News, Tips and Inspiration

I figured I’d throw a bunch of stuff into one post today. Here goes:

Tips
Scott Kelby posted an article on his blog about shooting tethered into Lightroom. You’ll definitely want to check it out when you get the chance. Speaking of Mr. Kelby, his Digital Photography Book Volume 2 flew off the shelves at Photoshop World. Before my classes, I could look out and see people reading it right there as if they couldn’t wait to get home. Make sure you pick up your copy.

Lightroom News & Links
- Morey B. pointed out on the comments section from the LR 2 Q&A day, that the Lightroom 2 beta expires in August of 2008. Sounds like a pretty good indication of when we could expect the full release of LR 2 by doesn’t it?
- Adobe has recently launched Adobe TV. It’s got videos for everything from digital photography all the way to web developers, video pros, and designers. Plus there’s some neat Lightroom stuff from all around the industry on there. How does this tie into ME though, because it really is all about me (totally just kidding )? They’ve put some of my videos as well as some clips from past episodes of Photoshop TV. You can get to it by clicking right here.

Book News
- I just got my hands on a copy of my brand new, hot off the press, Windows Vista Book (co-authored with Kleber Stephenson). Basically Kleber and I realized there was no Vista book that was written in the lighthearted, easy-to-follow, just-tell-me-the-good-stuff manner that we like to write in. So we took it upon ourselves to write just that book. Vista’s got some great new stuff in it and we wrote the book to help you get the most out of it. Here’s the Amazon link to it.

Inspiration
- I’ve got two pieces of inspiration for you today. First is an update to one I posted about previously. Jessica Claire totally redid her site and, as much as I liked it before, I REALLY REALLY like it now. It’s just a refreshing blog/website/gallery to visit and I think you’ll enjoy what she has over there.
- There’s another website/gallery/blog that I’ve been reading a lot lately. It’s called Becker’s Blog and it’s by a guy named (you guessed it) Becker. It falls into that informational/inspirational category, as he not only posts his photos, but also industry insights, news, and links to some very top-notched stuff.

Well my fine feathered friends, that’s it for today. Check back tomorrow as I’ve got a cool video tip ready for you. Have a good one!
(photo credit: Becker)

Lightroom 2.0 Beta Q&A

Since the release of the Lightroom 2 public beta last week I’ve gotten a lot of questions via email and comments. I’ve been gathering them for a giant Q&A and that’s what you’ve stumbled on to here. Let’s get started:

Is Lightroom 2 beta going to be the only thing you’ll cover on this site from now on?
No way. Here’s the way I see it. Is LR 2 beta cool? Definitely! Am I going to move all of my production work over to it right now. Definitely not. It’s just too early. I’ll use it because it does make a large portion of my work faster but I’m going to stick with tips, news and tutorials that the bulk of people visiting here can use. I’m sure I’ll have in influx of LR 2 related stuff for the first couple weeks because that’s what people are asking for but it’s not going to take up everything. Sound good? (that’s not really a question by the way)

Why is Adobe doing a beta again with Lightroom 2?
They’re releasing a public beta again to get your feedback on the features. How they work, whether or not they work and do they work as intended. However, they are not releasing a public beta so you get to use LR 2 for free for a few of months. Adobe is recommending that you do not use LR 2 for production purposes. In fact, they’ve gone as far to make it so your LR 1 catalogs won’t even import into LR 2. In a nutshell, it really is just for testing purposes.

Will Lightroom 2.0 beta try to upgrade my Lightroom 1.0 Catalog/Library?
Nope. LR 2 beta doesn’t touch your LR 1 catalogs so rest assured that you can install them (and run them) side by side without affecting each other.

Can I export my catalog in Lightroom 1 and then import it into Lightroom 2?
Nope. If you want to use LR 2 then you’ll have to start a whole new catalog.

Well what the heck can I do to get my LR 1 photos into LR 2?
Start from scratch. There’s no tip, trick, or workaround that I can give you for this. Just import the photos like normal. If you only have a few folders it’s not a huge deal. If you have 50 or 100 then prepare to spend some time with it.

Will any work I do in LR 2 beta be preserved when the final product is released?
Right now we just don’t know. Adobe isn’t making any promises that the catalogs and everything you do to your photos will be preserved when you install the final LR 2 non-beta software. They’re usually pretty good about that stuff though, but don’t count on it. Remember, this is just for testing purposes.

Will my Lightroom 1 catalogs be preserved when Lightroom 2 officially ships and I buy/install it?
Definitely. If you upgrade when the final software is released, rest assured your catalogs from LR 1 will move over to LR 2 very easily.

Will presets from LR1 work in LR2?
So far I haven’t had any problems. They’ve worked just fine.

Will the final shipping version of LR2 be a free upgrade?
Abso-freakin-lutely not. I’m 100% sure that Adobe will charge you for LR 2 when it officially ships. My guess is that there will be an upgrade price and a full price much like there is with Photoshop today.

How much will it cost?I have no idea. I’d guess the full version will cost somewhere near what LR 1 cost (again, just a guess). Then take 50-75% of that and you probably have a good guess at the upgrade price.

When will LR 2 be officially released?Adobe isn’t saying yet. I don’t think the beta cycle will be as long as it was for Lightroom 1 (over a year) though.

