I’ve heard it said that the process of creating a photograph isn’t complete until you’ve made a print.  I don’t know that I’m in complete agreement but I will confess that I derive tremendous satisfaction in the art of printmaking.   In a blog post I wrote last year tittled “Pixels vs. Prints” I wrote about how viewing a photograph on a monitor and in print are two wholly different experiences.  A master printmaker I am not.  I’ve only been making my own prints, on an Epson Stylus 2880 printer, for a little over a year.  But, I’ve learned some lessons in that time that I’ll share here with the hope that your own foray into the wonderful world of printing may be a bit less intimidating.

Printer Selection

There are three primary manufacturers of printers capable of producing fine art photographic prints: Epson, Canon and HP.  HP printers use a dye-based ink while Epson and Canon both use a pigment-based ink.  I don’t have the time to fully discuss the pro’s and con’s of each, but you’ll find a good basic explanation of each here.  Most photographers I know, including a few who are master printmakers, use pigment-based ink printers.  The primary point I want to discuss here is selecting printer size because yes, size does matter.

I can make prints up to 13″x19″ on my Epson 2880.  This was fine for a few months but once I got the hang of things I quickly discovered that I wanted to print bigger.  How much bigger?  I’d like to be able to print 24″ wide prints.  So, I’m now saving my pennies to buy a large format printer.

My advice to you is to give serious thought to how big you may want to print one year from now, when you’ve gotten past being overwhelmed with the whole process.  Generally speaking, most professional level printers on the market today come in one of four sizes: 13″, 17″, 24″ and 44″.  There are even bigger printers but seriously, who has enough space to park a car-sized printer in their home office?  If you’re inclined to go with a 13″ printer, it’s worth noting that there isn’t a huge difference in the physical size of a 13″ and 17″ printer.  There is, however, a significant price increase.  Jumping up to a 24″ printer requires a sizable chunk of real estate in your office.  These printers usually ship with their own stand and typically weigh in at over 150 pounds!

Some additional thoughts: Consider how large you are able to print based on the camera you use.  If your primary camera is on your iPhone it’s probably a waste of money to buy a 24″ printer.  That’s an extreme example but you get the point – don’t let your ambitions overreach your abilities.  As printer size increases so does the size of the ink cartridges they require.  Larger cartridges are expensive but they contain significantly more ink, which means that your per print costs decrease with larger printers.  Larger printers require larger media (paper) and you’ll need a place to store it all.

Paper Selection

This is the fun part.  There are dozens of media types to choose from and they’re all unique.  Matte, luster, glossy, metallic, canvas – the list goes on.  And, just because you’ve got two papers that are both matte doesn’t mean they’re going to print the same.  Oh no, one may be warmer or thicker or more or less matte than the other.

How do you choose a paper?  Order a few sample packs and start making prints.  Seriously, it’s such a subjective thing that you’ve got to make prints on a bunch of different papers before you can start to develop a taste for what you prefer.  I like matte papers, so I knew going into it that I didn’t need to experiment with anything else.  But, there are so many manufacturers making matte papers that I had to order a few sample packs and make a bunch of test prints before I found a favorite – Moab Entrada Rag Bright 190.

Here’s a few manufacturers to consider whose papers are well respected: Moab Paper, Red River Paper, Canson-Infinity, Hahnemuhle and Ilford.  Epson, Canon and HP also sell their own branded papers.

The Myth of the Perfect Monitor to Print Match

Many novice printmakers are quickly frustrated when they find that their prints don’t match the image on their computer monitor.  Your first few prints are usually darker and less saturated than intended.  This is common. Very common.  Don’t lose your cool, you probably aren’t doing anything wrong.

There are several things you can do to combat this problem.  First and foremost, you should be working on a properly calibrated monitor.  If you aren’t, I probably wouldn’t even bother buying a printer.  Next, you should always soft-proof prior to printing using the appropriate ICC profile.  Wait, what?  In very simple terms, soft-proofing allows your monitor to simulate as closely as possible what your image will look like on any given paper using a profile designed for that paper.  It isn’t perfect, but it’ll get you pretty close.  Here’s a great soft-proofing tutorial on the Luminous Landscape website and another more in-depth one on the Cambridge in Color website.  Finally, until you learn how each paper prints you’ll save yourself some headaches by making a small (8″ x 10″-ish) artist proof before making your final print.  Is your artist proof too dark?  Use a curves adjustment to lighten it up.  Not saturated enough?  Add saturation to compensate for the loss when printing.

