The Magazine for Photographers
The Magazine for Photographers CONTENTS NOVEMBER 4 Panning and Zooming in Lightroom 16 Photoshop Tool Presets 23 Step by Step: Pencil Shading Effect 32 Batch Renaming 46 Branded Storage ON THE COVER A cluster of Tropea onions in the Calabria region of Italy. Captured at a focal length of 45mm with an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second at ISO 100.
The Magazine for Photographers FROM THE EDITOR Looking back on the last year or two in my Lightroom catalog, I find it interested how much variation there is in my photography from month to month. Some months I capture thousands of images, and other months I capture very few. Of course, in large part my photography habits depend on my travel schedule. When I m traveling I will generally be capturing more photos, depending on where and why I m traveling. I feel like this pattern suggests I might be missing out on photographic opportunities, and not making the most of situations I don t perceive as being a trip focused on photography. If you find yourself in this sort of pattern, I encourage you to look for opportunities to capture photographic images more often. Besides helping you practice and develop your photographic eye, this approach will also help ensure you are finding photographic opportunities you might have otherwise missed. In the meantime, I also encourage you to enjoy the articles in this issue of Pixology magazine! Tim Grey Editor PIXOLOGY 3
Panning and Zooming in Lightroom Getting a Closer Look at Specific Areas of Your Photos Tim Grey In a wide variety of situations it is helpful to get a closer look at a particular area of a photo. It can be important to check for chromatic aberrations, noise, and other blemishes, for example. You may also need to confirm sharpness for a key subject. Or you may simply want to evaluate some of the details of the photo. Whatever the reason, there are a variety of ways you can pan and zoom to get a closer look at specific portions of a photo in Lightroom. PIXOLOGY 4
Zooming with the Navigator The Navigator section of the left panel in the Library and Develop modules provides some simple methods for zooming in or out on an image. Some of these options are readily visible, and others are not entirely obvious. To the right of the Navigator heading you ll find four options for establishing the zoom setting for the current photo. You can click on any of these options to set the applicable level of zoom. The Fit view option available from the Navigator panel will adjust the size of the current image so that the entire image is visible within the preview area. The first option is Fit, which in some respects can be thought of as a method for zooming out on an image. When you choose the Fit option, the zoom setting for the current image will be adjusted so that the entire image can be displayed within the preview area. This option is obviously most helpful for getting an overall look at the full image, rather than focusing your attention on a portion of the photo. PIXOLOGY 5
The Fill option is similar to the Fit zoom setting, and therefore is sometimes a source of confusion for photographers who don t recognize an immediate difference for a given photo when selecting between Fit and Fill. The key difference is that using the Fill option may result in your view of the current photo being cropped. With the Fill option the image will be enlarged to completely fill the available space in the preview area, leaving no additional space along any of the four sides of the photo. Let s assume, for example, that your current panel configuration in Lightroom results in a preview area that is square. The Fill view option will cause the current image to be enlarged so it completely fills the available preview area, even though that may cause you to be unable to see the entire image (especially for vertical photos, as shown here). Choosing the Fill option for a typical horizontal photo will cause the image to be zoomed to the point that the height of the rectangular photo matches the height of the square preview area. As a result, the left and right sides of the photo will be cropped, with the left and right edges of the PIXOLOGY 6
photo hidden from view. The cropping effect will generally be most pronounced for vertical images, based on the horizontal preview area that is typical with a standard monitor display configuration. The next option is 1:1, which will set a zoom setting of 100%. What that really means is that the image will be zoomed so that one pixel within the current photo is represented by one pixel on your monitor display. Therefore, the actual result in terms of how much of your photo is visible with this setting will depend upon the resolution setting for your monitor display and the overall pixel dimensions of the photo you re viewing. The 1:1 zoom setting will size the image so that one pixel within the photo is represented by one pixel on your monitor display. This view setting is often referred to as a 100% zoom or an Actual Pixels display. The 1:1 zoom setting is the equivalent to a 100% zoom setting in Photoshop, which is referred to as an Actual Pixels zoom setting. Among other things, the 1:1 zoom setting is useful for evaluating overall sharpness in a photo, since PIXOLOGY 7
you are seeing the most accurate presentation for the relationship between neighboring pixels in the photo. To the right of the 1:1 zoom setting you will find another zoom option, which is set to the 4:1 zoom setting by default. With that default setting, choosing this zoom option will enlarge the image preview to 400% of the 1:1 setting. This option can be useful for evaluating fine details, such as noise or other issues with a photo. Of course, while the default setting for this fourth zoom option is the 4:1 option, you can also select from a variety of different zoom settings, including settings that will zoom out rather than in on the image. The 4:1 zoom setting is the equivalent of a 400% zoom, enabling you to get a close look at specific details within a photo. To the right of the fourth zoom setting option is a popup control. Clicking on that control will bring up a popup menu with a variety of PIXOLOGY 8
