The Magazine for Photographers March 2016

Transcription

1 The Magazine for Photographers

2 The Magazine for Photographers CONTENTS MARCH 4 Photo Tunes 12 Choosing a Working Color Space 21 Step by Step: Multiple Targeted Adjustments 29 Transitioning to Manual Mode 36 Traveling Catalog ON THE COVER Bald eagle in flight at Kodiak, Alaska. Captured at a focal length of 329mm with an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/2500th of a second at ISO 800.

3 The Magazine for Photographers FROM THE EDITOR This year is off to a fast start, and already my travel schedule seems to be overflowing. Fortunately, with all of this travel I get the opportunity to speak with many different photographers in a variety of locations. This provides the opportunity to speak one-on-one with photographers, getting a sense of the particular challenges they are struggling with. That, in turn, often serves as an inspiration for articles I want to feature in Pixology magazine. That seems to be especially true with this issue. Speaking with photographers about music for slideshows, targeted adjustments, shooting in Manual mode, and working with Lightroom on the road all led directly to articles included this month. I hope you find all of the articles included in this month s issue of Pixology magazine to be interesting and informative. And let me know if there are specific topics you d like to see covered in a future issue! Tim Grey Editor PIXOLOGY 3

4 Photo Tunes How to (Legally) Obtain Music for your Photo Slideshows Tim Grey As photographers of course we enjoy sharing our photos with others, and a digital slideshow is a common way to present our photographic vision. Music can greatly add to the experience of viewing a slideshow, helping to set the tone for the photos being shared and to provide a more professional presentation. However, it is important to keep in mind that most music needs to be licensed in much the same way you would expect others to pay for the use of your photographic images. PIXOLOGY 4

5 Double Standard I ve found that a bit of a double standard seems to exist among many photographers when it comes to copyright law. I very often hear photographers complaining about the risk of their photos being stolen, especially when they are shared online. But in a variety of situations I ve seen those same photographers present a slideshow accompanied by music that was not properly licensed. I think most photographers are well aware that their images are protected by copyright law. Taking that a step further, I think many photographers realize that their images are copyrighted the moment they capture the image, regardless of whether they have actually submitted those images for copyright registration. Unfortunately, the issue of copyright protection seems to be frequently forgotten when it comes to a musical accompaniment for a photographic slideshow. I also find that many photographers are unaware of the many avenues for making use of music for a digital slideshow (or other purposes) without infringing on the copyright protection afforded to music much the same as the copyright protection for photographic images. Free Music There are a wide variety of sources of music you can use as part of a photo slideshow for free, though in many cases there will be specific limitations on how you can use that music. For example, the popular ProShow Gold and ProShow Pro slideshow software from PhotoDex ( includes music you can PIXOLOGY 5

6 use for free, but only for slideshows produced with these software applications. Similarly, Apple imovie ( includes theme music you can use for free in movie projects you use to present your photos, and Windows Movie Maker ( en-us/windows/movie-maker) includes links to free music sources through the Add Music feature. Similarly, if you will be producing your photo slideshow as a video that will be shared on YouTube, you can use music from the YouTube Audio Library ( audiolibrary/music) to accompany that video. If you will be producing a slideshow as a video to share on YouTube, there are a variety of free music options for you to choose from directly through YouTube. You can also find music that is available for free use through a variety of other sources. A good place to start is to search for public domain music using your favorite search engine, or to visit websites such PIXOLOGY 6

7 as Musopen ( Public Domain Music ( or Public Domain Info ( Attribution Licensing Another option for obtaining music for free (or at a very low cost) is through a licensing approach referred to as attribution licensing. With this approach you are generally able to make use of music for free in a photo slideshow or other project simply by including credit for the author of the music. Creative Commons provides a variety of licensing options for creative content, including options to use music in a photo slideshow for free as long as attribution is provided to the creator of the music. One popular approach to attribution licensing is the use of Creative Commons licensing. You can learn more about attribution licensing (and other PIXOLOGY 7

8 licensing options) through the Creative Commons website at You will find the option to use a Creative Commons license with a wide variety of sources for music. In fact, links to such sources of music can be found on the Creative Commons website. There are, however, a number of licensing options associated with Creative Commons, so it is important to make sure you understand the terms of the specific license available for the music you want to use before you actually make use of that music in a photo slideshow. The Incompetech website provides a wide variety of music that can be licensed under an attribution license or with a royalty free license. Another great website for obtaining music for photo slideshows (and other projects) is Incompetech ( com). This site offers music under a Creative Commons attribution license for certain types of usage, and offers royalty free licensing for other types of usage. PIXOLOGY 8

