John Nack on Adobe

June 23, 2009

Lightroom 2.4 and Camera Raw 5.4 Now Available

Lightroom 2.4 (Mac|Win) and Camera Raw 5.4 (Mac|Win) are now available as final releases on Adobe.com and through the update mechanisms (Help->Updates) in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2. According to the Lightroom Journal, these updates include camera support for the following models:

Check out the rest of the entry for details on Lightroom bug fixes, as well as DNG format options and & spec updates.

June 18, 2009

SlideShowPro for LR adds pan, zoom

I use the heck out of Todd Dominey's excellent SlideShowPro for Lightroom, so I'm happy to see that the tool has been updated with pan & zoom support (see example). From the site:

By (very) popular request, a pan and zoom effect has been added to both SlideShowPro for Flash and SlideShowPro for Lightroom. The popular animation style slowly moves still photos while zooming in/out of a particular area. It's most often used as a narrative device (by, you know, Ken Burns, who built a career on it), but it's also nice eye candy, especially when mixed with portraits and music.

SSP for Lightroom costs $35, and this update is free to current owners (download via the Account Center).

May 31, 2009

Sunday Photography: Thomas Hawk, LR tips, & more

• The Lightroom team welcomed photographer/blogger Thomas Hawk to Adobe SJ earlier this month. Thomas has detailed his visit & has posted some great images. (Lightroom/Camera Raw engineer Zalman Stern jokes, "Cool article, but if things really looked that saturated, I'd bring a Geiger counter to work to make sure they weren't radioactive.")
• Lightroom tips:
  • Shooting tethered with the Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII [Via Tom Hogarty]
  • Watermarking with Lightroom and LR2/Mogrify
• It's too easy to view a single great photo in isolation, rather than as part of a process. Art Wolfe walks through his process & outtakes, narrating the starts & stops on the way to getting a great result. [Via]
• Joel Saget captured a terrific composition of a French aerobatic team. The image is part of a solid set from the Wall St. Journal.
• Photojojo rounds up an excellent set of The Best Free Photos on the Web.

March 16, 2009

Lightroom baby develops perfectly

Tonight we got the delightful news that Ms. Harper Maeve Hogarty was born at 5:19 p.m. to Sarah Bailey Hogarty & husband Tom (also known as the PM for Lightroom). The wee lass is 7 lbs., 1 oz, 19.5 inches, and Tom is presumably compiling photographic evidence as I type. (Texting yesterday he wrote, "A Pi baby would have been awesome... Would like to avoid over-Irishing the baby with 3/17," so I'm glad things worked out.)

Congrats, guys! [Update: Here's a first photo.]

February 14, 2009

PDF containing all Lightroom 2 shortcuts

Rick Miller from Adobe's education field team writes, "I've recently had requests from users who would like a PDF reference guide that covers just the shortcuts in Lightroom 2. So I've created one...enjoy!"

February 2, 2009

Save ducats buying PS, Lightroom together

January 23, 2009

Camera Raw 5.3 and Lightroom 2.3 Available on Adobe Labs

The Camera Raw 5.3 and Lightroom 2.3 Release Candidates are now available on Adobe Labs.  The release includes new camera support for the following models:

• Nikon D3X
  
• Olympus E-30
  

The Lightroom update addresses some reported problems:

• In the Windows 64-bit version of Lightroom an sFTP upload process could cause Lightroom to crash
  
• Slideshows could return to the first image randomly during playback
  
• A memory leak could cause Lightroom to crash while attempting to process files with local adjustments
  
• Canon EOS 5D Mk II sRAW files could process with artifacts in Lightroom 2.2
  
• Lightroom 2.2 could cause disc burning to fail for Windows customers
  

Additional Languages

Lightroom 2.3 now provides language support for Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, Italian, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish, and Swedish.  Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty has posted some additional notes regarding language support on the Lightroom Journal.

December 15, 2008

Lightroom 2.2 now available

The Lightroom 2.2 update is now available for download (Mac|Win) from Adobe.com.  The release includes new camera support for the following models:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  
• Canon PowerShot G10
  
• Panasonic DMC-G1
  
• Panasonic DMC-FX150
• Panasonic DMC-FZ28
• Panasonic DMC-LX3
  
• Leica D-LUX 4

The Calibration panel in Lightroom's Develop module now features an extensible set of camera profiles, designed to provide different interpretations of raw capture.  In addition the update fixes a few bugs that were introduced with the Lightroom 2.0 release; the ReadMe file (PDF) has the details on those.

[Update: Tom Hogarty says, "Beta profiles can be found and deleted from the following directories:

• Mac: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles/
  
• XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles
  
• Vista: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles]
  

December 3, 2008

Useful Lightroom, Camera Raw vids

• Sean McCormack has posted a short movie showing how to create a triptych from 1 photo in Lightroom.
• Derrick Story provides a quick video tour of two new features in Camera Raw 5.2--snapshots & the Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT).  [Via Colleen Wheeler]  Two additional related tips:
  • You can toggle the TAT on/off by pressing the letter T.
  • You can save a snapshot from any panel by pressing Shift-Cmd-S/Shift-Ctrl-S.
• Matt Kloskowski notes a cool Lightroom tip by way of Scott Kelby: "If you’re dragging a Graduated filter gradient on to your photo you can quickly change the direction of the gradient by pressing the apostrophe key."  Matt has also posted a video showing how to use brushing/erasing tools in LR/ACR together with graduated filters, letting you erase the filter effect in selective areas.
  

November 30, 2008

Labels between Bridge & Lightroom

Reader John Schwaller asked a good question today: Why is it that if you assign a color label to an image in Lightroom, then update the file's metadata on disk (Cmd-S/Ctrl-S), the label appears white in Bridge instead of in the expected color?

The answer lies in the fact that Bridge lets you customize the text string associated with labels (screenshot).  This makes it possible to tag images quickly with custom, searchable phrases (e.g. "Urgent," "Needs client review," etc.) using just a keystroke.  Think of it as a specialized, powerful form of keywording.

When you apply a label, you're not, however, storing the color in the file metadata; rather, you're just assigning the text that's specified for that label.  If you've associated the green label with "Client approved," Bridge will display all files with the label "Client approved" as green.  If you then use Bridge preferences to change green to mean "Good to go," however, Bridge will show files labeled "Client approved" as having a white label.  This indicates that the label on the files doesn't correspond to any of your custom labels.

Lightroom doesn't offer the ability to customize the text associated with color labels*.  When it writes a label to a file, the text corresponds to the color ("Red," "Green," etc.).  By default Bridge uses different strings for the colored labels (red = "Select," green = "Approved," etc.).  So, assigning a red label in Lightroom will produce a while label in Bridge--kind of bizarre, if logical in its own way.

