Add Effervescence to Your Creative Juices Using Filter Forge and Adobe Photoshop CS5

Mark S. Johnson’s most requested video tutorial series ever, Maximum Creativity with Filter Forge and Adobe Photoshop CS5, is available for immediate download! Featuring 16 indispensable video tutorials and more than 2 1/2 hours of instruction, this series will invigorate your creative juices.

Filter Forge is the most versatile and exciting software that Mark has encountered in a long time. When it’s partnered with Adobe Photoshop CS5, there’s simply no limit to your creativity. Unlike other filter products that often meet just one need, such as black and white effects or sharpening, Filter Forge is multi-faceted. It features over 4000 creative photo effects and almost 4500 realistic textures. The number of effects and textures is growing by the day because Filter Forge filters are created not by 10 engineers in a lab, but by thousands of users from around the globe. Because there are so many contributors, Filter Forge is home to several of the most breathtaking and realistic effects that Mark has ever seen. Each of these effects can be applied directly to a photograph or can be combined with the source image in Photoshop to produce astonishing results.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

1) Introduction
2) How to purchase Filter Forge at a big discount
3) Why it makes sense to use Filter Forge as a stand-alone application rather than as a Photoshop plug-in
4) Understanding the Filter Forge interface
5) Mark’s favorite Filter Forge effects and textures
6) How to back up your Filter Forge library
7) Blending watercolor with photorealism
Adding watercolor and film frames
9) Generating a seamless texture for tiling in Photoshop
10) Creating a starry sky for compositing
11) Generating fog for compositing
12) Producing a texture to use as a distressed mask in Photoshop
13) Old drawing blend effects
14) Mixing a photo with a crosshatch drawing
15) Creating a radial acrylic explosion
16) Adding a grunge frame with a transparent background

Each lesson opens with an explanation of the technique followed by a concrete example. Viewers are then guided step-by-step through the creative process from start to finish using either their own images or the provided sample images.

To view the complete contents, watch the Introduction, and to order, visit www.msjphotography.com.

About Mark S. Johnson Photography

Mark S. Johnson is an Adobe Photoshop luminary, a photographer, an author, and one of the most passionate instructors we have ever encountered. Through the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, The Radiant Vista, and Boulder Digital Arts, Mark has lectured in front of and worked side-by-side with countless individuals, including Adobe’s Chief Executive Officers, Jane Goodall, the U.S. Ambassador to Finland, and 2010 Academy Award winning director, Louie Psihoyos. His tutorials appear regularly on the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) web site, and his imagery and articles have been featured in Photo Techniques, Nature’s Best, and After Capture magazines. I watch Mark’s free and entertaining Photoshop tutorials every week at www.msjphotography.com.

We are not paid to endorse any of Mark S. Johnson’s Photoshop videos, books, and workshops. We post these updates about Mark’s educational products because this guy never fails to inspire us. — David Marx

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s New Book Module

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Book Module

Once I started experimenting, though, I quickly discovered that you can also use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s new Book Module to create your own PDF “portfolio pieces” that combine images and words! This is not a replacement for Adobe InDesign or a professional-grade page layout program, but it is a wonderful new way for me to share my photography with friends, students, and clients.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s new export to PDF via the Book Module made it easy for me to put together this PDF portfolio without having to buy and learn any additional software. Right click on this link to download my Landscape Portfolio PDF!

One of my favorite digital landscape photographers, Jim M. Goldstein, has been distributing his best images this way for a few years. Goldstein has also written an excellent eBook on Photographing the 4th Dimension-Time. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s book module is not powerful enough to make a professional-looking eBook yet, but it is already more than adequate for creating nice portfolio pieces. This video tutorial demonstrates the “Export to PDF from Book Module” process.

I must again warn you that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta is still a beta program. It’s new and not everything works properly yet. The Book Module, in particular, is full of oddities and unexpected behavior. Try it out, but please don’t forget that this is very, very new and still has a few kinks to be worked out before we get the finished product.

Related Tutorials:

• Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Version 4 Beta!
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Library Module Enhancements
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s New Map Module
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Big Develop Module Changes

Attend One of Our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Seminars or a Digital Photography Field Workshop!

If you find our tutorials useful, please consider joining us for one of our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom seminars or a digital photography field workshop. We will be teaching Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 classes all over the country this year and leading digital photography workshops to some of America’s most scenic destinations. Learning from the web is great, but a video tutorial is no substitute for the patient, hands-on instruction that we offer you in a structured classroom environment or a one-on-one training session. Mastering Photoshop Lightroom is much easier for those who seek out expert guidance!

