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Case Study: Using Photo Mechanic to Speedup Lightroom Workflow

November 15, 2018 by David Mark Erickson Leave a Comment

If 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.
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.

3. 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

The exported JPG files are then FTP’ed to the upstream editors using FileZilla, an open source, free FTP client.

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

November 7, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

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:

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.
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.

Prevent Catastrophic Data Loss…

October 30, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

…Using a NAS

It has now become “Prevent Catastrophic Data Loss Month” at Lightroom Guy.

It was barely three weeks ago that I wrote about the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy. This week, the #2 in my strategy, my 8-year old RAID (an OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2) died. Not the four hard drives inside, but the enclosure unit itself died, which has been running non-stop since 2010. Not a bad lifespan for a physical device! Still, the data on these drives are lost without taking extreme measures.

Before going out and spending any money on a replacement system, I did extensive research on the current state of backup hard drive systems and this blog post is the result of my research. We’re nothing if not particular about the hardware we use and recommend and figured this topic would make a great post since it is such a critical aspect of digital photography!

Based on my research, I have decided on getting a new NAS RAID system as my primary backup for my 2012 Mac Pro Tower. Fortunately, the #3 in my backup strategy has saved me from potential catastrophe! All of my computer hard drives are backed up in the cloud, using Backblaze.

I realize all of the acronyms can be a little confusing, so read on for further explanation …

What’s a RAID?

A RAID (stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks) enclosure contains two or more hard drives that can be used for storage or for backup. Using multiple hard drives increases the amount of storage over using the limited space (and sometimes speed) of single hard drive. We recommend our clients to use one of two RAID setup methods: RAID 1 or RAID 5 (explanations below).

And, things have changed considerably in the past 8 years. This time around I decided to get a NAS (Networked Attached Storage) RAID enclosure (NAS explanation also below).

RAID 1

Simply put, a RAID 1 is about redundancy. It works like two separate external hard drives, but it’s all in one enclosure and looks like one hard on your desktop. This is also known as mirroring. If a drive fails, you have a full backup on the other half of the RAID 1.

RAID 5

RAID 5 is about speed. Failure of one hard drive will not result in the loss of data. It’s pretty safe, but it’s not quite as safe as mirroring. It treats a group of hard drives like one drive. This makes for increased speed in data saving and recovery, while the failure of any one drive. In a RAID 5, if one hard drive fails (sometimes two, depending up configuration), the failed drives can be replaced without losing any data. In the rare event two drives fail at the same time, then there’s a problem with backup recovery.

NAS

NAS is hard drive enclosure for storing data that can be attached to your home network for wireless access. This can be a single hard drive or a RAID with multiple drives. Unlike a hardwired RAID though, you can setup a NAS to backup all the devices in your home. You access a NAS via your home network wirelessly over WiFi. That would be your home modem or router.

The Search for a Reliable NAS Was Too Easy!

We’ve installed quite a few of them for our clients – mostly Asus (1), QNAP (3),and Synology (7). However, this search was short work. It didn’t take long for me to discover that Synology, which has been the easiest to install is also top rated on nearly every review site we looked at, including the New York Times’ Wirecutter website, PC Magazine online and CNET. The list goes on and on with Synology consistently coming in at the top of nearly every list with multiple models.

The biggest challenge after deciding on Synology was, which model to purchase. I had the options of choosing a 4 or 5 bay NAS enclosure. With the price of large capacity hard drives dropping nearly monthly, I opted for Synology’s DS416 Slim, a 4 bay NAS Diskstation, a low-profile, space-saving enclosure that will fit right into my Mac Pro Tower’s Metroshelf unit.

The Hard Drives

Next, was to decide on a new set of hard drives. My last RAID had 4TB hard drives and was getting full. Since a local backup is my first line of defense, I wanted a larger capacity hard drives with an excellent warranty. Drives fail, especially when they’re running 24/7. And, for the record, I’ve replaced a number of failed drives within that warranty period with no manufacturer problems. My final decision was based on Tom’s Hardware review of the Seagate Ironwolf Pro Hard Drives with a 5-year warranty. The review was of the 12TB drive, but included positive commentary on 6, 10 and 12TB drives as well. I trust Tom’s advice. These drives are not a cheap solution, they’re a reliable one. That’s the most important consideration.

