Lightroom 2 Released

Adobe released Lightroom 2 early this morning. This is Adobe's first 64-bit program for Mac and Windows. The full version is $299, but existing Lightroom owners can upgrade for $99.

If you are a NAPP member, don't forget to take advantage of your 15% member discount. See the member area of the NAPP website for details.

The original Lightroom came with a decent manual, so I went ahead and ordered the boxed product to see if they delivered a good manual again.

In the meantime, I installed the 30-day trial. It installed without a hitch and upgraded my existing Lightroom library. This will tide me over until I receive the boxed product to get my product activation key.

Photos make great Christmas gifts

It's been a while since I've posted something photography related. I did get the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Image Stabilizer USM lens, but the weather has been so bad/cold here that I haven't had a chance to get out and use it yet. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be sunny and around 65 F, so I am taking those days off from work to get out and enjoy the warmer weather and make use of this monster.

For Christmas, I usually do something photography related for my family. I usually create a calendar for my parents and sister. Last year the calendar was all photos that I had taken over the course of the year.

This year, I decided to do something different with the calendar. I have been teaching myself photo restoration and have made a project of restoring several boxes of my mother's old photos. For this year's calendar, I chose my sister and I as the theme. I sifted through 38 years of photos and picked out about 24 of my favorites to restore for the calendar. It was quite a time intensive project, but it turned out very nice and my sister and parents loved it!

I also chose to restore a 37 year old portrait of my grandparents (who are no longer with us) to give to my mother, her sisters (my aunts), and each of the grandchildren (my sister and cousins). I think that this really moved them. They had this picture already, but it was old and faded. I was glad that I could bring them so much joy and memories. This was a tough project because of the state of the photo, but I think my hard work on it paid off.

I used an Epson Perfection V700 Photo scanner, VueScan scanning software, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended for all photo restoration work.

Hopefully I will have some photos to share on Monday or Tuesday. I will probably hit the National Zoo and the Smithsonian area in Washington D.C.. I may even head out to Arlington National Cemetery. I haven't been out there in a few months.

Lightroom 1.3.1 and Camera RAW 4.3.1 updates

Tom Hogarty at Lightroom Journal brings word that Adobe has released two new updates today: Lightroom 1.3.1 (Mac, Win) and Camera RAW 4.3.1 (Mac, Win).

The update includes additional camera support for the Canon 1Ds Mark III, Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3, and more. It also provides updated Mac OS X 10.5.1 Leopard support.

There are still issues with running Lightroom and Time Machine simultaneously.

Lightroom 1.3.1 update

Lightroom 1.3.1 includes additional corrections for the following issues:
(These issues are specific to the 1.3.1 update. Lightroom 1.3.1 also includes all of the previous updates listed for Lightroom 1.3 below)

• 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.

Camera RAW and DNG Converter 4.3.1 update

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

Adobe updates Lightroom, Photoshop CS3, and Camera RAW

Adobe released a cornucopia of updates today for Lightroom, Photoshop CS3, and Adobe Camera RAW today. I have installed each of these updates on my Mac Pro OS X 10.5.1 Leopard system and haven't seen any adverse effects (knock on wood).

Lightroom 1.3

(Download: Mac / Win)

From the release notes:

Lightroom 1.3 includes corrections for the following issues:

• Writing XMP metadata automatically has been corrected for performance issues
• Printing with the native resolution option enabled no longer sets the wrong dimension for portrait oriented images
• Prior to Camera Raw 4.3 there was the possibility that artifacts in edge transitions could be introduced through the
• Bayer demosaic and luminance noise reductions algorithms. This has been corrected.
• The Canon sRAW format and the Fuji compressed RAF formats are now supported.

Lightroom 1.3 includes the following enhancements:

• The import dialog now offers the option to render 1:1 previews as part of the import process
• The export dialog layout has been enhanced
• A Lightroom Preview Export SDK is available for developers to create and distribute Export Plug-ins. Further details
• are located on Adobe Labs

This update improves support for OS X 10.5 Leopard, however Time Machine was nowhere to be found in the release notes. When I questioned Tom Hogarty (Lightroom Project Manager) about this, he had this response:

"I would still recommend not running Time Machine backup or restore operations while Lightroom is in use. I'll have more details as soon as they're available."

Keep an eye on Adobe's Lightroom Insider blog for more on this topic.

Lightroom Export SDK: The Lightroom team has also released an Export SDK to allow developers to create and distribute Export Plug-ins. It includes plug-in sample code for a Flickr and FTP plug-in. This holds great potential and I am excited to see what the development community produces. The SDK can be downloaded from the Adobe Labs website.