New Features In The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Develop Module

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v4 Beta New Graduated Filter Controls

New 2012 Process Version Basic Panel Controls

“If I could return in twenty years or so, I would hope to see astounding interpretations of my most expressive images. It is true that no one could print my negatives as I did, but they might well get more out of them by electronic means.” –Ansel Adams

Process Version 2012 introduces new sliders to the Basic image development panel which replace the old Exposure, Brightness, Fill Light, and Blacks sliders that we have come to know and love. It is going to take those of us who have been using this software for many years a little while to adjust to these new controls, but they are indeed improvements. Using the new sliders, we can now pull more detail out of the brightest highlight areas and the darkest shadows in our images, which will certainly be appreciated by landscape, architecture, and astral photographers, among others.

New Lateral Chromatic Aberration Repair

Chromatic aberration is the fancy scientific term for those weird color fringes that we often see around the edges of objects in our photographs; it is a photographic flaw and is something that we want to remove from our images whenever possible. We have been able to repair chromatic aberration for many years in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom using repair sliders that could hide this flaw. They were effective, but it took a bit of time to use them well and the appropriate settings often varied dramatically from image to image. In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, there was the option to automate this repair for certain lenses using the new Lens Profile data.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta uses an elegant new algorithm to remove chromatic aberration for all lenses. The new code is so good, we no longer need any sliders or manual controls. Fixing this common flaw now merely requires toggling a single switch! I am so impressed with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s ability to find and eliminate this problem that I have made the repair command the default behavior for my Lightroom Catalog. This video tutorial demonstrates how easy it is to fix chromatic aberration now and how to make its removal a completely automatic process!

Expanded Graduated Filter And Local Adjustment Brush Controls

“Were I entering photography now as a young man, I undoubtedly would deeply concern myself with color. I stayed with black-and-white simply because I enjoyed the controls that the process offered. I feel strongly that color photography is one of the major expressions of our time.” — Ansel Adams

I was floored when I first saw the Graduated Filter back in the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom version 2 days. The Local Adjustment Brush is nice, too, but when I really need this kind of precise image enhancement, I prefer working with Adobe Photoshop CS5 or one of the Nik software plugins like Viveza. As a sports and landscape photographer, I consider the Graduated filter to be a vital part of my image processing routines and almost all of my images are improved with graduated filters.

I am delighted to announce that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta gives us even more controls when using these tools. The new Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush use the Process Version 2012 controls which expand their ability to recover fringe highlight and shadow detail. We can also change the white balance of the affected area when using these tools and are able to add or reduce noise and moire.

In this video tutorial, I take an old favorite, an image that I have been pleased with for many years, and push it even further using the new Graduated Filter. Although you can’t see the comparison in this video, I promise that the results I get now on this image using the new Lightroom 4 Beta tools far surpass anything that I have been able to accomplish until now!

I love it when new and improved software forces me to rework my old favorites, and even more so when the results exceed my expectations. Getting better results with new tools always reminds me that the digital processing technology available to photographers is continually improving and that my best images are never truly “done!”

Artistic Effects and Precise Color Corrections Are Now Possible Using Per Channel Curves Controls

Cross processed film effect created using per channel curves in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v4 Beta.

For some photographers, per channel curves will be a blessing. Those needing very precise color correction or looking for a new method to create “artistic effects” are going to love the expanded capabilities. Other photographers are going to ignore this new feature entirely and, for a few, this will be terrifying. More than any other control, messing with the per channel curves can radically alter your image. Fortunately, you can always hit Reset in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and undo any horrific experiment.

One of the things that I like to do with Curves in Adobe Photoshop is to simulate the look that we used to get by “cross processing” our film. This stylized use of strange color is not appropriate for every image, but there are times when it creates a wonderful, dramatic mood.

In this video tutorial, I show examples of the cross processed look from my mentors Athena Lonsdale and Elizabeth Stone. I create the cross processed film look in this video by following an old Photoshop recipe from one of Mark S. Johnson’s fantastic Photoshop eBooks. I have mentioned Mark’s videos, books, and workshops on this site before because he is one of my favorite Photoshop instructors. If you are looking for cutting-edge Photoshop skills and artistic inspiration, please check out Mark’s website!