Short story: To make the labels you assign in Lightroom show up in the same colors in Bridge, go into Bridge preferences, choose Labels, and then change the text string for each to be simply the color ("Red" for red, "Green" for green, and so on).

The Bridge mechanism is powerful and flexible, but it's always caused some amount of confusion.  Maybe we can refine it in the future (e.g. storing both the color name & the assigned text string in metadata, then containing to display the color separately even if the label doesn't match & therefore has to show up as white).

November 21, 2008

Adobwii

Never underestimate the power of Bluetooth-enabled, motion-sensing, Adobe-flavored nerdery. :-)

• Chris Bartelski demonstrates how he uses a Wiimote to browse photos in Lightroom on his TV, even applying auto-toning & monochrome presets.  To see his system in action, skip ahead in the video to around the 8-minute mark. [Via Tom Hogarty]
• Crazy person (in the best sense) Dr. Woohoo has combined WiiFlash + Papervision3d + Flash Panels + Photoshop CS4 Extended.  It's an interesting proof of concept, and he's got some truly wild ideas in the queue.
• In case you missed it earlier, check out the Flash-based, Wiimote-powered multi-user painting system created by BLITZ Agency for Adobe MAX last year (details).

November 8, 2008

New Lightroom tools & presets

• The Photography Show blog has pulled together a huge list of free presets for LR. [Via]
• Developer Jeffrey Friedl has created a geotagging plug-in for Lightroom. According to Stephen Shankland, the plug-in "reads a GPS unit's track log, then deduces a photo's location based on the time it was taken. Although that's the same basic mechanism many other geotagging programs employ, Friedl's plug-in brings some welcome flexibility to the process by moving the process within Lightroom."
• Photodex has created The ProShow Plug-in for Lightroom, a free tool for composing rich slideshows within LR, meant for use with the company’s commercial slideshow software.

November 3, 2008

Pro Photographers Vote Lightroom!

In the Red-Green-Blue state of professional digital photography, voters are going for Adobe Lightroom in a very big way.

A year ago I shared some market research from InfoTrends that compared Lightroom usage among North American pros to that of Apple Aperture.  This year InfoTrends asked the same questions, and here's what they found photographers to be using:

• We're delighted to see that Lightroom has increased its market share among pros by 50% on both Mac and Windows.
• Aperture's overall number is up due to a greater percentage of respondents running Macs this year.  On the Mac, however, its market share is essentially unchanged.
• The survey was fielded in June and July 2008, after the launch of Aperture 2 but before Lightroom 2 was released.
• Overall Photoshop usage remains over 90% in this market.  Use of Camera Raw specifically has dipped a bit, which is to be expected as more pros embrace Lightroom.  Even so, the numbers indicate that many people continue to use both paths depending on circumstances (e.g. opening a one-off image vs. browsing a whole shoot).  That's true in my work, and I find the compatibility of settings between LR & ACR invaluable.
• Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty has posted a few additional details about the survey on the Lightroom Journal blog.

As always the Lightroom & Photoshop teams are grateful to the photography community for all their support, and we look forward to bringing the Lightroom mojo to more photographers in the years ahead.

October 21, 2008

Solid Photoshop & Lightroom resources

Recently I've happened across a few resources that may be of interest:

Tutorials:

• PSDTUTS offers great Photoshop tutorials in a beautifully designed wrapper.  They also host interviews (e.g. one with Peter Jaworoski) with inspiring artists.  Paid membership gets you access to source files and more.
• Design Reviver is geared towards Web design, offering tips like how to design icons in Illustrator and 350+ brushes, textures, and fonts in the aptly named "Massive Hand Drawn Roundup."
  

Presets:

• To create The Full Montage, author Steve Caplin "has spent the last two years photographing, processing and preparing images" that work really well in image composites.  The readymade set, using Smart Objects & warps to enable mapping objects onto surfaces, looks particularly interesting.  Royalty-free pieces are for sale on the site.
• LiveSurface offers a large library of images ready for use with Photoshop's Vanishing Point filter.  Files "are pre-masked, layered and have embedded 3D surfaces."

Lightroom

• PresetsHeaven is all about sharing high quality development presets for Lightroom.  For more, see previous.

September 19, 2008

Lightroom 2.1 RC on Labs

A release candidate of Lightroom 2.1 is now available on Adobe Labs.  Tom Hogarty writes,

The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this release is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing to validate the corrections and changes included in this update.  The goal of this release is to address bugs that were introduced with the release of Lightroom 2.0 and provide additional camera raw support [matching Camera Raw 4.6].

September 16, 2008

Lightroom Exposed

So, how is the world's most popular 64-bit Mac software built?  At the recent Mac-dev C4 conference, Lightroom project lead Troy Gaul presented an inside look at the structure of the application.  Hopefully a recording of his talk will be posted soon to flesh out the details, though I don't have an ETA for that.

August 27, 2008

Noise Ninja for Lightroom; LR2 videos and news

Fernando Z.* at Picture Code writes, "I just released version 2.1.2 of the Noise Ninja Standalone application, and this release features support for sending multiple photos at a time from Lightroom 2 to Noise Ninja. I've also just added a new video to our FAQ that shows how to take advantage of this new build and Lightroom 2's enhanced External Editor support." [Via Tom Hogarty]

• "To celebrate the launch of LR2," writes John Arnold, "I'll be doing one tip per day for at least a week - probably 2 weeks."  You can check out John's set of videos to date on PhotoWalkthrough.com.  (I'm looking forward to checking out the entries covering graduated filters.)

• The Adobe Design Center has posted Getting Started with Lightroom 2.  In it Matt Kloskowski of NAPP offers a sequential set of 15 videos that take a brand new LR user through the basics of what Lightroom does and how to get started using it, while Adobe's Julieanne Kost has posted a set of 3 videos that go over all that’s changed in LR2 ("Think of it as a Getting Started for upgrade users," she writes). [Via Luanne Seymour]

• Syl Arena provides detailed info on The Benefits of Shooting Tethered Into Lightroom.

* I suspect I'd be much cooler if named "Fernando Z.," and I just may have to appropriate that handle (sorry, actual Fernando Z).

