Advanced search/filter for unprocessed photos

[ClaudeDemers]

Lightroom Version Number

9.2.1

Operating System

1. macOS 10.15 Catalina

Some time ago, I started using an Import Preset (based on camera) as part of my import routine. Now, i wish to find all photos that were imported but had no further edits. It seems that when you use a preset as part of your import, that photo is tagged as "Edited". So you can no longer use the Metadata Edited/Unedited filter, nor the Attribute Edit/Unedited buttons.

However, you can use a Smart Collections and the Develop Preset search criteria (Is/IsNot Default, Is/IsNot Specified, or Is/IsNot Custom).

This seems to work but I'm getting mixed results. I'm wondering if this search is being impacted in any way by the settings in Preference, Presets, that are active now, or, were active when the photos were imported (and might be different now vs then).

I've searched this forum ad well as the latest versions of Veronica's excellent "Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ", and have not found anything definitive - can anyone point me in the right direction please?

 

[clee01l]

The named Preset will show in develop history by name. I don't know if plugins by John Ellis or John Beardsworth can filter on History .

 

[ClaudeDemers]

The named Preset will show in develop history by name. I don't know if plugins by John Ellis or John Beardsworth can filter on History .

Thanks for your reply Cletus, but I may have to restate my questions to get a more detailed response.

 

[johnbeardy]

Mine don't. History is not normally accessible to plugins, and can only be queried through the SQL, which I don't recommend.

Why not try a smart collection based on capture time and edit time? So photos captured on certain dates, and edited after another date?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

If it was always the same preset, the metadata filters Develop Preset column could help.

 

[clee01l]

If it was always the same preset, the metadata filters Develop Preset column could help.

This is probably the best solution. When a last develop state matches a named preset, the filter gets a hit. Any changes after the presets was applied will invalidate the matching state.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ClaudeDemers]

If it was always the same preset, the metadata filters Develop Preset column could help.

Thanks Victoria, but when I test this, the results are inconsistent - it seems to not pick up all photos with a particular preset.

But my bigger issue is that I wish to find all photos, imported with a preset, and not modified in any other way - in other words, when you look at such a photo in the develop module, the ONLY entry in the History panel is the name of preset.

 

[johnbeardy]

The Develop Preset column means "photos exactly matching that preset", not "photos that have had it applied". So it would find those photos, and others which have had various adjustments but now match the preset. You cannot search History in any way.

 

[ClaudeDemers]

This is probably the best solution. When a last develop state matches a named preset, the filter gets a hit. Any changes after the presets was applied will invalidate the matching state.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just confirmed that this is true - any additional edit after the initial import with a preset causes that photo to show up under either Default Settings, or Custom (in the list of Develop Presets)

Now I just need to develop an understanding of "Develop Preset" filters in a smart collection, and maybe they will prove to be the same.

The Develop Preset column means "photos exactly matching that preset", not "photos that have had it applied". So it would find those photos, and others which have had various adjustments but now match the preset. You cannot search History in any way.

So just to make sure I understand you correctly, if i edit a photo with the exact same settings as another one imported with a preset, they will both turn up in the filter/query? So it matches photos based on their "end state", whether modified by a preset, or manually by the user? Just want to be clear about this, and thanks for this.

 

[johnbeardy]

Yes, that's correct and easy to test with a simple preset and a couple of photos.

 

[johnrellis]

So just to make sure I understand you correctly, if i edit a photo with the exact same settings as another one imported with a preset, they will both turn up in the filter/query? So it matches photos based on their "end state", whether modified by a preset, or manually by the user? .

I never knew the precise meaning of the filter column Develop Preset and the smart-collection criterion Develop Preset do. So being a nerd, I ran some tests and observed different behavior:

- The photo matches "Default Settings" only if "Reset Settings" is the most recent history step.

- The photo matches a particular preset name in the metadata browser column only if "Preset: preset-name" appears as the most recent history step. Similarly, the photo will match the smart-collection "specified" only if the most recent history step starts with "Preset: ".

- Otherwise, the photo will show as "Custom".

Note that a newly imported photo will have its most recent history step as "Import (...)" and thus it will appear as "Custom", not "Default Settings".

 

[Victoria Bampton]

- The photo matches "Default Settings" only if "Reset Settings" is the most recent history step.

That feels like a bug, likely relating to the change in defaults recently. It should be anything that matches the current defaults.

 

[johnrellis]

That feels like a bug, likely relating to the change in defaults recently. It should be anything that matches the current defaults.

I think you're right that the new defaults system changed the behavior, but testing 8.2.1 and 6.0 indicates that previous versions didn't compare the current settings to the default settings either. Rather, they just looked for the presence of develop settings in the history steps, with a special check for Reset. In those versions, when I import a photo, it matches Default Settings. But when I change Exposure to 1 and back to 0, it matches Custom. When I click Reset, it matches Default Settings.