Your camera LCD is giving you a biased preview.

Don't Blindly Trust Camera Exposure

​You dial in your settings, check your LCD, and the image looks absolutely perfect. The histogram agrees with your scene there isn't a "blinkie" in sight. You pack up, head home, throw the files into your editing software, and… wait. The shadow details are completely muddy, or worse, the highlights are permanently clipped.

​What went wrong? You trusted your camera’s display.

​Here is the hard truth every photographer needs to learn:

Your camera is giving you a biased preview.

​The RAW vs. JPEG Disconnect

​To understand why your exposure readings can deceive you, we have to look at how your camera processes data.

​RAW Files: This is the pure, uncompressed data captured by your camera's sensor. It has massive dynamic range, meaning it holds a ton of hidden detail in the brightest highlights and darkest shadows.

​JPEG Files: This is a compressed, processed version of that sensor data. Your camera bakes in contrast, saturation, sharpening, and a specific "Picture Profile" (like Portrait, Landscape, or Vivid), then discards the rest of the data.

​Here is the kicker: Your camera’s LCD screen, histogram, zebras, and highlight warnings (blinkies) are NOT showing you the RAW file. Even if you are shooting exclusively in RAW, your camera has to generate a quick visual preview to show you on the back of the screen. To do this, it processes a miniature JPEG preview and applies whatever picture profile you have active.

​Why Your Exposure Tools Deceive You

​Because your exposure tools are reading the processed JPEG preview and not the actual RAW data, they often ring the alarm bells way too early.

​1. The Deceptive Histogram

​If you have a high-contrast picture profile turned on (like "Vivid"), your histogram will show clipped shadows and blown-out highlights. In reality, your RAW file likely has plenty of salvageable data on both ends. You might be dialling back your exposure to "fix" a problem that doesn’t actually exist in the RAW file.

​2. Premature Blinkies & Zebras

​"Blinkies" (overexposure warnings) and Zebras are incredibly useful, but they trigger the second that the JPEG preview hits maximum brightness. Because JPEGs have significantly less dynamic range than RAW files, your camera will tell you your highlights are ruined when, in fact, the RAW file could easily recover them in post-processing.

​How to Get an Accurate Reading

​You don't have to fly completely blind. You can set up your camera to give you a preview that is much closer to the actual RAW data.

Step Action Why it Helps

1 Switch to a Neutral Profile Set your camera's picture profile to Standard, Neutral, or Faithful. Turn down the contrast and saturation in the profile settings.

2 Expose to the Right (ETTR)Push your exposure as bright as possible without actually clipping the RAW data.

3Trust Experience Over Automation

Learn how much highlight recovery your specific camera sensor is capable of.

What’s your go-to picture profile for shooting? Drop your camera setup in the comments below!

Shoot with purpose

I made an entry in my Discord Server.

If your interested following the link below lead to you it

https://larrysphotography41.blogspot.com/2025/12/larrys-photography-hangout.html?m=1

The 20 GB hole

To learn more of the hole check the thread,  in 

Here are the steps to create your Discord account and join Larry's Photography Discussion.

Phase 1: Create Your Discord Account

1. Go to the registration page: https://discord.com/register

2. Fill in your Email, Username, Password, and Date of Birth.

3. Click "Continue" and check your email inbox to verify your account.

Phase 2: Join the Server

1. Once your account is verified, click the server invite link: https://discord.gg/A59KQY95FN

2. Click Accept Invite.

3. When you land in the server, look for a #rules or #start-here channel and read the guidelines to gain full access.

Let me know if you run into any trouble!

It’s Not That Simple: Why There Are No Absolutes in Photography

Pressing the shutter button is the easy part. Everything else—the knowledge, the timing, the experience—takes effort.

Most of what you read, watch, or hear in workshops suggests a "do this to get better" approach. But in photography, there are no absolutes; there are only guides. To truly improve, you have to get out there, take the shots, and honestly analyze your results.

If I had to name the only "absolutes," they would be composition, focus, and what Matt Kloskowski calls "The Why." Why did you take the photo in the first place? Beyond that, everything is a choice. You might know the "rules" of composition, but which one fits this specific moment?

Here is why every "rule" comes with a "but..."

