Using the Survey Tool to select just one image of my beautiful model Sara.

Don’t forget about the Survey Tool. It is invaluable when selecting from a number of similar images. Highlight all of the images in the batch and hit N. Use the numbers to rank them by stars and hit / to deselect images and knock them out of your Survey window.

Bonus: New in Lightroom 3, you can hit N from anywhere in Lightroom! Spot Removal has been reassigned to the Q key in the develop module.

Our first DPE Altanta workshop was a blast. Rob Knight and I enjoyed working with the 20 talented students.

We covered Lightroom, lighting, HDR and travel photography. What fun!

Each day this week I will try to post a picture/tip from the workshop. So stay tuned!

The exercise in the above photograph was to create dramatic lighting (in a very low contrast setting) using one camera flash. The technique: bounce an on-camera flash into a reflector.

In the photo below, Rob is holding the reflector. Each photographer stood in front of the model and experimented with the technique – many for the first time. Everyone got a great shot. Try it, you’ll like it!

Check our DPE Flickr group to see more pictures from the weekend workshop! They’ll be coming!

For more on lighting, see my book: Studio and Location Lighting Secrets. DPE’s Eddie Tapp took the cover photograph.

My next iPad app, Light It!, will be available in about three weeks!

Explore the light,

Rick

One of the things I love about Lightroom is how fast you can change its look. Why would you want to do that? To make an already efficient program even more efficient and adapt it to your needs. I am going to give you some simple keys to press to change Lightroom quickly (I am going to keep this simple and only give a limited set of keystrokes that consistently help).

You don’t always need all the panels, so why not simplify the Lightroom interface to focus on what you really need. If you are only working with photos and keywords in Library, you don’t need to clutter the screen with the left panel of folders and collections, or with the filmstrip at the bottom. The function key, F7, closes and opens the left panel (true for all modules) and F6 closes and opens the Filmstrip. Also, you are only pressing a single key.

And while you are working in Library — go instantly between the grid and a loupe view by using the letters G (grid — small g is fine, but the capital G is easier to read in this text, so I will continue that convention) and E (for loupe since L is used for lights out to change emphasis on what you see). You can go back and forth as much as you want, then go right to Develop by pressing D. Hit G or E at any time to go back to those screens in Library or D at any time to go to Develop. Note that you only need to press a single key. You do not need to use any modifiers.

You can then make that grid or single-image loupe view fill the screen by pressing Shift + Tab — that will remove all panels except the center photo work area. Press Shift + Tab again to go back to all panels.

Now suppose you press D and go to Develop. It can be very helpful to see the image as large as possible, so you can usually close the left and bottom panels — again, F7 and F6. However, you might want to examine what you did in the History part of the left panel, and once again, keep the photo as large as possible — then you can press F8 and make the right panel go away (or return). You can also close the top panel with F5 and a toolbar with the letter T.

I am constantly using these keys to adjust the interface to make it work most efficiently for me. I like having a simple interface that is absolutely functional, and these keys help do that quickly and easily. My Lightroom workflow videos cover this and more, plus how to efficiently work with your images in Lightroom from import to processing in Develop. The workflow applies to Lightroom 2 and 3, and includes commentary on Lightroom 3.

Nature and nature photography have long been important to me. My long association with Outdoor Photographer really helped me both as a photographer and a communicator about both photography and nature photography. My education actually included both photography and nature, including degrees in Plant and Soil Science. So I have a new blog devoted to nature and photography called, www.natureandphotography.com. You’ll also find a post there about Lightroom and honoring nature.

How easy is tethered capture? Fuggedaboutit!

Tethered shooting is a great way to make sure you’re “getting the shot”. Shooting tethered means that your DSLR camera is attached to your computer so that your images transfer directly to your hard drive instead of being saved to your memory card. The camera is normally connected to the computer via a USB cable,and some systems offer a wireless connection option as well. It is much easier to check exposure, focus etc. on a large computer screen than it is on your camera’s LCD.

You also need software on the computer to capture images from the camera. Starting with Lightroom 3 Beta 2, this function is built right into Lightroom for many Nikon and Canon camera models. Here’s how it works, and a couple of tips for making the most of it.

