Pix Veritas

Lightroom Community Help

Gene — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:07:55 +0000

Along with the new Lightroom™ 2.0, Adobe has launched a new and very useful Community Help site. Now you are able to search Adobe content as well as other great content from around the web!

You can ask questions, make comments, help your fellow Lightroom users, and get the help you need! The site is moderated by Adobe personnel and other outside Pro Contributors (including yours truly!) so you can expect that someone will answer your question or direct you to the proper site for help.

This Community Help site has been in place for Flex™ users for a few months and has been a great resource. Now Lightroom™ users can benefit from the same excellent technology.

Head on over and see for yourself!

[From Adobe Community Help - Homepage]

Adobe Ships Photoshop Lightroom 2.0

Gene — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:05:05 +0000

Lightroom 2.0 is finally here! Some of the new features include:

Local adjustment brush

Enhanced organizational tools

Volume management

Extensible architecture

Multiple monitor support

Flexible print package functionality

Streamlined Photoshop CS3 integration

Enhanced output sharpening

64-bit support for Windows® and Mac OS

If you are a Lightroom 1 user or if the Lightroom 2.0 Beta has you hooked stop on by Adobe and get your copy today!

[From Adobe - Photo Management Software - Photoshop Lightroom]

Compositional Overlays

Gene — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:47:17 +0000

In a previous post I wrote about the Rule of Thirds as a way to compose your images. When you crop your photos in Lightroom you are conveniently provided with an overlay for the Rule of Thirds.

But Lightroom offers a few more overlays for other compositional guidelines. I don't believe it's a documented feature (or at least not very well documented!). When you are in the crop tool press the O key (that's the letter O) and the overlay will change! Here are the other overlays:

A Diamond overly:

A Basic Grid:

There are three overlays based on the Golden Mean. The Golden Mean is one of those naturally occurring numbers like pi. It is basically the ratio between numbers in a Fibonacci series where each successive number is the sum of the preceding two numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc.). That can be used in the following three overlays available in Lightroom:

The Golden Mean version of the Rule of Thirds:

The Golden Triangle:

The Golden Spiral:

Another slick feature with the last two overlays is the ability to change their starting point. By pressing SHIFT-O when one of them is on the screen the layout will change. If the first Golden Triangle doesn't look right press SHIFT-O and see if the new one is right.

The Golden Spiral offers eight variations. Here are three:

Next time you are looking for other ways to compose your images try these overlays out. You may go down some creative roads you haven't travelled yet and discover a whole new world of composition!

Adobe Releases Update to Lightroom 1.4.1

Gene — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:58:03 +0000

After releasing the 1.4 update to Lightroom it was discovered that there were quite a few problems. Adobe subsequently pulled the update. Now those issues have been resolved and Lightroom 1.4.1 is ready for you to download.

The three major fixes from the last update include:

DNG conversions - DNG conversion previously corrupted by 1.4 can be corrected by re-converting the DNG file in 1.4.1
EXIF Time Stamp - time stamp metadata is now correctly posted after conversion
Olympus jpeg files are now correctly displayed in 1.4.1

If you are a Mac use click here for the update. Windows users can click here.

Tom Hogarty from Adobe has posted full details in his blog. Also, don't forget to download the corresponding update for Camera Raw and the DNG Converter! (Mac, Windows)

Adobe Announces Lightroom 2.0 Public Beta!

Gene — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:39:29 +0000

Adobe has released a public beta for Lightroom 2.0. Click here for more information.

Adobe Pulls Latest Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 Updates!

