The post The Settings I Use When Saving An Image as JPEG appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>I’ve found that my sweet spot is a Quality setting of 80 (as seen above) out of 100. That gives me a small file size but still, the quality of the final image looks great, and you don’t see any signs of compression at that high a setting. The size of the JPEG files saved at 100 is more than double what they are at 80. Take a look:
Well, yes it is still fairly cheap (but not nearly as cheap as it was a year or so ago). So yes it is, but this isn’t just about drive space — this is also about load speeds on the Internet, and smaller files load quicker, so that’s the 2nd consideration.
Anyway, those are the settings I’ve been using for years now, and I’m happy with the results. Hope you found that helpful. Have a great Monday, everybody!
-Scott
The post The Settings I Use When Saving An Image as JPEG appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post <strong>ON1 Releases the Next-Generation Photo Enlargement Software</strong> appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>In the past, interpolation methods were used to add new pixels to photos to make them bigger. You simply can’t stretch an image to be bigger without adding pixels, or the photo becomes pixelated in appearance. ON1 Resize AI uses state-of-art machine learning to create the details and sharpness that get lost when photos are enlarged. Resize AI goes well beyond just keeping the edges sharp. It interprets elements in photos like animal fur, tree bark, feathers, grass, leaves, rock, and skin to man-made textures like concrete, fabric, or brick and keeps those details looking crisp in the enlarged photo. In some instances, Resize AI can create details to keep your enlarged images looking even more clean and crisp than the original.
“We trained ON1 Resize AI on a variety of photos. It can see textures like rocks, skin, fur, feathers, masonry, tree bark, etc. You get the idea. The technology can recreate these textures and make them look realistic in the enlarged photos making super crisp and clean enlargements” says Dan Harlacher, VP of Product.
ON1 Resize AI is the perfect solution for cropping a section out of your photo if your lens can’t get you close enough or preparing and printing your biggest and best photos. It can crop, resize, and sharpen all at once. It can add wings for printing on canvas or create tiles for a mosaic. You can also batch process images and print them right from the app.
You will be amazed by what you can do with ON1 Resize AI. ON1 Resize AI works as a plugin for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Resize AI goes beyond the average plugins. In Lightroom you can batch process easily with powerful new resizing options. And in Photoshop it can handle layered files with masks, alpha channels, text, and adjustment layers in RGB as well as CMYK, Grayscale and LAB.
“I can see a lot of photographers using this app to crop out sections of their photos. Let’s say you forgot your long lens at home and can’t get close enough to your subject. You can still get a really good photo and even better print with ON1 Resize AI,” adds Craig Keudell, President and CEO of ON1.
The post <strong>ON1 Releases the Next-Generation Photo Enlargement Software</strong> appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post Exploring Ways to Share Photos from Lightroom Classic appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>Being ready to share your photos implies that you’re done with editing and ready to move to output, so let’s assume your photos are looking their best and ready to go. The reason I’m starting with the Export dialog is that this is where the rubber meets the road, meaning that up until this point all of your edits exist only as instructions waiting to be applied to the source image data and then channeled through whatever output settings your situation requires. The act of exporting is the act of creating copies that bake in your edits as well as conform to the file size, file type, color space, etc., settings you choose for how these copies will be created.
The beauty of Lightroom Classic in this regard is that since the data in your source photos is never changed you can edit to your hearts content, then as needed, export copies with specific settings for a given situation, and continually export new copies based on any future situations that may arise using different settings. For example, you might have one export sharing situation that calls for copies large enough in pixel dimensions for being printed at a given size and another sharing situation that calls for copies small enough in pixel dimension to be easily shared via email and on-screen viewing only. There are many other situations and scenarios that you will face that require changes in file type, pixel dimensions, color space, and so on.
Typically, the first part of sharing from LrC involves creating the copy that will be shared. Once that copy is created your next decision will be the method in which those copies will be shared with the recipient, and we’ll look at those in a future post. For now, back to a few scenarios for configuring the export dialog.
I’m still a big fan of printing photos, so I’m advocating for this scenario by putting it first. I’ve actually already written an entire blog post devoted to exporting copies at different sizes for print, so head there to see the details and how to configure the export dialog accordingly.
