• 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.

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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!

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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….

JawDoc

His image of the Tilt-a-Whirl (or whatever you call it) really stood out for me in terms of the sense of motion and speed, so congrats to you sir.  If you could be so kind as to drop me an email, I will forward your name and info over to the folks at Camera Bits who are ready for delivery of your installation code for Photo Mechanic!  One final nod of thanks to them as well, for their generous contribution for the June Giveaway!

And now, for the July Giveaway, our next prize is yet another doozy!  The good folks over at Thinktank Photo have generously sent some of their latest product line to me for review, and now up for grabs is none other than their already well-received Streetwalker Pro bag.  This holds an astounding amount of gear for its size, allows for a tripod, and much more.  I’ve not had a chance to kick its tires yet (so to speak), but you know a review is going to come up soon for this month, so keep an eye and ear open!

It retails for $159 US, and this one is a beauty!

Again, because the prize will be shipped from my location rather than Thinktank, the shipping requirementsare built into this months guidelines:

1.  All images must be between 600-800 px on the longest dimension.

2.  Each person can submit up to two images

3.  The theme is STREET, fitting for a Streetwalker Pro

4.  Contest Deadline is:  July 31st at midnight Mountain Time (GMT -7).  Add or subtract for your own time zone as needed.

5.  US Residents only…sorry international folks.

6. The photo must be included in this Flickr thread.

7. The Flickr photo must be downloadable – we share the winning photo via announcement here on the blog and in newsletters – so I need to get it to do that!

8. Have fun! Remember photography is supposed to be fun so keep that in mind as you approach the May giveaway.

9. Reminder Guidelines and Rules of Engagement links are here for easy reference.

Special thanks to not only Camera Bits and Think Tank photo, but to all the sponsors – and for readers out there, if you would like to see a product reviewed and/or offered up for a giveaway, feel free to drop suggestions in the comments – that’s where vendors look!

The link to enter the contest is here – good luck to all!

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of being the photographer for an annual charity drive for Ducks Unlimited.  Over the course of three hours, I captured about 300 images.  Naturally, some of the shots were before things started (sort of behind the scenes), others were of the attendees, and then others of the auction itself, including products, bidders, and (naturally) the auctioneer.  Afterward, I took the time to run some comparisons.  In order to get as close to a side-by-side comparison as possible, I imported to Lightroom in four different ways:

• Lightroom with 1:1 previews – from USB attached Drobo
• Lightroom with 1:1 previews – from local hard drive
• Lightroom with minimal previews – from USB attached Drobo
• Lightroom with minimal previews – from local hard drive

The initial import kind of told me some interesting information:

What does this tell me? Well, for starters, that the rendering of 1:1 previews really adds to the processing time for Lightroom. No surprise though, we already knew that, right? This data just kind of validates the theory. But from the Drobo versus the C drive, this tells me that the difference even with USB really is negligible. SO many people have expressed concerns over the data transfer rates for a cable-attached Drobo, the need for Firewire, SATA and all that jazz. When honestly, it looks like the difference isn’t all that significant at this level.

So, how did Photo Mechanic do?  Well, pretty well, considering.  In Photo Mechanic, it’s not “importing” photos, the software “ingests” them.  Probably just semantics, but the speed is marked, to say the least.  My ingest rates (there is no minimal thumbnail size – it’s always full size), was four minutes for both the Drobo and the C drive!  That’s right, four minutes! A 300 image import took literally 10% of the time it took Lightroom.

Making the first wave of picks and deletions using Photo Mechanic is a no-brainer for me anymore.  I will likely restrict PM to just doing initial imports and deletions though as the editing tools from Lightroom past the initial import/ingest stage are significant enough to merit making the move from PM to LR.  The savings in import time is enough that I finished my post production in less than half of the time it would normally have taken me.  In fact, the Ducks Unlimited event is now out the door, and in the hands of the Chairman!

So, take my advice, if you have the extra $150, consider adding this to your software arsenal – it’s going to save you tons of time in post production!  Oh wait, what’s that?  You don’t have that kind of money?  Well, no worries, there’s still time in this months’ Flickr giveaway to enter.  Just submit your “Speed” themed photo to the June Contest thread for your chance to win!  Thanks to the folks at Camera Bits for their generous contribution and to give me the time to kick the tires on this great software solution!

