Adobe has released a raft of updates to Bridge, Lightroom, Photoshop and Camera Raw in recent weeks.

Here, a first look at Quick Actions in Adobe Bridge.

Bridge is interesting software, it's really for those who don't use Lightroom Classic, sitting between Lr and Ps, it allows for image management and editing using Camera Raw.

But it does have useful functionality, and the new Quick Actions will come in handy at times.

Here, I try a Quick Action to Remove Background in the above image with one movement - drag the image to the flyout panel.

The Quick Actions flyout window opens, and works away - this as you can see is powered by Adobe Express.

You are then left with the image with background removed, two options are possible here - Download the image to your computer or Open in Adobe Express.

The latter will open Adobe Express in your web browser where more functionality is possible such as adding the image to animations and videos. Subscribe to stay informed when I make a post on this very thing.

Here I have just decided to download, it's then possible to import the file into Lightroom or use in Photoshop.

You can of course remove the background, or inversely the subjects such as these cows, in other ways such as using Photoshop but this method using Adobe Bridge is quick and easy.

Here it has done a fine job of identifying all of the cows, including those sitting down and those in the background, removing everything else. Impressive, I would say.

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**Update** This issue should have been fixed by now, if you have updated to the latest versions of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and you can return to editing in Photoshop rather than Photoshop (Beta) by changing back in preferences

September 2024 - Another Adobe update and yet again another problem with the connectivity between Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop 2024.

You might have had the pop-up warning dialog which reads "Photoshop Version Open Warning: Lightroom Classic and Adobe Photoshop 2024 are having issues connecting. Please reinstall Adobe Photoshop 2024 and try again."

This bug has affected me as well so you're not alone. I was trying to edit this image of Ireland's Cliffs of Moher in Photoshop after having made some Lightroom edits but I ran into the problem.

Here are the steps for a temporary fix for the moment:

1.  Go to Edit > Preferences

2.  Under Edit in Adobe Photoshop 2024 click Photoshop version: 

3.  Choose Adobe Photoshop (Beta)

4.  Then click OK at the bottom to make the changes.

CTRL+E or right click > Edit In > Edit in Adobe Photoshop 2024... should now work and allow you to edit your images in Photoshop (Beta)

This should work for now, the Beta version of Photoshop will work fine for all your editing and this workaround saves you having to uninstall and reinstall Photoshop 2024.

Given the level of complaints about this one I think there will be a fix along at some point but if not then it might be necessary to do an uninstall and reinstall.

Sometimes when working with images in Adobe Lightroom Classic, it is preferable to group similar images together into a stack so that all of the images are on top of each other with one on top.

In this case, I have been working on images taken in an exposure bracket or maybe if you had a sequence for focus bracketing.

Here there are five images taken with different exposures to give a final image with a wider dynamic range, or HDR and after processing these to create the HDR image I don't need to see the five source images.

Usually when processing in this way it is possible to have Lightroom group the images into a stack automatically.

But on occasions, either when forgetting to do so, or as in my case Lightroom failed to create the stack automatically, it is possible to add images into a stack manually.

Here are the steps to group images into a stack in Lightroom with Grid view (images below):

1. Select your images, here I have the five source images and one HDR image so six in total

2. Right click on the selection

3. In the context menu choose Stacking, then Group into Stack

4. That's it, or you can use the CTRL-G shortcut after selecting images

5. To expand the stack, click on the number badge at the top left

6. Right click on the number badge to bring up a context menu that offers options to manage the stacks

Adobe's Lightroom is a powerful piece of software and sometimes it is necessary to change settings.

Here for example is one use, the standard settings for filenames on export can cause problems. If for example you have an image that has been edited in Photoshop and has the suffix -Edit like I do here then on export the entire filename can sometimes go missing.

Or if you work for different clients or publications then it is nice to apply their naming structure to exported images.

For me, I like to keep the original filename in as part of the export so that it makes finding images easier if a client has a query.

Even if a client has no specific requirements for naming images it is still useful to be able to identify or file away finished images based on the filename.

So I add some custom text based on where the image will be used, keep the original filename and sometimes add other information.

Thankfully Lightroom allows all this to be done quite easily.

Here's how:

1. Export the image using Ctrl+Shift+E or right click the image and choose Export > Export... as described here.

   

2. Here I have chosen to go with Filename and Custom Text (set on the main Export dialog so Insert > Filename and Insert > Custom Text followed by Done.

   

3. Check that the example filename is correct, here in the final image it shows correctly as Filename > Custom Text.

   

 That's it, you can now export your images with filenames that suit.

I hope this short tutorial has been useful, check back regularly for more or sign up for more information. Panoramic Ireland's workshops run all year round, in Ireland and online.

Another year is almost over and Adobe has announced major updates to its Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge applications.

Here, one of my favourites with changes to layout in Adobe Bridge when using more than one monitor.

Rearranging workspaces is now easy and dragging panels off screen to a second monitor allows for a more streamlined experience.

Adobe Bridge is of course a very underrated program, I don't use it a lot but I do use it for important tasks - more to come on that later.

Here some images I have photographed in my Bridge Library featuring Billie Eilish and Trinity College's campanile. The campanile was completed in 1853 to designs by noted architect Charles Lanyon. Seven-time Grammy-award winner Billie Eilish wrote and performed the theme song to Daniel Craig's fifth and final James Bond film No Time to Die.

After photographing a rock concert last night in Dublin, I added my images to Lightroom Classic and wanted to process a number of files in DxO PureRaw.

To do this of course, I had to select and make note of the images - yes, I know that DxO have just released PureRAW2 that allows you to do this inside of Lightroom.

For some this can be difficult to do with many images to process.

In Adobe Lightroom Classic's Library grid view it can be difficult to find or see filenames depending on your settings.