Whether tacit or not, Adobe seems to have listened to the concerns voiced by many in the creative community over their impending pricing and licensing policy changes.  As you may recall, I ran three posts late last year, first calling attention to the new policy.  Secondly, as discussed on Scott Kelby’s video podcast “The Grid“, called “Why Scott Kelby and Crew are Wrong“  Finally, I started running a poll to tally people’s thoughts on the policy shift.  Scott himself ran an entire post as an Open Letter to Adobe shortly thereafter, both addressing the issue squarely, as well as offering an alternative.  Apparently, Adobe was listening!

A news post came to my attention a few weeks ago, and while in the midst of the holiday fracas, I did not want to minimize both the significance and importance of this change. So, with the holidays behind us and a new year ahead, I’d like to give some kudos to Adobe for recognizing the painful effect their new policy would have on legacy customers.  They’ve made a change to their plans, allowing CS3 and Cs4 customers to upgrade at a reduced pricing schedule (very much in keeping with what Scott Kelby suggested), thus easing the cost of upgrading for them.  The full release is here:

Adobe Special Upgrade Announcement

For those not wishing to follow in-post links, here’s the full text of that announcement:

 With these great new releases coming in the first half of 2012, we want to make sure our customers have plenty of time to determine which offering is best for them. Therefore, we’re pleased to announce that we will offer special introductory upgrade pricing on Creative Suite 6 to customers who own CS3 or CS4. This offer will be available from the time CS6 is released until December 31, 2012. More details on this offer, as well as any introductory offers for existing customers to move to Creative Cloud membership, will be announced when CS6 and Creative Cloud are released later this year.

The only caveat here is that we still do not know when the CS6 suite will be released (well, some of us do…but as they say, those that don’t know guess, and those that do know – can’t say a word!).  All we can ascertain from this is that CS6 is coming in the first half of the year.  No surprise there, but if it is released closer to June, then that shortens the window for Cs3 and CS4 customers to take advantage of the reduced cost upgrade that Adobe is offering.  Still, better to not look a gift horse in the mouth.  Adobe has heard our concerns, and responded in what I think will be an appropriate manner.  While we don’t know the specifics of the pricing offer, we do know that they have heard us and are giving customers an opportunity to upgrade for a limited time.  So, start saving pennies now to make your eventual upgrade that much easier to swallow!

Of course, Cs5 or Cs5.5 customers will be able to upgrade at normal rates, so this announcement doesn’t really affect you – but it’s a welcome sign that companies and and do listen to their customer base!  So, thanks Adobe for listening!

• Maps Module *yawn* Other software does this already
• Books Module *yawn* Should have been there in a 3.x update imho
• Shadow/Highlights tools to add fake dynamic range for the HDR crowd (surprise surprise) – nice enough, but not enough to entice to buy
• Video file support *shrug* How much would one use LR for video anyway?
• Soft proofing *meh* I don’t print out of LR much anymore as my vendor takes care of prints for me….
• Adjustment brush additions *meh* While the additions are welcome, again, hardly incentive to pony up for this…
• Email photos direct from Lightroom *Huh?*  I know, this is surprising that it took this long to incorporate something this simple into the 4th generation of a product line

Will I buy the update?  Probably yes, because I am already “current”, and the price of not updating is more expensive long term ($99 versus $300)…  Also, in the interest of keeping current tutorials and such here on the blog for the readership is also present, so, that kind of colors my decision-making process.  For what they are releasing though – and the plethora of already existing outlets to do these additional tasks, I am not sure the regular photographer types will be justified in the upgrade pricing of $99-$120 (especially considering the economy right now…)

What about everyone else?  Worth the upgrade or not?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Fair warning – this is a long post….much longer than what I normally post – but it’s that important!  Please take the time to read this whole thing because you will have a complete and clear understanding of these odd terms like Subscription Service, In Perpetuity,  and Creative Cloud.  You’ll understand the differences, and see why the new pricing scheme is not a good decision for anyone – personal or professional businesses!

So, in the interests of getting it right, I went back and listened to it several times, finally writing a transcript of it (which you can read here.  Here’s the nuts and bolts though of what they had to say…

[Scott] And that’s my guess.  I haven’t talked to Adobe on this.  Nobody in Adobe’s pricing dept. said this.  I can imagine the reason why Adobe did this is a couple of things:

1. I…and this is where all the controversy is, I don’t think it’s the pricing so much, I haven’t heard anybody gripe about the price it’s like $50 a month and you get everything they do. You get everything, right? You get like the whole Master Collection.  Again, I didn’t look at all the numbers, so I don’t …I could be a little off.

[Matt]  It’s ballpark and if you add up what it would cost you to buy the Master Collection, it actually in some ways can save you money.

They are looking at the Creative Cloud service, not the subscription pricing.  Let me state that again, unequivocally:

They are confusing the subscription model with the Creative Cloud stuff.

