Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 – Public Beta

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Ian Lyons

On Monday 9th January 2006 Adobe announced the first public beta of Lightroom. Little did we realise at the time that it would become the mainstay photo management and editing application for many digital photographers. So here we are, six years on, same day, same month, and they’ve done it again. Today is the day that Lightroom 4 goes into public beta.

So what’s new and improved?

For Lightroom 4 Adobe have gone right back to 2006. They’ve reviewed the feature requests, and spoken to users. So, which features came to the top? Yes, you guessed – Soft Proofing, Books, Geotagging and Video. Obviously, these aren’t the only requested features, but the… continue reading —>

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Adobe TV and other Online Resources

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Ian Lyons

During a recent conversation with a friend regarding tutorials for Adobe Lightroom it became apparent that he was oblivious to much of the online material provided by Adobe. In particular, the existence of Adobe TV and the recently introduced PHOTOSHOP.COM community support forums. This is unfortunate as the material is quite extensive and regularly updated. With many products the material is accessible from a link within the application Help menu (e.g. Lightroom Online… and Photoshop Online…), which, you would think, should make them relatively easy to access. Sadly, it seems that this may not actually be the case.

Adobe TV is a particularly useful resource as it provides a comprehensive range of high quality video tutorials on Adobe’s range of products.

 Adobe TV – Julianne Kost and The Complete Picture Channel

The following is a short list of the various online learning resources available on Adobe.com. Hopefully, you’ll find them useful.

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Lightroom 3.6 and Camera Raw 6.6 available on Adobe Labs

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Release Candidates of Adobe Lightroom 3.6 Camera Raw 6.6 are now available for download from Adobe Labs. They both include support for new camera models, additional lens profiles and a number of important bug fixes. More details of what’s included can be read on the Lightroom Journal.

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Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor 10 and Premiere Elements Editor 10 available on Mac App Store

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Adobe has announced the immediate availability of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Editor and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 Editor in the Mac App Store.  These special edition apps give Mac users powerful, easy-to-use tools for bringing photos and videos to life. Based on Adobe Photoshop software, Photoshop Elements 10 Editor helps turn everyday memories into sensational photos. Premiere Elements 10 Editor leverages industry-standard Adobe Premiere Pro technology to turn video clips into impressive movies.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Editor and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 Editor can be downloaded from the Mac App Store immediately worldwide for US$79.99 (each) or the local currency (£54.99 UK). The apps are available in English, French, German and Japanese.

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Adobe Photoshop Touch

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Ian Lyons

In early October Adobe announced a new tablet application focused primarily on photographers. This was the second such application to be announced over recent months. The first, Adobe Carousel, had been announced a month earlier and is now available from the Apple App Store. This new application, which I have been privileged to be testing for this past few months, is called Photoshop Touch. As I was away on holiday at the time it wasn’t possible to keep up with all the news surrounding the announcement, but now that I’m home…

Why am I more interested in, and therefore blogging about Photoshop Touch? Well, in terms of photo editing, Carousel’s toolset is intended for fairly simple edits to images. Photoshop Touch, on the other hand includes a more comprehensive toolset which includes the ability to make selections, insert text, create layers, and apply layer blends and effects filters – effectively Photoshop for tablets.

Editing Image in Photoshop Touch

Photoshop Touch includes a comprehensive set of adjustment tools such as Levels, Curves, Temperature, Shadow/Highlights, Colour Balance, etc. Carousel has a similar set of adjustment tools, but they are based on Camera Raw code and therefore benefit from being nondestructive. Does this give Carousel a quality advantage? Not that I see, at least not with images that don’t require significant adjustments (i.e. substantially under/over exposed)

Photoshop Touch Curves

A feature unique to Photoshop Touch is the new “Scribble” extraction tool. With this tool you can scribble a selection with either your finger or stylus. I’ve found the Wacom Bamboo Stylus to be a much easier for making selections, but then I again, I have big fingers ;-)  The selection identifies the elements that you want to keep (e.g. foreground) and those to be removed (e.g background).