Gene — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:31:40 +0000

A few critical bugs found their way into Adobe's latest updates for Lightroom and Camera Raw affecting BOTH Mac and Windows platforms. As a result they have pulled the Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 updates from the site and are recommending that you downgrade to the prior versions until the issues are resolved. For more information see their post at Lightroom Journal: Important Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 Update

Apple Releases Aperture 2.0

Gene — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:10:12 +0000

Apple, feeling the mounting pressure from Adobe, has released its latest upgrade to Aperture. Now at 2.0, Apple says it has added many new features and addressed the well acknowledged sluggishness of its photography workflow software. The new features fall into several categories:

30 new features in the User Interface
10 in Raw Image Quality
4 in Compare and Select Tools
9 Workflow Enhancements
16 in Image Processing Tools
15 new Photo Management features
16 Web and Print Publishing enhancements
3 Applescript features

That's 103 new features! Sounds good until you start looking at them. Many are not features at all but badly needed corrections to existing aspects of the program. Still more are "me too" features that Lightroom users have been using and enjoying since Lightroom Beta!

Apple is trying to sneak in the back door here by dropping the price of Aperture to $199. (The upgrade price for existing users is $99.) That price undercuts Lightroom by $100 but is it enough to win back Mac users who have abandonded Aperture infavor of the more robust Lightroom? I don't think so. Lightroom hasn't even hit version 1.5 yet but Adobe has it on a fast track and is giving their users much more frequent updates and feature enhancements. This may be too little to late on Apple's part.

One glaring ommission from Aperture 2.0 (perhaps I missed it and it's there) is the continued lack of presets! Lightroom came out of the starting gate with preset abilities and photographers use this feature extensively. Many Aperture users left the fold because of this flaw in Apple's offering.

Lastly, Aperture is still only available to the Mac crowd so Apple continues to ignore the large Lightroom user base over on the Windows side. I think Adove has got it right here and Apple needs to take notice! All that being said, Aperture is still a fine photography workflow program. Some of it's unique (for now) features are loved by many photographers. If you're a Mac user you have a choice.

Lightroom's Future

Gene — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:29:17 +0000

Adobe has great plans for Lightroom and is listening to its users! Scott Kelby sheds a little light on what's up next for Lightroom over at his blog Photoshop Insider .

Apparently, Adobe is listening to Lightroom users more than we could hope and many of the features we are hoping for (plus some we didn't even think of) are under consideration. When the next update will appear and what it will include remain a mystery. If we can get Scott in a back room for a while we could break that non-disclosure agreement! Only kidding!

You can read Scott's full post here .

Adobe Launchs New Lightroom Community Help System

Gene — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:11:29 +0000

Adobe has launched a new community help system for Lightroom!! The new site combines the information from live docs with the ability to post comments, ask questions, and delve deeper into a topic.

All of the basics are there. But now you can click on the Learn More link at the bottom of each help topic for more information and useful sites and tutorials. Go and take a look at http://learn.adobe.com/wiki/display/LR/Home.

The site is administered by Adobe, moderated by experts from the community, and developed with the assistance of a panel of Lightroom Learning Advisors. So you'll also find links to the moderatorsâ€™ and advisorsâ€™ favorite Lightroom sites, plus links to troubleshooting sites and a page that lists third-party presets, galleries, and extensions.

Selecting Images Not in a Collection

Gene — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:32:47 +0000

One of Lightroom's great features is the ability to put images into collections. An image can appear in several collections so you can build groups of images that make sense to you. If you click on a collection name you can see and select all the images in that collection and create a web gallery or prints.

But what do you do if you have a large number of images and you need to find out which ones are not in a collection? Here is a step-by-step way to select all your non-collected images.

While in the Library module, open your Collections panel on the left.

Now click on the first collections in the list to highlight it.

While holding down the shift key click on the last collection in the list. You should now have all your collections selected and all the images in them appear in the grid.

To select all these images either press Control-A (Command-A on the Mac) or go up to the Edit menu and click Select All.

What's that you say? You're right! Now you have all your collected images selected. Here's how we get to our goal of select all images not in a collection.

Go to the Library panel and click on All Photographs.

Now the grid shows all your images with the collected ones selected. To finish off got to the edit menu and click Invert selection.

Viola! Now the grid shows a selection of all your images that are not in any collection!