Now, with 4-Seagate 10TB Ironwolf Pro drives in my new Synology NAS, I have sufficient space to backup of my large library of photos on my Tower, and the 4 other Macs in the house without having to worry about space issues for years to come.

Struggling to find a backup solution for your growing photo library? Consider upgrading to a NAS and, if you need installation or setup help, contact us here at Lightroom Guy for an estimate.

Note: We receive a commission when you make a purchase through one of our Lightroom Guy links. It won’t cost you more and it helps support Lightroom Guy.

Our Favorite Lightroom CC 2018 Improvements

October 25, 2018 by David Mark Erickson Leave a Comment

In this post, we’re reviewing our favorite Lightroom CC 2018 improvements (Lightroom CC version 2.0) of the desktop application. Last week we reviewed our favorite new features of Lightroom Classic 8. This week we’re reviewing our favorite Lightroom CC 2018 improvements and key features. Just a reminder, this is the cloud-based version of Lightroom. At the end of this post you can find direct links to Adobe for additional info (and under-the-hood-improvements) for this latest Lightroom CC version 2.

People View (Sensei)

Arguably one of the most important features Lightroom CC has brought forward is automatic face detection. This feature automates the massive and thorny problem of finding all the photos of the people you care about or need to identify in your library of photos. The People View feature is based on Lightroom’s machine learning system, called Sensei. Sensei is increasingly being relied on for many features of Lightroom (in both CC and in Classic) such as Auto Tone in the Develop modules as well as improved search capabilities (see below).

Once images have been uploaded to the Adobe Cloud servers, the photos are run through Sensei and grouped into a spread of images. Double clicking on a face opens up that individual’s group of photos where you have the opportunity to name that person. And, like any automated system, the process is not perfect! So, Lightroom may also ask you about other photos it is not sure of and you will have an opportunity to merge those.

A couple of tips and tricks we think you should know about …

1) You can rename a person anytime by simply clicking on the name in the header

Lightroom CC 2018 Improvements

2) You can choose hide a person by right-clicking with your mouse on their face (or use control/alt-click)

3) For several more options, click on the three dots at the top right to:

Lightroom CC 2018 Improvements – Batch show/hide faces
– Batch merge
– Sort by name or number of photos

The development team at Adobe is working very hard rolling out updates and they seem to be averaging around four or more updates per year. So, we expect to see additional improvements of this feature!

“New!” Improved Search

Even after typing the first letter of your search Lightroom CC is looking!

One of the most brilliant features of LrCC is its search feature, which is now smarter than ever! For the record, this is definitely something we wish was included in Lightroom Classic (maybe someday). There’s no need for keywording because of the Lightroom CC 2018 improvements, as Adobe Sensei compares your photos to their extensive library of reference images. When you’re connected to the internet and LrCC is actively synced, Sensei can identify pretty much everything from airplanes to mountains, pizzas to zebras without a keyword. It’s not always perfect, but we were impressed. It even located an art installation of projections against a cathedral at night. Impressive.

Migrate Apple Photos (Mac Only)

If you are an Apple Photos user and want to start using Lightroom CC, there is now a new migration tool that can help you with this process. We have not tested this yet so we won’t vouch for it, other than to say that once you commit the import you won’t be able to stop or undo it.

Professionally, we don’t advise using these types of “black box” processes. We have migrated hundreds of catalogs for our clients and have learned the hard way that, when these black box tools fail, they cause huge problems that can take a lot of time, money and effort to correct.

If You Need Help

While our custom migration processes may be a bit labor intensive, we have found that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you do find yourself in need of a catalog migration, contact us for a quote! We have successfully moved many Picasa, Apple and Aperture catalogs.