The Great "Buts" of Photography

"Use Aperture Priority for landscapes..." BUT if anything is moving—the wind in the trees or people walking by—you have to consider shutter speed. If your ISO is fixed, the camera will chase a "proper" exposure by adjusting your shutter speed. If it drops too low, you’ll lose that sharpness. (A good rule of thumb: keep your shutter speed at least 1/focal length for handheld shots).

"Use Shutter Priority for motion..." BUT remember that your camera will adjust the aperture to compensate. If you’re shooting a landscape at 1/600s on a windy day, your camera might open up to f/4.0. Is your background still sharp? Maybe, maybe not.

"Use a low ISO for a clean photo..." BUT don't be afraid of the dark. Modern sensors and AI software handle noise beautifully. I’d rather have a sharp, well-exposed shot with some noise than a "clean" shot that is blurry because the ISO was too low. Get the shot first.

"Never use AUTO..." BUT it’s a great tool to find a baseline or to use when you’re handing your camera to a friend. Often, the result is perfectly acceptable.

"Use JPEG..." BUT remember that a JPEG is like a wrapped deli ham sandwich. You can unwrap it and add some mustard, but it’s always going to be a ham sandwich. It’s fine for immediate posting, but your editing options are limited.

"Use RAW..." BUT know that it might look a bit "flat" on your LCD screen. The magic is in the post-processing—where you can turn that basic ham sandwich into a toasted turkey and ham panini.

"Use a fast shutter speed to stop blur..." BUT is that what you actually want? Photography is an artistic choice. Do you want to freeze a bird in flight, or do you want to show the beautiful motion of the wings through a bit of blur?

"Aperture controls Depth of Field (DoF)..." BUT it isn't the only factor. Your sensor size, your distance from the subject, and your focal length often matter more than your f-stop.

"Use Evaluative Metering..." BUT remember that your camera is just trying to turn everything into 18% gray. Whether you use evaluative, center-weighted, or spot metering, the camera is just doing math to find that middle gray. You have to decide if that's actually the look you want.

"A new camera will improve my photography..." NO, it won't. If you’re taking bad photos now, a more expensive camera will just take high-resolution bad photos. New gear might have better autofocus or cooler menus, but it won’t make you a better artist. Learn your current gear to its absolute limit first.

The Bottom Line

There is no single "secret" to being a better photographer. It’s a combination of all these variables and, most importantly, knowing your tool. Whether you’re using a cell phone or the latest high-end mirrorless, you need to know which button does what without thinking about it. If you don't know your camera, you can't use it to its full potential.

To paraphrase President Kennedy: We choose to become better photographers not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

The only way to get there is to keep shooting and keep analyzing.

The Subtractive Canvas: Is Photography Just Painting with Pixels?

In the art world, we often pit photography 0and painting against one another. One is seen as a "capture" of reality, the other a "creation" from nothing. But as we move deeper into the digital age, the line between a brushstroke and a pixel is blurring.

If we look closely at the mechanics of the craft, we find that a photographer is essentially a painter—just one who works in reverse.

Drawing with Light

The word photography literally means "drawing with light." While a painter uses a brush to apply pigment to a linen canvas, a photographer uses a lens to "brush" photons onto a digital sensor.

In this metaphor:

The Sensor is the Canvas: A grid of millions of photosites (pixels) waiting to be filled.

Aperture and Shutter Speed are the Brushes: A wide aperture creates a broad, soft stroke (bokeh), while a fast shutter speed captures a sharp, precise dab of detail.

The RAW file is the Palette: A digital space where we mix colors, push shadows, and pull highlights to match our vision.

The Great Inversion: Additive vs. Subtractive

The most profound difference between these two mediums isn't the tools, but the philosophical starting point.

Traditional painting is additive. You start with a white void—a blank canvas. Every mountain, tree, or stray hair must be intentionally placed there. If there is a distraction in a painting, it’s because the artist chose to put it there.

Photography, however, is subtractive.

A photographer starts with the entire world—a chaotic, messy, and unorganized reality. The artist’s job is to "remove" the noise. When you look through a viewfinder, you aren't just deciding what to include; you are deciding what to kill. You move your body to hide a trash can behind a tree; you use a shallow depth of field to blur out a distracting crowd; you crop the frame to isolate a single soul in a city of millions.

"A photographer will remove a distraction when a traditional artist would not add a distraction in the first place."

The Physics of the Pixel

Even the physics of the two mediums are inverted. In traditional painting, you work with subtractive color (RYB)—mix enough pigments together, and you get a dark, muddy black.