9 Royalty Free Licensing While there are numerous sources of music you can use in photo slideshow for free, there are even more options available if you re willing to pay a small fee for the use of the music. One great option for affordable music is the use of royalty free music. Just as you can license your photos through a variety of royalty free stock photography outlets, so too can you license music from such sources. In fact, in many cases you will find that companies providing photos for royalty free licensing also offer music. The istock website provides licensing options for photos and video, as well as music that can be incorporated into a photo slideshow. For example, istock ( is a popular royalty free stock photography website owned by Getty Images. In addition to providing photos for royalty free licensing, you can obtain music and other sound tracks under a royalty free license as well. PIXOLOGY 9

10 Commercial Licensing The various options for obtaining music outlined above will of course not enable you to make use of the most popular commercial music. Some photographers have suggested that such commercial music can be used in their photo slideshows without additional payment because they have purchased the song from itunes or another similar source. That is not the case, as purchasing such songs involves a license to listen to the song, not to share the music as part of a presentation. For licensing of commercial music a good place to start is the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), with licensing options available directly through their website. I ve also frequently heard the suggestion that commercially licensed songs can be used in photo slideshows under the fair use provision of copyright law. While that might be true for a slideshow you re sharing with a few family members or friends at home, that isn t the case when presenting a photo slideshow to an audience in a more typical context. PIXOLOGY 10

11 Fortunately, there are still options for legally licensing commercial music if you really want to make use of a particular song in your photo slideshow. A good place to start for information about such licensing options is the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). You can find a variety of licensing options through the ASCAP website at Another option is BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), which you can find online at Many Options There are many options available for photographers to obtain music legally for use in photo slideshows. Most importantly, as photographers I think it is important that we respect copyright law for music, just as we expect others to respect copyright law when it comes to the use of our photographic images. Great music can add to the production value of your photo slideshows, and there are many options for obtaining that music while still respecting copyright law. v PIXOLOGY 11

12 Choosing a Working Color Space How to Decide the Range of Colors Available for Photos Tim Grey It might seem a little odd that we need to choose which colors are available in our photographic images. After all, don t we really want every single possible color to be available for every photo? In theory that would certainly be reasonable, but in reality there are limitations that restrict the number of possible colors available in our photos. Therefore, depending on the software being used you may have the option to choose which range of colors will be available for your photos. PIXOLOGY 12

13 Starting with Bit Depth To understand the role of a color space in the context of a photographic image, it can be helpful to first understand bit depth. The color space determines which specific colors are available in a given photographic image. The bit depth determines exactly how many colors are available in the first place. Bit depth defines how many colors or tonal values are available for a photo, and with a low bit depth you may find that gradations of tone and color in a photo are no longer smooth. If you had an unlimited number of possible color values available for an image, it would be reasonable to make use of a color space that covered a theoretically infinite range of color values. But since we are limited in terms of how many color values are available, it can be important to be strategic about the range of color values we can choose from. Let s start with a simple example. Most software today allows you to work with an image in the PIXOLOGY 13

14 8-bit per channel mode or the 16-bit per channel mode. We ll first consider the options available for a black and white (grayscale) image rather than a color image. Each bit can have one of two values (ostensibly zero or one). So when you are working in the 8-bit per channel mode for a grayscale image you have a total of 256 shades of gray to work with, because two raised to the power of eight equals 256. It might sound like 256 shades of gray would be more than enough for a typical black and white image, but that s really not the case. When you have a clear sky in a photo, for example, 256 total shades going from black all the way to white likely won t provide enough intermediate shades of gray for a truly smooth gradation for that sky. If you start off with a high-bit photo, such as from a RAW capture, you can take advantage of a higher bit depth. Specific camera models vary in terms of what is actually being captured, but in general you will find that cameras are able to produce 12-bit, 14-bit, or 16-bit data. In all of these cases you will generally be working with a 16-bit file. Assuming 16-bit data for a grayscale image, you would then have 65,536 shades of gray available (two raised to the power of sixteen). This can provide a tremendous improvement in terms of smooth gradations of tone for a black and white photo, even if you apply strong adjustments to that image. There are similar benefits when working with high-bit data with color images, though the numbers get considerably larger since we would then typically have three color channels (such as red, green, and blue) instead of one grayscale channel. PIXOLOGY 14

