Julieanne Kost's Blog

I mention a number of shortcuts that are new to the Spot Removal Tool (B) in this video (Adobe Photoshop: Favorite Features for Photographers), but thought that it might be handy to also include them in list form:

• Tap the “V” key to toggle the visibility of the spot overlays.

• Shift -drag constrains the brush spot to a horizontal or vertical stroke.

• Shift -click connects the selected spot with the new spot via a straight brush stroke.

• Command -drag (Mac) | Control -drag (Win)  will create a circle spot and allow you to drag to define the source.

• Tap the Forward Slash key (/) to select new source for existing circle or brush spot.

• Press Delete to delete a selected spot.

• Option -click (Mac) | Alt -click (Win) on a spot to delete it (the cursor will change to a pair of scissors).

• Option -drag (Mac) | Alt  -drag (Win) in the image area over multiple spots to batch-delete (the icon changes to a marquee while dragging.

• Tap the “Y” key to toggle on/off Visualize spots. Note – this is also available as a checkbox and slider in Toolbar.

When applying a Post Crop Vignette in Lightroom and/or Camera Raw, don’t forget that you can use the Highlight slider to suppress the vignette from being added in the highlights of the image. This can help keep brighter values in the vignetted area from looking muddy.

Also, when cropping an image and adding a Post Crop vignette, I prefer to first use the Lens Correction panel to remove any vignetting caused by the lens. Removing the lens vignetting (especially if the image is cropped so that part of the lens vignette is cut off) will result in a more even looking Post Crop Vignette.

In Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop, The Clipping Warning triangles turn different colors to show that different channels are being clipped.

If no values are clipped, the triangles are black.

If values are clipped in the red channel the triangles are red.

If values are clipped in the green channel the triangles are green.

If values are clipped in the blue channel the triangles are blue.

If values are clipped in the red + green channel the triangles are yellow.

If values are clipped in the red + blue channel the triangles are magenta.

If values are clipped in the green + blue channel the triangles are cyan.

If values are clipped in all channels, the triangles are white.

Note: to view per channel clipping in the Image Preview area, Option + (Mac) | Alt  + (Win) – drag the Exposure, Highlight, Shadow, White or Black sliders in the Basic Panel.

In this episode of The Complete Picture (Controlling Selective Color Changes in Lightroom), Julieanne demonstrates how to use Hue, Saturation, Luminance and the Adjustment Brush to selectively control color in Lighroom. Note: although this video was recorded in Lightroom, the same techniques are available in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6.

After posting my video Cyclical – The Creative Process I received a great question: If you start in Lightroom with a raw file and choose Photo > Edit In > Open  in Photoshop as Smart Object, and then edit that Smart Object, how can you “extract” that raw file  with the edited settings?

My first thought was to select the Smart Object in the Layers panel in Photoshop and choose Layer > Smart Objects > Export Contents. But surprisingly that method doesn’t export any edits made to the Smart Object. However, it turns out that the answer is even easier.  In Photoshop, simply double click on the Smart Object’s thumbnail in the Layers panel (or choose Layer > Smart Object > Edit Contents) and, in the Camera Raw dialog, click the Save Image button in the lower left corner. Voila.

The Lightroom 4.4 and Camera Raw 7.4 Release Candidates are now available on Adobe labs:

Lightroom 4.4

Camera Raw 7.4

Although there isn’t a menu item to rename your presets in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop, you can simply rename them in the operating system. Your Camera Raw Presets are located here:

• Win (user)/Application Data/Adobe/Camera Raw/Settings

• Mac(user)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw/Settings

If you are on a Mac running Lion, the Library menu is hidden by default. To reveal it, hold the option key down while selecting the “Go” menu in the Finder.

In addition to new camera support, Lightroom also includes HiDPI within the Library and Develop Modules. Click here for all of the details…

In this episode of The Complete Picture (Toning Black and White Photographs in Lightroom 4 ), Julieanne explains the best way to add a color tone to an image using the Split Tone and Tone Curve panels as well as demonstrates how to save presets to increase your productivity.

Single Color Toning using the Split Tone panel. Examples include the Original Auto B/W Mix, Antique, Blue, Mustard, Sepia Midtones, Sepia Shadows, Blue, Cyan, Green, Magenta, Orange, Purple, Red, and Yellow presets.

Although this video was recorded in Lightroom, the same techniques are available in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6. Click to download the Toning presets for Lightroom 4 (JKost_Toning.zip)  and Photoshop CS6 (PS_JKost Toning.zip).

Note: here is an updated version of the Toning Presets for Lightroom 4 (Windows versions)JKostToningWin. I had use and asterisk in the file names which has now been changed to “0_” to keep the “reset” presets at the top of the list.

Color Toning using the Split Tone and Tone Curve panels. Examples include the Original Auto B/W Mix, Coffee Stain, Cyan/Yellow, Forest Horror, Orange/Yellow, Red/Cyan, Warm Strong, Warm Medium, Warm Subtle, Stark Winter, Warm Chocolate, and Weathered Marble presets.