Digital photography relies on additive color (RGB). Because you are painting with light, the more "paint" you add to a pixel, the closer you get to pure, brilliant white. This relationship is governed by the intensity of light hitting the sensor, often measured by the Inverse Square Law:

This formula reminds us that the "thickness" of our light-paint depends entirely on our distance from the source.

Conclusion: Two Paths to the Same Peak

Whether you are building a world one brushstroke at a time or carving a masterpiece out of the chaos of reality, the goal remains the same: to translate a feeling into a visual language.

The painter starts with nothing and adds until the work is finished. The photographer starts with everything and subtracts until only the truth remains. Both, in the end, are simply masters of the pixel and the pigment.

Since we’ve explored the philosophy of the "subtractive" frame, would you like me to generate some high-quality images that demonstrate these concepts—perhaps a side-by-side of a "painterly" long exposure versus a sharp, "subtractive" street photo?

Photography Is Like Playing Guitar

I recently watched a video about Roy Clark discussing some of the greatest guitar players he had ever seen.

It got me thinking:

Playing guitar is a lot like photography.

At first, that may sound like an odd comparison. One is music and the other is visual art. But the more I thought about it, the more similarities I saw.

The instrument doesn't make the musician

A great guitarist can pick up an ordinary guitar and make something meaningful happen.

Give another person the same guitar and the result may be very different.

The difference isn't necessarily the instrument.

It is the person using it.

Photography is much the same.

We can spend hours discussing cameras, lenses, megapixels, autofocus systems, dynamic range, ISO performance and the latest technology. All of those things can be useful.

But none of them determines whether a photograph is meaningful.

A photographer can use a $10,000 camera and make boring photographs.

Another photographer can use a relatively inexpensive camera and make photographs that stop you.

The camera is the instrument.

The photographer is the musician.

Technique matters—but technique isn't the photograph

A great guitarist needs technique.

They have to understand chords, timing, rhythm, fingering and how to control the instrument. Years of practice allow them to do things almost instinctively.

Photography is no different.

We need to understand shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focus, exposure and composition.

But imagine listening to a guitarist whose entire goal was to demonstrate how many notes he could play per second.

Technically impressive?

Perhaps.

Interesting to listen to?

Not necessarily.

Photography can fall into exactly the same trap.

Look at my sharpness.

Look at my bokeh.

Look at my high ISO performance.

Look at my dynamic range.

Look at my 100-megapixel file.

Those things can become the photographic equivalent of playing as many notes as possible.

But the obvious question remains:

What are you trying to say?

The great players don't just play notes

What separates a great musician from someone who has simply learned to play an instrument is often difficult to describe.

There is feeling.

Timing.

Interpretation.

Knowing when to play—and when not to play.

The musician isn't thinking:

"I need to demonstrate this technique now."

They are responding to the music.

Photography works the same way.

A photographer isn't simply collecting technical achievements.

The photographer sees something.

Something catches their attention.

Maybe it is the expression on someone's face.

Maybe it is the relationship between a bird and its environment.

Maybe it is light falling across an ordinary object.

Maybe it is a moment that will never happen again.

The technical decisions should serve that observation.

Knowing when NOT to do something

This may be one of the most important similarities.

A good guitarist knows that playing another note doesn't necessarily make the music better.

A good photographer needs the same restraint.

More sharpening doesn't necessarily improve a photograph.

More contrast doesn't necessarily improve it.

More saturation doesn't necessarily improve it.

A wider aperture isn't automatically better.

A faster shutter speed isn't automatically better.

A longer lens isn't automatically better.

And filling the frame isn't automatically better.

The question isn't:

What can I do?

The question is:

What does this photograph need?

There is no single "correct" setting

This is where photography discussions sometimes get strange.

Someone asks:

"What settings should I use?"

And somebody responds:

"1/1000, f/8, ISO 400."

But settings without context don't mean much.

A guitarist doesn't have one correct setting for every song.

Photography doesn't either.

If I'm photographing a bird in flight and my intent is to show the bird isolated against a clean background, I may make very different decisions than if my intent is to show the bird within its environment.

If I'm photographing a person, my decisions may change depending upon whether I'm trying to record their appearance, their personality, their relationship with someone else, or simply a moment in their life.

The photograph determines the technique.

Not the other way around.