different zoom settings. These include options for 1:16, 1:8, 1:4, 1:3, and 1:2, all of which will present your image at a size smaller than a 100% zoom setting. For many images, some of these settings and possibly all of them will enable you to see the entire image. The actual result will depend on your monitor resolution and the pixel dimensions of the image you re viewing. The zoom setting popup also includes options that will cause the current image to be zoomed in beyond a 1:1 zoom setting, including 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 8:1, and 11:1. These settings obviously provide the potential to take a very close at the details within a photo. The popup at the right of the zoom setting options in the Navigator section of the left panel enables you to choose a specific zoom setting that will then be associated with the fourth button along with the Fit, Fill, and 1:1 zoom settings. Once you have selected a given zoom option among any of those available to the right of the heading for the Navigator section, the selected option will appear white. Clicking on that white text label a second time will zoom out to the Grid view thumbnail display if you are currently working in the Library module. This behavior does not apply PIXOLOGY 9
to the Develop module, as there is no Grid view display in the Develop module. In addition to the links available to the right of the Navigator heading on the left panel, you can also zoom in using the small preview image that is included within the Navigator section. If you are not yet zoomed in on the current photo you can simply click within the Navigator preview image to zoom in on the area of the image you clicked on within the Navigator preview, using the zoom setting (other than Fit or Fill) that you were most recently using. Once you have clicked within the Navigator preview image to zoom in on an image, you can double-click on the same preview image to zoom back out. Doing so will switch to the Fit or Fill zoom setting, depending on which of these two options you had most recently been using. Panning with the Navigator Once you have zoomed in even a little bit into a photo within Lightroom, a white box on the Navigator will show you which portion of the image you are currently viewing. In fact, that rectangle is always visible in the Navigator display. But if you are able to see the entire image in the preview area, the rectangle will form a border around the outer edge of the thumbnail within the Navigator, indicating that the entire image is visible. When you are zoomed in and the white box in the Navigator indicates that only a portion of the image is visible in the larger preview area, you can move that white box to change which portion of the image you are currently viewing. PIXOLOGY 10
The white box in the Navigator preview area indicates the portion of the image that is currently being viewed, and moving that white box will adjust which portion of the photo is visible in the full preview area. There are two ways you can move the white box within the Navigator to view a different portion of the image. First, you can click outside of the white box in the Navigator, clicking on the area of the photo you want to view in the larger preview area. That will move the white box to be centered on the area of the image you clicked, and the preview will update to display a zoomed-in view of that portion of the photo. The second option is to simply drag the white box around within the Navigator to change which portion of the image is visible in the larger preview area. You can position your mouse pointer within the white box, and then click and drag to move the box around. The preview display will update in real time to present the area of the image identified by the white box in the Navigator. Navigation Shortcuts Going beyond the Navigator, there are several other options for zooming to get a closer look at PIXOLOGY 11
a specific area of the image. That includes several shortcuts that can be employed using either the keyboard or the mouse. There are two basic keyboard shortcut options available for zooming in or out on the image. If you hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh, you can press the minus (-) key on the keyboard to zoom out or the plus key (+) on the keyboard to zoom in. Technically the keyboard shortcut to zoom in is the equal sign (=) on the keyboard, but I think it is easier to remember the keyboard shortcut as making use of the key with the plus symbol on it. Using the Ctrl/Command key in conjunction with the plus or minus keys will zoom in or out on the image, cycling through the four zoom options that are available on the Navigator. As such, by default you would zoom in by cycling through the Fit, Fill, 1:1, and 4:1 options. Keep in mind that the fourth option that provides the 4:1 zoom setting by default can be changed to a different zoom option, which will in turn alter the fourth zoom setting accessed with this keyboard shortcut. If you want to cycle through all of the zoom settings that are available with the Navigator, you can add the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh to the keyboard shortcuts noted above. So, you can hold the Ctrl+Alt keys on Windows or the Command+Option keys on Macintosh, and then press the plus or minus key to cycle through all of the zoom settings, including Fit, Fill, 1:1, and all of the various zoom settings available from the popup to the right of the fourth zoom setting in the Navigator. PIXOLOGY 12
You can also toggle between a zoomed in versus zoomed out display by simply clicking within the image preview area. If you click to zoom in, you will be taken to the most recently used zoom setting from the Navigator, such as 1:1 or 1:4. When you click a second time to zoom out you will be taken to the Fit or Fill setting, depending on which of those options you were most recently using. In addition to using the mouse to click in the image to zoom in or out, you can press the Spacebar or the letter Z on the keyboard to perform the same task. These keyboard shortcuts do behave differently depending on context. If you are not currently using one of the tools (such as the Spot Removal tool), either the Spacebar or the Z on the keyboard will zoom in or out with a simple press of the key. That same behavior applies to the Z key when you are using one of the tools within the Develop module. However, the Spacebar keyboard shortcut simply activates the Zoom tool, and you need to click within the image while holding the Spacebar key in order to zoom in or out on the image. These keyboard shortcuts are especially helpful when you re using one of the tools such as the Spot Removal tool since clicking on the image in that case would produce a result other than zooming in or out. For example, with the Spot Removal tool active clicking on the image will cause a spot to be cleaned up rather than changing your zoom setting. If you double-click on the image while working in the Library module, you can toggle between the full image preview and a thumbnail display. In other words, with a simple double-click you can switch between the Grid view showing thumbnails for PIXOLOGY 13