15 For an 8-bit per channel RGB image you would have the same 256 shades of gray per channel. But since there are three channels, we can cube that value (raise it to the power of three) to determine how many colors are available. That translates to a grand total of almost 16.8 million possible color values for an 8-bit per channel image. When working with high-bit data for a color image, the numbers get significantly larger. Assuming 16-bit per channel data for a color photo, you would have 65,536 shades of gray per channel, or more than 281 trillion possible color values. When working at a higher bit depth, such as 16-bit per channel, you will be able to maintain smooth gradations in an image even when strong adjustments have been applied. But again, the key here is to recognize that we are limited in terms of how many actual color values are available for our photos. With that limitation in mind, we can then determine which specific color space makes the most sense for our particular needs. PIXOLOGY 15

16 Working Space Profiles The srgb color space is overall a little smaller than the Adobe RGB color space, as shown in the top illustration with srgb shown in color and Adobe RGB shown as a gray mesh. Similarly, the Adobe RGB color space is smaller than the ProPhoto RGB color space, as shown with the color versus gray mesh in the bottom illustration. Images courtesy of ICCView ( You are probably already familiar with the general concept of ICC (International Color Consortium) profiles. A common example is a printer profile, which describes the behavior of a specific printer, ink, and paper combination. Profiles provide the translation key for pixel values, enabling us to ensure accurate color in our images across a wide variety of monitor displays, projectors, and printers. When you are printing a photo, you use a profile to describe the behavior of the printer, so that necessary compensation can be applied to ensure the colors in the print are as close as possible to the colors in your original image file. A working space profile is similar in basic concept. However, instead of describing the behavior of a specific device, a working space profile simply defines the range of color values available to an image. As a general rule, you can think of there being three working space profiles available to you. There are actually more than three, but most workflows employ one of three key working space profiles. Those are srgb, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB. While it is a bit of an oversimplification, you can think of these color spaces as being small (srgb), medium (Adobe RGB), and large (ProPhoto RGB). However, this does not take into account the true differences of the color spaces, so you should think of this analogy as merely a guide to help you better understand the basic concepts involved. When You Can Choose It is worth keeping in mind that not all software allows you to choose a specific working space PIXOLOGY 16

17 profile. In Adobe Lightroom, for example, you don t have a choice of a working space profile, although you can convert an image to a specific profile when exporting a photo. Instead, Lightroom processes your images using a working space profile that is a variation on ProPhoto RGB. Similarly, Adobe Camera Raw doesn t allow you to specify a working space profile per se, but you do have the option to process your image into a specific profile, including the working space profiles referenced above. When you choose a working space profile to use, you can establish that profile as your working space in the Color Settings dialog in Photoshop. Within Photoshop you can choose the default working space profile you want to use in the Color Settings dialog. You can bring up the Color Settings dialog by choosing Edit > Color Settings from the menu. The color space option can be found in the Working Spaces section. For our purposes we will PIXOLOGY 17

18 assume the use of an RGB color space, since most workflows involve applying adjustments to images in an RGB color mode. Selection Guidelines In some respects you can think of a color space as defining the overall range of colors that are available in terms of the hue, saturation, and brightness values. A larger color space covers a wider range of colors. For example, you might find that one color space extends into more highly saturated red values than are available in another color space. When you understand this basic concept, you might assume it is best to simply choose the largest available color space. But that isn t necessarily true. First, keep in mind that the color space defines the range of colors available, not the total number of colors available. If you have a large working space profile but a very low bit depth, you have a big range of colors but a small number of colors. In other words, the distance from one color to the next will be quite large, and it will be difficult (or impossible) to produce smooth gradations in the image. If instead you have an extremely high bit depth, but a very small working space profile, you ll be able to produce incredibly smooth gradations but you ll be working with a very limited palette. In an extreme (and merely illustrative) example you might be able to produce smooth gradations but only with red color values, with no green or blue in the image. In addition to being thoughtful about the relationship between bit depth and color space size, you should consider what makes the most sense for your specific workflow. For example, PIXOLOGY 18