August 11, 2008

Quick Lightroom bits: Presets, shortcuts, & more

• On Lightroom News, Martin Evening interviews Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty about how the LR2 feature set came to be and more.
• Lightroom Queen Victoria Bampton has posted Adobe Lightroom - The Missing FAQ, "a compilation of the most frequently asked questions, presented in a 397-page PDF eBook format."  It's now updated to cover LR2 as well as LR 1.4.1.  She's also posted a free PDF reference listing Lightroom 2 keyboard shortcuts.
• Presets:
  • Sean McCormack has created a set of over 70 graduated filter presets for LR2. "Covering both landscape and portrait orienations, as well as hard and soft line filters," he writes, "these filters come in 3 standard colours: ND (Grey), Blue and Tobacco."  Sean is selling them for €5.00 (about $7.75). [Via]
  • At Inside Lightroom Richard Earney lists a ton of handy-looking presets, handling everything from image tweaking to filtering one's image library (e.g. showing which images contain GPS coordinates, which lack keywords, etc.).
• On Daring Fireball, John Gruber writes, "I upgraded to Lightroom 2 last week, and I’ve only had time to scratch the surface with regard to learning what’s new. But so far, every single change that I’ve noticed has been for the better. It’s a remarkable improvement over what was already one of my favorite pieces of software ever."  Nice!
  

August 1, 2008

The Lightroom vs. Aperture plug-in situation

Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty has posted some info about how Lightroom & Aperture compare in terms of enabling image editing via add-on code.  Being addicted to bulleted lists, here's my summary of where things stand:

• Pound for pound & click for click, "external editor presets" in Lightroom 2 and "plug-ins" in Aperture are the same thing.  In both cases you pick the external engine that you want to use on your image; jump into that editing environment to make adjustments; and return to your LR/Aperture library with an edited bitmap image that sits alongside your original raw file.  You get the same results with the same number of clicks.

• Unlike Aperture, LR doesn't require developers to rewrite code to work as a plug-in.  Instead, it simply lets external apps open/save image data as they normally would.  Less work for developers should translate into more options, sooner, for photographers

• Perhaps ironically, if you're using external code like Nik's Viveza plug-in (available as both a Photoshop & an Aperture plug-in), you'll retain more editability by bouncing your image to Photoshop and doing the edit there.  Photoshop CS3 adds support for Smart Filters, meaning you can go back and tweak your Viveza (or noise reduction, or lens correction, etc.) settings even after sending the results back to your library.

• If what you're after is local image editing (e.g. dodging and burning), Lightroom already offers that as a native part of its development pipeline--no rasterization or external edit required.

• If what you're after is Photoshop integration, the Lightroom-Photoshop story is unmatched:
  • The jump is faster and doesn't require creation of an intermediate TIFF/PSD just to open a file in PS.  (Instead the raw file goes through the Camera Raw pipeline, preserving your LR edits.)
  • You can open your raw file as a Smart Object and apply filters to it, preserving the editability of your raw settings and of the filters.
  • You can pass multiple files to Photoshop at once to create panoramas, HDR merges, or multi-layer PSDs.  This works especially well with virtual copies of the same image, making it possible to composite together multiple raw renderings.  Lightroom + Photoshop is the ultimate 1-2 punch.
    

July 29, 2008

Lightroom, ACR support D700

A number of people have written in to ask when Lightroom and Camera Raw will support the brand-new Nikon D700.  Good news: they already do--unofficially--in Lightroom 2.0/Camera Raw 4.5.  Unofficial support simply means that you can view and edit D700-generated NEF files normally, but because the camera is so new, Adobe QE folks haven't tested it to the point that they feel comfortable declaring official support.  The DNG Converter can convert D700 NEFs so that they can be used in LR 1.4, Photoshop CS2, and other DNG-enabled tools.

Note: LR2/ACR 4.5 add official support for the Olympus E 420 and E 520.

Lightroom 2 is here!

I'm delighted to report that the 64-bit native Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 is now shipping for Mac and Windows.  LR2 sells for $299 ($99 upgrade), and the 30-day tryout version is available for immediate download.

Tom Hogarty has posted a wealth of info on the Lightroom Journal blog, so I won't attempt to duplicate everything here.  Instead let me note some highlights:

• The Develop module now includes a highly useful gradient tool (screenshot), offering power similar to working with real-world graduated filters.
• Lightroom News offers a detailed list of all the improvements made since the introduction of the LR2 public beta.
• LR supports external editor presets, enabling easy jumps to/from apps like Noise Ninja and PTLens.  Thus Lightroom handily matches Aperture 2.1's ballyhooed plug-in support, while offering far superior Photoshop integration plus non-destructive localized image adjustment.
• Adobe Labs now hosts the new DNG Profile Editor.  This is a big deal.  In brief:
  • It enables the rendering you get in LR (or in Camera Raw) to match what your camera renders as JPEGs--frequently a pleasing starting point for adjustments.  As photographer Ian Lyons writes, with these profiles you can "approximate the in-camera JPEG rendering as well as the various styles and looks provided either in-camera or via the camera vendor's own software solution."
  • It offers demanding photographers a new degree of control for finessing the appearance of colors (e.g. skin tones).
  • In other words, we can put a fork in assertions of "Raw converter X looks like what I see on the back of my camera, so it must be more accurate than what Adobe shows" and "I just can't get look/tone/value X in LR/ACR."  Expect to hear more soon.
• Camera Raw 4.5 for Photoshop CS3 (Mac | Win) has been released & offers full support for rendering edits made with LR2 as well as profiles created with the Profile Editor.

Tons of resources are going live now, so I'll post links to what I've seen so far:

• Videos:
  • The NAPP has launched their Lightroom 2 Learning Center.
  • Colin Smith of the Photoshop Cafe posts videos and screenshots.
• Reviews and overviews:
  • As noted above, Ian Lyons gives an in-depth tour and talks about how to pair Lightroom & Photoshop to support CMYK files.
  • Scott Kelby scores Lightroom 2 Vs. My Lightroom 2 'Wish List'"
  • Mike Pasini from The Imaging Resource posts a glowing review. ("While we've only had a few days to test drive Lightroom 2.0, but that's been enough to remove 1.4 from our drive. We aren't going back.")

I'll update this list as more links go live.  In the meantime feel free to suggest resources via the comments.

July 6, 2008

Phil Clevenger on the Lightroom UI

Lightroom marketing manager/former Combat Photojournalist Frederick Johnson has posted an informative 12-minute interview with Phil Clevenger, Lightroom interface designer/KPT veteran.  Phil talks about the challenges of starting with a blank slate & establishing an interaction language; the pros and cons of modality; Lightroom's unique model for applying parametric local corrections; and much more.  I fount it well worth a look.

(Tangentially: Both Frederick and Phil show up among Kelly Castro's portraits (aka Project Make Mild-Mannered Software Peeps Look Hardass), now featured on the Adobe Design Center.)