These are two different things, so let’s get that on the table right away.  The subscription service is not $50 a month!  What’s the difference?  It’s easy! A subscription service is something you pay a small amount for every month (or week, or year…whatever, you are a subscriber.  How is that different from the current licensing?  The current licensing (whether by download or media – it doesn’t matter)…means you own that license forever.  In legal terms, it’s called an in perpetuity license.  You’ve bought that license and are entitled to use it forever!  Renting a house (or apartment) is far more expensive than buying one.  Renting (or leasing) a car – the same.  Would you rent a camera?  For one time uses, sure…but who wants to use that model if you plan on doing anything regularly?  The answer:  no one!  From Adobe’s perspective (or any provider for that matter), it’s a great business model because it makes the renter more money.  The same holds true here for Adobe!  Don’t believe me?  Take a look…

We are assuming that we are starting from an upgrade perspective – people that already own a CS5 license.  The following chart is based on the cost to upgrade an in perpetuity license (assuming that doesn’t change…) and shows what that same cost would be under the subscription model based on a 24 month cycle:

An important qualifier here – Adobe is also moving to an alternating schedule whereby dot releases are put out in alternating years to full version releases:

This is why you are renting on a 24 month schedule.  It’s also why there is no way that renting anything would cost you less.  They said they hadn’t had the time to look into it.  Several others have.  In their defense, the 5 minute bit was full of qualifications – Adobe didn’t tell us, we don’t know, we can only guess…all that sorta stuff, which is fine in and of itself.  But how can someone say with a straight face that renting costs less than owning?  Seriously.  Take any basic business course or economics course.  The pricing factor aside (which is already been demonstrated as exorbitant…) at the end of renting – you own nothing!

How is the subscription model a better model for anyone besides Adobe?  Scott and crew answered with the following:

“[Matt] The biggest problem I see, there’s gonna be a barrier to entry for someone who is on Cs3 or CS4.

[Scott] Especially hobbyists

[Matt] That’s who I’m really talking about.  For a company I think…it’s not just better for Adobe…to put in a subscription model because now they know how much they are gonna take in every year…but now a company knows exactly how much money you’re gonna spend each month on software.  So it’s easier for a company.

Hobbyists though, ya know, it’s hard to swallow six or seven hundred dollars…

[Scott] A year…

[Matt]  And then go into the subscription model too…

[Scott]  Oh no no…you’ve gotta upgrade…it depends on what you have…if you have the Suite..I don’t know…

[Matt]  It does get, it can get hairy…”

As you can see – it’s not that hairy – it doesn’t matter what you own: CS2-Cs5 will cost more to go to a subscription model than it would to stay on an in perpetuity license.  One more time for clarity, here’s where Scott Kelby and Crew got it wrong:

They are confusing the subscription model with the Creative Cloud.

Not only is it not that complicated – even for businesses, it’s very easy to extrapolate out the Total Cost of Ownership over time and see how this is not a good economic move for anyone (unless you are Adobe).  With all due respect to Scott and crew – I would ask them if they will switch to the subscription model?  My guess is no.  They also provided, in my estimation, a pretty lame explanation for why Adobe is changing their policy.  Here’s what they said:

“[Scott]I’ve been getting so many people asking about Adobe’s new pricing and all that stuff.

Adobe does not call us and ask what we think about pricing.  We learned when everyone else did.  I haven’t had any time to really look into it.  I think there are some good things about it.  I think the subscription model is really great, and by the way, you might as well get used to the subscription model, because it’s the wave of the future. You’re going to be subscribing to everyone’s software.  Especially when the big people like Adobe start moving into that thing.  I think the days of you going to the store and buying off the shelf – it’s either going to be direct download or it’s going to be subscription based.  And everyone wants the subscription model because it gives you revenue all year long ya know

[Matt]   Well,  it’s predictable they know Jan through December what they are going to get.”

Huh?  So they can get revenue year round?  They do already!  Different folks buy at different times…it’s called effective management of resources.  This isn’t about regular revenue – it’s about more revenue!  And we all know Adobe isn’t hurting.

That isn’t on the NAPP gang though – that’s just Adobe greed.  But I do think where Scott and crew are misunderstanding the outcry is that they think we are upset over the subscription offering.  It’s not that we are against the subscription offering per se.  It’s the exclusive and disingenuous way that people are being set up into that option.  Let me state more unequivocally what I think is wrong:

1.  The sudden elimination of 3-versions back upgrade options.  The solution to this is rather than just cutting it off immediately, to phase it out.  (This was posted in the comments from last week here.)

Since there was no major outcry when Adobe said that only 3 versions back could upgrade you would think that if they wanted to do this to go 2 versions back for CS6. Then they could offer a graduated sliding scale something like this:

Upgrade 2 versions back. Upgrade price $189.
CS3 and CS2 Upgrade at $249.00
Older Versions Upgrade at $329.00

Every Quarter or so offer older versions a 20% discount if purchased directly from Adobe.com

2.  For those that want the subscription program, fine, but I am here to tell you from a financial perspective:  It is a horrible idea for anyone…personal or professional!  The TCO is 4x what it would be for an in perpetuity license, and if you ever end the subscription program for yourself or your company – you have nothing left to work off of. It’s like renting.  For most outfits, that makes no sense for any software (or hardware) used on a regular basis.  Now if I had a one time need for In Design or something, that’s another story – but we are talking regular use here.  Heck, I’ll rent glass I can’t afford, but I also am not using that glass every day!  Only for 2 or 3 days.

3.  The last part I have a beef with is whether this will ripple over to other products.  We don’t know yet, but I can only assume that Lightroom and Acrobat are soon to follow if this subscription service takes off.  The installation base for Acrobat is far more extensive – going into regular businesses, not just creative businesses, and the impact there could be dire.  I suspect Adobe is merely giving an indication of what’s to come by testing their leading products in this model.  Unless we want to see everyone adopt this method of sucking that much more from our own wallets – we need to tell them to stop now!

So, chime in now, and share on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus – as well as to Adobe.  I gave out links on how to do this here.  Here’s the on-going poll too if you don’t want to comment.  Speak up now and let Adobe know how you feel.  We still have a chance to change their minds.