If you enable the Lock Zoom Position setting, as you move from one image to the next the preview will remain focused on the same area for each photo. your photos, or the Loupe view showing only the currently selected image at a larger size. You can also switch between the Grid and Loupe views by pressing G on the keyboard for the Grid view and E on the keyboard for the Loupe view. Lock Zoom Position There is another option available on the View menu that I find many photographers are confused by. When this option is turned on, Lightroom will lock the zoom position so that if you have zoomed in on an area of an image and then select a different image, the zoom will remain in the same position. Let s assume, for example, that you have a series of photos of a subject where that subject remains in the same position within the frame. If you want to get a close look at that subject, it would be useful to lock the zoom to a specific location within the first image. That way as you switch among the other images in the sequence the zoom would remain focused on the same area of each photo. PIXOLOGY 14
If you turn off the Lock Zoom Position setting, then Lightroom can remember the position to which you zoomed for each individual photo. Let s assume you had previously zoomed in to the top-left corner of the first image, the center of the second image, and the bottom-right of the third image. If you have the Lock Zoom Position setting turned off and you switch among those three images, the zoom would be focused on the top-left of the first image, the middle of the second image, and the bottomright of the third image. If you then turned on the Lock Zoom Position setting again, switching among the images would then cause the same area of each image to be the focus of the zoomed display. Navigation Variety Needless to say, there are a variety of ways you can navigate around your photos in Lightroom, panning and zooming as needed to evaluate various areas of an image. While some photographers tend to prefer one method to another, I find that in different situations I prefer to employ different options for exploring the details of my photos. In other words, I recommend maintaining an awareness of the different methods available for panning and zooming within your photos, so you are able to make the best use of these various features as you evaluate specific aspects of your photos. v PIXOLOGY 15
Photoshop Tool Presets Save Specific Tool Settings to Streamline your Workflow Tim Grey Photoshop includes a variety of different tools that can be helpful for optimizing or adding a creative touch to your images. Many of those tools include more than a few different options, which can be found on the Options bar after selecting a tool. For the tools you tend to use most frequently, you may find that creating tool presets can streamline your workflow and make it easier to ensure your preferred settings can be easily recalled. PIXOLOGY 16
Reasons for Presets A tool preset simply saves specific settings for a given tool in Photoshop. There are two basic reasons you might want to save presets, both of which are somewhat related to each other. The first scenario where you might want to save a tool preset is when you tend to always use the same settings for a given tool, and you want to preserve those settings. To be sure, the settings you apply to a given tool in Photoshop are sticky. What that means is that when you change a setting for a tool, that setting will remain as you have set it until you change the setting to something else or reset your settings in Photoshop. By saving a preset that represents your preferred settings for a given tool, you ll be able to quickly return to those saved settings anytime you need to. That way, for example, if you need to adjust the settings for a tool on a one-time basis, you can quickly return to the settings you normally prefer by selecting your saved preset. The second reason you might want to create tool presets is if you tend to use specific tools in a variety of ways, and you want to have quick access to the various settings you might use. When you create a preset for a tool in Photoshop, you are essentially saving the settings that had been established on the Options bar for a given tool. Let s assume, for example, that you sometimes use the Clone Stamp tool at a full Opacity setting and with a brush that has a 50% Hardness value, but in other cases you want to use the Clone Stamp at a 25% value for Opacity with a 0% Hardness setting. You could create a preset for each of those configurations so you could switch very easily between each configuration by simply choosing the desired tool preset. PIXOLOGY 17
Saving a Preset Once you ve decided you want to save a preset to preserve specific settings for a given tool, the process of creating that preset is very straightforward. The first step is to configure the tool with the settings you want to include as part of the tool preset. That naturally requires that you first select the desired tool from the Toolbox. Once a tool is selected, the settings available for that tool will appear on the Options bar below the menu bar, at the top of the Photoshop interface. Configure all of those settings based on the tool preset you want to create. You can create a new tool preset in Photoshop by clicking the tool preset popup at the far left of the Options bar and then clicking the Create New Tool Preset button (the blank sheet of paper icon) toward the right side of the popup. Once you have configured the tool based on the settings you want to save, you can create the actual tool preset. Start by clicking the tool preset popup, which is the left-most control on the Options bar. On the tool presets popup, click the Create New Tool Preset button (the blank sheet of paper icon). This will bring up the New Tool Preset dialog, where you can specify a name for the new preset you re creating. PIXOLOGY 18
