Several months ago Krzysztof Zietarski of Delicious Presets sent me a copy their Lightroom 4 presets collections. While most of the presets worked, there were several that simply did not work. Krzysztof and I exchanged a few emails and back to the drawing board he went. I am happy to report that the newest collections Continue Reading »
Since Lightroom 1 first came out the Web Module has been a place where the curious and the brave have ventured. Left on its own, the Web Module can help you build a basic website using your Lightroom catalog. But it has always been somewhat difficult. However, Adobe did build in a way to supplement Continue Reading »
Geotag Photos Pro Goes to Version 3
Just about a year ago I wrote about Geotag Photos Pro and how it can turn your phone into a handy GPS recorder/tracker. Well, the good folks at Tappy Taps have released version 3. While there are some nice enhancements in this release the most significant is that Geotag Photos Pro now links directly to Continue Reading »
Save Some Time…No Dollar Required
A few months ago I introduced you to Jill Levenhagen and her excellent Lightroom templates (Spend a Dollar – Save Some Time). Well, Jill is still at it and creating some more Lightroom templates to save you time. But, now you don’t even have to spend that dollar. That’s right! She’s giving them away for Continue Reading »
Happy New Year! You’ve had time by now to put away all the holiday decorations. By now your resolutions are making you wonder what you were thinking on December 31st. Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Let’s make some New Year’s Evolutions! Since it is 2013 here are 13 evolutions to think about/work on this year: Forget Continue Reading »
Several months ago Krzysztof Zietarski of Delicious Presets sent me a copy their Lightroom 4 presets collections. While most of the presets worked, there were several that simply did not work. Krzysztof and I exchanged a few emails and back to the drawing board he went. I am happy to report that the newest collections are nicely done and worth another look.
Once installed, the presets are arranged by collection in the Presets Panel in the Develop Module.
Since Lightroom 1 first came out the Web Module has been a place where the curious and the brave have ventured. Left on its own, the Web Module can help you build a basic website using your Lightroom catalog. But it has always been somewhat difficult. However, Adobe did build in a way to supplement the Web Module and third party developers were quick to answer the call.
One of the earliest to do so was The Turning Gate (TTG). Here is a some background info from their About page:
… Through the Turning Gate, Out into the World …
The Turning Gate is a small operation, primarily developed and maintained by Matthew Campagna, with considerable help from Ben Williams and smaller contributions from additional parties. We work hard to respond to every message received, and to continually improve TTG offerings in response to user feedback, issues and concerns. Matthew has training and several years of experience in the field of professional, commercial photography, and more than a decade of web-design experience; Ben is a professional web-developer serving international clientele and a hobby photographer. Our combined experiences in the disciplines of photography and web development give us rare perspective into the places where photography and the Internet collide: web galleries and portfolio websites. And as Lightroom users ourselves, we are intimately familiar with Lightroom-based workflows. TTG web engines draw upon our experiences as both photographers and web-developers, combined into tools that we would want to use in bringing our photography to the web. I strive to make The Turning Gate a valuable resource for photographers and Lightroom users, and sincerely hope you will like what you find here.
TTG is true to its mission with the release of the Core Elements 3 (CE3) bundle. Matt generously sent me a copy to try out. I ran it through its paces and I have to say I am impressed. This is how the Web Module should be!
The bundle includes:
Just about a year ago I wrote about Geotag Photos Pro and how it can turn your phone into a handy GPS recorder/tracker. Well, the good folks at Tappy Taps have released version 3. While there are some nice enhancements in this release the most significant is that Geotag Photos Pro now links directly to your Dropbox.
Not only does this new feature remove the need for you to email the log to yourself or download it from the geotags site, it also lets you retrieve all your existing logs and have them deposited in your Dropbox.
Geotag Photos Pro still works extremely well with Lightroom and continues to be my favorite app in this class. I recommend that you go and visit their site and read more about it. Also, take another look at my previous post.
Opening photo courtesy of PlaceIt.
A few months ago I introduced you to Jill Levenhagen and her excellent Lightroom templates (Spend a Dollar – Save Some Time). Well, Jill is still at it and creating some more Lightroom templates to save you time. But, now you don’t even have to spend that dollar. That’s right! She’s giving them away for FREE! Here is what Jill has to say about this:
Free? Yep. FREE! Download any and all the templates you want. Navigate through the types of templates in the left column. Each download is on a separate page with an image example of the template so you can see what it looks like. They work in Lightroom 3 and Lightroom 4 only.
My blog is about anything photography. This is my hobby, not business…so I write about whatever I feel like and only whenever I feel like it!
Jill is now blogging about her passion for photography so go on over and have a look at her site, JL Photography and why not like her facebook page too! She has some interesting things to say. Oh, and did I mention the part about FREE LIGHTROOM TEMPLATES! Enjoy!
Happy New Year!