Scribble Tool Selections

I mentioned using the Wacom Bamboo Stylus above. However, I should make it clear that Photoshop Touch does work well with finger control. For example, you can pinch and zoom. Also, when scaling, cropping or warping an image the objects have finger-sized handles so it’s fairly easy to resize or distort them.

Photoshop Touch Warping Tool

Other useful features for those into making composite images is the ability to search Google for copyright free images. Images found by Google are displayed within the Photoshop Touch UI and can easily be downloaded straight into the application.

Photoshop Touch use the new Adobe Creative Cloud to automatically sync images to your desktop computer. Also, Photoshop Touch processed images can be opened directly into Photoshop via a plugin for finessing or printing. Using this plugin Photoshop Touch layers and blends, etc are fully supported by Photoshop.

Images stored on Adobe Creative Cloud

A unique feature of the Creative Cloud includes the ability to toggle on and off layers. It’s also worth mentioning at this point that the Creative Cloud is a subscription service, although no prices have been announced yet.

Adobe have made a number of video demonstrations available via their Adobe TV service. They are presented by Russell Brown and should give you a good sense of what Photoshop Touch is capable of.

At present Adobe are intending to release Photoshop Touch on the Android platform first. The iOS version for the Apple iPad 2 will be released sometime later. There has been much criticism of this decision, which I can understand, but it’s a matter that Adobe can address, not me. For more information on availability of Photoshop Touch sign up here.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 15 (Durango to Denver)

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Today was our last full day in the US and with that the last we’d be using our cameras. We had about 280 miles of driving ahead of us and as on previous days in Colorado lots of photographic opportunities, especially of aspens.

While we did make a few short stops for breakfast and lunch our only planned photographic stop was at the United States Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs. We were particularly keen to photograph the Chapel.

From outside the triangular shape is quite photogenic, especially when shot against a moody sky. Internally, the light spilling through the stained glass is something special. The following four photographs are only a small sample of the many I took during our 2 hour stay.

USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Interior of USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Organ, USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Ceiling Detail, USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Well, another trip to the US draws to a close. It’s been most enjoyable and I’m sure that I have many good photographs safely stored on my MacBook Pro hard disk. During the trip I’ve shot close to 9500 frames. I have used a Garmain Etrex Vista HCx to record GPS data throughout the trip, and added metadata and keywords to images each evening. The next task is to import Lightroom catalog I had created specially for the trip into my master catalog. Then begins the process of weeding out the bad and marking the best. However these last two steps will will need to wait until I get home.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 11 to 14 (Green River to Durango)

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Days 11 through 14 have been mostly spent travelling from Wyoming through Colorado. We also made short excursions into Utah and New Mexico. Planned stops along the way included the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Maroon Bells National Recreation Area near Aspen, Red Mountain Pass, the Million Dollar Highway, the Silverton and Durango Railroad, Chimney Rock, the Cumbres & Toltec Steam Railroad (Chama, New Mexico), and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The choice of such a long and at times out of the way route was to provide ourselves with as many opportunities to capture the golden colours of aspens and cottonwoods.

 Flaming Gorge Lake from Sheep Creek Overlook

Aspens, White River National Forest

Aspen Detail, White River National Forest

Aspens, Maroon Bells National Recreation Area

Lone Aspen, Uncompahgre River, Ridgway State Park

Aspen Grove and Fence, Dallas Divide

Obviously, any other opportunity to snap a few photographs was also taken. One such occasion was when part of the group decided to take a trip on the steam train between Silverton and Durango. The line was constructed in 1892 to haul silver & gold ore from the San Juan Mountains, but passengers soon realised it was the view that was truly precious. This historic train has been in continuous operation ever since, carrying passengers behind vintage steam locomotives and rolling stock indigenous to the line.We’d been told beforehand that it would we probably take a lot of photographs, and as it turned out, we did. The following is one of my favourites.

Silverton and Durango Railroad, San Juan Mountains

Our last stop on this leg of the journey was to photograph the sun setting at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We did get a quite spectacular sunset, but my favourite shots were of the afterglow.