EDITOR NOTE:  This post was written and published before I had a chance to read Scott’s Open Letter to Adobe on his blog today.  That letter pretty much takes Scott and Crew off the hook – they are advocating on our behalf and I’ve already given my accolades to Scott over there.  Please read that post as well!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

*****

Be forewarned and be smart – Adobe has announced a change in their pricing model which will have serious implications for the enthusiast/hobbyist photographers!  I picked this up from the NAPP community, which took me eventually to this link on the Adobe site:

“For customers who prefer to remain on the current licensing model, we will continue to offer our individual point products and Adobe Creative Suite editions as perpetual licenses. With regards to upgrades, we are changing our policy for perpetual license customers. In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions). If our customers are not yet on those versions, we’re offering a 20% discount through December 31, 2011 which will qualify them for upgrade pricing when we release CS6.”

In other words – if you don’t want to rent it, they are forcing you to now upgrade every single time a new full release comes out!  I have to go on record here as saying that while this certainly makes good business sense for them – this is going to be a very expensive change for the enthusiast and hobbyist photographers out there.  The dialog on the NAPP forums has been quite passionate already, and I am sure the larger photography community will react similarly.  ETA: The comments have (not surprisingly) been closed but there are other outlets available – see below…

Before it’s too late, be sure to share your thoughts with Adobe on this policy change that will have a serious impact on many of us!  Think of it – paying $50 a month over a 12 month period is paying roughly $600 – for something you won’t own in the end!  Think of the new pricing model as the equivalent of leasing a car, renting an apartment, or any other situation where you end up with nothing but money out of pocket and nothing to show for it in the end.  These models always benefit the company and never really benefiting the purchaser (or should I say renter?)!

It’s not often I get on a soap box and encourage people to take an active stance against something, but this is just a bad move on the part of Adobe.  There are a couple ways you can reach out to Adobe and let them know your thoughts.  One NAPP member has started a thread in the Adobe community forums (and from what I gather, they do listen there…), and when one of the senior VP’s at Adobe (Bryan O’Neal Hughes) wrote a guest post on Scott Kelby’s blog, he shared his email address: bhughes@adobe.com.  I would encourage you all to use both methods to communicate with Adobe how much you oppose this policy change.  Other outlets that will get attention include:

John Nack: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/  and his email is jnack@adobe.com
Lightroom Journal: http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/
Terry White: http://terrywhite.com/techblog/and his email is twhite@adobe.com
Julianne Kost: http://jkost.com/and her email is jkost@adobe.com

While I grant you that Adobe has built some amazing software, and is definitely the standard by which all others are measured, there are alternatives out there that are cheaper (Elements sells for $90), or even free (have you heard of GIMP?).  In my humble opinion, there are many much more feasible options going forward if Adobe insists on what I would call nothing more than price gouging in the absence of healthy competition.  Sound off now or you may lose the ability to even get them to listen ever again!  If you want to write, but don’t know what to say, get a text document here to copy/paste into your email program.

For those that wish to just post their thoughts here – I will be compiling an email to Adobe and send it off to Bryan and the rest at the end of the month to let them know just how vocal the photography community is and why this policy is a bad idea, so if nothing else, at least share your thoughts and concerns here – you will have a voice to the extent that I am able!

*****

Keep in mind, I am not being critical of their product line at all – I love my Adobe products!  Lightroom and CS5 have made my work flow so streamlined and efficient where I would otherwise be flailing in the breeze.  It also bears mentioning that Adobe has sponsored giveaways in the past (although after this post I am not sure that will happen again).  I also understand that Adobe has to make money and that they spend a lot of time on R&D and they should be compensated for that.  But there are better ways to do business than this….

Keyboard shortcuts are great ways to improve your efficiency when working on post production.  Here’s a couple that I use in Lightroom to help improve things so I can get my processing done, and get out and back to shooting that much quicker!

CMD/CONTROL+8

This takes me all the way down the Develop Module to Camera Calibration.  If I ever want to make adjustments to which profile to use (typically I use Camera Standard, but it’s always fun to experiment), this gets me there a lot quicker than scrolling with my mouse or tablet!

R

Yup, that’s it – just the letter R.  From the Library Module, this will take you to the Develop Module, turn on the crop tool and show you how you currently have your image cropped for composition.  That’s it – one letter, no fuss no muss!

Module Switching

A super slick way to move between modules is to use your Command key (CTRL Key on Windows) and the ALT key along with the number for each module.  It’s super easy to remember too:

Library = CMD/CTRL+ALT+1

Develop = CMD/CTRL+ALT+2

Slideshow = CMD/CTRL+ALT+3

Print = CMD/CTRL+ALT+4

Web = CMD/CTRL+ALT+5

That’s it – 3 easy ways to improve your work flow with Lightroom shortcuts!  Wawnt some more?  Check out the full detailed reference guide straight from Adobe here.  What ways have you found to improve your own work flow?  There’s tons out there, so share your own in the comments!  Thanks for stopping in and we’ll see you here again next time!

So, after years and years of advice and instruction on maintaining hard drive redundancy, and the benefits of upgrading from time to time, I finally am following my own advice and upgrading my venerable Macbook Pro.  After a screamingly good deal came out for laptop disk drives locally, I went out and snagged a 750GB 7200 RPM hard drive from MicroCenter and brought it home.  I also picked up a copy of Mac OS X.6 since my previous upgrade came through a friends DVD who was no longer living in the area.  All told, I am in for a little over $100 – not too shabby!  However, as they say, the Devil’s in the Details!

