Seeing Images in Your Parent and Subfolders

Just a quick tip today — it is 92 in my office and 103 outside –  the hottest day in recorded Seattle history.  (I realize that this is nothing for some of you!)

My folders are arranged in a hierarchy –  Pictures\year\shoot, with ocassional subfolders within a shoot.  By default the Lightroom folder panel shows an image count for the parent folder, plus all subfolders within it.  And if you click on the folder you see all of the images in that folder and its subfolders.   In the snapshot below, I have a total of  1866 images from 2008.   Most live in shoot subfolders (only a partial list is shown.)

Default View: Show Photos in Subfolders

If I click on the 2008 folder, I see all 1866 images, regardless of what subfolder they live in.

This is usually exactly what I want, but occasionally I want to see just images that live in the parent folder, and NOT in the subfolder.   In this case I want to see just images that live in 2008, and are not in a subfolder.   To do this, I go to File>Library Filters and uncheck Include Photos from Subfolders.  Now what is displayed is just what lives in that specific folder:

Alternative: Do Not Show Photos in Subfolders

So I have one image in 2008 that I forgot to file in a subfolder.  When I click on 2008, I will see just that one image, and can move it to its proper subfolder.

Stay cool!

Getting Those Panels Under Control

In Lightroom you can hide the top, bottom, left and right panels so that you have more room to show your images.  To hide a panel, click on the triangle at the outside center edge of the panel.  Click on it again to show it again.   There are shortcuts, of course:  Tab hides and shows the left and right panels;  Shift-Tab hides and shows all four panels.

Have you ever closed your Lightroom panels,  and then been annoyed when they pop open again when you hover over that area with your mouse?    If so, you can take control over this situation:  right-click (Ctl-click if you have a a one-button mouse) on the panel triangle and choose Manual.  Now they will only open and close when you click on the triangle.   In “Auto Hide and Show” mode the panel will close when you move the mouse away and open when you hover over the area.  In “Auto Hide” mode the panel will close when you move away, and will only reopen when you click on the triangle.

Your Chance to Help and Influence Adobe

Adobe is looking for Lightroom and Photoshop users to interview!  Those that participate receive an Amazon gift card.   You need to respond to Anita Dennis this week to be considered.

Details are on Adobe’s Phosphors blog, which is a great source for updates on Help content for Lightroom, Photoshop and Camera Raw.  Check it out and consider bookmarking it or setting up a feed.

I have Lightroom. Do I need Photoshop?

I have been meaning to write a post on this topic.  However, I noticed today that my colleague Gene McCullagh has just written about this over on his blog, Lightroom Secrets.   I agree with Gene that Lightroom will serve most photographers needs most  of the time (and some photographers, all the time).   My advice to serious amateurs and pro’s is to learn Lightroom very well, and only then,  if you find you need more sophisticated pixel-editing tools, consider Photoshop (or even PS Elements) for just those advanced needs.

I believe that today, with Lightroom so well established and powerful, educational programs that start photographers out in Photoshop rather than Lightroom are doing them a real disservice.  I hope that programs that continue to take this outdated approach will catch up soon.

Click here for Gene’s post.

By the way, there is alot of great material on lightromsecrets.com … do check it out!

Selecting Images in Lightroom

Selecting images seems to be a fairly straightforward task, but Lightroom can actually be pretty finicky about how you do it.  Here’s a video I put together to show you how to select individual images and groups of images, and to help you avoid unintended consequences.

watch video