Related Tutorials:

• Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Version 4 Beta
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Library Module Enhancements
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s New Map Module
• Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s New Book Module to Create a PDF Portfolio

Attend One of Our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Seminars or a Digital Photography Field Workshop!

If you find our tutorials useful, please consider joining us for one of our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom seminars or a digital photography field workshop. We will be teaching Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 classes all over the country this year and leading digital photography workshops to some of America’s most scenic destinations. Learning from the web is great, but a video tutorial is no substitute for the patient, hands-on instruction that we offer you in a structured classroom environment or a one-on-one training session. Mastering Photoshop Lightroom is much easier for those who seek out expert guidance!

What Does the New Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Map Module Do?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Map Module

The new Map Module is going to be a huge help for landscape and documentary photographers and anyone seeking an easier way to organize images of the natural world!

Related Tutorials:

• Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Version 4 Beta!
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Library Module Enhancements
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Big Develop Module Changes
• Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Book Module to Create a PDF Portfolio

Attend One of Our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Seminars or a Digital Photography Field Workshop!

If you find our tutorials useful, please consider joining us for one of our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom seminars or a digital photography field workshop. We will be teaching Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 classes all over the country this year and leading digital photography workshops to some of America’s most scenic destinations including Yellowstone National Park. Learning from the web is great, but a video tutorial is no substitute for the patient, hands-on instruction that we offer you in a structured classroom environment or a one-on-one training session. Mastering Photoshop Lightroom is much easier for those who seek out expert guidance!

What’s New in the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Library Module?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Library Module

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Offers Basic Video Editing Capabilities

Photographers working with video files will be delighted to learn that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta can now perform basic edits using the Library Module’s Quick Develop Panel. It is also possible to set in and out points for a video, change poster frames, turn a single video frame into a jpeg image, and to export the trimmed video without leaving Photoshop Lightroom.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta now supports most popular DSLR and smart phone video file formats including AVCHD. Publishing videos directly to social networking sites like Facebook or Flickr can be done without leaving Lightroom via the Publish Services features!

New Integrated Email Engine

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta now includes an integrated email engine. The new email engine will make it much easier for everyone to send images out through your existing desktop email program or through email services like Gmail or Hotmail. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta even includes an address book feature so that you can store commonly used email addresses, making emailing images to friends and family members even faster and easier.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Can Move Multiple Folders At Once

Tops, in my opinion, on the practical improvements list is Lightroom’s new ability to move multiple folders at once from within the Library Module Folders Panel. I have been begging for this ability since the very beginning and now we finally have a way to reorganize our folder tree from within Photoshop Lightroom with minimal effort.

New Filter by Metadata Status

There is another subtle, wonderful advance hidden inside the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta software. We are now be able to filter through our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog by “metadata status.” This makes it easy to search for all of the images with changes that have not been saved down to the individual file level. Even better, we can now use this feature as the criteria for a smart collection!

Clever Photoshop Lightroom users are going to immediately realize that we can use this new ability to build a Smart Collection that will constantly search through our Catalogs for files that need to be saved. Users who understand metadata and Smart Collections are going to capitalize on this new ability to speed the program up and ensure that their data is safely written into each and every file.

Dig Deeper and You Will Discover More Changes

There are more improvements hiding beneath the surface in the Library Module, too. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta testers will discover that CD/DVD burning from within the Lightroom application works again on all operating systems, there have been significant changes to the .DNG file format, there are more Metadata controls in the export dialog, and for commercial photographers, there is now the option of viewing a layout overlay template while shooting tethered. Lots more new and exciting stuff to explore and learn….

Related Tutorials:

• Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Version 4 Beta!
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s New Map Module
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Big Develop Module Changes
• Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Book Module to Create a PDF Portfolio

Attend One of Our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Seminars or a Digital Photography Field Workshop!

If you find our tutorials useful, please consider joining us for one of our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom seminars or a digital photography field workshop. We will be teaching Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 classes all over the country this year and leading digital photography workshops to some of America’s most scenic destinations. Learning from the web is great, but a video tutorial is no substitute for the patient, hands-on instruction that we offer you in a structured classroom environment or a one-on-one training session. Mastering Photoshop Lightroom is much easier for those who seek out expert guidance!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Now Available

A public beta version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is now available! You can download a test copy of the new software from this link to the Adobe Labs site. This version, like all beta software, is not finished, so please be careful.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Library Module