19 many wedding and portrait photographers outsource their printing, and in many cases that printing is performed on high-volume printers that employ an srgb-based workflow. If your photos are generally only shared using this type of printer service as well as online sharing, it might make perfect sense for you to employ the srgb color space for your workflow. In most cases I prefer to have the largest possible range of color values available for my photos. That means I prefer to make use of the ProPhoto RGB color space. However, because the ProPhoto RGB color space is absolutely huge, it should really only be used with high-bit images. If you have images in the 8-bit per channel mode (such as JPEG captures), you should not work with those images in the ProPhoto RGB color space, as doing so will create a high risk of posterization. If you tend to work with 8-bit per channel images, and you primarily share your photos through printing, then the Adobe RGB color space probably makes the most sense. And in fact, the Adobe RGB color space is a good default option for photographers. While the ProPhoto RGB color space is larger that Adobe RGB, much of the benefit of that larger color space is theoretical rather than practical. In fact, some of the colors defined in ProPhoto RGB don t even exist in the real world. Monitor displays have only recently gotten to the point that they can produce the full gamut of the Adobe RGB color space, for example. As noted above, the srgb color space makes sense for certain photographers as well. It could be fairly described as the smallest of the three PIXOLOGY 19

20 working space profiles included in this discussion, but it is still a perfectly adequate color space for photographic images. When in doubt, I generally describe the Adobe RGB color space as the safest color space option to choose. If you want to ensure the maximum potential of your images in terms of potential future output options, and work exclusively with high-bit images, then the ProPhoto RGB option makes perfect sense. And if your workflow revolves around srgb output, then the srgb color space might make perfect sense. Ultimately there isn t a single working space profile option that makes sense for all photographers. By better understanding the various issues involved, you ll be able to confidently make a decision that is best suited to your specific needs. v PIXOLOGY 20

21 STEP BY STEP Multiple Targeted Adjustments Tim Grey In most cases when I want to apply a targeted adjustment in Photoshop, I want to be able to apply multiple adjustments to the same area. In other words, I want to add multiple adjustment layers that are all constrained by a single layer mask. Presented here are the steps to accomplish exactly that through the use of a layer group. PIXOLOGY 21

22 STEP 1 Create a Layer Group The key ingredient for applying multiple targeted adjustments is the layer group. A layer group enables you to consolidate multiple adjustment layers into a virtual folder on the Layers panel. More importantly, that layer group can employ a layer mask so the adjustments contained in the group will only apply to a specific area of the image. To create a layer group, simply click on the Create a New Group button (the folder icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel. PIXOLOGY 22

23 STEP 2 Rename the Group It can be helpful to apply a meaningful name to the layer group you ve just created, rather than keeping the default name of Group 1. To rename the layer group, first double-click on the name of the group on the Layers panel to enter renaming mode. Then type a new name for the layer group, and press Enter/Return on the keyboard to apply the change. I recommend using a name that describes the nature of the targeted adjustment you ll apply, such as something like Sky Adjustment. PIXOLOGY 23

24 STEP 3 Make a Selection If you will be using a selection as the basis of your targeted adjustment, you can create that selection now. Use any of the available tools in Photoshop to create this selection. And, of course, if you will simply be painting to define your layer mask rather than using a selection as the starting point, then you can skip this step. PIXOLOGY 24

25 STEP 4 Add a Layer Mask A layer mask attached to the layer group will cause all adjustment layers within the layer group to be visible only in areas defined by the layer mask. To add a layer mask to the layer group, simply click the Add Layer Mask button (the circle inside of a square icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel. If you had created a selection in the previous step, the new layer mask will automatically reflect the shape of that selection. PIXOLOGY 25

26 STEP 5 Add Adjustment Layers With the layer group created and active, you can now add as many adjustment layers as you d like. Simply click on the Create New Adjustment Layer button (the half-black/half-white circle icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose the type of adjustment you d like to add. At this stage I find it is helpful to apply the adjustments with a stronger effect than is actually intended, to make it easier to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the layer mask. Repeat this step for as many adjustments as you would like to add. Each of those adjustment layers will be placed inside the layer group (since the layer group or a layer within the group is active), so that all of these adjustment layers will only affect the area of the photo defined by the layer mask associated with the layer group. PIXOLOGY 26

27 STEP 6 Refine the Layer Mask Now that you have added some adjustment layers to the layer group, you can refine the layer mask to ensure the adjustments are only affecting the desired area of the image. If you did not initially create a selection as the basis of the layer mask, this is the point where you will actually define the area of the image you want to have affected by the targeted adjustment. Click on the thumbnail for the layer mask attached to the layer group to make that mask active. Then use the Brush tool to paint with black in areas of the image where you don t want the adjustments to be visible, and paint with white in areas where you do want the adjustments visible. PIXOLOGY 27

