Friday Tip – Virtual Copies

In every issue of Photoshop user magazine you’ll find a section called “Darkroom” that is totally dedicated to Photoshop Lightroom. A couple days ago I was writing an article for Darkroom on virtual copies and found a feature added in Lightroom 1.1 that I hadn’t used yet (by the way, you can find a video on virtual copies here). See, once you created virtual copies there really wasn’t any quick way to find them. You had to flag or rate them in some way so you could search for ‘em. But there’s this new, little icon down in the filter bar (right above the filmstrip at the bottom right corner). It allows you to filter by virtual copies. So, if you want to create a quick slideshow or web gallery that only includes the virtual copies you’ve created, just click it (look at this post’s image to see where it is). Now that I’ve found it, I’m using it all the time and I hope it helps you too. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Video – Real World Collections

I’ll be the first to admit that there are plenty of features in Lightroom for which a real-world use is not immediately obvious. I started thinking about collections the other day (that’s what I do on my time off ) and realized that there are so many real-world uses for them in Lightroom, but I haven’t seen them covered much. So that’s just what we’ll do in this video. Collections are something I use every time I step into Lightroom. I think they’re incredibly useful so I figured I’d share my thoughts on them and hopefully make things easier for you too.

Click here to watch the video. (16 Mb)

Some Quick News

Check out Scott Kelby’s blog today. In fact, if Scott’s blog isn’t on your daily blog visit list then you’re missing out. Scott posts industry scoops and just plain cool and interesting stuff almost daily there. Anyway, he’s got a quick in-the-field report of the new Nikon D3 and it looks pretty sweet. Especially all the info about the low noise features claimed by Nikon (which is really what we all want to see right). By the way, Scott’s teaching a workshop this week with the Great American Photography workshops, similar to what I’ll be teaching in October. I can’t wait. These workshops are a blast! Let me know if you have any questions about mine. (photo credit: Scott Kelby)

Friday Tip – Full Screen View

Happy Friday folks. I just taught a Lightroom class yesterday and got a great question that I’m turning into a tip. I kept looking at my photos in full screen view and I just take that shortcut for granted because I do it so much. Finally, some one asked me how I keep doing that and I heard a bunch of “Yeah’s” in the audience. It’s really easy. When you’re working on your photos and you want to see them full screen just press Ctrl-Shift-F (Mac: Cmd-Shift-F – think of F for Full Screen) and that’s it. There… short and sweet. If you want to hide the interface when you’re in that view just press the “L” key twice. Finally, just press the same keys to get back to your regular view. That wraps up another week. Have a great weekend.

Wednesday Inspiration – LeRoy DeJolie

I’m just a few weeks away from my Arizona workshop with the GAPW. We’re going to Page, Arizona to shoot the Antelope Slot Canyons and surrounding areas. Anyway… that’s besides the point. This morning I was searching for some hot photo spots around the area since I’ll be out there a day early and guess what I came across? LeRoy DeJolie’s website. LeRoy is actually the pro-photographer that is co-leading the workshop with me. I’ve seen his work in emails and on other websites but I thought it was pretty cool that I found his website in searching for all of the good places to photograph in Arizona. So make sure you stop by and view his work. His photos of the area have that extra “something” that’s just hard to put into words, but you can tell he’s passionate about what he does. I really can’t wait to see what he has in store for the workshop participants! Click here to visit his website.
Sidenote: There are only a couple spots left in the workshop. It runs October 10-14. Post a feedback message here if you want more info.

Video – Using History in Lightroom

This week’s video comes directly from a question I get all the time. It’s all about History. See… we have a History palette in Photoshop but Lightroom’s history is a little bit different (and cooler in some ways). First off, Lightroom saves everything! Even when you close the program down and open it back up – your history states are still there. You can always go back to any point in your editing of a photo to a previous history state and you don’t have to do a thing to make it all happen. This is simply the way that Lightroom works. So this week, I’ll take a look at the History panel, where it resides, and how to use it. We’ll even take a look at the Snapshot panel and see how we can use both panels together.
Click here to watch the video. (12 Mb)

Lightroom 1.2 and Camera Raw 4.2 Are Available

Bet you didn’t think you’d get a dose of Friday news did you? Well, it’s just a special day isn’t it
Seriously though, Lightroom 1.2 and Camera Raw 4.2 are out. You can download them from this link. Of notable interest is the support for the new Canon 40D. Tom Hogarty’s blog (the Lightroom Product Manager at Adobe) listed a few things to note about the updates. If you get past the stuff about “Bayer Pattern sensors” and “Demosaicing” and are still awake there’s also some good info in there. Read on for the Friday Tips.

Friday Tips

As you know I always like to wrap the week up with a tip (or two). First off, I’ve gotta say thanks to all of you that came out to my Lightroom session at Photoshop World last week. It was amazing and the feedback was outstanding. Thanks!
Tip #1: Here’s a neat one to use when cropping or straightening. See, when you crop an image Lightroom pops up a grid over your photo to help you crop. It’s the Rule of Thirds grid by default, but there are others available. To see them, just press R to get into Crop mode. Then, while cropping, press the letter O to cycle through all of the crop overlays. There are a few quirky ones in there that you’ll probably never use, but one that I really like is the detailed grid. It helps a lot when straightening photos, as oppose to the rule of thirds grid, which is a little too spread out. Give it a try though. By the way, if you’re one of those who just hates the overlay altogether (and I know there is at least one of you out there), just press Ctrl+Shift+H (Mac: Cmd+Shift+H) to hide them.
Tip #2: This is more of a link then a tip actually. Check out Adobe’s Lightroom home page. I typically think of company’s product home pages as lame with just a bunch of marketing, but this one is a bit different. Sure, it does have its fair share of marketing, but it’s also got some free tutorials and stuff. Some tutorials are by yours truly, but there’s plenty of other stuff on there from some great trainers and photographers. Your best bet is to skip down to the 3 tabs at the bottom under “Learn More About Lightroom”. Check it out here. Whew! That’s it for the Friday tips update. Have a great one!

Wednesday Inspiration – Galleries to Check Out

If you like viewing some killer photography then read on. First up is Dan (Dano) Steinhardt Photography. Dan is the Marketing Manager for Advanced Amateur and Professional Photography Markets at Epson America, Inc. (whew, that’s some title!). Dan’s reputation in the industry is impeccable and well deserved. He’s got some fantastic photography and I frequently visit his site for inspiration.
Next up is Angela Drury Photography. I’m not sure I can exactly categorize her photography other than to say it’s awesome. She’s got a few different areas in her portfolio that range from abstract to portraits and beauty. It’s definitely worth a visit (yes, she’s a Lightroom user too!). Well that’s it for our Wednesday inspirational links. Hope you enjoy and have a great day. (photo credit: Dan Steinhardt)

Photoshop World and Sharpening

Hey folks! Just got back from Photoshop World in Las Vegas and we had a fantastic time. I taught a class called “Lightroom Digital Workflow” to a packed house last Friday. There were over 600 people there and a lot of them visit this site frequently so I just wanted to say thanks for coming by. I got to meet a lot of great people and all of your kind words were incredibly motivating. Oh… one more thing. I mentioned a Sharpening video in the class so here’s the link. Enjoy!