enable that setting, then be prepared for LrC to be busy for
a while as it goes through the process of writing to every
imported photo, and that can slow down your experience
while it’s happening. Once it’s gone through and written
to all photos, you most likely won’t notice it doing this as
you work from that point forward, but your mileage may
vary. The manual process I outlined previously may work
better for those instances when you need it for a given
folder. In other words, don’t just go checking that box
without thinking through the consequences.user scenario, and you want to continue that same
method of color labels from Bridge, then it could be
in your interest to switch LrC to using the same set as
you used before.
For most LrC folks, it would probably be better for you
to change the color label tags for each color in Bridge
instead. The assumption is that LrC is your primary tool,
and you may just want Bridge to be on the same page
should the situation arise where you’re using Bridge to
view the contents of a folder managed by LrC.
To do this, open Bridge, and go to Adobe Bridge 2021
(PC: Edit)>Preferences, then choose the Labels and
Ratings option on the left to view that set of preferences.
From there, change the Label Options for each color to
match what you use in LrC. If you’ve never customized
LrC’s color label set, then just enter the name of each
color in its corresponding field (capitalizing the first
letter). Once both programs are using the same exact
tags for each color label, you’ll see the same colors
showing on the thumbnails.There are a few things, such as virtual copies and
flags in LrC that can’t be written to XMP metadata, so
don’t look for those in Bridge.COLOR LABEL QUIRKS
If you use color labels in LrC, especially the Lightroom
Default set of color labels that simply writes the color
of the label into the Label field in the Metadata panel
(meaning if you apply a red color label, LrC writes the
word “Red” into the corresponding metadata field while
displaying a red label on the photo). If you go through
either of the previously mentioned methods for writing
from LrC to each photo’s metadata, then you view the
contents of the folder in Bridge, you won’t see the color
labels display the way you expect. This is because
Bridge uses a different default set of color label tags
for each color.
In Bridge, if you apply a red color label, the default
meaning is to write the word “Select” into the corre-
sponding Label field of that photo’s metadata space. So,
a photo with the word “Red” in that metadata field will
not display with a red label in Bridge. There are two ways
to get these programs in sync with color labels.
One option is in LrC, where you can go to Metadata>
Color Label Set, and choose Bridge Default instead of
Lightroom Default; however, do not do this if you have
been applying color labels previously in LrC because it
will mess you up. If you’re coming from a Bridge-only
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I hope you can see that as long as you’re aware of the
potential problems that can arise if you use Bridge to
move, rename, or delete photos being managed by LrC
(and avoid them), then you can safely use Bridge in a
number of ways to help you with your photo library.
This isn’t to say that you must use Bridge (because you
don’t ever have to use it if you don’t want to), but you
don’t have to fear it, and it might just be the thing you
need for certain situations (and you’re likely already
paying for it). If you have questions or want to explore
other workflows, be sure to drop into the KelbyOne
Community and start a new conversation. I’m always
happy to talk shop. nf UNDER THE LOUPEKELBYONE.COM