The default name for a new tool preset will reflect the tool name and the basic settings for that tool, but you ll likely want to change the text to better reflect the reason you are creating the new preset. The default name for the new tool preset will represent the name of the tool and some of the overall settings you have established. For example, a default name for a tool preset for the Spot Healing Brush tool might be Spot Healing Brush Tool Hard Round 45 1. You can, of course, change or completely replace this default name. I strongly recommend, however, that you use a name that is meaningful based on the settings you are saving as part of the tool preset. In other words, I recommend using a name that either describes the specific settings you have established for the current tool, or a name that describes the task you might perform using those settings. For example, if you create a tool preset for the Clone Stamp tool with a brush set at a reduced roundness and rotated to a 45-degree angle, you could name the preset with a description of those settings. But you might also use a name that describes that the settings are designed for being able to perform cleanup work that goes into an area of a photo that might be difficult to get to with a normal round brush. Once you have ensured that the preset you re creating has a name that is meaningful, you can click the OK button in the New Tool Preset dialog to save the preset for the current tool with the currently established settings for that tool. PIXOLOGY 19
Using a Preset When you have saved one or more presets for a given tool in Photoshop, those saved presets will appear on the tool preset popup at the far left of the Options bar. Keep in mind that by default you will only see presets on the tool preset popup for the currently selected tool. So, when you want to use a tool with settings that have been saved with a preset, you can first select the applicable tool from the Toolbox, and then choose the desired preset from the tool preset popup. Since you are selecting the preset in large part based on the name of the preset, it is important that you specified a meaningful name when you initially created the preset. After saving one or more tool presets, you can select the desired preset from the tool preset popup at the far left of the Options bar. It is worth noting that in many cases a meaningful name for a tool preset will be a somewhat long name. Because the tool preset popup is relatively small by default, it can sometimes be a challenge to find the specific preset you re looking for. PIXOLOGY 20
Fortunately it is very easy to enlarge the tool preset popup so you can see more of the text for the preset names. Simply click and drag the bottom-right corner of the tool preset popup to adjust the size of the popup. I generally prefer to enlarge the popup enough that I can read the entire name for most of the presets on the list, and so I can see all of the available presets. Of course, if you later decide that the name you used for the preset wasn t especially helpful, you can always rename the preset later. To do so, first click on the tool preset popup on the Options bar so you can see the list of presets for the currently selected tool. Then right-click on the preset you want to rename and choose Rename Tool Preset from the popup menu that appears. This will bring up the Tool Preset Name dialog, where you can modify the name for the preset and click OK to save the changes. By default, the tool preset popup at the left end of the Options bar only displays presets for the currently active tool. This obviously makes it easier to quickly find a specific preset for the current tool, but it also means you need to select the applicable tool from the Toolbox before you can choose the desired preset. If you prefer to view all presets for all tools you can simply turn off the Current Tool Only checkbox found at the bottom of the tool preset popup. If you turn off the Current Tool Only checkbox on the tool preset popup, all presets for all tools will be displayed on the popup. An icon to the left of each preset will indicate which tool the preset is for, and when you select a preset that associated tool will be selected for you automatically. PIXOLOGY 21
If you turn off the Current Tool Only checkbox at the bottom left of the tool preset popup, you can view all saved presets for all tools rather than only those for the currently active tool. If at any time you want to remove a preset that you no longer use or perhaps created in error, it is very easy to delete a preset. Simply right-click on the preset you want to delete and choose Delete Tool Preset from the popup menu that appears. The preset will then be deleted without the opportunity to confirm that you actually wanted to delete the preset. Streamlining for Tools The process of creating and using tool presets in Photoshop is very straightforward. In some cases it might seem that there is time involved in creating these presets than might be saved by putting the presets to use. I have consistently found, however, that the convenience of being able to recall preferred settings for a given tool based on a specific task you need to perform can have a significant impact on your workflow, helping to streamline your work and ensure better consistency in how you put the various tools in Photoshop to use. v PIXOLOGY 22
STEP BY STEP Pencil Shading Effect Tim Grey Many photographers myself included enjoy applying effects to photographic images that simulate non-photographic artistic techniques. One common approach is to produce something of a pencil sketch from a photographic image. Presented here are steps for creating a pencil sketch effect that includes a degree of shaded detail in the final result. PIXOLOGY 23
STEP 1 Open an Image The first step is to open a photo in Photoshop that you d like to apply a shaded pencil effect to. This is easy enough, but you ll want to consider what type of image works best for this sort of creative effect. It is very common to use an effect like this with a portrait, which can work out very nicely. You might also consider an image that you feel would be suitable to a sketch effect, which generally means a photo that doesn t rely on extensive detail and that includes a key subject that is relatively large in the frame. The first step in creating a shaded pencil effect is to open an image that is suitable for the effect. In general I recommend working with images that contain a relatively large key subject. PIXOLOGY 24
