lightroom « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘lightroom’

How to Use Your Camera’s Color Profiles in Lightroom

08 Jul

Your camera has several color profiles that you can enable to change the look of your photos. On most cameras, these have names like Standard, Portrait, and Landscape. The names are fairly self-explanatory and tell you what each profile is designed to be used for. This article will show you how to use those camera color profiles in Lightroom.

This photo was taken with the Canon Portrait Picture Style color profile which is ideal for portraits.

Why do cameras have color profiles?

Back before digital photography, when everybody used film, it was common practice to select a film that suited the subject being photographed. A landscape photographer might use Fujifilm Velvia, a slide film that produced high contrast, deeply saturated images perfect for landscape photography. A portrait photographer, on the other hand, might use a film like Kodak Portra to create portraits with softer, more subtle colors.

When digital cameras first became available, all photos looked the same when it came to color. You could adjust parameters like contrast and saturation if you knew where to find the menu option, but there was no easy or straightforward way of doing so.

Then manufacturers started adding color profiles to their cameras. I’m using the term color profile deliberately because every manufacturer has a different name for it. They are listed below:

Canon: Picture Style
Nikon: Picture Control
Fujifilm: Film Simulation Mode
Sony: Creative Style
Pentax: Custom Image
Olympus: Picture Mode

Fujifilm’s approach is interesting because they have named their profiles after genuine film types. As a result, Fuji color profiles are more nuanced and subtle than those made by the other manufacturers. This new approach to color profiles is one of the features that sets Fujifilm cameras apart from the competition.

This image was taken with the Fujifilm Velvia color profile. This Film Simulation setting works well for landscape photos.

How to use color profiles

You can enable color profiles both in-camera and in Lightroom. Check out; The dPS Ultimate Guide to Getting Started in Lightroom for Beginners for more help.

In-camera color profiles are really designed for JPEG users. If you use the JPEG format, it’s important to choose the most appropriate profile as you cannot change it afterward in Lightroom. If you use Raw then it doesn’t matter which color profile you select as you can change it late in Lightroom (or ACR).

Color profiles in Lightroom

If you go to the Camera Calibration panel in Lightroom and look at the Profile menu you will find a list of your camera’s available color profiles. The options you see depend on the camera used to take the photo. Black and white profiles are only available for newer cameras.

These are the options presented in Lightroom for photos taken with my Canon EOS camera. The profiles in the red square emulate the camera’s built-in Picture Styles. The other profiles are Adobe Standard (present for all camera types) and those that came with a set of VSCO presets I purchased.

Color profiles in Lightroom

Some people recommend a top-to-bottom workflow in Lightroom’s Develop module. That is, you start at the top in the Basic panel and work your way down to Camera Calibration.

The only problem is that Color Profile is one of the most important settings in Lightroom. I recommend that you go to the Camera Calibration panel before you do anything else and select the profile you want to use first.

To see why, select a portrait in Lightroom, go to the Camera Calibration panel and select the Portrait profile (Fujifilm users can use the Camera Pro Neg. Hi setting). Take a good look at the skin tones. Now change the profile to Landscape (or Velvia for Fujifilm). See the difference that makes to the skin tones? Which looks more natural? This is why it’s so important to set the profile first.

Color profiles in Lightroom

Monochrome color profiles

Most cameras have several black and white (or monochrome) color profiles. Again, these are designed for JPEG shooters and are not much practical use for Raw users. The best way to convert a photo to black and white in Lightroom is to go to the Basic Panel and set Treatment to Black & White.

My article, How to Convert Photos to Black & White in Lightroom explains how to convert your photos to black and white in Lightroom in more detail.

Color profiles and White Balance

Color profiles work together with the White Balance setting on your camera to control the colors in your photos. For example, if you are shooting portraits you could set the profile to Portrait and White Balance to Cloudy to give your portraits a pleasing warm color cast.

Just like color profile, if you use the Raw format you can set the White Balance in Lightroom. This lets you decide how cool or warm you want your photos to be at the development stage.

Portrait developed using Portrait color profile and Cloudy White Balance. The result is warm and flattering.