Care and Feeding of Your New Printer

Just a few years ago a common problem with inkjet printers was clogged printhead nozzles.  Newer and better technology has mostly eliminated this problem although it does still happen from time to time.  One of the main reasons for this is lack of usage.  Luckily, there’s an easy fix: use your printer!  Make a couple 8″x10″ prints each month and you probably won’t have to worry about clogged nozzles.

Don’t leave your paper in the feeder tray or on the roll when not in use.  Dust may settle on the paper, which can fall off after you make a print, leaving small areas that are void of ink.  It’s best to store paper in a dust-proof environment, such as the package in which it was shipped.

While we’re on the topic of dust, keep your printer covered when not in use.  Most printers have custom fitted dust covers available at minimal cost.  Buy and use one.  Dust inside your printer can cause the same problems as dust on your paper and even bigger issues as it works it’s way into the sensitive internal mechanisms of your printer.

You’re going to burn through a lot of ink, especially in the first couple of months.  I keep three extra cartridges of each color on hand because I don’t want to get caught without it.  If you run out of just one color of ink, you’re done making prints until it is replaced.  I order all my ink through the good folks at Atlex, which is also a great place to buy your printer.  I bought my printer through B&H but my next one will most likely come from Atlex.  They seem to consistently offer the best prices and occasionally they’ll throw in extras (like a complete set of inks or a couple packages of paper) to sweeten the deal.

Sharpening for Print

Sharpening images for presentation, whether on the web or in print, may well be the cause of more gray hairs than anything else in photography.  It doesn’t need to be.  There are old pro’s who still insist on manually sharpening their images using the Unsharp Mask in Photoshop or the sharpening tools in Lightroom.  I’m not one of them.  I cheat.  I use Nik Sharpener Pro 3 for all my sharpening needs.  I couldn’t be happier with the results and it’s incredibly easy to use.  You simply open the image you wish to sharpen in the Nik Sharpener Pro 3 software and make a few selections.  The software does the rest and it does it beautifully.  I recommend that you download the free 30-day trial, try it out and when you’re ready to purchase, use coupon code “BEDGE” for a 15% discount.

When viewing your newly sharpened image on-screen it will likely appear over-sharpened.  Fear not, the printed image will look just fine.  This is true whether you use Nik Sharpener Pro 3 or some other software like PK Sharpener, or you manually sharpen the image.

Other Considerations

You may need to trim the edges of your beautiful new prints to create even borders all the way around the image.  The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a high quality rotary trimmer.  I use a Dahle trimmer and couldn’t be happier with its performance.  They aren’t cheap but they will make trimming your prints completely hassle free and the edges will be nice, crisp and professional looking.

Unless you’re fortunate enough to sell every print you make you’ll want a place to store them.  I use an underbed box with a lid to store the prints flat.  If you roll them and keep them in tubes they’ll be a pain in the neck to share or eventually frame.  The underbed box also does a nice job of keeping them dust free.

I hope you find these tips to be useful.  As I said, I’m not an expert and am still learning as I go but these tips should help you avoid some of the common headaches.  I invite anyone with additional thoughts, suggestions or tips to please leave a comment below.

I’ve been using Adobe Lightroom as my RAW converter and photo editor of choice since version 1 launched a few years ago.  Until last year I still relied on Photoshop to complete the bulk of my editing work.  Why?  Because I was stubborn – an old curmudgeon who didn’t want to change.  Looking back, I wish I’d taken the advice of my friend and Lightroom guru Nat Coalson, who for years has been extolling the virtues of completing as much work as possible within Lightroom.

Finally I got smart and listened to Nat’s advice.  I now do about 90% of my processing within Lightroom, only using Photoshop to blend multiple exposures or for complicated cloning – both of which just can’t be done in Lightroom’s current version.  Even then, I import the finished product back into Lightroom so my entire image collection is in one place and easily searchable.

Lately I’ve noticed that many of my photo workshop clients are just now diving into Lightroom.  Many of them are doing so with trepidation.  Some of them are taking the plunge because I’ve badgered them into it.  Regardless, if you’re new to Lightroom I’ve got a few tips to share that are guaranteed to save you time and effort down the road.  These tips come from my own hard won experience.  I hope they help you find Lightroom bliss.

