Lightroom Q&A
Here’s some more Q&A’s for ya.
Q. When you compose a HDR image, do you keep all your original raw files in archives, or just the resulting TIFF?A. You know, this is a great question and I’m surprised it hasn’t been asked earlier. Personally, I keep all of the raw files for now. But I probably should change that. What I have seen some people do is save the actual .HDR file that is produced by the HDR software as well as the resulting TIFF image. (You can do that in Photomatix before you enter Tonemapping mode by going to the File menu) That way, they have the TIFF (which is what they really want) and they have the .HDR file in case they ever wanted to process the HDR again. I guess if HDR software ever really dramatically changes and you needed your originals to go back and re-process the HDR file then you’d want the raw files, but who knows if/when that would ever happen. Again, the answer is that I keep my raw files. However, its not a bad idea to get rid of them and just keep the images you really want. If any of you have thoughts/solutions on this please post a comment because I’d like to hear them.
Q. What is going on with Photoshop User TV and your DTown TV shows? They haven’t been updated in a while?A. Sorry, had to kick this off with a non-LR question but I’ve been getting asked this a lot lately. Photoshop User TV took a break while we tweak the set and overall show. Things are wrapping up so we’re hoping to get a show in by the end of October or at least the beginning of November. And things will be WAY different so make sure you stay tuned. DTown TV, as you may have heard, ended about 2 months ago. We did our last show and announced that we’d be back (in a month) with a brand new show. Well, one month turned into two and with the whole Photoshop User TV redesign things are taking a little longer then we expected. Rest assured a “digital photography” based show will be back right after we get Photoshop User TV going and rest assured that I’ll be mentioning it all over this site when its ready – and rest assured that some one will complain that either 1) I’m talking about non-Lightroom related info and that I should stop promoting my other stuff or, 2) That the new show we do doesn’t talk about their specific camera and about exactly what they wanted from the new show 🙂
Q. I watched your “Importing Raw + JPEGs” video the other day. I understand that Lightroom won’t import the JPEGs with the Raw files unless I tell it to, but what about moving and backing up. Will it move and/or backup the JPEGs to the same folder I tell it to for the raw files?A. Yep, Lightroom will move the JPEGs to the same folder you tell it to move the raw files to. And if you have LR backing up your photos on import then it’ll backup the JPEGs as well.
Q. Do you use a Wacom tablet with Lightroom? I know it works fine with Photoshop but does it work with Lightroom as well?A. Yes, I use a Wacom tablet with Lightroom. Mostly because I just use a tablet in general and I’m in Photoshop and Lightroom most of the day so it just doesn’t make sense to switch between tablet and mouse. The LR settings for tablets are actually pretty cool though. If you’ve got one of those new Intuos 4’s you can use the little circular wheel thingee to change your brush size which helps a lot. Also, at Photoshop World the other week, Wacom introduced a way to share preferences and settings with your tablets. I actually created an entire preference set for the Intuos 4 for use with Lightroom and I put some pretty neat things in there like zooming with the tablet, using the scroll wheel to spot heal the entire image with the tablet and a bunch of other stuff. Its for NAPP members only and you can download the preferences and see how to use them here on the NAPP member website.
Q. Sticking on the whole JPEG/Raw topic (I added that part), I’ve already imported a bunch of JPEG and corresponding Raw files into Lightroom. But I want to get rid of the JPEGs so what’s the correct way to do this?A. The best way to do it would be to navigate to the folder with the Raw+JPEGs. Then use your Filter Bar (View > Show Filter Bar) and filter the Metadata to just show JPEGs in that folder. Then select all of them and delete them and make sure you delete from the catalog AND hard drive, not just the catalog.
That’s it for today. Have a good one!
Matt,
You posted a link where one would be able to download your Wacom preferences for Lightroom 3. The link did not take me there. I even went on the NAPP webside to your killertips and did not find any reference to these preferences. I have an Intuous4 medium with Lightroom 3.
Thanks,
George
I have a Q for you, is there a way to make Lightroom display pictures in reverse chronological order? I’m making galleries using the Web tab and I would prefer it if my newest pictures were the first to show up, that way when I update it it’s different instead of static everytime someone views the gallery, and also because I feel like my newer stuff is better than the first things I put in the gallery.
Hey Matt,
I have a funny thing going on in Lightroom 2.5 and in 3 for that matter. I’ve been trying out getting a bit of a grunge HDR look to them by cranking up the clartity and contrast and toning down the saturation.