To install: download and unzip the presets for Lightroom 4 or Photoshop CS6 (above) and place them in the following location:

Lightroom

• Mac (user)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Develop Presets

• Win (user)/Application Data/Adobe/Lightroom/Develop Presets

Photoshop

• Mac(user)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw / Settings

• Win (user)/Application Data/Adobe/Camera Raw/Settings

If you are on a Mac running Lion, the Library menu is hidden by default. To reveal it, hold the option key down while selecting the “Go” menu in the Finder.

Note: The preset names differ slightly for each product as ACR does not support folders in the Presets tab and I wanted similar presets grouped together.

In this episode of The Complete Picture (Converting Images to Black and White), Julieanne demonstrates the best way to convert images to Black and White as well as how to save presets to increase your productivity. Note: although this video was recorded in Lightroom, the same techniques are available in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6. Click here to download the presets for Lightroom 4 (JKost Black & White.zip)  and Photoshop CS6 (PS_JKost Black White.zip).

Original Image, Default B/W Mix, Auto B/W Mix, Portrait B/W Mix +ROY
B/W Sat-100, B/W Sat-100 Lum+ROYP, B/W Sat -75 Vintage Look

 Note: The preset names differ slightly for Photoshop and Lightroom as ACR does not support folders in the Presets tab and I wanted all of the Black and White presets grouped together.

To install: download and unzip the presets for Lightroom/Photoshop (link above) and place them in the following location:

Lightroom

• Mac (user)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Develop Presets

• Win (user)/Application Data/Adobe/Lightroom/Develop Presets

Photoshop

• Mac(user)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw /Settings (put the presets loose in the Settings folder – not in a subfolder)

• Win (user)/Application Data/Adobe/Camera Raw/Settings

Note: If you are on a Mac running Lion, the (user)/Library folder is hidden by default. To reveal it, hold the Option key down while selecting the “Go” menu in the Finder.

If you capture images as JPEGs, and then make changes to JPEG files in the Develop Module (or in Quick Develop) in Lightroom or in Camera Raw in Photoshop ,and post those original JPEG files online, the adjustment changes will not be displayed. You must have Lightroom or Photoshop render a new version of the JPEG with your changes applied (via Export, the output modules and/or publish services).

Why? Well, when you make changes to your files in Lightroom (or Camera Raw), you can choose to push settings such as copyright and keywords into JPEG files. In Lightroom you do this by choosing Metadata > Save Metadata to File or by checking “Automatically write changes to XMP” in Catalog Settings > Metadata. In Photoshop, you add your information in File Info or in the appropriate panels in Bridge. Most other programs, (if they’re savvy enough to read IPTC data) can read information such as copyright and keyword and display this information.

But other programs (including browsers) are not able to read changes made in Quick Develop or in the Develop Module in Lightroom or in Camera Raw in Photoshop and render it, so you need  to export your modified files (in order to render a new file with the changes applied) and post those files instead of the original JPEGs.

In this episode of The Complete Picture (The Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush), discover the power of making selective adjustments like dodging and burning, color corrections and noise removal using the Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush. Note: although this video was recorded in Lightroom, the same techniques are available in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6.

There are two sliders in the Basic panel (in the Develop module in Lightroom and in the Camera Raw dialog in Photoshop), which can be used to quickly adjust color – Vibrance and Saturation. Lately I have overheard a number of people “arguing” over which adjustment is better. So to put that argument to rest, I’m going to say that both adjustments have their strengths!  Although I will agree that it’s a good rule of thumb to use the Vibrance slider to increase (or decrease) saturation in images (especially portraits because not only is Vibrance a relative slider, it is also biased to leave “skin-tones” alone), there are also times when I prefer to use Saturation to set the mood in my images. In fact, there are many times when I use a combination of BOTH sliders to reduce colors that are too overbearing – I will make a negative adjustment using Vibrance and then increase the resulting (more “even” color palette) with Saturation. Since the sliders are nondestructive don’t be afraid to experiment!

(Yes, sometimes I run with scissors too. )

The units of measurements displayed in the Basic panel (in Lightroom’s Develop module and in the Camera Raw dialog in Photoshop) for Temperature and Tint differ between RAW and JPEG files. When working with a raw file, the Temperature slider ranges from 2,000 to 50,000 Kelvin and the Tint sliders range from -150 to 150. When working with JPEG files (or other pixel based files such as PSD or TIFF) the Temperature and Tint sliders both range from -100 to 100.

You might also notice that when working with RAW files, Lightroom displays a list of “preset” White Balance settings (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten etc. – this list might differ slightly from camera to camera). When you work with a JPEG file, LIghtroom only displays As Shot, Auto and Custom in the pull-down menu

When moving back and forth between images in the Develop module in Lightroom and in the Camera Raw dialog in Photoshop, it can be a performance advantage to increase the Camera Raw Cache when working with raw files. To do so, in Lightroom,  select Preferences > File Handling > Camera Raw Cache Setting and increase the Maximum Size. In Photoshop select  Preferences > Camera Raw and increase the Maximum Size. The larger the cache, the greater the number of images Lightroom can hold onto for quick access – making it faster to load recently viewed images. If you are simply moving from one image to the next (without returning to the previously viewed images), then you may not see a benefit from increasing the Camera Raw Cache.