May 22
Everyone had a great time at the May Meeting! Bruce Van Horn did an excellent job unravelling the mysteries of ActionScript and programming. Thanks Bruce!
Attached are Bruce’s notes and the sample files for the helicopter project. So feel free to put that new ActionScript knowledge to use and practice!
There’s something new over at Adobe! A new feedback site has been launched over at photoshop.com! You can get there directly by going to feedback.photoshop.com. It looks to be a great way for users and the Photoshop Family teams to interact and discover new and exciting ideas for future versions of all the Photoshop Family applications. Whether it’s Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Camera Raw, and yes, Lightroom, there is a way to not only offer up your ideas and suggestions but also interact and elaborate on them.
This is also a great way to report issues and bugs. Team members and users can talk about them. All this interactivity can only make all of the products better and help Adobe guide development in the direction users want.
Jan 25
The decorations are all put away. The fog of the New Year’s Eve party has lifted. Life has returned to something resembling a normal schedule. 2011 is now with us and poised to be a great year for you. That is, if you choose to make it a great year.
Rather than let the year slip away why not plan to learn more about Lightroom? Lightroom can appear to be a simple and straight-forward application. But don’t be fooled. There are subtleties and nuances in every module. It is a rich program with a lot to offer. Let’s explore it more in 2011. Don’t call it a resolution to learn more about Lightroom (because we all know what happens to New Year’s resolutions). Just work it into your regular routine.
To assist you here are a few suggestions for things to explore further.
Take a class…Read a book
There are many different approaches here. If you like to learn via video then take a look at some excellent offerings from lynda.com and NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). Check the listings of courses in your local Community College or Adult Education programs for Lightroom related courses. Local photography clubs and Adobe User Groups often offer sessions on Lightroom.
If you prefer books then, here again, there is a wide variety of choices. Looking for tips and tricks? Try something like Dan Moughamian’s Adobe Digital Imaging How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques for Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 3, and Camera Raw 6. If you prefer a question and answer format take a look at Victoria Bampton’s Adobe Lightroom 3 – The Missing FAQ – Real Answers to Real Questions asked by Lightroom Users. And if you like the full seven course meal then give Martin Evening’s excellent The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers a try.
We had a great time this weekend at the first After Effects Camp! I saw some of you there amid the throngs of eager AEers! Everyone I spoke to really took something away from the many astounding lectures during the day.
J Schuh of Toons-N-Design started us off with the basics. As he put it “I have a crayon so let’s see what I can draw!”
Roman Flute followed with a wonderful introduction on how Illustrator and Invigorator can be used in After Effects. Roman’s been using AE since it was called Cosa so he knew what he was talking about.
Mark Clive of UT Arlington (our wonderful facilities host) introduced us to the world of animation in AE. Yeah! Flash isn’t the only animation game in town.
After a great lunch everyone was ready to go for more AE goodness. Trent Armstrong, who manages the Dallas After Effects User Group, taught us how to be organized and efficient as our layers keep getting out of hand.
Ian Johnson of Chaos Creative told us all about how cameras work in AE and how they relate to cameras in the real world.
Things got more and more complicated as the day progressed until Will Nicholson blew us all away with stereoscopic 3D in After Effects (complete with 3D glasses so we could all enjoy the examples).
A.J. wood of Media Cats did an excellent job as our Master of Ceremonies for the camp.
I really would like to thank the volunteers who worked the tables and kept all the campers informed and in line LOL! Thanks also to UTA for a wonderful facility and access to a complete lab during breaks, Texas Motion Picture Alliance, Dallas Ad League, greengrass studios, Chaos Creative, Toons-N-Design, and A Bunch of Short Guys for all their help and support.
A special word of thanks to Adobe as well!
It was a fantastic day! I hope you didn’t miss it!
In Part 1 we examined how to use Publish Services to control target folders on the hard drive using the Hard Drive Publish Connection.
There's another Publish Service that comes with Lightroom 3 Beta. The Flickr Publish Service allows us to connect Lightroom to a Flickr account (or multiple Flickr accounts) and manage our photostream from within Lightroom. However, there are some pitfalls to watch out for. Remember, this is beta software, so as you come across issues or areas that can be improved please join the conversation over at the Adobe Forums and tell the Lightroom team about it. You can help make this a great release!
We start by creating the connection to Flickr. Click on the Set up… on the right side of the Flickr bar in Publish Services.
That brings up the Lightroom Publishing Manager we saw in Part 1.
The two differences here are the Flickr Account section and the Privacy and Safety section. Privacy and Safety are pretty self explanatory and relate to how the images are displayed in your Flickr account.
To make the connection press the Log In button. This brings up the authorization dialog. In order for Lightroom to be able to connect to your Flickr account, you need to grant permission to Lightroom from your Flickr account.
Click the Authorize button and your browser will open and take you to Flickr. If you are not already logged into your Flickr account, login and you will see the authorization screen.
Since you came here from Lightroom click the NEXT button in the right side box.
Flickr reminds you of what giving permissions to Lightroom means. Click the OK, I'LL AUTHORIZE IT button.
If all has gone well then Flickr will bring you to the success screen. You can now close your browser. When you return to Lightroom where the final dialog is waiting for you.
Click Done and you will see that the connection has been established.
Click the Save button and you will see your Photostream connection in the Flickr Publish Service.
Whew! Now you can control your Photostream from Lightroom. Drag and drop some images onto your Photostream then click on it to see the Publish window. Click the Publish button to upload them to Flickr. You will see them in the Published photos section.
If we check our Photostream on Flickr we find that they are there!
Pretty neat, eh? Wait. It get's better. If someone makes a comment on your image in Flickr those comments will attach themselves to the image in your Lightroom catalog! No, really!
Here's a comment entered in Flickr. Now press the Publish button again. Select the image and check the Comments section on the right side panel.
There's the comment we entered on Flicker. You can also enter comments here that will upload to Flickr. We can also see how many times this image has been made a favorite.
We can also create sets in Flickr right in Lightroom. This is as simple as creating a Photoset under the Flickr Publish Service. Right click on the Flickr bar and choose Create Photoset…
If we add some images to this Photoset and click the Publish button a new set will be created on our Flickr account.
As more online Publish Services are added this will become a very powerful feature and workflow tool!
Now for a few warnings! I warned you that this is BETA software. If you delete an image from your Flickr account online it will be forever stuck in the Photos to be deleted section of your Flickr Publish Service! Only delete images published via Lightroom using Lightroom! That will keep your catalog and your Flickr account in synch.
There is also a difference between how Lightroom interacts with Flickr STANDARD accounts and Flickr PRO accounts. With a standard account you CANNOT edit an image and republish it to Flickr. That's a limitation of Flickr's API. Delete the image from your Flickr Publish Service, make the adjustment, add it back and Publish.
If you have a PRO account you CAN republish images. When you make a change the image will move to the Re-Publish section. Click the Publish button and the changes will be uploaded to Flickr.
There are lot's of ways to put Rule #5 into practice with this new beta. so get out there and enjoy!
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