A New Lightroom and a Faster One

A Tale of Two Lightrooms. So what did we get?

The program we know as Lightroom has been rebranded/split by Adobe into two products. A fully cloud-based service and the standard desktop version (the one you're used to), now called Lightroom Classic. While Lightroom is now in the cloud, changes to either can be synced between programs. Watch the video below to learn more.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNBpWGJE5VMQuick Tip: If you are having trouble seeing the updates open the Adobe cloud program in your taskbar. Sign out of the program, then sign in to see the new updates.

A New Lightroom

A big update to the existing Lightroom web platform, we've got a cloud version of Lightroom for desktops, tablets, and phones. Image editing you want but in a simplified package that Adobe made for you to use on all your devices. This new Lightroom is a streamlined version that's simpler to use and ready for on the go work.

• Cloud Storage with Lightroom CC storing all your full-resolution photos, including RAW files, safely in the cloud (1TB of space comes with the plan, more is available).
• Adobe Sensei - No more keywording, or at least less, with a smart search using machine learning to find your photos. Want a bridge photo you took? Type in a bridge and all your bridge photos pop up, no work required.
• Sharing tools to push photos out to social media like Facebook or build a web gallery in a snap.
• Instead of a library photos will be stored in albums, think of this as collections in Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom Classic

The "New" Lightroom Classic is the same Lightroom you're used to, but with massive speed boost! After taking suggestions from users Adobe has overhauled Lightroom into a much speedier program, especially in the Develop module. (my early testing shows a significant increase in speed for some tasks while others remain fairly slow)

• Better, Faster, Stronger
  • Faster loading time
  • Faster import with "Embedded & Sidecar" option
  • Faster Smart Previews
  • Faster Switch to Develop
  • Faster Rending Images
  • Faster Scrolling images
  • Faster brush rendering
  • JUST FASTER... FINALLY

ONE NEW FEATURE

• New Edge Refinement - New quick selection masks for local adjustments using color and luminance range masking. Color masking lets you select a range of color, luminance lets you select by a certain brightness.  Watch the video above to see a demonstration of the new  masking.

Photoshop

Everything gets updates today. New easy access for LR photos, a new pen tool, tips and more:

• A new Learn panel, the first big step for those new or just starting with Photoshop with step by step tutorials for tools and basic editing. They've also included new tooltips with little images and animations to help you along.
• Lightroom photos will pull your photos from the cloud directly into Photoshop.
• Copy and paste multiple layers in one go, keeping their order and location.
• Support for 360 Degree image editing and Apple HEIF
• Curvature Pen Tool - For those that hated the pen tool, Adobe has a friendlier pen tool to get the curves you need.
• Brush updates with new management, stroke smoothing to prevent jitters, and more brushes.
• Photoshop also gained a slight performance boost. As well as Adobe improving all their algorithms for cleaner lines, better filters, upscaling, and more.

Adobe Plans

Lightroom comes in three flavors now. The regular Creative Cloud Photography Plan stays the same price but now gains 20GB of cloud storage. Existing Creative Cloud Photography Plans can switch to the new 1TB plan for more cloud storage and get $5 off for the first year.Despite the fact they promised they wouldn't,  Adobe Standalone products are gone with Lightroom 6 as the last version. This was the Lightroom software packaged separate, not requiring the monthly charge and did not include Photoshop. The current standalone software will get an update for the Nikon D850 at the end of the month with camera support updates for this year only.All-in-all it's an extensive update to existing programs, and new ones as well. The biggest improvement, being the speed boosts with Lightroom Classic people have been asking for since last year. The new Lightroom cloud system is an interesting update and we'll have to see what happens as Adobe continues to work on the platform.  

