If you follow any popular photographer on YouTube or Instagram, chances are, that you’ve been pitched to buy their Lightroom presets. Some photographers actually give theirs away, while some charge a pretty penny. Which leads to the question, are Lightroom presets worth buying? If you search the Internet for this question, you would mostly find strong opinions telling you to Continue Reading
The post Are Lightroom Presets Worth Buying? appeared first on Photodoto.
The post Mastering Lightroom Keywords in a Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.
As your collection of photographs grows, it’s important to have a way to manage all those images. Lightroom keywords can help you tame your ever-increasing photo library, but mastering them can take a bit of practice. Whether you’re a Lightroom veteran or completely new to the software, these tips and tricks will save you plenty of time and a few headaches too.
Nikon D750, 95mm, f/3.3, 1/250 second, ISO 250
Lightroom keywords are like tags on a social media post. They help categorize your pictures according to specific elements contained therein, as well as broader themes you can’t necessarily see.
For instance, let’s say I post the following picture of a mockingbird on a social media site. The caption contains text I might share with the image, along with a few hashtags.
I shot this mockingbird on a chilly November morning. So fun to get out and enjoy the great outdoors! #Nature #Bird #Mockingbird #Outdoors #Oklahoma #Nikon #Sunshine #Happy
Each of those hashtags could be considered a keyword: they help describe and categorize the image. You can’t see that I shot the picture with a Nikon camera. And yet I used the #Nikon hashtag in case people are searching for images taken with that type of gear. I also added the hashtag #Happy because this is a picture that makes me feel joy.
Keywords in Lightroom work in the same way. When you apply them to your images, you are helping make sure you have a way to organize and locate your pictures later on. It might take a bit of work (but not much!) to apply keywords, but that work can pay huge dividends down the line.
Nikon D750, 125mm, f/4, 1/180 second, ISO 180
The process of adding Lightroom keywords is pretty straightforward. Lightroom has a number of tools to help you with this step in the process in order to make your job as easy as possible.
You can add keywords to pictures at any time, but the best way is to apply them when you initially import your images.
I usually shoot in batches, so all the photos from any given import operation generally have similar subjects and themes. That makes adding keywords en masse quite practical as opposed to entering them later, but you can certainly do that too.
You can add keywords during the import phase.
In the above photo, you can see the import dialog with thumbnails of several pictures I shot on a foggy morning. Applying keywords when importing them into Lightroom will help me later when I want to find these same images.
On the right side of the Import screen is a panel called Keywords. You can use this to type in a set of words that describe the pictures, just like you would add hashtags to the pictures on social media. For the images above, I would use keywords such as Morning, Fog, and Sunrise.
Lightroom keywords are kind of like social media hashtags. Use them to describe your image as well as non-visual aspects – like how it makes you feel.
You can also create a Metadata Preset that applies a specific set of keywords. Choose the “New…” option under the Metadata section of the Apply During Import panel.
Then navigate to the Keywords section and enter the keywords you want to apply.
Save it as a new Metadata preset, and you can apply these keywords as a batch to a group of images on import.
You can create a metadata preset that includes a set of Lightroom keywords to apply during import.
If you don’t want to apply keywords when importing, you can do it in the Library module after finishing the import. In some ways, this process is even easier than applying on import, but I find that if I don’t do it right away (i.e., when importing), I tend to forget. I can sometimes end up with a huge backlog of photos to keyword, so I prefer to get it done right away and not worry about it later on.
In the Library module, select the photos to which you want to apply keywords. Then you can add keywords using a few different methods.
You can also add keywords after importing using the Library module.
The most obvious way to enter Lightroom keywords is to just type them in the text entry box in the Keywording panel.
Separate each keyword with a comma and add as many keywords as you want.
Lightroom will offer keyword suggestions based on what it thinks you might want to use, but I don’t find these to be particularly helpful.
Use the Keywording panel to enter keywords for your images, and separate each keyword with a comma.
If you have several keywords you find yourself using consistently, you can store them in a Keyword Set. This is a collection of Lightroom keywords that are particularly useful for certain shooting situations, such as Outdoor Photography, Portrait Photography, or Wedding Photography.
Click the drop-down menu to select a set, and then click individual keywords to add them to an image or a batch of selected images.
Lightroom has a few existing Keyword Sets, but you can create your own as well.