STEP 2 Add a Black & White Adjustment For this particular effect I recommend using a black and white interpretation of the photo. To do so you ll want to add a Black & White adjustment layer to the photo. So, click on the Add Adjustment Layer button (the half-black/half-white circle icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Black & White from the popup menu that appears. For now you can leave the sliders on the Properties panel for the adjustment layer at their default values. After opening the photo you want to apply a shaded sketch effect to, add a Black & White adjustment layer to remove the color from the photo. PIXOLOGY 25
STEP 3 Create a Background Copy The pencil shading effect involves the use of a blend mode along with other adjustments, which calls for a copy of the Background image layer for the photo. To create a Background Copy layer simply drag the thumbnail for the Background image layer on the Layers panel to the Create a New Layer button (the blank sheet of paper icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel. It is necessary to create a copy of the Background image layer to enable the adjustments that will be used to achieve the pencil shading effect. PIXOLOGY 26
STEP 4 Set Color Dodge Blend Mode One of the key components to this effect is a blend mode that causes a relatively dramatic result based on how the Background Copy layer will interact with the Background layer. At this point the Background Copy layer will be the active layer, since you have just created that layer. So click the blend mode popup at the top-left of the Layers panel (it has a default value of Normal ) and choose Color Dodge from the popup menu. At this point the only effect will be an increase in contrast in the image. After creating a Background Copy layer, change the blend mode to Color Dodge using the popup control near the top-left of the Layers panel. PIXOLOGY 27
STEP 5 Invert Background Copy Layer To create the desired blending effect between the Background Copy layer and the Background image layer, the Background Copy layer needs to be inverted. This layer will still be active at this point, so you can simply choose Image > Adjustments > Invert from the menu to invert the colors in the Background Copy layer. You can also use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+I on Windows or Command+I on Macintosh to invert the currently active Background Copy layer. At this point the image will appear almost entirely white (or possibly completely white altogether). After changing the blend mode to Color Dodge for the Background Copy layer, invert that layer, resulting in an image that is at the moment almost entirely white. PIXOLOGY 28
STEP 6 Apply Gaussian Blur Filter To actually see the effect of the settings that have been established thus far, a blur effect needs to be applied to the Background Copy layer. This will cause the details in the Background Copy layer to spread out, so that the Color Dodge blend mode will have a more widespread impact on the pixels within the image. Choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur from the menu. Fine-tune the Radius setting to achieve the desired degree of overall detail in the photo and click OK to apply the result. Applying the Gaussian Blur filter will reveal portions of the underlying image with a shaded sketch type of effect. PIXOLOGY 29
STEP 7 Add Contrast with Levels At this point you will have a basic pencil shading effect, but the contrast is likely a bit low. To enhance contrast, first add a Levels adjustment layer by clicking the Add Adjustment Layer button (the half-black/half-white circle icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel and choosing Levels from the popup menu that appears. On the Properties panel, drag the black and white point sliders at the bottom corners of the histogram display inward to enhance contrast as desired. Then adjust the middle tone gray slider as needed to fine-tune overall tonality. I generally prefer a relatively strong black point for the image, adjusting the other sliders to taste. A Levels adjustment layer can be used to add contrast to the overall effect for your image. PIXOLOGY 30
STEP 8 Adjust Black & White Mix To apply a bit of refinement to the result you can now return to the Black & White adjustment layer and fine-tune the values for each of the sliders on the Properties panel. These sliders enable you to lighten or darken areas of the photo based on the underlying color of the image. Because of the effects that have been applied thus far, the impact of adjusting the slider values for the Black & White adjustment layer will be relatively modest. However, making these adjustments can help hide or reveal specific details based on color values in the photo. v You can fine-tune the overall contrast and detail levels in the image by refining the slider values for the Black & White adjustment layer. PIXOLOGY 31
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 Batch Renaming Discover the Many Options Available for Assigning Better Names to your Photos with Adobe Bridge Tim Grey There are a variety of reasons you might want to rename your photos. To begin with, the filenames assigned by the camera are generally not meaningful at all. Furthermore, many cameras only employ four digits for the sequence number, meaning that after you have captured 9,999 photos you ll start repeating filenames, resulting in more duplicate names every time you capture another 9,999 photos. But perhaps most important of all, renaming your photos ensures that the filenames will have some degree of value, especially if you ever need to share your photos with others. PIXOLOGY 32
