Julieanne Kost's Blog

Here are several shortcuts to make working with Quick Collections more efficient.

• Tapping the “B” key adds the selected image(s) to a Quick Collection. Tap “B” again to remove the image(s).

• Command + B (Mac) | Control + B (Win) will  display the contents of a Quick Collection. Tapping it again returns you to your previous location (folder, collection etc.). This is a really useful shortcut that I just learned from the team.

• Command + Shift + B (Mac) | Control  + Shift + B (Win)  will delete the contents (clear) of a  Quick Collection.

• Command + Option + B (Mac) | Control + Alt + B (Win)  will convert (or save) a Quick Collection to a regular Collection.

Command + E (Mac) | Control+ E (Win)  opens selected files into your primary external editor. In most cases, this will be the most current version of Photoshop installed on your machine. You can also set up a secondary editor, in which case, Command + Option + E (Mac) | Control + Alt + E (Win) will open selected files into the secondary editor.

Click here (Moving Files between Lightroom and Photoshop) to learn more about setting up a secondary external editor (Corel Painter, for example), and creating presets for opening files into specific color spaces and bit depths.

When importing images from a card, you can choose to “Copy as DNG” or simply “Copy” the files (and then convert to DNG later in your workflow). The reason that I choose to convert my RAW files to DNG after I finish editing my shoot is because I often delete several photographs from a shoot (perhaps as many as 25%). So for my workflow, it doesn’t make sense to waste the time converting the files that I will later trash: I prefer to select Library > Convert to DNG when I am finished editing the shoot.

Of course, if you never delete any photos, then it might make more sense for you to choose “Copy as DNG” on import.

I am often asked “What is the preferred method for loading several years of images into Lightroom?”. Personally, I would choose Import (Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Shift + I), select the parent folder, choose to ADD them (assuming that they are already in the desired location) set the desired File Handling, and Apply During Import options, and choose Import.

For example, I might have a folder named “Photographs” on my drive (maybe it’s on an internal drive but more than likely all of those photos are on an external drive). Inside the “Photographs” folder I would have all of my images organized into subfolders by year (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 etc.). Instead of importing each year, I can simply select the parent folder (Photographs). By default, all of the subfolders will automatically be imported (if you do not see the photos in the middle section be sure to check the option to “Include Subfolders” in the Source area). Since I wouldn’t want to move the files (they are already on the drive where I want them), I will choose  “Add” (at the top-center of the import dialog). If needed, I can always move them later.

I would assume that this would be a large collection of images so I would suggest doing this before you go to bed and let Lightroom render the image previews overnight.  I would use the “Apply During Import” panel to create and apply a metadata template with my copyright and contact information but of course you can always do this to subsets of images  at a later time as well.

In this episode of the Complete Picture, (The Two Most Common Methods for Importing Files into Lightroom), Julieanne Kost demonstrates the two most frequent methods for importing files into Lightroom. She discusses the advantages of each workflow, whether you’re importing directly from a card or importing images already copied to a specific location on your hard drive.

Video Tutorial – How to Move and Archive Images in Lightroom

Because you want to work on your fastest drive, many photographer put both their catalog and their working files on their internal drive. Then, as they finish with a client job, they want to archive the images to an external drive for longer term storage. This video (How To: Move & Archive Images and Export A Catalog) shows how to create a folder on an external drive and move your files to that drive from within Lightroom. Note that the first segment answers the question “What are the question marks on my images/folders and how do I relink files?”. If you prefer to skip this section, start the video at 4 minutes 38 seconds.

(This Episode was first published on 2010/03/09 but I neglected to blog about it.)

It is not possible to import images from a card and have Lightroom erase the files on the original card. Lightroom can eject the card after import and from there, you should reformat the card in camera – after you know that all of your images copied properly AND you have created at least one backup of the files.

In this quick tip (How to use Lightroom’s “Show Photos in Subfolders” Feature) Julieanne shows when to toggle Lightroom’s Show Photos in Subfolders feature and why turning it on might show a 0 photo count for your topmost (parent) folders.

There are several shortcuts that can make your life easier when using a secondary window (on either your primary or secondary monitor).

F11 will open the secondary window. Add the Shift key on Windows to put the secondary window into Full screen, on Mac you need to add both the Command + Shift key. Note: the secondary window will only go to full screen if it is on a secondary monitor.

To move between views on a secondary monitor (Grid, Loupe, Compare and Survey), simply add the Shift key to the shortcuts keys that you already know! (G, E, C and N). Shift + \ will display the filter bar.

Likewise add the shift key to the normal shortcuts to zoom in/out (Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Shift +  (+) / (-) plus/minus) and increase/decrease thumbnail size (Shift +  (+) / (-)

For more information, this video will walk you through the advantages of using a secondary window.

Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + Shift  + Delete (or Backspace) will delete a photo from a folder in the Library Module and put it in the trash while bypassing the warning dialog box asking if you want to delete the image or simply remove it from the Lightroom catalog.

Be careful, you can not use Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Z to undo this action. If you accidently removed a photo you wanted, you will have to find the photo in the trash/recycle bin (through the operating system), and pull it out manually and place it where it belongs.

Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + K will enable the painting tool in the Library module. For those of you not familiar with the Painting tool, it allows you to pick an attribute (such as keywords, labels, ratings, target collection etc.) and apply to images by clicking on the image thumbnail in the Grid view. Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click with the Painter tool will remove the information. When finished, tapping the Escape key will put the tool away.

I thought that you had to click on each image with the Painter tool in order to apply its “attribute”. However, you can also drag across multiple thumbnails with the Painter Tool in Lightroom to spray them all at once.

I just learned a new shortcut with regards to flagging images:  tapping the tilda key will pick/remove the flag attribute from an image. This is really handy as you only have to tap one key to pick/remove a flag (as opposed to the shortcuts that I have been using – tapping “P” for pick and “U” for removing or unflagging an image). It’s not a new shortcut, it was just new to me.

I apologize for having several posts that cover shortcuts for flagging. However,  instead of re-posting them here, you can quickly view all posts on “flags” (to find shortcuts on assigning flags, auto-advancing, deleting rejected files etc.) by using the  “search julieanne’s blog” option in the upper right corner!

I’m constantly reminded that different people use different shortcuts to accomplish the same tasks. For example, I typically tap “G” to go to the Grid view and “D” to move to the Develop module, However, each module also has its own shortcut:

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + 1  moves to the Library module.

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + 2  moves to the Develop module.

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + 3  moves to the Slideshow module.

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + 4  moves to the Print module.

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + 5  moves to the Web module.

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + Up arrow moves to the previous module.

• Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + left/right arrow moves back/forward through the recently viewed modules.

• Command (Mac) / Control (Win) – click a panel header to open/close all panels.

Note: I have previously posted several additional shortcuts regarding panel behavior but somehow forgot this one. Instead of repeating previous posts, you can quickly view all posts on “panels” by using the  “search julieanne’s blog” option in the upper right corner! 

If you are missing the Tool bar in the Grid view in Lightroom, tap the “T” key. If you are missing the Filter Bar, tap the \.

Note: Don’t forget the Filter bar is only displayed in Grid view, not Loupe view.