Sending a photo or two as an attachment to an email is a tried and true method of sharing with a targeted audience. Due to file size concerns these copies will benefit from being smaller in pixel dimension and more highly compressed than the copies created for printing, and as such, require different settings on the export dialog.
LrC has a built-in function for sending an email right from LrC, but over the years I’ve found that simple command to be a bit flaky and sometimes suffers from changes to operating systems, email clients, and even LrC itself. As such, I wrote a blog post detailing an email workaround that should be more reliable and provide the same results.
As you can see, the export dialog is hugely powerful feature of LrC that can be configured for any situation that your output needs might require. It just may take a bit of experimentation to home in on the specific settings that meet your situations requirements and your taste for quality, but once you find the sweet spot, you save it as an export preset and you are good to go over and over again.
Next week we’ll build on our knowledge of exporting copies to look at various delivery methods for sharing small and large numbers of files.
The post Exploring Ways to Share Photos from Lightroom Classic appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post 10 Bad Habits Lightroom Users Have (and some of my favorite shots from Prague) appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>I did an Adobe Spark page (well, it’s now called an “Adobe Creative Cloud Express,” web page) with my favorite images from my travel photography workshop in Prague which wrapped up last week.
It’s the story of the trip told in pictures, and captions and I included lots of behind-the-scenes shots (and a few short BTS video clips), and the camera and gear info (and all the camera info is at the bottom of the page).
If you’ve got a minute, I hope you’ll give it a quick look. Here’s the link:
https://express.adobe.com/page/N8T5y8eb1vfwf/
Thanks for dropping by, and here’s wishing you an awesome Monday!
-Scott
P.S. Today kicks off the orientation and pre-conference sessions for our 2-day, 2-track online camera conference (where you learn how to use your camera, your accessories, and all your photography gear). It’s not too late to get your ticket – here’s the link (you get the entire Photography Gear Conference archived to stream on demand for an entire year).
The post 10 Bad Habits Lightroom Users Have (and some of my favorite shots from Prague) appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post There’s a Camera Conference Next Week and You’re Invited appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>On Monday, we kick off with a pre-conference workshop, and then the conference runs all day Tuesday and Wednesday with two simultaneous tracks. The entire conference is archived for an entire year for you to stream on demand any time so you can catch any classes you missed, or rewatch any you want to catch again. It’s going to be really awesome, and I want you to be there.
It’s not too late to sign up for The Photography Gear Conference: here’s the link.
Now that I’m back, I’ll be back on the Lightroom stuff on Monday, so I hope you’ll stop back by. Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch you at the conference.
-Scott
P.S. I‘m still working on my images from the trip and I’ll be posting a link to my Adobe Spark page next week when it’s posted.
The post There’s a Camera Conference Next Week and You’re Invited appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post Photoshop For Lightroom Users: The Sharpening Filters appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>We’re going to start with one of the most useful sets of filters in all of Photoshop, and that’s the Sharpen filters. They do just what they sound like they’d do: they sharpen your photo. These filters have a big advantage over the sharpening in Lightroom, which is that you can clearly see the effects of the sharpening onscreen at different magnifications, like 25%, 50%, 67%, and so on. Seeing your sharpening at these different magnifications is incredibly helpful because, in Lightroom, you can really only see the effects of sharpening when you view the image at 100%. At that size, it’s hard to see what it’s going to look like when you take that 6,000 pixel-wide image and resize it down to 1,080 pixels for posting on Instagram (or sharing anywhere online).
Plus, Lightroom’s Output Sharpening is kind of a blind situation: There’s no preview whatsoever. It does its sharpening behind the scenes, so you have no idea if the amount you’re choosing is right until the file is generated and the sharpening is already applied. You sidestep all of that when you do your sharpening in Photoshop; you can see everything right onscreen every step of the way, which is why, even though Lightroom has good-quality sharpening, I still prefer to do my sharpening in Photoshop.
By the way, in case you’re wondering how often I apply sharpening to my images, that’s easy: every image of mine gets sharpened. Every one.
Now, there are a number of different methods for sharpening in Photoshop, but we’ll start with the most popular method, which has been in Photoshop since the very start in version 1.0 (nearly 32 years ago), and that’s the:
Don’t let the name throw you; it doesn’t make your images blurry (the name is a holdover from a traditional darkroom technique). It’s the go-to sharpening filter; even though it’s not the best sharpening method in Photoshop but, for whatever reason, people still use it as their primary sharpening filter, so we’ll start with it. To get to the filter, go up top under the Filter menu, then go down to Sharpening, and there you’ll find the Unsharp Mask (as shown here).