Scrolling down below the Keywording panel brings up another panel called Keyword List. As its name implies, this is a list of every single keyword you have ever used in Lightroom. It also shows a number indicating how many photos to which that keyword has been applied.
Select one or more photo thumbnails and then click the checkbox next to one of the existing keywords to apply them to the images.
If you have hundreds of keywords, you can narrow the list by searching for specific keywords using the search box at the top of the Keyword List panel.
The keyword list can be used to quickly add existing keywords to images
One other way to add keywords is to use the spray-can icon near the bottom of the Library module.
Click the icon and then select Keywords from the drop-down menu.
Enter any keywords you want to apply and then click the pictures on which you want to apply them.
Use the spray paint icon to add keywords to images with a single click, or multiple images by clicking and dragging
I don’t find the Painter tool to be especially useful, but plenty of photographers use it in their workflows. Your own usage will vary, but the bottom line here is that there are many ways to add Lightroom keywords to your pictures. The important thing is to find a solution that works for you.
After you have keywords applied, you can use them in a variety of ways to organize and search through your pictures.
If you just want to find images with one specific Lightroom keyword quickly, you can click the arrow icon next to a word in the Keyword List panel.
If you want to revert to showing all your pictures, select the Library menu, and then un-check the “Enable Filters” option. You can also press Ctrl-L (or Cmd-L on a Mac) to do the same thing.
Another way to use Lightroom keywords for finding specific images is to use the Filter bar.
In the Library module, choose the View menu and then “Show Filter Bar,” or press the “\” key. This brings up a search interface that lets you filter your photos according to hundreds of individual criteria.
The filter bar lets you search for a wide variety of image data, including keywords.
Type the keyword you are looking for in the search bar, and Lightroom will instantly pare down your images to show just the ones you need.
You can also adjust the criteria from “Contain All” to more than a half dozen other options such as Contain, Starts With, or Are Empty.
My favorite use of Lightroom keywords is in conjunction with smart collections. These are collections of images populated on the fly according to the criteria you set.
Every time I do a photo session, I assign the keyword “PhotoSession” on import. These are automatically sent to a Smart Collection containing, as you would expect, every photo from a session.
I also have smart collections for my personal photographs. Since I keep everything in the same Lightroom catalog, I use keywords to sort it all out.
Smart Collections are a great way to use Lightroom keywords to organize your photos.
This means that I never have to think about which photos are from my formal sessions and which ones are not. Lightroom keywords and Smart Collections handle this task for me, which means I have more time to focus on editing instead of sorting.
Nikon D750, 180mm, f/2.8, 1/500 second, ISO 1800
If you haven’t used Lightroom keywords, I think you will be surprised at how helpful they can be. It takes just a small amount of work on your part to apply keywords, but the end result is a library of images that is much easier to tame.
Do you have any tips or tricks for mastering lightroom keywords? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
The post Mastering Lightroom Keywords in a Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.
The post How to Jump from Lightroom to Photoshop and Back Again When Editing Photos (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
In this video from Phil Steele of SteeleTraining, you’ll learn how you can jump from Lightroom to Photoshop and back again when editing your photos.
You’ll learn:
You’ll learn:
The post How to Jump from Lightroom to Photoshop and Back Again When Editing Photos (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
The post How to Migrate Your Lightroom Catalog into Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.
When it comes to high-end studio work, Capture One Pro is the choice of professionals. If you’re doing advertising or product photography, COP gives you certain tools and functionality that don’t exist in Lightroom.
The tethering feature in COP is far superior and allows you to work tethered with Live View and use layout overlays. This is a crucial feature to have when working on things like product packaging shoots or magazine cover portraits. You’ll be provided layout overlays to use as a guide in how to frame your shots to get the subject to fit with the artwork.
There is no right and wrong when it comes to your favorite RAW processor. It comes down to preference.
However, if you take the time to play around with a trial version of Capture One Pro, you may decide the sophisticated tools and incomparable color rendering will make you want to make the switch from Lightroom.
Great! But what about the thousands of images in your Lightroom database?
The idea of migrating your Lightroom catalog to Capture One Pro may seem intimidating, but it’s actually very simple and involves only a few quick steps.
The most important thing to know before you get started is that migrating your Lightroom catalog to Capture One Pro will not have any impact on your Lightroom catalog. You can continue to use it as you ordinarily would, and it will stay in the same place.
Before you can migrate your catalog, make sure you know its location.
