Setting Preferences in Lightroom 2– Updated Now with Video!

May 15, 1009: I just updated this post with an an edge-of-your seat jaw-dropping video. Now you can watch and listen as I set up the Adobe Photoshop Lightrooom v2 preferences for maximum photographic happiness. This might be the biggest blockbuster hit movie of summer. Watch out, Wolverine!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v2 Preferences Menu from David Marx on Vimeo.

Lightroom has the power to be the photographic computer program that you spend the vast majority of your time in. Because of this, you want to make sure that you’ve tweaked it to perform just the way you want it to.

Click on any of the screen shots below for an enlarged view showing my preferred settings.

Preferences

When you first use Lightroom, you’ll want to get right into the preferences and get them set to your liking. I’ll go through each preference pane here and give you a brief description of what it means and what my desired setting is. Keep in mind that just because a setting is best for me, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s best for you. So…think for yourself, why don’t ya!?!

To access the preferences in Lightroom, choose Preferences from the Lightroom menu on a Mac or the Edit menu on a PC. Alternately, you can use the keyboard shortcut of Command-, on a Mac.

General

The General Preferences pane is pretty much what it sounds like…a place for settings that didn’t really fit anywhere else.

The General pane of the Lightroom preferences dialog.

Show splash screen during startup

The “splash screen” is the Lightroom billboard that appears on your screen while Lightroom is starting up. It mainly has the credits for the developers of the program.

The Lightroom Splash Screen that appears during startup. No need to see this again.

I already paid you for the program, what else do you want? Thanks for nothing, Adobe. Uncheck this box.

Automatically check for updates

If this box is checked, Lightroom checks over the Internet for updates to the program. Leave it checked.

When starting up use this catalog

Tells Lightroom which catalog to load when you start it up. If you’re just starting with Lightroom, or have a small collection of photos and only run Lightroom on one computer, you might want to select “Load most recent catalog.”

More advanced Lightroom users will most likely use more than one catalog and, for them, I recommend the setting of “Prompt me when starting Lightroom.”

Completion Sounds

You can Lightroom play a sound when it’s finished importing or exporting photos. I like this option, but this is purely a personal preference.

Reset all warning dialogs

This isn’t really a “preference.” If you’ve been shown any warning boxes in Lightroom and checked the “Don’t show again” box, clicking the “Reset all warning dialogs” button here will begin showing you those warning boxes again. If you feel like you may be missing something in Lightroom, try clicking this button, and maybe you’ll be warned about it again.

If you’ve clicked

Go to Catalog Settings

We’ll cover this one in another article.

Presets

The Presets Preferences pane is where we deal with what happens automatically to photos when they are imported and where all of the presets are stored.

The Presets pane of the Lightroom preferences dialog.

Apply auto tone adjustments

Attempts to auto-correct all of the images you import into Lightroom. Although the Auto-Tone adjustment can be accurate from time-to-time, I still prefer to do the editing on my own. Uncheck this box.

Apply auto grayscale mix when converting to grayscale

I do like to have this box checked. When you convert an image to grayscale (black and white) in Lightroom, you have the opportunity to fine-tune this conversion with the Grayscale Mixer. We’ll get into this later, but, for now, leave this preference setting checked. Lightroom does a fairly good job with grayscale conversions, and I go in and tweak them a bit almost every time, anyway.

Make defaults specific to camera serial number

If you have more than one of the same model camera, you might want to check this box. Lightroom allows you to set develop presets for images from different cameras and, with this setting checked, different camera bodies of the same model.

For instance, if you have two Nikon D300 bodies, you may find that, due to a calibration error, one needs a slight boost in exposure almost all the time where your other body does not. This setting would come in quite handy in this situation. It’s a pretty advanced setting, however, and one that, I would argue, most photographers will never use.

Make defaults specific to camera ISO setting

I like to have this box checked. You can set default levels of noise reduction, for example, to be greater in higher-ISO images.

Reset all default Develop settings

Just what it sounds like… If you’ve created default settings that just aren’t working for you, click this button to wipe them out and start over for images imported from here on out.

Store presets with catalog

Any preset or template that you create or add to Lightroom is just a tiny file that Lightroom has to access when starting up. When this box is checked, Lightroom creates a folder called “Lightroom Settings” in the same directory as the current Catalog. This folder has a number of sub-folders that hold presets such as Develop, Filename, Print, Web Templates, and more.