Adobe is making the beta version available to the general public so that we can help them iron out the wrinkles and track down the bugs before the new product is finalized. In an effort to protect users from potential harm and confusion, the beta version will force you to create a new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog database file. You will not be able to use Photoshop Lightroom version 4 to upgrade an existing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog until the Adobe engineers are convinced that the new product is ready for industrial use.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Map Module

It is also be worth noting that the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta will not work with Microsoft Windows XP or older 32-bit versions of the Apple OS X operating system. Perhaps this is an early warning sign for existing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users who are working with older operating systems that the time is approaching to upgrade your hardware. Here are the official system requirements for the new software:

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Book Module

Mac

• Multicore Intel® processor with 64-bit support
• Mac OS X v10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or v10.7 (Lion)
• 2GB of RAM
• 1GB of available hard-disk space
• 1024×768 display
• DVD-ROM drive
• Internet connection required for Internet-based services*

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta New Graduated Filter Controls

Windows

• Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor
• Microsoft® Windows Vista® with Service Pack 2 or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1
• 2GB of RAM
• 1GB of available hard-disk space
• 1024×768 display
• DVD-ROM drive
• *Internet connection required for Internet-based services*

Based on my extremely unscientific testing, I would suggest that you need at least 4 gigabytes of RAM and a display that can produce more than 1024×768 pixels to truly enjoy this software. All versions of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom run better with more RAM and faster processing chips. It is also worth noting that use of the new Map Module requires a strong Internet connection. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta uses the Google Maps technology to power this module, so don’t expect any of the tools in this area to function if you are not online.

If you find our tutorials useful, please consider joining us for one of our Adobe Photoshop Lightroom seminars or a digital photography field workshop. We will be teaching Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 classes all over the country this year and leading digital photography workshops to some of America’s most scenic destinations. Learning from the web is great, but a video tutorial is no substitute for the patient, hands-on instruction that we offer you in a structured classroom environment or a one-on-one training session. Mastering Photoshop Lightroom is much easier for those who seek out expert guidance!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Tutorials:

• Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Version 4 Beta
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Library Module Enhancements
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s New Map Module
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Big Develop Module Changes
• Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta’s Book Module to Create a PDF Portfolio

Prepare for total system failure or expect to lose everything when disaster inevitably strikes!

There is a fundamental law in computing: all hard drives will eventually fail. As a professional photographer, the thought of losing everything that I have ever shot terrifies me. Total data loss is what my business must expect if I fail to prepare adequate safeguards.

My philosophy on how to best protect my digital images borrows from the sport of rock climbing. Smart rock climbers use redundant safety systems to prevent disaster. Intelligent climbers always attach their climbing rope to multiple anchor points so that they will not fall all the way to the ground if one piece of their protective equipment fails. Serious digital photographers should adopt a similar backup philosophy. Multiple copies of all mission-critical files, in multiple locations, is the only way to truly prepare for the unexpected.

The American Society of Media Photographers DPBestFlow.org project describes this backup philosophy as the “3-2-1 Rule.” Here is what their experts have to say:

• We recommend keeping 3 copies of any important file (a primary and two backups.)
• We recommend having the files on 2 different media types (such as hard drive and optical media), to protect against different types of hazards.
• One copy of each critical file should be stored offsite (or at least offline).

We are each responsible for creating our own backup systems before a catastrophe happens. Planning and preparing for the inevitable is your responsibility no matter what type of computer you use. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a wonderful program, but it is not a backup plan. Photoshop Lightroom use will not protect you from drive failure, virus attacks, or natural disaster and does nothing to protect your precious images. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom does include an “Automatic Catalog Backup” feature. If activated, this feature will make additional copies of the core Lightroom Catalog database file on a regular basis. This additional copy of your .lrcat database file is useful if the primary database gets lost or corrupted. Do not let this feature fool you. Photoshop Lightroom’s integrated Catalog backup feature does not protect your digital images at all.

Photoshop Lightroom also offers its users the chance to create an additional copy of their images during the Import process. Many Photoshop Lightroom users mistakenly assume that this feature “protects” their images as they are added to their Lightroom database. Sadly, this is also not true. The “Create an Additional Copy on Import” feature simply duplicates each image but it does not force you to store these files on a separate hard drive. Storing the primary image and a copy on the same hard drive offers no additional protection. Both the primary and the secondary copy could be destroyed if this disk fails.

