Your Burning Lightroom 4 Questions Answered From Adobe

I just saw a post over on Adobe’s Photoshop.com blog where product manager Sharad Mangalick, answered a bunch of Lightroom 4 questions. Everything from catalogs, to video, new features, you name it. Below is one question I pulled directly from the page because I’ve been asked quite a bit too, but there’s lots more in the full article.

@luxx11 and @jennawoodward Ask: @Lightroom why can’t I use my LR3 catalogs in LR4? Is there a way to easily transfer my Lr3 catalogue into Lr4?

Sharad: Since Lightroom 4 is still in beta form, we restricted the ability to bring in catalogs created in earlier versions of Lightroom as a safeguard. This will be lifted when we release the final version of Lightroom 4, and you will be able to import prior version Lightroom catalogs, as well as Lightroom 4 Beta catalogs into Lightroom 4.

It’s definitely worth a read. Here’s the link if you get a chance to stop by today.

Lightroom 4 and Windows XP

I’ve seen quite a few comments about the fact that Lightroom 4 Beta doesn’t work with Windows XP (and you can probably guess that the full version isn’t going to work with it either). Last week Tom Hogarty (Lightroom Product Manager) wrote about the reasons behind that decision on his blog. Here’s a quick snippet but you can go here to read the rest:

“As many have noticed, the Lightroom 4 public beta we released last week does not support Windows XP. This decision did not come lightly and was based on a number of factors. With each version of Lightroom, our goal is always to provide a consistently excellent customer experience. Developing and testing across Operating System versions and platforms to ensure that we’re achieving this goal is a significant effort that takes time and resources. XP is substantially different from Windows Vista and Windows 7, and requires a independent testing matrix, which increases the complexity of our development efforts…”

I know it’s always hard to swallow something like this (well, if you’re an XP user that is), but here’s the thing… Microsoft barely support XP anymore. The Mainstream support phase for XP has passed. And it’s 10 years old. I hate to tell ya, but 10 years in technology might as well be 50. I think Adobe absolutely did the right thing here, so that they can indeed continue to provide a good experience for it’s users, and continually enhance Lightroom and push it in the directions it needs to go (and keep the price at a place that it needs to be).

(photo thumbnail courtesy of Fotolia.com)

Lightroom Video – Using External Drives

I saw a great question on my Facebook page the other day (btw… here’s my Google+ and Twitter pages too) and it’s one that I get asked quite a bit whenever I’m out teaching Lightroom. The question was basically this: let’s say you store all of your photos on an external drive (like I do). Eventually that drive gets full and you buy a larger drive. How do you get your photos to that new drive and make it so Lightroom can see them. Luckily it’s really simple and it works the same with just about any version of Lightroom. Check out the video below to see how.

Lightroom 4 Beta and Photoshop-like Cloning and Healing?

Last week, Tom Hogarty (Adobe’s Lightroom product manager) was in town for the Lightroom 4 Beta launch. He co-hosted 4 live webcasts with me throughout the day. As we looked through the list of questions on a break, I saw one that read “Why didn’t you include real cloning and healing tools in LR4 like Photoshop? Aren’t you just trying to keep it so we have to buy both?”. Tom saw the question and immediately said “Let’s take that one”. So we did and he had a great response to it. One I thought was worth a quick post because I think plenty of folks out there wonder the same thing (I know I always kinda secretly did).

To paraphrase, Tom said that when they add features to Lightroom they want to make sure that they’re features that are well planned and thought out, easy to use, and can work within the overall structure of Lightroom (mainly the fact that it has to be non-destructive). Tom explained that there’s not just one retouching workflow in Photoshop. There’s 20 right? Everyone uses the tools just a little different. Some people use Healing, some use Spot Healing with Content Aware turned on, some use the Patch tool, some use the Clone Stamp tool set to the Lighten blend mode at 20% Opacity. When you think about it, there really are a lot of different retouching strategies in Photoshop. For Lightroom to just include a Cloning and Healing Brush doesn’t cut it. Does the brush have Opacity, blend modes, layering, etc…? There’s much more to it then just taking the code from Photoshop and moving it over to Lightroom. They have to do it right or else Lightroom just becomes a clone of Photoshop. Although that seems tempting at first, I’m pretty sure we all don’t want Lightroom to become Photoshop.