Keyword From the Start

You may not be a professional photographer or even have any aspirations to become one.  It doesn’t matter.  Metadata is king and you should keyword your images from the very beginning.  I also recommend that you enter a title and description for each photo.  Why?  If you ever plan to upload your images to flickr, your own website or any other photo sharing sites, the title, description and all of your keywords will automatically carry over.  I didn’t keyword from the start and as my stock photography business grows, I’m really wishing I had.

Buy A Lightroom Reference Book

The Adobe engineers did a remarkable job of designing Lightroom to be extremely powerful while remaining user friendly.  Nearly every adjustment in Lightroom can be accomplished through the use of sliders.  However, some of the terms may be confusing to those who are new to Lightroom.  Clarity, vibrance, black point – huh?  Additionally, there are keyboard shortcuts, presets, camera and lens profiles, catalogs, collections, ratings and more that aren’t exactly intuitive.  A good reference book, like Nat Coalson’s “Lightroom 3: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process” will save you get you up and running with a minimum of time and frustration.  There are also several fantastic websites with tons of useful information.  One I visit regularly is The Lightroom Queen. 

Keep It in Lightroom

This one took me a while to adopt.  I really wish it hadn’t.  I use Lightroom for 90% of my processing, switching over to Photoshop only to do exposure blends, complicated cloning and image prep for print.  Until Lightroom offers layers and a better cloning tool I’m forced to use Photoshop for these techniques.  However, Lightroom does have a powerful printing module that I simply haven’t yet explored.  I will soon.

Why keep everything in Lightroom?  Lightroom’s database capabilities are second to none.  By cataloging all of your images inside Lightroom you’re ensuring that they’re always easy to reference.  You can search for images using a number of variables, including keywords.  If you’re a stock photographer this is especially important as it eliminates the hassle in trying to find images for photo submissions.  All of your images under one roof?  Nice!

Back-up Your Lightroom Catalog Early and Often

This is probably the single most important advice I can offer.  We all know the value of backing up our data yet not all of us do it as often as we should.  I’m guilty of it in some regards but not when it comes to my Lightroom catalog.  Luckily, Lightroom makes it stupidly simple to ensure you never forget this critical step.  Lightroom can be set up to prompt you about a back-up every time you quit the program.  At that point you have the option to back-up the catalog or just close the program.  Take it from someone who learned this lesson the hard way: back up your catalog every time you close Lightroom. In my early days of using Lightroom I was far too lax about this.  My catalog became corrupted and, because I’d never backed it up, I lost all the work I’d done on every single image in the catalog.  All of it.  Hundreds of hours worth.  Don’t let this happen to you.

Presets Speed Up Your Workflow

Lightroom allows you to create presets for certain functions, such as exports and keywords.  Generally speaking, you’ll save quite a bit of time and effort if you set up presets for commonly used actions.  For example, if you spend a lot of time photographing in Arches NP you can create a preset containing keywords that apply to all images from Arches.  One click and the keywords are automatically populated.

I also frequently use export presets.  A recent photo submission consisted of almost 200 images that needed to be at a specific size and in jpeg format.  First I added all the images for the submission to a “collection”, then I created an export preset, selected the entire collection and started the export.  A few minutes later the entire submission was ready to be burned to a CD and shipped off to the client.  You can read more about how I use Lightroom collections to speed up my workflow here.

Bonus Tip: Plug-ins Are Your Friend

No, you don’t have to use plug-ins to really benefit from Lightroom.  But, I find that they make my life much easier.  Unless you’re new here, you already know I’ve got a love affair with the Nik Software Complete Collection (use coupon code BEDGE for a 15% discount).  There are dozens of other plug-ins that allow you to work faster and smarter, some of which are even free.  This link to the Adobe Lightroom website will give you an idea of what types of plug-ins are available.  If you find a few that work for you, you’ll soon realize just how much of a timesaver they are.

So, there you have it.  My five – okay, six - tips for new Lightroom users.  If you’ve got a tip to share I hope you’ll do so in the comments section below.  I’m certainly not a Lightroom expert and would love to hear how you’re using it to speed up your workflow!

