Top 10 Favorite Things About Lightroom 2
So off we go, in no particular order:
1. Local Corrections - you now have the ability to paint on special effects within the raw pipeline (i.e. no having to render a tiff, open it in another application and then manage two separate files like Aperture has to do). You can dodge, burn, add clarity or contrast to a spot and you can soften skin (negative clarity) or add a tone (via a colored brush). This feature is really cool and allows all kinds of things you used to have to go to Photoshop to do.
2. Streamlined
Editing - Lightroom was always good at
helping you edit your photo shoot. Step thru each
image, and either pick it (p) or reject it (x).
(Tip: You can unmark things with the
(u) key). PIcks are for images that I think have
potential. Rejects are ones I’m going to trash.
Nothing new here so far, as Lightroom 1.0 did this.
However we’ve added a great new indicator for those
items that have been rejected. The filmstrip and grid
icons are now grayed out - perfect and much clearer.
Tip: when you’re done editing and
ready to trash those rejects, hit Cmd-Delete and
Lightroom will ask you if you want to remove them or
trash them.
3.
Collections - with Lightroom 2,
collections got a huge and much needed kick in the
pants. First off, they now have little icons that
help you in parsing what can be a long list. Each
collection type (more on that in a second) has its
own icon too. And with 2 you can now create Smart
Collections. This is very cool - you can make
collections based on metadata, just like you do in
iTunes.
4. Volume
Browser - this is a nice little update that
improves the “where are my files” problem that some
people have when they start using Lightroom. The
skinny: Lightroom is a catalog app. You point
lightroom at a folder and it will build a cache with
metadata and previews for the image. The images
remain on the drive where you told the Import dialog
to put them. But some got all concerned with the
“where” question. So we improved the Folder panel
display to show the volume, its status, capacity and
other great info about the file folder structure. And
hint, you can change the LED color by holding the
Shift-Option-Command keys down when clicking on the
LED light.
5. Print Packages - its so much
easier to print a package of images now. Want a 5x7
images and a bunch of wallets? A few clicks and
you’re there. As Borat says “Very Nice.”
6. Match Total
Exposures - Shoot a bunch of things at the
same time and want the exposures to match? One
command, baby...
7. Post-Crop
Vignette - In Lightroom 1.0, all you had was
a full-frame vignette designed to eliminate lens
vignetting. If you wanted it for artistic effect, and
then you added a crop, you lost much of the effect.
Not any more.
8. Custom Camera
Profiles - One of the big complaints we get
is that the Raw files imported into Lightroom don’t
have the “pop” of the camera manufacterers JPG. Uh,
this is kinda the point, but people kept complaining
when they saw Raw files ready for interpretation
instead of pre-processed jpegs. Adding to the
problem: our auto settings didn’t work as well as
they should. So we’ve added the ability for Lightroom
to use custom profiles that can be created by the DNG
Profile Editor. There is even a default set from
Adobe that mimics several known picture styles. Had
problems with red/orange/yellow colors in Lightroom
1.x? Now that is a thing of the past. Making profiles
isn’t for everyone, but you can do it and many will
do it and make them downloadable. Its going to be
very cool. And we tweaked the Auto algorithm too for
good measure.
9. Keyword Suggestions - This new
feature suggests other keywords that might apply to
your image - it uses all kinds of fancy algorithms
done by super geekycool Adobe engineers (hint: I
don’t know how it works, but it sure is nice for
stock photographs).
10. Target
Collection - In 1.x, you had the Quick
Collection for a nice bucket to organize stuff into.
Now you can target any collection and add it by a
simple press of the (b) key. This makes organization
really simple.
Well, that is it. There
is a lot more in the release, but this is what is
floatin’ my boat (as it were) these days.
Sound off in Comments on what is making your life
better!
Cheers!
Lightroom 2 Ships!
We’ve been hard at work on this release for over a
year, and it has some real improvements that will
make your photographic workflow easier and more
efficient. Price is $299 and the upgrade is a sweet
$99.
Learn More:
Third Party Coverage
- Lightroom News
- Macworld
- Photoshop Insider
- Luminous Landscape
- DP Review
- Inside Lightroom
- Imaging Resource
- Lightroom Killer Tips
Training and Learning
- NAAP Lightroom 2 Learning Center
- Kelby Training has new online classes for Lightroom 2
- Luminous Landscape’s Guide to Lightroom 2
- Photoshop Cafe Screenshots & Videos
What has changed from the beta?
Trial? You bet. There is a 30 Day trial available
We’ve also released a
beta version of the Camera Raw Profile Editor.
Simply, this little tool lets anyone change the way
Adobe raw processing software does color. Many people
didn’t like the yellows/reds/oranges they got from
Lightroom or ACR - this software lets you customize
everything to your hearts content. It certainly is
for advanced users, but for those of us not into
CLUTs and such, we’ll be able to download all kinds
of these and use them in Lightroom. The best part is
that we can more easily match camera manufacturer’s
color this way - this is an oft-heard complaint and
now will be a thing of the past.
