf you work on tight deadlines, using Photo Mechanic to speedup Lightroom workflow might be right for you …

Anyone who works on tight deadlines or is simply frustrated with Lightroom’s importing speed might want to consider using Photo Mechanic. As a professional, you know that getting your photos processed as efficiently as possible is essential to your business. As a photo enthusiast, you’d much rather spend time developing your photos and not spend time waiting for them to import.

In this Case Study, we look at using a 2-stage workflow, using Photo Mechanic with Lightroom Classic CC. Photo Mechanic is used to review photos, make selections and add metadata. Lightroom Classic is used for developing photos and long term, archival storage.

A Note About Photo Mechanic

Photo Mechanic has been around since the dawn of digital photography but, don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of it before. While not a niche product, it is largely used by photojournalists, sports and stock photographers. Photo Mechanic 5 is made by Camera Bits and it can be purchased for $150 from their web site–and they do offer a 30-day free trial!

Where Lightroom is a massive, fully featured cataloging platform, Photo Mechanic is a lightweight photo browser and metadata editing program. What’s more, Photo Mechanic is super fast for reviewing and tagging. There is no “import” process like Lightroom, so you can get right to reviewing your photos and adding metadata. While Photo Mechanic does have some additional features, like a built in FTP client and an ICC color matching engine, in this case study we are going to look at a basic workflow without using any of the extended features that Photo Mechanic offers.

Photo Mechanic + Lightroom Workflow

There are a number of other valid ways to setup Photo Mechanic and Lightroom. However, this particular workflow is based on a real world client scenario. This setup was designed for a working photojournalist who operates under tight deadlines. As a Case Study, this is a great starting point to demonstrate how the two programs can work together.

Key assumptions: client is shooting 100-300 RAW only images on each assignment; making a selection of 3-8 photos for uploading to the picture editors; adding key info for specific metadata fields; only light cropping and limited tonal adjustments to balance/enhance the scene. Further, client is working on a Macbook Air with limited hard drive space and a small screen.

1. Image Copy process

  • In this case, the simplest process is to copy the image files from the camera card directly to the Pictures folder on the laptop.

    Example Folder Name

    Maintain an orderly library by using a folder naming protocol

    Using a “YYYY-MM-DD [shoot name]”structure for the folder name helps keep things in order for later archival purposes.

2. Photo Mechanic process

  • Review: Photo Mechanic is built as a file browser so it can be pointed at a target folder and images will preview immediately. Reviewing images is fast, even with large RAW files. Client makes initial selections by giving photos a 1-star rating. In this case, this works as simple, binary pick option for filtering in subsequent processes.
  • Metadata: 1-star photos are filtered and then, using the IPTC Editor, captions, copyright and other key metadata are quickly added to the photos. Metadata is easily copied from one photo to the next and/or saved templates can be applied.

Photo Mechanic3. Lightroom process

  • Add to Lightroom: At this stage, since photos are already on the hard drive and stored in a properly named folder, all of the photos from the shoot can be quickly imported into Lightroom using the “ADD” button in the Import dialog. This method reads the files from their current location instead of making copies. Then Lightroom makes the necessary database entries (copyright, captions, etc.) and generates previews.
  • Developing: the 1-star images are filtered and then, in the Develop module, light cropping and basic tonal adjustments are made.
  • Exporting: the developed 1-star photos are exported as JPGs to a specific folder. All of the “edited” photos for the year are kept, for easy reference and archival purposes. File renaming is done at this point, using a Custom Name text and Sequence tokens, which are part of a saved Export Preset we created specifically to meet client requirements.

4. Upload process

5. Archive process

  • At a later time, image folders are moved off of the laptop to an external hard drive for archive and backup. This is done in Lightroom so that the main catalog always has previews of past assignments available (in this case Smart Previews were not required). The external drive is then periodically cloned to another drive, using Carbon Copy Cloner.

As noted previously, this custom workflow is designed around job requirements and constraints for a specific client. The advantages of using Photo Mechanic are to increase review speed and minimize dependencies on “black box” feature. Image review is fast and only the selected files are post processed, making for an efficient workflow.

In an upcoming post, we will include a step-by-step video demonstrating how using Photo Mechanic with Lightroom can speed up your workflow. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please post them below!

Preview Unavailable For This File

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Preview Unavailable For This File

What’s going on when Lightroom’s import preview window says, “Preview Unavailable For This File?” You shoot camera raw and, you probably have a new camera. 

Preview Unavailable For This File

The Adobe DNG Converter (Mac + PC) may be the solution. But first, let’s look at two reasons this could be happening:

  1. Adobe can’t update a new camera’s updated proprietary raw data the moment it comes out. You usually have to wait for these camera raw updates to be added to the next “dot” version release. This would be for Creative Cloud apps of Lightroom and Photoshop.
  2. The other reason could be that you’re using Lightroom 6, Photoshop CS6 or earlier. Lightroom 6, the last version of Lightroom that was sold as a DVD installation (AKA “perpetual version”). This was last updated on December 17th, 2017 and there will be no more updates, ever. If you’ve not updated your original Lightroom 6 to 6.1.4, there are updates and you can find the Lightroom 6 updates here. The update offers some bug fixes and adds the camera raw updates current at that time.

There’s a pretty good chance that converting the proprietary camera raw files of a camera manufacturer to DNG, will eliminate the “Preview Unavailable For This File” warning. DNG is the universal camera raw format, that both Lightroom and Photoshop can recognize.

In this video, you’ll learn how to download the Adobe DNG Converter, change your proprietary camera raw files to universal DNGs that Lightroom can “see” and import them to Lightroom.

What’s the workaround if the Adobe DNG Converter doesn’t solve the issue of importing your new camera photos into Lightroom? Camera manufacturers usually have their own software, like Nikon’s ViewNX-i. They update the software with each new camera release to include camera raw formula changes and can also convert to DNG. Check your camera manufacturer’s website. Their software should hold you until Adobe does their next dot release update.