You can find more detailed instructions about Apple Photo Migration here on the Adobe Lightroom CC Help Pages.

Lightroom is Expanding Its Reach

Beyond the “photographers” market (hobbyists through professionals), Adobe appears to be making a direct challenge to programs like Apple Photos, Google Photos and Windows’ Photo App, which serve the broader consumer market. So, for the casual iPhone photographer, Lightroom CC is becoming a powerful alternative.

Additional Information About Lightroom CC 2018 Improvements

Updated Camera and Lens Support

New cameras and lenses have been added, including the new mirrorless offerings from Canon and Nikon. The extensive list of supported cameras and lenses can be found in the links below.

Lightroom Classic CC Version 8 is Here …

October 15, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

… and we’re not sure why.

Lightroom Classic CC Version 8

Lightroom Classic CC Version 8 Splash Screen

Adobe is branding this as a full version update of Lightroom Classic. However most of the updates and changes are under-the-hood improvements with a few important, feature specific improvements. Since this release coincides with the start of the 2018 Adobe MAX conference, we assume the marketing department wanted to have a bigger sounding headline. Nevertheless, these updates are welcome and demonstrate Adobe’s ongoing commitment that Lightroom Classic CC isn’t going away.

Given the total number of updated features and bug fixes we thought it best to give you a review what we feel are the four most notable improvements. The laundry list, with short notes, of everything else is at the bottom of this post for those interested in more details about this “major” release.

And, unlike previous major releases, version 8 will not upgrade your current catalog by creating a new “-2” catalog. Your catalog and its name will remain unchanged.

Luminance Range Mask

If you have been using the new Range Masking features, you’ll appreciate this useful update. The Luminance Range Masking panel now includes an eyedropper tool for faster sampling of a single point or a range of luminance. Along with this added feature, there is now a “Show Luminance Mask” checkbox. This shows a preview your luminance mask selection against a monochrome version of your photo.

Luminance Range Masking Now Includes an Eyedropper and Mask Preview

Depth Range Mask

Lightroom has added Depth Range Masking support for HEIC format images. HEIC is a new format which we expect will slowly replace the JPG format. The HEIC format has a lot of advantages, least of which is the ability to record how far away objects are from the camera.

This version of Lightroom will be able to read that information which will allow users to be able to select the different depths and selectively apply local adjustments. Depth Range Masking will work the same way Luminance Range masking works, with an eyedropper to sample points and similar set of sliders.

Currently, the only cameras that use depth range information are Apple iPhones shooting in the Portrait mode (7+, 8+ and X’s). Read more about this feature here.

Negative Dehaze Improvements

Ever since its introduction, the Dehaze slider has been hugely popular! It was initially designed to help compensate for the perceived effect of humidity/moisture in the air. However, the actual effect is so dramatic that many users love to use the slider to quickly punch up their images.

In this release, significant improvements have been made to Dehaze when making negative adjustments (moving the slider to the left). These changes are reflected in something called Process Version and Adobe has updated this release to Process Version 5 (PV5). In PV4, negative Dehaze adjustments would make an image appear to have an overall milky haze. In PV5 we see a notable change with contrast, color and details far better preserved. Positive Dehaze slider results remain the same.

Negative Dehaze is Improved in Lightroom Classic Version 8

Using Negative Dehaze Slider Settings No Longer Add a Milky Haze

Improved Tether Support for Canon

Professional photographers will appreciate that the Lightroom development team have been working on a complete overhaul of the tethering features, to be released in future updates. That said, Adobe has decided to throw some direct support to only Canon users for the moment. With this version, Canon users have improved tethering, faster performance and shorter time between capture and loupe view of images with improved reliability with less hanging or crashes. Nikon’s tether performance enhancements (as well as support for other cameras) will be in upcoming releases. We expect to see additional improvements and features for tethering in the near future.

Adobe has released more details on tethering support here.

