Month: May 2007

Last night we released the Camera Raw 4.1 update that includes support for new sharpening and noise reduction functionality as well as support for 13 additional cameras. I’d like to discuss the timing of Camera Raw and Lightroom updates. One of my goals as product manager of both Camera Raw and Lightroom is to have the camera support update of these two applications coincide as closely as possible. However, many have noticed that the official statement from the Camera Raw 4.1 update is that Lightroom will be updated in the “near future.” Why can’t we be more specific? To be honest, it’s driven by the nature of software development. The camera raw plug-in is a discrete portion of code that has quietly matured and delivered numerous incremental updates over the last three years. So when a Camera Raw and DNG Converter update is ready to be released, customers expect Adobe to deliver the solution in the same timely manner that we’ve always provided. Lightroom on the other hand is a brand new product and the team has taken the opportunity to address a number of critiques on Lightroom 1.0 similar to the way the beta program was managed. Testing and qualifying all those improvements is taking more time than it takes us to get the Camera Raw update tested and out the door. I believe that you’ll find it worth the wait. Not only are all the additional raw processing controls found in Camera Raw 4.1 included in the next Lightroom update but we’ve added a few other features that should further streamline your workflow.
For those just looking for the updated camera support, you can use the free DNG Converter to convert your proprietary raw files to a standard that can be read by Lightroom 1.0 as well as prior versions of Adobe’s Camera Raw plug-in. I realize that for many photographers this extra step may not be a viable solution for their high volume workflow. It’s clearly a workaround until the Lightroom 1.1 update is available, something we’re working hard to provide as soon as possible.
Lets keep the dialog going and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Regards,
Tom Hogarty

 

Here’s another entry i had on my blog in April that might be useful for LR journal subscribers – Barry Young.

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I have been using Lightroom frequently for about 5 months and thought i knew the product fairly well until i started watching Chris Orwig’s Training DVD from Lynda.com.

In the 5.5 hours of play time, I learned a great deal and it’s definitely helped me to work my way through LR a lot quicker and more efficiently. Even the basic F5, F6, F7 and F8 show/hide panel commands, that Chris repeats over and over, has the desired effect of planting those shortcuts in memory so you don’t forget them.

If you’ve been using Photoshop for years (as I have), you may be tempted to think you don’t need training, but believe me it’s worth the time. Lightroom is a completely different beast from Photoshop (and Bridge) and after the training you’ll really appreciate the functionality that LR has to offer.

Here is a link for two books that Chris recommends for Lightroom on his website.

NAPP’s Photoshop User Magazine also now includes Darkroom, a supplemental magazine which focuses purely on Lightroom features.

 

Here’s an entry i posted on my blog a few weeks ago, and thought it would be useful in the LR Journal page for those subscribers. — Barry Young.

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Lightroom has excellent Flash web gallery generation and built-in FTP upload capabilities, but if you use one of the many web services that are out there you may be wondering how to get your photos on the web. Up until last week i was wondering the same thing. Luckily, there is a solution, which came by way of Tom Hogarty, PM for Lightroom.

The solution is to add an uploader executable into the Export Actions folder. Most of the major services (Flickr, Smugmug, etc) have client uploader mechanisms.

I personally use Smugmug and i found a client uploader which worked like a charm. Here’s the steps:

1) Place your executable uploader into:

Win: C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\Application Data\Adobe\Lightroom\Export Actions

Mac:
/[user home]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Export Actions/

NOTE: i created an alias from my original location and pasted into the export actions folder.

2) In LR, select the images you want to upload

3) File > Export Photos

4) Select an existing preset that outputs in to web file sizes (I already had an Export For Web preset that i used previously)

5) In the post processing popup should now be a shortcut to the uploader exe – select it

6) Go back up to the preset popup Save As New Preset – give it a name

7) Now when you click Export it will generate the files and add them to the uploader application ready for upload