The best photographers develop a voice

Listen to enough great guitarists and you can sometimes identify the player without being told who is performing.

They have a sound.

Photography can work the same way.

Not necessarily because every photograph follows the same formula, but because the photographer has developed a way of seeing.

Their photographs may reveal what they find interesting.

What they notice.

What they ignore.

How they interpret light.

How they approach people, wildlife or landscapes.

Their photographs begin to say something about the photographer.

That is much more interesting to me than simply producing technically perfect files.

Practice should solve problems

A guitarist doesn't become better simply by playing scales forever.

Scales have a purpose.

They develop skills that can eventually be used when making music.

Photography practice should work the same way.

Don't just go out and take 200 photographs because someone told you that great photographers shoot thousands of frames.

Go out with a problem to solve.

How can I photograph this bird while still showing its environment?

How can I show the relationship between these two people?

How can I use the available light?

How can I make the background less distracting?

How can I show movement?

How can I make the photograph communicate what caught my attention?

Now you're practicing photography rather than simply operating a camera.

Don't confuse the instrument with the artist

This may be the biggest lesson I take from the guitar analogy.

A better guitar doesn't automatically produce better music.

A better camera doesn't automatically produce better photographs.

Better equipment can certainly remove limitations. It can make some things possible that were previously difficult or impossible.

But once the equipment is capable of doing what you need, the limiting factor often becomes something else.

What do you see?

What are you trying to accomplish?

Why are you making the photograph?

That's where photography becomes more than operating a camera.

The camera is our instrument.

The photograph is our music.

And just as I don't want to listen to a guitarist simply demonstrating what his fingers can do, I don't want to make photographs simply demonstrating what my camera can do.

I want the equipment to disappear.

I want the technique to serve the idea.

And I want the photograph to communicate why I stopped and looked in the first place.

That, to me, is the difference between taking pictures and making photographs.

I'm not a writer so I a gave this prompt to chatGPT "I believe that guitar playing is like photography. Listen or watch https://youtu.be/Ge254sHYFzc?is=rmuEqQuCIeO9uNoi to see if you agree.

If so write a Blog post write it From the point of photography." and that was I read before I used in the Blog post.

Turn Your Photos into a Learning Database

 Joe Edelman often speaks about of improving your images. Some his theme is Learning from your mistakes. It's not about the occasionali misfires, out of Focus. It's about your intent or the Why you took the photo. His articles and videos are on Intent , How to make a Visual Database , Don't be afraid to SUCK and many more.

My way is using the lightroom classic meta data to record my intent and what to do next along with all settings. To accomplish that I have used the Print module and the photo info and custom settings. A example image using my print User preset

I remembering my Visual Database is helpful but to me writing it down is an active tha improves me.

How do I do that? For Lightroom Classic there are several metadata fields can be helpful when I take the time to fill them in. Ok Larry how?

Use the Print Module and create a User Preset and print a JPG shared folder on you device. No you have a Photo Learning Database you can review and possibly share to others.

This is my print preset template 

Print Info on a photo: My One-Click Lightroom Classic Print preset

  Print Info on a photo: My One-Click Lightroom Classic Print Preset

Setting up prints in Lightroom Classic often involves jumping through the same visual hoops—dialing in margins, placing stroke borders, positioning watermarks, and ensuring your cell sizes match your paper stock. To streamline the process, I built a custom Print module preset that formats images for printing in a single click.

Here is a look at a sample print layout created directly with this preset:

This image shows the fields I used that include the Title, Caption and the camera info includes selected EXIF Data and other fields in that are available in Library Metadata.

Tokens used;  title, caption, "Camera Info:"  model exposure ISOSpeedRating focalLength meteringMode exposureProgram exposureBiasValue "Photo Intent;"  headline; "Challenges you had"  altTextAccessibility; "Next time;" extDescrAccessibility ©copyright

Please note the the " " areas are Strings in the Text Template Editor box.  Also to end the extDescrAccessiblity using space and alt+0169 to add the copyright symbol  in a Windows computer. 

Why Use a Print Preset?

Creating a consistent presentation for physical prints saves time and eliminates tedious layout tweaking. This preset automatically configures:

• Precise Cell Margins: Leaves ideal borders for handling, framing, or matting.

• Layout Dimensions: Matches standard output proportions without clipping your image boundaries.

• Stroke & Border Finish: Adds a clean finish to separate the image cleanly from the paper background.

