Friday Tip (Actually 2 today)

Yep, it’s a special special day. Friday… It’s a long weekend for me and I’m excited so I figured I’d squeeze two tips in. Here goes.
Tip #1First, if you’re working with the Tone Curve and you want to reset the curve, or the sliders below the curve, forget about trying to drag them to their original places on the curve. Instead, just right-click on the Tone Curve and you’ll see a little pop-up menu asking if you want to reset the Curve, the splits, All, or simply flatten the curve.
Tip #2The Identity Plate area in Lightroom is pretty sharp because it lets you customize Lightroom with your studio name or logo. This is really useful if you often show your work in front of clients because it makes them think the program you’re using is tailor-made for you. Plus, it’s just plain cool. However, you can also customize those little swirly floral things at the bottom of your panels on the left and right. Here’s a link to an article the Pro Photo Show website called “Pimp My Panels”, so check it out. Well that’s it for the Friday tips. I’ll be at Photoshop World next week so make sure you stop by and say hi if you’re attending. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Karen Kuehn Photography

Karen Kuehn is a photographer based out of New Mexico. I know what you’re thinking… New Mexico? Well you’ve got to read her story too, it’s really interesting. Anyway, check out Karen’s work. She’s not only got an understanding of lighting like you wouldn’t believe but her photos are simply mesmerizing. She truly gets it and the moments that she has captured make this website worth every minute you’ll spend looking at it. (photo credit: Karen Kuehn)

Video – DNG and Lightroom

The DNG format gets a lot of attention these days. But what is DNG format really, and what is its use? How does it affect what you do in Lightroom? Can I ask anymore questions? If you’re wondering the answers to either of the first two questions then you’ll want to check out this week’s video. I’ll cover the basics of the DNG format and why it may or may not be important to you. I’ll also go over how you can use Lightroom to convert your photos to DNGs if you decide to go that route. Finally, if you want to learn even more about the DNG format, make sure you check out Adobe’s website for a complete list of benefits and resources.

Click here to watch the video. (9 Mb)

My Friday Self Promotion

Ever since I announced a couple of weeks ago that Leroy Dejolie would be helping lead the pro-photography portion of my Arizona (October 10-14) workshop, it’s been filling up fast. But there are still a few spots left, so if you want to go shooting at the Antelope Slot Canyons and the gorgeous surrounding areas for a few days and learn some of my latest Photoshop and Lightroom workflow and techniques make sure you sign up soon. Basically, we’ll follow this format:
1. Shoot in the early morning
2. Eat/Rest
3. Classroom time
4. Shoot the sunset
5. Eat, relax and hang out.

I’m there for the full workshop, from Wednesday thru Sunday, and have nothing else to do but make sure you have a great time. So come on out and join us. Visit the Great American Photography workshop site for more info. That’s it for my Friday self-promo. The next post is a very cool tip so keep reading.

Friday Tip – Upsizing in Lightroom

I was just looking through a copy of Mikkel Aaland’s Photoshop Lightroom Adventure and I learned a cool tip that made me think of upsizing in a different way. Until now, if I’ve had to upsize a photo I’ve always gone to Photoshop to do it, mainly because I could control the interpolation method used to upsize. However, after reading through his book I learned that Lightroom (File > Export) uses the Lanczos kernal interpolation method (after all, who doesn’t ). Now, after the glazed look falls from your face (yes, I too have no idea what the Lanczos kernal method is), let me explain it this way. Basically, this means that Lightroom’s interpolation method is really good. In fact, one of the engineers behind Lightroom said that when it comes to upsizing, it’s as good as, or better, than Photoshop’s. So next time you upsize, use Lightroom’s File > Export feature instead of going to Photoshop. Have a great weekend!

Wed. Inspiration – Black and White Photography

Here’s a cool site called Black and White Photography. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what you’ll find there, but I bet you’ll find more then you expect. Yes, the blog is all about black and white photography, but I found myself reading the blog author’s written posts as I looked through the site. There was some really insightful and, at times, amusing stuff there. It’s well worth a visit if you like B&W and Infrared photography. Click here to visit the site. (Photo credit: Dave Beckerman)

My New DVD is Out!

Wanna learn Lightroom in an easy, understandable, from start-to-finish way? Well, I’m really psyched to announce that my new Lightroom DVD is out and shipping now from PhotoshopVideos.com. Here’s the low-down:
1. Simple, down to earth, easy to follow training – much like what you see on this site.
2. Everything is covered in the order in which you should use it in Lightroom.
3. It’s Fast! It’s not 20 hours of training. It’s 2 so you can actually finish it.

If you like this website then you’ll love the DVD. If you don’t like the website then you probably won’t like the DVD. You can pick up the DVD here. Also, if you’d rather watch it online then check out www.photoshoptraining.com.
Whew! Now that my shameless self-promotion is done. Check out the next post for this week’s video.

A "Real" Reason to use Quick Develop

Yep, you read correctly. If you’ve been looking to make sense of where Quick Develop in the Library module really fits in you’re not alone. I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t find it very quick at all. However, Adobe’s Senior Director of Product Management, Kevin Connor, pointed out a very real use for it to me and once he did, I’ve found myself using it more lately.

Click here to watch the video. (19 Mb)

Previewing the Effects of One Change

I love this one. Whenever I’m out teaching Lightroom it’s so cool to see some of the little things that get all of the nods in the audience (and sometimes spontaneous applause). Let’s say you make some changes in the HSL/Color/Grayscale panel (really, it could be any panel). Now you want to see what your photo looks like without those specific changes. But you don’t want to see just a Before/After view of everything – just those HSL changes. All you have to do is click that little square button in the top left corner of the panel to the left of the panel name. This turns the changes off and clicking on it again turns them back on. Look at the image in this post to see what I’m talking about. It’s small but I have to say it’s one of the features that I use constantly in Lightroom. Enjoy!

Lightroom and Paypal

I came across an interesting link the other day about using Adobe Lightroom’s web galleries with Paypal. The author of the post, Chris Shepherd, talks about integrating a shopping cart into the Lightroom gallery. I definitely recommend that you’re somewhat web savvy, as it does require a bit of technical know-how. However, the link does include step-by-step instructions as well as download files. Check it out by clicking on this link. (photo credit: Chris Shepherd)