Color profiles and Lightroom Develop Presets

Most cameras have less than ten color profiles. This doesn’t seem like a lot, especially compared to the wide variety of film types available to photographers 20 years ago. But it’s possible to create your own customized color profiles using Lightroom. The way to do this is to create a Develop Preset.

Let’s say that you like your camera’s Portrait color profile, but would prefer the colors to be less saturated. In this case, you could develop a portrait in Lightroom, using negative Vibrance or Saturation settings to reduce the intensity of the colors. You could also adjust the saturation settings in the HSL / Color / B&W panel. Then, create a new Develop Preset that saves those settings, and call it something like Portrait Preset.

Click the Plus icon in the Presets panel to create a new Develop Preset.

Decide which settings you want to include in the new Develop Preset by ticking the appropriate boxes. Give the preset a name and click Create.

Now you can apply that preset to any photo you like by going to the Presets panel in the Develop module and clicking on it. For example, I developed the following portrait by making adjustments to the HSL / Color / B&W panel and Tone Curve panels.

Color profiles in Lightroom

Once you are competent at using Lightroom’s Tone Curve and HSL / Color / B&W panels to control color you can create some very beautiful presets that you can use on your photos. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the knowledge of other photographers and buy Develop Presets that somebody else has created.

Conclusion

You can probably appreciate that the usefulness of Color Profiles depends very much on your personal workflow. If you use the JPEG format then both color profile and White Balance settings determine the way the colors in your photos come out. So, it is really important to get both settings right when you take the photo.

But if you are like most photographers and you shoot Raw, you can leave that decision until the post-processing stage. You can even go further, using Lightroom’s color control tools to alter the colors in your photos.

If you have any questions about any of this, please let me know in the comments below.

Are you a fan of the natural/vintage look in portraits? Then check out my Vintage Portrait Presets for Lightroom. There are over 30 presets to help you create beautiful portraits in Lightroom.

The post How to Use Your Camera’s Color Profiles in Lightroom by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Pixel Peeper can now show you what Lightroom preset was used on a photo

08 Jul

Last month, a website called Pixel Peeper launched with the ability to determine which Lightroom edits were made to an image. Thanks to a recent update, users can now also use Pixel Peeper to determine which Lightroom preset was applied to an image.

The Preset Finder feature requires users to upload their previously-used Lightroom presets. Once uploaded, the system will identify which preset was applied to any image uploaded to Pixel Peeper. This feature only works with presets the user has already purchased and uploaded, however—it doesn’t identify presets that haven’t been uploaded to the system.

The new feature is limited to 10 presets that expire after 30 minutes for free users, but it’s unlimited for premium users who pay the $ 25/year fee.

In addition to finding presets, Pixel Peeper retains its original ability to figure out which Lightroom settings were used to edit an image, something it presents using a series of sliders for settings like exposure, tint, clarity, and more. The tool also displays EXIF data when possible, including the camera model and lens used to take the image, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and more.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

DEAL: Save 62% on Our Lightroom Presets Today

03 Jul

$ 19 Presets

This week as part of our Mid Year Sale we’re excited to offer you any of our Lightroom Preset packs at a massive 62% discount.

Yesterdays deal on our eBook range had an overwhelming response (we were a little worried our servers wouldn’t cope for a while there) but today we’re taking things up a notch with an offer that those of you who use Lightroom will love.

For the next 30 hours you can pick up any one of our 101 Presets collections for just $ 19 USD.

They normally retail for $ 49 so this deal is a steal – grab yours here.

These beautiful presets have been created by some of our favourite photographers, so that you can convert your photos from average to amazing with just one click, saving you a whole lot of processing time.

Here are the 3 presets packs you can choose from:

101 Lightroom Presets by Cole Joseph (a great all round pack for all kinds of photography)
101 Landscape Lightroom Presets by Todd and Sarah Sisson
101 Lightroom Portrait Presets by Rachel Devine

Each pack contains 101 presets that we guarantee to make your pictures pop and save you enormous amounts of time post processing your images.

But don’t wait too long to get your presets – this deal ends in just on 30 hours from now!

Note: You’ll need a copy of Adobe Lightroom to be able to use these presets, and as always, we offer a 60 day satisfaction guarantee on these presets.