Download & Installation

1. Download the Preset: Link to preset.

2. Open Lightroom Classic: Jump to the Print module in the top navigation bar.

3. Locate the Template Browser: On the left panel, find the Template Browser section.

4. Import: Click the + (plus) icon on the Template Browser header, select Import, and navigate to the downloaded .template or .lrtemplate file.

5. Apply: Click the newly added preset in your Template Browser to apply the exact layout to any active image in your catalog.

My Lightroom Classic Photography Workflow

My Lightroom Classic Photography Workflow

I was viewing an YouTube video about DxO. I didn't watch much and started to look at the comments. On the top was a rant about the Adobe subscription. I thought many miss what is available and how useful the ecosystem is.  I had only scratched the surface for the last 10 years I have been using it.

So I used chatGPT to discuss my limited use of how I was using the ecosystem. And after several conversations of my use. I asked chatGPT to write my way. Most of the following is our workflow. My thoughts his words. I'm still implementing the the process.

My workflow is built around intent. There is no single correct Lightroom workflow because the purpose of a photograph determines what I need to do with it.

I don't believe a Lightroom workflow should be a rigid set of rules. The workflow should support the photographer's purpose rather than dictate it. What I do with an image depends on why I made it, what I see in it, and what I ultimately want to do with it.

1. Import

I import the photographs I want to bring into Lightroom Classic and place them in an appropriate broad category folder.

An import does not necessarily represent a complete shoot. I may import an entire shoot, part of a shoot, or selected photographs. The important point is that the photographs being imported are the photographs I have decided to bring into my Lightroom Classic catalog.

Immediately after import, I begin the organizational and culling process.

2. Location Information

When the camera provides GPS information, I use that information rather than creating location keywords.

Lightroom Classic's Map module provides a useful way to work with location information. When appropriate, I use reverse geotagging to add location information based on the GPS coordinates.

If GPS information was not recorded but I know where the photographs were made, I can select the appropriate photographs and assign their location using the Map module.

This keeps location information in location metadata, rather than unnecessarily duplicating it in my keyword structure.

3. Initial Culling

My culling process is designed to separate photographs that deserve further attention from those that don't.

I use Assisted Culling as an aid, not as the final decision maker. Its purpose is to identify photographs that may have technical problems or may otherwise warrant rejection.

I review the images Assisted Culling identifies as rejects. If an image has potential despite being identified as a reject, I can promote it to the Selects for further consideration.

The important point is that the computer does not make my final artistic decisions.

4. Two-Pass Culling

After the initial culling and review, I use my two-pass culling process.

The first pass is intentionally fast. I am looking for photographs that create an emotional or visual response and avoiding the temptation to pixel-peep or analyze every technical detail.

The second pass is where I slow down and critically evaluate the photographs that survived the first pass.

I look at such things as focus, composition, exposure, distractions, timing, expressions, and similar or duplicate frames. I also consider whether another photograph better accomplishes what I intended.

The complete two-pass process is described in my article:

A Two-Pass Culling Workflow in Lightroom Classic

The purpose of the two passes is not to make perfect decisions in two seconds. The purpose is to avoid spending significant time evaluating photographs that don't deserve it while protecting the initial reaction that caused me to notice an image in the first place.

5. Ratings and Editing

Once I have identified photographs worth developing, I use star ratings to express my judgment about them.

My typical working convention is:

• 4 stars — photographs I intend to edit or develop.

• 5 stars — photographs I consider particularly strong.

• 5 stars + Green — my favorites or photographs I consider among the best.

These aren't universal rules. They are part of my system and can change when my purpose changes.

I then process the photographs in Lightroom Classic. When Lightroom doesn't provide the tools I need, I use Photoshop for more advanced editing, such as complex masking or localized adjustments.

6. Organization

I organize my physical folders using broad photographic categories such as:

• Animals

• Education

• Landscape

• and other major categories appropriate to my library.

Within Lightroom Classic, I use Collection Sets and Collections to provide another level of organization.

For example:

Animals

• Birds

• Mammals

• Other Wildlife

This is not intended to create a perfect representation of my photographs. There is no perfect photo organization.

A photograph can belong to multiple collections without creating duplicate files. That allows Collections to provide organizational views that would be impossible to reproduce with a rigid folder hierarchy.

7. Keywords

Keywords provide another layer of organization, but their purpose is different from folders and Collections.

