• A Light at the End of the Tunnel

    A Light at the End of the Tunnel

    You probably noticed that things have been a bit quiet here at Lightroom Secrets. For the past few months I have been working on a book project ( Explore Lightroom 4: A Roadmap for Photographers) and am finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The writing is finally completed and we Continue Reading »

  • Brush Fire!

    Brush Fire!

    Lightroom 4 has some really great new features and enhancements. Some of my favorites have to do with the new capabilities it brings to the adjustment brush. If you haven’t had a chance to play with these I suggest to make some time to see what’s new there. I had the pleasure of writing an Continue Reading »

  • Lightroom 4 Tip: New DNG Options

    Lightroom 4 Tip: New DNG Options

    What’s a DNG? For those of you not familiar with Adobe’s DNG image format (short for Digital Negative), it was introduced back during the Photoshop CS era, as a means of standardizing and simplifying the process of editing raw picture data. The need for this format stems from the fact that -to this day- camera Continue Reading »

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

 Posted by  No Responses »
May 132012
 

You probably noticed that things have been a bit quiet here at Lightroom Secrets.

For the past few months I have been working on a book project ( Explore Lightroom 4: A Roadmap for Photographers) and am finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The writing is finally completed and we are now at the slash and burn–uh…I mean…editing–phase. So what better way to celebrate that write an article?

This article, however, will be a little off topic for Lightroom Secrets. I’d like to tell you about some of the tools I found indispensable while writing a book. Writing longer pieces, such as magazine articles or a book, is a much different thing than writing articles for a website like this. Most of the articles for Lightroom Secrets begin life in MarsEdit which is an adequate tool for blogging. However, a book is a much different animal.

For a long time I have been a user and fan of Scrivener. Until this adventure I had used it to plan and write magazine articles. But when tackling a project as large as a book Scrivener really shines! Everything you need is there. Outlining, index cards, research, snapshots, and on and on. If you do any writing and are tired of Word or Pages, go and take a look. It’s available for both Mac and Windows.

For years I had used Microsoft Word for longer writing tasks. The problem with Word is that you either have to keep multiple files for different sections or put everything into one eventually unwieldy file. While cut and paste can move things around it can be difficult when the source and destination are several pages apart. Any research clips or notes had to reside in their own files. After a while you have a folder of “things” for your article that is a somewhat unorganized mess. Scrivener changes all that.

Continue reading »

Brush Fire!

 Posted by  2 Responses »
Apr 022012
 

Lightroom 4 has some really great new features and enhancements. Some of my favorites have to do with the new capabilities it brings to the adjustment brush. If you haven’t had a chance to play with these I suggest to make some time to see what’s new there.

I had the pleasure of writing an article on the new adjustment brush features for the April 2012 issue of Photoshop User Magazine. Photoshop User Magazine is from the good folks over at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and is included as one of the many benefits of membership. It’s also available at most major bookstores.

If you aren’t already a NAPP member you should consider it. If you regularly purchase the magazine you’ve more than paid for a year of membership! And there’s much more…discounts, free downloads, excellent training articles and videos, help desk features for members, personal portfolio pages, and a great forum to name a few. It’s worth a look!

Click Here to download my article on the new brush features and enjoy!

Lightroom 4 Tip: New DNG Options

 Posted by  8 Responses »
Mar 062012
 

What’s a DNG?

For those of you not familiar with Adobe’s DNG image format (short for Digital Negative), it was introduced back during the Photoshop CS era, as a means of standardizing and simplifying the process of editing raw picture data. The need for this format stems from the fact that -to this day- camera manufacturers have eschewed a standardized raw file format, in favor of proprietary formats like NEF and CR2.

The problem with these formats is that over time, as the camera makers’ software evolves, they sometimes “orphan” support for files created by older cameras. Unlike a real film negative which can be scanned at any time, a proprietary raw file, absent some 3rd party solution like Lightroom or ACR, can be made obsolete at the whim of the company. You might stand to lose a large segment of your photo library in that case, were you to rely solely on the manufacturer’s format. DNG helps to ensure that if you convert your raw files from today’s cameras, those same files will be accessible and editable for you, years down the road. There are of course other dynamics involved in this equation, but this is the core of the matter — making sure your raw picture data lasts as long as you need it to.

Lightroom has always supported DNG, and with the release of Lightroom 4, its status as a first-class DNG citizen has been reinforced.

New DNG Options in Lightroom 4

Typically there are two ways to convert your raw files to DNG format. You can either use a special, freely downloadable utility from Adobe called the DNG Converter, and follow its instructions for batch-conversion. Or within Lightroom, you can export raw files as DNG files. If you choose a series of files in your Library module and click the Export button (bottom-left portion of the window), you’ll be greeted with the Export dialog. Within that there is a “File Settings” group that looks like this:

Continue reading »

Lightroom 4.0 Is Available NOW!

 Posted by  3 Responses »
Mar 062012
 

The Beta has been put to bed and Lightroom 4.0 is shipping!

Adobe reports that over 300,000 of you downloaded the Lightroom 4.0 Beta and showered them with tons of useful feedback. That’s great! All of us in the Lightroom community contribute to making Lightroom a super application and the team at Adobe appreciate, and listen to, all of your comments, bug reports, and feature suggestions. With your help Adobe was able to identify and fix over 800 bugs for this release. Thanks for a fantastic beta!

The biggest news here (get the trumpets ready…) is that Lightroom is now available at the ridiculously low price of $149 for new users! If you are upgrading from ANY previous version of Lightroom or you are a student or teacher then your price is only $79! If you’ve been reluctant to get started with Lightroom because of the cost then your wait is over.