The post DEAL: Save 62% on Our Lightroom Presets Today by Darren Rowse appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

22 Jun

Are you running out of space on your hard drive? If you’re both a prolific photographer and a Lightroom user the answer may be yes. A hard drive that’s close to being full is bad news because it slows down Lightroom and just about every other application that you use on your computer. So how can you boost your Lightroom performance and make your computer run faster?

Luckily, there are ways to both minimize the amount of hard drive space Lightroom uses and to free up some space that is being used unproductively. As a result, Lightroom will run faster, as well as your entire computer usually.

So, how much spare hard drive space is required for Lightroom?

Ideally, you need at least 20% of your hard drive space to be free. If you have a 1TB drive, that means you should aim to keep at least 200GB free. If you have a smaller drive, such as the 256GB solid state drive I have on my iMac, then you need less. In my case, I need to keep at least 50GB free to keep Lightroom happy.

So, here are some tips to help improve Lightroom performance:

1. Store all your photos on an external hard drive

This has nothing to do with Lightroom per se, but it’s important because your photos are likely to take up a lot of hard drive space (especially if you shoot in Raw). The best approach is to use a separate hard drive for your photos, either an external drive or another internal drive added to your computer (if this is possible on your machine).

For example, my Raw photos take up 1.96TB of hard drive space. I keep them on a 3TB external hard drive like the one shown below.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

It’s important that the hard drive on which your photos are saved also has at least 20% of its space free. Otherwise, it might slow Lightroom down as well.

It’s good practice to use the external drive for photos and Lightroom catalog backups and nothing else. That means it won’t get cluttered up with other files. It’s easier to backup to other hard drives.

2. Save fewer LR catalog backups

It’s important to backup your Lightroom catalog regularly in case it becomes corrupted or the hard drive it is saved on fails.

Many photographers recommend that you set up Lightroom to backup the catalog every time you exit the program. The only problem is that the hard drive space occupied by those catalog backups can soon add up to a considerable amount.

It’s less of an issue in Lightroom 6 and Lightroom CC, which compress the backup catalogs than it is with older versions of Lightroom. But even compressed backups take up a lot of hard drive space. For example, my backup folder currently has six backups in it and is 2.94GB in size.

There are two steps to take to minimize this problem:

1. Save catalog backups on an external hard drive. The same one you use to store your photos is ideal.

Each time you quit Lightroom the Back Up Catalog window appears. Click the Choose button to select the folder where you want it to save the Catalog backups. NOTE: this is the only time this option appears!

Also worth noting is that you want to save your backups on an external drive anyway because if your main hard drive crashes, both your main catalog and all the backups are gone. That is not good and defeats the purpose of having backups.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

2. Delete old backups. You don’t need to keep anything older than the two most recent catalog backups.

I deleted my four oldest backups and freed up nearly 2GB of hard drive space. It may not sound like much if you have a 1TB or larger hard drive, but it does make a difference on a 250 GB solid state drive.

It may be tempting to move your catalog to an external drive, but this will slow Lightroom down. It’s best to keep the working catalog on your internal hard drive.

3. Keep an eye on the Preview Cache

If you go to Lightroom > Catalog Settings (Mac) Edit > Catalog Settings (PC) and click on File Handling you will see something like this.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

Lightroom gives you a lot of useful information about how it uses hard drive space here. First, it tells you the size of your Preview Cache. This is where Lightroom stores all the previews it builds which enable you to view your photos in the Library module.

As you can see, my Preview Cache is currently 36GB, which is a large chunk of a 250GB hard drive. It’s less of an issue if you have a bigger hard drive.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

If your Preview Cache is too large, there are some tips for reducing its size in the next two sections.

4. Regularly delete 1:1 Previews

Of all the Library module previews Lightroom uses the 1:1 Previews take up the most space. But they are essential for zooming into your photos at 100%, which is why many photographers build them.

You can manage 1:1 Previews by setting Automatically Discard 1:1 previews to After 30 Days. You can also set it to After One Week or After One Day. Just pick the one that works best for you. Avoid the Never option, otherwise, your Preview Cache will grow out of control.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

Set your File Handling Preferences in the Catalog Settings to automatically delete 1:1 Previews after 30 days.