In the end, Tom mentioned that this is a feature he’d really like to see in Lightroom as well. Reading between the lines I think we can tell this is at least ON the development table. I guess whether or not we really see it is unsure, but I thought it was really cool that Tom dove right in to that question. And, to me at least, he gave some really good reasons why that technology isn’t there yet, but also answered a question (the whole Adobe making it so we have to buy both thing) that I believe plenty of people have.

If you haven’t see any of the Lightroom 4 Launch Day webcasts with Tom, them make sure you stop by Kelby Training’s website. They’re free to watch and there’s some fantastic info in there that, well, is the stuff you’d only really get from Lightroom’s product manager. Thanks!

New Lightroom 4 Presets – The HDR “Look”

I’ve mentioned before that coming up with new preset ideas has been pretty difficult these days. I feel like I’ve run through just about every preset combination possible in Lightroom. I mean, there’s only so many ways you can move a few sliders right It doesn’t take long before they all start looking the same (maybe with just a different name).

That’s why I was really psyched when I saw the Lightroom 4 changed some of the Develop module settings. Mainly because the changes are fantastic and help me edit my photos better. But, if I’m really being honest here, the changes open up more possibilities for new presets as well as a chance to go back and tweak some older presets too.

I knew right from the start that I was going to create a preset that simulated an HDR “look”, so here’s my first one. There’s 3 different versions of it (Light, Medium, and Strong) and each has a few of the new sliders incorporated into it as well as some other settings. As always, let everyone know what you think. However, I caution you now… if you’re one of those that don’t like HDR photos then you may want to consider staying away from these presets I’m just sayin’.

Here’s a quick Before/After (click for larger image):

• Download the presets here.
• Here’s a link to a video that shows you how to install the presets

My Lightroom 4 Doesn’t Look Like Your Lightroom 4

In poking around forums, etc… I’ve seen a bunch of questions over the last few days about people not seeing the new Develop Module sliders in Lightroom 4 Beta (specifically the ones in the Basic Panel). In LR4, Adobe changed the Basic panel to include sliders that 1) Make more sense and, 2) Are way more powerful. However, because they’ve changed them so much you can indeed have two versions of the Basic panel because they couldn’t automatically switch older photos for you. So here’s the deal: Your Basic panel should like like the image below:

(click for larger view)

If it doesn’t, that means you’re editing a photo that was edited in an older version of Lightroom or Camera Raw. It’s easy enough to change though. Just scroll down to the Calibration panel in the Develop module. Under the Process setting make sure it reads 2012, not 2010.

Now you’ll be using the newest Lightroom stuff and you’ll be able to take advantage of the new sliders in the Basic panel.

Lightroom 4 Beta Q&A – The Day After

First off, I wanted to say a HUGE thanks to Tom Hogarty for spending the day with us at Kelby Training yesterday to answer all of your questions (and to Adobe for letting Tom get away for the day). The live broadcasts will be running all day so feel free to stop by Kelby Training’s website and watch them. Also, Tom and I answered a bunch of questions over the course of the day. I figured I’d dedicate a Q&A day to some of the most popular ones:

Q. If I upgrade to Lightroom 4 Beta, will it hurt or corrupt my copy of Lightroom 3?
A. Not at all. Lightroom 4 Beta is a totally separate install and doesn’t affect your copy of Lightroom 3 at all.

Q. Can I use Lightroom 4 Beta for my production work?
A. I wouldn’t really recommend it. Adobe definitely doesn’t recommend it. Having your paycheck tied to a beta version of the software probably isn’t such a good idea. That said, I can’t guarantee I’ll follow my own advice

Q. Can I upgrade my catalogs from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 4 Beta?
A. Didn’t you read the previous question? You’re not really supposed to move your production/important work to LR4 Beta. In an effort to keep you from doing just that you can only create a new catalog for LR4. You can’t open an existing one from a previous version of Lightroom.