The “Additional Copy on Import” feature simply creates another copy of each image involved in this particular Import session but, sadly, the duplicate file is never updated. This feature is of very limited value as a backup even if you were to use one drive for the primary image and specify a separate drive for the second copy. The problem is that changes to the primary image, the file that is referenced by your Lightroom Catalog database, are not automatically added to its duplicate. Since the copied files are never updated, returning to these files after a major disaster might be crushing setback. If you had to resort to using these files after a major disaster then you might have to do all of your Photoshop Lightroom work over again!

Let’s discuss real backup plans rather than wasting time exploring Photoshop Lightroom’s placebos. My image backup plan involves a pair of high-capacity external hard drives and an Amazon s3 storage account. Here’s what I do to protect myself from every possible threat:

Daily Backup

My Favorite Backup Software (Mac)

My Favorite Backup Software (Windows)

Weekly Backup Drive Swap

The external hard drives that I am currently using for my Daily Backup are swapped out once a week. In my system, Backup Disk 1 gets used for a week and then I swap it out for Backup Disk 2. A week later, I swap Backup Disk 2 out and replace it with Backup Disk 1 again. The backup disk that I am not currently using gets stored out in my garage. If I wanted even more protection, I would take this disk to a friend’s house or, better still, store it in a bank’s safe deposit box. The further that the idle backup disk gets away from the primary the better! Storing the idle backup disk outside of the house increases the odds that my critical files will survive a catastrophic event like a house fire, lightning strike, or theft and adds an additional level of safety to my backup plans. Daily backups are my top priority, but keeping my backup drive in the same room as my computer offers no protection from a major disaster. Since I rotate backup drives weekly, I might lose a few days worth of work, but that’s a whole lot better than losing everything.

Amazon s3 Backup

As a professional photographer, I must take backups seriously. I have a couple hundred photos that are of such commercial or personal value that they are worth protecting from a major catastrophe. An off-site and off-line backup disk adds a lot of protection to my backup scheme, but even this is no guarantee that my data will survive an enormous major natural disaster. Fortunately, there are cheap and easy ways to back files up online. An earthquake, hurricane, or flood could destroy all of my hard drives. If a natural disaster strikes, and I survive, then I could eventually buy myself another computer and camera. All of my hardware is replaceable, but some of my most valuable images and critical business documents are not.

Online, “cloud,” backup is in its infancy right now. I suspect that the day will come when the vast majority of our data is stored and backed up in the online “cloud.” Right now, I don’t have the Internet upload speed needed to keep a copy of every image online, but I can certainly afford to upload my most valuable images and documents to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (s3) bucket. Redundant Amazon s3 storage currently costs less than .2 cents per gigabyte per month for US customers! My monthly storage bill averages less than $1 per month. What this Amazon s3 online backup really buys me is peace of mind. It comforts me to know that, even if my local backup plans fail, my most precious images and my business’s tax records are still safely stored on multiple servers in multiple countries. I could eventually retrieve these files from anywhere in the world if I have to flee from my home.

Is this being completely paranoid? Yes, but the price is so low that I think it is totally worth it. Plus, the frequency of natural disasters is expected to rise exponentially through the next century….

Conclusion: Internal hard drives and external hard drives will all eventually fail; both expensive and cheap disks will fail. Nothing electronic lasts forever. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a wonderful image management tool, but it is not a backup system. The need for a backup plan is universal. If all of this seems like a lot of effort, then please consider the dismal alternative. If you have no backup plans, what will you lose when your computer crashes? Could you really re-shoot your favorite pictures or are some of them simply irreplaceable? I believe that the time and effort that I have invested in my backup plans is time well spent, even if disaster never strikes. At least I can sleep at night knowing that I have done all I can to prepare for some catastrophic event.

Related Tutorials:

• Recommended External Hard Drives
• Backing Up Windows Computers with Acronis True Image Home
• Backing Up a Mac with Carbon Copy Cloner

Basic Camera

February 25 – 26, 2012

Knoxville, Tennessee

I am delighted to announce that Heather Anne Thomas and I will be teaching a Basic Digital Camera Seminar this February at her beautiful studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Heather Anne is an award-winning photographer who regularly photographs the world’s best chefs, restaurants, and musicians. She and I have been teaching together for many years and it is always fun sharing the stage with her.

Our weekend digital photography seminar provides the opportunity to learn and practice new techniques in a small-group environment. We will help you build your camera skills and boost your confidence as a photographer throughout this fun-filled weekend. As you learn more about your digital camera, you will be able to create better images. Topics covered include digital camera fundamentals, landscape photography techniques, composition, and a demonstration of digital image processing.

