There’s nothing wrong with using the Adobe Default when you are just getting started. Check out my article on customizing your default settings: https://lightroomkillertips.com/customizing-camera-raw-defaults-in-lightroom-classic.
Visibility: A partially compatible preset is a preset that contains some settings not applicable to a specific type of photo. For example, perhaps you include a camera-specific profile along with other settings in a preset, so as a result that preset will only be partially compatible with photos that are not from that specific camera. When unchecked, you will not see presets in the Presets panel that are not fully compatible with the photo you are editing.
Location: By default, Lightroom Classic stores all your presets in a central location that’s accessible to any catalog you might have open at the time (as well as the Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop). This makes the most sense for most Lightroom Classic users. However, if you’d prefer to store your presets folder within the same folder as your catalog file, you can check this box, and Lightroom Classic will copy the default presets to the new location. Click the Show Lightroom Develop Presets Folder button for quick access to your preset files.
Lightroom Defaults: This collection of buttons serves a single purpose, which is to set each type of preset collection back to its default state. If presets ever seem to go missing, come back here and click the button that corresponds to the type of missing preset.
The External Editing preferences
If you have Photoshop installed, you’ll see, as shown in Figure 3-2, that it’s configured as your primary external editor. You can also configure other applications to have additional editors. However, if you don’t have Photoshop installed, you’ll only be able to configure the Additional Editor option because the first slot is reserved exclusively for Photoshop.
FIGURE 3-2: The External Editing preferences.
All external editors have the same basic file-setting options (File Format, Color Space, Bit Depth, Resolution, and Compression) to be configured. You do need to configure both editors independently, but this gives you the opportunity to set up each editor differently. The options you choose are going to be determined by your own needs and the type of editor you are using. After giving you a closer look at the file options, I’ll go over the steps for adding additional editors. Here are the file options:
File Format: You have two file format options to choose from — TIFF and PSD. Both formats support layers, 16-bit files, and available color spaces. PSD is Photoshop’s native file format, but it’s a proprietary format and not as widely supported outside the Adobe family of applications. In light of this, my preference is to use TIFF, but there’s no wrong choice here.
Color Space: You can find out more about color spaces in the “Understanding color spaces” section later in the chapter, but in a nutshell, a color space is a way to define a range of colors so that those colors can be accurately reproduced on different systems. Lightroom Classic has an internal color space that contains all the colors your camera can capture. Any time Lightroom Classic creates an actual rendered copy of your source files, it converts that file from Lightroom Classic’s internal color space to the output color space you’ve chosen. You have three color spaces to choose from:ProPhoto RGB: A 16-bit color space capable of holding all the colors captured by your camera, ProPhoto RGB is very similar to Lightroom Classic’s working color space, and therefore, I recommend this setting.AdobeRGB (1998): An 8-bit color space without as many colors as ProPhoto RGB, AdobeRGB (1998) is a common color space for digital photographers who are used to shooting JPG. This is your best choice if you choose 8 bits from the Bit Depth drop-down list.sRGB: Also an 8-bit color space, but with fewer saturated colors than Adobe RGB, sRGB has its place as an output color space, but it isn’t a good choice when sending files to be edited in Photoshop.
Bit Depth: This setting determines how much data is contained in a file. The more bits, the more information. The more information, the better for editing purposes. 16 bit is the recommended option if you’re working with raw originals. 8 bit is recommended if you’re working with JPG originals.
Resolution: Ultimately, the resolution setting comes into play only when you are printing. In this context, it simply sets the resolution tag in the new file’s metadata. It doesn’t affect the number of pixels in the file whatsoever. You’ll see 240 as the default setting; however, if your workflow requires that files have a different resolution setting (such as 300), you can enter that here.
Compression: This option is available only when TIFF is selected as the file format. ZIP is a lossless compression format. Your choices here are to use no compression (None) or apply compression (ZIP). Some other applications have trouble handling compressed TIFFs, so if you want a more compatible choice, choose None. If you want to save a bit of disk space, choose ZIP.
Setting up additional external editors
In a nutshell, you choose an editor, configure its settings, and then save those settings as a preset. You can create as many presets as you need. Here are the steps:
1 In the Additional External Editor section, click Choose.
2 Navigate to and select the application you want to use as an editor.On Mac, look in the Applications folder. In Windows, look in the Program Files folder. Once selected, you’ll see the name of the chosen application listed next to Application back in the Preferences dialog box.
3 Configure all the file-setting options for the type of files you want to send to that editor.
4 Choose Save Current Settings as New Preset from the Preset drop-down menu.
5 Give the preset a name and click Create.You’ll see this name listed under the Photo ⇒ Edit in the menu, so make it descriptive of both the application and file settings.
When Lightroom Classic renders a copy to send to Photoshop, it appends an -Edit suffix to the copy by default. You can customize this suffix in the Edit Externally File Naming section at the bottom of the dialog box, but I’d say unless you have a real need to change the suffix, the default works just fine.
The File Handling preferences
Figure 3-3 shows the File Handling preference