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One final reminder – the first 250 buyers of the DIY Legal Kit fulfillment has almost ended.  There’s literally only a couple left, and if you don’t take advantage of this awesome offer to get the kit at half off, they are expiring at the end of June, so it’s pretty much now or never!  Stop here to pick up the 6 page set of legal forms for a limited time at $15!

Here’s the show notes:

• The Business of Photography
• Rock Stars vs Working Pros
• The Importance of Networking
• Work Flow Options
  • Photoshop
  • Lightroom
  • Photo Director
  • Lightroom Versus Bridge
  • 100 Ways Lightroom Kicks Bridges A$$
  • www.ajwood.com
  • http://ajwood.com/twitter
  • http://ajwood.com/facebook
  • Photoshop User Magazine

Thanks to AJ for taking the time to come on the show, and thanks to everyone who continues to download and give feedback to the blog and podcast!

Lakes Photo

Congrats and send me an email with your contact information so I can get your Hoodman Loupe out to you!

*****

So, with the June contest now set to begin, I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to the lineup – the folks over at Camera Bits, makers of the reknowned Photo Mechanic!  After I talked with Kevin Mullins on the last podcast, decided I had to check it out.  What a cool piece of software – it loads full res versions of photos stunningly fast!  I can totally see why wedding and event photographers would use something like this to help expedite their work flow.  I used it to sift through about 500 photos from a recent shoot, and what would have taken me about 20 minutes in Lightroom took about 5 minutes with Photo Mechanic!  That’s a 75% time savings!

So, if you take that percentage out to the thousands of photos that are often associated with event photographers, that can translate to a huge reduction in post production!  It’s tempting for sure, and with the software valued at $150 retail, certainly well worth the investment!  You can get a fully licensed version of the software for free just by submitting your own image to the Flickr Contest thread here!  Good luck to everyone and thanks to the folks at Photo Mechanic for their generous contribution!

After I do this, I simply look up at the top of Lightroom while in Library mode to filter my collection for either picks or rejects. From my approach, I do the rejects first, then CMD/CTRL A to select all and delete! Then from the picks, I’ll go through and make whatever edits I need, even including round trips to Photoshop, Photomatix, or whatever 3^rd party software I happen to need or be using at the time.  This is always so much easier with Auto Advance enabled. I can fly through a shoot of 500+ images in about 20 minutes both to clean up the catalog, and make the picks of what will likely be in the final published album. Give it a whirl and see if it improves your work flow!

Got your own tips or tricks for Lightroom, Photoshop, or simple camera techniques? Share the love and sound off in the comments! Either that or share your own thoughts on what you think of the techniques I share here. Regardless, tips tricks and techniques like these are always designed to help you get through post production and do what we all love to do – get out and shoot some more! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here next time!

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!

First off, focus stacking is used mostly in genres like macro photography, where intricate detail is needed across a range wider than what the aperture will allow for during composition.  The principle is much like the layered approach to HDR imagery – where you stack layers of images with different compositions on top of each other and blend the right portions through the entire image.

Where focus stacking differs from HDR is the types of images that you are layering.  In HDR images, you are compositing images with different exposure values over one another.  In focus stacking, you are not changing the exposure values, rather just the point of focus.  As depth of field drops off both in front of and behind your focusing point, the subject will blur.  While this may be an appreciated blurring technique in some cases, in other cases, getting different depths of field from different focusing points can make for a tack sharp macro throughout the range of the subject.

As is most often the case, explaining a photography concept is best done with images, so let’s take a look at an example.  For easy demonstration, I took a white cordless phone and placed it on a black background.  This way color issues are kept to a minimum…

Notice on the first focusing point, the sharpest point is right near the front?  It also quickly drops off into the background as I was shooting at f2.8  The low aperture number means I will have a very shallow depth of field, which is what is causing the blurred background.  To bring the rest of it into focus, I need to “stack” more shots that have a different point of focus.  So, let’s add another few to the composite:

The end result from stacking all these together can be accomplished by any one of a number of methods ranging from the most time-consuming of doing it manually inside Lightroom or Photoshop, and the most efficient one of using 3rd party software.  While several options do exist, the one that has become pretty much the industry standard is that of Helicon Focus!  Their quality of processing is, bar none, among the best I’ve seen.  More on that likely later this week.