This short workshop is perfect for beginning photographers and for those who are feeling out-of-touch with their technical skills since digital took over. For more details on this class, please contact Juliet at 865-681-6128 or visit www.beallandthomas.com.

Understanding “Export” in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

“Export” in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom vernacular means “to save a new copy of your photograph for a specific purpose.” Think of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog as if it were a big “Save As” button. Use this feature of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom whenever you need to create a copy of your photo for distribution via email, print, or for use on the web.

Since the export process creates a new file, we must use clear terms to distinguish between the new copy and the original image. Let’s refer to the original image as the “source file” and refer to the new copy as the “exported file.” The source file is the image that you originally “Imported” into your Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog. Over time, you may have improved the source file by adding valuable metadata and you may have made visual improvements to this image using Photoshop Lightroom’s Develop Module. Enhancing the source file might require a lot of work and it may even require the use of additional software like Adobe Photoshop CS5. On export, all of your enhancements to the source file will be passed along to the exported copy.

Exporting in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a one way street. The exporting process creates a new image but it does not change anything about the source file. The settings that you select in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog do not change the size, shape, or color of the source file in any way. None of the settings in the Export Dialog will alter the source file. This is a critical concept that often confuses new Photoshop Lightroom users.

I usually shoot digital camera raw files when I am working with my camera. Bringing home raw files is usually the best use of my equipment, but these files are not ready for immediate distribution. Fortunately, working with digital camera raw files is painless and efficient using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Once my raw file–the source file–is all tuned up, I can use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog to create an email ready jpeg copy in no time. The settings that I choose within Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog control the exported copy’s name, its file format, its size, and its metadata. In this case, my export settings tell the program to create a tiny little jpeg version that is optimized for email distribution, but the source file remains unchanged. After the export process completes my raw file is still a raw file plus I now have an email ready jpeg copy of this image that I can share with the world!

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3 Export Dialog

If the source file looks great inside of Photoshop Lightroom then the exported copy will also look great. This is an important detail. The current appearance of the source file is always passed down to the exported copy. If your source file currently appears as a black and white image within your Photoshop Lightroom Catalog, then the exported copy will be born as a black and white image. If you have given the source file dark vignetted corners using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s Develop Module tools then an exported copy will also have dark vignetted corners. What you currently see inside of your Photoshop Lightroom Catalog is what you will get in the exported copy.*

The exported copy can be stored in a different folder, or even on a different hard drive, than the original source file. You can choose whatever filename and destination you want for the exported copy within the Export Dialog without affecting the source file. The source file retains its current filename and stays in its current folder no matter how many times you invoke the Export Dialog.

Your exported copy can inherit all of the source file’s metadata or you can tell Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog to strip out all but the most essential metadata fields. If enabled, the “Minimize Embedded Metadata” switch in the Export Dialog will remove everything but your copyright info from the exported copy’s metadata fields. Again, this Export Dialog choice will not affect the source file at all. Stripping metadata out of the exported copy reduces the file’s size and it can be useful when you want to keep your metadata private.

Most Photoshop Lightroom users eventually build an understanding of the basic controls inside of the Export Dialog, but there are two features that can confuse even experienced Photoshop Lightroom users. The ability to have the exported copy automatically added back into your Lightroom Catalog can be a tricky feature. Enabling the “Add To This Catalog” feature forces the Export Dialog to create an exported copy and then to create a reference point for the new image within your current Lightroom Catalog.

I usually leave this option turned off, but every now and then this “export then automatically import” routine makes sense. Automatically importing the exported copy can be useful, for example, when I need a second copy of my original file within my Photoshop Lightroom Catalog. I occasionally use this trick when I need two separate versions of the same image.

This trick can be useful when I want to create a full color image and a separate black and white version of the same original capture. This trick is also useful when I want to process the same file at multiple exposure settings using sophisticated HDR software. Obviously I don’t use this trick all of the time, but the automatically “export then import” routine can be useful in the right circumstances.

The “Image Sizing” controls are the other feature of the Export Dialog that often bewilder Photoshop Lightroom users. Your choices in the “Image Sizing” panel control the physical dimensions of the exported copy. If you are using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog to prepare files for printing at a professional photo lab, or for reproduction in a magazine, then you will probably want to use inches or centimeters as the units of measure in this panel. On the other hand, it is easier to use pixels as the units of measure when working on a file that will be displayed on a web page. The correct resizing method, and the appropriate units of measure, change based on the purpose of the exported copy.

