High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is still in its early stages. Photoshop, among others applications, gives us the tools to deal with all the information in an HDR image. With those tools and a little planning we can create some stunning images that better capture what we saw when we captured the scene. Or, with the same tools, we can explore the HDR world with a more surrealistic and illustrative eye. Not trying to capture the reality of the scene but, rather, the reality of our vision. Whether you are in the real camp or the surreal camp (or somewhere in between) HDR affords yet another creative avenue for the photographer.
While Photoshop provides a fair toolset for dealing with HDR images it is somewhat basic. If you are serious about exploring the world of HDR then I recommend a program from HDRsoft called Photomatix. Photomatix is one of the most comprehensive HDR tools on the market. The level of control over every aspect of your HDR image is astounding. It is available as a stand alone application and as a plugin for Photoshop. The stand alone version comes with a plugin for Lightroom which makes dealing with your HDR images even easier from a Lightroom workflow without ever having to open Photoshop! If you are a NAPP member you can get 25% off. Not a NAPP member? Try Trey Ratcliff’s site Stuck In Customs for an excellent and comprehensive HDR tutorial which includes a code for 15% off your purchase.
This tutorial is not meant to cover the making of an HDR from start to finish. Here I will look at using Photomatix via Lightroom to take a single image through the HDR process. If you are new to HDR and/or Photomatix then I strongly recommend Trey’s Tutorial. Another excellent introduction is Ben Wilmore’s two part tutorial. Part 1 covers HDR basics in Photoshop while Part 2 explores Photomatix.
Last week, Matt Kloskowski on his blog Lightroom Killer Tips (which, by the way, is an excellent Lightroom resource. If you haven’t been there yet … What are you waiting for?) posted an article Is it wrong to steal Lightroom presets? discussing the ethics/legality/morality of copying someone else’s presets and applying that to your own work.
With the exception of Matt’s drug company argument (drug companies use patents to protect their drugs. It’s only when the patents expire that others can produce generic copies) I have to agree with him. To equate the process with the final product is not something copyright law contemplates. It’s ludicrous to think that Michaelangelo could sue because you happened to sculpt using marble because he used marble! You could give me all the marble you want and there’s no way you’ll get a David or a Pieta out of me! LOL
An update to Lightroom version 2.4 is now available! To update your copy of Lightroom simply start the application and you should receive an dialog asking whether you want to update. To download the update directly from Adobe Mac user can click here, Windows users can click here.
The update to 2.4 adds support for cameras from Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad, and more.
The following bugs have been fixed in 2.4:
Web galleries with a Collection Title of six characters would not export or upload
The crop aspect ratio could revert to the last selected ratio even when reset to original
The crop aspect ratio in Quick Develop could be lost after a crop adjustment
The crop aspect ratio lock could be lost after an orientation switch
Images could preview incorrectly when imported using the MTP/PTP USB protocol
Sony .ARW files may not have been recognized by Lightroom’s import dialog
The Japanese language configuration of Lightroom on Mac OS X 10.5 could fail to switch to the print module if the HP B9180 was set as the default printer
Metadata options that are intended for use were dimmed incorrectly when exporting DNG files
The Japanese language configuration of Lightroom on Mac OS X was missing a shortcut for “Zoom Out”
Several translation and shortcut corrections were made for the eight additional languages introduced with Lightroom 2.3
While not a stunning update a number of outstanding issues where fixed and new cameras added so grab the update as soon as you can!
Smart Collections are a powerful organization tool in Lightroom. The power lies in a Smart Collection’s ability to automatically update the images contained in the collection. Unlike regular collections, where the contents are fixed and you add or remove images manually, Smart Collections use a set of rules you define. Whenever an image matches this set of rules it appears in the Smart Collection. When you combine Smart Collections with Collection Sets you can get some amazing results. So let’s get started!
We’ll start with the simple premise that we’ve used color labels to organize some images.
You’re working in the Library module and you’ve selected some images. Do you want to see an impromptu slideshow of your selected images? No need to go over to the Slideshow module! Just press Command-Return on a Mac or Control-Return on a PC. Voila! Instant slideshow.
Underneath all of the features and tools, Lightroom is, at its heart, a database program. One of the things that make Lightroom such a powerful and flexible application is its ability to help us find our images. As our collection of images grows it can become more and more difficult to locate that image of the puppy in the basket by the red flowers. But the keywords, metadata, collections, folders, and so on are all hooks Lightroom can use to search and find that puppy!
There is nothing in Lightroom to prevent you from creating more than one catalog to store your images. But should you? Let’s take a look at the reasons you might decide on one approach versus the other.
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