If you’re not sure where your current Lightroom catalog lives, simply go to your Lightroom menu, and click on “Catalog Settings.”
This will bring you a dialog box with the tabs “General,” “File Handling,” and “Metadata.”
Choose “General.”
Under location, it will tell you the name of the catalog and where you can find it. Click on “Show” to navigate to the catalog location.
For example, mine is located on an external disk. I have all my photos and documents on two external 4TB hard drives to avoid clogging up my computer’s hard drive.
The other thing you should be aware of that every single property from your Lightroom catalog may not carry over. This mostly refers to color adjustments. Things like exposure, white balance, rotation, and orientation are usually switched over seamlessly when migrate your Lightroom Catalog into Capture One.
When you start the import process, COP will also notify you of any incompatible files in a dialog box.
COP has two file management systems: Catalogs and Sessions.
As with Lightroom, a Catalog in COP is a database containing information about your images, such as metadata and ratings. Catalogs are most suitable for organizing large volumes of images.
A Session functions more like a Lightroom Collection. It provides a more simple, folder-based workflow and the ability to browse any folder on your computer without having to import images. Adjustments are placed in a subfolder next to the images.
Sessions are great for on-set workflow and tethered shooting, and are generally seen as the more efficient option. Sessions allow you to store all the files from a single project together.
Once you have migrated your Lightroom Catalog into COP, you can build and structure your photos into sessions if you choose.
Use the following steps to migrate your Lightroom Catalog into Capture One.
Start by creating a new catalog in Capture One Pro
Open COP and go to File -> New Catalog.
After you have created the new Catalog in COP, you need to import the LRCAT Lightroom file.
Go to File -> Import Catalog -> Lightroom Catalog.
This is when a dialog box will notify you about any offline or incompatible files so that you’re aware.
Hit “Continue.”
This is where you get asked to name the catalog as you want it to appear in COP.
Give your catalog a name and hit “Enter.”
Under “Location,” navigate to the Lightroom catalog you wish to import. Click on the folder and then hit “OK.”
COP will start the import process.
It will tell you how many files it’s reading and how long the import will take.
If you have thousands of images, note that migrating your Lightroom catalog to Capture One Pro can take some time.
As you can see, migrating your Lightroom catalog to Capture One Pro is a simple and fairly seamless process. If you have more than one Lightroom catalog, follow these steps to import each catalog.
Once you have your catalogs in COP, you can further organize them into Sessions.
Do you have any other tips to migrate your Lightroom catalog into Capture One, or had experience doing with this process? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The post How to Migrate Your Lightroom Catalog into Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.
The post How to Use Camera Calibration Tool in Lightroom (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
In this video from Lucy Martin, you’ll learn how to utilize the camera calibration tool in Lightroom to help with your post-processing workflow and get your photos looking awesome!
The Camera Calibration tool is at the bottom of all your panel tools.
You want to use the camera calibration tool right at the beginning of the editing process, as this will inform the colors in your image.
Open the panel so that you can see the Shadows, Red Primary, Green Primary, and Blue Primary Sliders.
These sliders allow you to adjust the Tint of the Shadows and the Hue and Saturation level of Red, Green, and Blues (the RGB colors).
What you change in this panel will affect all the pixels of your image because every pixel is made up of RGB values.
If you hover over a section in your image, check the histogram, and it will show you the RGB values. Understanding this will give you a better understanding of how the camera calibration panel works.
It works differently to the HSL panel that specifically targets just the individual color ranges.
Again, color Camera Calibration affects everything.
Each camera renders color slightly different depending on the brands. They will each have a different idea of what a true red, blue, or green is. You may want to alter these slightly to what you see, or you may like to get creative with it.
Lucy likes to bring up the saturation of the Blue Primary slider to give more life to her images. She also works with the Green Primary by changing the Hue and Saturation for landscape photos.
The Red Primary is great for working with skin tones and warm sunset photos.
This is a great starting point before making further edits.
Lucy also gives you some other examples of creative editing using these sliders. So check it out to see what you can do to make your photos pop!
Bonus: If your image has a red, green, or blue color cast, you can use the saturation slider of that primary color and reduce it to remove the cast.
The post How to Use Camera Calibration Tool in Lightroom (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
The post 5 Things You Can Do in Capture One You Can’t Do in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
If you’re a Lightroom user, you may be wondering:
Are there any Lightroom alternatives that can take your editing to the next level? Are there any editing programs that can offer you something more?