Learning to save Export Presets for repetitive tasks is one of the real secrets to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom happiness. Export Presets make life faster and easier by automating repetitive tasks. I don’t save a new Export Preset every single time that I use the Export Dialog, but if I find myself pushing the same buttons again and again, then I know it is time to create a new Export Preset. With the right Export Preset, I can click one button and let the program do everything else for me without altering my source file in any way!

Related Tutorials:

• Getting Started: What Does “Import” Mean in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?
• Creating Email Ready Images Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’s Export Dialog
• Using the Lr2/Mogrify Plugin to Create Borders When Exporting in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Preparing Files For Printing at a Photo Lab Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• How To Create a Second Copy of an Image Inside of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3
• Connecting Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3 with Flickr

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*An exported copy always matches the current appearance of the source file within the Photoshop Lightroom Catalog however this can get a little confusing when exporting raw files. If you choose to export an image as a raw file, then the changes that you have made within Photoshop Lightroom may not be visible at your computer’s operating system level. The exported copy does indeed have your Photoshop Lightroom improvements but your enhancements will not be visible using just your computer’s operating systems. Examining the exported copy at the operating system level may not show all of your hard work. You can, however, see all of your improvements if you examine this file with software like Adobe Bridge or import this image into a Photoshop Lightroom Catalog.

Understanding “Import” in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

The words “Import,” “Export,” and “Catalog” have very specific meanings inside of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Understanding these terms within the Photoshop Lightroom lexicon can help you avoid some of the common pitfalls that snare many new Photoshop Lightroom users. To explain what the word “Import” means in this context, we must first discuss how the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog functions. The easiest way to do this is with an analogy, so please bare with me for a minute.

In the real world–the world that exists far away from our glowing computer screens–we all love libraries. They are wonderful buildings full of books and magazines where you can wander around for hours, browsing and exploring row after row of books. This exploration can be rewarding, but the library is also a place where an experienced researcher can track down a single important book in no time. Locating a single book that is included in the library’s vast holdings is easy, thanks to the library’s card catalog. The card catalog is the organizational tool that makes an enormous academic library useful, working as a searchable index with reference points that lead to every book that the library owns.

Before the digital age, the library’s card catalog was an enormous collection of index cards inside of a giant wooden box. These days everything is electronic, but the principals of the card catalog remain the same. Each index card inside the wooden box references a single item that the library owns and contains information including the book’s title, author, and subject. It also includes a very precise map to its exact location somewhere within the building, which is the book’s “Dewey Decimal number.”

In modern words, the card catalog is a “database” and each book is an “object.” Each index card acts as a “reference point” or “placeholder” for a particular object that the library owns. When the librarians add new books into the library’s holdings, they must also add new index cards into the card catalog so that every item that the library owns is included in the database. A book that is not listed in the card catalog is very difficult to find in a timely manner.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog functions like a card catalog at a research library. Your Photoshop Lightroom Catalog is a database, and a search tool, for your photography. It is an index much like the physical library’s card catalog that holds reference points. The very first time that you launch the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom application you are creating an empty database file. To carry on with this analogy, you are creating a new “wooden box” to hold your “index cards” the very first time you start up this program. Your database starts as an empty box because it does not yet contain any reference points.

“Import” in Photoshop Lightroom means to add new reference points into the Lightroom Catalog database file. Clicking on the Import button tells Photoshop Lightroom that you are ready to add new “index cards”–new reference points–into your Lightroom Catalog to keep track of another group of digital images. Each digital image is a personal, or professional, asset worth indexing because images are unsearchable using Photoshop Lightroom’s image search tools until they have a valid reference point within the database.

Importing creates a one-to-one relationship between the Lightroom Catalog’s reference point and one of the images on your hard drive. Lightroom’s reference point records the image’s filename, metadata, and the exact path through the computer that leads to this particular file. Lightroom writes all of this information onto a new “index card” for each image that gets imported into your Catalog. In addition, Photoshop Lightroom also creates a thumbnail which acts a visual placeholder so that you can see a tiny copy of your digital image while browsing through your Lightroom Catalog.

