Pixel Training

Lightroom 4.1 & Camera Raw 7.1 Update Available

Adobe has posted updates to Lightroom 4.1 and Camera Raw 7.1 on their websites. You can download the Lightroom 4.1  updates for Mac and Windows. The Adobe Camera Raw 7.1 updates for Mac and Windows.

Ne in the updates are Lightroom adding HDR TIFF processing, the ablility to save photo books in JPEG, additional color fringing corrections, and new cameras supported including the Canon 5D MIII & Nikon D800. You can read more about the details here.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate 2

Adobe Labs has released another update to Lightroom bringing it to version 4.1 RC 2. The new release supports new cameras, adds a new Defringe Control to help address chromatic aberration, and now can read 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit HDR files. You can read more about the details here and download the update here. 

A Release Candidate is a pre-release of the update to get user feedback and make sure it works all right before the official release.

The new Defringe control is available in the Lens Correction panel in the Color section. If you want to read the details on how to use this new feature you can read the technical sheet at Adobe's website here.

New Lightroom 4 Features - Email Photos

One of the new features to appear in the new version of Lightroom 4 is the ability to email directly out of the Lightroom program. The new feature allows you to send email containing your photos from Lightroom or use your default email application. Lightroom is set up to use email providers like AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or your own provider.

New Lightroom 4 Features - Map Module

One of the new features to appear in Lightroom 4 is the addition of the Map module. The Map module allows you to see on a Google map where your pictures where taken if your camera has built in GPS. If your camera does not have built in GPS you can place your photos on the map manually or import a track log from a GPS device and match them up to selected photos in your catalog. The map data and screen images come from Google so you will need to be connected to the Internet in order to see the map.

Lightroom Tutorial: Using Color Label Sets

Many Lightroom users are familiar with the Star Rating system for rating and filtering your photos to eventually find your selects and picks for developing but Lightroom also gives you another set of labels called the Color Label. These are another set of labels to use in your studio workflow and can be customized. I like to use the Star Ratings for finding my selects then reserve the Color Labels for labeling my photos as reminders that certain photos need to be printed, retouched, or color corrected. This can be particularly helpful if you have more than one person working on the photos in a studio setting. When dividing tasks in the Studio one can easily see which photos need to be color corrected or printed for a client. 

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate

Adobe Labs has released a Release Candidate update for Lightroom 4.1. A Release Candidate is a pre-release of the update to get user feedback and make sure it works good before the official release. New in the update is support for the new Canon 5D Mark III and some bug fixes. If you're a 5D Mark III user I'm sure you will want to try this update right away so you can use your photos with Lightroom 4. You can download the update and read more about the changes here.

New Lightroom 4 Features - Local Adjustments

One of the cool new features in Lightroom 4 (LR4) is the added control to the Adjustment Brush and Graduated Filter. The more features and controls Adobe adds to this tool the better it gets. Now in LR4 Adobe has added a local White Balance control which is a huge benefit for photographs shooting in mixed light sources. A new HIghlights and Shadows control is also added. The third set of new controls added are Noise and Moiré sliders which are a welcome addition for those who want to remove noise in selected areas of your photo when its not needed in the entire image.

Truly the biggest addition here in my opinion is the added White Balance control. The Noise and Moiré controls are great too but I've had too many photos that were taken indoors and contaminated by the outside light from a window. Previously in LR3 you could only balance for one light and that presents a problem. Also, if you're photographing a wedding there is no control over light and you're at the mercy of what is falling on your subjects. This is not going to be a local adjustment you apply to a hundred photos but for the real important ones, you can make the fix when needed.

New Lightroom 4 Features - RGB Tone Curve

One of the new features in Lightroom 4 (LR4) is the added control of the RGB channels in the Tone Curve panel giving you control of color like never before. Previously you could only adjust tone with the Tone Curve panel but now, hidden in the Point Curve, is the power to adjust each RGB channel individually just like in Photoshop. Before this added feature the only way to add color to your photo in Lightroom was with the Split Toning panel, which is a great way to add a unique look to your photo, but its no replacement to the power and control of the RGB curves.

New Lightroom 4 Features - Basic Tone Controls

If you have been a Lightroom user and have upgraded from previous versions the first thing you need to understand is the new arrangement and the renaming of the tone control sliders in the Basic panel of Lightroom 4. The new and improved tone controls have changed and moved around enough to confuse you at first look so lets see what's changed and how the new controls affect the developing of our photos.

First off, if you are developing photos you previously imported in to Lightroom 3 (LR3) they will default to the old Process Version 2010 when you first develop them in Lightroom 4 (LR4). To update your photo to the new Process Version 2012, and see the new Tone controls in the Basic panel, you can update your photo any of these ways: Either click on the exclamation point icon in the bottom right of the image preview window in the Develop module, select the new process in the menu Settings>Process>2012 (Current), or select the new version in the Process section of the Camera Calibration panel.

onOne Software Launches New Marketplace for Photographers

onOne Software announced today the launch of the onOne Marketplace, a new resource for photographers that offers high-quality digital accessories including photo album and collage templates, backgrounds, image overlays, textures, and presets for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture, and onOne Software’s Perfect Effects 3.