28 STEP 7 Fine-Tune Adjustments Once you ve defined the area to be affected by your targeted adjustments, you can fine-tune the adjustments themselves. In many cases, for example, I find it very helpful to use an exaggerated adjustment so I can more clearly see which area of the image is being affected as I refine the layer mask. In any event, you can modify the settings for any of the adjustment layers within the layer group to finalize the targeted adjustment. And, of course, you can also return to the layer mask itself if that needs refinement as you continue to perfect your targeted adjustment. v PIXOLOGY 28

29 Transitioning to Manual Mode Making the Most of the Manual Exposure Mode without Feeling Intimidated Tim Grey While today s digital cameras are incredibly sophisticated and capable of performing many tasks automatically, there are still many situations where you ll want to exercise manual control. In my experience that is especially true when it comes to controlling exposure. However, I have found that many photographers are intimidated by the prospect of manually controlling exposure. Fortunately, there is an easy way to make the transition to Manual exposure mode. PIXOLOGY 29

30 When to Expose Manually First, I think it is important to truly understand the potential value of the Manual exposure mode, so you can appreciate how worthwhile it can be to get more comfortable establishing exposure settings manually. One of the most common examples of the need for Manual exposure mode relates to photographing birds in flight. Even if you ve never photographed a bird in flight you can appreciate that doing so can be a challenge when using one of the semiautomatic (or fully automatic) exposure modes. Birds in flight represent a typical example of when the Manual exposure mode can be tremendously helpful, ensuring an accurate exposure for the bird as it passes in front of backgrounds of varying brightness. The bird might first be set against the sky, and then against dark trees, for example. As the scene within your viewfinder changes while tracking the bird, the camera will calculate different exposure settings. But as long as the lighting conditions for PIXOLOGY 30

31 the bird don t change, you don t actually want the exposure settings in the camera to change. Manual exposure mode can even be helpful with a static subject. For example, let s assume a scene with a snow-capped mountain in the background and dark evergreen trees in the foreground. As you move the camera to re-frame the scene, the camera will assume the exposure needs to change as well. If you tilt the camera downward to include more trees, the overall frame will appear darker and so the camera will assume the exposure needs to be brightened. Even with a landscape using the Manual exposure mode can be helpful, ensuring that the established exposure settings do not change as you adjust the composition of the scene. Once again, with appropriate exposure settings established in the Manual exposure mode, you don t need to worry about changes caused by adjusting the framing of the scene. As long as the lighting conditions on your key subject don t change, your exposure settings don t need to change either. The Manual exposure mode enables you to PIXOLOGY 31

32 lock in your exposure settings so you don t have to worry about how the camera is metering the scene. Start with Automatic In my mind one of the best ways to get comfortable using the Manual exposure mode is to start with one of the semi-automatic exposure modes. For example, many photographers (including myself) appreciate the benefits of working with the Aperture Priority exposure mode. In other words, if you haven t yet embraced the Manual exposure mode, you can ease the transition by doing exactly what you re already doing. Starting in a semi-automatic exposure mode such as Aperture Priority can help ease the transition to making use of the Manual exposure mode. In many cases you probably find that you are able to achieve accurate exposures with minimal effort when using one of the semi-automatic (or fully-automatic) exposure modes. It is still a good idea to review your images especially with the help of the histogram display to confirm a good exposure. PIXOLOGY 32

33 You may find it necessary in some situations to compensate for an initial exposure that is too dark or too bright by applying exposure compensation. If the camera s meter perceived the scene as being very dark overall, for example, the exposure settings selected by the camera may result in highlight areas that are blown out. In this case you could refine the exposure by applying exposure compensation with a negative value. Naturally, during the process of capturing a photo you will likely give some thought to the various exposure settings. For example, you might consider which lens aperture to use based on how much depth of field you want in the photo. You might also consider what shutter speed might help achieve the desired result in terms of freezing or blurring a moving subject. Regardless of the approach you take, the goal is to achieve exposure settings that will produce a good overall exposure while achieving your creative and technical goals for the photo. Once you have established good exposure settings, you re ready to make use of the Manual exposure mode. Going Manual When you re using a semi-automatic exposure mode to help you with the task of achieving proper exposure, you may notice that reframing the scene can cause the camera to adjust the exposure settings. For example, if you re working in the Aperture Priority exposure mode you may notice that the shutter speed will vary based on how you frame up the scene. This isn t necessarily a problem, and in some cases that automatic adjustment might actually be advantageous. However, there are certainly situations where you don t want the exposure settings to change just because you have re-framed the scene. In those PIXOLOGY 33