I use keywords primarily to describe what is in the photograph.

For example:

• Birds

• Great Blue Heron

• Mammals

• White-tailed Deer

• Wildlife

• Flowers

• Architecture

Keywords allow me to find photographs across my physical folders and Collections without requiring my folder structure or Collection hierarchy to anticipate every possible future search.

I don't need to make location keywords a major part of this system because Lightroom's location metadata and Map capabilities provide a better way to handle geographic information.

8. Collections Are Flexible

Folders answer one question:

Where is the photograph physically stored?

Collections answer a different question:

How do I want to group or use these photographs?

A photograph can be in a physical folder, belong to several Collections, have multiple keywords, have a star rating, and have a color label—all without creating multiple copies of the photograph.

This is why I don't try to build a perfect folder structure.

Collections and Collection Sets solve the problem of having more than one way to organize the same photograph. Keywords provide yet another way to find it.

9. Favorites and Finding Photographs

My use of ratings and color labels gives me several ways to find photographs.

For example, I can find:

• All Green photographs

• All 5-star photographs

• 5-star Green photographs

• Photographs matching particular keywords

• Combinations of these criteria

This makes the Lightroom Classic catalog much more powerful than simply browsing folders.

I can use these searches to create Collections for particular purposes without moving or duplicating the original photographs.

10. Syncing

I do not automatically need every photograph in the Adobe cloud ecosystem.

I selectively synchronize Collections when I have a reason to make those photographs available through Lightroom Web or Lightroom Mobile.

Sometimes I may synchronize a group of photographs from a shoot because I want to work with them on another device. At other times I may synchronize only my best photographs for viewing or sharing.

The important distinction is that Sync is a purposeful action, not a backup strategy.

Lightroom Classic's synchronization makes Smart Previews available through the Adobe ecosystem rather than requiring my original RAW files to be uploaded.

This provides considerable practical value without changing Lightroom Classic's role as the hub of my local photo library.

11. Sharing and Presentation

One of the advantages of the Adobe ecosystem is that the same Lightroom Classic library can support several different purposes.

Depending on my intent, I can use:

• Lightroom Web for web-based galleries and sharing.

• Lightroom Mobile for viewing and sharing photographs from a mobile device.

• Shareable links when I want someone else to see a group of photographs.

• Adobe Portfolio when I want to present photographs as part of a website or portfolio.

The photograph doesn't have to be reorganized or duplicated simply because I want to use it for a different purpose.

12. Export

Sometimes the destination is outside Adobe.

For example, if a photography group asks me to provide photographs in a shared Google Drive folder, I can use Lightroom Classic's filtering and selection capabilities to identify the photographs I want and then export copies in the required format.

Export is therefore another purpose-driven step.

I don't export a photograph simply because Lightroom gives me an Export command. I export it because I have a reason to deliver that photograph somewhere else.

13. Backup Is Separate

Organization in Adobe and backup are separate processes.

My Lightroom Classic catalog, photographs, Collections, keywords, ratings, edits, and the Adobe ecosystem provide a system for organizing, processing, finding, presenting, and sharing my photographs.

That does not make the Adobe ecosystem my backup system.

My original photographs and catalog require a separate backup strategy designed specifically to protect them against loss.

Keeping these two functions separate makes the purpose of each system much clearer.

Why I Use This Workflow

The common thread through all of these steps is intent.

I don't ask:

What is the correct Lightroom workflow?

I ask:

Why am I doing this, and what do I want to accomplish?

That question determines whether I need to cull an image, edit it, rate it, add a keyword, put it in a Collection, synchronize it, share it, export it, or simply keep it in my library.

My system therefore isn't intended to be a universal Lightroom workflow. It is my practical workflow, developed around how I photograph, how I evaluate photographs, and how I want to use my library.

The Adobe Ecosystem Adds Value

Lightroom Classic remains the hub of my photographic library, but the value of the Adobe ecosystem goes beyond Lightroom Classic itself.

Folders provide physical organization. Collections provide flexible photographic organization. Keywords describe what is in the photograph. Ratings and labels express my judgment. Culling determines which photographs deserve further attention. Editing develops the photographs. Sync makes selected photographs available across the Adobe ecosystem. Lightroom Web and Mobile provide access and sharing. Portfolio provides presentation. Export connects my library to services outside Adobe. Backup protects the library independently of all of this.

