Figured today was a good day to catch up on some Q&A’s from recent posts. Enjoy!

Q. How can I save my print templates to a JPEG like you did in your multi-photo print preset?
A. In the Print module, scroll down on the right hand side panels to the last one (the Print Job panel). The first setting is called “Print To”. Just turn it to the JPEG option and you’ll save your layout as a JPEG instead of sending it to the printer.

Q. I really like the look of that multi-photo grid preset you released the other week. But how do I get my photos in to it?
A. Just drag photos from the filmstrip into a grid square. Once they’re there, you can reposition how the photo looks in that square by holding down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and clicking on the photo to drag it around.

Q. A while ago you talked about Adobe’s Lightroom certification? Is there an exam for Lightroom 3?
A. Nope. No updated exam for LR3 yet. I haven’t heard of if or when this will happen but typically it seems to come out within 6 months of the release of a new version.

Q. I want to create a web gallery from which my client can select and order, but I need the files to be numbered from 1 to whatever. At the moment I’m exporting the collection as DNG file, renumbering in the process. I then import these into my catalog and create the web gallery. Is there any way to avoid the export/import aspect of this workflow?
A. You can rename your photos without exporting. Just go to the Library module. Then under the Library menu choose Rename Photos.

Q. If I store my photos on an external drive, does the speed of my external drive affect Lightroom’s performance?
A. Most definitely! There’s still lots of information being read back and forth between those photos and the speed will affect how fast Lightroom feels. According to some folks at Adobe that I’ve talked to about this, a 5400 RPM drive would fairly slow. A 7200 is better. USB is going to be mostly bad and Firewire will of course be better.

Q. So Matt, knowing what you just said about storing your photos on an external drive, what do you do?
A. If you hadn’t guess, I asked myself this question figuring some one would ask it soon enough 🙂 Anyway, I store all of my photos on an external 5400 RPM Firewire drive. It does feel sluggish sometimes and I’m looking at moving up to something faster.

Q. I use the Painter tool (the spray can looking thing) to paint on keywords in the Library module. It seems Adobe removed the “erase” option for this tool. I used to click to paint and then click again to erase. Is there a fix?
A. Sure is. They didn’t remove the Erase option, I think they just found that people were accidentally erasing a lot because it was too similar to adding keywords. So the change in Lightroom 3 is that you hold down the Option key (PC: Alt key) and click the photo to erase any keywords.

Thanks for all the questions. I hope this helped a little. Have a great weekend!

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