Lightroom CC plan

• Lightroom Cloud Only
• Adobe Spark
• Adobe Portfolio
• 1TB of cloud storage
• $9.99/mo

Photography plan

• Lightroom CC
• Lightroom Classic
• Photoshop CC
• Adobe Spark
• Adobe Portfolio
• 20GB of cloud storage
• $9.99/mo

Photography plan with 1TB cloud storage

• Lightroom CC
• Lightroom Classic CC
• Photoshop CC
• Adobe Spark
• Adobe Portfolio
• 1TB of cloud storage
• $19.99/mo ($14.99 for existing accounts)

Make Photos #001 - Long Exposure B&W

Part of a new series where I walk you through the capture and post processing of a photo!https://www.instagram.com/p/BODlpZPBypM/Watchhttps://youtu.be/VYD13WQnTd0 Gear Used in this VideoSony alpha a7r iiZeiss Batis 18mmNisi Filters CPL (part of the kit)MeFoto Travel Tripod CFFilmed with:Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark IIOlympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 

Made for Creators, Microsoft's New Line of Surface Products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jurc3SxztGwThe Microsoft Surface line just got a bit of an upgrade with a new Surface Studio desktop and an update to the Surface Pro series laptop. Oddly we've noticed the demo shows Lightroom mobile but we're bound to find out more as they are shipping relatively soon in November. If you've been looking for an upgrade to your aging system on paper both are expected to be great choices.

  

The big show stopper for this announcement is the Microsoft Surface Studio all-in-one desktop. First off, yes they basically copied an iMac, the design works why re-invent the wheel. What's different is this desktop shifts down to a 20 degree angle for better access to use it's touch screen, draw, or edit photos. A 28" 4.5K touchscreen makes for a heck of an editor but looking under the hood you can't dismiss the i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M graphics card, and 1TB SSHD. Then with more expensive models hosting an i7 with twice as much ram, 2TB SSHD, and even better graphics.As a companion peripheral to the Surface Studio we get the Surface Dial. Working with Windows 10 as a new way to scroll, zoom, and navigate. Setting it on the screen opens up an immersive environment with tools and options for the dial specific to the app your using. Using Photoshop? Set the dial on screen for tool and color options without having to get your mouse.Big brother is back with an update to the Surface Book. A powerful option last year, due to it's small size and strong processing power ratio it became the go to laptop for a ton of photographers. While the outside hasn't changed much since last year the biggest improvement is a 30% boost in battery life for up to 16 hours of use on one charge. With a new i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M you get even more speed in a small package outpacing the popular 13" MacBook Pro.Playing devils advocate overall the one thing that kills these is the price. If you can afford three grand for the studio or the surface book at $2,400 these are great options to up your editing game. In terms of processing specs a gaming laptop or 5K iMac ($1,799 vs $2,999... ouch) would beat these on paper for a fraction of the price. Being made for us the ergonomics of a tilting screen, surface pen, and immersive dial in a small format are the key selling points. For quality hardware in a seamless setup without having to pickup something like the Wacom Cintiq for touch input it's a good option... if you can afford them. As they just have released this new product it's expected future generations will benefit from a price drop as production advances.For photographers, artists, and the like it's another step forward after the Surface Pro made a giant leap into the market. Turn your desk into a studio, with a dial to boost your workflow, or on the go with a laptop that lasts forever on one charge and can do anything you need. When it comes to this new line of surface products they may be a bit pricey but you get your fair share of power, speed, and function to make your editing workflow seamless.Surface Studio - MicrosoftStore.com. Starts at $2,999 and available for pre-order today.Surface Dial - MicrosoftStore.com.  $99 on pre-order or available bundled with the Studio.Surface Book - MicrosoftStore.com. Pre-order today starting at $2,399. 

Up to Solving Adobe's Photoshop Mystery 2016?

The third annual Adobe Photoshop Mystery has started and it's up to you to take the challenge! Adobe teamed up with artist Matteo Bassini as Photoshop turns into an interactive game and shows the power Photoshop. Embrace the spirit of Halloween and give it a shot to see if you can save the kingdom.It won't be easy, find the secrets in 21 PSD files and over 1,000 layers to survive until Halloween. Using 330,000 lines of Action Script code Photoshop creates everything from clickable stories to magic at your command. Follow the harrowing story over the course of five chapters spread out till Monday.In 2014 we solved a murder in adobe's clue themed mystery.  Last year was a space themed challenge to save the world from a unknown illness.  This year you'll enter a medieval fantasy world, finding yourself the victim of an evil plot to destroy the king and the only hope to restore order to the kingdom.Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/Photoshop/ and download the PSD file at http://www.psmystery.com. Daily updates on Facebook will provide clues and more info until the final revel on Halloween. Fair warning between audio files and the massive amount of layers the download is a 279MB zip file.

