Develop multiple photos at the same time

[dgmedia2]

I am working in Lightroom 5 classic.  Often I have muliple photos that are under or over exposed.  Is it possible to develop multiple photos at the same time?  Right now I have to click on each photo, go to develop, and then lighten or darken with the exposure bar. Then do the next one and so on. I realize you can cut and paste the settings from one photo to the other, but it's still happens on at a time.  It would be so much easier if I could batch process 4 or 5 photos at the same time

[richardplondon]

You can use AutoSync mode - with care, since as powerful as this method is for deliberate use, it is also dangerous if left active unintentionally.

When more than one image is selected, a switch button appears next to Sync at the bottom of the right side Develop panels. Clicking this toggles LrC into and out of AutoSync mode. For as long as AutoSync is active, all the other highlighted images will also receive each new adjustment change that you make to the active image.

The above screenshot is taken from the latest version of LrC but version 5 did also have this feature.

[JohanElzenga]

You can also paste settings onto multiple photos...

[dgmedia2]

How would you do that?

[JohanElzenga]

Copy the settings from an image you want to use as the source, select multiple photos in the grid or the film strip and use menu "Photo - Develop Settings - Paste Settings" if you are in the grid or "Settings - Paste Settings" if you are in the Develop module.

[JohanElzenga]

If you only want to correct the exposure of a group of similar photos (so no other settings), then there is an even better method. Correct the exposure of one image, select the other images with Ctrl-click and choose 'Match Total Exposures' from the same Settings menus.

[dgmedia2]

Yes I typically just want to correct the exposure.  Thank you both so much

[Rob_Cullen]

Not mentioned yet?-  The Quick Develop panel in Library Grid view.

Select photos in the Grid:  Adjust in the Quick Develop panel.

[richardplondon]

to expand on Quick Develop: first, these are relative adjustments (unlike how things work in Develop). This means that if (say) +2 Exposure is already applied to just one of a set of identically exposed captures, and then these are all selected togeether and a -1 Exposure is applied using Quick Develop - the one that used to be +2 now becomes +1 while  the others become -1. By contrast, in Develop, if you bulk change them all to -1 Exposure that will be the new common value for them all, regardless of what value each one may have shown before.

Second, when Library is set to Grid view (ony thumbnails in the main part of the interface), all highlighted images are [in latest version] affected by changes made in Quick Develop. But when Library is set to Loupe view (single image in the main part of the interface) - for example, if you want to zoom in and judge your adjustment - only this image receives the adjustments. Unless you make AutoSync active for the Library module - which is an independent control from the AutoSync switch found in the Develop module.

Behaviour has varied a bit in this respect between LrC versions and also there has been some inconsistency about which kinds of metadata change are automatically applied in the batch while in grid view, and which would require AutoSync to be active for that. Latest version hides the AutoSync switch altogether while in grid view so I would imagine those inconsistencies have been addressed.

Hence if highlighting multiple images and then working in Library or in Develop, we need 'background awareness' of the state of AutoSync for that module and also of which kind of Library view is active.

One useful safety habit is to work always with just a single image selected, whenever you do not require bulk working. Then no unexpected batch changes can happen to other images than the one you are looking at. As a tip towards that, the way you click on thumbnails to select them is relevant. Say you have got five images selected, with the first active, and now you want to concentrate on the third of the five instead. You have a choice of ways to click on that third image's thumbnail. If you click on the picture portion that one becomes active but the other four remain also selected. If you click on the border portion, that one becomes active while de-selecting the others.

[JohanElzenga]

Each option has its use. If all images are a little too dark or too bright, then indeed the Quick Develop panel can be a big help. If some photos are fine, some are a little too dark and some are a little too bright, then Quick Develop won't be of much use, but 'Match Total Exposures' is the one-click solution.