I’ve changed out lots of hard drives in my time…after all, it’s no secret that I am a working IT professional – that’s my day job.  I’ve been doing that for about 10 years now, so hardware upgrades are pretty routine for me by this point – and I’ve got lots of tools to do it with too…everything from magnets, to phillips heads, to flat heads, to Torx bits for unique screws, and even a pair of nylon pliers.  But all of this based on a Windows background.  I’d never done much with Macs.  The mentality I’ve always had though is that hardware is hardware, right?  I did check out a few tutorial videos on YouTube and all the tools sounded like ones I own, so I jumped right in and off I went – until I got inside the Mac and was presented with two teeny tiny screws that required a Torx bit T6.  I went to my trusty toolbelt and saw my Torx bits went from T30 all the way down to T4 – awesome!  Until I noticed that one slot was missing – and sure enough, it was the dreaded T6!

A trip to Wal-Mart yielded no dice (it was getting late), so this morning off to Lowe’s I went.  I did find the T6 bit – but it was in a package of other bits and a nut driver – for $20:

Suffice to say, I was a bit (if you’ll pardon the expression), a bit torqued to be missing what was likely a 50 cent bit and having to spend nearly $20 to reassemble the Mac.  However, the eternal optimist, I put the positive spin on it – this is a nice kit I bought and the rest will probably go to Good Will since they are showing their age a bit.  Finally, of course, the educational moment for me:  I finally got my Torx in Order!

So, with the Mac now flying on a 7200rpm drive with plenty of storage, my weekend will likely be spent performing a fresh install of all my favorite apps.  Which ones do you think will go on there first?  I’ll give you a hint – the company name starts with A and ends with dobe!  The takeaway from all this – make sure you have your Torx in order – it is definitely a good motto to add to your motto book!  Have a great weekend everyone – just because I wont be shooting doesn’t mean you can’t so be safe, be smart, and…(wait for it)…

Happy Shooting!

***

The power of Lightroom has been so well documented from various outlets across the internet and magazines, I often find it surprising that such a small amount of space is dedicated to black and white photography.  This month, I’d like to take an opportunity to delve more into the creative adjustments you can make in Lightroom to bring out more in an image than just shades of gray!

There are two areas in Lightroom where you can make creative adjustments to the color to make things pop.  The first two HSL (for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance) and Color are great resources to use when you want to massage the color palette of your image.  The Black and White “tab” though, is where it’s really at.  When you click this tab, the image will be converted to an automated black and white adjustment, where the colors are converted to shades of gray – with no color tones at all.  This is where I’d like to begin the exploration:

While this can be a powerful way to present an image, the automated method of conversion is not going to work all the time (and for my tastes rarely does the default conversion work).  So, you have to dive in and really get comfortable with adjusting color tones.  To start off, I am using a pretty basic image – a red flower, and you can see that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the colored version of the image.

It’s got some great black and white potential though, so let’s go ahead and take it into the BW adjustment panel tab.  When I do that, the automated adjustments will kick in:

It looks interesting, but let’s see what massaging the colors just in the panel can do.  To start, since the flower was red and made up nearly 95% of the composition, I started with the red slider to see what the extremes would do on each end.  Here’s the image with the red slider taken up to +100 and then to the opposite extreme of -100…

In both cases, for me it’s an absolutely hideous image.  Clearly, there is a balance that must be struck somewhere in the middle – the question is where?  Well, now it comes down to subjective tastes.  For me, the default adjustment had the red a bit too strong – which kind of hid the morning dew of the flower, so I dialed things back a bit, taking the red slider from +22 to -20.  The droplets are now much more visible as they are standing out from the petals!

So, now we are getting somewhere fun!  I tested a few more sliders, and ended up with the yellows and oranges slightly higher than the default settings, just to give a bit more contrast.  Here’s what it looks like after the black and white adjustments are made:

Of course there is always a bit of sharpening and noise reduction to make in post production, as well as lens correction, and even a little bit of vignette from time to time to help draw the viewer in.  Once these are done, the final image definitely has a creative look and feel to it:

It’s clearly not easy to decide both when, to make a black and white conversion, as well as how much to massage or tweak it to your tastes.  The ultimate decision is, of course, up to you as an artist and photographer, but you can’t get there by avoiding the Black-and-White panel!  Take some time to explore it!

***

There’s more to the article than that, and it has been modified somewhat to make for a better blog post, so be sure you subscribe to the PhotographyBB newsletter when you have a minute.  It is free, after all, and probably one of the best sources of a diverse set of reading material you can find.  Dave Seeram, the editor, has been quite generous with his kindness and patience in my contributions!  Please stop over and give him your thanks as well…nothing but learning and knowledge to gain!

As always though, I end up being more curious than informative!  What types of black and white adjustments do you make?  Do you prefer the neutral grays, or do you like to add a hint of color to your b/w images too?  What methods have you found useful versus not so much?  Sound off in the comments as I love to hear how others are working through their own images!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you next time right here!

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This is a great product and actually is my recommendation for the cost-conscious crowd when it comes to editing your photos.  While Lightroom is a great resource for managing your photos and doing the “quick edits”, sometimes you do need the power of layers and more heavy-lifting tasks that Lightroom just isn’t equipped to do.

To add Photoshop CS5 adds a pretty big hit to the wallet, and unless you either have deep pockets, really need it for graphic work, or have a LOT of photos to manipulate, Elements is a great low-cost alternative that gives you most of what the CS5 option has, with some notable restrictions.  Elements 9 retails for $99, but as always, I’ve got a treat for you!  You can save $20 off your purchase by using the affiliate link below (and thanks to Adobe for offering it to me to give to readers).