34 cases, switching to Manual mode provides a perfect solution. And starting with a semi-automatic exposure mode makes that transition easy. Once you ve established appropriate exposure settings, review the image on the camera s LCD display and make a mental note of the lens aperture, shutter speed, and ISO setting used for that exposure. Then switch to the Manual exposure mode, and dial in those exact same settings. You can now continue to photograph the same scene or subject, reframing at any time. As long as the lighting conditions don t change for that subject, you ll have the confidence that every exposure will be a proper exposure. Once you ve determined appropriate exposure settings using a semi-automatic exposure mode, you can switch to the Manual exposure mode and dial in those same settings. As with so many tasks, with practice you ll improve your ability to establish and refine exposure settings when using the Manual exposure mode. When you are first getting comfortable using Manual exposure mode, I encourage you to make use of a semi- PIXOLOGY 34

35 automatic exposure mode (possibly combined with exposure compensation) to determine appropriate exposure settings. Over time you ll likely find that you are able to anticipate appropriate exposure settings without needing to take the extra step of starting with a semi-automatic exposure mode. In other words, you ll be able to employ the Manual exposure mode faster and with more confidence. As you get more comfortable with Manual exposure mode, you ll also likely find that you are able to make adjustments to the exposure with the help of the camera s exposure meter. In other words, instead of making use of exposure compensation to handle situations where the camera s meter doesn t evaluate the scene accurately, you can adjust the exposure settings in Manual mode while watching the exposure meter. In situations where you would have used a negative value for exposure compensation with a semiautomatic exposure mode, you want the meter to show the same value but with a positive indication when working in Manual mode. And in situations where you would have applied positive exposure compensation you want the meter to show the same negative value for the current exposure metering. I have consistently found that when photographers start to employ the Manual exposure mode more frequently, two things start to happen. First, the photographer is able to work with greater flexibility in terms of locking in the exposure and then being able to focus exclusively on the subject or scene before them. Second, the photographer gains greater confidence in their ability to anticipate and achieve proper exposure for each photo, resulting in better photography. v PIXOLOGY 35

36 Traveling Catalog Tim Grey A Workflow for Taking Lightroom on the Road For many photographers, capturing photos involves some degree of travel. For those using Lightroom to manage their photos, travel can represent a bit of a challenge. If your Lightroom catalog and your photos are kept at your home or studio, traveling with a laptop can mean traveling without Lightroom. Fortunately, you can work with a traveling catalog for Lightroom when you re away from home, and then merge that catalog into your master catalog when you return. PIXOLOGY 36

37 Overall Workflow I think it is helpful to understand what the overall workflow might look like before you attempt to work with a traveling catalog for Lightroom that is separate from your master catalog. First, I should hasten to point out that my preference is to maintain a single master catalog that is used to manage all of my photographic images. In my view, this approach makes it easier to work with Lightroom, since you don t need to think about which catalog to open when you re searching for a particular photo. You simply open your single master catalog, knowing that all of your photos will be contained within that catalog. When you re traveling away from your normal environment, that often means leaving your master catalog and all of your photos at home, while you re capturing new photos during your travels. The overall workflow is relatively straightforward. The first step is to create a new catalog for use while you re traveling, and to designate a storage location you ll use for photos captured during your travels. You can then use your traveling catalog during your trip, importing the photos you capture during your travels into your traveling catalog. When you return home, you can merge your traveling catalog into your master catalog. This process involves transferring the photos you captured while traveling to the storage device you use to store the photos in your full master catalog, and merging all of the information about those photos into your master catalog. This process enables you to work with your photos in Lightroom while traveling, and to preserve all of the information about those photos as part of your master catalog upon returning home. PIXOLOGY 37

38 A New Catalog The first step to working with a traveling catalog is to actually create that catalog. This requires, of course, that you have Lightroom installed on your laptop computer. Note that you can have two active installations of Lightroom, so you can very easily have your master Lightroom catalog on your desktop computer and your traveling catalog on a laptop computer, for example. Before you actually create the new traveling catalog in Lightroom, you ll want to consider where you d like to store that catalog. Generally speaking there are two basic options. You can store the catalog on the internal hard drive on your laptop, or on an external hard drive. Storing your traveling catalog on the internal hard drive will provide improved performance when you are using Lightroom, but it will also require that you copy that catalog to the external hard drive when you return home so you can merge the traveling catalog with your master catalog. Storing the traveling catalog on an external hard drive will cause slower performance when using Lightroom during your travels, but it will streamline the process of merging catalogs when you return home. If you don t expect to use Lightroom for much more than downloading your photos and performing a basic review of those photos, either option will probably work well. The choice is primarily one between improved performance versus a more streamlined process when you return home. To create the new catalog, launch Lightroom and choose File > New Catalog from the menu. Navigate to the location where you want to store PIXOLOGY 38