Merge Multiple Fireworks Using Photoshop

Typically for smaller firework shows or shooting fireworks off at home you're going to run into having only one or two fireworks in a shot. Other times for larger shows you might run into that problem as the smoke builds up. Otherwise instead of flooding Facebook with 30 pictures you’d just like to have one photo that has a few of the best fireworks. Best part of this? If you took your photos right it’s super easy to do as well. There is a function in Photoshop called blend modes. Typically this is how one layer effects the layers under it. In this case we need the brighter part of the photo to stay but to get rid of the darker background. This is done with lighten. Lighten takes whatever it’s layer has that is brighter than the layers under it and displays only that information. It can be found by clicking the normal blend mode in the layers panel and scrolling down.In a bit more of a basic example here is a white, 50% grey, and black firework. When turned to lighten blending mode on 30% grey the two darker colors disappear while the white stays. What we’re doing is the same to hide the background and only show the firework. While it's commonly skipped over blending modes can do a lot to improve a photo if you put the time in to learn them. Multiply for example combines the active layer with the layer under it and multiplies the colors. This results in a added contrast and/or color change making things darker. This is useful for example when you'd like to effect contrast in a photo or lower exposure. Screen is it's opposite adjusting colors to get their lightest between them making your photo lighter by multiplying the inverse of the color below. Useful for effecting exposure or dodging.  Click here for more info on blending modes in Photoshop.As for a practical example. Take a photo you have that you like and want to add more fireworks to as below. Typically I start with an early one as you still get a bit of sky in your photo. Copy your extra firework to the photo. Then apply the lighten blend mode. And your done. As for fireworks that have a lighter background than their host you can adjust the shadows and blacks before hand and it will transfer over fine. Once you get that down you can do something like below. This is actually 3 photos for a composite. One with a higher ISO and slower speed to get lit trees. A blank sky exposed correctly to level it out. And a decent firework overlaid as the subject with its background darkened significantly.  The same method as above with just a bit of cloning to remove any leaves that moved between the two shots. 

Photoshop 2016 (2015.5) Performance Updates with New Tools

Today’s Photoshop CC 2016 update includes speed boosts and a few new tools to get the job done. Adobe’s main goal getting out this update will be speed based. Improvements were made in the installation time, brushes, fonts, and content aware fill. In the next few updates will all be focused on making the program a bit faster considering how large is has gotten. One warning though for those with plug-ins, you will have to reinstall them all. As its a full new version of Photoshop they will be erased. Preferences and presets will all be migrated over to the new version. Check out adobe’s articles on the new features!Selecting and masking part of a photoA new space and tools for making selections and masking out parts of your photos. This gives a few more options for making a smooth mask that you might otherwise have trouble getting such as hair or clothing from portraits. Crop and rotate freely with Content-Aware CropCrop and rotate as we’re used to, but now with content aware filling. Any blank space from rotating your photo or extending past the edge of the photo the software will automatically attempt to fill in. Adjust a person's facial features with Face-Aware LiquifyLiquify tools now have face recognition in them to make adjustments for portraits without as much work. Beyond turning someone into a chipmunk it should be a useful tool for adjusting portraits where needed. Match fonts from an imageWhile less of a photo tool for us this is still useful if you're working with graphic design on a project. If you’ve ever taken over a project you’ll frequently get asked to continue with a style from a previous work. Then you’ve got to identify a font by sight or using an image uploader. This does it in photoshop to use fonts similar to what you have installed and options from Adobe’s typekit online.  

The update is currently live as of now, the file is somewhat large as its a new version so it will take a fair bit of time to download.

Photoshop Tips: Cloning Out Distracted Elements

https://youtu.be/GtXLlPRylTESometimes you end up with distracting objects in your composition. Christina takes a few moments to show you just how easy it is to erase those from existence. Follow Christina on Instagram Wacom Tablet Mentioned -Buy from B&H Photo Video

Lightroom CC / 6 New Features

Now Official  - Scroll down for stand alone pre-order links or just buy in CC subscription. Your update will just auto-magically happen today. CC subscription is $9.99/mo but B&H is offering a SPECIAL Deal - $99/year just $8.25/mo gives you access to Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom mobile and Web Galleries!  Click here for the B&H $99/yr deal There will be two versions Lightroom CC (bundled with Photoshop at $9.99 a month and provides access to mobile apps and web galleries) and to the relief of many, a standalone version for $149.00.   It will be released today.   All features listed except the mobile apps and web sync are available in both versions.