There are bundles and Elements Premiere (video editing) options available too…so if you’ve got previous bundled or Premiere versions, use the following links to save $30!

Premiere Elements 9 – Save $20

Elements and Premiere Bundle – Save $30

The frenzy has started, and there’s money to be saved, so get in while the gettin’ is good!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

1.  I’ve often heard that in LR post production the top-down and left-to-right approach is good, but also that setting camera profiles is a good first step, which is on the bottom right.  What’s your approach?

Once Adobe added the camera profiles, it messed up my whole top-down approach. So now I have to go all the way to the bottom to set the camera profile, then back up to the top to start developing a photo   One work around I have for it is to create a preset of the camera profiles and apply it during import. So it’s already set by the time I get to working on a photo. I have a few favorites and I usually know which ones will work (Landscape for landscapes, Portrait for portraits, etc…).

2.  Since PSU TV is more Photoshop, can viewers expect to see any Lightroom tips coming into D-Town (esp since it seems like software that is geared toward photographers)?

Actually there will probably be more Lightroom in PSU TV. Lightroom is technically “Photoshop Lightroom” and from our research most PSU TV viewers are into photography so it makes sense to cover it there. I touch on post-processing once in a while on DTown TV when I see an opening but we’re pretty packed with camera-related stuff there.

3.  Since you are asking others about keywording all the time (you can find his LR PRo questions over at www.lightroomkillertips.com ), let’s do a 180 – how often do you keyword?

Very rarely. If some generic keywords happen to work during import I’ll apply them there but if they don’t it’s rare that I come back and actually keyword after that. That said, my main areas of photography are landscapes and portraits so I don’t miss them much there. If I want a photo from Moab, I just click my Moab collection and they’re there. Same with the portraits. I very rarely have an editor call me and say “Can I get a photo of a waterfall, with a woman wearing red standing near it, during the summer, on a Thursday?”. I always teach people that if you constantly find yourself looking through for your photos based on some collection of descriptive wording then by all means they should keyword. I fully believe in it for some photographers – just not me

4.  Other than Photoshop, what program in the Creative Suite is the most useful for your own creative endeavors?

I’ve always loved Illustrator. From an artistic standpoint, Illustration is probably one of my favorites. I just really dig crisp clean vector illustrations so Illustrator is probably top on the list for me.

Special thanks to Matt for taking the time to stop in and share his thoughts and insights with the LDP crowd.  You can find Matt in several places online:

• Lightroom Killer Tips
• Photoshop User TV
• Dtown TV
• Twitter

Don’t forget, tomorrow is the grand finale – when Scott Kelby comes in for a few of his own questions with the LDP crowd!  We’ll see you then!

Just a short post today as I’d like to remind everyone about the monthly contest series.  This month the winner will get a  free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.  No strings, no catches, no anything – just enter your best photo in the July Flickr thread (the theme is “Slick” – because Lightroom is just super slick and super cool!)

This isn’t a beta, or a trial, or even just an upgrade – this is a full edition of Lightroom 3, and it’s yours for the taking – so check out the giveaway details in the Flickr thread.

There’s a very limited window left (submission deadline is Saturday at midnight) and it’d be a shame to miss out on a chance to win this free software, donated by the folks at Adobe!  Click the link in the upper right corner of the website to enter today.  Good luck, and most importantly – have fun!

Flickr Thread for Entries

I took these questions with me to a conversation with Senior Product Manager Tom Hogarty last week, and got a lot of insights and answers, with both a technical perspective and that of long-term development.  I give you this week’s podcast:

A Conversation with Tom Hogarty

Show Notes:

1. News
   1. Flickr and Getty Licensing Expanded – http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20008129-264.html
   2. Editing history or is it just a cigar? – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286620/Churchill-non-smoker-How-todays-PC-censors-airbrushed-cigar.html
   3. Longmont Loves Google -http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286620/Churchill-non-smoker-How-todays-PC-censors-airbrushed-cigar.html
2. Tom Hogarty
3. Listener Q&A
   1. Optical Image versus Sensor Image Stabilization – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_stabilization
   2. What is Skunk Lighting?
   3. Pen Tablet Stopped Working – What to do?
      1. Swap ports
      2. Hardware/software changes
      3. OS Feature Changes

Enjoy the show and find out whether the next contest features some software from our favorite folks over at Adobe!   Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

ETA:  If the video player doesn’t load (and it looks like the plugin broke in the upgrade to 3.o, so it won’t) – here’s a temporary download location for the show in m4a format with chapters and photos for the visual crowd.  Otherwise, the mp3 is still being fed through PLM until they update their feed (which should be soon).  Anyway, here it is:

Episode 47

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Frequently Asked Questions

1.  I tried the tethered capture, but Lightroom does not appear to let me adjust shutter speed, aperture or ISO with my (fill in your camera body type).  Is this model not supported?

Answer:  The tethered capture is only intended as a capture function.  The display shows you the shutter, aperture and ISO, but you cannot make those adjustments on the computer – that must be done at camera.

2.  Will Lightroom 3 upgrade both my catalogs from LR2 and the beta?

Answer: My understanding is that Lightroom 3 will automatically upgrade your LR2 catalog for you.  Once that operation is done, you can then import the catalog from the beta edition to your new catalog in LR3 to bring everything in together.

3.  What if I don’t want Lightroom 3 to upgrade my catalog?  Can I stop it from doing that?

Yes, on first launch you will be prompted to either upgrade your LR2 catalog or to start a new one.