Now, for the Version 8 Laundry List …

New camera support

The new Nikon Z7 and Canon EOS-R mirrorless cameras are supported in this release. For a full list of camera raw supported cameras click here.
Updated Lightroom/ACR Lens correction support

Process Version Update

There is now process version 5. With significant improvements made for high ISO RAW files and the Dehaze slider. Negative Dehaze slider adjustment results are improved, making for better perceptual changes. High ISO files show less color aberration and improved shadow detail.

Single Step HDR Panorama Merge

This is a great addition for photographers who shoot Panoramas and use multiple exposure HDR techniques for expanded range of tone. As a result, this feature simplifies the merging and stitching process into a single menu item. Read more about this feature here.

Video and Slideshow Library
These are under-the-hood performance updates that should improve usability.

Playing AVI files on macOS
Older AVI format video files will now open and play in a pop-up window.

HEVC Support for macOS 10.13 or higher
Support has been added for new HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) video format being used by Apple on newer iPhones. Read more about this feature here.

System Requirements Update – Not supported in Lightroom Classic version 8:

MacOS 10.11.x
Windows 8.1
Windows 10 v1511 and v1607

New Licensing Library

You must be logged in to the Creative Cloud to use the program in this and all future versions.

Compiler Upgrade on macOS and Windows

This relates to performance optimization – hopefully we will see some more speed improvements with this version!

Jeffrey Freidl (or other) Lightroom Plugins

If you have any of Jeffrey’s excellent Lightroom plugins (or other third party plugins), you may have to update them to work with this version.

Click here for Adobe’s “What’s New” page with full notes

Click here for Adobe’s official blog post on the Lightroom Classic CC version 8 release

3-2-1 Backup Strategy

October 8, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

The Number One Reason to Backup Your Photos!

“About half of all computer users either know someone or they themselves have recently lost photos or data.”

After two completely different experiences this year, one of which happened just this week, I’m writing about why backup of photos (and other files!) is so critical. Actually, to be safe, you’ll want to have three copies: one on your computer, one on a backup drive locally (in your location – traveling with you, home, office, etc.) and one in the cloud (AKA online). It’s called the 3-2-1 backup strategy and you can read more about it here.

What We Do to Keep Our Photos and Files Safe

NOTE

Before leaving on any trip, I always copy my important workshop files to my laptop from my desktop computer and create a backup to a Time Machine drive that I take with me. My wife follows the same routine. We shut down our respective computers at home and unplug them as a matter of practice. So far, that’s one copy on the laptop, one on Time Machine. Two copies, both local.

We also have all of our computers, laptops and desktops, backed up to the cloud with Backblaze as an additional precaution. Backblaze is automatic and backups happen in the background while we work (just like Time Machine on Macs). We never have to consciously do anything; it’s a set it and forget application that works on both Macs and PCs. That’s three copies now: a belt, suspenders and a safety pin. With this much backup, what could go wrong?

Plenty, if I only had the first two copies.

Unexpected Disaster

The first time was in Paris in April (sounds romantic, doesn’t it?), shooting reference photos for a children’s book. I could never have imagined that both my external library drive and my Time machine drive could fail in the same day but fail they did. And I have the bad habit of reformatting my memory cards after they’ve been backed up to Time Machine. Duh. My photos were gone!

Backup your photos

So, without getting into the details of what exactly happened, this would have been a disaster (not to mention unprofessional) without a cloud backup. To make this potential misfortune even worse, the subject of the shoot was a crotchety 91-year-old toy repair man. He wasn’t about to let me take over his shop yet again, I’m sure of that. I located the photos on Backblaze and downloaded them to a new set of drives. Cloud backup to the rescue. Catastrophe #1 averted.

Workshop Files Not Transferred

This week and next I’m in Doha, Qatar, doing research for a future photo tour, while my wife, Vicki, works at the American School here. In our rush preparing for the trip, the wrong workshop folder went to Vicki’s laptop while the correct folder remained on her turned off and unplugged home computer. From our hotel in Doha, a simple login to Backblaze gave access to her backed up files. Catastrophe #2 averted.