The answer is a resounding yes:
Capture One Pro.
You see, Capture One is a step above Lightroom in several key respects. While Capture One isn’t for everyone, if you’re looking to expand your post-processing capabilities, Capture One may be the way to go.
So in this article, you’re going to discover five things you can do in Capture One that you can’t do in Lightroom. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, but it should give you a sense of Capture One’s power, and why you might consider it as a RAW editor.
Let’s get started.
I’m a big fan of Lightroom’s catalog-based editor. I like Lightroom’s method of quickly organizing photos with Collections and Albums.
But Capture One’s session-based workflow option is well thought out and amazingly useful.
Here’s how it works:
First, you have a photography outing or a photo shoot of some kind, then you head into Capture One and create a session.
Now, every session involves a parent folder. And within that parent folder, Capture One creates four additional folders:
So when you begin your session, you can import all of your photos from the day into the Capture Folder. This is where all of your photos can reside until you go through them. When you do, you can move the best shots into the Selects Folder and the worst shots into the Trash Folder.
Once you’ve edited all of your Selects Folder photos, you can create JPEG or TIFF files, which you export into the Output Location folder.
Note that you can create a new session whenever you do a new photoshoot. That way, you can use the same session-based process on every single photography outing.
And your photography workflow will stay quick and efficient.
Plus, you can access every session from within Capture One, as part of the Library.
Cool, right?
One of the biggest things missing from Lightroom that you can find in other post-processing programs?
Layers.
Now, Adobe has found some nice workarounds; the Graduated Filter, Radial Filter, and Adjustment Brush tools are very powerful and give enough fine-tuned control to satisfy plenty of users.
However, if you really want to selectively edit your photos, layers (and the masking functions that go with them) can’t be beaten.
With Capture One’s layer options, you can apply masks using a brush, a gradient, and more. You can make any basic global Capture One adjustment via a layer, then quickly turn it into a local adjustment.
Plus, layers are useful for compartmentalizing different edits. If you’d like to keep your exposure adjustments separate from your color adjustments, put them in separate layers. If you’re like to make multiple exposure adjustments, but aren’t sure which ones you’ll end up using, put them in separate layers. Then quickly toggle on and off layers to see how the adjustments affect the final image.
Of course, you don’t have to use layers in Capture One. If you’re more a fan of Lightroom’s sliders, then there are some options for more selective editing compared to Lightroom, including the enhanced color adjustments I talk about in the next section:
Color toning is one of the most important adjustments I make to my own images, and it’s one of the simpler tweaks you can make to really improve your photos.
So it’s pretty important that you’re able to control color as much as possible.
And while Lightroom offers its (extremely useful) HSL sliders and split toning tool, the Color Balance tool is one of my favorite things about Capture One, from its interface to its control to its power:
You see, with the Capture One Color Balance tool, you can alter the Highlight, Midtone, and Shadow colors. You can do basic split toning by pushing blues into the shadows and golds into the highlights. Or you can go for a more advanced three-toned color grade using the Capture One color wheels.
Plus, color toning in Capture One is very intuitive!
Instead of doing toning while referencing an external color wheel, you can quickly select complementary colors off the wheel and see how they look. And if you don’t like those, well, you can switch to a different pair or harmonious colors, or a color triad, all within the Color Balance interface.
It’s a lot of power in a very simple tool.
Lightroom is known for its preset-creation capabilities.
But did you know that Capture One lets you create presets for individual tools?
If you hit upon a set of values that you like, simply tap the hamburger icon in the right-hand corner of any tool:
And select Save User Preset:
Then, the next time you get stuck using that tool, you can scroll through your saved presets and see if anything sticks out at you.
Capture One also provides you with a number of already-uploaded presets, so you’re free to check those out, as well:
By the way:
While Capture One user presets are nice to use, they’re certainly not a substitute for broader preset editing. Which is why Capture One includes preset functions just like Lightroom (but called Styles).
So you get the best of both worlds:
Tool-specific presets, and image-focused Capture One styles.
Here’s one more great feature that Capture One offers:
You can arrange your editing interface – and I’m not talking about toggling on and off a few editing panels.
Instead, with Capture One, you can remove tools completely from the editing interface. You can bring them out so that they float in the main editing window, or you can stick them back into entirely different sections of Capture One.