4.  Should I get Lightroom 3 or Cs5 – I can’t afford both.

Answer:  If you are just diving in now, I would recommend starting with Lightroom 3.  It has so many features and the strength and robustness of it really has diminished the need for round trips to Photoshop when you are talking about photography.  Of course if you have serious restoration work, clone work, or need to use features like layers, then Photoshop is a requirement, but I would classify people in this group as graphic artists, not photographers.  If you’re upgrading, both do not have to be done simultaneously.  Go with one (Lightroom) and the other a few months down the road (Cs5).  Or, use the sidebar here to get 30% off the combo pack!

5.  Will there be any contests here on your Flickr Monthly Giveaway Series so I can participate for a copy of Lightroom 3?

No comment!   In all seriousness, I’d love to, but cannot speak for Adobe – we’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.  Don’t be expecting it, but don’t write it off either!

Got any of your own questions about Lightroom 3 not covered above?  Feel free to sound off in the comments! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

We cover everything new in LR3, including:

• Tethered Shooting
• Exporting to Video
• Lens/Perspective Correction
• Adding Grain
• Sharpening and Reducing Grain
• Multi-image Print Layouts
• Enhanced Watermarking
• Vignettes
• The new and improved Import Tool
• The newly improved and feature rich Develop Module and Pre-sets
• The features of the Local Adjustment Brush

…and more!  So, stop in, enjoy the tutorials, and let us know what you think – what’d you like?  What do you want to see more of?  Sound off with your own thoughts in the comments on his site and here!  Enjoy the brand new Lightroom 3 Learning Resource Center, and tell your friends!

The 5 Best Kept Secrets of Photoshop CS5

1.  Sharing Your Monitor – In Cs5, the feature has been added where you can share your monitor with others so you can show people exactly what you are looking at.  I can totally see this as a feasible solution for clients that are remote to your location, and travel costs need to be kept down.  Even training seminars could be conducted this way…imagine sitting at your computer at work (or home) and watching an instructor teaching you live from their own desktop!  Very cool!

2.  Refine Edge Backgrounds – I know, refine edge has been around for a while, and we are used to seeing the “marching ants” around our selections…but now Adobe has gone and added different backgrounds to help you better make refinements to selections.  The options are the traditional Marching Ants, and several new options like Overlay, Black, White, and Layers (my favorite).  This is a huge time saver when trying to make selections from within a photo!

3.  Paste in Place – Another godsend!  After making selection refinements and masking off your layer selection, it’s now super easy to take another image from your clipboard and paste it directly into the active document.  Done with a simple keyboard shortcut: Shift+CTRL+V (Shift+Command+V on the Mac)

4.  Cache Settings - are now adjustable to your own library preferences.  If you have mostly smaller sized images in your library, you can tweak the cache to Tall and Thin to accommodate your particular editing and library needs.  Likewise, if you are used to working with larger files, then you can customize Photoshop to Big and Flat for those purposes as well.

5.  Stroke Settings – I cannot remember if this was in CS4, primarily because I didn’t have much interest in CS4, but now having used CS5 to a pretty decent degree, I am so glad this is now black instead of read by default, so I am including it here.

There’s my five “best kept secrets” of Cs5!  It takes some time to kick the tires and check out everything that new programs have to offer, so be sure you download a trial copy from Adobe.  It’s free!  Have you downloaded your trial yet?  What are your favorite “under the hood” features?  Any that you feel aren’t getting enough press or coverage in the photo circles?  Sound off in the comments!  In the meantime, don’t forget to step away from the computer periodically and take pictures!   Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

The Easter Egg had some cool trivia too. For instance – does anyone (outside Adobe) know how many babies were born to members of the team during production? WHo is the queen of the tenth floor? Is the wizard still there? If so, where is he now? Neat little nuggets just waiting to be discovered all in CS5!  Got the answers or your own nuggets?  Sound off in the comments!

Also, a final reminder about the April giveaway – some lucky participant will win an Expo Disc from the folks over at Expo Imaging.  Get your balance-themed photos in before midnight tonight to have a chance at winning!  Here’s the link:  April Giveaway

So, without further ado – here’s the most common questions I’ve seen on Adobe Creative Suite 5:

1.  I own  ***** – can I upgrade to CS5?

Pick your product, it doesn’t really matter too much if it’s a single product upgrade (not part of a suite).  If you want to upgrade  to Photoshop, CS5, here’s the list of products that are eligible for the upgrade path to CS5, courtesy of Adobe (I added the product to my shopping cart, and got this list of eligible products and the pricing path (upsell versus an upgrade):

• Photoshop Elements 6, 7, or 8 on Windows – (upsell = $599)
• Photoshop Elements 4, 6, or 8 on Mac  – (upsell = $599)
• Photoshop CS4, CS3, or CS2 (Regular or Extended) – upgrade = $199

2.  What if I purchased CS4 recently – do I have to pay for the upgrade to CS5 now too?

While there is no official “window” from Adobe, all indicators suggest that if you have recently purchased CS4, you may be able to get an upgrade.  Some sites claim the window is between certain dates such as April 12th and August 10th, but I’ve not been able to verify this information independently so the site is not linked here

3.  What about Lightroom – can I upgrade to Cs5 from that since it’s part of the Adobe Photoshop family?

No.  Although there are similarities, Lightroom is a different software path than the Creative Suite, and you cannot upgrade from LR to CS5 anymore than you could upgrade a Dell to a Mac

4.  Speaking of Macs, can I upgrade my Windows software to a Mac equivalent or vice versa?

Adobe does allow for this in what is called a “cross-grade”.  You must sign a release that states you have destroyed the other media, and pay a small fee (I think it’s something like $20) to do this.