With the “Store presets with catalog” setting checked, Lightroom creates a Lightroom Settings folder in the same directory as the current Catalog.

If you don’t check this box, these preset files and folders are still created but are stored in a more difficult location to find. It’s very helpful to have easy access to these folders for the purposes of sharing presets with others, installing presets you may download from the Internet, backing up presets, and copying presets for use in new Catalogs.

Show Lightroom Presets Folder…

If you don’t know where the aforementioned Lightroom Presets folder is located:

1. Take off your left shoe and hit yourself right between the eyes for being a “Lightroom Victim” and not knowing where files are stored on your computer.
2. Click the “Show Lightroom Presets Folder…” button to be shown in a Finder or Windows Explorer window right where the folder is.

And don’t you forget it!

Restore [INSERT PRESET/TEMPLATE NAME HERE] Presets/Templates

Lightroom ships with some of its own presets and templates. If you’ve mucked these up, you can restore them by clicking the corresponding button.

After clicking the button to restore a preset, you’ll get this scary dialog box. Just click Restore.

When you click one, you’ll get a scary warning dialog box. Just click Restore. Any user-created presets that you’ve made or imported will remain untouched.

Import

The Import Preferences pane helps you determine what images are imported and how.

The Import pane of the Lightroom preferences dialog.

Show import dialog when a memory card is detected

Just what it sounds like. When Lightroom is open, if this box is checked and you insert a camera memory card (or plug a camera in to your computer), a dialog box will come up prompting you to import photos into Lightroom.

I like to have this setting checked. This is different, however, than having Lightroom automatically start itself up when a memory card is detected. There are few things more annoying and counter-productive. I’ll talk about how to deactivate that training-wheels function another time.

Ignore camera-generated folder names when naming folders

When importing photos, Lightroom gives you the option of using the existing folder structure on your cameras memory card. Unless you’re creating folders in-camera and wanting to keep that structure on import, uncheck this one.

Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos

If you’re shooting in RAW+JPEG mode on your camera (DON’T!!!), having this box checked would allow you to import both the RAW and JPEG versions of each image you shot without Lightroom warning you about duplicates. I can’t think of any good reason to have this checked.

File Extension

If you choose to convert your imported images to DNG, Adobe’s open-source camera-raw format, this drop-down list tells Lightroom to either use the .dng or the .DNG extension. I’m ok with lower-case…go with that.

JPEG Preview

This tells Lightroom what size preview to embed in files converted to DNG. An embedded preview helps them load faster in programs (and in the Finder on a Mac). The larger the preview, the larger your DNG file size. I do convert my raw files to DNG and I use the Medium Size JPEG preview.

Image Conversion Method

Here you have the choice between “Preserve Raw Image” and “Convert to Linear Image.” Preserve Raw Image sounds like the best option for me. To be completely honest, I’m not sure what Convert to Linear Image means. No longer Raw data? Pixel-based image? A little help here.

Options

• Compressed (lossless) – Compresses the DNG file without throwing away any information. Go for it. I have this one checked.
• Embed Original Raw File – This stores a full copy of the original raw file (NEF, CR2, etc) inside the DNG file in case you decide to extract it later. It makes for a very large DNG file, and I have no use for my NEFs once I convert them to DNG, so I do not have this checked. In my opinion, no one needs this checked, but if you have commitment issues and feel like you may want to go back to your original raw files one day, just archive them on a DVD or something. Don’t burden your computer with gigantic DNG files to manipulate.

External Editing

The External Editing Preferences pane is where we specify options for working with images outside of Lightroom. By default and not surprisingly, Lightroom is set to work primarily with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the integration in Lightroom 2 is tighter than ever. I suspect we’ll see increasing Photoshop integration with the the next versions of Lightroom and Photoshop.

The External Editing pane of the Lightroom preferences dialog.

This preferences pane is divided into three sections, each with its own set of options. The first, “Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS3,” is where you set the file defaults for a photo edited in Photoshop.

• File Format – You are offered the choice of opening a document into Photoshop in TIFF or PSD formats. The default, and the choice that Adobe strangely seems to push users toward, is TIFF. TIFF files can, indeed, contain all the information that you need to work in Photoshop, including layers, but I find them a bit large and unwieldy. My preference is PSD, the Photoshop Document format. If you choose this, however, you MUST make sure that any images saved from Photoshop are saved with the “Maximize Compatibility” setting turned on. To turn this on, open Photoshop, access Photoshop’s File Handling preferences pane (either from the Photoshop menu on a Mac or the Edit menu on a PC), and choose “Always” from the drop down box that says “Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility” and click OK.