Adobe Camera RAW 4.3

(Download: Mac / Win)

Support for the following cameras has been added. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

• Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
• Canon PowerShot G9
• Nikon D3
• Nikon D300
• Olympus E-3
• Olympus SP-560 UZ
• Panasonic DMC-L10

Adobe Photoshop 10.0.1 update for Adobe Photoshop CS3

(Download: Mac / Win)

The most significant fixes in the Photoshop 10.0.1 update include the following:

• The speed of moving objects contained within multiple layer sets has been improved.
• Converting images to CMYK using certain profiles no longer results in black files.
• The Save for Web feature now includes an option to "Include XMP" (metadata) in the settings menu within the main Save for Web interface, making the existing capability easier to access.
• When using Save For Web with "Include XMP" enabled, all XMP data is now included in the optimized file.
• Print color matching has been improved.
• Images saved as DICOM and reopened in Photoshop CS3 are no longer corrupted on PowerPC based Mac computers.

Lightroom update coming mid-November

Lightroom Product Manager Tom Hogarty announced news of a Lightroom update coming in mid-November to address compatibility issues with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

"As noted in Adobe’s Leopard FAQ the current version of Lightroom 1.2 is not fully compatible with Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5. The good news is that we’ll be releasing an update in mid-November that will address key compatibility issues. In the interim, the following list describes areas where photographers may encounter problems with Lightroom 1.2 on Leopard:

• The Print module may not load
• The Import dialog and other dialogs can “disappear” below Lightroom’s main window. The dialog can be retrieved by switching to another application and then returning to Lightroom.
• Lightroom’s web module may not provide a visual update after a setting is changed
• The left-side panels in the Develop module may not display properly. Resizing or closing/opening the panels will correct the issue.
• The interaction between Leopard’s Time Machine and Lightroom’s catalog files is unknown at this time. Running Time Machine backup or restore operations while Lightroom is in use is not recommended until more information can be obtained

Feel free to share your Leopard/Lightroom experiences in this post’s comments section."

Head on over to Adobe's official Lightroom Journal blog for additional updates and to leave your comments for the Lightroom team.

Adobe on Mac OS X Leopard compatibility

Adobe has released a PDF document outlining compatibility of their products with Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard'.

Both flavors of Photoshop CS3 are compatible with Leopard. In fact, most of the CS3 line are compatible, with a few exceptions.

Lightroom requires an update, but they do not provide any details as to what features are not working properly (or when the 'future update' will arrive).

"Photoshop Lightroom 1.2 is not fully certified for Mac OS X Leopard, but future updates will address areas of Leopard compatibility".

Bad news for Photoshop CS2 (and earlier) and Photoshop Elements 4.0 (and earlier) users as they are marked as "Not Designed for Mac OS X Leopard". Comments state "Likely to encounter issues for which there is no resolution."

Photoshop Express demo'd at Max 2007

10/4/2007 UDPATE: Added video below.

CNET News.com has posted a three minute video of Photoshop Express being demo'd at the Max 2007 conference in Chicago.

What they showed looks promising. It integrates Flash heavily into the web based product. Here are some of the topics covered in the video: cropping, picture rotation, white balance, scar removal, and the ability to jump to a specific change in the history.

Using Lightroom to simulate HDR effects

UPDATE 8/29/2008 - Download the Lightroom preset for the method described below.

It seems like HDR photos created in Photoshop are all the rage these days. But creating those HDR images takes some effort.

What if you could create similar effects in less than 10 seconds, working with a single photo?

Good news... you can! Flickr member 'Tbatty' shared his method of achieving these effects with other Flickr members.

Here are the settings to use as a base:

Recovery: 100
Fill Light: 100
Blacks: 30
Contrast: 30
Clarity: 60
Saturation: -20
Sharpening Amount: 50

Some pictures will turn out great with these settings, and some you may need to tweak a little, but it's a good base to start with.

I created a User Preset in the Develop module set to these values so that applying this effect is a single click away.

Here are a few photos that I converted using this method. Each photo only required a single RAW file. I included a photo of the Pentagon memorial that I posted in my last blog entry for reference.

Let me know what you think.

Adobe says CS3 suite not fully tested with Mac OS X Leopard

Adobe said on Tuesday that their Creative Suite 3, including their flagship Photoshop and Illustrator products, have not been fully tested with the upcoming version of Apple's operating system (codenamed 'Leopard') due out next month, which could lead to incompatibility issues.

During an interview with Reuters, Adobe Chief Executive Bruce Shizen stated that "CS3 hasn't fully been tested under Leopard." He went on to day that "If it doesn't work, we will make the necessary adjustments."

Mr. Shizen said that Adobe has not received a final copy of Leopard with which to test its software.