Lightroom 3 Beta – quick look at Library

Adobe has once again made the public beta of their latest Lightroom release available for free.  This means that you get to use the product, for free until it expires April 2010.  You don’t even need to be an existing user.

Don’t forget that this is a beta version of the product – it does not have all the features planned for the final release and there are probably bugs still to be resolved…as well as bugs still to be found.

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta (Lr3B) can be installed ‘alongside’ your existing Lightroom 1 or 2 and does not try to open or upgrade any of your existing catalogs (which is a good thing, this is beta software and I am keeping it away from my real photos and catalogs!).

Click through to find out more about the Library module changes in the beta release.

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Changes to Library

At first glance, the Library interface looks unchanged except for the inclusion of a new panel on the right-hand side “Publish Services”.

At first look, this seems like a new way of exporting images…but it can work in two directions.  For example, connect it to your Flickr account and you will be able to see comments on your photos inside Lightroom.  Tom Hogarty has said on the Lightroom Journal that they are working to support developers who can create connections to other services (perfect for services like drop.io – expect updates to Photo-drop Lr to support this).

It also allows you to publish to a location on your hard-drive…perfect for synchronising to cloud storage like dropbox or Jungle Disk.  I’ll be writing more on this in a future post.

Upgrade from older catalogs?

I wanted to see if it would open a catalog from Lightroom 2, so I created a copy of a catalog and tried to open it in Lr3B.  I was pleased that it gracefully failed and allowed me to choose a different catalog.  I assume that a future release of Lr3 will provide a mechanism to convert and open an old catalog, just like Lr2 has when opening Lr1 catalogs.

New improved importing

Import has changed significantly.  There is now only one menu option for importing photos from disk or device (there are two in Lr2) and  the dialog is completely reworked.  Firstly, it uses the whole Lightroom window, giving much more usable space.

The options are now sensibly laid out with the import source (where the photos you want to import are) on the left, thumbnails in the middle and destination (where you want to put the photos) on the right.  The top section allows you to chose if you want to copy, move, add or copy as DNG.  Changing this, changes the options available on the right.

You can also save the import settings as presets – very nice if you have different settings for different types of photos.

Import loaded adjustments made in Lr2, saved into DNG files, without any obvious problems and seemed to render 1:1 previews very quickly.

You can also now select a location in the folder panel and use the ‘Import into this folder’ option – it opens the import dialog with the selected folder as the destination.

Other changes

There is a new icon on the thumbnails in grid view that indicates the photo is in a collection (the one on the left above) – click it and it lists the containing collections.  Click on a collection name and it opens that collection – a nice shortcut.

The other welcome change in the Library module for me is that the filters are not automatically remembered on a per folder basis – this has caused me countless headaches when preparing exports for clients.

There are a few other minor changes to Library and maybe we will see some more in future releases.

My quick look at the develop module is coming soon…

Click here for more on Lightroom 3 Beta

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Adobe Lightroom 3 beta

In case you haven’t already read it elsewhere, Adobe have announced the Lightroom 3 BETA.  You can read more and get a copy at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

Warning - this is a beta so if you try it out, make sure you are playing with COPIES of your photos.  Adobe released it for public feedback, including discovery of bugs.

Highlights in this first release:

Built with performance and image quality in mind
Improved noise reduction (seems to be colour noise only)
Improved import experience
Improved watermarking
More web publishing options (e.g. direct management of your flickr photostream)
Exportable slideshows, with audio

The previous betas have seen new features added to later releases, so I expect a few other things in the coming months.

I will be posting some more detailed information and thoughts on my blog over the next few days.

In the meantime, Tom Hogarty has started a list of resources on the Lightroom Journal.

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Bits and bobs

I know, this blog is like waiting for buses…nothing for ages then two posts in a day.  To be honest, I am not sure where the past month has gone!  I have been spending more and more time on my new commercial photography business, which is why I haven’t been dedicating much any time to nature subjects since being back in the UK.

Wondering why I have lead the post with a very average image of Great White Egret?

It is a record image of a very scarce bird in Northants (pretty scarce in the UK for that matter), which I managed to get excellent views of at Pitsford Reservoir this week.  It was feeding just in front of the James Fisher hide but frustratingly obscured by reeds most of the time!

Finally, Gene McCullagh has started a new feature on Lightroom Secrets - “Spotlight” – to introduce people who contribute to the Lightroom community.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find I was the first person in the Spotlight!

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Configure default develop settings in Adobe Lightroom

In a previous post I gave the basic instructions to create your own custom colour profiles for your camera using Adobe’s DNG Profile Editor.