Gets started with some new color profiles...
Ride Report:
Road. 22 miles from my home to Fall City to
Snoqualmie and home. Sprinkled on me the entire
ride...
List Additions
- Lens distortions and abberations got you down? Spend a measily $15 and get PTLens, a good tool that can be run as a Lightroom Editor (and it streamlines the workflow some from a standalone app). I’ve tried it, and it works well. Not as well as a correction module, but that isn’t yet on the radar. Until then, working on a rendered tiff is what you get - and its worht noting that this is Aperture’s solution to everything and it kinda sucks compared to being able to do this fancy stuff on Raw images. See LR 2.0’s Local Corrections for example. Zing! (Via the Lightroom Blog)
- A reader, Mike Solomon, pointed me to a tutorial and a couple of Lightroom presets on his blog. He says they give photos the “it” that sometimes is needed for advertising photographs. Worth a read.
- Like to put your stuff on the web from Lightroom? Check out all the galleries on Lightroomgalleries.com
Stephen Johnson on "The Intrigue of Complexity "
A quote:
“I would
strongly urge people to see simply, and edit simply.
Your photographs are your asset, much more so than
your Photoshop skills. Those image-editing skills may
well be critical to your craft, but they are
secondary to your photographic vision. “Fix it in
Photoshop” is a prescriptive attitude that often
leads to making images not worth investing time
trying to salvage through image editing.”
Amen to that. I resisted digital photography for
quite along time, only really shooting digital
seriously starting in 2007 with the arrival of my
Leica M8. I stuck with film mostly because the prints
I could get in Black & White were better with the
analog process. I have a darkroom and used it
extensively for years, but the last year has seen it
become a storage room (like many others I suspect)
because the technology (camera ergonomics, printers
and paper) improved. While there was always
manipulations in the darkroom - dodging, burning,
flashing, and cropping, the image generally had to
stand on its own merits in that rectangle on the
easel. Things have certainly changed, and often not
for the better. We all get fascinated with a certain
look, style or feel and sometimes its post-processing
that gives us what we are looking for, but its always
secondary to vision. That frame still has to have it
before a pixel is tweaked. I’m really grateful I
spent years working with film before I went digital
because it taught me to see and to edit. These two
skills mean more than anything else, and they take
years to learn.
As one who works on Lightroom and has contributed to
other Adobe software related to digital photography,
it always strikes me as odd when a great photographer
comments on his “lack of photoshop skill” as if to
appologize for his work when we talk. These are
tools. They help you acheive your vision, but they
are no subsitute for it. A crappy photograph is still
crappy after 10 actions in Photoshop and some layer
magic. I really like Scott’s cajones for publishing
this article - as one could easily point out his
culpability in the “tips and tricks” arms race.
Another quote:
“Solid
image editing is far less about secrets, trickery,
hidden features and shortcuts, than it is about
starting with a strong photograph, knowing your
goals, and methodically working toward them. Craft is
not tricky; it is most often plain hard work and
care.”
To the point, this past week I was in the field with
a friend shooting a story for the National
Geographic. We spent a lot of time focusing on
getting it right - there were long days (and nights)
working with a bag of techniques to make sure that it
was perfect. After a few hours of shooting a
particular object, we decided that something wasn’t
quite right and we’d need do something a bit
different. More shooting and more work lay ahead. Of
course, the knee-jerk was that we could “just fix it
in photoshop” but Alex pointed out that was the easy
way out. His comment (and I’m paraphrasing - I was
holding a big silk scrim in windy conditions) was
fitting:
“This is
the National Geographic - we get it right in camera
because it matters.”
Preach on, brother...
Remote Backups
Once you have your onsite redundancy thing nailed, then its time to address the second part of the backup problem: remote backups. It isn't good enough to have backups on a hard drive next to your computer if your studio or house burns down. Or if it sinks into a swamp. Or if it burns down, falls over and then sinks into the swamp.
My friends over at SmugMug (a rocking photo sharing/printing site) have just released a new feature that solves your problem.
Its called "SmugVault"
and its a way of backing up all your valuable Raw
files to Amazon's distributed data centers. No more
earthquake, flood or the appocalypse to take out your
collection of digital files.
Read more...
Making Lightroom Faster
Sure, as software developers we always make improvements and talk in terms of seconds, milliseconds and even X times faster. And we mean well.
Sometimes, it depends on a myriad of factors beyond our control. Have a slow drive? An old computer? Lacking reasonable Ram (and whatever you have, its probably not reasonable enough). Take good care of your computer?
Well, there are lots of
things you can do, and the guys over at shootsmarter.com have a nice article by Michael Clark
on tips to speed up Lightrooom (you may need to
sign up to view the article).