301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers

Gene — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 03:32:46 +0000

Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3

Gene — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:34:56 +0000

Lightroom 1.3 Update Is Available

Gene — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:15:07 +0000

Adobe has released the latest update to Photoshop Lightroom. Now at version 1.3, several areas have been addressed. While none are earth-shattering, Adobe has taken the time to implement subtle changes based on user experience. Dig a little and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

For you Mac fans - Leopard is now supported! Mac users can get the upgrade here.

Windows users can get the upgrade here.

Ian Lyons over at Computer-Darkroom has an excellent review of all the changes. Check it out!

Trillix - Eltima's Excellent Flash Decompiler

Gene — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:12:15 +0000

A small departure from my usual Photoshop/Lightroom/Photography posts but I have to tell you about Trillix!

The latest version of Eltima Software's Flash Decompiler, dubbed Trillix 3.0, is a powerful and useful tool to have in your Flash arsenal! If you are a Flash developer you may shy away from decompilers. Perhaps you see them as the tool nefarious people use to steal your designs. But wait! Here is a tool that you can really sink your teeth into!

All it takes is a lost computer or a forgotten backup and you will be glad you have this tool. If you can get to your SWF file you can save yourself hours (or days) of work.

The interface is elegant and very reminiscent of Microsoft's Office 2007 interface. You can set this up the way you like to work. If you like to see all of the information at all times the various panels can be locked in place. If they are unlocked then they will gracefully glide in and out of sight as you hover your mouse allowing you to see more of your player area.

There are five main tabs that lead you to the five major working areas of the
program:

Manage: allows you to manage Flash files, preview them, see their properties, add/remove them from My tasks list, etc.
Extract: to export every single type of objects which the selected SWF/EXE files consist of into a separate file for further analysis.
Convert: to convert your SWF files back into FLA.
Edit: allows you to change the way Flash files are created and edit them on the go without the need to recompile into FLA.
Search: gives you the unique ability to search the necessary information in ActionScripts used in SWF/EXE files.

In each of these areas you can set a multitude of parameters to yield the result you want. On top of that you can set up batch decompilations!

All in all, Trillix is an excellent tool! Eltima says they are still working on version 3.0 to resolve some minor bugs and glitches. Compared to it's next best competitor SoThink from SourceTec Software it shines! You can download a free trial at Eltima's
site.

Do You PUX?

Gene — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:21:03 +0000

Wait! Wait! I'm not being rude! Really! PUXing is another way to rate your images after a shoot.

Whether you come back with 300 images from a landscape shoot or 3,000 from a wedding you still have the inevitable task ahead of you of going through the images and deciding what stays and what goes. There are many ways to approach this. Some people will rate images with stars; 5 stars are OUTSTANDING and 0 stars go to the cyber trashbin. Others use the color coding method; RED for great shots, BLUE for the trash. Still others will do a combination of stars and colors.

I don't know about you, but for me, with very few exceptions, I have three categories of images:

Keepers
Losers
Hmmm...I don't know yet

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom provides an excellent system for me in the form of the Pick and Reject flags. Here's what I do when I'm ready to start my review process.

After I've imported the images into Lightroom I go down to the filter bar in Library grid view and filter for unflagged images. Then I close all of the panels with SHIFT+TAB which leaves me with a screen full of thumbnails. I tend to make my thumbnail previews fairly large so I can see some detail. You can even do this in loupe view.

Now I'm ready. Looking at the first image I either hit the P key or the X key. P is for Pick and X is for Reject. (We'll get to U in a minute). Once I do that the image disappears from my view! It's not gone it's just that the image is no longer unflagged so the filter removes it from the view.

If I'm undecided then I move on to the next image and leave the previous one alone. As I progress through my shoot the only thumbnails I can see are the unrated ones. When all the images are gone I know I've made a decision on all of them.

I can now change the filter to show me Rejected files only. I take a quick run through of these and if I've changed my mind I hit the U key to unflag the image and remove it from the rejects. It's a simple matter at this point to create a directory and drag the rejects to it for holding. I like to keep the rejects around but sequestered until I'm sure I really don't want any of them.