Moral of the Story

Catastrophic failures happen.

Both David Mark Erickson and I cannot emphasize to our readers just how important it is to use the 3-2-1 strategy. We recommend Backblaze because of its reliability, reasonable price and set it and forget it simplicity. But it doesn’t matter which cloud backup program you decide to use, no matter where in the world you may be, as long as you have internet, you have access to that third copy of your files. That means if your computer is lost or stolen (especially while traveling), you still have your photos and data.

Note: Lightroom Guy is a Backblaze and Amazon affiliate. We receive a commission when you make a purchase through one of our links, but it doesn’t cost you anything while helping support Lightroom Guy.

How to Export Photos for Instagram from Lightroom Classic CC (2018)

October 2, 2018 by David Mark Erickson 2 Comments

As we work with our clients, one issue that continues to come up, with ever increasing frequency is: How to Export Photos for Instagram from Lightroom Classic CC. So, I figured it would be a good idea for us to put up a post that covers the basic settings. To make this easy for you, I’ve created a set of workflow instructions and essential export presets that you can download and install on your computer (Mac and PC).

In Lightroom Classic CC, there are two steps to exporting an image to use on Instagram: cropping and exporting. And yes, there is a plugin which will allow you to upload your images directly from Lightroom to Instagram (called LR/Instagram). However, some folks like to do things manually! So, immediately below are all the current, baseline settings you need to know to export photos for Instagram with detailed explanations and instructions.

Crop Settings

Square
Aspect ratio (1:1)
Pixel dimensions [1080 x 1080]
Portrait
Aspect ratio (4:5)
Pixel dimensions: [1080 x 1350]
Landscape
Aspect ratio (1.91:1)
Pixel dimensions [1080 x 566]

Export Settings

File type: JPG
Color Space: sRGB
Quality slider: 76
Resolution: 96ppi (minimum)
Output sharpening: Screen/Standard
[Note: there is a lot of debate about sharpening so, user discretion is advised]

Export Presets

Download our Lightroom Guy Export Presets which include the basic export settings for square, portrait, and Landscape. Installation instructions are provided at the end of this post.

A quick note and general disclaimer: there are thousands posts about this topic on the internet with lots and lots of discussion about what the current best settings are. As well, Instagram continues to silently change their standards. So, what is true today may not be true tomorrow! This article only discusses posting photos to Instagram, not videos or Instagram Stories.

Workflow

A basic Instagram workflow would roughly look like the following:

Shoot
Import to Lightroom
Select then Develop
Export to your Hard Drive
Transfer to Mobile
Upload to Instagram

Once you have a photo imported into Lightroom Classic CC you should proceed to developing the photo to your satisfaction. Remember to consider the “why” of your photo in order to help you develop it in such a way that it best shares your vision or communicates your point of view.

Your next step will be to crop the image in the Develop module.

Crop & Straighten Tool

Open the Crop & Straighten tool in the toolbar above the basic panel.
Crop Aspect Ratio Pulldown Menu

Open the Aspect Ratio menu by clicking on the word “Original” and then choose:
- 1×1 for a Square image
- 4×5 / 8×10 for a Portrait
- [Pro Tip: press the ‘X’ key to rotate the crop orientation]
- 1.91 for a Landscape image*
Adjustthe crop to suit your needs and then click on the “Done” button in the lower right corner of the Preview screen or click the Crop tool again to close the tool.

Now, for the Landscape image, [1.91:1] is NOT a standard ratio so we need to add it manually, if you haven’t done so already. Follow the video below to see how to enter a custom ratio.

Once you are ready to export, you can either use our Export Presets or you can make the selections manually.

Export Settings

Here are all the recommended baseline settings, along with a brief explanation for each.

Lightroom Classic CC Export Settings for Instagram

File type: JPG – At the time of this post, Instagram supports either the JPG or PNG file format. The default choice is JPG.