This is especially useful if you have a particular editing workflow that you tend to follow. Instead of hunting around for each tool every time you edit a photo, you can arrange your editing tools in a neat stack. Then, when it’s time to edit your photos, you can go straight down the sequence, doing one edit after another until you’ve finished.
Being able to rearrange the editing interface is also nice if there are certain tools that you never use, and just want to get rid of.
Hate the Levels tool? You can remove it in seconds.
And you’re also free to remove entire tabs. If you never want to use a Capture One style, you can delete the whole Adjustments tab.
Note that Capture One even has several tool tabs that you can add into the Capture One interface, such as a Composition tab and a Black and White tab.
Really, the options are endless!
Now that you’ve finished this article, you know all about the power of Capture One, and what it offers compared to Lightroom.
Bottom line:
Capture One is an impressive RAW image editor and one that packs a lot of punch.
So if you’re looking to increase your editing power, testing out Capture One is a good decision!
For those of you who have tried Capture One, what are your thoughts? What did you like or dislike compared to Lightroom? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The post 5 Things You Can Do in Capture One You Can’t Do in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
Powered by artificial intelligence, Imagga’s Wordroom is a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom that ‘sees’ images and recommends a list of up to 30 keywords based on attributes including objects, colors, shapes, emotions, timeframes, and events. With one click, keywords can be added to an image’s metadata so that it’s easily searchable. It was created for professional and hobbyist photographers who don’t want to spend long hours assigning individual keywords to hundreds of thousands of images.
Wordroom relies on machine learning algorithms that get smarter as more people use them. This means the more images it sees, the better it gets at accurately identifying keywords. Users can remove any keyword that doesn’t make sense for a specific image and manually add in as many as they wish. Once the ‘Add to keyword tags’ button is clicked, both automatic and manually entries will be displayed in Lightroom’s Keyword tags panel. Each photo with keywords will have a tag on its thumbnail.
To install Wordroom, select ‘Plugin Manager’ from Lightroom’s dropdown menu ‘File.’ Add the plug-in file stored on your computer, enable it, and click ‘Done.’ Next, select the dropdown menu ‘Library’ and click on ‘Plug-in Extras’ > ‘Auto-keyword.’ It will automatically display suggested keywords for the currently selected photo. Photos are analyzed in the cloud as small thumbnails, so users will need to be connected to the Internet when using it, but Wordroom claims images are not permanently stored.
You can use the plug-in without registering for the first 100 photos. After that, you’ll need to sign up for a free plan. Wordroom will remain free to use if you auto-tag 2,000 or fewer images per month. Any more than that will require a higher-tier plan that allows for up to 12,000 images per month at $ 14. To get started, all Imagga asks for is an email address so it can send you a download link.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post Capture One 20 Review: Time to Make the Switch from Lightroom? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.
It’s that time of year – time for a Capture One 20 review.
In a huge change to the schedule, Phase One took the bold step of renaming it Capture One 20 instead of the unlucky for some Capture One 13. Let me know your thoughts on this bombshell below!
Okay, I admit it. That is simply an excuse to get you to read on. But is there more than a simple name change to this update? A coat of polish if you will?
Well, honestly, yes and no.
The best thing is that, unlike last year, they have added Catalina support in version 12. This means that Mac owners don’t have to upgrade this year unless they want to. I (and may others) appreciate things like this, bravo Phase One, bravo.
Capture One themselves said that this update aimed to make the software more accessible and easier to use. Simply put, they are after Lightroom users who are unhappy with Adobe.
This update does make Capture One 20 feel more Lightroomesque (yeah, I made that word up). It improves the workflow for existing users as well as adding some useful tool updates.
Another Year, Another Capture One release. Could this be the one that makes you change?
So let’s start with the list of new features list.
Now, these all seem to be small changes when taken individually, but do they add up to a whole package that makes it worth the upgrade? Or perhaps more importantly for many of you, is this the upgrade to make Lightroom users make the jump?
Let’s look at these upgrades individually.
You can tweak the layout until you find your perfect workspace. The new scrolling area makes a huge difference.
This is one of the little things many users of Capture One have been asking for what feels like forever. (Finally, Capture One!)
Actually, it even has a scrollable section. Better than that, you have a pinned area, where you can keep tools you always need, along with a scrollable area. That means you no longer need to keep minimizing and maximizing tools.
However, this does mean there is a workflow change for regular users of Capture One. You can no longer simply scroll on a tool to change sliders. Now you need to hold down the alt key to alter tools.
