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Lightroom 4 Announcement

Mar
5
2012
March 5, 2012
By 27 Comments
Lightroom 4

Adobe has just officially released its Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 photo management software. This was a rather quick release/update, since the beta version of Lightroom 4 had only been available for a few months. With the announcement of Lightroom 4 come very important and exciting news – Adobe decided to permanently lower the price of the Lightroom product line by half, from $299 to $149! That’s right, if you have never owned Lightroom before, now you can buy it brand spanking new for $149. The upgrade price also got halved. If you already own LR3, then you pay $79 for an upgrade. Now the recent price decrease of Lightroom 3 to $69 makes sense – if you add the $79 upgrade fee, it totals $148, which is what Adobe wants to charge for Lightroom 4.

So, what features are new to Lightroom 4 and should you consider upgrading from Lightroom 3? Let’s take a look at the new features and changes:

  1. Updated Lightroom storage engine, which makes Lightroom 4 faster
  2. New Image Process Version 2012 that unlocks new LR4 features (see below)
  3. Better highlight and shadow recovery
  4. New White Balance capabilities, including a White Balance brush that allows changing white balance selectively on images with mixed lighting sources
  5. New editing brushes for noise reduction and moiré removal
  6. Better GPS integration with maps
  7. Extended video support, including limited video editing capabilities, playback and video export
  8. Built-in soft proofing capability (previewing images for print)
  9. Capability to create Photo Books/Albums
  10. More online sharing options and integration
  11. Ability to email photographs directly from Lightroom
  12. Ability to import and convert LR3 databases
  13. One click Chromatic Aberration removal
  14. Ability to burn CD/DVD disks in Lightroom
  15. Support for Nikon D4, D800, D800E and Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G

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How to Remove Moiré in Photoshop

Feb
17
2012
February 17, 2012
By 16 Comments

In this article, I will show you how you can reduce the effect of moiré in Adobe Photoshop. With the release of the Nikon D800E, which has a different low-pass filter compared to the regular version of the D800 (see Nikon D800 vs D800E), it seems like Nikon opened up a can of worms as it relates to a phenomenon known as “moiré“. For the first time, Nikon is letting photographers pick between two versions of the same camera: one that yields sharper images at a cost of potentially having moiré in images (D800E) and one that yields slightly softer images but has no issues with moiré (D800). This quickly created tremendous interest from photographers, many of whom never even heard of the term “moiré” before the Nikon D800E. Questions started pouring in from everywhere and I spent quite a bit of time trying to explain what moiré is all about and how one could avoid or reduce its effect. This seems to be a primary concern for landscape and macro photographers that also enjoy photographing architecture and portraits (where moiré is seen quite often). Below you will find detailed instructions on how to reduce the effect of moiré in Photoshop.

Can Moiré be completely removed in Photoshop?

Unlike Lightroom 4, which has a built-in tool to reduce moire (and in some mild cases even eliminate it), Photoshop has no automated way of reducing or removing moire. Because of this, there are literally dozens of different methods you can use to deal with moire. I have tried a number of them and I found the below method to work best for the worst moire-infested photographs out there. Most other methods use some sort of blurring technique that actually degrades image quality, which is why I prefer this one instead. If you work with the original file (RAW is preferred), you will definitely get better results than if you work with a small JPEG image (as I will be doing below). While it is possible to completely remove moire in Photoshop, the process can be very time consuming and painful. This is the reason why I have been recommending most of our readers to buy the regular version of the Nikon D800 instead of the D800E. The latter is a specialized tool for dedicated landscape and macro photographers that want to get the best out of their equipment. The last thing you want is introduce another step to your workflow in order to clean up moiré, just because you picked up the wrong camera.

Step One: Remove the Rainbow Pattern

Removing moire in Photoshop is done in two steps – the first one removes the rainbow pattern of moire and the second one takes care of the Luminance channel pattern. Let’s get started with the same jacket image I presented in “what is moiré” article. I decided to use this image, because it has a very strong moiré pattern with yellow and green rainbow discolorations. This type of moiré is pretty much a worst-case scenario:

Moiré

(Image courtesy of photo.net)

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Today Only: Get Lightroom for $69!

Feb
15
2012
February 15, 2012
By 28 Comments
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

I have seen great specials from Adobe on Lightroom before (Christmas sale was $149) but this post-Valentine’s Day special blows anything I have seen away! Just today, you can get Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for just $69.95 from B&H. An incredible deal, considering the regular retail price tag of $269.95. Can’t complain about the price anymore!

While B&H does not have Lightroom in stock right now (sold out), you can still place an order and get your copy as soon as they have it back in stock, which they will very soon.