I’m a little late to the party when it comes to using Collections within Lightroom.  My friend, workshop partner and Adobe Certified Expert Nat Coalson has been recommending their use to me for at least two years but until last week I’d never really seen the benefit.  Now that my eyes are finally open, I thought I’d share how I’m using Quick Collections with all you good folks.  I hope it’s helpful.

Last week I put off working on a large submission because I just wasn’t looking forward to all the work involved in assembling it.  Yeah, I know – it’s a good problem to have and I shouldn’t be such a slacker but frankly, I am.  At any rate, I started thinking about how I could streamline the process when I hit on a genius idea: create a Quick Collection of the images to submit and then export them all as properly sized jpegs.

It’s easy to add photos to a Quick Collection.  As you scroll through the filmstrip all you have to do is press the “B” button and they’re automatically added.  Once your Quick Collection is complete, select all the images and export them using whatever settings are needed.  When you’re done, you can remove all the photos from the Quick Collection and you’re ready to do it all over again when you receive the next submission request.

Another option would be to make a new Collection for each submission.  This way you’ll always have a record of each submission in the event that you need to resubmit the images, or for later reference when you’re making a fresh submission and don’t want to send duplicate images.

How do you use Lightroom Collections to speed up your workflow and make your life easier?

This post comes to us from enthusiastic and talented photographer Ray Beair in Texas.  Most of you know that I have a love affair with Nik Software plug-ins and that I utilize their amazing tools on every photo I process.  What you may not know is that Ray, who I first met several years ago while guiding him in Moab, is the reason I decided to give the Nik plug-ins a shot.  He raved about how easy they were to use and how they’d made it possible for him to fully express his creative vision.  Ray is well traveled and his photography shows an eye for the creative and inspired.  He’s also one of the kindest and most thoughtful people you’ll ever meet.  Have a look at Ray’s flickr photostream or check out his website for more inspirational photos.  Thank you, Ray, for taking time out of your schedule to write this post and for allowing me to publish it on my blog.  Enjoy!

Surprising results from HDR Efex Pro by Nik Software

It’s the middle of the afternoon and lighting conditions are borderline at best. I’m six hundred miles from home so it’s not too easy to just come back and try for the shot another day. Unfortunately, I’m facing a dilemma because I like what my eye sees in the scene before me.

You know the feeling, don’t you? Your eye sees the shot, but your experience says the camera won’t be able to process the dynamic range you need to make a successful image. With these thoughts in your mind, do you capture it anyway, or walk away with nothing because you know it won’t be a trophy shot?

A photographer’s life is full of borderline situations. If we walk away, we still have the memory, but little else. If we try to capture the moment, at least we will have a snapshot for future reference. To my way of thinking, by recording the scene, and with no expense other than the bytes the file takes up in our computer, why not take the shot and hope for a breakthrough in processing techniques?

By using HDR Efex Pro from Nik Software, I turned one such situation into a more successful image. From almost nothing usable, I brought out details that were well hidden, and enhanced the dynamic range to something much closer to what I witnessed at the moment of capture. Keep in mind, I did all of this from one original image, as this had been a handheld shot and bracketing was not available. To top it all off, I invested less than thirty minutes processing time using tools that are both intuitive and effective.

The following is the workflow I used to convert this image from snapshot to printable image. 

Problems: dark interior of building, no detail in shadow areas, no bracket to work with

Assets: Impression at time of capture was of interesting lighting contrasts, potential for HDR processing

Goal: Process an image representative of the original scene

Workflow:

·         Import and open original image in Lightroom

·         Virtual copy of the original made in Lightroom and saved with one stop overexposure

·         Virtual copy of the original made in Lightroom and saved with two stops overexposure

·         Virtual copy of the original made in Lightroom and saved with one stop underexposure

·         Virtual copy of the original made in Lightroom and saved with two stops underexposure

·         All five images (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) exported to HDR Efex Pro

·         Minor corrections made to HDR Efex Pro default image

·         Saved back to Lightroom for display or export to printer

HDR Efex Pro by Nik Software opened the image and gave me several versions to choose from. Since I was looking for minor enhancements, the first default image gave me a great starting point. Very minor adjustments were then made with control points to enhance smaller details.

With the image open again in Lightroom, my normal workflow combined results from Nik products such as Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro to further build the image I want to present to the public.

For some of us, and I certainly place myself in this category, HDR processing has always been considered overly dramatic or too exaggerated for landscape photography. With HDR Efex Pro, I found a tool that will give me exaggeration if desired, but will also give me an easy to use tool that simply enhances what I need help with. When I consider the inability of my camera to express the dynamic range my eye takes for granted, this is welcome help indeed.