There’s another way to delete 1:1 previews:

1. Go to the Catalog panel in the Library module and click on All Photographs.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

2. Go to Edit > Select All (or click CMD/CTRL+A for the keyboard shortcut).

3. Go to Library > Previews > Discard 1:1 Previews (click the Discard option in the next window).

There are a couple of things you should be aware of, though:

Lightroom doesn’t delete the 1:1 previews from the Preview Cache right away. There is a delay, so in case you change your mind you can use the Undo function. You may have to wait a day or so to see the benefit.
Lightroom only deletes 1:1 previews that are at least double the size of your Standard previews.

5. Build Standard Previews that aren’t too large

You can set the Standard preview size in your Catalog Settings as well. If you select Auto Lightroom sets the smallest size required for your monitor resolution. You can also set Preview Quality to Medium or Low to reduce the space the previews take up.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

6. Build fewer or dump Smart Previews

The Catalog Settings also show you the amount of space occupied by Smart Previews. If that is too large, you can delete them.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

Go to the Catalog panel in the Library module and click on All Photographs.
Go to Edit > Select All.
Go to Library > Previews > Discard Smart Previews (click the Discard option in the next window).

7. Regularly dump the Camera Raw Cache

Lightroom creates more previews to use in the Develop module when you process your photos. These previews are saved in the Camera Raw Cache.

You can set the maximum size of that cache by going to File Handling in Preferences. The larger the number you set the more hard drive Lightroom’s Develop module previews will potentially take up. But, Lightroom may run slower if you set it too low – so you need to find a balance between too big and too slow. Try around 20GB to start with and see how you go.

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

You can delete the Develop module previews by clicking the Purge Cache button. It’s probably a good idea to do this every now and then to free up hard drive space. The last time I did it I gained over 20GB of space (see below).

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

If you edit or view video files in Lightroom you can also gain space by purging the Video Cache (below).

How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed

Conclusion

Lightroom is essential for most photographers but it can use up a lot of hard drive space. The tips in this article let you take back control of your hard drive. Any questions? Let me know in the comments below.

If you’d like to learn more about Lightroom, then please check out my popular Mastering Lightroom e-books.

The post How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Pixel Peeper lets you check the Lightroom edits made to a JPEG

20 Jun

Pixel Peeper is an EXIF viewer that will show how a JPEG was edited in Lightroom – provided it was, you know, edited in Lightroom. This photo wasn’t.

Freelance web developer Piotr Chmolowski is the creator of Pixel Peeper, a simple web application that displays EXIF information and any Lightroom edits made to an image. By uploading any JPEG image (the site’s fine print states that photos are not saved to a server) you’ll see the camera and lens used to make the image, exposure settings, and the positions of each Lightroom adjustment slider – provided the owner of the image hasn’t chosen to hide that data.

I made a little website that takes a JPG image and shows you how it was edited in Lightroom (+ camera settings)https://t.co/EFG3UhMdTS pic.twitter.com/P8EaienbZ2

— Piotr Chmolowski (@p_ch) June 19, 2017

The site is quick and certainly easy to use. Chmolowski mentions that he’s looking to add an option that would use an image’s URL rather than requiring the user to download an image they’re curious about. If you’ve often wondered how a particular image was edited, it might be worth bookmarking Pixel Peeper for future reference.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Video: tips for black-and-white processing in Lightroom

10 Jun

This tutorial provides useful advice for getting the most out of Lightroom when it comes to converting images to grayscale and making edits. The narrator notes that it is OK to push sliders way more than you might be use to when editing color images, which is definitely important to remember! He also offers quality advice on using the color sliders to improve the tonality of b/w images.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Photoshop Versus Lightroom: Which is Best for Beginners?

07 Jun

If you’re new to photography, you’re likely wondering how to post-process or edit your photos. There is a wide selection of photo editing software to choose from, but the two that you probably hear debated the most are Adobe Photoshop versus Lightroom. So what are the main differences and which program is best for beginners and for you? Read on for a basic overview!