In the meantime, here’s the result of an image that has been focus-stacked:

It’s a quick edit, and done with only having focus-stacked 5 images.  If I wanted a really detailed depth of field on something more important than a cordless phone from circa 1990′s, I’d likely have taken at least 10-15 images and massaged them through Helicon Focus more carefully.  More details on this entire process are coming up later this week, including reviews of the Tether Table (which will be given away this weekend as the March contest comes to an end), Helicon Focus, and the light triggers from Blackbelt Lighting.

For a behind-the-scenes footage video, stop over to the Facebook page!  (Be sure to “like” it and share a comment while you are there…)

From the comment contest last week, the winner it none other than Richard Hales – a.k.a. #4 from the Random Number Generator:

Congrats to Richard, and thanks to the folks from Easy Release for their contribution – if you could get in touch with me via email Richard, I’ll connect you both to arrange distribution of the license or discount code for iTunes.  Thanks to all for their participation!

Live Learning Webinar

In other news, the next Live Learning Webinar that Kerry Garrison and I are heading up for the folks over at Nations Photo Lab is ready for registration.  We can take up to 100 registrations for this event.  It sold out fast last time, and we expect things to go quick for this one too.  Sign up here:  http://livelearninglab.eventbrite.com For the inaugural one we covered some great stuff on Lightroom, and this go around, we’ll be talking ‘Shop (as in Photoshop)!  It’s only for an hour and it’s completely free!, thanks to the sponsorship of Nations Photo Lab!

Last Chance Sale on 49 Photo Tips, Vols 1 and 2

This weekend is also the last weekend before the 49 Photo Tips books are pulled from the eJunkie store to be completely revamped for an entirely new product line, so get ‘em while you can!  The laundry list of tips (49 Photo Tips, Volume 1) is only $2.99 and the full color photo-included list (Volume 2) is only $7.99.  Get them both and save $5  (that’s nearly 50% off…) using the coupon code FINAL !

That’s it for the Friday Freebies (and discounts) for this week.  Be sure to get your own comments in for a chance to win!  Gotta be “in it to win it”!  Happy shooting and see you back here next week!

• Includes two standard model and property releases, which are accepted by both Getty and Alamy
• You can add your own custom releases afterward (albeit a bit clunky)
• You can personalize the releases to include your own information including company, your name, email, phone, contact information, and even a thumbnail photo of the person for whom the release is prepared
• You can email the release via PDF to yourself, your client, or both – all within the app
• You can add models, properties, etc. to your contact list (or build from there)

Having said the best features of the app, it kind of needs a few minor improvements though.  In the next version, let me import pre-made release forms for specific purposes.   While Getty and Alamy outlet acceptance is huge, there are other custom needs like TFCD and TFP that would be tedious to type out into the custom function area.  Let me use a PDF of my own creation and add a signature field at the end for models to sign.  Some photographers already have custom ones on file from their attornys (yes, I have a few) that are already created in PDF, and that import function would make this just about a perfect app!  The interface for building one internally is a bit clunky, and this would make things a lot easier.

In order to appeal to a broader market, lower the price a little…$10 is a bit much for an app that only has two forms.  Right now the appeal is there for those who do only model and property shoots, but the app marketplace seems to average around $5 for a high end app, so $10 is a little pricey.  (It’s not insanely overpriced – after all I did buy this app, but I would have liked to see it lower)  Yes, I know the ROI is lower initially, but you’d likely get more buyers from a lower price.  $4.99 is about the max I’d think apps would go for unless they were super powerful or utilitarian.  If the standard model releases covered more situations, then sure, but more and more, releases for things like TFP, exchange of services, and other variations are becoming the norm, not the “old fashioned” model releases, and the price is just a smidge high for my liking.  Different strokes and tolerances for sure, so some may find this completely reasonable, while others may find the price something of a barrier.