June 30, 2008

Lightroom Podcast #53: Martin Evening

Adobe Pro Photography Evangelist George Jardine has posted episode 53 in his Lightroom podcast series.  George writes,

This podcast was recorded on Friday, March 7, and Monday, March 10, 2008 in London. It gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the photo shoot for Martin’s upcoming book on Lightroom 2. In this video, Martin shares his inner thinking on the model selection, lighting, camera angles, along with hair and makeup, and how each plays a part in creating the final look for the book assets.

The podcast (labeled "20080310-2 Video Podcast - Martin Evening Book Project") is in the Public directory of George's iDisk.

With that, I'm sorry to report that this podcast concludes George's great series.  After 2+ years and more than four dozen episodes (linked with descriptions here), he's retiring his microphone & cameras.  On behalf of everyone who's enjoyed the content, thanks, George!

May 19, 2008

Lightroom 2 beta: Invite some friends

May 18, 2008

Take your camera to Tasmania--for free

Photographer Mikkel Aaland, organizer of the recent Lightroom Adventure down under, passed along some attractive info:

Follow in the footsteps of the Adobe Lightroom Adventure Photographers or create your own adventure on the beautiful island of Tasmania!  Here is your chance to win a trip for two to experience the natural beauty of Tasmania first hand.

 

Roundtrip economy airfare for two on Qantas Airways from one of their North American gateways - Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York City (JFK) - to the island of Tasmania. Two nights’ accommodation in Tasmania.

What do you have to do?  Just fill out a simple form & you're good to go.  Good luck & happy inverted shooting.

I've been meaning to blog about the Adventure for quite a while, but my draft full-o'-links was lost to my hard drive crash.  Therefore I'll keep it simple for now and just recommend checking out the beautiful galleries of images captured by the participants.  At the moment I'm grooving on some work from NatGeo photographer Bruce Dale.  (What is this thing?)

May 2, 2008

Lightroom Podcast #52: Martin Evening

Adobe evangelist George Jardine recently filmed photographer Martin Evening walking through the results of a photo shoot for his upcoming Lightroom book.  George writes,

This podcast was recorded on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at Martin’s home in London. It gives us a rare glimpse into the inner thinking of this talented fashion and beauty photographer, as he gives us a shot-by-shot evaluation of a recent session. This video footage was taken during a photo session to create assets both for an upcoming Lightroom book, as well as for demo purposes for Adobe Systems. In it Martin describes his approach to every element of the shoot, from the model selection, the hair, the makeup, the lighting and camera angles, all the way through to the final edit.

This video podcast can be downloaded from my iDisk. It can also be viewed by downloading it directly into iTunes (if you are accessing it by subscribing via the Music Store), or by copying it into iTunes on either a Mac or a PC (if you’ve downloaded the iPod version from my iDisk). Once copied into iTunes, the small version can be transferred to a Video iPod or iPhone, and viewed that way as well.

The podcast (labeled "20080310 Video Podcast - Martin Evening Fashion Shoot") is in the Public directory of George's iDisk. [Via]

April 29, 2008

So long, and thanks for all the pixels

By now you may have heard that Mark Hamburg, one of the big brains behind the evolution of Photoshop, is departing the friendly confines & is heading off to work at--gasp--Microsoft.  We're all sorry to see him go, but everyone at Adobe wishes him well in his new adventures.  I'll miss our sparring matches (a process that sharpened everyone's thinking).

Mark is not going to go work on other digital imaging tools.  After 17+ years of driving Photoshop & subsequently Lightroom, he's looking for a complete change of pace & wants to work on operating system technologies related to user experience.  Given that Mark has always been a huge Mac guy (developing Lightroom first on the Mac, etc.), it's kind of a Nixon-goes-to-China moment. He says,

Now, given that I find the current Windows experience really annoying and yet I keep having to deal with it, this opportunity was a little too interesting to turn down. I can’t imagine doing serious imaging anywhere other than Adobe, but, I needed to do something other than imaging for a while.

The cool thing is that having recently launched the Lightroom 2.0 beta, Mark leaves the product in excellent shape & excellent hands.  We're really just getting warmed up.

PS--I probably shouldn't swing at a pitch in the dirt, but I was disappointed by ZDNet's inaccurate, typo-strewn coverage of the news.  When did major news outlets decide that labeling something a "blog" means that fact-checking no longer applies?  How sloppy do you have to be to fail to copy and paste Martin (not "Mark") Evening's name correctly, or to notice that there's no capital R in Lightroom or capital S in Photoshop (errors the article doesn't even make consistently)?  At least it's a good reminder not to believe everything you read.

April 24, 2008

Tips on using the Lightroom 2 beta

• Image sharpness is a good thing... except when it isn't.  Martin Evening shows how to achieve a "'pseudo' diffusion printing technique" using the Lightroom 2.0 beta's ability to go negative on the Clarity slider.
• To even out exposures across multiple images, Lightroom features a "Match Total Exposures" command. Sean McCormack explains it in this brief video. (I'd listen just for the soothing brogue. ;-))
• Lightroom lets you create virtual copies of a single image, applying different settings to each.  New in the LR2 beta is the ability to stack virtual copies as layers of a PSD file, letting you composite and blend them in Photoshop. Mucho groovio!
• Lightroom marketing manager Frederick V. Johnson toted his camera to the Golden Gate Bridge in order to demonstrate handing off a panorama from Lightroom to Photoshop.
• Ken Milburn touches on the improved Auto adjustment algorithms in LR2.
  

April 10, 2008

Lightroom 1.4.1 and Camera Raw 4.4.1 now available

Lightroom & Camera Raw PM Tom Hogarty reports that revised versions of the two tools have been posted:

The Lightroom 1.4.1 and Camera Raw 4.4.1 updates have been posted to the following locations: Lightroom (Mac, Win), Camera Raw (Mac, Win). The updates provide all of the changes included in the original Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 releases but also include corrections for issues described below and in previous blog posts. The Camera Raw plug-in will also be available later this evening via the Adobe Update Manager and the Lightroom update can be located by choosing 'Check for Updates…' under the Help menu. The Lightroom and Camera Raw team apologize for any inconveniences caused by the issues presented in the initial updates

Check out Tom's post for full details.

April 2, 2008

Photoshop, Lightroom, and Adobe's 64-bit roadmap

As you've probably seen, among the great features in the Lightroom 2.0 beta is its ability to run 64-bit-native on Mac (Intel, 10.5.x) and Windows (Vista 64).  If you think it feels great to beat Aperture to the punch here, you're right. :-)

What does 64-bit computing mean, practically speaking? In a nutshell, it lets an application address very large amounts of memory--specifically, more than 4 gigabytes. This is great for pro photographers with large collections of high-res images: Lightroom being able to address more RAM means less time swapping images into and out of memory during image processing-intensive operations.