Just a few changes have been made since the Beta release:

  • Reverse geocoding is now available in the Map Module
  • Improved auto tone in the Develop Module
  • Temperature and Tint have increased ranges
  • Develop presets have been update
  • New presets for video
  • The maximum Blurb book size is now 240 pages

Here are some great resources to check out…

Dan Moughamian tells me he is putting the final touches on some tutorials so keep an eye on colortrails.com. And, of course, don’t forget to touch base with the Lightroom team itself over at Lightroom Journal.

In related news I am currently hard at work on a Lightroom 4.0 book. I don’t have a hard release date from the publisher yet (probably because I’m still working on it LOL) but stay tuned for additional information.

Now get out there and put Lightroom 4.0 through its paces!

Spotlight: Laura Thomas

 Posted by  No Responses »
Mar 042012
 

I am always inspired by people who find a way to make their passion for photography and Lightroom work in the every day world. Laura Thomas, who runs a great site called Pretty Presets, has done just that. She, along with several contributors, offer a lot to the Lightroom community. Don’t be fooled by the name of the site. Of course, there are presets available. But there are also workshops and a well written blog. It’s definitely worth a look. You can pick up some free templates while you’re there!

Rather than retell Laura’s story, here it is in her own words from the About Us page on Pretty Presets…

My love for Lightroom began when I started my own photography business. My sessions started piling up, along with hundreds of images to edit. Somewhere between being overwhelmed and exhausted by the time spent editing; I wanted to find a way to save time. I knew I needed to speed up my workflow and wanted to be more proficient. This is where the journey began! I love my job and my goal is to save others time so that they can balance their time with their families and their long term goals.

Continue reading »

onOne Software Launches New Marketplace for Photographers!

 Posted by  1 Response »
Feb 222012
 

I have long been a fan of onOne Software’s excellent line of plugins. So it was welcome news when I heard that they would be launching a new online resource offering high-quality digital accessories from industry experts that can enhance and showcase your digital images. Welcome to their new Marketplace for Photographers!

Today onOne Software has announced the launch of the onOne Marketplace, a new resource for photographers that offers high-quality digital accessories and creative inspiration to make images extraordinary—including photo album and collage templates, backgrounds, image overlays, textures, and presets for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture, and onOne Software’s Perfect Effects 3.

The new onOne Marketplace features products created by some of the most influential and talented photographers in the industry. Commentary describing the offerings, from the contributors themselves, provides insight and inspiration on how to best use the content. Photographers of all skill levels can use these templates, backgrounds, and presets to easily enhance and showcase their own photographic images or create artistic and polished products for their clients, just like the successful photographers who created the products for the new Marketplace.

Continue reading »

You’ve Got Mail

 Posted by  No Responses »
Jan 232012
 

“Oh, yes, wait a minute Mister Postman…”

It’s been some time since those lyrics came out of speakers everywhere. Yet, mail, in its many forms, is still an important means of communication. Today, of course, we use email. In previous versions of Lightroom there was an email export preset that helped to gather images that we could attach to our emails. We soon discovered that some email clients would accept the output of the export preset and we added them as the Post-processing action and that smoothed the workflow a bit.

Lightroom 4 Beta has added an email feature which promises to develop into a nice workflow solution. At first glance it is still very much in the beginning phase. That is it is marginally useful. However, the fact that the Lightroom team has added the feature is encouraging. So let’s take a look at how it works.

Continue reading »

A Catalog In The Cloud Revisited

 Posted by  18 Responses »
Jan 222012
 

Some time ago I offered a solution to working with a catalog on multiple computers utilizing Dropbox to store the catalog. Take a look at A Catalog In The Cloud in case you missed it.

I mentioned that this wasn’t a solution for the multi-photographer studio but it could be useful if your images are housed on an external drive and you like to work from multiple computers. The cloud based catalog has the advantage that all of the changes you make reside there and are accessible to your various computers. If you are using a free Dropbox account (you get 2GB free when you sign up!) you will run out of room quickly as your previews file grows. The .lrdata file gets big if you use 1:1 previews and like to keep them.

Since I wrote that article, Dropbox has added a feature called Selective Sync. A Lightroom Secrets reader, David Balder, sent me an email pointing out that this new feature removes the preview bloat issue and can give you more room to store your catalog. Thanks, David! That’s a brilliant suggestion!

David suggests that you use Selective Sync to exclude the .lrdata file from the Dropbox sync. The downside here is that you will lose your previews. However, Lightroom will happily build them as needed when you start to work in your catalog. So there’s the tradeoff: a little more time to build a preview in exchange for more room in your free account to store a catalog.

Continue reading »

An Ingenious Approach to Video in Lightroom 4 Beta

 Posted by  5 Responses »
Jan 162012
 

One of the exciting new features in Lightroom 4 Beta is its enhanced video capabilities! If you’ve had a chance to play with this feature you have already discovered that a few of the adjustments for video are only contained in the Develop module. This presents a problem since video itself is not supported directly in the Develop module. The current solution to this mentioned on the many sites covering Lightroom is to take a still from the video, bring that into the Develop module, and apply the additional adjustments to that still image. Once you are satisfied with the result you can create a preset. Back in the Library module you can now apply that preset to your video. Then, those settings only available in Develop will be applied to your video.

This is a great workaround. However, Sean McCormack has come up with an even better solution. It is quicker and more elegant. In fact, it’s rather ingenious! Well, I won’t spoil the surprise. Head on over to Sean’s article at pixiq.com and watch the video. I think you’ll be impressed too!

Thanks Sean!

On another note – Sean has been hard at work updating his excellent plugins for Lightroom 4 Beta. Check them out at http://lrbplugins.com/.

12345...1020...Last »