lightroom
The online training space just got a little more crowded
Yesterday Chase Jarvis, the Seattle photographer that has taken over the photography world, announced a partnership with the folks from the CreativeTechs webinars called CreativeLive. They have announced a live workshop series that will be taught by some of the most respected photographers out there.
I’ve checked out the webinars from CreativeTechs before and they are really good. As in any other workshop the teacher is the key to a good learning experience. They have some great teachers and some not so great but when they are good they are worth your time (check out the John Greengo, Fundamentals of Digital Photography).
So now we as photography enthusiasts have many options to learn online. There’s Lynda.com who’s the original online training site. They have every imaginable course you can imagine on software plus a few interesting profiles from famous creatives.
Then there’s Kelbytraining.com. With Scott Kelby as the driving force behind this site there’s an amazing selection of photography and digital retouching courses. Both these sites have a monthly plan with no strings attached so you can try them for a month and see if you like them.
I’m excited to check out the new CreativeLive webinars announced by Chase Jarvis and see what they are like. Online learning is a great way to learn from home but of course for learning in person with a teacher I recommend you check out my own workshops. Having a teacher right there showing you how to use your camera or computer and being able to ask questions is one of the many advantages, check them out.
Lightroom 3 Beta
Yes, it’s been busy the last couple of weeks around here and although there is a lot of stuff I will post about soon, this news needed to be shared. Adobe has released Lightroom 3 Beta to the general public. This means that you can download a copy right now and start testing it and sending feedback directly to Adobe. Some of the new features that stand out for me from the brief overview I did are the following:
The import window is totally redone. It’s more “workflow-ish” than the previous version (yes I just created that word and I like it). You get a column on the left for your source of images you would like to import, a center area where the images will preview and a right column that shows the possible destinations for your imported images.
At the top of the import window you get all the possible ways your images can be imported (copied, moved or converted to DNG). The new window also has a minimize mode where you just see the basic options and no previews which works great with another new feature which allows you to save presets of how you import images. More on that on a future post.
The slideshow module now allows you to save your slideshows as video files. A simple menu allows you to select the size of the video that you want and it takes 1 click to save. I’m glad to see an iPhone optimized option as a default since I’ve been planning on creating a video portfolio for my iPhone and this will make it super easy to update it with new content.
The last one that intrigued me just by looking at a couple of demo movies online is the concept of Publishing that has been introduced. I’m not clear on exactly how this works but it seems that you can publish (export?) collections of photos to a folder (or iPhone / device) and keep track of what has been sent to that destination. It sounds to me like a versioning system but will have to dig deeper to see what it does.
Now I’m off to explore some more options and also to send feedback to Adobe. And that specifically is worth mentioning. Adobe’s policy of opening their beta program to the public is something I feel is greatly appreciated by their customers. The feedback is really taken into account to perfect the final version of Lightroom. It’s something I don’t feel Apple does as well and that I believe Apple should learn from Adobe.
Lightroom and Camera Raw updated
Both Lightroom and Camera Raw from Adobe have been updated. Nothing earth shattering unless you use one of the cameras they added support to. Some small bug fixes were done including one with the crop tool that I’ve personally bumped into. Time to go update, boot up Lightroom or click here to check it out at the Adobe site
Epson Print Academy
I’m currently teaching an advanced Photoshop class and this summer I’ll be teaching a class about using and converting Raw files, for that reason I’m constantly trying to keep up to date on all things Photoshop. Tomorrow here in Vancouver, the Epson Print Academy rolls into town with some cool people appearing on stage and I’m attending Track 2 of the tour.
Jeff Schewe, Greg Gorman and Andrew Rodney are scheduled to be there tomorrow. I’m also looking forward to checking out the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre where the event will take place.
Jeff Schewe is a photographer and Photoshop guru from Chicago. He is a master at Photoshop and from his bio I see that his first digital photo assignment happened in 1984! What could THAT have been? I mean Apple’s Quicktake camera released 10 years later in 1994 was 0.3 megapixels (640×480)!!
Greg Gorman is known for his amazing work shooting hollywood stars and now has an amazing gig as host of his own workshop for photographers that takes place at his Mendocino, California home.
Andrew Rodney is a colour management specialist that has worked with Photoshop since version 2.5 and wrote what is probably the bible for all aspects of colour management on a computer.
I’m hoping that the sponsorship that Epson offers on this tour takes a bit of a back seat to the actual information I can use. To use a geeky phrase, I’m hoping the “signal to noise ratio” is in favor of useful information and that it’s not an Epson commercial every 15 minutes. I’ll report back on that.
At the time of this writing there is still room available to join the workshop which runs from 9:30 am to 5 pm tomorrow. The cost is $99.oo CDN with lunch included. Clicking here will take you to the sign up page.
Invoicing and a discount on Lightroom
I’ve been working on my bookkeeping process trying to learn as much as possible so things go a little smoother next year when taxes are due. In that process I revisited my invoicing system and looked into a couple of options available to freelancers and small businesses. Here are 2 cool examples.