New Features in Lightroom CC and Lightroom 6

Panorama Merge: Stitch together multiple images, including raw files, to create stunning panorama shots.HDR Merge: Create natural-looking or surreal images from extremely high-contrast scenes. Using HDR merge, you can easily combine multiple shots taken with different exposure settings into a single high dynamic range image.Filter Brush: Precisely control which parts of your image are affected by the Graduated or Radial filters. Now you can use a brush to edit the filter’s mask, adding or subtracting filter effects wherever you want.Advanced video slideshows: Combine still images, video and music with professional effects like pan and zoom and match transition to beat.Significant improvements in performanceFacial Recognition: Easily find and organize photos of family and friends with new Facial Recognition features in Lightroom CC. Specific Updates to CC - Better sharing/sync to the web/mobile applications

Lightroom on mobile

• Android Tablet Support: Previously only available on Android phones, now you can sync, edit, organize and share on Android tablets as well.
• Native DNG support on Android: Android 5.0 (aka “Lollipop”) now allows you to shoot photos in raw, and saves them as DNG files. You can now import those DNG files directly from your Android device.
• Android SD card support: You can now specify local storage to an SD card rather than internal device storage.
• TIFF support on iOS: If you’re creating TIFF files on your iOS device, you can now import and edit them using Lightroom.
• Improved crop experience on iOS: We simplified the number of tiles in our crop UI so you can now easily find aspect ratios, and we added an auto-straighten function, directly leveraging the Upright technology.

Personally I love these androidBuy Standalone Lightroom 6 from B&H Photo (no mobile access)CC subscription is $9.99/mo but B&H is offering a SPECIAL Deal - $99/year just $8.25/mo gives you access to Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom mobile and Web Galleries!  Click here for the B&H $99/yr dealLightroom for Beginners: our training materials will be updated with Lightroom 6 changes in the next few weeks. Buy now and you have access to future updates.

Photoshop 1.0 - We have come a long way baby!

The folks at Creative Live asked some photographers and photoshop experts to use Photoshop 1.0- The results made me laugh!

25 years of Adobe Photoshop

Yesterday Photoshop celebrated 25 years and adobe released this nifty music video Related:- Lightroom 6 is coming March 9th. Read about the new features.-My Lightroom Guide Ep1 is OUT. Just $2.50 for a limited time.Fun Poll:[yop_poll id="1"]

Cheap Photoshop Alternative - Affinity Beta

Affinity has announced a photoshop alternative that costs just $50 and is currently in beta and FREE.

Photoshop and Lightroom present a powerful combination that provides most photographers with everything they need for post processing. However, with Adobe's switch to a subscription based model for Photoshop, some photographers have been looking for alternatives. Personally I think 9.99/mo Lightroom/Photoshop is an excellent deal but I do appreciate that for some the idea of renting software doesn't sit well. There are alternatives - Photoshop Elements, Pixelmator (mac only), GIMP and now Affinity. Affinity is currently in beta and 100% free! Affinity seems to be a strong Photoshop alternative with very friendly RAW editing built-in (similar to Lightroom). I know Photoshop is very capable of working with RAW files but dislike the floating window and I miss my Lightroom panels. Affinity is much more similar to Lightroom in the panel and RAW editing respect.  The program is a serious Beta - meaning it is still missing some functionality and could be a bit buggier than you expect.  Once out of Beta the program will sell for $50 on the Mac Store. No word on a Windows version.  The signup for the Beta program takes just a second and automatically sends you a link to download the program. Sign up here.Affinity's Announcement VideoAffinity Photo Beta Has Landed from MacAffinity on Vimeo. 