It's also important to say what 64-bit doesn't mean. It doesn't make applications somehow run twice as fast. As Photoshop architect Scott Byer writes, "64-bit applications don't magically get faster access to memory, or any of the other key things that would help most applications perform better." In our testing, when an app isn't using a large data set (one that would otherwise require memory swapping), the speedup due to running in 64-bit mode is around 8-12%.

Therefore 64-bit is a good thing for Lightroom now, and as the amount of data photographers handle inexorably grows, it'll become a bigger win.

The Lightroom news naturally raises the question: What's Adobe doing with Photoshop? In the interest of giving customers guidance as early as possible, we have some news to share on this point: in addition to offering 32-bit-native versions for Mac OS X and 32-bit Windows, just as we do today, we plan to ship the next version of Photoshop as 64-bit-native for Windows 64-bit OSes only.

The development is frankly bittersweet for us: On the one hand we're delighted to be breaking new ground with Photoshop, and when processing very large files on a suitably equipped machine, Photoshop x64 realizes some big performance gains. (For example, opening a 3.75 gigapixel image on a 4-core machine with 32GB RAM is about 10x faster.)  On the other hand, we work very hard at maintaining parity across platforms, and it's a drag that the Mac x64 revision will take longer to deliver. We will get there, but not in CS4.  (Our goal is to ship a 64-bit Mac version with Photoshop CS5, but we’ll be better able to assess that goal as we get farther along in the development process.)

I imagine some Mac users are starting to flip out (breathe, guys, stick with me!), so let me explain how we got here & nip a few concerns in the bud.

As we wrapped up Photoshop CS3, our plan was to ship 64-bit versions of the next version of Photoshop for both Mac and Windows.  On the Mac Photoshop (like the rest of the Creative Suite, not to mention applications like Apple's Final Cut Pro and iTunes) relies on Apple's Carbon technology. Apple's OS team was busy enabling a 64-bit version of Carbon, a prerequisite for letting Carbon-based apps run 64-bit-native.

At the WWDC show last June, however, Adobe & other developers learned that Apple had decided to stop their Carbon 64 efforts. This means that 64-bit Mac apps need to be written to use Cocoa (as Lightroom is) instead of Carbon. This means that we'll need to rewrite large parts of Photoshop and its plug-ins (potentially affecting over a million lines of code) to move it from Carbon to Cocoa.

Now let me be very clear about something: It's entirely Apple's call about what's best for the Mac OS and how to spend their engineering cycles. Like any development team, they have finite resources & need to spend them judiciously. They've decided that Carbon 64 doesn't belong on their roadmap, and we respect their decision. It's up to Adobe to adapt to the new plan.

As soon as we got the news in June, we began adjusting our product development plans. No one has ever ported an application the size of Photoshop from Carbon to Cocoa (as I mentioned earlier, after 9 years as an Apple product Final Cut Pro remains Carbon-based), so we're dealing with unknown territory. We began training our engineers to rewrite code in Objective C (instead of C++), and they began prototyping select areas to get a better view of the overall effort.

In short, Adobe has been taking prompt, pragmatic steps to enable 64-bit Photoshop as quickly as possible on both Mac and Windows. It's a great feature, not a magic bullet, and we're delivering the functionality as quickly as each platform permits.

Now, as I mentioned, I want to nip some concerns in the bud. You might think I'm a little paranoid, but I've been a passionate Mac user for more than 20 years, and I've seen more than a few controversies come and go. If any of the following come to pass, it'll really be annoying:

1)  Writers gin up controversy about Apple vs. Adobe, portraying this as a case of some tit-for-tat ("This one time, Steve wouldn't play golf with Shantanu, so Adobe is sulking!").  Oh, come on. This is why Lightroom x64 is a such a nice counterpoint: Adobe's decisions are pragmatic, not ideological. Look, Apple and Adobe share the goal of maximizing Photoshop performance on Mac hardware, and we're working together on all aspects of that story--64-bit included.

"If it bleeds, it leads," however, and writers looking to drive ad impressions will try to fabricate a grudge match.  Please don't let them.

2)  Adobe gets castigated for "dragging its feet" on Cocoa/x64.  This charge will be inevitable, I suppose, but I want you to know that we started work on the problem immediately after WWDC '07.  We started peeling senior engineers off the CS4 effort, and we'll keep pouring on the muscle in the next cycle.  This work comes at the expense of other priorities, but so be it.

3)  We start hearing all about "Cocoa Über Alles"--about how Adobe should have known that Cocoa is the One True Way™ and should have started the move years ago.  Most Mac users don't know Cocoa from Ovaltine, and nor should they: it's just an implementation detail, not a measure of quality.  I think Brent Simmons, creator of wonderful Cocoa apps like NetNewsWire, put it most elegantly: "Finder + Cocoa = Finder."  That is, rewriting one's app in Cocoa doesn't somehow automatically improve its speed, usability, or feature set.

I'll also note that Apple's Carbon Web site says, "Carbon is a set of APIs for developing full-featured, high-performance, and reliable applications for Mac OS X...  The Carbon APIs are also well-suited to cross-platform development."  I don't mention it to detract from Cocoa; I mention it to point out that each approach has its pros and cons, and in hopes that we don't hear all about how Cocoa is clearly the only way to write "real" Mac software.

So, the summary is this: 64-bit computing is an important part of the Photoshop and Lightroom story going forward, but it's not a magic bullet and we're not going to oversell it as one. We're delighted to be offering a 64-bit-native Lightroom on both Mac and Windows now, and to deliver a 64-bit-native Photoshop on Windows as part of the next release. As for Mac x64, we'll continue working closely with Apple (just as we've been doing) to make the transition as quickly and efficiently as possible.

PS: I know that users of other Adobe applications will want info on those apps' plans for 64-bit transition, and we'll work on sharing more info.  Broadly speaking, we’ll be applying similar criteria to what we followed in our digital imaging products to determine our 64-bit roadmap for the rest of Adobe’s applications. We’ll be prioritizing our 64-bit work based on the potential user benefits and the complexity of the code transition.

If you're a plug-in developer, you'll want to start reworking your code to run 64-bit native.  Note that there's an upcoming Creative Suite Developer Summit, and contact Bryan O'Neil Hughes if you need documentation on making the transition with Photoshop plug-ins.

[Update: The official FAQ on this subject is live on Adobe.com.]

Lightroom 2: The deuce is loose!

I'm delighted to announce that the beta of the 64-bit-native Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 has been posted to Adobe Labs.  Everyone is free to download the beta build and try it for 30 days, while customers of Lightroom 1.x are free to use it for the duration of the beta program.  (This build expires Aug. 31.)