Tonight I was doing my normal nightly routine and scanning a couple of the internet forums I frequent for interesting topics.  I saw one on the Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers forum that piqued my interest titled “Nik Silver Efex – Is It All That?“.  No one who has been here for longer than a week will be surprised to hear me make this admission: I’m a Nik Software fanboy.  I love their stuff.  I do.  I preach about it on my blog, at my workshops and to my private guided clients.  I sing their praises on Facebook and twitter.  I use Nik plug-ins in the development of every single photograph I make.

So, what makes Nik plug-ins so great?  Is it because they can make a bad image good?  Or maybe it’s because they have powers far beyond those natively contained within Photoshop and Lightroom.  Nope.  Nik plug-ins don’t contain crazy voodoo magic that instantly converts an average photo into a masterpiece.  Truth be told, they don’t do anything that can’t be accomplished in the old fashioned digital darkroom using tried and true practices like layer masking, complicated selections, luminosity masks and blends, and other technical mumbo jumbo.

I’ve been using Photoshop since 2002.  That’s 9 years, folks.  The first 2 years almost don’t count since I was basically just floundering around in software that was way over my head.  I’m one of those freaks who would rather be outside playing than staring at a computer monitor.  Photoshop forced me to spend way too much time in a chair, at my desk, processing images.  Over the years I learned to navigate the myriad options pretty efficiently.  All was well and I was happy with my images.

Then one day, while guiding a client and talented photographer named Ray (who eventually became a friend), my eyes were opened to something new.  While hiking together in Arches NP he mentioned how amazed he was with these cool Nik Software Photoshop plug-ins he’d been using.  Ray told me how easy and powerful they were to use, and that he’d seen a dramatic improvement in the quality of his processed images.  A few days later, after Ray had headed back home to Texas, I downloaded a trial version of the Nik Software Complete Collection.

I was particularly interested in Silver Efex Pro for converting color images to black and white.  In all my years of using Photoshop and Lightroom I still hadn’t mastered the monochrome conversion.  In fact, I sucked at it.  I went to work on a few images with Silver Efex Pro and after an hour or two of experimentation, I was churning out pretty damn amazing black and white photos that made my previous attempts look like nothing more than sad, sad little pictures.

Next I tried Viveza 2, then Color Efex Pro 3.0.  They both rocked my socks off.  Dfine 2.0 for noise reduction?  Rocks.  Sharpener Pro 3.0?  Yeah, it rocks – especially if you’re new to printmaking, but that’s a whole other post.  The free trial offered by Nik lasts 15 days.  In less than a week I’d busted out my credit card and sprung for the whole enchilada.  That was over a year ago and never have I regretted that decision.  What’s so special about them?  I’m glad you asked.

Nik Software doesn’t make “magical” products.  That’s the domain of Apple.  The Nik plug-ins don’t allow you to do anything in the digital darkroom that wasn’t already possible within Photoshop and Lightroom.  What the Nik plug-ins do is flatten out the learning curve.  To become truly proficient with Photoshop takes months, at the very least.  For most of us it takes years to really attain a high degree of proficiency.  Here’s a bad analogy: Nik Software plug-ins are like the Slap Chop of image processing, but without the annoying infomercials.  Sure, you could slice and dice all those vegetables by hand with a knife but it’ll take a lot less time if you just Slap Chop them into juicy submission.  Nik plug-ins will save you time and headaches, and they’ll take you from a RAW un-processed file to a beautiful, finished image in a fraction of the time it would take using only the native controls in Lightroom and Photoshop.

As I’ve already mentioned, I’d rather spend more time in the field making new images and less time in the office staring at a computer monitor.  Thanks to the good folks at Nik Software, I’m able to do that now.  Every single image I process is touched at some point by at least one Nik plug-in.  Usually, I’ll use three of them: Viveza 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Sharpener Pro 3.0.  For black and white images I’ll use the freakin’ amazing Silver Efex Pro 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Sharpener Pro 3.0.  Nik plug-ins allow me to do more in less time.  They allow me to spend more time hanging out with my family, making new images, marketing and selling my work or napping in a grassy field filled with alpine wildflowers.  Only in the summer, though.  The bottom line is that Nik plug-ins allow me to spend more time doing anything else and less time tied to my desk.  If you’re content without them, good on you.  They’re not for everybody.  But if you want to go farther, faster – download the Nik Software Complete Collection 15 day trial now.  I promise not to say “I told ya so.”

