With Adobe just released their latest version of Lightroom Classic, I thought now might be the time to look at how to optimize and speed up Adobe’s favorite image management and editing application.
I always get asked about Lightroom. The most frequently asked questions are why can’t I find my photos, where has my catalog gone, and why is Lightroom running so slow?
This article will give you some tips on using my favorite editing program, which will improve your confidence and allow you to customize the program to best suit your workflow. his job.
Clutter distracts from getting things done
1. How to remove modules you don’t use: Lightroom has several additional modules: Maps, Books, Web, etc. Right-clicking the menu at the top brings up a drop-down menu. Left click on the modules you are not using to remove the markup from them and they will disappear. My essential modules are Library, Development, Slideshow and Print. Clicking them again will return them.
2. How to personalize your brand in the app: While this isn’t exactly a neat arrangement option, it looks good if you’re giving presentations to an audience or showing your screen to customers during a face-to-face sale. Selecting “Personalized” by right clicking on the top left corner allows you to change the title text and you can even change the font, size or add a logo.
3. How to change the background color when viewing images in the Develop module: I found the white background behind the image to be distracting when editing, as the light attracts the eye. Right clicking on the background to change it to a dark gray allows me to focus on the image without distraction by color matching the look and feel.
4. How to manually hide the pop-up bottom panel: This creates another distraction, as it pops up when the mouse pointer is moved over the bottom of the screen. By setting this option to “manual”, it will appear only when clicking the arrow at the bottom. You can also do the same with the left, right, and top panels and sync them so they appear together if desired.
5. How to enable cell expansion: To get more information about your photos in the Gallery module, set the grid view in the view tab from “collapsed” to “expanded”. This means you will see more information about the image on the grid. Changing the option to expanded tiles allows you to right-click on the photo information and change it to show any information you want, such as the lens and camera used when taking the photo, or shooting settings.
Right-clicking here allows you to select whatever information you want to display in every cell for each image.
You can then choose from a list of properties to display.
Organize your photos
Unless I’m gathering photos from different folders together to share in a group, I don’t tend to use collections, so this advice will focus on folders. I use a naming system in folders that allows me to find where things are quickly. However, if your current catalog includes everything in the pictures folder or imported to the desktop (please don’t do this!), these tips will help you find photos that may be misplaced. Or you might even forget it’s on your hard drive.
1. How to show the parent directory: The parent directory is a super directory containing subdirectories. It’s like creating a new folder on your computer in the pictures folder. The top-level folder on your Macintosh HD drive should be your username, and this username should be the same for the main drive in Windows.
If it doesn’t show up in Lightroom, right click on the folder and click “Show parent folder”. Finally, you should see your main user directory.
2. How to sync your folders and find things you don’t know there: Drive sync allows you to use Lightroom to search a folder and its subfolders (“Show photos in subfolders” needs to be selected in the Library tab). Running the Sync command on a folder will import all images that are not currently cataloged in Lightroom and delete all images that are showing the old preview but may have been moved or deleted (hint : they will show an exclamation point in the corner of the preview if the photo has been deleted or moved).
Start by right-clicking the folder you want to check, then select “Sync” from the pop-up menu. It may take some time to count the missing images, but be patient. As an example below, I have 26,573 mages that are not currently showing up in Lightroom and 0 is showing up there but no longer actually exists on the drive.
Import will begin.
This will take time and will show everything it can find that Lightroom can recognize. It will drag the photo and video files in when “More” is selected at the top and won’t move them unless you select “Move”. It only catalogs where they are on the drive. You can then delete the images you no longer need in Lightroom and it will also delete them from the hard drive.
Backup your Lightroom catalog
Storing multiple categories on your computer’s internal hard drive can be problematic. If your computer crashes, you may be left with a damaged or unusable catalog. An alternative might be to sort the paintings by year in a single category. If you shoot multiple genres, have a folder for each genre, then a subfolder for each year. Having only one category to back up with Time Machine (or a Windows app of your choice) makes it easier to find older pictures. I would like to introduce one Solid SSD Lacie at least twice the size of the internal hard drive to store your catalog. Your Lightroom backups must be stored on a different drive than your catalog. Time Machine will back up these external drives if they are mounted at the time it runs every hour, with incremental backups taking place after the first initial large backup.
When Lightroom exits, it will ask where you want to back up. Select the external drive and let it run. Catalogs over 4 GB will compress and you will have to use decompression software to decompress them, but these days it’s built into macOS and Windows.
Clear space used by old previews
Out of space on your internal hard drive? It could be preview files. Previews are generated when importing images (or if you require it to be done manually) 1:1 previews can be large if you are shooting a large volume like weddings and while Lightroom has to delete the preview file after each 30 days. Sometimes due to system crashes, updates etc.. do not finish. This problem can be exacerbated if you have multiple categories because each category has its own preview file. The removal option can be found and changed in the Lightroom Classic menu – Catalog Settings – File Handling.
First, find your preview file. It is usually stored in the same place where your catalog file is stored. Make sure Lightroom is closed and delete it. When it does, this means that when you launch Lightroom, it will run faster, but you’ll have to create previews for the categories you’re working on by going to Library – Preview and selecting a view. standard size preview or 1:1 preview.
These tips will allow you to better navigate and understand Lightroom, and help you get the look and usability you want to maximize workflow efficiency.