To me, this is great as it stops any mistakes when editing. However, you can alter this in the preferences and use the Alt/Option key to scroll through tools instead.
I do love this update – it means you can customize it to exactly how you want your tools and not have the hassle of minimizing tools. I am sure there are Lightroom users who are thinking, “What the hell! You call this an update?”
Well, yes. This is one of the features that will make moving across from Lightroom easier and more intuitive.
Culling of images in Capture One 20 is now much faster. As a wedding photographer, it makes a world of difference to my workflow. You can set the software to automatically move to the next image once you rate it, either by star rating, color rating, or both. This simple tool saves a lot of time.
The color tool redesign is a welcome addition.
Well, they say it is new. In reality, it is another user interface update that makes the tools more user-friendly. Along with full layer support, it is more useable.
Capture One 20 has reduced the real estate that the basic color editor takes up. You now have 8 color segments with sliders for Hue, Saturation and Lightness. These are customizable, so if you are looking to isolate a specific range, and the standard segment just doesn’t work, you can simply customize it.
This is a nice touch that again helps speed up workflow (sensing a theme yet?).
When selecting a color within a photograph, if you continue to hold your mouse button down, you can alter the settings of the selected color range with your mouse (and the alt key).
By sliding your mouse vertically, you alter the saturation. Move it horizontally, and you change the hue. Finally, hold down the Alt/Option key whilst moving horizontally to change the lightness of the color.
So many upgrades this year make Capture One 20 smoother to use. The crop tool is a perfect example of this.
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. This is by no means groundbreaking – it should have been fixed several versions ago – but cropping is faster and easier than ever before.
When you hit the Crop tool, the first thing you notice is the bold handles. This means it is much easier for you to grab the handles and crop the image. These handles also disappear when you are cropping in or out of the image, which is a nice touch.
Capture One 20 also allows cropping to the center of the image by holding down the Alt/Option key. It also freezes crop ratios when using the unconstrained option by holding down the shift key.
Lastly, it is easier to switch to the rotation of the image. Instead of having to change to the Rotate tool, you simply move outside of the crop area, and it becomes active. It is also noticeably smoother (on my computer at least) and easier to fine-tune than ever before.
Capture One 20 also offers better color profiling for DNG files. The improvements are subtle, but they are there. If you use DNG files, you will see a slight improvement in the rendering of colors, with them appearing more natural. However, how much of an improvement will depend on the camera the DNG comes from.
The ability to choose which layers to copy across is a great improvement in this current version.
There are three really great improvements to working with layers in Capture One 20.
Firstly, it is the ability to decide which of the layers you want to copy across. This is great for when you want to have layers that do not want copying across, such as specific retouching layers, or you want to copy your color edits across to a series of images, but not everything else.
This brings me to perhaps the biggest improvement, it pastes copied layers on top of any existing layers. This is huge and removes one of the previous frustrations when using layers in Capture One.
Lastly, you can now easily copy layers between cameras. This can be useful if you have two photographers on a shoot using different cameras. This is a tool that, if you need it, is great. But for many users, this won’t be a deal-breaker.
A small but noticeable improvement to the way the software handles noise is seen in Capture One 20
Okay, it’s time to bring out the big ones – the two new feature updates aimed at getting existing users to upgrade.
First is the improved noise reduction.
They have changed the noise reduction algorithm in Capture One 20. There is definitely an increase in performance here, both in the standard reduction applied at import and when using the tools. The colors in high ISO images tend to look nicer (especially skin colors), and you can reduce more noise than in the previous version.
This is one of those tools that suddenly make this upgrade a no-brainer if you shoot a lot at high ISO.
The New HDR Tools allow fine-tuning that has been missing from Capture One for years. This has several users excited. Those looking to move from Lightroom will feel much more at home.
Again, this is more of a “finally!” moment than a “WOW” moment.
The new HDR tools include a black and white point slider. This makes things so much easier in a practical sense and especially if you are moving from Lightroom. Also, the redesign of the sliders mean you can darken shadows rather than just recover them and the same with highlights.
It is great to have this feature, but it should have been developed a while ago. It makes working with shadows and highlights in Capture One 20 so much better.
This finally means no more tweaking the levels just to get the right black point. Again, this is something that Lightroom users have had forever, which brings me nicely to my conclusion.