Afterglow, Great Sand Dunes National Park

Tomorrow we begin the long trek back to Denver. Hopefully, the weather stays in our favour.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 10 – Grand Teton National Park

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Ian Lyons

We arose early on day 10, first to check the weather, then to travel quickly to an area of the the park known as Mormon Row.  Since this would be our last day in Grand Teton National Park it was very pleasing to find that the weather was perfect for sunrise photography.

At Mormon Row we intended to capture the light from the rising sun illuminating the Moulton Barn with the Teton mountains as a backdrop.

Moulton Barn at Sunrise, Mormon Row

The Moulton Barn is probably one of the most photographed barns in North America. It dates back to the turn of the 19th century when mormon homesteaders settled in an area of Antelope Flats known today as Mormon Row. Few of the original 35 homesteads remain, but those that do offer lots of photographic opportunities.

The Pink House, Mormon Row

Mormon Homesteader Barn, Mormon Row

Grand Teton View from Mormon Row

Later in the morning we travelled across the park to photograph an area at the foot of the Tetons known as String and Jenny Lakes.

Reflections on String Lake

Jenny Lake and Tetons

After a short break back in Jackson Hole it was time to set off on a 200 mile journey to Green River. This would be a staging stop only as we would travel on to Glenwood Springs (Colorado) and Durango later in the week.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 9- Grand Teton National Park

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Ian Lyons

As per the weather forecast day 9 began with heavy rain. Our plans to visit the Moulton Barn for sunrise were abandoned, instead we took an early breakfast.  After breakfast we headed towards the Gros Ventre area in search of moose. On past trips to Grand Teton NP I had always been fortunate in seeing moose in this area and sure enough we weren’t to be disappointed this time. A small family group comprising a bull and two cows were spotted at a location were the Gros Ventre river comes very close to the road, so access was relatively easy. Getting an unobstructed shot proved more difficult, but we did succeed.

Bull Moose, Gros Ventre River

The remainder of the morning and early afternoon were spent dodging in and out of heavy rain showers, but we did manage to get some very nice shots at Schwabachers’s Landing and along the Snake River.

Clearing Weather at Schwabacher’s Landing, Snake River

Cottonwoods and Teton Mountains

Schwabacher’s Landing, Snake River

By late afternoon the rain had eased considerably, so we headed back over to the Gros Ventre in the hope of getting some shots of sunlit cottonwoods and aspens alongside the river and hillsides. We also spent some time photographing the moose family that we’d spotted earlier in the day.

Moose, Gros Ventre River

Gathering Clouds, Gros Ventre

Given the weather conditions were so bad for most of the day I think we had a fairly successful days photography. As it’s our last day in Grand Teton NP let’s hope tomorrow brings better weather.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 8 – (West Yellowstone to Jackson Hole)

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Day 7 was to be our last day in Yellowstone. Fortunately, we awoke to reasonably kind weather, but the forecast for the afternoon wasn’t so good.

The route between West Yellowstone and Jackson Hole allowed us to visit a few stops that we’d previously missed. These included the Lower Geyser Basin and West Thumb. On our way to the Lower Geyser Basin we came across a large heard of Bison grazing on the frosted grasses of Fountain Flats meadow. Needless to say we didn’t need much encouragement to stop and take a few shots. During our short stay the bison moved back and forth across the road. So, one minute the meadow was crowded with bison and the next only a few remained. The following photograph shows a couple that decided to stay put and enjoy the grazing.

Bison Grazing in Frost, Fountain Flats Meadow

The Lower Geyser Basin is only a short distance along the road from Fountain Flats, so the stop for the bison didn’t delay us too long. The following is one of my favourites, and was taken in the run-off area below Silex Spring.

Acorn in Bacteria and Algae Pool, Lower Geyser Basin

Our next planned stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin, which was a good hours drive away. When we arrived the sun was out, but clouds were gathering (here comes the rain again).  West Thumb Geyser Basin is located on the shore of Yellowstone Lake, and is inaccessible in winter. Therefore, this would be my first visit and I didn’t need much encouragement to walk around the various pools. Some are a lot more colourful than others, but all were worth a shot or two. I particularly liked the moody lighting and clouds patterns shown in the following shots of Blue Funnel Spring and Abyss Pool.