Photoshop v Lightroom

A Quick Note

While going through this article, please keep three points in mind:

This is not meant to be a thorough comparison review of the two programs. There are endless features to compare between Photoshop and Lightroom, but this article is meant to give beginning photographers a point of reference as to which program to start with first.
Ever since the Creative Cloud rolled out, Photoshop and Lightroom are constantly being updated with new tools and features. So depending on which version of the programs you are using, some of the tools and features mentioned below may or may not be present in your version of Photoshop or Lightroom.
There are many other comparisons written several years ago that aren’t up to date don’t reflect the new features and changes in Photoshop and Lightroom. So if you read other comparison articles (including this one), be sure to double check when they were published and if they have been updated. For reference, I have Lightroom CC 2015.10 and Photoshop CC 2017.0.1

Get both Photoshop and Lightroom here and receive 20% off the Creative Cloud Photography membership now for dPS readers.

What is Adobe Photoshop?

Photoshop Versus Lightroom: Which is Best for Beginners?

What the photo editing layout typically looks like in Photoshop.

Photoshop is a name that has become synonymous with photo editing. Today, thanks to its extensive functionality, Photoshop is used by not only photographers, but also by graphic designers, web designers, architects, and publishers.

Photoshop is also a pixel-based image editor, giving you ultimate control of every single pixel that makes up your digital photograph. This means you have limitless options when it comes to manipulating your photos. Want to stitch your friend’s head to a frog’s body or swap out gray skies for sunny skies? These are instances when you would turn to Photoshop.

What is Adobe Lightroom?

If you take a look at the main Photoshop interface for the first time, you’re likely to feel overwhelmed. There is a seemingly endless array of tools and options to choose from, and it’s hard to know where to start. This is because Photoshop contains features not only for photographers but also for designers and those of other creative skillsets. So when it comes to easily finding the photo editing tools you need, this is where Lightroom typically excels, especially for those new to photo editing.

Lightroom takes many of Photoshop’s features that are specific to photographers and puts them in an easy-to-find panel. Previous versions of Lightroom lacked extensive editing tools, but today, Lightroom contains many of the main image manipulation tools you need to process your photos.

Another benefit to using Lightroom is that it is also a fantastic image management software. You can use it to import, organize, manage, and edit your photos. In essence, Lightroom is your all-in-one photo management and editing tool. On the other hand, if you want to manage and organize your images with Photoshop, you must use the accompanying software called Adobe Bridge (which automatically comes with Photoshop).

What you’ll typically see in Lightroom after you import some photos.

Lightroom versus Photoshop?

Not long ago, you had to purchase Photoshop or Lightroom individually, and it was truly a challenge to figure out which was a more worthwhile investment. Today, you now get access to both programs if you purchase a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud. For around $ 10 a month, you can purchase the Photography Creative Cloud package, which gives you access to both Lightroom and Photoshop (with Bridge). If you need other Adobe software such as Illustrator, InDesign or Premiere Pro, you can upgrade to the $ 50 per month Creative Cloud subscription.

However, the average photographer will be just fine with the simple plan that includes Lightroom and Photoshop. So from a financial perspective, it’s a no-brainer to get both photo editing programs. But in practice, here are some rules of thumb when deciding whether to use Lightroom or Photoshop.

Use Lightroom if…

You are brand new to photo editing

Most beginning photographers will probably prefer the layout of Lightroom. It presents all of your main editing tools in an easy-to-find column, and it is pretty intuitive to figure out. In Photoshop, you have to do a little more customization to set up your workstation exactly how you want; this leads to more flexibility, meaning you can further customize what tools you choose to appear. However, this can be confusing for beginning photographers.

For comparison: Lightroom automatically presents your basic photo editing tools in a column.

On the other hand, you have to customize which photo editing tools appear in your Photoshop work area.

You want to batch process multiple images

If you have a bunch of photos that you want to batch process, it is much easier to do in Lightroom using presets and its smooth workflow. Batch processing can still be done in Photoshop using Actions, but Lightroom is arguably more straightforward.

You value a smooth, straightforward workflow

When it comes to workflow, Lightroom is arguably much better than Photoshop. Using Lightroom, you can easily create image collections, keyword images, share images directly to social media, batch process, and more.

In Lightroom, you can both organize your photo library and edit photos.

Adobe Bridge - Photoshop Versus Lightroom: Which is Best for Beginners?