Use discount code “BEDGE” to receive 15% off your purchase of Nik Software plug-ins at the Nik Software Store.

I decided to change the format a bit here, from “My Favorite Blog Posts” to “My Favorite Stuff on the Web” so I wouldn’t be locked into turning you on to JUST cool blog entries. Now I can also share awesome photos, articles, blogs and other random stuff that’s either useful, insanely cool or flat out interesting. Hope you don’t mind the change. Without further ado, here’s some more great stuff.

Images from a Trek in Patagonia – Colby Brown
Colby has been posting a series of amazing images from a recent trek in the Patagonian mountains.  I already wanted to visit but viewing his photos makes me wish I were leaving tomorrow!

Why Do You Photograph – Jay Goodrich
Thought provoking article about what drives us to get up before dawn, stay out after sunset and travel to the ends of the earth to create photographic images with some fantastic and inspiring responses, including this one by Guy Tal.

Soft Proofing in Lightroom Now Available – Nat Coalson
Soft proofing is part of the workflow to ensure that your print matches what you see on your screen.  Until now, it couldn’t be done from within Lightroom.  My friend & Adobe Certified Expert Nat Coalson shows you how to soft proof within Lightroom using a new plug-in.

Lightroom 3.3 Has Arrived - Adobe
This update doesn’t bring lots of exciting new features but if you’ve been frustrated by a lack of RAW support for your Canon S95 (or other new camera), it’s time to celebrate.
Click here to download the Windows version of Lightroom 3.3
Click here to download the Mac version of Lightroom 3.3

More Stuff to Click On – Carl Donohue
Carl has compiled another great list of interesting and useful stuff found all over the web and it’s not just photo related.  I always enjoy this compilation. 

And from my archives:

New on flickr: Reflection Lake Sunrise at Mt. Rainier National Park
An old photo I re-processed to fulfill a print order from a client that I posted on flickr last week.  Mt. Rainier NP is one of my favorite places and one I’ll likely visit again during wildflower season in 2011.

Quick Tip: Explore Your Options
I share a little tip that works for me when seeking out the most dynamic composition at new location.

That’s all until next week.  Y’all have a great week and weekend!

John Shaw’s “Photoshop Field Guide” has been my bible for years.  So, when “John Shaw’s Digital Processing: A Personal Workflow Using Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4″ was released I purchased it right away at a reasonable cost of $25.  What follows are a few of my thoughts on what, at the time, was John’s latest e-book.  Note: he has since released “Using Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5″ ($15).  Both e-books may be purchased on his website, which earns you a PDF of whatever book you’ve chosen.

John clearly states on his website that neither of these titles are intended to be “how-to” books.  Rather, they are a rare glimpse inside the processing habits of a seasoned pro.  In fact, the highlight of the book for me were the examples where John discusses not only the step-by-step workflow used on each image, but his reasons for making each adjustment.  Truly invaluable material.

I’ve been using Lightroom since version 1 was released in 2007 (or maybe early 2008).  I’ve read and own a couple ”how-to” books, the best of which is Nat Coalson’s “Lightroom 3: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process“.  It’s safe to say I’m no spring chicken when it comes to using Lightroom and Photoshop.  I mention this because I believe someone newer to working in the digital darkroom will find John’s e-book much more useful than I.

Having said that, here’s what I really like about John’s e-book:

• As usual, John doesn’t use technical jargon or geek speak.  His instruction is easy to understand and flows nicely.
• I’m glad he spent a few pages discussing the importance of devising a system for organizing your digital files early in your career.
• The short chapter on “Getting Started” touches on just about all of the most important aspects of configuring Lightroom for optimal performance.
• His thoughts on the initial edit of images after downloading them to your computer were helpful.
• Shortcuts!  Using shortcuts in Lightroom can dramatically increase the speed with which you are able to process images and John details the most used ones, even providing a handy cheat sheet.