First, connect your DSLR to your computer using a USB cable and turn on your camera. If you shoot this way a lot you will want to get a long USB cable or a USB extension cord so you have enough cable to move freely. You’ll also want to make sure your computer is secured so you don’t pull it onto the floor with the USB cable.

In the Library module inside Lightroom 3 beta 2, select File> Tethered Capture> Start Tethered Capture… This will bring up the Tethered Capture dialog where you will select the session name, file naming options, destination, and metadata including keywords. When you click ‘OK’ you will see a bar with your camera name and current exposure settings. If your camera doesn’t show up right away try turning the camera off, then back on. I haven’t found that one way works better than another with my Nikon D700. Sometimes I turn the camera on first, sometimes I start tethering first. It doesn’t seem to make a difference. I would like to hear your experience in the comments.

Now you’re up and running. Here are a couple of ways to make the most of this setup using the Color Checker Passport from X-rite. Once you have your lighting set up, take a shot of the Color Checker Passport. Inside Lightroom, select the Passport shot and choose File> Export with Preset> Color Checker Passport. Name the profile (possibly the same as the session name), and the X-rite software will build a DNG profile for your particular camera and lighting situation.

You will need to quit Lightroom 3 beta 2 in order to use the new profile. Restart Lightroom and start Tethered Capture again. Your Session, Naming, etc. settings should be saved from earlier. Take a shot of your subject holding the Color Checker Passport and switch to the develop module. Go to the Camera Calibration Panel (command/cntrl 8) and select the profile you just created from the drop down menu. Press W to select the White balance eyedropper and click on one of the white balance targets on the Passport to set the white balance.

In the Tethered Capture control bar under Develop Settings, select Same as Previous. Now your shots will come straight from the camera with your custom profile applied and properly white balanced. Nice!

You can apply any develop settings this way. For example, you can get the sharpening or noise reduction the way you like it and automatically apply it to your photos as you’re shooting.

I like to make my previews as large as possible on my computer while I’m shooting tethered. Press the F key to enter Full Screen mode. There are three options here, so press F until the Lightroom interface takes up the whole screen. Now press command/cntrl tab to hide all of the panels. Press T to hide the toolbar at the bottom of your screen, then press \ to hide the Library filters bar if it’s visible. Now press E or double-click an image to enter Loupe view, and you will see you images at maximum size while you’re shooting tethered.

There are times when you may end up with two or more sets of images from a single event or photo shoot. Whether it be a DSLR and a point-and-shoot, your camera and a companion’s or two cameras on a BlackRapid DS-R. I will often shoot with two cameras at events when creating a variety of images in a minimum amount of time is of the essence. Not needing to constantly change lenses can be a great benefit in these situations. Otherwise, I may use a DSLR but also shoot images with a point-and-shoot, for example using the P&S to snap images of displays in a museum for reference. Here are a few tips to help you organize and efficiently manage the timestamps on multiple camera’s images.

Pre-synchronize the cameras
The most efficient manner of synchronizing multiple cameras would be to precisely synchronize them before an event or shooting expedition. Although your camera’s clock may drift over time, it will remain precise over the course of days or even weeks with minimal change. However, unless your camera supports setting the exact second, this method doesn’t always yield a precise synch. If you can do so, I like to synch the cameras to time.gov for maximum precision.

Photograph a clock with a second hand
Taking an image of a clock with a second hand, one with every camera at the event, allows you to synchronize the image sets exactly in Lightroom later. Make sure every camera takes an image of the same clock. Because of the great way the Lightroom handles time changes, it does not have to be done at the same time.

Sorting images
Use your standard ingest procedures in Lightroom to import the images into their respective folders. I personally keep cards from different shooters in different folders in the file structure, then use Lightroom Collections to combine all of the shots into a single view. Multiple cameras from the same shooter, i.e. if I use a DSLR and a point and shoot, go together in one folder.

Synchronize clock photos in Lightroom
We will deal first with the easier situation, where you were able to take photographs of a clock. Use filters to show all of the images from a single camera in your folder collection. Browse to the image of the clock, select it, and then Select All. After the entire set is selected, with the highlight on the clock photo, choose Metadata-Edit Capture Time…

Leave the radio button on Adjust to a specified date and time and change the Corrected Time to precisely match the time on the clock. Now click Change All and wait for the progress bar to complete. This process will change the time of the selected photo to the changed time and then change the time of every photo selected, the rest from that particular camera, by the exact same number of hours, minutes and seconds.