This is one of those upgrades that really isn’t exciting. Just like when Apple revealed IOS12, this is not going to be full of new features. Instead, it’s about making the workflow better and making it much more intuitive for Lightroom users to move across.
I think the fact that Phase One updated Capture One 12 to run on Catalina OSX says a lot. In the past, you needed to upgrade to the newest version to use the latest operating system.
As someone who uses the software constantly, the updates are worth the price tag. It really makes editing quicker and easier.
I no longer find myself wishing for fixes to tools quite as much. The new user interface is much nicer than previous versions too. The addition of a black point and white point in HDR tools is great, while the big plus is the noise reduction improvements.
But is it worth the $ 159 to upgrade?
It is going to be hard to justify for a lot of people. The best advice, as always, is to try it for 30 days and see. There may be features that either individually or collectively make it worth your while. However, you may be able to invest that money more wisely.
No Capture One 20 review is complete without the Lightroom question. This is the bigger question and, in my opinion, the main point of this upgrade from Phase One’s perspective.
They have made the software much more user-friendly. The UI tweaks really are good. They are very Lightroom-like, meaning that you will find it much easier to come over to this software.
I have never got on with Lightroom. I tried it briefly when Apple stopped supporting Aperture but found myself preferring Capture One. To me, it is a better piece of software.
Phase One is definitely trying to persuade you to switch over to them, with this upgrade more likely to push more people to Capture One. It gives a more polished performance than ever and fixes some UI issues that long term users have wanted for a while. They even have a monthly subscription model if you don’t want to pay upfront.
It may seem like an expensive outlay at $ 299, but if you are a Fuji or Sony shooter, you can purchase Capture One 20 for $ 129. At that price, it really should be something you look into.
So, if this version can’t persuade you to switch from Lightroom, nothing will.
Have you tried Capture One 20? What are your thoughts? Are you looking to make the switch from Lightroom? Share with us in the comments.
The post Capture One 20 Review: Time to Make the Switch from Lightroom? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.
Canon has announced it will soon be releasing a new AI-powered plugin for Adobe Lightroom Classic that will be able to cull through images and sort them based on image quality.
The ‘Photo Culling’ plugin, as it’s so aptly named, uses Canon’s Computer Vision AI engine and ‘technical models’ to select images for ‘sharpness, noise, exposure, contrast, closed eyes, and red eyes.’ As the plugin analyzes images, it will flag the photos with different colored flags within Lightroom Classic for easier curation.
Canon says the settings will be customizable so photographers can ‘remain in complete control,’ but doesn’t elaborate on how exactly the parameters will be controlled. There’s no mention of whether or not this plugin will work with images captured with other cameras, but we’ve contacted Canon for clarification and will update this article accordingly when we hear back.
The Photo Culling plugin will be available exclusively on the Adobe Exchange App Marketplace in Q1 2020 for a monthly subscription.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post Answers to Your Most Common Lightroom Questions appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.
Adobe Lightroom offers ease of use as well as high functionality for novice users and professionals alike. Although many photographers use Photoshop for retouching, they continue to use Lightroom, not only as a global editor but also for its robust organizational capabilities.
Even if you’ve been using Lightroom for a while, you still may be confused about how to get the most out of the software.
Certain questions crop up again and again with Lightroom users. Here are some answers to your most common Lightroom questions.
Pardon the pun, but this is the “classic” question when it comes to Lightroom, especially with the changes and updates over the last couple of years.
The current “Lightroom” app was formerly known as Lightroom CC. This is a version that is heavily marketed by Adobe but is not necessarily the best version for the serious photographer.
Lightroom Classic is what used to be known as Lightroom CC.
Are you confused yet?
No worries, because this is the most common Lightroom question!
The current Lightroom CC stores your photos on their servers and charges you $ 10 per terabyte. If you shoot a lot, this can really add up quickly.
It also doesn’t offer you full functionality, like the ability to print from Lightroom or export files in any format other than DNG or JPG.
Lightroom CC also doesn’t contain the Map, Book, Print, Slideshow or Web modules. Essentially, it’s suitable for the entry photographer. Beyond that, you’ll find it won’t give you the full suite of tools you need.
Lightroom Classic, on the other hand, is the subscription-based model that you get with your photography plan.
Not only does this version give you great value, but it also provides you with the complete functionality you expect from a post-processing program.
To find out which version you currently have, just go up to –>Help in the top toolbar and select –>System Info from the dropdown menu.