39 When you re ready to set out on a trip, you can create a new catalog in Lightroom to use for managing the photos captured on that trip. your traveling catalog, and then enter a name for the catalog in the Save As field. I recommend using a name for the catalog that clearly identifies the catalog as relating to a specific trip. Click Create to actually create the new catalog. Working on the Road Once you ve created a traveling catalog, you can use the same basic workflow for Lightroom on your laptop as you would when using your master catalog at home. The key thing to keep in mind is PIXOLOGY 39

40 that you ll need to define a new location where your photos will be stored the first time you import new captures, and you ll want to continue using that same storage location throughout your trip. If you have significant free storage space on the internal hard drive on your laptop, you could certainly make use of that internal storage. For example, during the import process you could download photos into a subfolder with a name that is indicative of your current trip, stored within the Pictures folder. When working in Lightroom while traveling, you can work just as you do at home, adding metadata such as keywords and star ratings, and optimizing photos in the Develop module. If you don t have adequate storage for the photographs on the internal hard drive on your laptop, an external hard drive can provide an excellent solution. Once again, during your first import I recommend creating a folder for your current trip on that external hard drive, and using that as the destination for all photos you download during your trip. PIXOLOGY 40

41 In terms of working with your photos within your traveling catalog in Lightroom, you can work exactly as though you were working within your master catalog. You can assign star ratings, keywords, and other metadata to your photos. You can optimize the appearance of your photos using the Develop module. All of the work you do with your images will be referenced within your traveling catalog, and that information will be transferred to your master catalog at home when you merge the two catalogs together. Preparing to Merge After you return home, the first step in merging your traveling catalog with your master catalog is to ensure that both your traveling catalog and the photos you captured while traveling are available from your primary computer. This can be accomplished by copying the applicable files to an external hard drive, for example. When you return from your travels, you ll naturally want to merge your traveling catalog into your master catalog. This is perhaps the key component of an overall workflow that employs a separate Lightroom catalog while traveling. Here again, the basic process involved is rather straightforward, but there are some important details that require attention to detail. PIXOLOGY 41

42 To begin with, you ll need to make sure that your traveling catalog as well as the photos contained within that catalog are available on the computer that contains your master catalog. One straightforward approach is to use an external hard drive for this purpose. If you stored your traveling catalog on an external hard drive during your trip, and you downloaded your photos to that same hard drive, then there is no additional preparation required in order to begin the process of merging your catalogs. If your catalog is on the internal hard drive of the laptop you used while traveling and the photos are on an external drive, you ll want to copy the catalog to the external hard drive. Make sure Lightroom is not running, and then navigate to the folder that contains your traveling catalog. You ll need to copy the entire folder containing the catalog to your external hard drive, not just the catalog file itself. If you re not sure where the catalog folder is located, you can get this information from the Catalog Settings dialog. The Catalog Settings command can be found on the Edit menu on the Windows version of Lightroom, and on the Lightroom menu on the Macintosh version of Lightroom. If both your Lightroom catalog and your photos are stored on the internal hard drive of your laptop, you can copy both the catalog and photos to an external hard drive in order to make those files available on the computer with your master catalog. To accomplish this task, I recommend using the Export as Catalog command to help ensure the catalog accurately reflects the folder structure for the photos. To get started with the Export as Catalog command, you can click on the All Photographs PIXOLOGY 42

43 item in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. Then choose Edit > Select All from the menu to select all images in the current catalog. You can then choose File > Export as Catalog from the menu. In the Export as Catalog dialog, navigate to the external hard drive where you want to store the catalog and photos. Specify a new name for this catalog, perhaps referencing the fact that it is a transfer catalog. Most importantly, when using the Export as Catalog command in this way, you ll want to be sure to turn on the Export negative files checkbox. With this option enabled all of the actual image files will be copied as part of the export process. Click the Export Catalog button to begin the process of creating a new catalog and copies of your photos on the external hard drive you designated. Merging to the Master Once your traveling catalog (or a copy of it) and your photos (or copies) are on an external hard drive, you can merge your traveling catalog into your master catalog. To get started, of course, you ll need to connect the external hard drive containing your traveling files to the computer where your master Lightroom catalog is stored. Launch Lightroom on your primary computer, and make sure that you are working in your master catalog. Then choose File > Import from Another Catalog from the menu. This will bring up a dialog where you can navigate to the location on the external hard drive where your traveling catalog is stored. Click on the actual catalog file (the one with the lrcat filename extension) to select it, and click the Choose button. PIXOLOGY 43

