P: Allow Named People thumbnail photo to be changed

I went about it a little different, still a bit klunkly, but it is another option depending on what people prefer since Adobe doesn't sem to care.

I first made a copy of my import metadata preset and renamed it "PeopleProfile" to basically edit overtop any import metadata I wanted, depending upon all the ways I could potentially see myself sorting, which in the end were only two (filename and creation/capture date). I set the date preset as "1900-01-01" . Once I had this preset saved, the next part was easy...

I went into each person's collection, found the image I wanted to use, clicked on it, in the menu selected

Photo-->Create Virtual Copy.  The copy appears instanly. I then apply my metadata preset and I go into the file name field and just append it with "zzz" so the filename looks something like this "zzz.IMG_8940.tiff".  You can also make it "aaafilename" if you want.

That's it. It will now sort naturally depending if I have it sorted by filename (desc) or date.

I also went a step further and added a smart collection for PeopleProfile looking for zzz or keyword "PeopleProfile", but it isnt necessary unless you want to look and manipulate them all together.

*Also instead of creating a Virtual Copy, you could copy the actual file if you wanted to put it in a special folder on your drive and you can acheive the metadata changes with an import preset instead.

I came looking for this soultion and as of today I tried what Jim Wilde posted and it worked. 

It´s a bit ridiculous that this hasn´t been addressed yet, should be a simple fix. Apple´s Photos has had it for years. It detracts from using Lightroom as a photo organization tool (in addition to an editing one)  

Want this feature, too! It should easilybr possible!

The default photo that shows when browsing in PEOPLE mode is not always the most desirable choice.

It would be nice if a thumbnail image could be selected for each person if the default was not the one considered most suitable.

I absolutely agree, I can set the thumbnail easily in the mac Photos app, but cant in the supposedly smart Lightroom. I find this very annoying shooting sports, as often the thumbnail gets replaced by a blurred image of a player thats way in the background. Let us pick an image from the confirmed set ( like mac Photos does )

I think Adobe Lightroom should allow the users to select a preferred thumbnail image for named people. The thumbnail is currently set as the last photo that the named face appeared in, but that image may well be a badly blurred image thats in the the background of shot, or even from a cropoped out portion of a shot. Users need to be able to set a preferred clear thumbnail of thier own choice from the expaned confirmed instances. Its eeasy in apple photos and not possible in adobe lightroom.  

It is possible, in a very very very klunky way, to manipulate LrC into using a preferred photo as the "cover image" in People view.

Basically, for the individual "cover image" LrC uses the last listed photo that it finds for that individual, but that is based on the currently set sort order for "All Photographs". So if you change that sort order, or even the direction of the current sort order (e.g. from A-Z to Z-A), then the "cover image" will also be changed to the last one in the new sort order. With that knowledge, manipulation becomes possible.

As an example, typically I use the standard Capture Date sort order (A-Z) for the All Photoprapgs grid display...so like you I basically end up with the last captured photo of any particular person as the "cover image", which may not be the one I would like to have displayed in People mode. So what I can do is use say the Pick flag on the image I would prefer to use, then change the Sort Order of All Photographs to "Pick A-Z".....that will move the image to the end of the grid (typically I use Pick flags temporarily, not permanently, so having just a few images with pick flags in permanent use wouldn't be an issue, as all the unpicked images would still default to the standard Capture Date order and displayed first in the standard All Photographs grid). Doing it that way gets all my preferred images set as the "cover images" of the selected people for whom I want to see a better image in People mode.

You could use other means, such as Ratings or Edit Time to do that manipulation, though that messes too much with my main preferred All Photographs view (but again, one only needs to set that special All Photographs Sort Order when using People mode.....at all other times it can be set to the preferred order).

It's certainly not ideal, and I'd much rather see the native ability to choose the "cover image", but it might help. 

Lighroom has chosen to "feature" a sad photo of my relative in their final days, which is not how I'd like to remember this person.  The lack of this feature is inexcusable.

This thread is 8 years old. And still, nobody cares. Perhaps we will need to wait another 8 years...