Select

• Color Space – The largest color space available to you from Lightroom is ProPhoto RGB. I recommend that you do your Photoshop editing in ProPhoto, as well. A typical workflow will bring images into Lightroom, global edits there, to Photoshop if needed, then back into Lightroom for final prep and export. It is during this export step that copies of your images can be converted to smaller, and more widely-accepted color spaces such as sRGB.
• Bit Depth – Another bigger-is-better preference. 16-bit images contain, theoretically, twice as much information as 8-bit images. Take images to Photoshop in 16-bit and only convert to 8-bit if needed for a specific filter or something.
• Resolution – This setting has very little, if any, effect for most users. I set my resolution at 300 because that’s what I would use if I were printing to my printer from Photoshop. I never do this anymore, though, with Lightroom around, so the point is moot. You have to pick something, though, so why not 300?

The second section, Additional External Editor, is for settings related to an additional editing program. There are many ways to use this feature, so I’ll just quickly run through the basics.

• Preset – Lets you save a certain combination of external editing settings as a preset. New to Lightroom and quite useful for power users. Most users probably won’t do much here, though.
• Application – Which secondary application you’d like to use to edit from Lightroom. I’ve set up Photoshop CS3 as a secondary application, but with different file formats saved as preferences for different purposes. For example, I may just want to take a 72 dpi, 8-bit, sRGB file to Photoshop for some quick fiddling.
• File Format – Choose TIFF or PSD. I prefer PSD when working in Photoshop, but with other image editing programs, you may need to use TIFF.
• Color Space – This depends on the use. ProPhoto is the largest colorspace, but for many image editing programs, Adobe RGB is a good choice.
• Bit Depth – 8 or 16 bit, depending on how much quality you need. I choose 16 bit almost exclusively, but there is a file size price to pay for this choice.
• Resolution – As mentioned before, this setting has little effect. I like 300, usually.
• Compression – If your chosen file format is TIFF, then you’ll see a Compression choice here. When working with TIFFs, I typically choose no compression. The other two types of compression, LZW and ZIP, can be useful at times. Click here for a Wikipedia article on LZW compression and here for one on ZIP compression.

The “Edit Externally File Naming” section allows you to customize how your files are named when they are sent out for editing in an external program. The default is to add “-Edit” to the end of the filename, but you can create or use an existing file naming template to change this. I just leave mine set to the default.

File Handling

The File Handling Preferences pane basically deals with file naming and keyword rules and (new in Lightroom 2) where the Camera Raw cache is stored.

The File Handling pane of the Lightroom preferences dialog.

Reading Metadata

This deals with how keywords are created from existing information in a file’s metadata. This won’t affect too many users, but I recommend leaving both of these unchecked:

• Treat ‘.’ as a keyword separator – If this is checked, and keywords contain a period, they’ll be separated into multiple keywords. Example: If this box were checked, the keyword ‘rouse.scott’ would be interpreted as two keywords: ‘rouse’ and ’scott’.
• Treat ‘/’ as a keyword separator – If this is checked, and keywords contain a slash, they’ll be separated into multiple keywords. Example: If this box were checked, the keyword ‘dog/canine’ would be interpreted as two keywords: ‘dog’ and ‘canine’.

File Name Generation

This section helps you keep your file names within suggested parameters. Some characters are a bad idea to include in file names and could cause problems when trying to share your files with others. Two of the more dangerous characters for file names are the forward slash (/) and period (.).

• Treat the following characters as illegal – This tells Lightroom which characters are not allowed in file names. To maximize the compatibility of your files, I strongly suggest that you choose the second option: / : \ * ? ” < > | ¥ = + ; , ^ [ ] That will keep Lightroom from leaving any of those characters in a file name.
• Replace illegal file name characters with – This tells Lightroom what to replace any found illegal characters with. I like the “Dashes (-)” option, but an underscore is just as acceptable.
• When a file name has a space – This tells Lightroom what to replace a space in a file name with (if anything). Though a space in a file name is not tragic or anything, I do prefer to replace any spaces in file names with an underscore to maximize compatibility.