Color Space: sRGB – this is a big topic suffice to say that sRGB is the only choice you want to use for Instagram posts. In brief, Color Space refers to how many colors there are in a particular gamut. The easiest way to think about this as a box of crayons. A basic box of crayons may have only one shade of red, while another may have 5 or 6 different reds. sRGB is the widest and simplest box of crayons to use across the internet. Choosing a different Color Space could shift your colors in unexpected ways.

Quality slider: 76 – a lot of research has gone into this and 76 turns out to be the sweet spot in terms of image quality and file size. If you are interested in more info, the best research on this can be found on Jeffrey Friedl’s Blog.

Resolution: 96ppi (minimum) – At a minimum, you should be choosing 96ppi and many folks are currently recommending 144ppi to accommodate for the newer Retina screens. Either is fine.

Output sharpening: Screen/Standard – this is another point that engenders a lot of conversation. Once an image has been cropped and resized, the image can begin to look a little “mushy” or soft. A little bit of sharpening on the output stage can bring some life back to your image. Some people advocate for a “high” level while others say “standard” is best. Again, we recommend “standard” amount at a minimum.

Lastly, you should specify the actual pixel size of the image. The pixel width and height need to match the crop aspect ratio that you choose during the Develop process. We’ve done the math for you so here is the info again:

Square (1:1)
Pixel dimensions [1080 x 1080]

Portrait (4:5)
Pixel dimensions: [1080 x 1350]

Landscape (1.91:1)
Pixel dimensions [1080 x 566]

To enter the width and height manually, check the “Resize to Fit” option and choose “Width & Height” in the pulldown menu. You can then enter in the exact PIXEL dimensions that you want.

After you export your image you can then transfer it to your mobile phone to upload the image. There are several ways to do this, depending on what kind of phone you have. At a minimum, you can email the photo to yourself, or send it wirelessly or use a file sharing app like dropbox.

With all of these settings, you should be able to get your images looking good with a minimum of fuss. Again, things change and there is a lot of competing information available on the internet so in no way are these settings authoritative. As we can report today, these are the best minimum settings at this time for posting only photos from Lightroom Classic CC to Instagram.

Export Preset Installation Instructions

Download our Lightroom Guy Lightroom Classic CC Instagram Export Presets

Included in this .zip file are 3 Lightroom Classic CC presets for the Export process.

Locate the Export Presets folder, the easiest way to do this is to go to the Lightroom Preferences and choosing the “Show All Other Lightroom Presets” button from the Presets tab
Locate the Lightroom / Export Presets / User Presets folder
Unzip the download and place the three Instagram lrtemplate files into the User Presets folder
Restart Lightroom and you should see the presets ready to use in the Presets menu of the Export window

Now you know how to export photos for Instagram from Lightroom Classic CC!

Hold Off On Updating to MacOS Mojave

September 24, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

As I wrote in an earlier post, please hold off on updating to MacOS Mojave, which is the Mac operating system number 10.14. Apple announced its release today, September 24th at 5pm. And although you may not see it featured yet in the App Store, it’s there and available for download.

You’ll also want to hold off on updating to MacOS Mojave until you have checked to see if your particular model of Macintosh can upgrade to this version.

A really good example of “Why Not?” is compatibility issues with BookWright, Blurb’s excellent book design and publishing software. The folks at Blurb recommend to complete making any books in progress before updating toMacOS Mojave. If you have a book in progress in Lightroom’s Book Module and update to MacOS Mojave, your current book will be unaffected. Now, Blurb is a company willing to admit their software is not ready. There will be software that doesn’t work with Mojave, so hold off on updating to MacOS Mojave and save yourself some grief. We’ll try to keep you posted in the coming weeks. If you must and you’re tech savvy, we recommend going to the Eclectic Light Company’s app page and checking out 32-bitCheck to see which programs are 32 bit and Taccy to check your privacy settings and notarization.

Uninstall AdWare Doctor Now!

September 11, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

We don’t usually raise alarms like this, but if you have Adware Doctor (formerly known as Adware Medic), the #1 selling app in the Apple App Store, uninstall Adware Doctor now! It is malware and this news is extremely important.