What didn’t I like?  Really, it isn’t so much that I didn’t like certain things.  I just found that for me, as a fairly experienced user, some of the content was too basic.  By no means does that make this a bad investment.  If you are newer to using Lightroom and Photoshop, this may well be the best place to start.  If you’re an experienced user, you’ll benefit from the examples and possibly from one or two of the Photoshop tutorials on such topics as image blending or luminosity masking. 

The bottom line is this: you can’t write a fairly generic book and have it appeal to newbies and power users at the same time.  ”Digital Processing: A Personal Workflow Using Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4″ succeeds in keeping both sides happy about as well as can be expected.  Would I spend $25 on the book, if I had known then what I know now?  Yep.  Those examples I mentioned earlier are worth the price of admission alone.  Consider the rest of the content a nice bonus.

I haven’t yet purchased “Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5″ although I do plan to pick it up.  I’ll do a separate review on it at some point in the future.  If you’ve got either one, please take a moment to leave a comment with your thoughts and opinions on them.

It isn’t often that I get all fired up about software.  However, the announcement that Nik Software’s newest Lightroom and Photoshop plug-in, HDR Efex Pro, will be available for public consumption in October has me as giddy as a girl in a prom dress.

I’ve experimented with HDR in the past using what most consider the current industry standard software – HDRSoft’s Photomatix.  Frankly, I wasn’t terribly impressed.  Now, that isn’t to say that stunning images can’t be created using Photomatix, or for that matter, any other HDR software.  To the contrary, just read Royce Howland’s guest post on my blog last week, “Why I Love HDR - Part 1“.  Then pay a visit to his galleries to see some of the most amazing HDR landscape photography I’ve ever seen.  Clearly, Royce has mastered Photomatix.

After failing at HDR I went back to using filters to tame dynamic range.  Then I tried my hand at manual exposure blends.  While I love the control and final result of blending images by hand, I don’t love staring at a computer monitor for hours on end doing the tedious work required of the technique.  So, I’ve gone back to using filters.  Again.

Now, in walks Nik Software and their badass new HDR Efex Pro plug-in.  Okay, fine – I’m being a little sensationalistic.  I can’t really call it badass yet because I’m not one of the chosen few who was given a pre-release copy to run through the wringer.  But, if it’s even half as good as their other plug-ins it will in fact be badass.  Nik Software knows how to make software for people like me, who would much rather be outdoors photographing than sitting at a desk.  I have complete faith that HDR Efex Pro will allow me to create stunning, natural looking images in less time than blending by hand.  Naturally, you’ll all be the first to hear my initial impressions once I’ve had some time to spend under the hood with it.

Nik is currently taking pre-orders  on HDR Efex Pro, slated for release in October.  Anyone who purchases the Nik Complete Collection after July 25, 2010 will receive HDR Efex Pro free upon release.  And, if you don’t feel like paying full price for any of the Nik plug-ins, you can always use coupon code “BEDGE” at checkout to receive a 15% discount on your order from the Nik Store.

Until October, tick-tock…

Are you excited to try out Nik Software HDR Efex Pro?  What HDR software are you using now?  Let us know in the comments section!  

A couple weeks ago I upgraded from Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3.  The upgrade, installation and catalog transfer went off without a hitch.  I was most concerned about transferring my LR2 catalog to LR3, and I did back up the catalog before initiating a transfer, but it was still a bit nerve wracking.  Fortunately, it was super easy and there were no complications.

At the time I upgraded I had just returned from a trip to the Tetons where I led a 3 day workshop with Adobe Certified Expert, Nat Coalson.  During the workshop Nat walked everyone through the process of importing, editing, cataloging and processing images using Lightroom’s powerful database and RAW conversion utilities.  He also mentioned that Lightroom 3 renders images much better than Lightroom 2.  Needless to say, I was anxious to not only see my images from the trip but also to see what this new version of Lightroom could do.

Once my images were imported I began the editing process.  I immediately noticed a different in how images were rendered using LR3.  They looked better, cleaner maybe, although I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Definitely an improvement.  I found a few images and got to work processing them.  All was going smoothly until I started using the adjustment brushes, clone/heal tool and the graduated filter – they were slow.  Super slow.  Unbearably slow, actually.  All of those tools screamed in LR2.  Why now were they all dogs?

I did some research and it didn’t take long to discover that this was a common problem.  I emailed Nat and asked if he had any suggestions.  Luckily, he did.  He also sent me a couple links I hadn’t already found that I discovered were quite helpful.  It appears that Adobe is also aware of the issue and are working to resolve it.  That’s all fine and dandy but I needed it fixed NOW because frankly, I don’t have much patience.