Here’s my screen captures from installing it on my iPod:

For those that are interested in getting a copy of this app – I did contact the developers, and they were generous enough to donate a license for some lucky reader – so, here’s the deal:

Share your own thoughts on the app here in the comments below and at the end of the week – some lucky reader (as determined from the Random Number Generator, based on comment #) will win a license key for this app!   Thanks to the developers for their generous donation, and thanks to everyone who takes the time to comment.  Oh yeah, try to provide at least some value from your own comments as that is what makes dialogs fun in the first place!  I’ll announce the winner Saturday on Twitter (you are following me on Twitter, aren’t yo?) and again here on the blog on Monday!  Good luck all, and thanks again to the folks at Easy Release!

Stanley Lake

Let’s take a quick run through some of the settings:

On starting the application, you will be presented with several tabs, Project Assistant, Source Images, Control Points, Exposure/HDR, Preview, and Create Panorama.  I only really used the 1st, 4th, and last tabs to process this image, but that’s primarily because PTGui was able to align everything for me.  If everything wasn’t decently aligned during capture, you’d likely have to add control points to the program to account for variations.  So, getting it right in camera does still count!

Tab 1 – Project Assistant

Step 1: Here’s where you import your images – the cool part is that PTGui can take raw files so you don’t need to lose any image quality by running through another program first…(look for a post on how to export to PTGui from Lightroom some time next week).

Project Assistant Tab

It’s pretty straightforward here – simply click the button to load images and your file browser will open…navigate to the folder your raw files are in and select the ones needed for the pano.  The program will likely detect your lens used from the exif data, but if your lens does not look correct, simply uncheck the “Automatic” box and enter the correct information (this was taken with the Sigma 8-15mm, so I changed mine – sorry no screen capture there).

EXIF Data Settings

The next part is the fun part – if you are bracketing your exposures correctly, PTGui will detect that and ask you an important question when you align the images in Step 2.

Step 2: Align Images – If you are not shooting HDR, this step is a lot simpler, but for those that enjoy HDR (even subtle HDR), this is of particular interest:

HDR Options

So, the deal here is that if you are shooting your bracketing handheld, you do not want to link to the original images.  I’m not sure what the distinction is, but according to PTGui instructions, that’s the best course of action.  Naturally, the converse holds true as well…if you are using a tripod, I guess it’s safe to link to the original images.  So, use the one best suited to your needs, and proceed with the alignment – PTGui will analyze and align everything for you (this is the stitching portion):

Aligning Images in PTGui

One the images are aligned, the Panorama Editor window will open – here it shows you how everything is overlaid to create the pano – use this as a reference point, and if things look good (they should, I’ve not experienced a scenario yet where I’ve had to deal with control points), you can close this editor:

Pano Editor

Tab 4:  Exposure/HDR Settings

Step 3: Now, move to the Exposure/HDR tab.  Here is where you’ll enter the tone mapping settings to define how the HDR image will look once flattened and saved so you can view it in a regular program.  You can choose from a True HDR option (which is the one I used) or Exposure Fusion.  Give both a whirl so you can see how things differ…as I said, I like the True HDR version myself, but your mileage may vary:

HDR/Fusion Tone Mapping

The options for adjusting your tone mapping has a basic and advanced tab.  I leave it on the basic tab and just tweak the slider settings for compression, brightness, radius, saturation and contrast to taste.

HDR Options

Click OK to go back to the main window, and move to the last tab in the program – Create Panorama.

Tab 6: Create Panorama

Name Your File: You’ll want to give it a descriptive name so you can find it easily because once this is done a final step will be needed to crop your image so it looks right.  Also, if you want to have access to the HDR reference file, make sure in the output options, you check off both tone mapped and HDR panorama.

You are all set, it will now warp and render the final files for you.  Warning:  This is a pretty resource intensive task as up until now we’ve been using thumbnail views to define our parameters – now it has to use the original files and both stitch and render the HDR reference file.  If you are using your computer for other tasks as well, things may slow down a lot!

Once the final output jpg is created, go into your favorite image editor and crop off the black areas to finalize the panorama image for either print or web.