Turn off the filter and now your picks and unflagged are there. Now is the time to bestow the honor of 5 stars on those marvelous few images.

This has been a real time saver for me. No longer do I hover over an image stuck in the unanswerable quandry "is this a 3 star or a 4 star? 4...no wait it's not tack sharp so 3...but the composition is stunning so 4...and so on and so on...." So if you haven't PUXed yourimages give it a try. You'll like it!

Sharpening Your Images

Gene — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:59:16 +0000

Perhaps the biggest complaint I hear when photographers first venture from the comfortable world of JPEG shooting into the unknown territory of RAW is "my pictures just aren't as sharp as when I shot in JPEG! I thought RAW was suppossed to be better?" Better is a moving target. What is better depends greatly upon the circumstances surrounding your shoot. But, if you really want to capture the maximum information your camera can give you and YOU want to make the processing decisions about that information then RAW is the ONLY way to shoot.

The first of such decisions centers around sharpening your images. Yes, RAW images do look "fuzzier" than their JPEG cousins. That's because when you shoot JPEG your camera is making those sharpening decisions for you before it serves up the already baked image. With RAW you now get to decide what gets sharpened and how it gets sharpened.

There are three main sharpening stages:

Input or Capture Sharpening
Creative Sharpening
Output Sharpening

In the simplest of terms sharpening looks to find those areas where light and dark edges meet and enhance that contrast without generating edge artifacts (such as halos). Capture sharpening will adjust the image as it comes in from the camera to a point where you think the image should be. Capture sharpening should be applied as a first stage before you do anything else to your image. Once you have the sharpness you desire on input you can make better decisions about where to go from there.

Both Lightroom and Camera Raw offers excellent capture sharpening functionality. Make sure you've upgraded to the latest versions - Lightroom 1.1 and Camera raw 4.1 . If your workflow starts in Photoshop you can also achieve excellent capture sharpening. There are many third party plugin applications out there to make your Photoshop sharpening tasks easier but by far the best is Photokit Sharpener from the folks over at Pixel Genius . This plugin covers all three sharpening stages excellently.

Capture sharpening is arguably the easiest of the three stages but a necessary step in the creative process if you are cosidering output of any significant size. We'll talk more in future articles about creative and output sharpening.

For you Lightroom users, I've included a zip file of four capture sharpening presets that mimic the capture sharpening from Photokit Sharpener. Just unzip the file and place in your Lightroom presets directory.

Shedding Light on Your Photography

Gene — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:14:02 +0000

The word photography comes from two Greek words meaning to write with light. That's essentially the craft, isn't it? After all, without light you can't take a photograph! (OK, forget about non-light photo technologies - most of us don't have that kind of equipment)

Learning to see light and how that light falls on your subject is a skill that can turn your everyday snapshot into fine art photography. Some of you may remember the instructions that came with general consumer cameras back in the 50's and 60's. They told us to make sure that the sun was to our back and falling directly on the subject. Remember that? Good. Now forget it!

Grab that shoebox out of the closet and take a look at the results of that advice. Are all of your grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles squinting and making weird faces in all those old family photos? IT'S BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE SUN BLASTING INTO THEIR EYES!!! So forget those old tips.

Before you even pickup the camera learn to look. What's your subject? What environment is your subject in? How is your subject lit? What kind of light is it? Can you move the subject easily or can you move in relation to the subject? All these questions and more should be running through your head. When you have some answers then, and only then, put the camera to your eye.

Light can have dramatic impact on your image. Just look at the differences between a fashion closeup lit with studio strobes and some classic 40's Hollywood stills with that familiar Film Noir feel. While it's true that photography has to do with light it is just as much concerned with shadow.

By moving the light or moving your subject you can alter how the light falls and consequently how the shadows are shaped. In the studio, it's easy to move the strobe or hot light. Outside, unless you're part of a new Biblical epic, you can't move the sun so you must move the subject. Make use of reflectors so open up shadow areas. Look for areas of open shade outside where you can get great lighting on your subject with out the squinting so familiar in the shoebox photos. If you can't find open shade then think about diffusing the sunlight.