If you want to organize or manage your photo library with Photoshop, you must use another program called Adobe Bridge.

Use Photoshop if…

You can’t do it in Lightroom

This is the easy answer since Lightroom will truly meet the photo editing needs of most beginning photographers. With that said, there are a few instances in particular when Photoshop will outperform Lightroom.

Advanced Retouching

While the latest versions of Lightroom do include some basic retouching tools for patching and removing blemishes, you can do much more in Photoshop. Want to make a person look thinner, whiten teeth, and remove small objects? While you can do this in Lightroom, Photoshop’s retouching tools are much more powerful. It might take some extra time to figure out where these tools are within Photoshop and how to use them, but you’ll be able to enhance your photos much more than in Lightroom.

Compositing

Do you want to combine the elements of multiple images into a single one? This is termed as compositing, and you will want to use Photoshop to combine and further manipulate images.

In Conclusion

If you are a beginning photographer looking for a relatively intuitive photo editing software, Lightroom is generally best, to begin with. You can always add Photoshop to the mix later, if and when you’re in need of advanced photo manipulation techniques.

What do you think? In the Photoshop Versus Lightroom debate, which is best for beginners? Why? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Photoshop Versus Lightroom: Which is Best for Beginners? by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Tutorial – How to Use the Lightroom Map Module

25 May

The Lightroom Map Module lets you add your photos to a map so you can search and organize them by location. It’s quite a cool feature, so let’s take a look at the best ways to make use of it.

1. Using the Lightroom Map module if your camera has built-in GPS

Photos taken with a camera or mobile that has built-in GPS are the easiest to work with in the Lightroom Map module. As long as GPS is enabled, the camera saves the exact location an image was shot in the photo’s EXIF data. Lightroom reads the data when you import the photos and automatically adds them to the map.

For example, I made this photo using an iPhone SE.

Lightroom map module

Lightroom automatically reads the GPS coordinates embedded in the photo’s EXIF data. The yellow square marks the spot where the photo in the filmstrip was taken.

Lightroom map module

Note: Lightroom uses Google maps and an internet connection is required for the Map module to work.

2. If you have a secondary GPS unit

Some camera manufacturers make GPS units that you can connect to the camera body. If you have one of these it does exactly the same as a built-in GPS unit. It embeds the camera’s coordinates in the EXIF data of your images. That data is then read by Lightroom when you import the photos.

3. If you have an app or sports device that records your movements in a GPS file

Most mobile phones have built-in GPS. You can download apps that record your route and let you export that information in a GPS tracklog (extension type .gpx) file that you can import into Lightroom. Some fitness devices like sports watches and fitness bands have the same functionality.

The effectiveness of this depends on how often the app or device records your location. If your camera has built-in GPS, for example, the location of the camera is always recorded accurately as the camera takes a GPS reading when you press the shutter.

When you use an app to do so, the app doesn’t record your location continuously. Instead, it takes a reading every few seconds. This creates a set of dots that can be joined together to show your approximate route. It’s how apps that record walking routes or running times work. That means that you can’t rely on this method for pinpoint precision, but it does help you with an approximate location.

The screenshot below shows a series of photos taken on a Canon camera that does not have GPS. The location information came from a .gpx file generated by a tracking app on my phone.

Lightroom map module

4. If your camera doesn’t have GPS but your mobile phone does

Here’s an easy method to add GPS data to your photos if you have a mobile phone with built-in GPS. All you have to do, whenever you take a photo with your camera, is remember to take an additional photo with your mobile phone. You can import these into Lightroom and add them to the same Collection. Once you have done so, simply drag the photos taken with your camera, those without GPS data, to the locations on the map indicated by the photos that do have GPS data (those taken with your phone).

Here’s a landscape photo I took in northern Spain.

Lightroom map module

Here’s another that I took with my mobile phone.

Lightroom map module

This screenshot shows exactly where I took the photo with my mobile phone.

Lightroom map module

The other photo in the Collection was made with my Fujifilm X-T1 camera, which doesn’t have GPS. I added location data to the Fuji image by dragging it onto the icon representing the location of the photo taken with my mobile phone at the same spot. The yellow icon now displays the number 2 to indicate that there are two photos in that location with the same GPS coordinates, as seen in the Lightroom Map Module below.