PTGui panorama

So, there’s the process.  I know, there’s many other pano processing programs out there, and all have their pros and cons.  What struck me as the biggest advantage is the ability to process both panorama and HDR image stacking at the same time.  For those interested in learning more about PTGui – they have a free trial download, and the program itself is very cost effective considering what it can do for you and your work flow.  There’s a personal license for $109 US and a Pro license for $206.  I’d recommend the Pro version.  Check it out here:  PTGui

Got your own personal panorama software preferences?  Share your thoughts on the pros and cons in the comments area – would love to hear what others are using and what their work flow looks like.  Enjoy the post and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!  Happy Shooting!

In Photoshop CS5 one of the JDI (just do it) features that was “fixed” was to add a Rule of Thirds guide to the crop tool.  It’s quiet handy to have and is turned on by default:

Most people I know (granted they are photographers and not graphics designers) absolutely love this functionality!  However, a few have asked me if there is a way to disable it.  Naturally, pretty much anything in Photoshop is customizable for your own purposes.  So, if these “Marching Ants” lines are distracting to you though, and you want to turn them off, you can do this from the Options bar at the top of your display.  Simply look for the dropdown menu just to the right of “Crop Guide Overlay”  and choose the option that best suits your needs.

As with most tools in Photoshop, the Options menu gives you a lot of flexibility to configure things however you like for most purposes.  So, be sure to check the Options bar the next time you are inside of Photoshop!

Got an idea for another Photoshop or Lightroom tip?  Feel free to share your own ideas and questions in the comments section!  Have a great day and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow…

This image has the perfect amount of abstraction, yet also technically is very well thought-out, and the symbolism/timeliness of it to topical events of late is pretty amazing.  Congratulations to Stephen!  If you could get in touch with me via email (jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com) I’ll coordinate to have the folks at Adobe set up fulfillment on your very own copy of Lightroom 3!

Special thanks and acknowledgments also to Adobe for their generosity and continued support of the blog, podcast and concert series – you are a big part of why people come every day to read the material, to learn and share knowledge with one another.  Thanks Adobe!

So, with the July contest series wrapped up, it’s time to announce the August contest.  Another sponsor of the blog in a big way is Red River Paper, as they are providing discount codes and promotional offers to all readers of the blog (CB18 for  $5 off any order and CBShip for free shipping of a promo pack of papers.).  They are also contest sponsors and this month they have generously contributed a pack of 8×10 Pearl Pro Metallic paper for some lucky participant.  And without further ado – the theme for August is:

METAL

A Flickr thread will be posted on Saturday, and entries will start being accepted at midnight.  Thanks to Red River Paper for their sponsorship as well for not only the giveaway, but for their support of the blog and podcast!

After a few months of feedback and suggestions, it seemed the idea was pretty good, but people wanted examples, or at least something to liven things up a bit – the “spreadsheet style” was a little tedious on the eyes.  So began the latest project for me (as if I don’t have enough projects, according to Tracy)!  Well, after 6 months of blood, sweat and tears, it’s finally here – 49 Tips, The Sequel!

All the tips are new, just as useful, and even more in-depth, but here’s the best part – it’s really an eBook now!  With a cover page, a prologue, epilogue and, as you can see, there’s a photo for every tip! Okay, so some are screen captures so technically not photos, but each one gets the point across quite well (I think anyway).  A few of these tips have been shared out via Twitter and Facebook in recent weeks to give everyone a sneak peek of sorts, but it’s “out there” now, and very excited to see what people think.

So, let me know what you think of the new style and layout!  It’s only $4.99 , which is less than a grande white mocha at Starbucks (at least that’s what I’ve heard…b/c I don’t drink Starbucks…right?)!  And for the time being (through the end of July, anyway), there’s an additional discount code for $1 off if you use it in your shopping cart:  “Sequel“

Since it was 6 months between Part One and The Sequel, my guess is it will be another 6 months before I come up with a third installment, so feedback, thoughts and input are always welcome!  There’s a link in the feature product are on the blog, or you can go to the full store here to see all three product downloads!

Apparently the WordPress eCommerce does not work as advertised as several people have gone through the process and not received their digital download email.  So, to hopefully make things easier for everyone, I’ve signed up with a company friends have used called eJunkie, and after a little configuration and setup, it’s available for purchase through their system (still using Paypal).  My apologies for the hassles initially, here’s the new download location:

Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here again next week!