You’ve had time by now to put away all the holiday decorations. By now your resolutions are making you wonder what you were thinking on December 31st. Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Let’s make some New Year’s Evolutions!
Since it is 2013 here are 13 evolutions to think about/work on this year:
OK. Ready to dive in? Let’s go!
Continue reading »
The Print Module has gotten better since Lightroom 1. But not by much. While great enhancements have come to the Develop Module and the Library Module, the Print Module still lacks many features. One of those missing features is the drop shadow. There is no way to put a drop shadow behind an image directly from the panels. However, if all you need is a simple graphic drop shadow, here is quick way to accomplish that.
You will need to have a solid black image in your Catalog to start. The simplest way to do this is to fire up your favorite image editor (Photoshop in this example) and create one. Don’t worry about proportions since you can fill a cell with the image. Use the File > New menu to bring up the new dialog.
Make sure your background color is set to black before creating the new image. Here we’re creating an 800 px by 800 px image filled with the background color. Once that opens simply use the Save for Web menu to save a full quality JPEG. Then import that new JPEG into your Catalog.
Continue reading »
Lightroom 4.3 is now available to download! Lightroom should prompt you to update the next time you run it or you can download the update directly. For the Windows update click here. For Mac, click here. This update addresses some outstanding problems, adds new camera support, and some new lens profile. For complete details visit Adobe’s Lightroom Journal.
The problems that this release fixes include:
So don’t delay. Go get your update today!
I’m a big fan of onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite (no surprise to regular readers!) but some photographers I’ve spoken with said they couldn’t afford the entire suite and wished that there was just a stand alone version or a Lightroom version at a lower cost. Well there’s some good news from the onOne folks!
onOne Software has released a Standard Edition and a Lightroom & Aperture Edition of Perfect Photo Suite 7 to complement their existing Premium Edition of the photography software suite. Starting at $79.95, the tiered options give photographers the ability to choose the solution that fits their workflow and budget.
The Standard Edition allows usage of the entire Perfect Photo Suite 7 as a standalone application. This edition is ideal for those who do not use Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, or Apple Aperture but still want to enhance, stylize, and retouch their JPG images with a professional touch, and create and edit multi-layered files without Photoshop.
The Lightroom & Aperture Edition of Perfect Photo Suite 7 is designed for the photographer who does not use Photoshop but uses Lightroom or Aperture as the hub of their photo management and editing workflows. It provides powerful image editing tools that do not exist in those products and gives users the ability to extend their image editing power, maximize their creativity, and solve the most common problems in photo editing. With the Perfect Photo Suite 7 Lightroom & Aperture Edition, users can work with a variety of image formats including RAW, JPG, PNG, and TIFF, create and edit multi-layered files, and access any of the Perfect Photo Suite 7 modules directly from Lightroom or Aperture. After adjustments are made, images may be saved as a .PSD, .TIF, .PNG, or .JPG right next to the original image in their Lightroom or Aperture library—providing true non-destructive editing. This edition of the Suite also works as a standalone application for quick touch ups and edits.
The Premium Edition is the version of Perfect Photo Suite 7 that has been available since October 31, 2012. It offers photographers the greatest flexibility and seamless integration of Perfect Photo Suite 7 with their workflow of choice. The Premium Edition provides all of the functionality of the Lightroom & Aperture and Standard Editions—offering direct access to Perfect Photo Suite modules from Lightroom, Aperture, and as a standalone. It adds functionality as a plug-in to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements which allows users to create or refine layer masks, resize CMYK, Grayscale, or LAB color mode images, use a dedicated batch processing module in Perfect Resize, use modules as re-editable Smart Objects, incorporate within Photoshop actions, and get direct access to module presets in a dedicated onOne Panel.
A free 30-day trial of Perfect Photo Suite 7 Premium Edition is currently available.
So why wait? This also makes a great holiday gift for the photographer in your life!
I have had the pleasure to review Craft & Vision books before (see: Dodge & Burn: Leading the Eye with Lightroom & Photoshop) and the latest offering from author Piet Van den Eynde is a must have in your Lightroom collection. Piet continues to put out excellent content in a very approachable style. His newest title, Lightroom 4 Unmasked, is no exception.
I found this eBook to be appropriate for the advanced beginner to intermediate Lightroom user. Upgraders will welcome the many sidebars Piet uses to point out the new features and changes in Lightroom 4. As with all eBooks from Craft & Vision Lightroom 4 Unmasked is beautifully designed and presented. There are annotated screenshots illustrating what Piet is covering in the text as well as some great photography transformed via Lightroom.
Spread among the 312 pages (yes, this is a large eBook!) are 60 different “cases” that Piet uses to illustrate how Lightroom can function in the real world. These are, to me, the heart of the book and well worth the $20 cost of admission. If you are looking for a great Lightroom eBook then look no further. I heartily recommend this one!