Pressing the Import button in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom brings up a dialog full of possibilities. Every Import adds new reference points into the Lightroom Catalog database, but the Import Dialog needs additional guidance and direction every time that it is summoned. The Import Dialog already knows that it must create new reference points, but it is also a photographer’s workflow tool. This dialog box often needs specific instructions about where to find the new group of images that you would like it to connect to in your index. It also offers additional actions that might enhance your productivity.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3 Import Dialog

The Import Dialog, for example, can assist you in renaming your files as it creates new reference points. Batch renaming images on Import can be a big time-saver for the busy professional photographer. Likewise, Photoshop Lightroom’s Import Dialog can speed up your workflow by inserting a personalized metadata template into your images on import. The Import Dialog may be able to dramatically improve your productivity by automating tedious repetitive tasks, but this box cannot magically read your mind. You must give it precise instructions every time you use it.

Novice Lightroom users often mistake Photoshop Lightroom’s thumbnails, and its previews, for their actual photos. The thumbnails and the previews that Lightroom generates on import are just visual placeholders that make the database more colorful. The thumbnails and previews that you see inside of the Lightroom Catalog are actually reference points and while they are nice to look at, they are not replacements for the much larger digital file that is stored elsewhere on your hard drive.

Confusing the Lightroom Catalog’s reference point for the much larger digital image often leads to a classic Photoshop Lightroom mistake. Sometimes novice Lightroom users will import a group of images into their Lightroom Catalog and then they will delete the actual photos from their hard drive using their computer’s operating system. This mistake, deleting the digital image at the operating system level, can have dire consequences. These users often learn the hard way that the Lightroom Catalog’s thumbnail and previews are not a replacement for the millions of pixels that they tragically deleted!

Failure to understand what “Import” really means in this context often contributes to another common Lightroom frustration. On import, Lightroom records the precise trail that leads to images named “X,” in folder named “Y,” on hard drive named “Z.” Like the Dewey Decimal System, Photoshop Lightroom records the exact location of each image when it is imported into the Catalog and the program assumes that this precise route will remain fixed once the image has been imported.

Here’s where the trouble starts. If the path changes after the file has been imported, then the reference point that the Lightroom Catalog database holds no longer leads to the actual object. As far as the Lightroom Catalog knows, this file has gone “missing.” Photoshop Lightroom marks files and folders with a question mark symbol if the path that it recorded is broken. Sadly, many new Lightroom users also learn this lesson the hard way.

Free Advice: Once an image has been imported into your Photoshop Lightroom Catalog do not delete, move, or rename this file using your computer’s operating system. Moving photos around at the operating system level, post-import, breaks the connection between the Lightroom Catalog’s reference point and the actual object. If you want to perform any of these organizational activities, learn how to do them from within the Lightroom application. Performing any of these actions using Lightroom’s tools ensures that the relationship between your Catalog’s reference point and the real object is never broken. While broken paths are repairable within the Lightroom Catalog, fixing these problems requires additional work.

For full functionality, the one-to-one relationship between reference point and the actual object must be valid. Most of Lightroom’s features are disabled if the path between the Catalog’s reference point and the actual image is broken. All of the image enhancement tools in Photoshop Lightroom’s Develop Module, for example, are disabled for “missing files.”

Finally, many Photoshop Lightroom users get frustrated when their Import Dialog “refuses” to import a group of images. Usually this frustration occurs when the images in question are already connected to the users Lightroom index. The Import Dialog automatically “grey’s out” the thumbnails for any image that the Catalog already referenced and it refuses to import these files a second time. The Import Dialog will not create new reference points for these images because the Lightroom’s database cannot hold multiple reference points that lead to the same object.

It would be nice if the Import Dialog explained this behavior using words, but it is actually doing you a favor by keeping your database file from becoming an enormous mess full of duplicate entries. Unfortunately, many novice users assume that there is something wrong with the application when this occurs. Multiple reference points that lead to the same object would create needless repetition, mass confusion, and eventually bring total chaos to your index.

Once you understand what “Import” really means in this context you can explore all of the time-saving features of the Import Dialog. You may find that some of this Dialog’s features improve your workflow. Other features may not appeal to you but, no matter what options you enable or disable, its core behavior–adding new reference points to the Catalog–remains the same.

Related tutorials:

• Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: Where Should I Store My Photos?
• Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: Where Should I Store My Photoshop Lightroom Catalog?
• Using the Import and Copy Command in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog
• Using the Import and Move Command in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Using the Import with Add Command in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Importing Images from iPhoto into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3
• Using the Import from Catalog Command in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Using a Metadata Preset on Import in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Using a File Template to Rename Images on Import in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• Moving Folders within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
• What Does “Export” Mean in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?