Category: Develop

Important Note Regarding Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 for those using PowerPC

Several photographers have found a bug in the final Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 releases that affects customers who are currently using a Mac computer with a PowerPC processor. The bug, introduced with our recent demosaic change to address sensors with unequal green response, affects raw files from Sony, Olympus, Panasonic and various medium format digital camera backs. The bug has the potential to create artifacts in the highlight area while using the highlight recovery tool. An example has been posted to Flickr here. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/carnivillain/3938260239/)

We apologize for the inconvenience but recommend that customers who have PowerPC hardware and process raw files from those manufacturers uninstall Lightroom 2.5 or Camera Raw 5.5 and install Lightroom 2.4 or Camera Raw 5.4. (Camera Raw 5.5 can be uninstalled by deleting the existing plug-in from the directory indicated in the Manual Installation instructions )

Customers converting their proprietary raw formats from Sony, Olympus, Panasonic and various medium format digital cameras should also not use the DNG Converter 5.5 with the compatibility setting lower than “Camera Raw 5.4 and later.” Again, we apologize for this inconvenience while we prepare a new update.

*Update(5:30PM PT, 9/26): Comments are not currently available on the Lightroom Journal so please comment in the Camera Raw Discussion Forum or the Lightroom Discussion Forum.

Saving Time with Local Adjustment Presets

Kelly Castro is an amazing photographer who also happens to be a quality engineer on the Lightroom development team. He has put together a short blog post on creating and using local adjustment presets in Lightroom.

Check out Kelly’s black and white tutorial here and his flickr photostream here

On first glance, the Local Adjustment Panel in Lightroom 2 can be a little intimidating.

One way to make this powerful feature easier to use is to take advantage of its ability to save regularly used groups of effects as presets. Like other types of presets available throughout Lightroom, the Adjustment Brush and Graduated Filter presets allow you to spend more time enhancing your images and less time dialing in settings.

Saving a Local Adjustment Preset is simple. To see how simple, let’s take a step-by-step look at the creation of two presets that are useful for portrait retouching.

Continue reading “Saving Time with Local Adjustment Presets”

New Export Plug-In and Develop Presets on Exchange

Prolific developer Jeffrey Friedl has released yet another tasty ‘export filter’ called “Run Any Command”. Jeffrey writes on his blog:

‘This plugin provides an “export filter” (but in the official Lightroom vernacular, it’s a “post-process action”). The point is that unlike a full export plugin (such as my “Export to Flickr” plugin), this filter (post-process action) can be used with any export from Lightroom. It can be used in conjunction with the standard “Files on Disk” export, in conjunction with one of my other plugins (e.g. “Export to Zenfolio”, “Export to PicasaWeb”), and/or in parallel with other third-party export filters (such as my “Metadata Wrangler” Metadata Wrangler or Tim Armes’ “LR2/Mogrify” for watermarking).’

Sean McCormack has released “LRB Dragan,” a set of free grunge type presets.

Free Lightroom Presets for Download

The folks over at the Presetting Lightroom Flickr group have compiled a collection of 180+ Free Lightroom Presets with sample before and after images for anyone who’s interested. Included in the collection of links are Wonderland Lightroom Presets and Presets Heaven.

Pro Photography Show has a similarly expansive collection of links to free Lightroom presets. Collections range from authors Sean McCormack, Jack Davis, and Matt Kloskowski to Adobe’s Exchange community.

Lightroom 2 beta Available

Version 2 of Lightroom is now available as a public beta, allowing the the photographic community to provide feedback on new features and workflow enhancements. It’s hard to believe that Lightroom 1.0 was released just over a year ago and Lightroom 1.1 shortly thereafter.  It really feels like the beta process never stopped and we’ve received a ton of great feedback through the feature request submissions, customer conversations, forum discussions, tradeshows and targeted customer visits. We’re glad to continue the process by releasing this version before it’s final to get your opinions on our progress.  This is different from the previous Lightroom beta in that we’ll be targeting feedback on new enhancements and aiming to release the final version sooner than we did in the previous year-long beta.   I’ve provided a few key notes below but I strongly recommend reading the entire Release Notes document available on Labs.adobe.com.

Beta Eligibility

Q: Who is eligible for the  Lightroom 2.0 beta?
A:
All Lightroom 1.0 customers.  Lightroom 1.0 customers can download and install Lightroom 2.0 beta for use throughout the beta program

Q: What about customers new to Lightroom?
A:
Anyone can download the Lightroom 2.0 beta and try it for 30 days

Q: How can new customers try the beta for the entire program?
A:
An invitation program  through labs.adobe.com allows Lightroom 1.0 customers to invite friends  to try the beta beyond  the 30 day trial until the beta expiration date

Q: When does the beta expire?
A:
August 31, 2008

 

IMPORTANT NOTES, PLEASE READ

Primary Known Issues

  • Lightroom 2.0 beta will not upgrade Lightroom 1.x libraries.  The beta is intended to be used for testing and feedback purposes.  Lightroom 1.x and 2.0 beta libraries will be migrated to the finished version of Lightroom 2.0.
  • While data loss is not expected, this is a very early ‘beta’ quality build and you should always work on duplicates of files that are securely backed up. 
  • Lightroom 2 beta will not overwrite or interfere with a machine that currently has Lightroom 1.3.1 installed. 
  • Develop settings applied in Lightroom 2.0 beta are not guaranteed to transfer correctly to the final version of 2.0.  This is particularly true for localized corrections.
  • The new Photoshop integration functionality is only available with Photoshop CS3 (10.0.1) and should only be used for testing purposes.  Metadata associated with the original file may not carry over to the subsequent file saved from Photoshop
  • Additional known issues are listed in the release notes.

New Features
Library

  • Streamlined Library Layout
  • Smart Collections
  • Powerful Filter Bar to search and refine images
  • Suggested Keywords for simplified keywording
  • 10k pixel size limit raised to 30k pixels
  • Output-based Collections

Multiple Monitors:

  • -Four flexible modes for an alternate window:  Grid, Loupe, Compare, Survey
    (Check out the Live Loupe mode!)

Photoshop CS3 Integration: 

  • Open files in Photoshop as a Smart Object
  • Select multiple images to merge as a Panorama
  • Merge multiple exposures into a single Photoshop HDR image
  • Load multiple files or virtual copies into Photoshop as separate layers in a single document.

Export Functionality:

  • Auto-add exported images to the Lightroom catalog
  • Auto Output Sharpening for images on export

Develop Module

  • Non-Destructive Localized Correction for dodging and burning specific areas of an image
  • Post Crop Vignette
  • Basic Panel Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Improved Auto Adjustment
  • Improved memory handling through 64-bit support on OS X 10.5 and Vista 64-bit.(Not limited to develop module)

Print Module

  • Picture Package for multi-page layouts
  • Print Module output directly to JPEG
  • Enhanced Print Sharpening based on PhotoKit Sharpener algorithms
  • 16-bit Printing for Mac OS X 10.5

Additional Resources

What about Lightroom 1.4?
Trust me, we haven’t forgotten about the photographers who are awaiting a replacement to the Lightroom 1.4 update that we released and subsequently pulled from Adobe.com.
Lightroom 1.4.1 and Camera Raw 4.4.1 are currently undergoing additional testing before we release them in the first half of April. Thank you for your patience.