Getting Started Generally speaking when you want to rename some of your photos, you will want to rename all of the photos that appear in a given folder. That means the first step for renaming photos in Adobe Bridge is to navigate to the folder that contains the photos you want to rename, so that you are browsing the contents of that folder within Adobe Bridge. In many cases you will want to include a sequence number as part of the file naming structure you will use to rename your photos. In fact, such a sequence number may be critically important to ensure that you have unique filenames for every photo with a structure that makes sense to you. When you rename photos in Adobe Bridge, the sequence number will be based on the current sort order for your photos. Therefore, you ll want to sort the photos based on the order you want to use for the sequence number that you will likely include as part of the new filename structure for your photos. In most cases I find that I want to sort the photos based on capture time, so that the sequence number used when renaming the photos will increment in the same order that the photos were captured. In other words, this approach will ensure that when the photos are later sorted by filename, that sort will represent the order in which the photos were actually captured. Toward the far right of the toolbar in Adobe Bridge you will find the Sort by popup. You can click that popup and choose By Date Created, for example, if you want the photos sorted by capture time. There are also a variety of other options available, and in fact you can manually drag PIXOLOGY 33
If you will be using a sequence number as part of the filename structure when renaming your photos, you ll want to be sure to sort the images into the order you want to use for that sequence number. the thumbnails for the photos you are currently browsing to rearrange the photos and define a custom sort order. Once the photos have been sorted in the order you want to use when renaming the photos, you can select all of the photos you want to actually rename. If you want to rename all of the photos in the current folder you can choose Edit > Select All from the menu to select all of the photos you are currently browsing. If you prefer to use keyboard shortcuts, you can also select all photos in the current folder by pressing Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Macintosh. Of course, if for any reason you don t want to rename all of the photos in the current folder, PIXOLOGY 34
With the images sorted in the desired order, you can select those that you want to rename using the Batch Rename feature in Adobe Bridge. you can also select a portion of the photos. The key is to make sure that all photos you want to rename have been selected. Once the photos are sorted in the desired order and you have selected those that you want to rename, you can get started with the renaming process by choosing Tools > Batch Rename from the menu in Adobe Bridge. That will bring up the Batch Rename dialog, where you can define how you want the currently selected photos to be renamed. Toward the top of the Batch Rename dialog you will find the Destination Folder option. By default the photos will be renamed in their current folder. You can also choose to move the photos to a different folder when they are renamed, or to copy the photos to a different folder. You may be tempted to use the Copy to other folder option in order to provide something of a non-destructive workflow when renaming PIXOLOGY 35
your photos. However, this approach can also lead to a certain degree of confusion, since you will then have two copies of the photos that have been renamed, and you ll need to be sure to remember which copy is the master copy of those photos. In the Batch Rename dialog you can start by choosing whether you want to rename the selected photos where they are, or move or copy them to a different location, with the options in the Destination Folder section. Note that the Undo command is not available for the batch renaming feature in Adobe Bridge. In other words, if you rename your photos using the Rename in same folder option and later realize you made a mistake in defining your filename structure, you can t simply use the Undo command to revert to the original filenames for the photos. Instead you would need to repeat the Batch Rename command and define a renaming structure that will provide the result you originally intended. PIXOLOGY 36
That said, in order to avoid workflow confusion, I do recommend making use of the Rename in same folder option. After all, the whole point of using the Batch Rename command is to actually rename your photos. Renaming Structure Renaming your photos in Adobe Bridge involves defining a filename template that can be applied to all of the photos selected for renaming. Let s assume, for example, that you want to use filenames that include the date of capture, some brief text about the photos, and a sequence number. That might result in a filename such as 2016-04-25- Alaska-0001.cr2. This sample filename structure consists of the year, a dash, the month, another dash, the day, another dash, the word Alaska, another dash, and a sequence number, followed by the filename extension. Before you start renaming your photos, it is important that you define a structure for that file renaming. First, you need to consider what information you actually want to include in the filenames. In some cases that might be simple, such as text identifying the client for whom you were photographing along with a sequence number. In other cases that filename structure might be somewhat complicated. The appropriate filename structure depends on your specific needs and preferences. But whatever you decide makes sense in terms of a filename structure, you ll want to be sure to define the individual elements that comprise that structure. Those individual elements, in turn, will be employed within the Batch Rename dialog to define how Adobe Bridge should rename the currently selected photos. PIXOLOGY 37
Once you have identified the elements that define your file renaming structure, you can create that structure within the Batch Rename dialog. This is accomplished by defining each of the elements that define your renaming structure, line by line. You can use individual components to define the structure you want to use to rename the currently selected photos. Let s assume the renaming structure I defined above, which consists of the date in Year- Month-Day format, the word Alaska, and a sequence number. The first element of that structure is the year the photo was captured. PIXOLOGY 38