Q. Okay, but will the final release version of Lightroom 4 upgrade my Lightroom 3 catalogs though?
A. Absolutely!

Q. How about all the work I do in the beta version of Lightroom 4. Will that get upgraded too?
A. Yup. Adobe doesn’t make any promises that they’ll upgrade your beta stuff but in the past they’ve always been able to.

Q. Will Lightroom 4 Beta only work with Photoshop CS5?
A. Nope. Lightroom 4 will work just fine with CS4 (or CS3 or CS2 or Elements for that matter).

Q. Where can I get some awesome Lightroom 4 training?
A. Great question! No one really asked this but it’s a good way for me to plug a few things. First, Scott Kelby and I created NAPP’s Lightroom 4 Beta Launch Site. And don’t forget all of the live webcasts that Tom and I did on launch day over at Kelby Training.

Q. When will the final version of Lightroom 4 be released?
A. Adobe hasn’t officially announced this yet. In the past it’s been anywhere from 2 months to 14 months.

Q. Really? So you’re gonna leave us hangin’?
A. Sorry… I’ll lose my cushy Lightroom gig if I reveal any more I can say this… The expiration date listed for Lightroom 4 Beta is March 31, 2012. Typically, it’s not good practice for a company to let the beta expire without releasing the final version before the expiration date. It tends to leave people hanging and forget all about your brand new version of the product. That’s all I’m sayin’

Q. Will my plug-ins work with Lightroom 4 Beta (for example, onOne’s software, Nik’s Silver Efex Pro or Viveza)?
A. Here’s the deal. The official answer is that you should probably ask the plug-in company. Adobe does provide them with pre-release versions of the software so they can start planning and making their plug-ins available. That said, I installed Lightroom 4 Beta and most of my plug-ins were carried over in the Photo > Edit In menu. So give it a try. But officially, most plug-in companies probably won’t make any major updates until the final version of Lightroom 4 comes out.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any other questions, post them in a comment and I’ll do round 2 of Q&A.

Lightroom 4 Beta Is Here!

Big news today! Lightroom 4 Beta is here! As you know, ever since Lightroom first came out, Adobe has been releasing each version in a public beta before the full version ships. I’ve been fortunate enough to kick the tires on it for some time now so, along with Scott Kelby, we’ve created NAPP’s Lightroom 4 Beta Launch Center with videos covering all the new features. It’s live already so feel free to jump over and check it out and please let me know what you think by leaving a comment here.

Also, I’ll be doing some free live webcasts all day today over at the Kelby Training studios and I’m thrilled to be joined by Adobe’s Lightroom Product Manager, Tom Hogarty. We’ll of course demo all the new features, but we’ll also leave time for some live Q&A so you can get all of your questions answered. Not to mention it’s a great opportunity to see if we can do our best to make Tom squirm and release some deep dark Lightroom secrets Seriously though, we have THE actual Lightroom Product Manager from Adobe here on launch day so you don’t want to miss this. We’ll be running them live at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm EST. So feel free to jump in to one (they’re free!).

Keep an eye out on my Google+, Twitter and Facebook pages and follow me there for random updates throughout the day. I’ve got some new presets that I’ll add so that’s a good place to find out when they’re released.

Don’t forget to check out my good friend Terry White’s blog for more Lightroom 4 Beta info as well and I’ll of course be updating the blog regularity with new stuff as it develops.

Lightroom Presets – Red River Greeting Cards

Hey everyone. I’ve found some Lightroom templates from Red River that I thought I’d share. I don’t think they’re new but, well, they’re kinda new to me because I just found them. I’ve always been a big fan of Red River paper and I noticed that they have some greeting cards and templates for Lightroom 3 on their site. They even have a video on how to use the templates if you’re new to it. Here’s the link to download the templates. Enjoy!

More Lightroom Calendar Presets

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve enjoyed the free Lightroom Calendar templates from yesterday (thanks again to Ed Weaver for creating and sharing them). Just like last year, blog reader (Thomas Ljungberg) was kind enough to create some more calendar print templates for those of you outside the US. You can download the templates for free. He also has the full PSD files available for €10 in case you’re interested. If you download them, by all means please let us know what you think. Thanks!