When the Unsharp Mask filter dialog appears, you’ll see it has three sliders: Amount, Radius, and Threshold. At this point in your Photoshop journey, you don’t have to learn what all three do (especially because they probably wouldn’t make a lot of sense now anyway), so all you have to concern yourself with for now is simply the Amount slider. The farther you drag it to the right, the more it sharpens your photo. You can leave the other two sliders alone for now and just work with that Amount slider. You’ll see a preview of your sharpening right within the Unsharp Mask filter dialog, but that preview is pretty small. Luckily, as long as you have the Preview checkbox turned on, you’ll see the sharpening applied to the full-size image right in Photoshop, even while the filter window is still open, so you can see the effects on the full image (shown here).
Question: But Scott, don’t you have go-to settings you use when applying the Unsharp Mask filter? Answer: Okay, well, I do, actually. If I’m applying Unsharp Mask to images taken with camera bodies that are anywhere from 20–30 megapixels, the settings I’m showing below left will work well between those ranges. If you have a higher-megapixel camera, you’ll need to increase the Radius to 1.2 or 1.3, or if you’re using a camera that’s below 20 megapixels, lower the Radius to 1.0 and leave the rest the same.
But what if that’s not enough sharpening? Well, you can use a lower Amount, like setting the Amount down to 100%, and run the filter twice (so click OK to apply the filter, and then bring it up again and click OK a second time). This actually works better than just raising all the settings, so give it a try.
By the way, the last filter you’ve applied automatically appears at the top of Photoshop’s Filter menu just to make it easy to apply the filter again (Photoshop figures if you used it once, you’ll probably want to use that same filter again, so it puts it right at the top of the list for your convenience, as shown above).
There’s another Unsharp Mask technique you should know about. I generally do my sharpening at the image’s full size or after some cropping, but essentially it’s about the size (in megapixels) that it came out of my camera. Unless I’m going to print the image, I rarely leave it at that large size. So, for example, if I’m going to share my image on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., then I first go to Photoshop’s Image menu, choose Image Size, and type in a much smaller size with the Width and Height linked, and Resample turned on (for example, we’ll use that 1,080 pixel-width for Instagram).
Well, if I apply my sharpening after I resize the image, those figures I gave you will be way too much sharpening on such a smaller image. The settings I gave you previously (Amount: 120, Radius: 1.0, and Threshold: 3) are for using before you shrink the image’s size for posting on social. So, if you’d prefer to resize first and then apply your sharpening, use the settings shown above instead (Amount: 85, Radius: 1.0, and Threshold: 4). That should do the trick. By the way, I changed to a different guitar photo just so we don’t keep looking at the same ol’ guitar.
Once you resize an image down to post on social, you’ll usually see a bit of loss of overall sharpness that happens during the resizing process. Think of it this way; if you had a 4,600-pixel-wide image out of your camera, and you size it down to a 1,080-pixel-wide image, you tossed out 3,520 pixels during the resize. Now, you can apply those lower Unsharp Mask settings after the resize if you’d like (so, you apply the large Unsharp Mask amount to the large image, and then after you resize it down, you apply the subtler amount to bring back that sharpness). So you’re sharpening twice: once at full size, once with a smaller amount on the smaller image.
Another method I use (just for convenience sake) is after I’ve sharpened with Unsharp Mask on the larger image and then resized it, I just go under the Filter menu up top, under Sharpen, and simply choose Sharpen (as shown above). That doesn’t bring up a window at all. It just applies a low preset amount that the Photoshop team chose, and it usually works pretty well.
The only problem with the Sharpen filter (and its cousin in the same menu called Sharpen More, which just runs that same filter again but with a higher amount of sharpening), is that you have no control over the amount. It’s great if it looks good (and when I size down an image for Instagram, the Sharpen filter actually usually looks pretty good), but if it’s too much sharpening, you’ll either have to Undo the filter or use this cool trick: Apply the Sharpen filter and, if you think it’s too much, go under the Edit menu (up top) and choose Fade Sharpen.
