Comments on: Q&A Day

By: Mike Herran

Mike Herran — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:55:09 +0000

Hi Matt,

Just wondering if i was missing a step. I loaded the new presets but they don’t seem to work from the user preset list. They don’t do anything to my image. The beta ones work from the camera calibration list though. Should i be doing something different?

thanks
mike

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:17:33 +0000

Matt,

Today I use Photoshop for preparing a file for print at a pro lab. The file is normally a 32″ x 32″ canvas in which I place all my different images at the appropriate size I want printed.

In Lightroom I believe it is not possible to create a print (either for printer or JPEG output) that has different images of different sizes. From my understanding you can only have one or the other.

Is this true or do you have a work around for this besides having to go into photoshop and setup your own print sheet with chosen images each time? I was really hoping Lightroom was going to simplify my workflow here.

Thanks,
Craig.

By: Tysen

Tysen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:10:40 +0000

In my search for help choosing the best laptop for Lightroom, I found this article to be informative http://www.peachpit.com/articles/printerfriendly.aspx?p=1247538 .

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:26:08 +0000

Matt,

This question is about HDR and shooting interiors. You mentioned that you need to make sure that you have shadow detail by overexposing the highlights. To make sure that almost all of the LCD display is blinking with highlight warnings. Do I this correct?

-Mike

By: Kathleen D

Kathleen D — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:26:14 +0000

I am also interested in Tysen’s question about what we need to make LR run quickly. I am buying a new mac, and probably a desktop since my current g4 laptop is interminably slow with the new LR2 even though I have 1.25 gb ram. I moved all of my pics to an external harddrive thinking that it would speed up the process but it takes up to 9-11 sec. for each picture to load in the develop module. I changed all of the settings as the LR book suggested but no improvements. I wondered if loading the pics from an external hard drive via a usb cable was the problem, but I noticed that you had your pics on an external so I figured that couldn’t be it. Anyway, I am all set to buy a new mac in a month when the macs come with the newer software (hopefully) but just wanted to make sure I get what I need to run LR and PS. Thanks for any help. I’ve looked in the LR forums on NAPP and haven’t really found my answer.

By: Steve Kalman

Steve Kalman — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:04:07 +0000

It is possible to encrypt a catalog, but not the contents. I use an external program called axcrypt. It is free, open source, but Windows only software. If there’s a MAC equivalent, someone else will need to point it out.

After installation, right click on the LRCAT file choose Axcrypt from the context menu and encrypt it. Don’t forget the password. When you want to access it, just double click and enter the password. When done, it will go back to encrypted format.

You can also create a shortcut to the encrypted file (it has an axx extension) and even change the icon to the LR2 icon, making the process nearly invisible.

By: Tysen

Tysen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:23:08 +0000

Two questions.

1) What is the best/fastest way to download all your presets? My exploration has only resulted in the, “open every preset post and download via the link.” Is there some secret static page that I can go to that lists them all?

2) I’ve been shopping for a new laptop to run Lightroom and Photoshop and I was curious to know what would the “recommended system requirements” be as opposed to Adobe’s “minimum system requirements.” I tested Lightroom out on my fairly new work laptop and it didn’t perform up to my standards or match what I’ve seen in tutorials. I’ve also seen some laptops being sold as “pro photographer laptops,” but they are well out of my price range. I guess I should be looking for things like 64-bit, plenty of ram, and a fast processor, but how many cores or what kind of graphics card? I’d consider both Mac and PC. I’m interested in your expert advice and that of your readers.

By: Terry Winslow

Terry Winslow — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:14:49 +0000

Try this link for password protecting a lightroom gallery
http://theturninggate.net/lightroom/password-protect-lightroom-galleries

By: kai jensen

kai jensen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:44:44 +0000

I did not how to get this message to you so this was the only option i find. I have one simple sequestration to improve Lightroom.
I love to stack my edited files with the original raw files.
But why cant this be done from cataloges?

All the best
Kai jensen

By: Dennis Zito

Dennis Zito — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:09:03 +0000

Hey Matt,

I found away to make pre-sets for the Canon extended function styles. It requires that you use the DNG profile editor that was part of the original pre-sets. This profile editor is still beta, but it works great for these. Also, you need to have Canon’s DPP program. Heres what I did.

Load the extend feature into DPP and applied the feature.
Save the picture under a different name.
Convert the picture to DNG.
Load it into the DNG profile editor.
Save it as a Profile and bang you have a new preset.

I used this for Autumn Hues and Twilight. It’s was close enough for me.

Thanks

Dennis