Lightroomers
Lightroom tutorials, tips and training for Lightroomers!
Partnering with the Digital Photo Workshops (and a ThinkTank Photo Giveaway)
I’m very excited about an opportunity to team up with my friends at The Digital Photo Workshops! The first workshop is a trip to Death Valley. This is a brand new location for me and I really can’t wait to get there.
Test Driving the Lightroom 4 Public Beta
OK, I’m sure you are curious about jumping into the driver’s seat and giving this new version of Lightroom a few laps around the block. There’s a lot of cool stuff in here, and if you have been using Lightroom for awhile you should feel very much at home, but there are a few things I want to mention before you go too far.
My 2012 LightroomWorkshops Schedule
Hope your 2012 is off to a great start! Always hard to believe a new year has rolled around once again. I just wanted to share my 2012 workshop calendar as it stands so far.
Migrating You Lightroom Catalog and Photos to a New Computer
There comes giddy a time in every Lightroom user’s life when you will purchase a new computer. I’ve broken out the components you need to consider to get from old to new with a minimum amount of angst and a maximum amount of control.
A hands-on look at Adobe Carousel
I’ve had a chance to play around with a pre-release version of Adobe’s new platform for viewing, sharing and editing your photos across any number of supported (Mac only at the moment) devices. I thought it might be helpful to share some of my impressions and how I’ve come to use this platform within my existing photo workflow.
Taming Lightroom Keyword Chaos
I don’t often get questions about how to apply keywords to photos, but I do hear from people who are struggling to regain a bit of order over an unruly keyword list, so it is to them that I devote this column. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand to wave and automatically fix a disorganized keyword list, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves, put the kettle on, and just get down to business.
New Course at Perfect Picture School and a 15% discount
I’m excited about a new learning opportunity just starting at the Perfect Picture School of Photography. This new series of classes is called One on One with an instructor of your choice. I have been teaching a specialized 4-week Lightroom class there for almost 2 years, which is still happening every month. In this new class you have the chance to work with me one on one for 4 weeks covering just the Lightroom-related topics you are most interested in learning more about.
Slideshow Controls
If you stop (not pause) a slideshow you can select the next image you wish to start with in the Filmstrip, hold the Shift key and press Play to start on that image instead of the first slide. Otherwise the slideshow will always begin on the first image when restarted.
Additional …
Lightroom Badges
There are 3 badges that can appear on a thumbnail in the Grid view of the Library module or on the thumbs in the Filmstrip:
- the tag shaped badge tells you that a keyword has been applied
- the +/– badge tells you that the photo has been adjusted in …
Email Photos from Lightroom on Windows
Adobe created a document that walks through the process of emailing images from Lightroom:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=333743
Some quirks have presented themselves on Windows with certain email
clients. However, another Lightroom user and programmer (Steve Sutherland) created a little application that can make it work. I’ve installed it myself and it works like a charm.
- …
Missing Minimize / Maximize / Close Buttons
Lightroom has several screen modes. You can cycle through them by pressing the F key. Two of the modes (Full Screen and Full Screen with Menu) hide the minimize, maximize and close buttons at the top of the application window. You’d be surprised how many people “lose” them and have …
Auto Sync
Using the Sync button in the Develop module is great for batch processing a group of images using the develop settings of one image. However, that Sync button leads a double life and it is possible to transform it into Auto Sync, which when active, will automatically sync a group …
Lightroom and the Delete Key
How it works depends on where you are viewing the images from.
If you are in a collection then the Delete key only removes them from the collection, not delete from the hard drive.
If you are in a keyword grouping (selecting a given keyword from the Keyword Tag pane) then …
Saving a Contact Sheet as a PDF from Lightroom
Lightroom does not have a function for saving contact sheets directly to PDF (or any other format), only to print them. So, instead of sending the contact sheet to a printer, it is possible generate a PDF from the print job.
Macs have this functionality built in, but …
Plugging in any USB device launching Lightroom?
The Windows version of the Adobe Photo Downloader (installed with Lightroom) is the culprit.
If the preference setting in Lightroom (Edit > Preferences > Import, uncheck “Show import dialog when a memory card is detected”) does not prevent the APD from loading during startup the only way to prevent the ADP …
Manually sorting images
You can only do a manual sort when you are working within either a single folder or a single collection. So, if you want to sort images manually that are across a range of folders (or collections) you first need to put them into a single collection, then sort.
Lightroom refers …
Stacking
Stacking is a folder specific function.
If you are within a collection, a metadata grouping, keyword grouping, etc., then the stacking options will be grayed out.
A quick way to jump to the folder of an already selected image is to expand the Metadata panel and click the right-facing folder arrow.