5.  What about converting from one Suite of products to another, or converting to a single product?

While I don’t have the space to cover extensive details on the many options, and this is not official Adobe policy (I could not find anything specifically addressing all the possible conversions), I think it’s a safe assumption that you can downgrade from a more expensive suite to a lesser expensive suite or product, but not vice versa.  So, say for instance you had the Master collection.  It is likely that you could downgrade that to a web collection or a design premium.  It is also likely that if you had a suite of products, you could downgrade to a single product within that suite.  However, adding additional products to your existing ownership for free is not likely.  As the old saying goes, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

6.  Are there any discounts available?

Of course there are – and if you are an eligible member of any one of a number of communities, you are eligible for discounts on products from Adobe.  The most common ones I know of include educational discounts, governmental agencies, and NAPP.  The other question that usually arises from the “discount” one is whether you can apply multiple discounts, and the answer here is no…Adobe does restrict you to one discount per purchase, so if you are a NAPP member and also a teacher or college student, you cannot apply both discounts.  Pick the one that gives you the best savings, and be happy to are eligible – many people are not.

7.  So, where do I purchase CS5?

You can’t yet – the announcement that Adobe made was kind of a teaser, to build excitement and to sort of “ramp up” for the eventual release date.  It’s all part of the marketing, hype, and advertising of upcoming products.   Also, keep in mind that Adobe, like any other software developer, has approved channels for distribution.  So, when it does become available, make sure you find a reseller in your area through their partner page.

8.  When will it be available for purchase?

Well, you can pre-order it any time you want.  But if you want an official release date, take a seat with everyone else outside of Adobe headquarters, because that information is not available (that I can find anyway).  There are several indicators that suggest the release will be in early to mid-May based on their history (Adobe usually does product releases on about an 18 month cycle, or ever year and a half) with the Creative Suite of products.

9.  What are the differences in all the packages?

Excellent question!  This is the one that vexes a lot of people, but thankfully, Adobe has put together a comparision page that not only show syou the products that go into each package, but the retail cost of each.  Rather than regurgitate all that information here in some confusing chart, simply bookmark this link:  Adobe Product Comparison Chart

10.  Are you going to upgrade?

Yes I am.  I will probably not be an early adopter, primarily because I have a couple other purchases to make first (hardware, a lens, and some lighting gear), but the advancements in CS5 are probably among the most significant of any version in the last 7 years!  I may also need to upgrade my computers to handle the  processing requirements.

That’s it – the top ten questions I’ve seen (and been asked) about Creative Suite 5!  Got your own questions?  I may not have the answers, but I can either give you my best guess, or pass the question on to someone who may know the answer, so feel free to sound off in the comments.  Also, if I got anything wrong, or if you can shed additional light, all contributions are welcome!

Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

We had a bunch to talk about ranging from:

• iPad release from Apple
• Lightroom 2.7 RC from Adobe
• Lightroom 3.0 Beta 2 from Adobe
• Drobo FS release from Data Robotics
• and then there was that one about Photoshop CS5!  Here’s the topics we cover:
  • Content Aware Fill
  • Merge to HDR
  • HDR style adjustments to single images
  • Noise Reduction
  • Add Grain
  • New Vignetting
  • Lens Corrections based on Camera/Lens
    • - Shared lens profiles
  • Natural Media Brush tips
  • Mixer brush tool
  • Puppet Warp

Add in the listener questions and we talked for nearly two hours.  It was a lot of fun and there was some awesome information for everyone that we just kept rattling off.  Some of the links to products we talked about in the show are listed below…if I miss any let me know in the comments and I’ll come back and insert them as needed.  Additionally, I have a couple reminders that are specific to LDP, so here you are:

1. Zosh
2. Don’t forget you can now call your questions into the show for free at:  866-809-8663!  You can call in from any phone, whether it be land line, cellular, or Skype!
3. The monthly winner for the Cheetah Stand was Josh, so congrats to him for his shot, and the April contest is now live.  Check the Guidelines, Rules of Engagement (new!) and submit your photos in the Flickr thread.  This month’s theme is Balance and the winner (lucky dog) will get an Expo Disc from the generous folks over at Expo Imaging!

Phew!  Lots of content for  a Tuesday including web links, podcasts, software and hardware news!  Take some time and soak it up!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for more photo goodness!

Creative Suite 5 will launch on April 12th!

Since I just got wind of this late last night, I don’t have a lot of details on the products (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc.) but there are some sneak peek videos over on their launch site, and Adobe is encouraging folks to follow the hashtag #cs5 on Twitter.  Evangelists like Terry White, Julianne Kost, and many more will be talking about various aspects of the suite of products, highlighting some of the snazzier features and functions.  It looks pretty cool so far, and I think I am probably sold for a couple of reasons:

1. Indesign – As you know, I like to write, and I am putting more and more content out in PDF and eBook form.  The ability of InDesign to assist me in that regard to put together professional looking material and to help with layout is well worth it.
2. Photoshop – I am still on CS3, and I did not do the upgrade to CS4 knowing that I would probably upgrade every other iteration.  So, now is the time to upgrade.
3. Business Catalyst – I’d not heard of this, but the improved layout for the CB store sounds appealing by using this software interface rather than hacking through code all the time.  Will want to check this out!
4. Dreamweaver – An old school coder, I’ve always used text-based editors because I was a “purist” of sorts.  With the development of HTML5, the new features of CSS and XHTML, there’s a lot to get up to speed on, and when I want to just put something out to the web, Dreamweaver is becoming more and more of a consideration.