This is great but its a real pain having to go to the extra panel and clicking a couple of times to select your specific camera profile.

Adobe Lightroom has an excellent feature that allows you to configure the default develop settings that it applies when you import photos.

Find out more by clicking through.

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The default settings allow you to apply your own post-processing style to every RAW photo without having to fiddle with any sliders.  Its kind of like applying a preset to every photo but with bells on.

If you have more than one camera you can configure the defaults by camera model, serial number and even down to ISO setting on individual photos.  So Adobe Lightroom applies develop settings based on which camera was used for each photo as it is imported.

As well as using this feature to speed up post-processing of my own photos I have used it to streamline the workflow for teams of photographers working an event.

By creating custom profiles for each camera and tweaking the default settings per camera and photographer, we could remove the editing burden on the majority of images – Adobe Lightroom did the hard work as the photos imported.

So, how do you do it?

Its easy.  First thing, decide on how granular you want control.

Do you want to configure settings for every ISO or just by camera make?

I set-up my personal Adobe Lightroom by serial number but if you only have one camera then by camera model is probably good enough.

In Adobe Lightroom, open the Preferences dialog and select the Presets tab.  The top section is “Default Develop Settings” and this is where you tell Adobe Lightroom how you want your default settings applied (hint: its the 3rd and 4th checkboxes…).

Now, you need to select a photo from your catalog that is a typical example of your photography – that is, it reflects how you tend to expose a scene, contains areas of shadow and highlight and has some colours.

Go to the Develop module in Adobe Lightroom and process the image to a point you feel would suit the majority of your photography – these are the develop settings that you are going to apply to every photo that you import.  Whilst it won’t be perfect every time, you want settings that get you close most of the time.

Remember – your goal is only to reduce your post-processing time. You still have presets for specific circumstances, effects etc.

Once you have it set-up stay in the Develop module, open the Develop menu, click “Set Default Settings…” and then press “Update to Current Settings”.

Thats it, all you have to do.

Remember that it only applies these settings to new photos you import (not photos already in you catalog) and it applies the settings before any import presets you specify.

Questions or feedback? Let me know in the comments!

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Create a custom colour profile for your camera

Adobe have made it simple to get good colours in your images during RAW conversion by including camera calibration profiles in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) and Adobe Lightroom 2.

Initially Adobe released a selection of beta camera profiles that you installed with the existing ACR 3.3 and 4.4 profiles.  More recent releases of ACR and Lightroom have included the complete profile sets - you can use them straight away.

So, what is special about these profiles?

Firstly, Adobe’s profiles match the picture styles that are available with JPEG creation in many cameras.  This allows you to get closer to the vibrant look of the preview JPEG without having to fiddle too much with settings during RAW conversion.

Secondly, they released a little software tool that lets you create your own camera profiles using a standard 24 colour chart (like the x-rite ColorChecker).

You can create custom profiles for each of your cameras to get consistent colours from your workflow regardless of the camera body you use.  You can also create specific profiles for specific conditions, such as awkward lighting.

Click through for instructions on creating your own camera specific colour profiles.

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First step is to get yourself a copy of Adobe’s DNG Profile Editor, the most recent release is still in beta but freely available from the Adobe Labs website.

Secondly you need to buy or borrow a standard 24-patch ColorChecker chart.

Thirdly you need to take a photo of the chart, evenly lit (just use that big light in the sky, the sun).  Keep the chart a decent size in the frame!

When creating the photo, watch our for subtle reflections from nearby bright surfaces – these can mess up the calibration profile.

As the name suggests, the DNG Profile Editor needs a DNG file to work it’s magic, so convert the chart photo using your favourite convertor.  Don’t worry, you only need to convert your photo of the colour chart to DNG - you can continue using your camera’s proprietary format for your photos.

Once you have the DNG file, open it in the Adobe DNG Profile Editor.

On the top right, click the ‘Chart’ tab and position the four circles into the centre of the outer four colour boxes.

Make sure you have selected ‘Both color tables’ and then click ‘Create Color Table’.

Once it is finished, use file->Export <name of your camera> to save your newly created profile.  Give the profile a unique name – if you have multiple bodies of the same type, use the serial number.  Also, if the profile was for a specific scenario, make sure you are explicit in the profile name – you don’t want to load a profile for blue lights when the image was created in sunlight.

The editor should save them to the correct place but if you are unsure…

• 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

You will need to restart Photoshop ACR or Lightroom to see the profile added to the calibration list.

Tomorrow I will show you how I set-up Lightroom 2 to use these profiles automatically.

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