So, under the New Filenames heading, I would first choose Date Time from the first popup in the first row for the file renaming structure. To the right of that popup I would then choose the Date Created option. In the third popup I would choose YYYY, which means that a fourdigit representation of the year the photo was captured will be used for this component of my file renaming structure. To the right of each row of criteria for defining the elements of the file renaming structure you will find plus (+) and minus (-) buttons. The minus button enables you to remove the applicable row from your file renaming structure. The plus button will add a new row for different criteria below the row associated with the plus button that you click on. In this way you can increase or decrease the number of individual components being used to define your file renaming structure. So, in this example I can click the plus button to create as many rows as I need to define my file-renaming criteria. After the YYYY date field, I would include a row with Text selected from the first popup, and then I would type a dash (-) in the text field that appears. I would then add a row for all of the other elements that I need for this specific file renaming structure. Note, by the way, that if you employ a Sequence Number element as part of your file renaming structure, you can specify not only the number of digits to use (from one to six digits) but also the starting number you want to use. In most cases of course you would probably want to start with a sequence number of 1, but if you need to rename new captures that have been added to the same folder along with existing photos that had already PIXOLOGY 39
been renamed, you may need to start with a higher value for the Sequence Number component of your file renaming structure. Many Other Options There are, of course, many other options available to you for defining a filename structure for your photos. For example, if you choose the Metadata option from the left-most popup for one of the rows of renaming criteria, you ll find a second popup to the right of the first one that includes options such as Aperture Value, ISO Rating, Focal Length, and other options based for the most part on the metadata recorded at the time of capture. I highly recommend reviewing the various options that are available for defining a file renaming structure, so that you can consider which specific information might be useful for you as you are defining an approach to renaming your photos. It is worth exploring the many different components that can be used as part of a file renaming structure in the Batch Rename dialog. For many photographers a simple text plus sequence number approach makes perfect sense. But other photographers may prefer to use a more PIXOLOGY 40
complicated structure that incorporates many other elements, and Adobe Bridge certainly makes either approach possible. It is worth noting that there is also an option to include the original filename for each photo as part of the new filename you will create when using the Batch Rename feature. Some photographers prefer to include the original filename at the end of their new filename, just for the sake of preserving that information. In some cases it may actually be critically important to retain the original filename as part of the new filename structure. For example, if the photos you are about to rename have previously been shared with a client, that client will naturally make reference to the filename when they inquire about a given photo. If you have since renamed your photos without retaining the original filename as part of the new filename structure, you ll have a very difficult time identifying the photo the client is inquiring about. The key is to be thoughtful about what sort of filename structure might make the most sense for you, and to consider all of the information you might want to include as part of a new filename structure. Reviewing the many options that are available within the Batch Rename feature can be helpful as you define what an ideal filename structure might look like. Reviewing the Preview Once you have given thought to a filename structure that makes sense for you, and you have defined that structure within the Batch Rename dialog, it can be a good idea to review a PIXOLOGY 41
At the bottom of the Batch Rename dialog you can see how many files will be processed, along with a preview of how your photos will be renamed. preview of the result before actually renaming your photos. There are a couple of ways you can review the new filenames that will be assigned to your photos. First, note that at the bottom of the Batch Rename dialog you will see text indicating how many photos are going to be renamed based on the current selection. If, for example, you had forgotten to select all of the photos in the current folder, you might see One file will be processed at the bottom of the Batch Rename dialog. You ll want to confirm that the text indicates that an appropriate number of photos are going to be processed, such as the full count of all photos in the current folder you are browsing in Adobe Bridge. Directly above the text that indicates how many photos are going to be processed, you will see a preview that indicates the current filename for the first selected image as well as the new filename for that image. So, you might see something like 7G8A4859.cr2 to the right of the Current filename heading, and something like 2016-04-23-Alaska-0001.cr2 to the right of the New filename heading. If you d like to see a preview of the renaming you are about to perform that includes all of the selected photos, you can click the Preview button PIXOLOGY 42
If you click the Preview button in the Batch Rename dialog, a Preview dialog will appear showing the renaming that will be applied to all of the currently selected photos. toward the top-right of the Batch Rename dialog. When you click the Preview button a new dialog will appear listing all of the existing filenames on the left with the corresponding new filename for each photo on the right. You can scroll through the full list of selected photos to validate the settings you have used. Within the Preview dialog there is even an option to export a CSV file (a comma-separated values file), which is essentially a spreadsheet that will include a column for the old filename and a column for the new filename, with a row for every single photo you are about to rename. To create that CSV file, simply click the Export to CSV button at the bottom-left of the Preview dialog, and specify a filename and location you want to use to save the CSV file. Saving a Preset Once you ve confirmed the structure you want to use for renaming the currently selected PIXOLOGY 43