This brings up a simple dialog with an Opacity slider. Think of that slider as “Undo on a slider.” At 100% (all the way to the right, which is the default setting), you’re getting the full effect of the Sharpen filter. If you drag it to the left, you’re reducing the amount of the filter, so you’re undoing some of its strength. In short, you’d apply the Sharpen filter, go under the Edit menu, choose Fade Sharpen, and then drag the Opacity slider to the left to reduce its intensity, stopping when the amount of sharpening looks about right to you. I have to do this fairly regularly, but luckily, it’s fast and easy. Note: Be sure to go to Fade Sharpen immediately after you apply the Sharpen filter; otherwise, if you do anything else in Photoshop first, the Fade Sharpen menu option will go away.
There’s more sharpening filter stuff still to cover, but we’ll tackle that next time. Getting the Unsharp Mask filter under our belt is a big one. See you when I get back from Prague, and then our filter adventure continues.
Here’s to a kick-butt week!
-Scott
The post Photoshop For Lightroom Users: The Sharpening Filters appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post Boris FX Optics: Lens Flares & Film Effects in Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>If you enjoy exploring lighting and special effects in your edits and would like to do more in Lightroom without jumping to Photoshop, this tutorial might be for you. Boris FX Optics is a unique plugin, literally packed with creative options. Optics can be used for subtle lighting and color grades to full blown Marvel film style photo manipulations. Here, I’ll show how Optics can be used to add cinematic lens flares, particles and chromatic aberrations to make your shots stand out. The tutorial was done with Optics in Lightroom Classic, but the same steps will work with Photoshop, or the Optics standalone application.
if you’d like to follow along, I’ve provided a quick screen recording that you can pause, rewind and follow at your own pace. (You can download this source image from Unsplash.) And if you don’t own Optics, you can download and install the free 15-day trial to follow along.
Apply Optics in Lightroom classic by selecting Photo>Edit in>Boris FX Optics.
I recommend, choosing Edit a Copy.
Optics has its own interface with a layer system on the upper left and effect categories below the image. We’ll start by choosing the Light category and selecting S_LensFlare effect. This will add the Lens Flare effect to our image and we can choose from the flare presets in the lower left. Optics ships with 126 Lens Flare presets and all can be edited, customized and saved.
Position the lens flare by clicking on the center of the flare and drag. You can also position the pivot, or adjust the position sliders on the right in the Parameters window.
I chose the Zeiss LWZ flare prest and positioned the flare to the top lext of the image. To zoom the image canvas in/out, use the middle mouse scroll wheel OR short cut keys I + O.
To add a smoky feel to the lens flare, twirl down the Atmosphere tab in the parameter window. Increase the Atmosphere Amplitude and Frequency settings to your liking.
Optics allows you to stack and edit unlimited effect layers. Next, we will Add a New Layer, by selecting the Add Layer icon in the upper left or using shortcut key (CMD/CTRL + L).
Now, to add more depth and atmosphere, we will explore the Particle Illusion category. Here you will find hundreds of environmental effects like smoke, clouds, explosions, fireworks, and so much more. The particle effects are generated by a powerful animation engine but the interface hides much of the complexity typically found in 3D animation tools.
Particle effects are broken into sub categories (Clouds, Water, Fireworks, etc), but if we want to search them all, choose PI Complete. We can scroll through the presets or use the search window.
I’ll type “Seed” in the search window to find a floating dust particle emitter. I will position the emitter to the upper left to accentuate the lighting effect. Particles properties such as position, number, and size can be edited in the Parameter window, making Optics such a value add compared to buying overlays or stock images. Its addictive making your own effects libraries.
We can add a new layer again (CMD/CTRL + L) and continue to explore effects. In the Light category, one of my favorite effects is S_GlowDarks which adds a beautiful, diffused glow to the darks — all in one effect. I chose a preset called “Beauty Pass”, then dialed the layer’s opacity down in the upper left. Every layer in Optics has blending modes and masks for combining and isolating effects.
Once I am happy with my lighting or effects, I typically use the effects found in the Film Lab category to add grain and a color grade. You can find hundreds of color, black & white, and historical film process presets in the Film Stocks effect. I chose the Cross Processing effects and preset “Cross Processing 2”, then dialed the opacity for this effect down to 40 in the layer opacity.