Lightroom map module

Lightroom automatically adds the GPS coordinates to the photo’s EXIF data.

Lightroom map module

This method requires the most effort and relies on you to remember to take a photo with your phone whenever you take one with your camera. This isn’t always practical and is most suited for landscape photography, where you have the time to take an additional photo with a mobile phone.

Conclusion

The Lightroom Map module is an often under-utilized but surprisingly useful tool. Using these ideas you can add Gcoordinatestes to any photo, even those taken by a camera without GPS. In years to come, you can find out exactly where your photos were taken, even if you can’t remember. It makes revisiting your favorite locations a much easier and more enjoyable task.

Do you have any questions about the Lightroom Map Module? Please let me know in the comments below.

Would you like to learn about Lightroom’s under-appreciated features? Then check out my Mastering Lightrooom ebooks and start getting more out of Lightroom now.

The post Tutorial – How to Use the Lightroom Map Module by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Why There are 6 Types of Lightroom Previews and How to Use Them

13 May

Previews are an essential part of the Lightroom workflow. But with so many different types of Lightroom previews, it’s easy to get confused. For example, do you know the difference between minimal, standard and 1:1 previews? Or what a Smart Preview does? Or why 1:1 previews are useless in the Develop module?

The differences are more than academic. The way you use previews makes a big difference to Lightroom’s speed and efficiency. If you want Lightroom to run at optimal speed, you need to build the right previews. Let’s take a look at how to do that.

Lightroom Previews

Why does Lightroom build previews?

If you open a photo in Photoshop, there is no preview. You are looking at the photo itself. So why does Lightroom need previews? The answer lies in the fact that Photoshop and Lightroom edit photos in different ways.

Photoshop is a pixel editor. It changes the pixels of your photo and saves those changes in the file. Lightroom is a parametric editor. It doesn’t change the original photo file in any way. Instead, it keeps a record of any changes made to the photo in the Catalog. As the original photo is unchanged, Lightroom needs to use previews to show you how your photos look after you have edited them.

Let’s take a look at each of the different types of Lightroom previews.

Library module previews

There are several types of preview you can build in the Library module. Previews are used by Lightroom to display your photos in the Library module. They help you view, zoom, rate, and flag photos – all the organizational stuff you want to do in this section.

Whenever you import photos into Lightroom it gives you the option of selecting the type of preview to build. There are four choices. The first two (Minimal and Embedded & Sidecar) are relevant if you want to import photos quickly and are happy with a low-resolution preview.

Lightroom previews

Minimal previews:

These are the smallest previews possible. Minimal previews save space and time but don’t give you a high-quality Library module preview.

Embedded & Sidecar previews:

This option uses the preview built into the Raw file if there is one.

Minimal and Embedded & Sidecar previews are temporary. If you choose either of these options Lightroom builds its own better quality previews as soon as it can. This slows down the browsing process in the Library module. For this reason, I only recommend selecting Minimal or Embedded & Sidecar previews when you need to import photos rapidly.

The next two options are ones you are most likely to use. They give you good quality previews that you can use to view photos.

Standard previews

Builds a preview for viewing images in Loupe View, but without zooming in. You can set the size of standard previews in the Catalog Settings. The best option to pick is Auto. With Auto, Lightroom builds previews that match your monitor resolution.

Lightroom takes longer to build Standard previews than it does to create Minimal or Embedded & Sidecar previews. But the benefit is that the Library module runs much faster.

Lightroom previews

The only problem with Standard previews is that they are not designed for zooming into your photos. When you zoom in, Lightroom has to build a 1:1 preview. So there’s a delay that slows the Library module down in displaying your image full size.

1:1 previews

The best quality previews of all are 1:1, but it’s the one that takes longest to build. This is a full-size preview that lets you zoom into your photos at 100% when looking at them in Loupe view. With 1:1 previews there is no delay when you zoom into a photo.

The only drawback of 1:1 previews is that they take up a lot of hard drive space. Lightroom handles that by discarding 1:1 previews after a set amount of time. The default is 30 days, but you can change that in the Catalog settings if you need to.