Yet another tool you have at your disposal is patience. Ansel Adams would sometimes wait days for the light to be just right. Of course that kind of patience won't work if you're photographing children. But for landscapes - you bet!

Once you have the subject lit the way you want continue to compose the shot. Don't forget about the Rule of Thirds and other composition aids. There's a saying that the only thing that gets in the way of a great photograph is a camera! So get out there and find the light! We'll talk more about htis later.

The Rule of Thirds

Gene — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:20:30 +0000

Probably one of first and most well know principle of composition is the Rule of Thirds. It has been used by photographers since photography began and by the great artists for centuries before. So what is it?

Simply stated, the Rule of Thirds divides your image into three columns and three rows. Just like a tic-tac-toe grid.

The focal points of the image are where the lines intersect. By placing your subject at or near one of these intersections you can add interest to your image. Now, while it is called the Rule of Thirds it is still only a suggestion. By that I mean, if your composition calls for breaking the rule, by all means do so. You as the photographer are the artist and the ultimate judge of how your image should be composed.

Let's look at the Rule in practice!

Here is a picture of a seagull. As you can see, it looks like he is flying and has some space to fly to.

That interest and sense of movement and space it enhanced by my choosing to crop the photo so as to place the bird at one of the intersections.

Our eyes are drawn to the seagull and we sense that he has some place to go with plenty of room to do it. If I had instead cropped the photo placing the seagull right in the center the image loses some impact.

Now he looks cramped.I don't get the same sense of movement from this subject in the center of the frame. Rick Sammon , renowned photographer and author, has a saying that "dead center is deadly" and in most cases he's right! Of course if there is a subject that just begs to be placed in the center and you feel that is the best composition go ahead and break the rule!

Aside from the four intersections you can use the horizontal and vertical lines as placement guides. For example, in the case of a landscape shot try not to let the horizon line fall at the center and cut the image in half. If the sky is more interesting, place the horizon at the lower horizontal line. If the subject is the land or water, place it at the top line.

In this shot I wanted to emphasize the silky ripples on the lake surface and the reflection of the colors of sunset. The sky was relatively boring so I set the horizon at the top line letting the lake fill two thirds of the frame.

So keep the venerable Rule of Thirds in mind the next time you shoot. Remember that you can crop in Photoshop to arrange your image on one of these lines or points. I've included a free Photoshop Action that places guides at the Rule of Third points so you can experiments. Just load it into Photoshop and run it against a file before you start working on it. Make sure Guides are visible or you won't see them.

Adobe Rolls Out Lightroom 1.1 !!!!!

Gene — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:37:08 +0000

THE WAIT IS OVER! Yes indeed! Adobe has rolled out the FREE upgrade to Photoshop Lightroom 1.1

Aside from some bug fixes there is an abundance of new functionality just waiting to be explored! Windows users can click here to download the upgrade. Mac Users - click here .

For those of you who have Scott Kelby's excellent book on Lightroom check out Scott's blog . He promises to post a free PDF upgrade to the book highlighting the new features.

So why are you still reading this? Get over to Adobe and start downloading!!!!!!

The Joys of Online Shopping

Gene — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:04:26 +0000

Where can I get the best deal? Can I trust that online camera store? Who can give me reliable information about these vendors?

All of us who have shopped online for a new camera or lens or tripod or ... you name it... have wondered about such things. It's one thing to go online and order a quick release plate for $11.95 or even a CF card for $29.95. After all, it the deal goes bad we're not out all that much. But what about ordering a lens for $650.00 or that new Canon for $3,995.00? YIKES! Now it's serious.

Take a trip on over to Photographer's Journey, Christopher Scholl's excellent photography blog. He's done a three part series called Online Shopping Shoot-out that takes an in depth look at price reputation and reliability for a few of the major players. It's a good read and will give you something to think about the next time to get that urge for new glass!