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How to Reduce Moiré in Lightroom 4

Feb
10
2012
February 10, 2012
By 29 Comments

In this article, I will show you how you can reduce the effect of moiré in the upcoming version of Lightroom 4. With the release of the Nikon D800E, which has a different low-pass filter compared to the regular version of the D800 (see Nikon D800 vs D800E), it seems like Nikon opened up a can of worms as it relates to a phenomenon known as “moiré“. For the first time, Nikon is letting photographers pick between two versions of the same camera: one that yields sharper images at a cost of potentially having moiré in images (D800E) and one that yields slightly softer images but has no issues with moiré (D800). This quickly created tremendous interest from photographers, many of whom never even heard of the term “moiré” before the Nikon D800E. Questions started pouring in from everywhere and I spent quite a bit of time trying to explain what moiré is all about and how one could avoid or reduce its effect. This seems to be a primary concern for landscape and macro photographers that also enjoy photographing architecture and portraits (where moiré is seen quite often). Below you will find detailed instructions on how to reduce the effect of moiré in Lightroom.

Can Moiré be completely removed in Lightroom?

As you may have noticed, I used the word “reduce” instead of “remove” in the header of this article. That’s because the moiré pattern often cannot be completely eliminated with a non-destructive editing application like Lightroom (except for mild cases of moiré), especially when moire damages the texture. Photographs with very visible and large moiré patterns in the Luminance Channel can only be completely fixed in Photoshop, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. In many cases, you have to sacrifice details to remove moiré completely. This is the reason why I have been recommending most of our readers to buy the regular version of the Nikon D800 instead of the D800E. The latter is a specialized tool for dedicated landscape and macro photographers that want to get the best out of their equipment. The last thing you want is introduce another step to your workflow in order to clean up moiré, just because you picked up the wrong camera.

Please note that the below instructions will only work with Lightroom 4. The previous versions of Lightroom do not have any moire reduction tools. Please also note that the below tool works best with the original RAW file.

Using Adjustment Brush to Reduce Moiré in Lightroom 4

Let’s get started with the same jacket image I presented in “what is moiré” article. I decided to use this image, because it has a very strong moiré pattern with a yellow and green rainbow discolorations. This type of moiré is very hard to fix in post-processing and it requires use of Adobe Photoshop to completely get rid of it. Here is the image we will be working on:

Moiré

(Image courtesy of photo.net)

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How to Properly Resize Images in Lightroom

Jan
24
2012
January 24, 2012
By 48 Comments

If you like sharing your photographs online, whether on Facebook or on your own blog, you should learn how to properly resize your images. While your camera can take very high resolution photographs, it is always a good idea to down-size or “down-sample” those images, not only because most websites won’t accept large images, but also because making those images smaller will actually make them look better, if done correctly. In this quick tutorial, I will show you the proper way to resize images in Lightroom. A separate article on how to do this in Photoshop can be found in my “how to properly resize images in Photoshop” article. I use the below method when exporting images out of Lightroom. You can employ this technique to any photograph – whether it is a portrait or a sweeping landscape.

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How to Properly Resize Images in Photoshop

Jan
12
2012
January 12, 2012
By 81 Comments

If you like sharing your photographs online, whether on Facebook or on your own blog, you should learn how to properly resize your images. While your camera can take very high resolution photographs, it is always a good idea to down-size or “down-sample” those images, not only because most websites won’t accept large images, but also because making those images smaller will actually make them look better, if done correctly. In this quick tutorial, I will show you the proper way to resize images in Photoshop. I have seen people employ all kinds of different techniques when it comes to resizing images in Photoshop. The below method is how I personally do it and it has been working great for me, at least based on your feedback. You can employ this technique to any photograph – whether it is a portrait or a sweeping landscape.

Puerto Rico

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Lightroom 3.6 and Camera RAW 6.6 have been released

Dec
12
2011
December 12, 2011
By Leave a Comment
Lightroom Icon

Adobe has just released final versions of Lightroom 3.6 and Camera RAW 6.6 that have been in “release candidate” state for over a month (download link for Windows and Macintosh). As shown on Adobe’s blog, the update fixes a number of serious bugs, in addition to providing full support for the new Nikon 1 V1 / Nikon 1 J1 cameras and a bunch of new lenses from various manufacturers.

Here is the full list of newly supported cameras:

  1. Canon PowerShot S100
  2. Fuji FinePix X10
  3. Leica V-LUX 3
  4. Nikon 1 V1
  5. Nikon 1 J1
  6. Panasonic DMC-GX1
  7. Ricoh GR Digital IV
  8. Samsung NX5
  9. Samsung NX200
  10. Sony NEX-7

A bunch of new lens profiles have also been added. Here are the lens profiles for the Nikon mounts:

  1. Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 DG HSM II
  2. Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro
  3. Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
  4. Nikon 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8
  5. Nikon 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6
  6. Nikon AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G

Note that two of the lenses in the above list are the brand new Nikon 1 Nikkor lenses. I will be publishing reviews of these lenses within the next couple of days. Nikon 1 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 will be the first to be reviewed and compared.