Blue Funnel Spring, West Thumb Geyser Basin

Abyss Pool, West Thumb Geyser Basin

Having finally got some photographs of West Thumb it was time for us to travel on to the Grand Teton National Park. As we drove along the lakeside we came across a grove of aspens backed by conifers. The contrast in colours was spectacular, but when the sunlight began to shine along the top of the conifers we got really excited. I think the following shot shows why we spent the best part of 30 minutes at this particular spot.

Orange and Green, Jackson Lake

Our last stop before heading on to Jackson Hole was String Lake. This is one the three small glacial lakes that lies at the foot of the Teton mountains. There are some very nice walks along the shoreline of String Lake and this presented us with plenty of opportunities to photograph the mix of colours from the trees reflecting into the lake.

String Lake Shoreline, Grand Teton National Park

Weather for day 8 is forecast to be horrid – heavy showers in morning turning to continuous rain in the afternoon. Fingers crossed the forecasters are wrong.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 7 – Yellowstone National Park

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Given our intention to photograph the sunrise over the Madison Valley it was a very early start to day 7. For a change the weather was fine with broken clouds. I managed to capture a few nice shots, but nothing spectacular.

Having got the sunrise out of the way we moved on to Tangled Creek. First thing in the morning is by far the best time to photograph this particular area as the overnight frost tends to cause steam to rise off the creek, which winds its way amongst the trees. The following two shots are favourites from my time at Tangled Creek.

Skeleton Trees  in Morning Light, Tangled Creek

Morning Mist, Tangled Creek

After breakfast at the Old Faithful visitor centre we walked around the many pools, springs and geysers making up the Upper Geyer Basin. I’d photographed many on my previous winter visits, but hadn’t managed to get anything I liked of Crested Pool,  Grotto Geyser or Morning Glory. This time I was determined to get a respectable photograph of each.

Crested Pool, Upper Geyser Basin

Grotto Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin

Normally, a polarising filter is used to reduce reflections in the pools, but on this occasion I like the reflection of the cloud in Morning Glory, so removed the filter before taking the shot.

Morning Glory and Cloud Reflection, Upper Geyser Basin

Our final stop of the day was the Midway Geyser Basin. I took quite a few shots of the various pools and springs, but for a change also included some of the silhouettes of people walking along the boardwalks.

Boardwalk, Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 6 – Yellowstone National Park

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Day 6 began with much better weather than the previous day, which was quite fortunate in that we had planned a fairly long drive across the park to Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley.

On arrival at Mammoth we drove round the loop road to the Orange Spring Mound. I’d not seen this particular feature on my previous visits to Mammoth, so was pleased to see that was it active, and the algae covered travertine was quite colourful.

Orange Spring Mound, Mammoth Hot Springs

Bacteria and Algae Detail on Orange Spring Mound, Mammoth Hot Springs

After, Orange Spring Mound we travelled the short distance to the Upper Terrace area. Sadly, Angel Terrace had become inactive since my last visit and wasn’t particularly photogenic. Therefore, we walked on down to the Main Terrace area, which as it turned out was much better than it had been on any of my previous visits.

Bacteria and Algae Detail on Main Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs

Dryad Springs, Mammoth Hot Springs

Skeleton Leaves in Hot Pool, Mammoth Hot Springs

After lunch we travelled on to the Lamar Valley in search of wildlife such as elk, bison and bears. As it turned out, the wildlife we did see was at a distance, so Plan B (landscape photography) was put into operation. Actually, the lighting in the valley along with the fall colours was quite spectacular, and many quality photographs were captured.

Fall Colours on Cottonwoods and Aspens, Lamar Valley

By chance a small group of us did manage to see and photograph a grizzly bear making its way up a hillside near the confluence of Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River.

Grizzly Bear, Lamar Valley

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 5 – Yellowstone National Park

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Ian Lyons

We awoke to a light sprinkling of snow on day 5. While light was still generally poor the yellow of the grasses showed through the thin layer of snow thus adding a touch of colour. Locations visited included the Madison Valley, Terrace Spring and Biscuit Basin.