44 To merge your traveling catalog with your master catalog you can use the Import from Another Catalog command and then select the traveling catalog file. In the Import from Catalog dialog, make sure that the All Folders checkbox is turned on, so that any and all folders containing your traveling photos will be imported into your master catalog. You can then specify if you want to leave the traveling photos where they are (using the Add option) or copy those photos to a new location. In most cases you will want to use the Copy new photos to a new location and import option, since the photos you downloaded while traveling are not yet stored in your normal storage location for photos. You can then select the primary storage location for your master photo storage as the destination by clicking the Choose button to the right of the Copy to label. Once the correct destination is selected you can click the Import button to begin the import process. PIXOLOGY 44

45 Once this import process is complete, all of the information about your photos from the traveling catalog will now be included within the master catalog. Furthermore, the photos you captured while traveling will have been copied to the same general storage location as all of your other photos. In the Import from Catalog dialog you ll want to be sure that all folders are being imported and that you re choosing to copy the photos to your master storage location. Cleaning Up In other words, at this point it is just as though you had been working with your master catalog while traveling, except that you didn t actually need to bring your master catalog and all of your photo storage with you while traveling. The process outlined above involves creating a copy of your photos and possibly at least one copy of your traveling Lightroom catalog. In theory all of the copies of your catalog and photos created while traveling could be deleted, but I recommend that you preserve those copies to provide an additional backup of your photos and the information about those photos. However, I strongly recommend that you clean up those backup copies to avoid any confusion later. For example, if you keep your traveling catalog just as it is on your laptop, you might inadvertently update information about your photos within your traveling catalog. In that case, the information would never be reflected within your master catalog. Rather than deleting these extra copies of your catalog and photos, I recommend either renaming the folders containing those files, moving the PIXOLOGY 45

46 More on Workflow If you d like to learn more about the workflow I use when traveling for photography, you might be interested in my Tim s Real Organizational Workflow course. You can access this course as part of a GreyLearning Everything Bundle subscription, or as an individual course at a discounted price of just $9 by following this link: folders (and files) to a separate backup folder, or both. This will help avoid confusion down the road. For one thing, launching Lightroom will not cause your now outdated traveling catalog to be opened, because Lightroom won t be able to find that catalog where it is expected. In addition, all of the files will be stored within a folder that is (hopefully) clearly marked to indicate that the contents are merely backup copies of your originals. Once you ve cleaned up the traveling copies of your catalog and photos, you can get back to your master catalog. All of the information you updated for your photos while traveling will be reflected within your master catalog at that point, and all of your photos captured during your travels will be available as well. v After merging your traveling photos into your master workflow, I recommend preserving the traveling copies of your files as a backup copy. PIXOLOGY 46

47 The Magazine for Photographers About Tim Grey Pixology magazine is published electronically on a monthly basis. For more information, visit: To contact the publisher: Tim Grey 243 5th Ave #131 New York, NY tim@timgrey.com Tim has authored more than a dozen books and hundreds of magazine articles on digital imaging for photographers, and has produced dozens of video training titles on a wide variety of subjects. He publishes the Ask Tim Grey newsletter in addition to Pixology magazine, and publishes video training through GreyLearning. Tim teaches through workshops, seminars, and appearances at events around the world. Follow Tim Grey at: Copyright 2016 by Tim Grey. All Rights Reserved. Every attempt has been made throughout these articles to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descriptive terms by following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer and marking those marks as either a trademark or registered trademark. All trademarks and registered trademarks included in this book are the property of their respective owners. The publisher has made best efforts to prepare this magazine, but makes no representation or warranties of any kind with regard to the completeness or accuracy of the contents herein and accept no liability of any kind including but not limited to performance, merchantability, fitness for any particular purpose, or any losses or damages of any kind caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly from this book.

48 PARTING SHOT The texture of snow-capped peaks blends into an overcast sky among mountains near Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. Captured at a lens focal length of 600mm with an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second at ISO 400.