Well, I’m actually very frustrated because the feature that I wanted most doesn’t seem to be included in LR 2 beta. That sucks!Well Mr. McNasty, it doesn’t mean that it definitely won’t be there. Adobe usually comes through with some new features that weren’t in the public beta. If you’re worried though the best thing you can do is give your input on the Lightroom forums that Adobe has set up. Here’s the link so take your nastiness and go there Seriously though, the folks on the Lightroom team are very good at listening. It doesn’t always mean that a feature will make it in but you can bet that they’re trying their hardest to get as much as they can in and still make a quality product.

Well that wraps up the Lightroom 2 Q&A. I’m sure I’ve missed something so make sure you leave a comment to let me know if there’s still something you want to know.

Monday Presets – Blue Sky B&W

Good morning everyone. I’m back from Photoshop World and I had an absolute blast. It was the funnest/most tiring week I’ve had in a long time. I’ve got some presets for you so feel free to scroll down but first a couple of quick news bites.

NewsTerry White wrote a quick review of my Layers book over at his Tech Blog site. I’m really excited to say that the Layers book was a total hit last week at Photoshop World. I had no less then 100 people ask me to sign it and it was an honor each time. Thanks to everyone who came up. Anyway, as much as this is a chance to plug my Layers book (you know I love those ), it’s also a chance to send people to Terry’s Tech blog because he gives the flat-out best tech advice out there.

Lightroom 2 Beta was announced last week (see previous post) and I got a ton of question both here at the blog, and at Photoshop World. Tomorrow (which could be Wednesday… or not) I’m going to post a Q&A to answer them all.

PresetsNow for the presets. This is one that I’ve had an idea floating around about for a while. It’s a black and white preset but it’s primarily meant for outdoor photos. They could contain people, animals, mountains, trees or whatever but there’s one key ingredient that they must have – skies. These presets target the sky and give you three different choices: light, medium, or dark. So you can push your skies toward white, a medium grayish color, or get dark skies if you’d like.

Well I’m about to dig myself out of email-inbox-hell after it piling up for a week. Make sure you stop back tomorrow for the Lightroom 2.0 Q&A session. Have a great one!

Click here to see a sample of the preset.
Click here to download Matt’s Blue Sky B&W presets
Click here to see a video on how to install presets.

It's Lightroom 2.0 Baby! (Beta that is)

Hey folks! I bet I’ve got one heck-of-a surprise for you today. Ready for it? Adobe has released Lightroom 2.0 beta to the public (no, this is not a belated April fools day joke). Today kicks off Photoshop World and not only is Adobe going to demo the 2.0 beta but they’re letting everyone have it and download it for free. The first question everyone’s going to be asking is what’s it all about. I’ve included my top 10 favorite features in 2.0 right here. However, NAPP has an entire learning center website all set up with videos (by Scott Kelby and myself) on all the new features. I’ll give you the links at the end of the post.

First, the top 10 list1) Localized Corrections (AKA: Dodge and Burn) – If Lightroom 2 came out and this was the only new feature I’d upgrade in a heartbeat. Localized Corrections is the non-destructive dodging and burning that we’ve all wanted for so long. But I have to say this – it’s so much more. It goes WAY beyond what I expected from dodging and burning in Lightroom (which is why it’s called Localize corrections and not just dodge and burn) and I think you’re going to love it.
2) Better Photoshop Integration – Now you can open your files as Smart Objects, Merge to Panorama or even export straight to Photoshop’s HDR from Lightroom.
3) Post-crop vignetting – if you’ve ever tried to darken the edges of a cropped photo with the lens vignetting slider you’ll know it doesn’t really work. That’s where the post-crop vignette comes in.
4) Multiple Monitor support – can you say “Finally!”?
5) Picture Packages in the print module.
6) Output Sharpening in the print module and it really works this time around. I’ve seen tests compared to Lightroom 1 and the print sharpening is noticeably better.
7) Smart Collections – Collections were great in LR 1 but smart collections make using collections a lot easier.
8.) Printing directly to a JPEG file in the Print module. So if you send your photos off to a lab now you can save the files right from within Lightroom’s Print module.
9) Suggested Keywords – Get this… Lightroom will start suggesting keywords to you once you start keywording your photos. It’s weird to explain so make sure you stop by NAPP’s learning center to see it in action.
10) OK, I’m going to give you two here. First there’s a new filter panel in the Library module that makes getting to your photos easier and faster because it’s right there with your photos (instead of tucked away on the left side panels). Next, the Slideshow and Web modules both have Content panels as well as Collection panels. So now you can very quickly switch slideshows without having to jump back to the Library module and choose different photos.

Now for the links to find out moreI know I promised some links so here they are:
- Download Lightroom 2 beta here
- NAPP’s online learning center
- John Nack’s Blog
- Scott Kelby’s blog

Kelby Training Online Training Course
If you’re already a Kelby Training subscriber then you can also check out my Lightroom 2.0 beta Power Session. It covers all the new features in Lightroom 2 beta and you have access to it immediately as a subscriber.

As you can imagine, with Photoshop World this week and Lightroom 2 beta launching things are pretty crazy and sure to get crazier. I’ll have a lot more news, tips and tutorials as the weeks go on so make sure you stay tuned. Thanks for stopping by and thanks so much to all of the Photoshop World attendees who’ve already came by and introduced themselves. Take care!