Tree Detail in Madison Valley

Madison Meadow

Terrace Spring Run-off

Even though the weather wasn’t particularly good the colours on the various thermal features at Biscuit Basin were sufficiently vibrant to make the visit wortwhile.

Avoca Spring, Biscuit Basin

Sapphire Pool Run-off, Biscuit Basin

Wall Pool, Biscuit Basin

May be tomorrow will bring some sunshine!

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 4 – Yellowstone National Park

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Day 4 began much as day 3 had ended – heavy cloud cover and rain. Undaunted we set off for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Hayden Valley. We knew that both offer excellent photo opportunities when blanked with snow, but how would they look in less favourable conditions?

Our first planned stop along the way was at the Chocolate Pot geyser on the Gibbon River. The dark brown colour of this geyser is caused by a build up of mineral oxides.

Chocolate Pot Geyser, Gibbon River

Our next stop was completely unplanned, but nevertheless productive and exiting. As we neared Canyon Village we noticed a number of cars parked at the side of the road. This usually indicates that there is some wildlife, and sure enough as we drew level with the parked cars we could see a black bear making its way across the meadow. Unfortunately, it was heading away from us, but I did get a reasonable record photo.

Black Bear, Canyon Meadow

With the exception of frequent rain showers our journey up through the Hayden Valley was uneventful. Eventually, we arrived at the Mud Volcano area. By this time the rain had eased off considerably, so we began photographing the grasses. The highly saturated colours seen below are as a result of grasses being laden with rain water and steam from the hot springs rather than any saturation tweaks applied during processing of the raw files in Photoshop Lightroom.

Grasses, Mud Volcano

We spent about 30 minutes at Mud Volcano before heading back down to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. By the time we arrived the rain had stopped and the sun was breaking through.

Lower Yellowstone Falls from Artists Point

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Artists Point

We spent a good two hours photographing the waterfall and canyon from various viewpoints before beginning the journey back to West Yellowstone. As we passed the meadow area where we had photographed the black bear earlier in the day we spotted a coyote. Unfortunately, it was quite a distance from the roadside, but still worth a shot or two.

Coyote, Canyon Meadow

Tomorrow could be interesting as the weather forecast is for snow.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 3 – Yellowstone National Park

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Ian Lyons

This is my forth visit to Yellowstone, the others being in mid winter. So, the appearance of the landscape would be new to me. Day 3 began with me awaking to the sound of heavy rain. Undaunted, we set off into the park around 8.30am with heavy rain hammering off the windscreen. As we neared Madison Junction the rain eased and sky lightened a little. So, we stopped to grab a few shots of steam rising off the river – nothing spectacular, but still worth the stop.

Our planned destination for the day was Black Sand Basin and the Firehole Lake area. This later location is closed during the winter, so this would be my first visit. Anyway, given that the weather wasn’t in our favour we headed on up to the new visitors centre at Old Faithful. Lots of other visitors to the park seemed to be of similar mind, so the centre was busier than we we expected.

After leaving the visitor centre we travelled the short distance down to Black Sand Basin. It was raining when we arrived and again when we left. Actually,  during our entire time at Black Sand Basin the rain never stopped, but having travelled this far there was no way we weren’t going to get some shots.  Surprisingly, the rain and dark moody light helped lift the shots. The following are some of my favourites.

Opalescent Pool, Black Sand Basin

Cliff Geyser, Black Sand Basin

Spouter Geyser, Black Sand Basin

Twin Geyser, Black Sand Basin

Handkerchief Pool, Black Sand Basin

Our next stop was the White Cone Geyser, which is located midway along the road to the Firehole Lake. We’d been there earlier in the day, but the rain was so heavy we could hardly see the geyser let alone photograph it. This time the rain was much lighter and it was obvious from the thermal activity that the geyser was going to erupt. We didn’t need to wait too long before we got our chance, and best of all, the rain had died down and the sun was breaking through.

Eruption at White Cone Geyser

Even though the weather was poor I’m quite pleased with the images I managed to capture. May be the weather will be better tomorrow.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

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