Change your folder or filter to another camera and repeat the process above for the next image. Once you have completed these steps for all of the cameras, the images will all exactly match date and timestamps. Make sure you have XMP metadata set to synchronize or that you save the metadata back to the files in order to save these steps back into the original files.

Synchronize other photos
Sometimes you will end up with a batch of unsynchronized photos from multiple sources for a single event or collection. You can still get these images synchronized, but it may take a bit more work. First, choose one camera to be the master time source. Ensure that if it needs to be adjusted, it is done so first. Now, you need to look through images from the secondary camera and find one taken at as close to the same time as possible to an image from the master camera. Once you find one, follow the process above to choose the image that is the same time and select all of the images of the secondary camera. Now change the date/time to match either exactly or by an offset that you will just have to estimate. Repeat this process if there are more cameras.

Congrats, you now have a set of time-synchronized photographs!

“What software should I get first?” is a common question to aspiring photographers, especially when first getting into using DSLR cameras. Or more commonly, “Should I get Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop Elements to start out?” With the term Photoshopped entering the vernacular, it is not surprising that most people think about it first when starting to get serious about digital photography. However, diving straight into Photoshop CS4, or even the simpler Photoshop Elements alone is not the best choice for an aspiring photographer. While Photoshop CS4 and Elements are extremely powerful tools, they are more than you need to get started when there is a fantastic solution available in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Beyond simply offering the ability to edit your photographs, Lightroom gives you a unified interface for organizing, editing, printing and sharing your pictures. The Library module is a fantastic place to start good organizational habits by importing into custom folders, keywording and grouping into collections.

The develop module allows you a huge amount of latitude, mirroring and greatly simplifying nearly any technique available in a classic wet darkroom or most non-pixel editing processes from Photoshop CS4 or Elements. The develop module is also completely non-destructive, so you can always go back to your original files today, tomorrow or down the road when you learn new techniques. Finally, this module makes working with RAW files as simple and transparent as JPEGs.

The very easy-to-use print module offers multi-image prints and simple but powerful sharpening and resizing algorithms. Sharing digitally is also very easy with the web module and export plug-ins.

All of these modules support a variety of presets, which make working in Lightroom even easier, quicker, more reliable and fun. It is very easy to repeat a process without learning how to record custom actions or create a signature post-processing look that takes little to no time to apply.

What about Photoshop? Well, if you need to erase a fire hydrant, or insert a dog next to one, then Photoshop CS4 or Elements is the best choice. And eventually you will learn new techniques that require the added pixel-punishing power of one of these versions of Photoshop. Spend a year working on your photography, getting it right in camera, and using Lightroom to organize, tweak and export. As a new photographer your time is best spent learning to use your camera and seeing the light.

Still not sure? Get the free trial and give it 30 days. I think you’ll find it tasty and delicious.

Before and after with #85 warming filter applied. Photo by Rob Knight.

I’ve already written about Lightroom’s Library filters (read the article HERE), so I’m going to talk about a different type of filter for Filter Friday. There is an adjustment in Photoshop called “Photo Filter”. It contains several preset colors that warm or cool your image, as well as presets for adding more dramatic colors. These are based on filters you can use in front of your lens when you’re shooting. The filter effects in Photoshop are much more flexible than glass filters are because you can adjust them, change the color, or remove them all together after you take the shot. I’m going to focus on the warming and cooling filters and show you how to get these effects in Lightroom.

Select the photo you want to warm or cool and make sure you’re in the develop module. We’re going to apply the color filter using the Split Toning panel. For the traditional ‘Photo Filter’ effect you will want the Hue and Saturation the same for the Highlights and the Shadows. For a more subtle (and generally much better) look, apply the color and saturation only to the Shadows.

You will start by setting the Hue, then adjust the Saturation slider until the effect looks the way you want it. The sweet spot for me is usually between 25% and 35% saturation, but this is up to you and your taste. These colors are the same ones used in the Photoshop Photo Filter adjustment, but play with different colors and see what you can come up with.

Before and after with #81 warming filter applied. Photo by Rob Knight.

For the #85 warming filter, set the Hue slider to 33º. For the #81 filter try 42º. Warming filters can spice up photos made on overcast days, or add a sunset glow when the sun is still up. A warming filter can add spark to your portraits too.