Billings 3.0
For over two years I’ve been using an application called Billings from Marketcircle based in Toronto. Version 2 of the software was a bit clunky in my opinion so I signed up for the beta of version 3 and after a couple of months they had listened to users and had made big improvements. The version you can download now is version 3 and it’s really good. It’s a time tracking application that does invoicing and creates reports. It also uses the Mac address book and overall it has a great interface and enough power to be used as my main invoicing / time tracking system. They have promised an iPhone application to go alongside with Billings which I assume will track time and will let you see the status of your projects which I think will be fantastic.
The only thing that could still be improved is the tool used to design your own invoices. If you are happy with the samples they have, you are good to go but if you want to brand and modify your own it takes some knowledge of how it works and in my experience, a lot of trial and error.
I wish Marketcircle would crate a very simple accounting application that would work with Billings. This would be the perfect solution for a freelancer or small business. Right now I still have to work with a separate accounting application (which I’ll talk about in another post). I highly recommend you check out the demo of Billings. It’s a great invoicing application that tracks time, creates reports and lets you know the status of all your projects. Right now they have a reduced price promotion so you can get it for $40 instead of $60.
The Invoice Machine
This is a web application that almost got me to switch from Billings. The Invoice Machine’s interface is beautiful and couldn’t be easier to use. It’s a free service if you are doing minimal invoicing (3 invoices a month) if you need more you can move up to a paid plan. They do time tracking and actually have a dashboard widget to track it. It works with Basecamp if you are a user of that service. You can receive payments via Paypal and send invoices as PDF just like Billings.
I really liked the service and love the simplicity of the application. The idea of being able to invoice from any computer on the internet and the ease of use are incredibly attractive but for me the issue really was the price. Since I need more than 3 invoices a month I would have to use their Medium plan which is $12 a month. After 5 months I would be paying more than the cost of purchasing Billings. It’s not a huge expense but that and the fact that I couldn’t modify the invoices to what I need were the deciding factor. Other than that I think it’s a great option.
So I’m sticking with Billings 3 for invoicing, project tracking and time tracking. I can’t wait to see what the iPhone app looks like and what I can do with it. Both of these applications have a free demo you can use so if you do let me know your thoughts. For accounting I’m testing out a web service that looks really good. I’ll be posting a review of it when I work with it some more. Now back to tweaking my invoice format and actually sending a couple out the virtual door!
** Just found out that Adobe is offering Lightroom for $25 off the regular price. The offer is valid until May 31 so if you haven’t purchased it yet you can save some money. Here’s the link to the North American store
Lightroom 2 rocks!
With the recent release of Lightroom version 2 my workflow and ability to do more without visiting Photoshop has improved tremendously. There are tons of reviews and articles online that will show what all the new features are about so I won’t go into that here; what I want to share is the stuff I’m personally using most.
First the Adjustment Brush. This is the single most important feature for me right now. With it I have the ability to selectively change any area of my image and see the results in real time. Things you can change with the adjustment brush include: exposure, contrast, colour, clarity etc. This is huge! Quick corrections that would have required a trip to photoshop are now done in Lightroom.
Sharpening has also been one of my most used features since I can export directly to online services from Lightroom (see below) and sharpen my images as they are exported.
Nested and Smart Collections deserves a mention because I’m a big fan of creating groups of shots that might have the same theme but different adjustments. All of the collections that have the same original files can now belong to a parent collection for easy retreival.
The Filter Bar at the top of the grid view is a big improvement for searching for images. I can quickly turn on and off different criteria to search my library very quickly
Finally something I just discovered that has been an huge time saver. Export to online sites. I’ve recently been more active in showing my work on Flickr and Facebook (after debating the eternal issue of theft of images vs. showing my work to more people…) and I found that there are 2 plugins that work with Lightroom v.2 that automagically send images to both of these social networking sites as well as many others. All this thanks to the new plugin architecture that Lightroom 2 offers.
The Flickr export plugin created by Jeffrey Friedl offers the same features for uploading as other stand alone programs but directly from Lightroom. It sends images to specific sets if desired and has every option you can think of when exporting images, (size, quality, tags, viewing limits, titles etc.) It’s simple to use and has saved me so much time when I want to quickly send shots to Flickr. Did I mention its FREE. Yep, free, so a big thanks to Jeffrey for his work.
The Facebook plugin is also from Jeffrey and although it’s in the beta stage I couldn’t believe that it worked perfectly the first time I used it. Zero problems and worked as advertised. You select your images, go to the export panel, select the options you want (including the ability to create a new album on facebook!) and off they go. Really amazing stuff.
Adobe Lightroom Beta 2
Last week Adobe announced the new version of Lightroom as a beta for anyone to try. Some of the new features look great like output sharpening, localized corrections like dodge and burn and probably one of the most requested features since the debut of Lightroom, dual monitor support.
This new version is not compatible with the current version meaning your libraries should stay separate since they don’t guarantee you will be able to upgrade them when version 2 is finished, but I’m still going to try it out with a few images to check out the new features.
You can get the trial at the Adobe Labs website
A good overview can be found at the Photoshop News website
Back in Vancouver
Fighting the flu that was everywhere in south florida. Slowly getting back into action. Not much more to report other than a quick bit of news regarding Adobe Lightroom. It seems Adobe released an update to Lightroom which wasn’t fully baked yet and they have pulled it from their website. They say a new version of this update will be available soon. For now they recommend that people who installed it, roll back to the previous version of Lightroom. More information in the O’Reilly Lightroom blog which by the way is a great source of information.
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