My favorite feature(s)?

Unbeatable Photoshop CS3 Integration:

• Open files in Photoshop as Smart Objects.  (This way you can tweak your Lightroom adjustments within Photoshop just by double-clicking the Smart Object layer that contains your raw file.)
• Select multiple images to merge as a panorama
• Merge multiple exposures into a single Photoshop HDR image
• Load multiple files (or virtual copies of a single file) into Photoshop as separate layers in a single document

Selective image editing that rocks:

• Lightroom 2 adds a Retouch tool right within the Develop module (see screenshot).  That means you can paint regions of the image to dodge, burn, saturate/desaturate, adjust contrast, and more.  Edits are stored as metadata, just as all other LR adjustments are stored, and are applied directly to your raw images. (Because people will quickly ask, I'll point out that unlike Apple's newly released Aperture 2.1, Lightroom integrates its selective editing tools right in with the other adjustment tools.  In Lightroom you don't have to generate a TIFF file for editing, and unlike in Aperture, you can always tweak the results later.  In addition, Lightroom features Auto Mask technology for tweaking the clicked region without bleeding into neighboring areas.)

Other goodness:

• Library Module:
  • Streamlined Library layout
    
  • Smart Collections (based on search criteria)
    
  • Powerful Filter Bar to search and refine images
    
  • Suggested Keywords for simplified keywording
    
  • 10,000 pixel size limit raised to 30,000 pixels
    
  • Output-based collections
• Multiple monitor support:
  • Four flexible modes for an alternate window: Grid, Loupe, Compare, Survey
  • Live Loupe mode
• Export functionality:
  • Auto-add exported images to the Lightroom catalog
  • Auto Output Sharpening for images on export
• Develop Module:
  • Non-Destructive Localized Correction for dodging and burning specific areas of an image
    
  • Post-Crop Vignette
    
  • Basic Panel Keyboard Shortcuts
    
  • Improved Auto Adjustment
    
  • Improved memory handling through 64-bit support on OS X 10.5 and Vista 64-bit.(Not limited to develop module)
• Print Module:
  • Picture Package for multi-page layouts
    
  • Print Module output directly to JPEG
    
  • Enhanced Print Sharpening based on PhotoKit Sharpener algorithms
    
  • 16-bit Printing for Mac OS X 10.5

A ton of blogs and publications are starting to push great info live as I type this, so I'll update the following list of resources as I see things pop up:

• Write-ups:
  • Ian Lyons' comprehensive overview
  • Uwe Steinmueller's overview
  • Gilles Theophile's pensées (en Français)
• Videos:
  • A wealth of video & more from Scott Kelby's gang in the Lightroom 2 Learning Center
  • Video training from Adobe's Julieanne Kost: Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3. See also Julieanne's full list of LR topics
  • A one-hour training video from Colin Smith
  • Photoshop Lightroom 2 Beta New Features in the lynda.com Online Training Library
  • A video podcast from Adobe's Terry White
    
• The Lightroom Tasmania Adventure (kicking off now)
• A few words from Tom Hogarty, Lightroom Product Manager

As you probably know, betas have their pros and cons.  On the upside, revealing Lightroom 2 as a beta now allows Adobe to continue the very successful dialog we've been having with photographers, incorporating their feedback before releasing the finished product.  The trade-off is that the beta is unfinished, so you may want to check out the list of known issues before diving in.

With that, I'll shut up and let you get cranking.  Enjoy!

PS--Lightroom running 64-bit-native allows it to address large amounts of memory, something that can pay off when using large images in the Develop module.  Tomorrow I'll post more details about what 64-bit means & how it factors into our Photoshop roadmap.

March 20, 2008

Photoshop + Lightroom = Killer B&W

One of my favorite things about working on the Photoshop team is that we get to build a product people actually want to use when they leave work.  That means that lots of the engineers, QE folks, marketroids, and others are avid photographers, and the halls of the floor are lined with their work.

Recently, every time I've walked by the office of Kelly Castro from the Lightroom team, I've noticed really striking black & white portraits on his monitors.  Knowing that my friend & fellow Photoshop PM Bryan O'Neil Hughes had recently co-authored a great book covering B&W in Photoshop and Lightroom, I suggested he touch base with Kelly to learn more about the way he combines the two products.  Here's his report. --J.

More…

March 16, 2008

A note about the Lightroom/Camera Raw update

Ugh.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Lightroom team has uncovered some problems with the Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 releases posted on Thursday.  The updates have been pulled down temporarily while the team addresses the problems.  In the meantime Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty has posted details and guidance on how to roll back to previous versions.  The most serious issue is that the time stamp generated by your camera & stored in EXIF metadata can get overwritten when you update other file metadata.

On behalf of everyone involved, I'm sorry about all this hassle.  We'll straighten things out ASAP.

[Update: Tom has posted an apology.]

March 13, 2008

Lightroom 1.4, Camera Raw 4.4 now available

Adobe has released updates to Photoshop Lightroom (Mac|Win) and the Photoshop Camera Raw (Mac|Win) plug-in, both available immediately for download from Adobe.com or via the Adobe Update Manager (choose Help->Updates from within Lightroom or Photoshop). The releases provide added raw file support for nine additional digital cameras, including the Canon EOS 450D and Nikon D60--bringing the total number of supported cameras to nearly 200. Lightroom 1.4 also provides updated printer driver compatibility for Apple Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.

According to the release notes, Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 include corrections for the following issues:

* Previous camera profiles identified in the Calibrate panel of the Develop module may have displayed poor results at extreme ends of the temperature and tint ranges. A new camera profile identified as Camera Raw 4.4 is now available and will be applied by default to all images without existing Camera Raw or Lightroom settings. The creation of new default profiles will also include the updated Camera Raw 4.4 profile. Images edited in Camera Raw or Lightroom with earlier profiles will retain the earlier profile value and visual appearance.

* In previous grayscale conversions the Color Noise setting was disabled and this could result in an image with excessive noise when grayscale channel mixing is applied.  Both the tool and effect have been enabled in Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 providing the ability to reduce noise in grayscale conversions.  In order to return to the prior visual appearance, Color Noise reduction can be set to zero.

Lightroom 1.4 includes corrections for the following issue:

* Compatibility with legacy printer drivers on OS X 10.5 (Leopard) has been updated.

February 24, 2008

Lightroom Podcasts #50 & 51: Photoshop integration & color correction

George Jardine has posted a pair of new video tutorials for Lightroom:

Three Options, Unlimited Possibilities (9:28)

In this tutorial I outline the basics of using Lightroom’s Edit in Photoshop command, specifically as it pertains to RGB files. You’ll learn what your three basic options are, and how they are best used to begin taking advantage of the incredible variety of workflows available, when using Lightroom and Photoshop together.

