August, 2009

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Chapter 15: Ten Common Lightroom Problems and Their Solutions

W* Perform basic disk maintenance. Hard drives get a lot of use and can often benefit from a little tender loving care. On Windows, you can run the Error-checking utility, and after that’s complete, run the Defragmentation utility. On Mac, periodically repair permissions with the Disk utility. Mac users typically don’t benefit from running a Defragmentation utility because the operating system does a better job of managing the disk during normal operation.

After you do your housekeeping on the startup disk, you can turn your atten­tion to Lightroom:

W* Render standard-sized previews. Lightroom runs on previews. When needed, Lightroom renders previews in the background while you’re working. You can take control of this process by setting Initial Previews on the Import dialog to Standard, which tells Lightroom to start render­ing standard-sized previews as soon as the import process is complete. You can also force the rendering process from within the Library module by selecting all photos and choosing LibraryOPreviewsORender Standard-Sized Previews menu.

W* Render 1:1 previews. If you view images at 1:1 (meaning 100 percent or actual size view) in the Library module, Lightroom needs to render a 1:1 preview. If you’re trying to skip quickly between photos at 1:1, notice the time it takes Lightroom to render each 1:1 preview while you work. After the preview is rendered, switching between photos is much faster. Just like with standard-sized previews, you can set Initial Previews on the Import dialog to 1:1, which instructs Lightroom to begin rendering when the import is complete, or you can force the rendering of 1:1 previews by selecting all photos and choosing LibraryOPreviewsORender 1:1 Previews menu.

W* Turn off Automatically Write Changes into XMP. This feature has been greatly improved since Lightroom’s initial release, but this background process could be causing the performance lag you’re experiencing. Choose FileOCatalog Settings, and then click the Metadata tab. Deselect the Auto Write setting and then click OK. Run Lightroom normally and see whether you notice any change in performance. You can still manu­ally write to XMP by selecting files and pressing Ctrl+S (86+S on a Mac). Check out Chapter 2 for more about what this setting offers.

W* Optimize the catalog. If your catalog has gotten large and could use a little housekeeping, choose FileOCatalog Settings and click the General tab. Click the Relaunch and Optimize button. Lightroom closes, and the catalog file is reorganized internally to operate more efficiently. This also removes any unused space from inside the catalog file, which can reduce its file size. The result is a smaller and more-efficient catalog, although gains are only likely to be noticed by very large catalogs.

I hope you see some gains after following these suggestions. If Lightroom is otherwise functioning normally and your system is getting a little long in the tooth, you may want to consider a hardware upgrade in your future.

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This is an often-asked question that stems from a misunderstanding more than a problem. When you shoot in raw mode, your camera saves that raw data to your memory card without processing it. However, your camera embeds a JPG preview in each raw file — the same JPG preview that you see on the back of your LCD screen. However, Lightroom has to render its pre­views for every raw file. The result is that while you watch the imported files appear on-screen, you first see the JPG preview you saw on the back of the camera, and then it’s replaced by Lightroom’s version of the default process­ing of that raw file. It’s very likely that the two versions won’t match, and the new Lightroom user’s first thought is, “Why is Lightroom destroying my raw files!?”

When the camera renders its JPG preview, it relies on the in-camera settings you applied for color mode, saturation, sharpness, and so on. Your camera may even have some special picture styles or black-and-white mode. Lightroom doesn’t have access to any of those in-camera settings. All Lightroom has is the raw capture data and its default rendering instructions for each camera model it supports, which is kind of a recipe for disappointment if you don’t know what to expect.

To get around this situation, you can apply a develop preset during import, and Lightroom uses that preset setting to inform its default rendering. Some users shoot in Raw+JPG mode and then import both as individual files. With both versions in Lightroom, they attempt to match the rendering of the JPG and then save those settings as a new Develop preset to be applied at import to raw files. Most of the time, just knowing what to expect can make all the difference. You can find more about the Import process in Chapter 4.

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Chapter 15: Ten Common Lightroom Problems and Their Solutions

When things aren’t functioning correctly, you notice that either the previews aren’t rendering at all (they just appear as gray or black rectangles) or all the previews have a strange color cast (typically magenta). I’ve only seen this problem occur on Windows, and both issues are caused by a bad moni­tor profile.

If you’re using a hardware-calibration device, the first thing to do is recali­brate your monitor. This results in a new profile being created and should solve the problem. If you’re not using a hardware-calibration device, this might be a sign that it’s time to invest in one. In the interim, you can try removing the current default profile to see if that makes a difference. The process is slightly different between Windows XP and Vista.

On Windows XP:

1.  Close Lightroom.

2.  Right-click an empty area of your desktop and choose Properties.

The Display Properties dialog box appears.

3.  In the Display Properties dialog box, choose the Settings tab, and click the Advanced button.

This opens the dialog box for controlling the advanced display properties.

4.  Choose the Color Management tab, select the profile in the Color Profiles Currently Associated with This Device field, and click the Remove button.

This removes it only from being associated with the monitor and doesn’t delete the file. Repeat this step if more than one profile is listed.

5.  Click OK to close the advanced display properties dialog box and then click OK again to close the Display Properties dialog box.

6.  Relaunch Lightroom.

On Vista:

1.  Close Lightroom.

2.  Choose StartOControl PanelOColor Management.

3.  Select the default profile listed in the Color Profiles Currently Associated with This Device field and click the Remove button.

4.  Click OK and then relaunch Lightroom.

Remember that removing the current default profile is a temporary solution. Ideally, calibrate and profile your monitor with a hardware device.

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Part V: The Part of Tens