Lastly, to really make digital images look more like film, I like to apply “chromatic aberrations” to add a little color fringing and movement. There are a couple ways to do this in Optics, but I like the “Chromatic Aberration – Subtle” preset which is found in the S_WarpChroma effect.
Above the viewer, find compare modes to view the before/after images with “side by side” or “split screen” options. Optics is always procedural, meaning you can simply double click on any effect layer to edit the corresponding parameters.
If you are happy with your your image edit in Optics, simple select the Apply button in the lower right OR go to File>Exit, short cut key (CTRL/CMD + Q) and select Save.
I hope you enjoyed this Optics tutorial. If you’d like to learn more, here are a couple useful links:
For a limited time, take 25% off Optics!
Optics is available to purchase OR choose an annual or monthly subscription plan.
Visit Boris FX and enter code on checkout: Kelby25
The post Boris FX Optics: Lens Flares & Film Effects in Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post Finding a Photo’s Location on a Drive appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>I’ve seen this happen even right after a batch of photos have been imported and the view switches to Previous/Current Import which shows the last batch of photos without the context of their parent folder(s). The person may think they know where the photo is stored, but if they weren’t paying attention to the settings of the Import dialog the photos may have ended up someplace else.
For example, if I click on a collection to view its contents, it may not be immediately obvious where any one photo is actually stored.
One simple way to display the name of the folder where a photo is stored is in the actual thumbnail of the photo. Press G to jump to Grid view, then depending on the Grid View Style being used you may or may not see additional information displayed around the thumbnail. You can cycle through the 3 Grid View Styles by pressing the J key or go to View > Grid View Style and choose Show Extras.
Within the Show Extras style, you can click on one of the data points shown and choose a different piece of metadata to display. In this case, choose Folder. Once selected, each photo’s folder name will appear in that part of the thumbnail.
Another way to find a given photo’s folder is to right-click the thumbnail and choose Go to Folder in Library, which will switch you to viewing the contents of that folder as well as highlight the folder name in the Folders panel (you may need to scroll the Folders panel to see the highlighted folder).
Yet another option is to expand the Metadata panel set to Default view, and place your cursor over the name of the folder’s name to see the full path to that photo.
And finally, you can employ your operating system’s file browser by right-clicking the thumbnail in LrC and choosing Show in Finder/Explorer (right above the Go to Folder in Library menu option as shown above) to open the file browser to that specific photo.
Armed with all those options, the location for where a photo is stored should never be a mystery again.
The post Finding a Photo’s Location on a Drive appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post Take Lightroom On Your Summer Vacation appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>Thank you, Terry!!! That is incredibly helpful!!!
Here’s wishing you a great week (and I’m hoping that this week you’re on vacation, or that one is coming soon!).
-Scott
The post Take Lightroom On Your Summer Vacation appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>The post When to Use Lightroom’s Awesome “Draft Mode” Printing (and when not to) appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>Here’s why: when you have 20 or 30 photos in one print like this, even though those images are really small (maybe just 2″ wide or less each), all 20 or 30 high-resolution images first have to download fully into your printer before the print makes its way out of your printer. That’s why it takes so long for them to print.
But when you go to the Print Job panel in Lightroom Classic and turn on “Draft Mode Printing” (shown above) now it sends a low-res preview version of each image to the printer instead of making you wait for each high-resolution image to render, so the print comes out MUCH faster, but the quality is still great because the size of each image is so small (and yes – you still have plenty of resolution for those small image sizes).
Give this “Draft Mode Printing” feature a try next time you’re doing a multi-photo layout, and you’ll be amazed at how great those images look even though they’re just the low-resolution preview versions (in fact, I doubt you’ll be able to tell the difference from the full high-res originals).
Now, that being said: don’t be seduced by this draft mode printing — it’s just for use in these multi-photo layouts where you have a lot of small-sized images. I’ve talked to people who love draft mode printing so much, they use it for most everything because it’s so fast, but you will notice a difference if you’re printing just one or two images per sheet because now the images are large enough to where you’ll see that difference
Hope you find that helpful, and let me know what you think of draft mode once you get a chance to try it.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
-Scott
P.S. Are you going to the “Photography Gear Conference” next month? Get the scoop here.
The post When to Use Lightroom’s Awesome “Draft Mode” Printing (and when not to) appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.
]]>