Camera Raw Cache Settings

The Camera Raw Cache is a centrally-located file that contains information about photos in Lightroom such as previews. Most of this information is located in the Lightroom Catalog, itself, or in the Lightroom Previews file. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure what this file does.

• Location – This tells Lightroom where to store the file. I just leave the default setting.
• Maximum Size – This limits how big the file can get. In order to try to speed up Lightroom, I’ve increased the maximum size to 2.0 GB.

Interface

The Interface Preferences pane deals mostly with the way Lightroom appears to you. Many of these settings are merely personal preference.

The Interface pane of the Lightroom preferences dialog.

Panels

The panels are on either side of the Lightroom interface. These are personal preference settings.

• Panel End Mark – At the bottom of each panel, Lightroom displays a little graphic, or “flourish.” This is fairly useless, unless you’re branding your copy of Lightroom to show to a client. You can add your own custom logo to the Panel End Marks folder to have it show up in this list. More on this another time. I just have mine set to “None.”
• Panel Font Size – This changes the size of the font used in the panels. If you’re having trouble reading the font, you can choose large, but I like the default of small to preserve screen real estate.

Lights Out

Lights Out mode helps you move your visual focus to your images. Tapping the L key on your keyboard cycles you through the three modes. These settings deal with what happens.

• Dim Level – The first tap of the L key dims everything around the image by a certain amount. I’m happy with the default of 80%.
• Screen Color – This determines what color the rest of the screen becomes when you enter Lights Out mode. I like Black.

Background

When in Loupe and Develop modes (and some others), you can determine what color the background interface is that surrounds your image.

• Fill Color – I like the default Medium Gray backdrop, but choose whatever works best for you.
• Overlay Texture – The default of none is just fine for me, but for some reason they offer the option of pin stripes. Too distracting for me, but go for it, if you want.

Filmstrip

The filmstrip runs along the bottom of the Lightroom interface.

• Show ratings and picks in filmstrip – Checking this shows star ratings and pick flags on your images in the filmstrip…quite helpful for me.
• Show photos in navigator on mouse-over – When checked, this displays a larger thumbnail of your image in the navigator panel on the top-left of the Lightroom interface. This is unnecessary for me, so I leave it unchecked.
• Show badges in filmstrip – Badges are small icons on your image thumbnails that indicate things like whether the file is online and available, whether its a virtual copy, its metadata status, and more. Checking this box shows those badges on your thumbnails in the filmstrip. I like to have this checked.
• Show image info tooltips in filmstrip – Tooltips are the (sometimes) helpful bits of information that appear near your mouse cursor when you hover over things. Hover your mouse over this sentence to see a tooltip. If this box is checked, hovering over an image in the filmstrip will cause a tooltip with the filename to appear. Somewhat helpful. I have it checked.

Tweaks

I guess these are items they couldn’t think to put anywhere else.

• Zoom clicked point to center – For some reason, this incredibly useful feature is inactive by default in Lightroom. I highly recommend checking this box. With the box checked, when you click on an image to zoom, you’ll zoom right in on the area you clicked. If it’s unchecked, your images zoom right in on the center of the image, regardless of where on the image you actually click. I stand corrected. (Thanks, Troy!) When checked, Lightroom will zoom the image with whatever point you clicked directly in the center. When unchecked, the point you click on ends up directly under the cursor after the zoom. I think Troy explains it better in the comments below.
• Use typographic fractions – On Macs only. When checked it allows Lightroom to display a fraction, like “2/5,” in a cleaner, more compact font format. I like to have it checked.
• Use system preference for font smoothing – On a PC only. I recommend leaving this checked. Most people won’t notice a difference, though. It just determines how fonts are displayed to you. Having it checked tells Lightroom to use your system’s preferred font smoothing settings. Good enough for me.

Well…there we go. Every preference setting described. I’ll be following this article up in the future with some posts on other preferences and tweaks in Lightroom that you may enjoy. Please feel free to comment on your favorite preference settings.

There is one more preference switch that is very important for some photographers. If you are running Lightroom v2 on a Mac with 4GBs or more of RAM, or on a PC running Vista 64-bit, please follow this link. If you have a computer that meets these requirements then you want to run Lightroom as a 64-bit application.

Filed Under: FAQ • Getting Started • Importing Images • Tips • Tutorials • Workflow

Tags: catalog • preferences • settings