Aside from Halloween shots those glowing red eyes in images don’t belong. Of course, the best way to deal with red-eye is to avoid it altogether. So how does it happen?
When the light from your flash enters your subject’s eyes it bounces back from the retina. The retina is rich with blood vessels and colors the returning light red. If your flash is close to the lens (as are many on camera flashes) that light bounces right back into the lens and the eyes appear red. The farther away from the lens you move your flash the more you decrease the chance of red-eye. So the best way to fix red-eye is to get your flash off of your camera. I think more people are beginning to realize this.
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
Apple has finally released an update to its image processing software application. Aperture 3 arrived on the scene several days ago. With this release we photographer humans once again raise the question “Is it time to switch?”
Since you are reading this on a site called Lightroom Secrets you must know how this will turn out. Right? But the answer may not be as black and white (no pun intended) as it may seem. There are many factors that go into a decision about which application to choose. Either will be a major investment in time, learning, personal/professional workflow, and so on. So let’s start with a little background.
I was a long-time Windows user and switched to Mac about two years ago. I still use both platforms but do prefer Mac. Obviously, as a Abode Certified Expert in Lightroom and one of the Adobe Community Professionals for Lightroom, I am a Lightroom user. I am not, however, an Adobe employee.
I’m also comparing Aperture 3 to Lightroom 3 Beta. In the past Adobe has always included more features in the final release than they exposed in their public betas so there may be things coming that we’re unaware of right now. So there you have it. What follows is editorial in nature and, to the best of my abilities, objective. Let’s get started…
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
I was in a recent DALPUG user group meeting and the topic of Lightroom vs. Aperture came up. Specifically, someone mentioned that they were a bit tired of how slowly Aperture released updates to support the RAW files of new DSLRs from Canon, Nikon, etc.
I’ve always generally been okay with how fast Ligthroom supported new cameras, but the discussion got me thinking about how fast both these tools support new cameras.
The following are the results of my research. You can scroll to the bottom of the post for a bit more information on how I collected the data. As you can see, it isn’t exhaustive, but it is composed of over 30 models, primarily from Canon, Nikon and Sony.
While this may not guarantee how fast Lightroom and Aperture will support the RAW files from your new camera in the future, it is interesting to see how fast they’ve done so in the past.
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
Anita’s name may not be familiar to you but I bet that she’s helped you more than once! Whether you are new to Lightroom or have been using it for some time chances are you’ve seen Anita’s handiwork! Every time you invoke the Help feature in Lightroom — there’s Anita!
Anita is one of the driving forces behind Lightroom’s Community Help. She is always gathering input from the community, tweaking articles to make them clearer, updating links, clearing out old help items, and on and on and on.
I asked Anita to tell us a little about herself and here’s what she had to say…
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
It’s a big place out there on the web. We certainly appreciate you stopping by Lightroom Secrets for some Lightroom goodness! But, if you still want more there are several excellent resources.
Monthly (or so) we feature a Lightroom related site. Check the Featured Site section in the sidebar. There is also a list of Interesting Sites for you to explore. Give them a look. Perhaps you will find another site to add to your list.
Another excellent source is Alltop. Alltop aggregates sites in a wide range of topics. Here’s how Alltop describes what it does:
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
Hi, I’m Brian. I hail from Denver, Colorado and as previously announced, I was able to talk my way into being a contributor to this fantastic blog.
Not surprisingly, I love Lightroom. I’ve used it since the first public beta and haven’t put it down since. It’s the best workflow tool for professional and amateur photographers alike. Period.
So, on this, my maiden post, I thought I’d briefly share the top 5 reasons why I (and you should if you don’t already) use Lightroom. I look forward to future posts where I can continue to share my knowledge and passion about Lightroom and photography.
Reasons to Use Lightroom
Reason 1: The Adjustment Brush
This is my single favorite feature. If you aren’t familiar with it, it allows you to apply affects (exposure, clarity, color, etc.) to just parts of the image. It was new in version 2 and is, by itself, worth every penny they charge for Lightroom. In version 1 I would open nearly 50% of my final photos to apply local sharpening and other adjustments. With the addition of the adjustment brush that number shrunk to 5-10%.
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
Lightroom Secrets is pleased to welcome a new contributor, Brian Reyman! You can’t have enough Lightroom tips, tricks, tutorials, or news! Brian will stop by from time to time with his insights into Lightroom.
Brian lives and breathes Adobe products and loves using pretty much all of them. He was recently named an Adobe Community Professional for Lightroom! As an Adobe Certified Expert in Lightroom and User Group Manager for the Denver Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop User Group, Lightroom is at the top of the list!
When not shooting and using Lightroom (or other Adobe products), Brian is an IT professional living in Denver, Colorado. You can find Brian enjoying time with his great wife & kids or out playing sports or shooting (pictures of course) in the Rocky Mountains.
Welcome Brian!
Email This Story
Print This Story
The start of a new year is always a time to think about change and improvement. One common resolution is to get more organized. In this age of digital media it is even more critical that we keep track of our digital assets. Lightroom has many features to help you organize your images.
Organization can come in many forms and at many levels. You can organize your images at the drive level (by using a system of folders, subfolders, and file naming conventions) and/or at the metadata level in Lightroom. You must first decide what organizational workflow fits for you. There are many websites and books devoted to this topic. You should do a little research before embarking on this adventure.
The best website I can recommend to you to delve deeply into industry standard organization practice is dpBestFlow.org from the American Society of Media Photographers and funded by the Library of Congress. The site is full of suggestions and videos. Get ready to spend some time there!
Read the rest of this story »
Email This Story
Print This Story
I was again honored and humbled to learn that I have been named an Adobe Community Professional for 2010. Thank you, Adobe!
Several of my digital cohorts have also been named as Adobe Community Professionals. Congratulations to Sean McCormack (Lightroom), Geoff Walker (Lightroom), A.J. Wood (InDesign), Chris Tarantino (Photoshop), and J Schuh (After Effects)! Well deserved my friends!!!
Email This Story
Print This Story
Aside from Halloween shots those glowing red eyes in images don’t belong. Of course, the best way to deal with red-eye is to avoid it altogether. So how does it happen?
