Adobe just released the Beta of version 3. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet but based on a review by Terry White it looks good.Lightroom 3 Public Beta! First Look There are alot of enhancements. A significant one could be the improved ability to publish your collections to photo sharing sites.
You’ll find the beta at Adobe Labs.
October 21, 2009
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Beta – COOOL!!
September 19, 2009
Vertical Panorama 2
On Wednesday of this week (9/16) I assisted a couple of my Hang Gliding friends launch from Kamehame Ridge above Waimanalo. Being a beautiful clear morning I decided to walk to a higher point along the ridge known as “Three Poles”. On days like this you’re rewarded for your effort with a view of the eastern most point of Oahu looking towards Molokai across the Molokai Channel.
Capturing this view in one shot is beyond the capability of my photo gear. Instead, using my wide angle lens 17-35 (effectively 25-52 on my Sony A700) I made a series of vertical shots. After importing the 23 shots into Lightroom for processing the individual exposures I ran them in the Photoshop CS4 merge to Panorama action.
August 11, 2009
August 10, 2009
June 20, 2009
June 16, 2009
A Challenge
Every June Hawaii celebrates the first ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom, King Kamehameha I. Friday afternoon is the Lei draping ceremony on the King’s statue in front of the State Judiciary Building – Aliiolani Hale in Honolulu. The Royal Hawaiian Band provides music to start. A Hula Halau dances in celebration accompanied by a local musical group. While Hawaiian civic groups present 13 foot Leis for draping over the statue with assistance from the local Honolulu Fire Department Ladder Company. It’s usually a beautiful afternoon with good light for taking pictures of the ceremony.
There in lies the challenge. First, in the strong afternoon light blown highlights are guaranteed to show in your photos given the bright white in the base of the statue plus the golden robe and headdress on the King. Then the angle of the sun puts the Judicial building and the people standing in front of it in shadow. So how do you expose to cover both extremes? If you concentrate on just the statue it’s easier to expose for the brightness. I like to add context to the picture and show more of the surroundings. This means finding the sweet spot where both the brightest and darkest areas have enough data in them to allow you to adjust the image in post processing. In this photo it means being able to reduce the brightness to bring out the texture in the base and lighten the shadows without noise becoming prominent and reducing detail.
A graduated filter attached to your lens helps you to balance the exposure before you record the image. The latest version of Lightroom includes a Graduated filter which allows you to create the same effect. I find it better than the adjustment brush. The Adjustment Brush has a narrow range of effectiveness. Too much adjustment on the white base turns it a pale gray instead of reducing the brightness.
March 12, 2009
March 6, 2009
Blurred Surfer
I made the leap to a DSLR in 2005 with the Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D. The photo ops that pushed the limits of my 7D and lens combination were lowlight with alot of movement. I took a bunch of pictures that I knew weren’t great but they had potential if I knew how to work with them. Surfing subjects within an hour of sunset were a challenge. I could push the ISO up to 1600 but I wasn’t happy with those results. The highest I would go was ISO 800 with my 28-200 Sigma at full zoom. With the lens as wide as it would go the best shutter speeds I could get were 45th or 60th of a sec. After my initial post processing I set those pics aside to wait for a better day. Today is the day for one of them. With recent upgrades in both hardware and software plus additional skill with the software (Lightroom and Photoshop), I’m revisiting those early efforts. What ya think?
January 10, 2009
Lightroom Presets
Two great features of Lightroom are it’s ability to create virtual copies that exist only within LR and not on your hard drive. Then you can take the copy and apply a preset (a group of settings) in this case a combination of Develop settings to come up with different treatments for an image. You can let your fancy run free.
The LR preset for this image is called Neg Kodak VC 160 warm. It’s actually designed to convert your color negatives just copied with your digital camera for a Kodak VC 160 film. This is a Point Curve Preset by radical edits to the Tone Curve. In order to subvert Lightroom’s parametric Tone Curve, you must either edit the Tone Curve in Adobe Camera Raw or edit the Preset by hand.
You can easily create your own or some websites sell them or you can find free ones. This was downloaded from Inside Lightroom
December 6, 2008
NAPP
No, this post isn’t about the virtues of taking a nap. Although I heartily recommend you take one on a regular basis. This is about the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
Being a bit of a computer geek since the mid 80’s I knew about Photoshop and it’s reputation as the top graphics and image editing tool. Since my needs in that area were decidedly modest I had no need or desire to spend the considerable amount to get the program. Then digital photography came on the scene along with a timely discount offer for Photoshop 7. Talk about serendipity.
Using Photoshop for the first time is like getting thrown into the deep end of the pool, without getting swimming lessons first. I quickly came to realize the Photoshop motto should be “Why do it just one way, when a half dozen different ways will do.”
This is where NAPP comes into the story. I bought several books to help me but NAPP had short bite size tutorials designed to show you how to create a specific effect in Photoshop. Learn by doing. What’s more the website had video tutorials that you could watch! Neat!
I created the border around the picture you see below by watching a video by R.C. Concepcion on the website. Thank you R.C.
While I’ve found Photoshop useful in my photography, Lightroom really greased the wheels of my pursuit of improvement. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts. NAPP has plenty of resources to help you with Lightroom as well.
There’s a lot more available to you so take a look and if you like what you see click on this link to sign up.
Refer a Friend You’ll get “The Best of Photoshop User: The Tenth Year” DVD as a bonus gift.
One more thing, I realize it’s called National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Therefore, you need to be making a living using Photoshop. Nope. You just need the desire to improve. NAPP will help you do that.