The value isn't simply having several Adobe applications. It is the way those applications work together around the photographs I have chosen to make and the purposes for which I want to use them.

Focus Point

 I had a photo that I thought was good. But on a closes inspection, zoom 100%, the subject was a little soft, maybe more than a little. So since I hadn't cropped the image I decided to use OM Workspace to take a look. Most editing is in Lightroom/Photoshop but OM Workspace has a coupe of features that Adobe doesn't have. One is the focus point.

So where did I focus and what focus mode did I use?

Spot focus mode and something out of the DoF of the subject. This is the screenshot. 

The green dot is the focus point. So next time I give a 9x9 grid on my OM-D E-M5 iii.

What's the Characteristics of a good Photo?

Many photographers have their own view.  Many have attended classes, videos, presentations about settings, cameras, lenses, "rules". Some photos are great, some not so much. 

When a different genre isn't familiar with you? Where do you start?

Joe Edelman's video where he discussed he about a new to him genre.

Even I've taken a lot of photos I gave ask a question like "What are the characteristics to create an interesting landscape photo"

So I asked Gemini, chatGPT, and Chrome.

Similar results and things to think about.

Please use the comments area or my Skool Community.

A Two-Pass Culling Workflow in Lightroom Classic

I had done a little research that said both casual social media scan of photos averaged 1.5 to 2 seconds. Also Competation judges used the same time to get the initial possibles. Both use very critique to pause the scroll or make it as a possible.

That led my could use the technique. Following my discussion with chatGPT I asked "it" to write the steps.

I followed the steps, below, to cull 65 images from 2017. It worked for with one addition. I selected the Picks and used Assisted Culling with 80% focus, Exposure Issues and misfires. Then went through the rejected and marked those with a 77+ score as select.

Now I had 22, Pass 2, to critically review.

Below is steps that chatGBT wrote for me.

YMMV.

The idea

Don't try to make every culling decision at once.

The first pass is about your immediate response to the photograph. The second pass is where you slow down and make the more considered decisions.

Pass 1 — The Fast Cull

The goal is to quickly identify photographs that deserve a second look.

1. Open the shoot in Lightroom Classic's Library module.
2. Select the images you want to cull.
3. Switch to Loupe View.
4. Turn on Auto Advance.
5. Set yourself a very short viewing time—about 2 seconds per photograph.
6. As each photograph appears, ask only two questions:
   • Does it create an emotional connection with me?
   • Does it have any obvious major flaw?
7. If the answer is yes to the first question and no to the second, press P for Pick.
8. If it doesn't make the cut, press U to leave it unflagged.
9. Keep moving. Do not stop to inspect a Pick.

The important point is that a P is not a final keeper.

It means:

This photograph caught my attention. I want to look at it again.

You're deliberately resisting the temptation to examine focus, noise, subtle exposure problems, or other details.

Pass 2 — The Deliberate Cull

Now filter the shoot to show your Picked photographs.

This is where you slow down.

Look more carefully at:

• Focus and whether the important subject/detail is sufficiently sharp
• Composition
• Exposure
• Distracting elements
• Timing and expression
• Similar or duplicate photographs
• Whether another frame in the sequence is actually better

This is where X — Reject becomes useful.

If a photograph that initially caught your attention doesn't survive closer examination, mark it X.

You can now make comparisons that would have been counterproductive during the first pass.

The principle

The two passes serve different purposes.

Pass 1 asks:

Does this photograph make me stop emotionally, and is there no obvious reason to reject it?

Pass 2 asks:

Now that I've stopped, is this actually one of the photographs I want to keep?

The first pass protects the emotional response to the photograph.

The second pass applies the critical judgment.

And most importantly, don't let Pass 2 contaminate Pass 1. If you stop during the two-second pass to pixel-peep a photograph, you've changed the nature of the first pass.

The objective isn't to make the perfect decision in two seconds.

It's to make a good enough decision about which photographs deserve your time.

Lightroom Classic Editing?

 Should you edit in the folder or use a collection and why?

When I started using LrC in 2017 or 18 the WHY escaped me because both edited the same information. So why was I told that?

Now in 2026 I now why I should use collections. 

My choice is creating virtual copies within the collection so I have different crop ratios as well tonal adjustments depending on the output version, B&W, display, print media.

Your sensor usually is 2x3 or 3x4 so you use virtual copy to crop for your output media ratio.