The conversation about color space is a lot more lengthy than what can take place here, but you should be aware of the differences and those most optimal for what you’re trying to accomplish with your photography.
The most common color spaces are sRGB and Adobe RGB.
sRGB is the defining color space of the digital world. Anything involving digital graphics, whether it be video games or photographs, is built on sRGB.
If your photos will appear online, you’ll need to use sRGB. If you upload an image in AdobeRGB, it will look desaturated and dull because the browser will convert it to sRGB and do a poor job of it.
However, if you anticipate your work being professionally printed at all, you’ll most likely need AdobeRGB files. This is a color space developed by Adobe Systems and HP to be compatible with CMYK printers.
Stock agencies often request files to be upload in AdobeRGB because they can be converted to sRGB. Just note that the reverse isn’t true.
Both sRGB and AdobeRGB have the same number of colors but the range is narrower in sRGB. AdobeRGB has a 35% wider color gamut, which means prints will be more vibrant and saturated.
ProPhotoRGB encompasses the largest color space available and is ideal when using Lightroom with other programs like Photoshop to process 16-bit photos. 8-bit cannot use the whole available color range. Prophoto is also ideal if you are printing your photos with a professional printery that uses a printer that can print between 7-10 colors.
sRGB vs AdobeRGB on a computer screen
An important factor in keeping Lightroom running smoothly is to set it up for optimal performance.
One common Lightroom question is how to speed up Lightroom’s performance.
To start with, as with any software program, you should always make sure it’s updated and that you have enough hard drive space. You need at least 20% free space for Lightroom to run optimally.
Also, make sure your catalog is optimized. Lightroom continually updates the catalog file, but eventually, the data structure becomes less optimal over time. It has an “optimize catalog” option you can enable to improve performance.
To access this option, go to Lightroom -> Preferences and click on -> Performance.
Then click on -> Optimize Performance.
Set up Lightroom to back up on a regular schedule, and set it to optimize the catalog following the backup.
Another tip for improving performance is to import your files as DNG files.
DNG is short for Digital Negative. It’s a RAW file format created by Adobe.
When you convert a file into DNG, Lightroom adds Fast Load Data to the file. This results in a partially processed preview that allows Lightroom to render faster previews in the Develop module.
Adobe claims that a DNG file with Fast Load Data can load up to eight times faster.
Another benefit of converting to DNG files is that they are smaller files than other RAW formats and take up 20% less space on your hard drive.
To enable this Fast Load Data under your Lightroom Preferences tab go to -> File Handling and check off Embed Fast Load Data. Make sure you have DNG selected as the file extension.
Another of the common Lightroom questions is how many catalogs users should use, and often garners much debate.
Some photographers vehemently proclaim that you should only use one catalog, while others insist one catalog is an accident waiting to happen.
When you use one catalog, you risk it becoming corrupt from, for example, constant opening and closing the catalog. It’s actually a rare thing, but it has happened to me a couple of times.
The antidote to this is backing up every day and keeping only the last couple of backups so they don’t clog up your computer.
Catalogs can be a nice way to organize your images. You can, at the very least, have one for your personal photos and another for professional photos.
But you can also have one catalog by utilizing Collections. To me, the whole point of Lightroom is to keep you more organized, so this is a large part of the functionality of the program.
When you have several catalogs, you have to make sure each is properly backed up, which is tedious and adds to your workflow. Also, you cannot have more than one catalog open at a time.
So, in my opinion, it’s easier to back up and manage one master catalog and that you make the most use out of the Collections feature.
The key to success with Lightroom is to keep things as streamlined as possible. It functions as a powerful photo database, but a few missteps can result in a mess.
One of the most common Lightroom questions is where should I save my files?
I recommend that you have a hierarchical folder structure where you have a top-level folder, and in that folder, you have a folder for the year, month, and shoot name – in that order.
This folder structure will make it easy makes it easy to locate certain photos quickly.
It will also allow you to easily back up your photos or copy them to an external hard drive by copying the top-level folder
For example, if you want to back up your entire photo collection to another hard drive, it’s as simple as copying the top-level folder.
Despite how user-friendly Lightroom is, it contains a fair amount of complexity. Knowing all the ins-and-outs will help you get the most out of the software program. Hopefully, this article has clarified some of your most common Lightroom questions.
The post Answers to Your Most Common Lightroom Questions appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.
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