Monthly Archives: September 2013

Adobe release Lightroom 5.2 and Camera Raw 8.2

 Adobe has just released the GM versions of Lightroom 5.2 and Camera Raw 8.2. If you have been using the release candidates that went live in late July you’ll already be familiar with most of the new features. However, for those who are downloading 5.2/8.2 for the first time the new features are summarised below.

New Features

Lightroom 5.2

  • A Smoothness adjustment slider has been added to the Detail Panel under Color Noise Reduction. This helps to reduce low-frequency color mottling artefacts.
  • Refinements to the Spot Healing Tool:
    • New Feather control
    • Auto find source method now works better for images with textured areas like rocks, bark, and foliage
    • Auto find source method now prefers source areas within the crop rectangle
  • Auto Exposure has been improved to be more consistent across images and across different image sizes.
  • Smart Preview size has been updated to 2560 pixels on the long edge.
  • Refinements to the Local Adjustment Brush:
    • Right Click (PC) / Control-click (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to bring up a context menu to duplicate or delete
    • Control+Alt+Drag (PC) / Command+Option+Drag (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to clone (duplicate) that adjustment

Something not mentioned in the Lightroom release notes that might cause some confusion occurs when 5.2 is first launched – a simplified version of the Registration dialog appears. This is perfectly normal and is due to new licensing arrangements with Google which means that the maps are only available in certain geographic regions. Therefore, you must choose your region from the popup then click Finish (see screen grab below). The dialog will only appear on first launch after updating or in the event that you delete the Lightroom preference file.

Registering your location with Lightroom

Camera Raw 8.2

  • The Histogram is now interactive. This enables the ability to click and drag on the Histogram to adjust the Blacks, Shadows, Exposure, Highlights, and Whites sliders.
  • A Colour Smoothness adjustment slider has been added to the Detail Panel. This helps to reduce low-frequency colour mottling artefacts.
  • Added new “rectangle mode” to white balance eyedropper tool. Click-and-drag with the eyedropper tool to define a rectangular pixel area. Upon releasing mouse, Camera Raw will use all the pixels within the marked rectangle to set the global White Balance.
  • Workflow presets are now available and can be selected by context-clicking the workflow link.
  • Presets have been added to the Save dialog box.
  • Auto Exposure has been improved to be more consistent across images and across different image sizes.
  • Refinements to the Spot Healing Tool:
    • New Feather control
    • Auto find source method now works better for images with textured areas like rocks, bark, and foliage
    • Auto find source method now prefers source areas within the crop rectangle
  • Refinements to the Local Adjustment Brush:
    • Move brush adjustments by clicking and dragging on brush adjustment pins
    • Right Click (PC) / Control-click (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to bring up a context menu to duplicate or delete
    • Control+Alt+Drag (PC) / Command+Option+Drag (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to clone (duplicate) that adjustment
    • Alt+Click (PC) / Option+Click (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to delete the adjustment

Camera Raw 8.2 will also work with Photoshop CS6. However, only users using the full Creative Cloud version of Camera Raw will get access to the new features listed. For CS6 users Camera Raw just adds new camera support.

This support includes recently introduced cameras from Canon, Casio, Fujifilm. Leica, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax and Sony. For the full list of supported cameras checkout this page at Adobe.com

Adobe Lightroom – Find Missing or Moved Folder and Photos

A question that I often see on Adobe’s Lightroom User to User forum and even personal emails relates to a ? badge appearing on photos  –  “What does it mean and how do I make it go away” The short answer to the question is that Lightroom no longer has access to the photos  marked with the ? badge.  So now that we know why – what is the solution? Well, it just happens that the underlying cause and solution have been around as long as Lightroom itself. In fact, such is the confusion it caused in the past that I wrote a tutorial (Find missing or moved folder) with the intention of helping Lightroom 2 through 4 users better understand why the issue occurs and how it can be easily fixed. The tutorial remains valid right through to Lightroom 5. That being said, there is now a twist to how Lightroom might indicate that a photo is missing. The twist is the use of a ! badge instead of ? and a new feature called Smart Previews.

With this latest update I’ve revised the screen shots and included some basic information on the use of Smart Previews. These can be used when the user has deliberately disconnected the original photos but still requires access to them to apply develop adjustments.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers

 I’m often asked which books I recommend for Lightroom and Photoshop. On the face of it it’s a fairly reasonable question but one that I struggle to answer without showing my bias.  How come?

Well,  since Lightroom 1.0 I have assisted Martin Evening with his Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers. My input has been fairly limited in so far as I act as his technical editor. Nevertheless, having read pretty much every Lightroom book available in the english language I can say that Martin’s is by far the most comprehensive. I wont pretend that it’s a book for beginners or even an easy read. No, this book is written with the intention of providing the reader with comprehensive information and tips on all aspects of Lightroom.

Lightroom was designed from the ground up with digital photographers in mind, offering powerful editing features in a streamlined interface that lets photographers import, sort, and organise their images. In this completely updated version Martin describes features in Lightroom 5 in detail from a photographer’s perspective.  He has been working with Lightroom from the beginning, monitoring the product’s development and providing valued feedback to Adobe. As a result, Martin knows the software inside and out, from image selection to image editing through image management to the final print. In this book he’ll teach you how to:

  • Work efficiently with images shot in raw or JPEG formats
  • Import photographs with ease and sort them according to your workflow
  • Create and manage a personal image and video library
  • Quickly apply tonal adjustments to multiple images
  • Integrate Lightroom with Adobe Photoshop
  • Export images for print or Web as digital contact sheets or personal portfolios
  • Make the most of new features in Lightroom 5, such as extended spot
  • removal, Upright™ corrections, and Smart Previews

The book can be obtained from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Photoshop Photography Programme

 Since announcing Photoshop CC last spring Adobe have faced a fair amount of criticism regarding their decision to move from a perpetual license to Creative Cloud, which is based on a monthly or annual payment plan.  Few were more irritated than photographers who feel that Creative Cloud has very little to offer them. In the aftermath of the initial announcement Adobe asked for user feedback and promised that they would not only listen to that feedback but act upon it.  The feedback came from a spectrum of our customers, from advanced professionals to casual enthusiasts. One common request was a solution specifically tailored for photographers. As promised, Adobe listened and at Photoshop World they announced a special offer for their loyal Photoshop customers. Beginning today, customers who own Photoshop CS3 or higher are eligible for a special Creative Cloud membership offer that includes all of the following for just $9.99/month (pricing varies outside of the US):

  • Photoshop CC
  • Lightroom 5
  • 20 GB of online storage
  • Behance ProSite
  • Access to the online video tutorials in Creative Cloud

This is the ongoing price for anyone who signs up by December 31, 2013. So if you sign up in October 2013, then when you renew in October 2014, the price will still be $9.99 per month. Adobe do not currently have any intention of raising this price.

More details of above announcement can be read at the Photoshop.com Blog