A friend told me about a site that produces tons of free applications for things like video, audio and stuff – that I should check them out.  I took a look and sure enough – there’s literally dozens of apps they offer for free.  Now, my mantra is always that “you get what you pay for” but when I saw they had a photo-specific app, figured I had to at least try it.  It’s called 3-D Photo Maker, and is a pretty quick and easy download/install and to create the images.  (I don’t think there’s a Mac version as of yet.)

It’s a neat idea and I am not sure what algorithms they are using, but here’s the upshot of what it does.  You reference two images and it does some sort of processing to them that theoretically creates a 3-D look.  It was hard to tell the results because you do need those 3-D glasses to view the results, but on a first glance, it’s kind of neat.  Here’s a few sample screenshots from the program:

For those interested in trying it themselves, the download link is here:
Free 3D Photo Maker

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

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!

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!

I tried to include as much info in the teaser as possible, but if anyone has questions on how I did all this, feel free to share your questions (or feedback if you prefer) in the comments or vial email!  Here’s a dry run of my daily commute home (if only the real time commute went that fast!):

Happy shooting!  If you have your own time lapse productions, feel free to link them in the comments too!  See you back here again tomorrow…

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!

Well, today, I am going to give a little nod to a Windows-only program, called Printkey.  Specifically titled PrintKey2000, and under specific note that this is a freeware program (meaning it is not supported – to use at your own risk.)  While I have never had problems with it, the mentality of “let the buyer beware” should always be a consideration when downloading applications, especially freeware.

Those in Apple-land know that there are keyboard shortcuts to do a screen capture of either your entire viewing area, or a specific window, and these can either be copied to the clipboard memory for inserting in an application like Photoshop, or saved outright to your desktop.  While in Windows you can always use the Printscreen and ALT+Printscreen to copy either a full screen or active window to your clipboard, the ability to save directly to your desktop does not exist natively.  Instead, you have to capture the screen to memory, paste into an image editor, and save out as a JPG if you want to use it.  What PrintKey does is fill that void of directly saving to the desktop.  This is especially handy if capturing things for posting in a blog, in creating documentation, and other useful learning resource outlets.

To use Printkey, simply download the free application from here, run the executable, and let the program start in your system tray.  The entire packaged zip file is half a megabyte, so the footprint is super for those that are space conscious.  Here’s a capture of the software itself in action (don’t ask me how I got it – that took a few minutes to figure out!  LOL):

While there are many features wrapped up in this handy little application, the ones I use most often are the Save, Rectangle, Print, and then the dialog screen at the bottom of the screen (click the image above to see a larger view).  These should be pretty straightforward to those who are familiar with the concepts, but here we go regardless:

• Save – saves the current capture to an image file…you can specify whatever format you prefer (jpg gif, etc.)
• Rectangle – gives you a + sign that you can drag and drop around a custom area for capturing only part of your desktop
• Print – sends the captured image to your printer…(hope that was explanatory enough)

The last one is the bottm details area…I am talking about this little section here:

It’s very handy because it will tell you the dimensions of the image, how large the file is in terms of storage space on your computer, and how much free memory is left out of the total memory.  While some many not need all this info, the geek in me likes to have this!

So, there you have it, Printkey2000 in action.  I feel that I should also mention another really good counterpart and that is the program, SnagIt from the folks over at TechSmith.  With that handy application, you can not only capture images on both Windows and Mac, but you can edit them on the fly, including inserting text, arrows to call out an area, and other fun stuff.  Alas, it’s not free though – 30 day trial is allowed before you gotta cough up the $50! (Which for me is not worth it for something like this.  I have some friends that use other applications too, especially for video screen captures on both Mac and Windows platforms which include names like IShowU, Camtasia, and much more.  Here though, was just a little scoop on a little known application for the Windows crowd out there.

Got your own favorite little unknown program?  Have you used PrintKey?  Like it, love it or hate it?  Sound off in the comments as new little handy utilities are always welcome.  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

One last thing all – don’t forget the Height themed contest for the month of February – get your photos in while the gettin’ is good!  Deadline is a week from Friday!