One of the links Nat referred me to was an entry written by the Lightroom Queen on her blog.  This is a great article and her blog is an awesome resource for anything and everything related to Lightroom.  Bookmark it and you won’t regret it.

In the end, I did two simple things that seem to have worked to speed up the performance of Lightroom 3, including using the aforementioned adjustment brushes.

1)  Optimize your catalog.  This alone helped a little bit, but I didn’t see significant improvement.  I’ve got Lightroom 3 set up such that every time I quit the application I’m prompted to back up and optimize the catalog.  Not a bad idea, really.

2) Increase the Camera Raw Cache.  The default setting for this cache is 1 GB.  Unless you’re using a 3.2 megapixel camera from 2001 this likely won’t be enough.  The maximum cache is 50 GB.  I set mine to 30 GB.  Problem solved.  I’ve had no issues with LR3 being sluggish in about a week now.  Making this change seemed to have the most profound effect on Lightroom 3 performance.  To increase the Camera Raw Cache, on a Mac, follow this click string: Lightroom > Preferences > File Handling.  At the bottom of the dialogue box you will see “Camera Raw Cache Settings”.

I have no doubt there are other fixes but this is what worked for me.  It will be interesting to see what Adobe does to resolve the issue globally.  Whatever it is, hopefully they get to it sooner rather than later.  Adobe, are you listening?

Got a tip to share that’ll make Lightroom run faster?  Post a comment and help out a frustrated fellow photographer!

Tonight I feel a bit like a mad scientist.  For some unknown reason I got an itch to try something totally new in Lightroom and Photoshop.  I made this image of bison grazing in the meadow at Mormon Row in the Tetons while there a couple weeks ago.  Straight out of the camera the image wasn’t terribly exciting but I felt it had potential.  Those of you who are familiar with my work know that my images are generally pretty straightforward.  I don’t apply creative effects and I process the images to look more or less like the scene did when I photographed it.  A little tweak of contrast here, add some saturation there, darken a sky now and again and do a little dodge and burning – voila, the final image appears.  I have nothing at all against images that have been heavily manipulated.  Photography is an art and we should feel free to create our art on our own terms.

Now, I have obviously taken some serious creative liberties with this image.  For starters, my camera doesn’t make square photos.  I used a fairly heavy digital grad filter to darken the sky with a heavy dose of clarity to give more separation in the clouds, added some global negative vibrance to mute the colors, made a curves adjustment to increase contrast, dodged the bison to make them stand out a bit more from the meadow, added a vignette and some “grain” – all in Lightroom 3.  I exported the image to Photoshop CS4 and experimented with different blurs using the gradient tool to keep the bison sharp-ish while blurring out the background.  I didn’t like the results of any of those efforts.  What to do?  Hmmm…

I decided to see what Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 could do for the image.  I used their “Classic Soft Focus” filter first, painting on the effects only where I wanted them.  I was getting closer but something was still missing.  I tried a few other filters that didn’t work out before discovering the “Glamour Glow” filter.  A very subtle application gave me the results I was looking for, again brushed on sparingly.  I used Nik Viveza 2 to add some additional global contrast and whiten the whites.  The final step was to use Nik Sharpener Pro to sharpen only the bison.  What you see here is the final result of all that wackiness.  Total processing time: about 35 minutes.

I think one of the greatest attributes of digital photography is that it has opened up a whole new world of creativity, both in the field and in post-production.  When it doesn’t cost a penny to click the shutter most photographers are more willing to try new things, experiment with composition and stretch the boundaries of what they’re comfortable with.  Things get even more exciting in the digital darkroom with panoramic image stitching, HDR, blended exposures, an endless variety of filters and plug-ins, not to mention what is possible with nothing more than Lightroom and Photoshop.  And, if you don’t like the results of your weird science, it’s real easy to go back to square one and start all over!

What do you think?  Some have said this image is “too flat”.  Some simply don’t get it.  That’s cool.  Certainly, this is not the kind of processing that is going to appeal to everyone.  I’m just really curious to hear your comments as I really stepped out of my comfort zone with this one.  Be as harsh and critical as you dare.  I’m a big boy and I can take it.  What have you done to experiment and broaden your creative vision?  Let’s hear some ideas!