Subjective Color Correction (6:04)

In this tutorial I outline the basics of color correction, in a situation where the color and density of the photograph are wide open to interpretation. Make sure you start with a calibrated and profiled monitor, and then learn to trust your eyes to bring out the very best in your photographs, using the Adobe Lightroom Develop Module.

Both podcasts can be downloaded from George's iDisk, and can be found on iTunes by searching under Podcasts for "Lightroom." [Via]

February 20, 2008

Lightroom Podcast #49: Gregory Heisler

Photographer Gregory Heisler is one of the most interesting guys I've had the pleasure of meeting in my job.  He's shot numerous covers for Time Magazine, and his work really shines in large-format printing.  Now Gregory has sat down with Adobe photography evangelist George Jardine to record a podcast.  George writes:

"Maybe you want to do a Brett Weston, and you don’t want anyone to open your files. Maybe you want your files to just die a peaceful death, and you want to pull the plug on them, and send them on to eternity. And what you want are these finished prints; they are the realization of your vision. And everything else was just a way to get there. Like you don’t actually want somebody, in a sense, reprinting from your negatives. You’re done. It’s fine. Even though with photography the temptation is that it’s always an open door, it’s fine to lock the door and throw away the key. That’s OK." - Gregory Heisler

This podcast was recorded on Wednesday February 6th, 2008 at the National Arts Club in New York City. Gregory sits down with George to have a conversation about working with Arnold Newman, his love of portraiture, and some of his thinking on a wide range of subjects including the value of the print, and the difficulties of developing a personal style.

The 1:20:49 podcast, labeled "20080206 Podcast - Gregory Heisler" is in George's iDisk. It can also be found on iTunes by searching under Podcasts for "Lightroom," or via the Lightroom podcasts RSS feed.

February 13, 2008

A wealth of Lightroom tutorials

Digital photography experts Rob Sheppard and Tim Grey have created a wide range of Lightroom tutorials for the Adobe Design Center.

From Rob:

• Setting up an organizational system in Lightroom
• Working with color management in Lightroom
• Using the Camera Calibration feature in Lightroom
• Working with History and Snapshots in Lightroom
• Split toning for color
• Slideshows:
  • Making a better slideshow in Lightroom, part 1: Organization and layout
  • Making a better slideshow in Lightroom, part 2: Timing, music, titles, and transitions
  • Presentation possibilities in the Slideshow module, part 1: Preparing and selecting your photos
  • Presentation possibilities in the Slideshow module, part 2: Customizing the slideshow's appearance
  • Presentation possibilities in the Slideshow module, part 3: Playback and export
• Choosing a Web gallery type in Lightroom
• Creating a promo sheet in Lightroom
• Exporting from Lightroom Q&A
• Using the Print Sharpening feature in Lightroom

From Tim:

• Apply metadata, keywords, and presets as you import images
• Working with snapshots in Lightroom
• Working with the History panel in Lightroom
• Working with the Histogram in Lightroom
• Slideshows:
  • Configuring a slideshow in Lightroom
  • Playing and exporting a Lightroom slideshow
• Web galleries:
  • Creating and configuring a web gallery in Lightroom
  • Publishing a Lightroom web gallery
• Exporting images from Lightroom

February 11, 2008

Leopard 10.5.2 improves Photoshop, LR compatibility

I'm happy to see that Apple has released the 10.5.2 update to Mac OS X Leopard (check Software Update under the Apple menu).  The update addresses some snags reported in using Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom on the new OS:

• Typing values into the options bar in Photoshop (e.g. to set brush size or crop dimension) is no longer problematic.
• Prior to 10.5.2, some Apple apps (Finder, Aperture, iPhoto, Preview) could crash or fail to read some complex XMP metadata, such as Lightroom develop snapshots.  That problem has been fixed.

I've just installed the update, so I don't have more detailed notes to share right now.  That said, Macworld's Dan Frakes enumerates some of the user-friendly tweaks featured in this rev.

February 6, 2008

Get your wet floor on in Lightroom

SlideShowPro developer Todd Dominey reports that he's issued a free update to this Flash gallery component for Lightroom.  Changes include:

• New "Header" area to display a logo (with link), gallery title and gallery description
  
• New "Wet Floor" effect (see example)
  
• 4 template groups, each containing 8 variations for landscape/portrait, dimension and aspect ratio (32 options total).
  
• New inputs to directly assign an audio file and caption
  
• New Director formatting panel

Todd notes, "The templates are also a great way to get a "fitted" look really quickly, as it calculates all the dimensions for handling 3:2 / 4:3 imagery without gaps."  SlideShowPro for Lightroom is $25.

Note: It's also possible to use SlideShowPro together with Photoshop; see previous.

January 24, 2008

Lightroom Podcast #48: Gerd Ludwig

What's it like to photograph inside Chernobyl?  That's one of the many topics discussed in George Jardine's latest Lightroom podcast.  George writes:

This podcast was recorded on Wednesday November 20th, 2007 at the home of Greg Gorman in Los Angeles, Calfornia. Gerd Ludwig sits down with George to have a conversation about working with National Geographic on many interesting and diverse assignments. We discuss how he photographed inside the Chernobyl reactor, about the victims, the environment, and many other aspects that particular assignment. After that we delve deeper into his early cross country road trips photographing in Europe and India, and how his education with Otto Steinert played a key role in his photographic perspective today.

This “video” podcast includes photographs by Gerd Ludwig. It can be viewed by downloading it directly into iTunes (if you are accessing it by subscribing via the Music Store), or by copying it into iTunes on either a Mac or a PC (if you’ve downloaded it from my iDisk). Once copied into iTunes, it can be transferred to a Video iPod, and viewed that way as well.

The podcast (labeled "20071120 Podcast - Gerd Ludwig") is in the Public directory of George's iDisk.

January 21, 2008

Community-powered Lightroom help goes live

Ever complained that software documentation kind of sucks*?  (Do you have a pulse?  The correlation seems to be about 1:1.)  We all have, which is why Adobe's technical writing team has been working to enhance the product docs with community-sourced content.  If you think something could be explained better, jump in and make it so.

Adobe tech writer Anita Dennis passes along the news:

We're pleased to announce the new Lightroom community help system, which provides core Adobe documentation for Lightroom as well as links to additional learning content from around the web.
 
The new site takes the current online help—LiveDocs—and makes it more useful and interactive. You can still navigate to topics using links the left side of the browser. But now, when you click a topic to read about it, you'll find a Basics panel with Adobe documentation as well as a Learn More panel that offers links to tutorials, white papers, technical articles, and other instructional content.
 