But here is the thing; The photo looks totally different in the develop module than in the library. Even the histogram seems to change ????
Any Idea.
Thanks
Erol
Matt –
I use Lightroom2 (Updated to 2.5) and out of the clear blue I am unable to edit in Photoshop CS3. A popup screen states that Ligthroom was unable to launch Photoshop. Interestingly enough, Photoshop DOES launch but no photo shows up. I’m dumbfounded because one day it worked and the next day it didn’t. I reinstalled the 2.5 upgrade and had it do a repair. Still no luck. Can you point me in the right direction to fix this? Should I reinstall Lightroom2 from scratch?
Thanks!
Mark
i got a question, but it is not related to what is above. i just dont know where to put or where to send you.
Q: if i have some NEFs in lightroom, and i edited them, than i back up to a external HD, and delete them in lightroom. can i put the NEFs back to lightroom and it automatically remember how i edited them, or i have to do something to make it work.
Hi Matt, I have a question un-related to this post but I don’t know where else to ask…
Why does LR not give you the option to backup upon CLOSING the program? I lost a bunch of editing that I did the other day and this issue crossed my mind. I had backed up before I did those edits but not after wards. There has got to be a reason why it doesn’t give you the option to backup upon closing, no?
Thanks,
Erin
Matt,
Two questions regarding Wacom Tablets:
1) I am not a NAPP member, but I would love to see your settings for Lightroom. Is there a way that I can get them?
2) I would like to move my settings from one computer to another. How do I do this?
Any help is much appreciated
Bodie
Hey Matt: Raws are your negatives. Disk space is about $90/TB, about 0.2c/20MB file. Why on earth would you want to delete them?
I second all the points ramelli made. I took a series of images for HDR about six years ago of a storm moving in over the John Day Fossile beds. The tops of the cumulus clouds were moving so quickly that I got shadowing at the top of the image. Photomatix now partially fixes that, and I have since reprocessed it successfully. So I save everything and archive special projects like HDR and focus blending in separate folders of a CD or DVD.
Hi Matt,
Hey thanks for all your info on LR and other stuff! I really like the Q & A because you touch on things that I haven’t even thought about asking. Once you write about it, it hits home. Thanks! I asked you about two or three weeks ago about a your preference in tablet and size. I took your advise, and I’m glad I did! I have a Tablet question for you. Remember, I’ve never used a tablet before so I’m learning as I go. In Photoshop CS4, when using the brush to work on a mask, I don’t get the brush stroke size it’s as if I’m just using the pen to write with … a real narrow line. Is there something I need to program? I’ve gone into the brush menu, but can’t find a solution. Oh, I have a Intuit 4 Medium tablet.
Thanks,
Dennis
Ramelli – you made a great point in #2 above. The same happens with me. As time goes on I get better and my tastes differ as well. With the raw files I know I have full flexibility to go back and re-process if needed and if technology changes.
Thanks.
– Matt Kloskowski
I do HDR as a pro photographer for advertisement and I keep ALL the raw files for 3 reasons:
1. the engine is getting better and hdring wirth new versions of photomatix can make a change.
2. as time goes by, I get better and re processs my raw files years later with my new skill gotten mostly from the napp training, I most of the kelbytraining videos.
3. hard disk space is doest cost that much, I have over 15 000 raw files in my LR library
you can check out my work at http://www.photoserge.com
Serge
Thanks so much, Michael. I will do that
Cheers
Thanks, Matt, for your answer about the HDR “backup strategy”.
Matt,
I have saved all my NEF (RAW) files since my D100, and am glad I did because the HDR engines have gotten much better in the last two years, along with my ability to process images. I went back and did 3 images from my D100 days, and they are noticably better – I can only assume in another 5 years my current files will be able to be reprocessed with addtional, better, or more unique information.
Just my 2 cents worth nothing in this recession,
Michael
Jose – you can only save the “tone mapped” file as jpg, or tif. But you do have the option to save the HDR file as a 32-bit before you tonemap the image. If you do images in bulk, there is a check box for saving or deleting the HDR image… Hope this helps.
Michael
I mean I can’t do that using lightroom. I know I can do it using “generate HDR2 from Photomatix itself but, I don’t know how to set that exporting from LR, which is the way I create my hdr’s.
Thanks
“What I have seen some people do is save the actual .HDR file that is produced by the HDR software as well as the resulting TIFF image”
Can anybody tell how to save a file as .HDR?. I use PHOTOMATIX and the only format I can save in is .JPG or .TIFF, not .HDR
Regards