For cooling filters try 215º for the #80 filter, and 200º for the #82. Cooling filters are great for changing the mood of an image. They do a nice job of accentuating green foliage in your landscape images too.

Before and after with #80 cooling filter applied. Photo by Rob Knight.

Once you find some color filters you like, you can save them as develop presets so you can apply them quickly and easily. Click the ‘+’ icon at the top of the Presets panel in the develop module. Be sure the Split Toning box is the only one checked and give the preset a descriptive name. Click ‘Create’ and you’re done!

You’ll learn lots of Lightroom tips and tricks like this at my Arenal Eco Adventure Photo Workshop in Monterrey, Costa Rica this September. All of the photos in this post are from locations we’ll be shooting in Monterrey. For more information and online registration visit http://arenalworkshop.eventbrite.com/ and my blog at www.DphotoA.com

Photograph © Rick Sammon. All Rights Reserved.

The Tone Curve panel  is one of the most powerful features in Lightroom. It’s often my first stop when working on an image – when I have a good exposure that does not need any Recovery or Fill Light (creative controls  that you’ll f ind in the Basic panel).

When you adjust the Tone Curve, you adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation of the image.

You can adjust the Curve by clicking in the Curve dialog and by adjusting the triangle sliders below the dialog. However, most new comers to Lightroom find it easier to adjust the different tones in an image by using the sliders, which make self-explanatory adjustments: Highlights, Lights, Darks and Shadows.

If you don’t see the Curve sliders, click the little fly-out arrow at the bottom right of the dialog (outside the box).

You can see the before/after effect by clicking on the tiny box at the very top of the Tone Curve dialog (outside the box).

To reset and start over, click Reset at the very bottom of the bottom of the Basics panel.

I often like to add a bit of a contrast to an image. I do that my creating an “S” curve in the Curves panel simply by moving the Highlights slider to the right and the Darks slider to the left.

For this image, I also selected the Strong Contrast option from the Point Curve fly-out option. Play around with these options for more creative control.

Explore the light – and Lightroom!

Rick

P.S.

Note re Lightroom 3 Beta 2: There is a new, tiny icon in the lower right-hand corner of the Tone Curve panel (above right image). When clicked, lets you adjust Curves as you do in Photoshop: clicking on points, locking in those points and then making your adjustments.

Also, for quick-fix for a low-contrast image,  you can simply click on Tone Curve – Strong Contrast in the Presets panel on the left side of the main panel (in earlier versions, too).

White balancing in LR is fast, easy and synchronize-able.

The Quick Develop options in the Library module offers instant presets along with Temperature & Tint controls.

My favorite click white balancing tool is the XRite Color Checker Passport. Besides setting a preset or custom white balance in camera, I hardly ever shoot anything these days without at least one frame of an “Insurance Policy”, the ColorChecker Passport. Along with a custom white balance target on one side, there is also the classic 24 patch industry standard target (used to create camera profiles and more) along with the create enhancement target that has a series of white balancing patches and saturation patches.

These white balancing patches are designed to give you superb access to generating neutral tones, a warmer or cooler cast. In the Develop Module using the White Balancing Tool, move your cursor over any of these patches (or if you don’t have the Passport, any non-color bias resource, gray or white preferably) as you view the WB result in the Navigator preview window. Click the tool on your selected patch or object and the white balance is applied to your image.

Select all or a series of images images and choose the Sync or Sync Settings button on the bottom right, this brings up the Synchronize Settings user interface allowing you to choose specific settings to instantly apply to your selected images including white balancing, and calibration.

Calibration is another wonderful option using the Passport once you have installed the software (see http://www.xritephoto.com). First, choose an image with the ColorChecker in it and then use the Export feature in LR. Here you can choose ColorChecker Passport option, name your profile and from your Raw file, LR will automatically create a DNG (digital negative) camera profile. When the profile is finished, a notice will ask you to quit and restart LR to activate the profile from the Camera Calibration option in the Develop module. Here you can choose the profile you just created and see how it brings out colors that are almost impossible to achieve any other way.

White balancing is one of the two primary controls that we want to become proficient at, the other is exposure. It’s fun the get the color right with one click of the mouse in Lightroom.