photos, you might consider saving a preset based on that filename structure, so you can easily use the same structure with different photos in the future. In the example above I defined a filename structure that was based on the date of capture, text that defined the nature of the photos (such as the location I was traveling when capturing the photos), and a sequence number to ensure that every photo would have a unique filename. That same structure might make sense for any photographic trip I take, simply substituting the Alaska text with text appropriate for the specific trip for which I am renaming photos. If you d like to save a preset based on the renaming structure you ve define, click on the Save button to the right of the Preset popup at the top of the Batch Rename dialog. This will bring up a dialog where you can type a meaningful name for the preset, and then click the OK button to actually save that preset. When saving a preset for batch renaming, it is important to use a name for that preset that will make it easy to choose the correct preset, and to understand how your photos will be renamed when using that preset. In the future you can then select the preset from the Preset popup at the top of the Batch Rename dialog, and then adjust any of the settings before actually applying the Batch Rename command to the currently selected photos. PIXOLOGY 44
After saving a preset for the Batch Rename feature, you can select that preset for future renaming of photos from the Preset popup in the Batch Rename dialog. Quick Renaming Once you have defined the desired structure for renaming the currently selected photos, you can simply click the Rename button at the top-right of the Batch Rename dialog, and the currently selected photos will be renamed based on the structure you have defined. By spending a little bit of time defining a renaming structure that makes sense for your photos, and putting a little effort into creating that structure within the Batch Rename dialog, you ll be able to quickly and easily rename additional photos in the future. Perhaps most importantly, doing so can help ensure you always have unique and meaningful filenames for all of your photos. v PIXOLOGY 45
Branded Storage Tim Grey An Option for Delivering Photos to Clients with a Highly Visible Logo In the October 2016 issue of Pixology magazine, I wrote about the option to add a bit of branding to the interface within Adobe Lightroom through the use of the Identity Plate. Adding your photography brand name to the Identity Plate provides the potential to promote your photography business within Lightroom. But there are also options for being a little more direct in your branding when sharing photos or other files with clients. PIXOLOGY 46
Branded Storage As I was considering the potential benefits of reinforcing your brand as a photographer with clients, I realized that the various options to include your company name or other identifying information within Lightroom or perhaps as a watermark on your photos was interesting, but that it might be even more interesting to have a more tangible presentation of your brand. I started considering the various ways a photographer might present their own brand name to clients or potential clients in a way that would be practical. While contemplating the various options, I realized that photographers often need to deliver photos as digital files to their clients. To be sure, these days it is often possible to deliver photos via email or through an online gallery or download service. But for many clients it can be much more convenient to receive photos on a storage device, rather than having to download and organize a potentially large number of photographic images. And, of course, it is quite possible to have a logo or text added to that storage device, reinforcing your brand as a photographer and adding a professional touch to the delivery of your photographic images. As I explored the various options for storage devices that could be branded with a custom logo, I was surprised at how many different styles of storage were available. Most of the options represented some form of flash-based storage device with a USB connection. Many of us have become familiar with this type of storage device, perhaps using it for supplemental storage or for transferring files from one computer to another. PIXOLOGY 47
There are, for example, storage devices that resemble a credit card, with a fold-out USB connection for copying files to or from the device. And while USB storage devices have become very ubiquitous, I was a little surprised at the wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors that were available. In many cases these storage devices can be branded with your custom logo or other text, providing a great way to share photos and other files with clients. I decided to test out the branding of storage devices, and so I found a company called USB Memory Direct (https://www. usbmemorydirect.com) that offers many different types of flash-based storage, all of which can be branded with your own logo. Having your logo added to flash media storage devices provides a polished and professional way to share photos and other files with clients and others. I found a style I liked, provided my logo as an image file with the specifications provided by USB Memory Direct, and in just a few days I had a batch of attractive storage devices emblazoned with my GreyLearning logo. PIXOLOGY 48
Perhaps best of all, I also discovered that the price to add your own logo to storage devices was not much more than you might otherwise pay for storage devices without a logo. Polished and Professional If you have a need to deliver photos to others, it may be worthwhile to consider using branded storage. The result can be a polished and professional way to deliver files, helping to reinforce your brand as a photographer in the process. v PIXOLOGY 49
The Magazine for Photographers About Tim Grey Pixology magazine is published electronically on a monthly basis. For more information, visit: www.pixologymag.com To contact the publisher: Tim Grey 243 5th Ave #131 New York, NY 10016 www.timgrey.com 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 email 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.
A dramatic sunset photographed on the island of Capri in Italy. Captured with an iphone, the only camera on hand when this beautiful scene appeared. PARTING SHOT