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Photoshop vs Lightroom

Oct
26
2011
October 26, 2011
By 115 Comments

Whenever Lola and I post images on our website and the Facebook fan page, we get plenty of requests on post-processing from our readers. One question that keeps coming back all the time is about Lightroom vs Photoshop – many beginners do not know differences between Lightroom and Photoshop and have a hard time choosing which one to get first. In this article, I will show the main differences between these two software packages from Adobe, what they are used for and what you can do in Photoshop that you cannot in Lightroom. Most of this article will also apply for Aperture vs Photoshop discussion, because Aperture and Lightroom share very similar functionality.

Photoshop vs Lightroom

Photoshop Compared to Lightroom

1) What is Photoshop?

Photoshop was originally created as a tool for simple image editing, which since 1990 has grown into a monster software suite with many functions and capabilities to accommodate graphic designers, architects, animators, publishers, photographers and even 3D artists. Think of it as a Cadillac of image editing with an unlimited potential that can grow not only with software updates and upgrades, but also with special plugins known as “filters” from Adobe and third party software companies. Want to stitch multiple photographs into a single panorama? Or create a High Dynamic Range photograph? Or get rid of skin blemishes? Or perhaps make a person look taller, shorter, thinner or fatter? Yup, Photoshop can do all that; and much much more. It would be pointless to try to list what Photoshop can do, because it would probably be a never-ending list. The term “Photoshopped” is now a part of our daily jargon, because we are constantly exposed to altered images that might look realistic while being fake – that’s the power of Photoshop.

2) What is Lightroom?

The full name for Lightroom is “Adobe Photoshop Lighroom”, which may sound confusing, because it contains the word “Photoshop”. In a way, it makes sense, because Lightroom can be considered a subset of Photoshop with specific functionality that Photoshop does not and probably will never have. It was created for the main purpose of managing a large number of images, keeping them organized in one place. Photoshop is a very advanced image editing tool, but when you edit hundreds of images, keeping them organized becomes a problem over time. Before I started using Lightroom, my photography workflow solely consisted of Adobe Camera RAW (which allows opening, manipulating and converting RAW files) and Photoshop (which I used to fine-tune images before saving them into my hard drive). It was a complex, cumbersome and inefficient process, even after I semi-automated it through a batch process in Photoshop. The biggest challenge was organizing edited images in my hard drive, sorting and cataloging them. I am not even going to talk about finding images, because it was an impossible task that required reviewing thousands of thumbnails and image metadata in order to find what I was looking for. As my file catalog grew, I realized that I had to find a better way to organize my photographs. And that’s when I discovered Lightroom.

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How to Watermark a Photo in Lightroom 3

Jul
29
2011
July 29, 2011
By 28 Comments

In this article, I will show you how to watermark a photo in Lightroom 3 using the standard, available tools. Adding copyright watermarks to photographs in Photoshop can be a very time consuming task. Although you can create a batch job for watermarking multiple images in Photoshop, it is a rather slow and cumbersome process that involves recording actions for different layouts. Embedding watermarks in Lightroom 2 was also painful, because you had to use a separate plugin that had to be installed and configured. Gladly, Lightroom 3 now has an integrated functionality to embed watermarks that you can use in batch action while exporting your images. Let’s go over the new method of embedding watermarks and how you can use Lightroom 3 to watermark all of your vertical or horizontal images during the file export process.

How to watermark a photo

1) Why Watermark Your Images?

The first question you might ask yourself is – should you or should you not watermark your images? There are many opinions on this matter. Some photographers argue that watermarks prevent theft (which I and many others disagree with), allow self-promotion and help build brand recognition, while others argue that adding watermarks spoils the viewing experience and does more harm than good. Let me quickly point out what I think about watermarks and when they should and should not be used.

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Portrait Editing: Before and After

May
11
2011
May 11, 2011
By 23 Comments

In this article, I will show you an example of how I process portraits (before and after) and what my portrait editing workflow is like. Many of our readers ask how I post-process my images for my wedding blog and I decided to put together a quick example. Obviously, every image is different, so while some photos take very little of my time in Lightroom, others might take a while to process in Lightroom and Photoshop. This image in particular is from our recent “Bridesmaids Photoshoot“, a collaborative effort by many talented individuals in Colorado.

For any portrait work, it is best to shoot RAW. First, because the skin tone is very important and any white balance issues can be quickly taken care of in post-processing and second, because you can recover a lot of details from a RAW file. For me it all starts in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. If I cannot get something done in Lightroom, I  import images to Photoshop for further processing. Both Lightroom and Photoshop are very powerful applications – you can get a lot done without using any plugins or other third party software. Do not be afraid to experiment with either Lightroom or Photoshop, as it will only help you broaden your knowledge and build up your post-processing skills.

The close ups usually require a lot of work, due to the abundance of details and features. But the amount of time you put in all depends on the type of look you are trying to achieve. Here is the original image SOOC (straight out of the camera):

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