Here’s the launch page for all the detailed information on the new CS5 Suite:  Have you checked out some of the features of the CS5 suite yet?  What do you like?  Are you going to upgrade or take the plunge?  Sound off in the comments with your thoughts and feedback!

Last but not least – don’t forget that we are in the final week for the Cheetah Quickstand Giveaway – share your photos over on the Flickr Contest Thread!

LR3B2 (that’s my nickname for it), has added several features, and the ones I am most excited about include:

• The ability to manage your video files (short video demo):

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/LR3B2/lr3b2_blog.mp4[/podcast]

• Addition of point curve control (like in Photoshop)

• Native tethered shooting ability for both Canon and Nikon cameras (a full set of gear was not immediately evident – this is just a first look)

I’ve not had a chance to test the tethered shooting yet, but based on some videos and other resources Adobe has put out, here is a list of the cameras that support native tethered shooting mode for LR3B2:

• Canon
  • 1D Mark III
  • 1Ds Mark III
  • 5D Mark II
  • 5D
  • 7D
  • Rebel T1i

• Nikon
  • D3X
  • D3S
  • D3
  • D700
  • D90

I am sure more will come, but I am not going to hold my breath for the Canon 40D as it’s no longer even in the Canon line-up (but I am betting that soon other models will become available, including the 50D…)

Last but not least, the added feature for Lightroom 3 that is so exciting (again, for me), is Luminance Noise Reduction. This is going to save untold time bouncing back and forth between Lightroom and Photoshop on those occasions where I need a little more granular control than previous versions of LR gave me.

More news is sure to come out as the big boys from places like NAPP and others were likely in the know from much earlier than I, and they will have a whole slew of videos, blog posts, and articles covering every nuance.   But, here’s a quick first look that I learned from watching the site for news, installing the beta 2, and giving it a quick whirl to show a few screen shots.  Hope you enjoyed it – let me know your thoughts on the new features!  Are these enough to make you think about upgrading?  What other features would you like to see in an upgrade?  Will you still use Photoshop for your photography work flow or do you see yourselves going solely to a Lightroom environment?  Sound off in the comments – I’llbe back tomorrow with more photo goodness!  Happy shooting!

P.S. Only four more days to enter the Flickr Giveaway for LDP – winner gets a Cheetah Quickstand!

P.P.S. I’d also like to thank everyone that has shown interest in and support of the latest mini e-book offering in the store:  49 Photo Tips which is still for sale in the CB eStore and I’ve kept the price down too, so it’s only $1.99 – that’s less than a nickel a tip!

Probably the most exiting feature is the addition of video management! Now keep in mind, you can’t edit videos in Lightroom (yet), but given the movement of photography and videography toward convergence, this is not surprising.  In fact, as I recall, Tom Hogarty alluded to this when he interviewed on the podcast last year!  Those guys at Adobe are pretty impressive, with R&D having that much lead time!  If only I had caught the innuendo then! 

Here’s the full (unedited) feature set from the Adobe Labs website:

• Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images
• Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras
• Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta for outstanding overall high ISO quality
• Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control
• Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback
• Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback

Lightroom 3 beta 2 builds on the enhancements introduced in the first Lightroom 3 beta release:

• Brand new performance architecture, building for the future of growing image libraries
• State-of-the-art noise reduction to help you perfect your high ISO shots
• Watermarking tool that helps you customize and protect your images with ease
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio—designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images, you can now save and export your slideshows as videos and include audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Film grain simulation tool for enhancing your images to look as gritty as you want
• New import handling designed to make importing streamlined and easy
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo sharing sites directly from inside Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)*

For all the details and more info, including the download link (it’s free!), visit: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

For those of you that read my previous post that had panoramas in it (“The Moment it…Oops”) you’ll notice this is a different picture, and in all fairness, I should note that this had more images in it, and I was using a different lens during capture.  But, when I get down to the nitty gritty and review all the programs side by side, it will be the same image.  This one was from our recent Denver Photo Walk group outing to RMNP that I had talked about last Friday here on the blog.  Thoughts, comments, feedback and critiques are always welcome, and since the blog doesn’t really work well with displaying panoramas, if you click the photo below, you’ll be taken to a full (web size anyway) image where you can see all the details!  Enjoy!

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Denver Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop Users Group

No, this isn’t spam, the blog has not been hacked, and I am not speaking in tongues here.  DALPUG refers to the Denver Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop Users Group.  Started relatively recently by a guy I know named Brian Reyman, it’s a great local resource for photographers to not only learn from one another, but also to network and get an opportunity to see some of the latest developments in the industry.

I had a chance to attend the meeting last night, and the mini-workshop that Brian ran on plugins included quick looks at things like OnOne Software, Topaz Labs, Nik, and a bunch of others.  Not only were they showing you how to use the plugins, they were offering up giveaways too!  It’s a great group, offering people opportunities to learn, share, and network with others in the field in the area.  Definitely worthy of a diversion from the regular blog schedule to give some shout outs here today.

I’ve also learned that these sorts of groups are all over the place – Adobe sponsors user groups across the globe!  So, here’s a chance to sprad the word about your area groups.  Got one you know about?  Attend any regularly?  Let me know here in the comments and link to your website or user group site so people can find you!

Short but sweet, so keep on shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Congratulations again to John for this beautiful shot.  I know I said it before but it is worth saying again that the decision was a very difficult one to make as there were so many excellent images contributed!  Thanks also to the folks over at Adobe for their generous contribution, and to all the participants for making this first contest a huge success!

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

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