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Archive for category Lightroom

Automating Your Workflow

Apr 14

Posted by Gene in Lightroom, Tips | Comments off

There are quite a few features in Lightroom to help you automate your workflow. In every module you will find things to make your life easier! Well, workflow-wise anyway. Publish Services offer a streamlined way to keep your catalog and remote sites in synch. Develop presets let you quickly apply settings you have honed over time. Publishing a website? The Web Module assists you in putting it all together and even has FTP built in to get your masterpiece up on the web in no time! And so the list goes.

Still. There are opportunities to take your workflow to the next level using other technology in concert with Lightroom. We took a look at one technique in a previous post Abbreviating Lightroom. There we leveraged the power of text expanding utilities to make text entry quicker. Let’s take a look at another way to automate and streamline our workflow.

Before we begin I have to apologize to the readers who use Windows. The sample workflow solution I am writing about will only work on a Mac. But please don’t stop reading if you use Windows. Take a look at the workflow automation here and let us know if there is a way to accomplish something similar on the Windows platform. Use the comments section. If you are up for writing an article contact me. We like having guest authors and our Windows colleagues will appreciate it!

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Make 2011 A Lightroom Year!

Jan 25

Posted by Gene in Adobe, Lightroom, Tips | Comments off

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.

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onOne Software Releases Perfect Photo Suite 5.5

Dec 3

Posted by Gene in Lightroom, Photoshop | Comments off

onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of innovative, timesaving solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced availability of Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® and Apple Aperture.  Tackling specific problems within a photographer’s preferred workflow, the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 offers simple yet powerful solutions for color correction, image resizing, masking and professional photographic effects in one affordable package. With support for Photoshop CS5, CS4 and CS3, the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 includes FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.6, PhotoTools 2.6, MaskPro 4.1 and Perfect Resize 7 (the next generation of Genuine Fractals). The Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 will also include the recently announced Perfect Layers, which will be available in early 2011.

With this new version of the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5, photographers now have more options for where they use many of the onOne products. For the first time, photographers will be able to use FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.6 and Perfect Resize 7 directly within Lightroom and Aperture without the need for a separate host application. In addition, owners of the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 will receive Perfect Layers when it becomes available next year. This completely new product provides photographers with the ability to create layered files directly from within Lightroom and Aperture that are fully compatible with Photoshop for later editing.

Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 continues to include full support for Photoshop CS5, CS4 and CS3. Mask Pro 4.1 which allows photographers to replace backgrounds and make selections and PhotoTools 2.6, allowing photographers to leverage the power of Photoshop to enhance and stylize their images, continue to function directly within Photoshop and do not run as stand-alone applications.

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Filtering Creativity

Dec 13

Posted by in Lightroom | Comments off

Digital photography has come a long way in the last few years. Few today would argue that digital cannot stand as film's equal. In many cases the technology now surpasses film. Not only do we have a digital substitute for film, we also have digital substitutes for most physical filters. Between the built in tools in Lightroom and the many sets of plugins available there are really only two physical filters needed today.

The effects of a polarizing filter cannot be reproduced digitally. Yes, there are a few digital polarizing effects which attempt to approximate some aspects of a polarizer. But only a physical polarizer present between the subject and the sensor can remove reflections and deepen the sky's shade of blue. You can get close with digital effects but it's much more work that just putting that filter on the lens.

Neutral density filters also have no digital replacements. Some aspects of contrast and tone can be simulated digitally. But there isn't a digital filter around that can cut the light on site and slow down your shutter speed. If you are out on a sunny day and want to slow your shutter for that dreamy cotton candy waterfall effect, the neutral density filter is your best friend. You can get a set of different density filters or a single variable density filter. Whichever you choose you'll eventually find yourself happy you have it in your bag.

I can hear you saying, "OK. I have those filters. Why do I need any more?" Well, you don't need any other filters. However, you may want to consider other filters. While it's true that you can easily recreate starlight effects on highlights or selective focus techniques via plugins you can still benefit from a physical filter.

For example, let's look at the Lensbaby Composer. Not just a filter but a lens substitute, the Lensbaby lets you pull areas in and out of focus. That selective focus look can be reproduced via a plugin such as FocalPoint 2 from onOne Software. What's the difference? The plugin can give you excellent results but it can't help you see things differently in the field. The Lensbaby can help spark your creative vision by letting you see your world a little differently.

The same can be said of other creative effect filters popular in film days. Starlight and soft focus filters aren't needed anymore and can be recreated digitally. But sometimes seeing the world through a starlight filter reveals new and interesting perspectives. Creative vision is a funny thing. Sometimes it's fragile. Other times it is stuck in a rut. Small things can provide a spark to reignite it.

Don't misunderstand me. Digital filters are amazing and wonderful things. Many are capable of much more than their physical counterparts ever were. But our old friends can still inspire and show us new ways to see our world. Get your basic filters first. Then try an effects filter or two and see if they spark your creative vision.

You Do Have a Backup…Don’t You?

Nov 22

Posted by in Lightroom, tutorial | Comments off

You know that sinking feeling you get when you go to open a file and it's not there or the entire hard drive just won't mount? Your mind races. You wonder where you put that backup. Wait! Did you back that up? It is usually an event like this that finally makes all those articles about backing up make so much sense. Well, if you haven't paid heed thus far perhaps this article will finally give you that extra push. At least as far as Lightroom is concerned. That's it. Start small and build up to full backups!

Before we look at what Lightroom provides for backing up we should touch on the general need for backing up your data overall. The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), with funding from the Library of Congress, has put together an amazing site that every digital photographer should visit regularly, dpBestFlow.org. For our purposes you should take a look at the backup sections for a complete discussion of backup philosophy. Develop the mindset that no file exists until it exists in three places (and one of those needs to be offsite!).

Now, back to Lightroom. There are two separate backup issues when dealing with Lightroom; the catalog and the original source image files. Lightroom let's you make a backup copy of your image files while you import them.

Import Photos.png

Choose a backup location in the Import dialog and Lightroom will make a second copy of the files there. I suggest that this location be on a different drive from where you are storing the files used in the catalog.

One issue with this is that Lightroom makes a copy of the files using their original names. So if you are renaming them during import it may be challenging to match them up later should you need to recover a file. Lightroom 3 Note: This has been addressed in Lightroom 3 Beta. Files you choose to backup during import will be backed up using the same renaming conventions you choose for the imported files.

Even with this provision I recommend you regularly make a backup of your source image files as they are saved on the hard drive.

The Lightroom catalog is another file that needs to be backed up. This is the file with the extension .lrcat and is the database that houses all the information about your images and the work you have done. Lightroom lets you choose a regular backup routine for this file in the catalog settings.

Catalog Settings.png

Your choices here are:

  • Never
  • Once a month
  • Once a week
  • Once a day
  • Every time Lightroom opens
  • the Next time Lightroom opens

What you choose depends on how much security you want. I generally choose to backup every time I open the catalog. Choose the option that best fits your workflow. However, I strongly caution against choosing Never.

So where is the backup? You get to choose that when the backup dialog appears upon opening the catalog. Back Up Catalog.png

Again, choose a location on a different drive than your working catalog. Lightroom 3 Note: This seemingly backward approach of backing up BEFORE you work on your images has been addressed in Lightroom 3 Beta. Now you are asked to backup when closing the catalog (i.e. – AFTER you have worked in the catalog).

So take advantage of the backup resources Lightroom provides. Take a look at the dpBestFlow.org site and adopt an overall backup discipline. Never have that sinking feeling again when a file goes missing!