This site is administered by Adobe, moderated by community experts, and developed with the assistance of a panel of Lightroom Learning Advisors. So you'll also find links to the moderators’ and advisors’ favorite Lightroom sites, plus links to troubleshooting sites and a page that lists third-party presets, galleries, and extensions.
 
We invite you to visit, comment on our documentation, add links to your favorite tutorials and articles, and share your opinions by commenting on the links that others have posted. And feel free to send feedback on the site to us at lightroom-help-feedback@adobe.com.

If the idea of integrating community knowledge into the apps lights your fire, check out my proposal on the subject.

* I'm not picking on the hardworking Adobe writers: beefs about software docs seem to be pretty universal.  I've often wondered why that is, and I think a few factors conspire keep things as they are.  Among them:

• No one actually wants to RTFM.  We want expertise jacked straight into our heads.  As with photography, driving, or most other pursuits, it's much easier to buy gear than to learn to use it well.
• Due to publishing/localization schedules, tech writing staffs are trying to document features as they're being written, instead of after the dust has settled.  Outside authors tend to write later in the cycle.
• In-house tech writers have to be as broadly useful as possible.  That means it's harder for them to pick a tone or approach that's especially suited to one audience.
  

January 19, 2008

Panoramas, HDR, and the future of Lightroom

On Wednesday CNET's Stephen Shankland sat down to talk with my boss Kevin Connor to talk about what's on the roadmap for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.  (I was there as well, but Stephen--correctly discerning that Kevin is the guy with the actual clue/plan/power--wisely focused his questions in that direction. ;-))  They conduced a fairly wide-ranging talk that hits on such topics as high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, panorama creation, and the future of Lightroom extensibility.

[Update: I see that Scott Kelby has posted extensive notes on what he'd like to see in Lightroom 2.0.]

January 6, 2008

'007 in review: Photography, design, and more

Photography:

• 2007 was the year the digital SLR boomed, reports CNET's Stephen Shankland, offering links to top stories throughout the year.  He notes that "Adobe released Photoshop Lightroom in March, and in just a few months it surpassed in popularity the earlier Apple rival, Aperture."
• Serious photogs keep seeking a nice compromise between SLR quality & compact portability.  A number of folks around Adobe's West 10th floor have been intrigued by the Canon G9; see Ben Long's review.
• Meanwhile a megapixel backlash seems to be building steam. "The more pixels, the worse the image!" says a German camera-testing lab, arguing that splitting a compact sensor into smaller & smaller bits is bad juju.
• In terms of the craft itself (which keeps proving itself death-proof), Rob Galbraith rounds up a large group of pictures of the year collections.  The sheer number of galleries is a little daunting (paradox of choice, anyone?), but I can at least vouch for MSNBC & Canada Post galleries.  I find the little NatGeo gallery underwhelming.

Adobe:

• The company was so busy (Creative Suite 3, Lightroom, new CEO...), it's hard to believe that it was just in '07 that so much went down.  Fortunately Scott Kelby provides a thorough overview.
• Zeroing in just on Photoshop Lightroom, Scott's colleague Matt Kloskowski offers A look back at Lightroom in 2007, recalling the year's interviews, cool add-ons, and more.

Design:

• The architectural smartasses at Curbed have gathered up the Top 10 Craziest Architectural Renderings of the Year.  Each one links to funny, wry commentary ("Rise, massive shadow-inducing cantilever, rise!").  Aside: Who knew a W Hotel was going into Harlem?
• One of my favorite blogs (frequently pilfered here), Core77, looks back at What Happened in '07. Herewith I'm gonna need all my pizza laser-cut, stat.
  

December 11, 2007

Lightroom Podcast #47: Catherine Hall

"So much of it is having faith in your work and your vision," says photographer Catherine Hall.  "If you believe in yourself, and you believe in what you’re doing, and you illustrate your vision, then the money will come, and everything will fall into place."  Adobe evangelist George Jardine writes,

This podcast was recorded on Wednesday November 21st, 2007 at Catherine’s family home in Lafayette, Calfornia. Catherine sits down with George to have a conversation about how her personal work inspires her wedding photography, about her personal approach to working with people, and how having the opportunity to work with people from many different socio-economic backgrounds makes it all worthwhile.

The 32:18 podcast, labeled "20071121 Podcast - Catherine Hall," is in George's iDisk.  It can also be found on iTunes by searching under Podcasts for "Lightroom," or via the Lightroom podcasts RSS feed.

December 7, 2007

Lightroom updated to v1.3.1

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has been updated to version 1.3.1, and the update is available for download for Mac and Windows.  Fixes include the following:

• The Lightroom 1.3 Print Module could previously cause the application to crash on either OS X 10.5 or 10.5.1 during template usage.
  
• On Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.5.1, the import process from a card reader or other device into Lightroom could fail to import all or a portion of the selected images.
  
• A decrease in Develop slider responsiveness introduced in Lightroom 1.3 has been corrected.
  
• The Lightroom 1.3 Develop module could cause the application to crash if adjustments were made in quick succession.
  
• Compressed raw files from the Nikon D100 were read incorrectly in Lightroom 1.3.
  
• A possible artifact in raw file support for the Olympus E-3 has been corrected.
  
• The Lightroom FTP Plug-in provided as sample code with the Export SDK did not function properly if the password was not saved with the selected FTP preset.
  
• Editing or creating a new FTP preset immediately prior to using the FTP plug-in provided as sample code with the Export SDK would cause the FTP process to fail.
  
• Using the Export as Previous option did not work with the FTP plug-in provided as sample code with the Export SDK.

[Via Tom Hogarty]

December 6, 2007

Camera Raw updated to 4.3.1; LR to follow

Photoshop's Camera Raw plug-in has been updated to version 4.3.1 (download for Mac, Win) to address two problems discovered following the release of v4.3 a couple of weeks ago:

• Compressed raw files from the Nikon D100 were read incorrectly in Camera Raw 4.3
• A possible artifact in Camera Raw 4.3 raw file support for the Olympus E-3 has been corrected

The same fixes plus a few others are slated for inclusion in Lightroom 1.3.1, due shortly.  Tom Hogarty has posted additional details on the Lightroom Journal.

December 5, 2007

SlideShowPro Flash gallery comes to Lightroom

I'm glad to report that Dominey Design's excellent SlideShowPro Flash gallery is now available for Lightroom.  As the site notes, you can "change any of SlideShowPro's 60+ parameters and preview your changes inside a real, working preview of SlideShowPro before you publish."  The gallery offers a slick full-screen viewing option (click the icon i