Why? Adware Doctor (also App Store’s Dr. Antivirus and Dr. Cleaner) has been stealing your browser history if you use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. What does it do with your browser history? It sends that data to China. And it’s been doing that for years. How did we find out? On Patrick Wardle’s website, Objective-See. A site dedicated to developing Mac OS X security tools. He’s looked deep inside Adware Doctor and discovered that, under the hood, the app was deceitfully bypassing Apple’s security restraints. This is a astronomical privacy issue and we want you to know about it. So, please uninstall Adware Doctor, Dr. Antivirus and Dr. Cleaner if you have them.

What I’ve discovered in my search for uninstalling Adware Doctor is, lots of very dicey “uninstall software” websites. They run down a list of procedures for removal that would be complicated for most users and pepper the text with ads for (you guessed it!) their recommendation for “easy” to use removal software. Please, don’t download these.

Removing apps from your Mac is relatively easy. MacWorld UK has a step-by-step article on how to uninstall software apps on mac. This will get you started, but these kinds of malicious apps can go unnoticed for years. So, please read on.

uninstall Adware Doctor

Malwarebytes Labs’ most recent September 7th blog post has noted this very important privacy issue and will be updated to include all the above mentioned offenders and more in their soon to be released next version of Malwarebytes. Our recommendation has always been Malwarebytes for all our clients. There’s a 30 day free trial of this highly regarded and easy to use software. We implicitly trust Malwarebytes for all desktop Macs and PCs and we’ve used it to save our client’s from grief many a time.

They’ve also introduced Malwarebytes for iOS. However, we haven’t used it yet and the reviews are mediocre (3.3 star rating) at the time of this writing. However, I do want to note here that, every comment on the Malwarebytes for iOS page in the App Store has a Developer Response. Those guys keep on top of their product.

And, for the record, we don’t profit from recommending Malwarebytes.

Will Your Current Mac Run Mac OS Mojave?

September 7, 2018 by Lightroom Guy Leave a Comment

Will your Macintosh desktop computer or laptop run Mac OS Mojave?

In my previous post, I wrote about the Mac OS Mojave software issues with links to help you find out which software you currently have that is Mojave compatible.

Now, here’s a list of Mac OS Mojave compatible Macs:

MacBook models introduced in early 2015 or later
MacBook Airs andMacBook Pros introduced in mid 2012 or later
Mac minis and iMacs introduced in late 2012 or later
Mac Pros late 2013
Mac Pros mid 2010 or mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics processor, including the 4GB MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 and 8GB Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580.

Here’s how to tell which model Mac you have. In the Finder, click on the apple at the top left and select, “About This Mac.”

Mac OS Mojave

Mac OS Mojave That will open the Overview of your Mac and show what version of the operating system you have installed and the year and model of your Macintosh.

Yes, they call this series of Macs, “cheese graters.” (But I’ve never actually used it for that.)

For those working with 2010 or 2012 Mac Pro cheese grater towers, you’ll need to wait until Apple introduces the next version of the Mac Pro. Or, if you want to update your older tower to Mojave, you’ll need to replace the graphics board with a Metal capable graphics processor. Another few hundred bucks in “life support” expense to keep your cheese grater alive (I know I will be). If you’re working with earlier models of Apple computers, you’re out of luck for updating your operating system. Your computer will still work, of course. But, you’ll have to stick with High Sierra, or whatever earlier version of the Mac OS you might be using. The full list of what you’ll need to update to Mac OS Mojave is on the Apple website.

Holding out on updating your Mac Mini, since hasn’t been updated since 2014? You may be in luck! MacWorld rumors that there’s a Mac Mini update coming in September. On the other hand, the Mac Pro isn’t scheduled for an update until some time in 2019.

You might want to add up all those wasted moments you’ve spent waiting if you’ve been watching the rainbow pizza spinning every time you click your mouse. It could add up to hours of lost work every week. If that’s the case, you may want to seriously consider updating to a new machine.