Some of the features of Affinity Photo Beta

The New Document dialog feels fresh and smart.  Types of new documents include web, as shown, print, print(press-ready), photo and devices(resolutions optimized for popular mobile screen resolutions) You have several different workspace options, Affinity calls these PersonasThe Develop Persona provides you with Lightroom-like panels for working with RAW images.  At this time you can ONLY work with RAW files in the Develop Persona.RAW File loaded into the Develop PersonaA closer look at all the panels available in the Develop PersonaFeature rich and capable, very similar to the develop module in Lightroom My Thoughts on the Affinity Beta - I Like:

• $50 for a program that feels feature packed and all updates for two years will be free
• Immediately the user interface felt comfortable and at the same time less annoying than Photoshop
• All the tools I use in Photoshop are here and seem to work well- clone stamp, healing brush etc.

I Dislikes:

• No integration with Lightroom. It is very easy for me to take a photo from Lightroom to Photoshop and back. I can also do this with the Nik system from Google but there doesn't seem to be an easy way to get an edited image from Lightroom into this program without exporting from LR?

The signup for the Beta program takes just a second and automatically sends you a link to download the program. Sign up here.

Lightroom 6 - Rumour Roundup

  UPDATE 2-19-15: Lightroom 6 will be out in March - Complete feature list here UPDATE 2-16-2015: Lightroom 6 will be arriving in March(latest rumors). The easiest solution is to buy the Photoshop/Lightroom Creative Cloud for Photographers at 9.99/mo. This will provide you the full version of Photoshop, Lightroom and Lightroom mobile. When Lightroom 6 is released you will automatically be upgraded.  Click here to purchase Creative Cloud for Photographers at 9.99/moUPDATE 1-15-2015: Lightroom 6 will require a 64 bit OSFrom the Adobe Blog

In order to leverage the latest operating system features and technologies, Lightroom 6 will require Mac OS X 10.8 or above, or a 64 bit version of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. Focusing our work on more modern operating systems and architectures allows us to spend more time adding functionality requested by users, including additional advanced imaging features and improving general application performance.

If you are on Mac OS X 10.7, or a 32 bit version of Windows, you will continue to be able to install and run Lightroom 5 and use Lightroom mobile. However, you will not be able to install Lightroom 6 until you upgrade to a supported operating system.

If you are currently running Mac OS X 10.7, Apple offers a free upgrade (here) to a more current operating system. For Windows users, Microsoft has a how-to reference (here) to help you determine whether you are running a 32 or 64 bit version of Windows.

Original Post -Adobe Lightroom 6. I had thought we would get some info in June 2014 at Adobe's Creative Cloud announcements but all we heard was a reiteration of the mobile versions and how well they worked with Lightroom 5 (Technically 5.5 for all the mobile stuff). So when will we hear about Lightroom 6?Current information from the Cyberland site points to a October Beta with a full release in March 2015.What features will we get in Lightroom 6?Lightroom 6 features that were recently revealed by Cyberland are simple UI tweaks that makes things more streamlined compared to 5.5 but the biggest "features" are the stability and performance enhancements. With reports that Lightroom 6 has been greatly optimized running almost 70 to 100 percent faster than Adobe Lightroom 5.5!The other big question in my mind - will this be a standalone release or only available through the now permanent $9.99/mo plan that provides Photoshop and Lightroom.What features would you like to see in Lightroom 6?

$9.99 for Photoshop/Lightroom - Announcements from Adobe.

A handful of big photo announcements came out of Adobe's presentation on Wednesday. - See all my Adobe related announcement updates yesterday

1. Lightroom mobile is now available on iPhones (as well as iPads) and allows editing, star rating and flagging of your Lightroom Catalog. Any changes you make to images on any device- phone, tablet, desktop- are synced to all other devices.  I have previously demoed the Lightroom mobile editing. No word or mention of any Android development for these apps.
2. The $9.99/mo deal is here to stay - You get Photoshop and Lightroom CC - which means as updates happen you get them, along with 2GB of online storage (this is down from the 20GB offered in the more expensive packages) If you are currently paying for the more expensive plan you can downgrade at no penalty.
3. The focus masking features which we talked about in last week's podcast looks nifty and useful.
4. Adobe has released a new app for the iPad - Photoshop Mix. Call it an image manipulation tool, not quite an editor though it does offer some neat compositing and layer like abilities.  It is free and is capable of syncing with Lightroom collections as well as your camera roll.  Get Photoshop Mix from iTunes