Lightroom previews

Smart Previews

Adobe introduced Smart Previews in Lightroom 5. A Smart Preview is a high-quality, highly compressed preview that measures 2540 pixels along the longest edge. Smart Previews are used by Lightroom CC to synchronize with Lightroom mobile and Lightroom web.

The option to create Smart Previews is available in the Import window.

Lightroom previews

Smart Previews are different from the other Library module previews because they can also be used in the Develop module. The advantage of this is that you can develop photos using Smart Previews when the hard drive containing your original photo files isn’t connected to your hard drive.

This feature lets you use Smart Previews to develop photos while you are traveling. All you need is a laptop, a copy of your Lightroom Catalog and the preview files containing Library module previews (1:1, standard, etc.) and Smart Previews. So you don’t have to take the hard drive containing the original photos and worry about losing it while on the road.

If you’re a Lightroom CC subscriber Smart Previews also let you use Lightroom mobile and Lightroom web.

The Lightroom folder contains the Lightroom Catalog and the preview folders you need to run Lightroom on any computer.

Smart previews save space and can be built later as well

Earlier I said that Smart Previews are both highly compressed and high-quality. This sounds like a contradiction but it’s true. I don’t know how Adobe have done it but the result is that you can’t tell a Smart Preview apart from a full-size preview in terms of image quality. The only difference is that a Smart Preview is smaller.

You can build Standard, 1:1, or Smart Previews at any time in the Library module by selecting the images and going to Library > Previews and selecting the preview type required. The option to build Minimal or Embedded & Sidecar previews only appears in the Import window.

Lightroom previews

Develop module previews

When you switch from the Library module to the Develop module the preview Lightroom uses to display your photos changes. Lightroom renders high-quality previews that let you see the result of actions like adding sharpening, applying noise reduction, and retouching images.

These previews are cached rather than saved in a preview file, otherwise, they would rapidly eat up most of your hard drive space.

Creating 1:1 previews in the Library module makes no difference to the speed at which Lightroom renders previews in the Develop module. But if a Smart Preview exists for the photo Lightroom uses the Smart Preview instead of rendering a Develop module preview under one of two conditions.

a. The hard drive containing the original photo file is disconnected from the computer.

b. You have Lightroom CC 2015.7 or Lightroom 6.7 or later, the hard drive containing the original photo file is connected to the computer, and you have the Use Smart Previews instead of Original for image editing preference enabled in Preferences (see below). Note that if you zoom into 1:1 Lightroom stops using the Smart Preview and renders a full-size preview instead.

Lightroom previews

Smart Previews are smaller than full-size previews. That enables Lightroom to run faster when Smart Previews are used in the Develop module. The speed increase can be quite significant. If you don’t need to zoom into your photos at 100% magnification then the benefits are considerable.

Conclusion

Lightroom previews are somewhat confusing, especially for newcomers to the software. This is hardly surprising considering there are six types of them! So let’s keep things simple. These are my recommended previews to use.

When you import images into Lightroom, choose either Standard or 1:1 previews. If you intend to zoom into your images while viewing them in Loupe view, you definitely want to pick 1:1 previews. Otherwise, pick Standard.

If you’re a Lightroom CC subscriber and you want to view the images in Lightroom mobile or Lightroom web then tick the Build Smart Previews box. Do the same if you intend to use Smart Previews in the Develop module.

Any questions? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you’d like to learn more about Lightroom, then please check out my popular Mastering Lightroom ebooks.

The post Why There are 6 Types of Lightroom Previews and How to Use Them by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Adobe’s Lightroom Coffee Break videos give quick time-saving tips

11 May

It’s over ten years since Adobe’s Lightroom emerged from beta, and it’s evolved a lot since then. The company’s ‘Coffee break’ series of videos introduces features you might not know. For a minute of your time, these tips can help speed your workflow.

For instance, the video above (as highlighted on PetaPixel) shows you how to set the default processing applied to all your files. You can set it to a different preset per camera or even per ISO setting, if you have a preferred noise reduction and sharpening system.

In this video, Lightroom team member Benjamin Warde explains (in 46 seconds) how to define a new starting point for when you work with new files. That’s got to be worth a moment of your time, hasn’t it?

Click here to see the Coffee Break playlist of 34 sub-minute video.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized