Just a quick post – my ‘Export to Zip’ plug-in designed for version 2.x seems to work just fine in Lightroom 3 Beta. Let me know if you have any problems!
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Lightroom, Lightroom3, Processing, Technique, Technology 
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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Darkroom, Digital, Lightroom, Photography, Processing, RAW, Technique, Technology, Tip 
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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Darkroom, Digital, Lightroom, Photography, Photoshop, Processing, RAW, Technique, Technology, Tip 
I have been making an effort to use the graduated filter and adjustment brush in Lightroom 2 more and more during my RAW processing, rather than using similar techniques when I get the image into Photoshop.
The biggest advantage for the way I work is the ability to adjust these later in my workflow, even when in Photoshop.
Click through to find out more.
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So, how do I do that?
Easy...just open the RAW file as a Smart Object in Photoshop (available from the Edit In menu). I can then double click on the layer icon and the RAW file is opened in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and the RAW adjustments can be…erm…adjusted.
While using the graduated filter and adjustment brush, I found a couple of handy keyboard shortcuts.
M - selects graduated filter
K - selects adjustment brush
When you have created a graduated filter, you can click on it's pin to select it and alter the settings. While a filter is selected, pressing the apostrophe ' key will reverse the direction of the filter.
Personally, I find the pins that indicate a filter or adjustment brush a little distracting when trying to review the effect...so I make liberal use of the H key. It toggles showing the pins - press once to hide them, and press H again to show them.
This is something I have been meaning to do for ages - since Adobe releases version 2.2 of Lightroom, I have had 2 sets of camera profiles in the Camera Calibration panel. I wanted to remove the older, beta profiles and just leave the Adobe ones and my own, created with the DNG Profile Editor.
It turns out that it couldn't be easier - you just need to delete some files and thats it! So close Lightroom then, depending on your operating system, open up the folder indicated below in Explorer (win) or Finder (mac) and delete all the files with "Beta" in the name. Start Lightroom and you should have a tidy Camera Calibration panel again!
Tip: use a search rather than ploughing through all the camera directories - it should be much quicker!
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
