Lightroom Q&A
Hi folks. Here’s another quick round of Q&A’s.
Q. If I make changes to a preset I’ve created (or even one of the wonderful presets that you’ve created for us), how can I update the preset without creating a brand new one?
A. First off, thanks! Glad you like the presets. Flattery will always get your question answered 😉 If you have a preset that already exists and you make some changes to it, first make sure the changes are the current changes you’re making to a photo that’s selected in Lightroom. Then, just right click on top of the preset name in the Presets panel and choose “Update with Current Settings”. You’ll get the same dialog that you normally get when you create a preset and you can click on the settings that you want to update/add.
Q. But how do I right-click. I don’t have a two button mouse?
A. Get up to speed with 1990’s technology and get a two-button mouse 🙂 (sorry, had to say it)
If you’re on a Mac laptop you can either a) Control-click or, b) Put two fingers on your trackpad and click.
Q. Is there any way that I can preview what my photo is going to look like when I export it in the sRGB color space?
A. Nope, Lightroom doesn’t have a soft-proof feature. Here’s the thing about exporting your photo into sRGB though. Even though Lightroom is technically a ProphotoRGB color space application, chance are that what you’re seeing on your screen is an sRGB photo. AdobeRGB and ProPhotoRGB really only come into play when we’re printing. Your screens though, typically only display an sRGB photo. So whether it’s sRGB, AdobeRGB or ProPhoto, it’s not going to look different on your screen.
Q. Can I resize my image in Lightroom without exporting?
A. No. You can crop to a specific dimension but you can’t resize. Actually, you don’t really want to resize your original in LR. Remember, the images you look at in LR are your negatives. They’re your original source files. You’d never do permanent damage to your negatives back in the film days and the same goes here. If you need to resize then go to File > Export and you can do it there.
Q. I watched your “Importing Raw + JPEGs” video a while back. 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. Is there a way to evenly space or display a ruler when creating templates for the print module? I want to evenly distribute 3 images across a page.
A. Yep. If you go to the Rulers, Grid & Guides panel in the Print module (on the right hand side 3rd panel down), you’ll see a “Show Guides” checkbox. Turn it on and Rulers are one of the options there. There’s even a “Grid Snap” option that should help you align things more easily to the rulers and grid.
Hello,
can you give me an idea when there will be an update on Lightroom for Mac OS X 10.7 in order that the tethered import works again?
Thaank you and kind Regards
Claude Alain
I downloaded your recent Multi-Photo Print templates sized for 12″x12″. Is there any way to upsize any template as well as the cell dimensions proportionately? I tried changing the paper size and, although the paper dimensions changed, the cell sizes remained the same as in the 12×12.
My desire is to print to a file that can be sent to an outside lab. If I send a 12″x12″ file dimension and ask for a 24″x24″ or larger print, image/print quality will suffer.
How can I export/crop a file so that it prints a certain size on a standard print? For example, let’s say I make a panorama and I want the final size to be 14.5×20, because it fits and exact space I want. I know I can set a custom crop in LR, but if I were to try to upload and print it at my local non-professional printer (e.g. Costco, Wal-mart, etc), it will try to stretch or cut off the image. I would like to be able to put my selected image into a standard 16×20 print and just cut the edges myself later so my image ends up being exactly the size I want without having to change distort my image. I’m not sure if I am using the correct terminology or explaining it well enough, but hope you get the idea. If I cannot do this in LR, how would I go about it in PS?
Matt, I’m trying to make an 11×14 print preset in LR3. I can’t figure it out!!! I only get 8×10. I just purchased an Epson Pro 3880 and I want to make larger prints. Can you advise, PLEASE???
Wade,
presets are applied each time. Now here’s the thing..
if a preset applies for example and adjustment to exposure, and then you choose another that applies adjustment to exposure and color treatment, it will change the photo. the best thing to do is to use the navigation window and hover over the preset with cursor and it shows you a view in that window of how it will look.
the only way i know of stacking presets is if each preset applied does not change settings of previous or later presets applied. or you can export file as tiff after each preset applied and re import. to much work for me.
I have been looking for a way to search photos in Lightroom 3 using only a month and date, so I can see all the pictures I took on this date regardless of year. I can’t find any way to do this- do you know of a way?
Great tips. I have a question. If I click through the presets on a photo, just to see how it will look. Are the presets stacked or are the presets applied to the original file each time?
Thanks.
Matt everyone is talking up Google Plus for photography but I haven’t figured out how to export directly out of Lightroom to Google Plus is there a way to create this type of export (similar to the Flickr export).
Is there a tip in the future for this?
Hi,
Question for you:
Sometimes when i am moving a file, looking at a pic or trying to upload to fb the picture will show but the caption “information is missing or offline”…..what does that mean? the picture is there but i cannot do anything with it.
thanks!
Pamela
On a wide gamut display you don’t have sRGB
Hi, Is there a way to do “two operations” in one in LR3: From my RAW files I make one jpg high res, 300 dpi, max qual for storing, AND one 1000×1000 px, 72 dpi, jpg for publishing at my web site, for companies and other to look at. And if someone wants to buy, I send over the high-res, of course. Today I have to do this (boresome) operations several times. Can I do it once? HH, Norway.
Love your tips, Matt. Thanks so much for this site!
Hi Matt, my workflow at the moment is almost entirely Lightroom based with a couple of plugins. But I need to output some images in CMKY. At the moment I’m using Lightroom 2. Does version 3 have this facility, and if not is there a way to do this without having to use photoshop. Cheers Viel
Kathleen,
I believe that your camera only processes the Jpeg file based on your style (landscape,portrait, nuetral ect..) the Raw is un-processed.
My suggestion is to only shoot Raw and that way you can have full control over the finished Jpeg file, especially if your going to go in to LR any way. Saves card space too.
Ron
The video was very timely for me as I shot raw+jpg for the first time this past weekend at the Photowalk. I was surprised when I opened them to find the files had already been “processed” somewhat in LR. Does the camera presets automatically come over with the raw file?